MPAA threatens Aussies
p2pnet.net News:- The major movie studios are using Organized Music`s Organized Crime ploy as an excuse to threaten people in Australia.
The Big Four record label cartel, (in)famous for its historical links with The Mob, has its RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) claiming, “The practice and trade of music piracy have become more sophisticated, cunning and connected to organized crime. CD-R reproduction in the eastern half of the United States is now dominated by organized criminal syndicates intent on monopolizing the illicit market share by operating on high volume and very low profit margins.
Now, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has its AFACT (Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft) warning, “organised crime is using popular peer-to-peer networks and pirate websites to download illegally copied movies and burn them to DVD, selling them in markets,” says The Australian.
With that in mind, the studios “may consider prosecuting internet users who download pirated copies of Hollywood blockbusters” if said users “migrate to illegal downloads en masse,” says the story.
Tony Soprano to Pauli Walnuts: You done GOOD, Paulie! I’m giving you the pirate web sites so you can download illegally copied movies, burn them to DVD and then sell them in the flea-markets. My end’s 25%.”
But, all you movie thieves over in Oz, the studios are going to give you one last chance before they try to nail you to the wall.
The Age has AFACT spokeswoman Adrianne Pecotic (no relation to deceased Sopranos moll Adriana La Cerva ; ) saying, “We want to start with education.”
But, if that doesn’t work, “you can’t rule out dealing with the problem by enforcement.”
If there’s something you think we should know, contact us – tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
Organized Crime ploy – Are OC and ‘piracy’ connected?, August 19, 2005
The Australian – Movies plan move on pirates, August 23, 2005
August 24th, 2005 at 8:09 pm
Yeah! They shouldnt be allowed to enforce their copyrights!!!
August 24th, 2005 at 8:46 pm
great oc pic and caption. hehehe
August 24th, 2005 at 9:33 pm
“operating on high volume and very low profit margins”
Relatively high volume and fairly substantial profit margins (retail North America)
Above quotation (ie: Pacific Mall substores)
I know it takes a fair amount of funding to make and distribute a film (some more to manufacture the DVD with all its bells and whistles), but really, who can blame people for heading to ‘illicit’ dealers, considering prices in ‘licit’ retailers ($5 for DVD9 copy vs $29 for original DVD9)? Economics, but if ‘licit’s continue to do this, oh well…
August 25th, 2005 at 4:36 am
This could be interesting. Australian law is very different to US law in some very important areas. I won’t give them any hints, but i will warn them to be very careful what they say…
August 25th, 2005 at 7:01 pm
We are being targeted by logs CONFISCATED from BT sites (such as Lokitorrent) shut down by MPAA / RIAA.
Anonymity is needed URGENTLY now to protect us from this RACKET!
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Studios mine P2P logs to sue swappers
Published: August 25, 2005, 10:34 AM PDT
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
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Hollywood studios filed a new round of lawsuits against file swappers on Thursday, for the first time using peer-to-peer companies’ own data to track down individuals accused of trading movies online.
The Motion Picture Association of America said it filed 286 lawsuits against people around the United States based on information acquired from file-trading sites shut down earlier in the year. Most of those sites were hubs connecting people using the BitTorrent technology, a peer-to-peer application designed for speeding downloads of large files.
The group previously said in February that a Texas court had ordered that the server logs of one big site, called LokiTorrent, be turned over to Hollywood investigators. Hollywood lawyers are hoping that the fear of exposure will dissuade more people from trying to download movies for free online.
“Internet movie thieves be warned: You have no friends in the online community when you are engaging in copyright theft,” MPAA Senior Vice President John Malcom said in a statement.
Studios launched an aggressive new campaign against individual file swappers and peer-to-peer services last December, in particular targeting the BitTorrent hubs that served as jumping-off points for downloading a wide array of software and movies.
Many of the most popular sites, including SuprNova, LokiTorrent and others, have since shut down, either voluntarily or on the heels of lawsuits.
Although it is widely used for piracy, BitTorrent is increasingly being tapped for wholly legitimate applications such as distributing open-source software. Web browser company Opera Software has even built the technology into the latest version of its Net-surfing software.
BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen has warned in the past that using his technology to distribute material illegally is a “dumb idea,” because the file-swapping tool is not designed to hide the identity of anyone using it.