• linuxnub

    I agree with Matthew. How will they distinguish a Linux OS download via P2P or newsgroups? Are they going to deem it as illegal even though it’s common form of distribution?

  • splendic

    Agree with above.

    AND even worse, if they do allow people to use p2p progams they’re going to have to (find a way to) monitor EVERYTHING YOU DO while online…

    It’s simple cash-induced lobbying that has allowed these DINOSAURIC corporations (AND NOT SAID “ARTISTS”) to continue to beat against their own consumer base’s rights, instead of changing their archaic paradigm of intellectual property rights.

  • warthan58

    Only the guilty need worry. “Legitimately”?? Oh come on, P2P is about as legit as the KKK using freedom of speech. How stupid do you think we are?

    In Portland, OR, there is an “adopt a highway” sign sponsored by the Nazi’s (who apparently clean up the road). Well, I guess the 0.1% good they’re doing means they should be allowed to exist, right?

    See the sign: http://lacar.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=530

    When something is generally harmful, it should not be allowed to exist. P2P is 99% used to steal, so screw the 1% of good it does. The truth is all you freedom-whiners want to illegally download your games, movies, and music, so that you can have more money for smoking weed. We all know what P2P “really” is, what it’s “really” used for, and you’re not fooling anyone.

    Stop waving the American flag crying “freedom”, and stop stealing. Real people work very hard to produce movies, games, & music, and they deserve to get paid for it.

  • hawke

    warthan, you’re right. P2P is evil because it can be used for pirating. Computers, camcorders, mp3 players, they should all go becuase they can cause piracy as well. On that note, cars kill a lot of people every year. So mabye we should ban them while we are at it. Don’t forget to ban all weapons, obviously guns kill many people. I love your reasoning, it makes the world so simple.

    Cars are obviously not bad, its the guy that can’t drive, intoxicated, and/or tired that cause the bulk of car deaths. You don’t see people whining about cars being evil. P2P is the same, its not the tech thats bad, but those behind the wheel that are responsible.

    Back on track, before you spout out more BS about the 99% bad 1% good arguement, mabye you could come back with some prove to that matter.

  • asdfasdfasd

    warth58 – seriously you do not look at the good P2P technology brings. It is only the mass adoption of copy written material that has tainted the great technology. One that allows large works/streams to be spread with less of a load on a internet backbone that might be showing signs of high loads.

    Ultimately laws will be changed so that people are not punished for downloading “Sharing” copy written material as long as the then dont make or use that item to turn a profit. Face it casual downloading hardly hurts the artist, and new studies suggest that more CD’s are sold because of P2P traffic (any advertisement is good).

    Face it when audio tapes and VCR’s came out the media distributors were in an up roar. Look an artist should make money by merchandise and concerts, sales from their songs would bring in money from radio/public playing this does not change from the past.

    CD’s or downloads of songs are more an advertisement of the band so people go see them in concerts and by their swag. The giant labels know this and the ONLY revenue they make for the shitty job they do is from CD sales.

    Face it times are changing P2P works for so many distribution channels that it is good for the web. What you call theft is not if the person downloading never intended to buy the item, see that movie, use the program. If they dont sell it after downloading it, or use it to make a product that they then sell HOW ARE THEY STEALING!?!?

    I ask how can you steal bits of numbers? Do people own a 128 bit hash value? Can it be copy written?

    Where the governments need to go after is people turning a profit from P2P downloads. Go to the Middle East/Asia and buy some software for dirt cheap, go to China and buy a computer with WinXP on it that was stolen…That is real piracy…

    Real people work hard to make REAL ITEMS, Things that keep you alive and yet they are not paid millions of dollars to act in a film, film a porn star F*(King some dude, or that MMO you are wasting your life on, etc.

    Without people that make a decent living doing the real smoke stack jobs your artist would not get to make that millions of dollars in a film, games would be meaningless because you would be farming your own food.

    It is not they are not getting paid you brainwasher fool, it is the distributors that are hurting (RIAA,MPAA,etc.) and they are obsolete now with the technology we have. Also imagine no piracy then lots of hard working lawyers will lose their jobs and they desired to be paid don’t they?

    The model has changed and they are like in the 70′s and 80′s fighting that change, but at some point they must go with it or die…guess warthan58 will be dying.

    And for the Nazi and KKK BS give me a break.

  • asdfasdfasd

    As for the law it will lose in court. P2P will go completely encrypted and they wont be able to look at a packet to see what it is…

    Just because they can produce a hash number, a date, a IP address does not prove you have anything! I will take a responds from thepiratebay.org to a copy right claim.

    “Do you actually claim to own the copyright of these 160 bit hash values?
    Since there is an infinite number of possible files that would produce
    the same hashes, would they also violate it?”

    That is the only way they can find a so called violation and it is piss poor at that. With wireless security lax in most homes again they cannot prove you are at fault. There is just to much what ifs to even start talking about banning people.

    This is why the RIAA has convicted only one case to date because the defendant was STUPID. And though they ruled for 9 songs she owe 270,000 dollars her lawyer is arguing that the supreme court only awards 9 times the retail value for damages and thus she should only have to pay ~81 dollars. This is because a song is only worth about 1 dollar on iTunes.

    This law will never go into effect nor will it hold up in court.

  • linuxnub

    Joost uses P2P to stream videos. Future internet TV services will also use P2P to distribute live video streams. P2P is NOT necessarily a bad thing.

  • compres

    How ignorant. The future of networking is peer to peer, it is here to stay, it uses otherwise unused resources, it only makes sense.

    I agree the ethical and economic problem of sharing IP has not simple solution. But what have been explained in this article is very archaic and ignorant approach.

    And in France, people complain a lot in public, so I don’t think it could last even if they try. Remember how they killed their monarchy in the past, they still have some of that heritage.

  • EsoomYale

    >”Do you actually claim to own the copyright of
    >these 160 bit hash values?
    >That is the only way they can find a so called
    >violation and it is piss poor at that.

    They could also seize the computers at either or both ends of a transfer, and then simply check the logs and files on these PCs.

  • asdfasdfasd

    They cannot just SEIZE a computer from that limited evidence. God people give their rights away left and right. Smart people super-clean their computers frequently so they could not grab any logs without paying lots of money.

    Lastly just because a person thinks I stole something unless they have good reason they cannot grab my stuff and search it.

    Look RIAA is facing some stiff questions about quantifying their actual damages. This is a hard item to quantify and with music whole sale price at 70 cents a song the awards of 100,000 dollars seems a bit excessive dont you think? The IFPI is next to face these questions as they should.

    Look you have a right to protect your property, but you have to conduct a search legally, not unduly invade a person privacy, and have enough evidence to make a legal claim. This has been forgotten lately.

  • Zeked

    I spent the day downloading Open Source off P2P, so France – go to hell.

    The minimal cost of digital duplication and distribution, currently makes illegal copying impossible to control. That is a fact. No matter how many personal liberties the governments try to strip away, it is a battle that can not be won.

    I just wish governments everywhere would tell the US monopolies to get bent instead of playing lap dogs.

    The true destruction of culture is a DRM society where a distortion of copyright eliminates fair use. Who the hell are these current content creators that do not stand on the shoulders of giants that came before them?

    An even greater destruction of a culture is a government that decides to filter and moderate the Internet. Digest that, because it is important.

    Kinda sad seeing decent countries pissing away more folks liberties and attempting to drain the oceans of cultural benefit for the profit of a select few.