[25/5]$4 Million In Fines For Linking To Infringing Files

[SomeUpper]

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/25/131221

Though SD was a little slow, the arstechnica article from 23/5:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080523-linking-to-movies-leads-to-4-million-in-fines.html

SomeUpper Reviewed by SomeUpper on 26th May 2008. [25/5]$4 Million In Fines For Linking To Infringing Files http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/25/131221 Though SD was a little slow, the arstechnica article from 23/5: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080523-linking-to-movies-leads-to-4-million-in-fines.html Rating: 5

[Wau]

This is a good topic to get a good discussion going and trow the facts on this board what we are risking here.

Will some of us be next and get a big fine and might be in debt for the rest of our live? our is our situation different? what are you doing to prevent this to happen with you and your website.

I have spoken to the owner of ShowStash in the paste and he was not one of the big guys.

What are your thoughts about all this? And can this forum end up being an honeypot to get to the webmasters.

People are posting there income, information, websites etc

[SomeUpper]

I would never host my site in the US. I am surpriced there are actually people who do. Why? Could you explain me? You're not saving money or getting extra speed compared to Europe. It only seems to be to be a major weakness.
I already have trouble uploading to places hosted in the US due to any information from me that might be stored, that might be taken in a bust.

Before I start anything I will read up on all laws relevant to me, to protect myself. I will contact some law students or lawyers (as long as they do it for free ;]) who are on my side (freedom of speech, filesharing and/or piracy), and ask them for advise. I will also ask how to best protect myself against bankruptcy in my own country would it come to that. I will host in a "safe" country, attempting to use a trusted middleman.

[4815162342]

It doesn't matter where you host... if they wanna take you down, they will take you down.

Torrentspy was run and owned by non-American citizens, hosted off-shore and they even had all American traffic blocked and still the MPAA got to them... you're not safe anywhere, the MPAA pretty much have all legal systems of the world by the balls.

[iBook]

Honestly, with the exception of some countries in Europe (Sweden) and Asia (Hong Kong (though this is kinda a part of China, It's also kinda separate) ) and developing countries in Europe (Estonia/Latvia/Bulgaria/Romania/Russia etc.) and Asia (China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand), there aren't any places where It's "legal" to link to/host copyrighted content. Though in Hong Kong and Sweden where there aren't any laws against linking to content, or there actually is legal precedent which states it is legal, most developing countries either have no laws against internet piracy, or piracy there is so rampant, the laws aren't enforced.

However, the reach of corporate America is very far, with the exception of very few countries like Iran and North Korea, nowhere is actually safe from the influence of IFPI/MPAA/RIAA. If you're a huge site hosted in a "safe" location (I.E. ThePirateBay in Sweden), the corporate copyright cunts will lobby (a BS political term for bribe) the US Government to bring you down, and the government actually threatened sanctions on Sweden if ThePirateBay wasn't taken down, and indeed it was illegally raided in summer of 2006 because of this (according to Sweden law, anyway).

Honestly, if you're a small site (I.E. not in top 10,000 on Alexa I'd say) you'd have to be really unlucky to get raped by the MPAA/RIAA/IFPI. It has happened (as is the topic of this article). The best advice is, if you're afraid of the law, or what could happen to you, simply don't start a warez site.

Also, keep in mind, that the location of your site is really not the thing that optimally matters, unless your site getting raped by the MPAA/RIAA/IFPI actually happens, it matters very little. There are many large sites (I.E. Undernation, ForumW, ProjectW) hosted by hosts in the US. Warez-BB used to be hosted by Hurricane Electric in the US (this was a while ago, though). The thing that matters the most, is your host/datacenter. There are lots of hosts in Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore etc. that don't allow warez sites, and others that do.

[Lease]

Also, keep in mind, that the location of your site is really not the thing that optimally matters, unless your site getting raped by the MPAA/RIAA/IFPI actually happens, it matters very little.

It does matter though? Say you're hosted in the US, and they decide to raid you without any notification; They would have easier access since the servers in the US?

[iBook]

I'm pretty sure in the US, the MPAA isn't allowed access to your servers (legally) regardless, that would be considered a conflict of interest/tampering with evidence. Only US law enforcement and investigators are allowed access to your servers (as was the case with EliteTorrents).

In the US and most developed countries the police/law enforcement have to do the "raiding" so to speak. If it does indeed come down to that, and you do live in a developed country and/or you used real information for your site, you are pretty much screwed. However keep in mind, of the tens of thousands of warez and torrent sites out there, I'd say fewer than 100 have actually had charges brought against them or prosecuted. If you're all about statistics, that's less than 1%, but then again you could say "Well, someone has to be that [less than] 1%, and it could be me".

[Golden Falcon]

Both these sites obviously are hosted in the US that this happened.

Thats what you get, I learned my lesson from US servers long time ago.

[Wau]

At the moment only streaming websites and big torrent sites have been fined.

What's your guys view about DDL sites? katz, phaze, undernation etc.. These websites are in the top 2000 on Alexa. And are pulling major google traffic. I'm sure the RIAA our the MPAA found these sites already. But they haven't taken action for years.

The difference about DDL sites is that they link to sites that link to copyrighted material.

We need some kind of lawyer to figure out what we can and what we can't do. Simply protect ourself and not get fined for millions

[SomeUpper]

We need some kind of lawyer to figure out what we can and what we can't do. Simply protect ourself and not get fined for millions

I absolutely agree. Anyone that has any friends who study law or are lawyer should try to bring them here. I'm surpriced there isn't at least one here already... they're rather important for our survival.