ISPs Will 'Break Your Internet' If They Catch You Pirating

[obdigore]

The idea of music artists not making it big without companies seems to me to now be an archaic statement. The internet allows for free publicity. If you're lucky, or really that good, or publicised well across media sharing websites it is plausible you could extract a following through that. The companies simply exist to monopolise the industry and publicise their own artists.

The Artists don't 'make it big' (monetarily at least) from making CD's or having eleventy-billion hits on youtube. Most of their income is derived from the shows they do.

[Deleted]

The Artists don't 'make it big' (monetarily at least) from making CD's or having eleventy-billion hits on youtube. Most of their income is derived from the shows they do.

Yes, because it seems their record label sucks up all the income from any sales.

[obdigore]

Yes, because it seems their record label sucks up all the income from any sales.

They wouldn't make much of the sales, even the record labels don't make much off the album sales. Those just drive the shows and get people to come out and pay money for a seat and buy the merch at the shows which is where all the money comes from.

[Djuntas]

Translated: I like giving corporations the power to police my activities.

Do you have something to hide MR? I'm ready for a police-state or w/e you could call it.

I dont understand what with this damn fear on the net. You afraid of something, hiding something? You worried about that mass snuff film downloading, child porn or what?

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

Not really. Catching the average low-skilled pirate would actually be pretty easy. I remember back at Uni several classmates getting their net cut off because they were really stupidly cavalier about it.

The same can be said about the average person who has multiple computers on their network.

[Glaziola]

This is one of the good sides of living in Balkan since you can torrent illegal Games/Movies 24/7 without any punishment :P

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

So, pro-pirating people, let's put things this way: If I make movies / music / videogames for a living, what right do you think you have to get those things for free and deny me the paying I and my company rightfully should have earned?

And this is coming from someone who considers himself a leftist and despises big corporations. I find that, in a perfect world, money would not even exist in the first place, so this wouldn't be a problem. But this is the world we're living, for the best and for the worst. Therefore, I support anti piracy laws, even if none will stop piracy entirely

My response is: Are you really going to care if people who weren't going to buy your creations get them for free while simultaneously spreading their name to others who may in turn buy them? Are you going to complain about those who pirate your work and then buy it because they like it?

[Kaleredar]

Of course it's fair and legal. You are paying to use their service. If you are using their service to break the law, they are well within their rights to terminate your link to their service. People seriously need to start reading service agreements before signing.

You don't like it? Form your own ISP.

Pretty much this. You pay the company for their service. If you dislike their services, you stop paying them and move on to another company.

[Deleted]

Oh man, sometime it's just super rewarding to live in Bulgaria.

Yep, the USA laws seem to be getting more and more oppressive and retarded.

I wonder when will the people actually put their feet down.

[wvx]

The opposite is actually very true as well. Many people get a pirated copy, then decide they were glad they didn't buy it.

Yup , this should encourage firms to actually make a good product , not something that is beautifully wrapped but containing a big pile of manure . I guess there are plenty of people here who bought something , only to realize hours later that it wasn't at all what it looked like .

[Kaleredar]

Yep, the USA laws seem to be getting more and more oppressive and retarded.

I wonder when will the people actually put their feet down.

Except your statement fails considering this is a company's policy, not US law. If piraters, constituting whatever allegedly appreciable percentage of the entirety of the internet-using US, don't like it, they can use their money and switch to an ISP provider that doesn't have these rules.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

Pretty much this. You pay the company for their service. If you dislike their services, you stop paying them and move on to another company.

'Another company' doesn't exist in a fucking lot of places.

[Deleted]

Glad I live in the Netherland, there is no such thing as downloading illegal content here. I only pirate shit if there is no demo or if I lost my disk tho.

[Kaleredar]

'Another company' doesn't exist in a fucking lot of places.

Then you start your own, or boycott them.

[Deleted]

Except your statement fails considering this is a company's policy, not US law. If piraters, constituting whatever allegedly appreciable percentage of the entirety of the internet-using US, don't like it, they can use their money and switch to an ISP provider that doesn't have these rules.

Like any ISP provider can function by not adhering to the rules established by the bussiness community in the area. You may find that bussiness owners who do things in ways that come against the understandings in a certain area, especially when it's a about a small group, don't last very long. Permits become harder to get, authorities get a hard on about checking your company 24/7, partners become reluctant to work with you, etc etc. Trust me, you don't go against the flow.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

Then you start your own, or boycott them.

Yeah because you can start your own company when the city has an exclusive contract to give access to public lines required for your company to exist to an existing company. You might as well have said "Buy a house in another state and move there."

Not that the "start your own company" argument ever made sense anyway. Customers have every right to complain about businesses doing stupid shit.


internet service provider provider

[Kaleredar]

But this has to be supported by law.

Insofar that "not forbidden by law" means "supported by law," then yes.

How would you feel if some ISP said they disagree with evolution, so everyone visiting wikipedia loses his/her internet?
Or a republican-ISP that bans every user who goes to democratic websites.

Just because it's a private company doesn't mean they can do what they want.

Then you either impact change or take your spending power elsewhere. Just like I said. Also recall that under the law, the piraters are actually doing something illegal. Visiting a democratic website or looking up Charles Darwin, last time I checked, isn't illegal.

A local hamburger chain prints John 3:16 on the bottom of their cups and french fry containers. Should someone be able to take legal recourse against them because they don't feel that said hamburger chain's fast food adequately supports their religious views?

Yeah because you can start your own company when the city has an exclusive contract to give access to public lines required for your company to exist to an existing company. You might as well have said "Buy a house in another state and move there."

Not that the "start your own company" argument ever made sense anyway. Customers have every right to complain about businesses doing stupid shit.


internet service provider provider

And that's where the boycott part comes in.

[Deleted]

This makes me laugh so hard... I almost fell of my chair. So ISPs want to spy on my communications to find an argument to throttle my download speed )or stop my downloads completely) in order to make more profit?

Can someone please tell the gentlemen running these companies that without file sharing/software piracy noone needs unlimited bandwith and 100Mbps connections? I mean... if I can only use the internet for games and reading the news I most definitely won't be paying 50€ / month... These actions if enforced would only hurt the ISPs themselves as people who see themselves prevented from downloading would change provider or cancel/downgrade their subscriptions.

[Deleted]

I'm pretty sure there's something very off with your math, and even if it wasnt, then the companies have all the right to make money as artists have. The money they get from an album obviously doesn't go only to the artist. It goes to everyone, from the top man to the guy cleaning the toilets. All of them have the right to earn that money. Besides, whether you like it or not, companies are a necessary evil. Artists can't make it big without them

ummm... no. The companies do not sing. The companies do not act. The companies do not [insert stuff artists do here]. The companies only promote them. You know who else promotes artists? The public. So hold on, the companies do nothing then?

Well let's go and see for a writer. I write a book. So I'm going to publish it... wait, no. The law in my country forbids non-publishers to publish a book. So if I had a book, I had the means to publish it and could do it right now, the state wouldn't let me.

Fine, so I go to an authorized publisher. So they say "well ok, we'll take 90% of earnings for stuff" but I say "what stuff? I have written the book, I can copy it a few thousand times myself, I have paper, I have a distribution way", and the company says "well how about promotion?" but I don't want promotion.

In the end, all you pay for is the benefit of having the emblem of the company that distributed your book on your knowledge, your creativity, your imagination.
And for this you pay a mere 90% at least. That's not fair at all.

Do companies have a right to make money? of course? But should they make more money from someone's ideas then the actual creator? NO!

[Ethes]

First off I'd like to point out that I'm Dutch so I'm not that familiar with US law. However, I do feel that this is unlawful as it goes against the user agreements and privacy laws.

In the Netherlands it's completely legal to download anything except software (so no windows, games, etc). So I can download movies and music as much as I want without being sued, etc. Besides that the current politician do not wish for individual prosecutions (like this example from a few pages back). The real question here is however, how can the ISP tell that I'm doing something illegal and who are they to determen that.

Now that said, I wonder how ISP providers can tell that I'm indeed downloading illegal content without breaking privacy rules. Even if I would download software, I might very well do this legally. Same applies to movies, music, etc. Besides that, in The Netherlands law tells us that we're allowed to make copies for private use. Now I'm not sure how this would apply legally but, what if my legally bought windows 7 home dvd got scratched and doesn't work anymore. Yet I've paid for my dvd and for the software on it but I can't access it anymore. However, law says I can copy stuff for my personal use. So, I copy the same thing I already own (namely the license to use Microsoft's intellectual property), I only do it through to internet from somebody else.

Now I'm quite sure my example there isn't legal, but this is not for the ISP to determen. Thats what a court is made for, not my ISP provider.

The next thing has to do with IP address which forms a problem for this law. In The Netherlands it has already happened in court that a user of the IP address might not be the person who owns the connection and that an IP address is not legally bound to a person. However, there is a person who pays for the connection. So if this person is punished for something he might not be doing (and can't legally be proven guilty for this) it seems quite unlawful to punish this person nevertheless.

Now in The Netherlands this would never be legal and although I'm aware that American law differs from ours, I'm quite sure that privacy restrictions and the concept of "innocent till proven guilty" weigh heavier than Hollywood and its money. Although it doesn't seem to be the case for these five ISP providers.

Now I actually think that the problem is that companies aren't making the system work for them but that they're to work the system. But as the system is changing they can't keep up and resort to these kinds of extreme measures (again the Finnish example with the 9 year old girl springs to mind, but this one as well (thanks someone else in this thread))

The problem starts with the system itself. The internet is evolving, this can't be denied! There are companies doing very well and yet they're providing a free product. The idea of music labels (same applies for movies, games as well but that works a little different) is outdated and should be transformed into something that will actually benefit the artist, as that is the one these anti-piracy agencies are trying to protect, or so they say. And yet this is not the case at all (I refer you again to the article about the Finnish 9 year old girl), the artist was quite unhappy about this situation.

If these music labels (again, same for movie producers) want to stay ahead in the game they should trying to make the current system work for them. Internet and social media are great tools, specially to reach the younger generations. The only thing they need to do is change the way they make their money! Things like concerts, Ads on their website, shooting commercials, etc instantly come to mind. But I'm sure that a multi-billion dollar company can come up with some better ideas!

As for games, the same thing applies. The way the company earns its money should change to keep up with the current way of life. Games where you pay money for game time already implemented this. Games where you can buy in-game upgrades with actual money have a different way of earning money. And the good thing about these games is, you can try them out before you get the complete game (wow, level up to 20 before you have to buy anything, RuneScape membership benefits, Battlefield Heroes ingame upgrades, etc)

Companies need to get out there and understand that the days of paying €60-€70 euro's for a game are over. Which is the other problem with games. I would happily spend around €15 to buy a game and try it out. But the prices are absolutely insane! Yet, I payed way more than €70 to Blizzard for my warcraft account! So if a game turns out to be liked, people (or atleast I am) happily willing to pay!

Edit: my apoligies, it turned out to be quite a wall-of-text!