Hollywood Suing Canadian Torrent Users

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by noname74, Apr 19, 2019.

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  1. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian Thread Starter

    Location:
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  2. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian Thread Starter

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    And that has what to do with the linked story?
     
  3. sixtiesstereo

    sixtiesstereo Senior Member

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I'm not clear on this. Bit Torrent is mentioned in the above article. What about users
    of Bit Torrent in the US, and elsewhere? Why only Canadian users?
     
    melstapler likes this.
  4. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian Thread Starter

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    I assume that's coming if it hasn't already.
     
  5. Canadians are some of the heaviest users of Bit Torrent downloads, so I'm not surprised by this action. If we had access to the same content via streaming, such as Netflix for instance, it would alleviate the problem significantly. I heard that Netflix Canada only offers up about 10% of what's available to U.S. subscribers. I imagine it would be similar for HBO and the like. Unless that issue gets resolved, which I seriously doubt due to various rights and distribution restrictions, Canadians will continue to get their fix where they can.
     
  6. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian Thread Starter

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    I think that 10% thing was at the beginning..it's not like that any longer. The US one may have slightly more content but nowhere near those kind of numbers.
     
  7. I'm just going by what I hear and if that's true it makes sense. It's not an issue for me as I don't use Bit Torrent or anything else of that nature.
     
  8. townsend

    townsend Senior Member

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    Ridgway, CO
    melstapler, carrick doone and Deesky like this.
  9. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    People think using a VPN makes you undetectable by those who want to find people stealing material.

    It doesn't. They just subpoena the VPN companies for information on their end.
     
    melstapler likes this.
  10. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian Thread Starter

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    Depends which VPN. There are many of them in countries that could care less about a US request for information.
     
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  11. Mirrorblade.1

    Mirrorblade.1 Forum Resident

    Rolls eyes..
     
  12. Dream On

    Dream On Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    That may (or may have) been true, but it's no excuse. These people are getting what they deserve.
     
    Karnak likes this.
  13. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    scare tactics....
     
    Strat-Mangler likes this.
  14. zakyfarms

    zakyfarms White cane lying in a gutter in the lane.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Some VPNs don’t keep any records.
     
  15. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Disagree. Plenty of factors make this debatable.
     
  16. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    For the lawyers the primary goal is to make money through settlements but for the studios I think they're looking at this acting as a scare tactic to deter people from downloading.
     
  17. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    ...which would otherwise be more trouble for them to exact sufficient immediate damages to overcome the bad publicity they would be incurring upon themselves.

    Imagine if one of these studios latched on a major downloader, made a big noise about it for the publicity...then, realized the offender were to be, say, the daughter of a Supreme Court justice, or a major stockholder, or a studio head's nephew, or any one of a dozen culprits that would bring more crap down on them than it were ever worth in the first place.
     
  18. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Basically taking it one step further by actually asking the courts to compel ISPs to reveal the identity of those behind the IP. Not a legal expert but it appears that by using this reverse class action process they can file one suit with many people and hence not have to go to court to get the details behind each IP individually but they can cover all in one shot. So it makes it easier for them to do this.
     
  19. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    They have current data on their servers of who current customers are and what their IP addresses are.
     
  20. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    They have a list of customers but what some won't have is a link between the customers actual IP address and IP addresses they have been assigned because they don't keep those logs. Some say they don't but actually do and some say they don't and actually don't.
     
  21. Dream On

    Dream On Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    It's cut and dried theft as far as I'm concerned. The only reason so many people do it as opposed to stealing other stuff is because they believe there is no risk, which I think says a lot about people in general.

    Folks can try to justify it all they want but that doesn't make it right.
     
    Brenald79 and Karnak like this.
  22. Brenald79

    Brenald79 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I wonder if our high prices for cable and specialty channels is why there’s such heavy bit torrent use here.
     
  23. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    That's true. VPNs must keep a minimal amount of information per customer purely for billing purposes (you can fake your actual information and use pre-paid, anonymous gift cards for payment). Those VPNs that don't log have no idea which sites you visit, so a subpoena is worthless. I know that PIA was served a subpoena to access user information some while back, but the feds got nothing as no surfing information was held.
     
    melstapler, Shawn and eddiel like this.
  24. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Incorrect.

    1) I bought a CD a few years ago which had an anti-piracy scheme on it making the DVD drive it's stuck in impossible for Windows to see. Many drives and PCs later, I had no choice but to download a FLAC copy off a BitTorrent so I could enjoy the music I legitimately bought while on-the-go. I should be sued because I used the only way to get MP3s for something I paid for?

    2) A TV show I wanted to watch from France wasn't available for viewing on any streaming platform in Canada. No Blu-Rays could be bought of it either. It could be streamed in France only as they ensure you're geographically present in France before allowing you to watch it. Neither the studio nor the TV station on which it broadcast's had any valid answers for me. Here I was, credit card in hand, with no one to pay to allow me to watch it. It was plain unavailable unless I traveled to France so I downloaded it. Should I be sued for viewing a show otherwise unavailable anywhere else in the world under any circumstance?

    3) My wife loves the show This Is Us. Unfortunately, it takes at least 1-2 years in Canada before some seasons of US shows are available for viewing. We have Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. But season 3 just wasn't available for streaming anywhere. Though the first 2 seasons were Netflixed, I downloaded the latest one so she could see it without having to wait 1-2 years for Netflix to show it. Should I be sued for getting it early while still paying the platform it's on?

    Not all downloading is of the "I'm downloading it so I don't have to pay for it" variety. In all 3 instances, there was no other choice to get access to the content than to download it illegally. Otherwise, the alternatives were to buy the album again in MP3 format this time, travel to France or never see the show, and wait 1-2 years, respectively. All of them are equally ridiculous. In the last 2 cases, I was quite willing to pay for the content but alas, no one wanted my money for its availability. And about the first, I should've had the ability to rip it myself.

    Up to you to have a "black or white" way of looking at things but context always shows shades of gray. IMHO, this suing exercise should be reserved for those purposely doing so in order to get access to available content without paying, such as downloading movies so they don't have to buy the Blu-Ray or pay for a subscription on a streaming platform or cable service (e.g. HBO). It shouldn't be for anyone who downloaded anything for any reason.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2019
  25. Dream On

    Dream On Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Scenarios 1 and 2 I think is fine. We might disagree on scenario 3 (maybe, maybe not). This is largely why I only watch completed series, so I don't have to wait to watch all the episodes.

    Maybe I should have been more clear with my position (I honestly didn't think I had to say it). I am talking about the heavy, habitual downloaders - of which there are many out there. I don't know who is being targeted but I would imagine it's not people who have downloaded one or two things in the past 10 years. It makes no sense spending any resources there. I've known people who have received warning letters in the past and it's always been due to the volume of stuff they have downloaded.
     
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