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Originally Posted by CyberClaire
I just saw this on the tech pages of Yahoo...thought it may interest a few here.
Tempted to see what the fuss is about over Oscar winner "The Hurt Locker"? Tread lightly, and keep away from file-sharing networks, because Voltage Pictures, which produced the film, is suing upwards of 50,000 individuals who allegedly pirated the film online, according to the Hollywood Reporter's media-law blog.
In the world of anti-piracy litigation, that number is staggering. Here's how to put it in perspective. As of 2008, after five long years of litigation efforts, the Recording Industry Association of America had threatened legal action against just 30,000 individuals, a drop in the bucket compared to the action Voltage is taking over a single pirated film, all at once.
While "Hurt Locker" was a critical success, it remains a commercial bomb, earning less than $13 million theatrically in the United States.
Pirates are to blame for the paltry take, right? While the reason for the film's commercial flop are undoubtedly far more complicated than a few thousand pirated copies, it seems that little will deter the legal action against those who saw it online (where it was available five months before its theatrical release).
Service providers are playing ball. According to a lawyer with the U.S. Copyright Group, the firm spearheading the lawsuit, ISPs are largely complying with the requests for information about the identities of those who are alleged to have downloaded the film online. One of the few holdouts is Comcast, but even it appears to be caving and will probably release another few thousand names to the prosecution within a week. Settlement offers are being made now (at an undetermined dollar amount), with full-on lawsuits promised if the demands aren't meant.
And this could be a sign of things to come. While the RIAA has slowed its legal campaign against music sharers, this could be merely the first volley for the movie studios, looking to stem massive revenue declines that are mainly occurring on DVD shelves (theatrical revenue, ironically, is higher than ever).
It can be rationally argued that the reason the RIAA's lawsuit campaign didn't work is that it wasn't big enough. If Hollywood increases those lawsuits 100-fold, could the scare tactics finally have a real effect?
Credit — Christopher Null
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Good. I've been screaming this for years now.... If you want to fight the tube sites don't dmca them and spin your wheels, don't try to sue the tube site... sue their users who are putting the stolen content on the site.
It's so fucking simple, I don't understand why a bunch of the big companies wont get together and do this. You do it the same way they are doing it with this movie. Hit the ISPs and Tube sites with subpoenas for information on who uploaded the stolen content.
1. In some cases it will link back to the site that put the content up and not a "user" and then they will be in a heap of shit.
2. Even if you can just track down some of the users and sue them, that will make a lot of them think twice about stealing porn and uploading it. While it might be "fun" "cool" "funny" or whatever to steal and share porn, if there is a chance to get hit with a 100K lawsuit i would bet you MOST people would stop doing it. Yes I know some will still do it or hide behind proxies, but you will still deter a LOT of people.
Whether a tube site is liable or not for stolen content (if they remove it when notified) is debatable. What is not in question is the people who are stealing the content and uploading it. That is open / shut breaking the law. Go after them.
Oh and a bunch of big companies wont get together and do this because most of them are already in bed with the tube sites and have their own content featured there. As long as their shit isn't stolen and there is a banner linking to their site, they don't care about the other videos there that are stolen.
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Originally Posted by kane
I had read about this a few weeks ago, but back then they just said it would be thousands of people, they had no actual number of how many it would be.
This company had sued people before and got a lot of settlements. I'm curious to see how it plays out. I'm glad to see producers standing up for their work.
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They might make more in settlements then they did from the movie LOL