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Sharing 2,999 Songs, 199 Movies Is Safe In Germany
Posted by
kdawson
on Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:33 AM
from the aappropriate-allocation-of-prosecutorial-resources dept.
from the aappropriate-allocation-of-prosecutorial-resources dept.
unassimilatible writes "Torrentfreak is reporting that German prosecutors will now only pursue larger-scale file sharers on the Internet, as they are tired of being the entertainment industry's profit collector. 'Prosecutors in a German state have announced they will refuse to entertain the majority of file-sharing lawsuits in [the] future. It appears that only commercial-scale copyright infringers will be pursued, with those sharing under 3,000 music tracks and 200 movies dropping under the prosecution radar.' And the money quote: 'It seems that the legal system in Germany has had enough of this "abuse" of the criminal law system for "civil" monetary gain.' If only an American politician would make this point. Why should taxpayers underwrite their government becoming enforcers for the entertainment industry? Then again, when you see how much politicians are being paid, an answer suggests itself."
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German commies (Score:5, Funny)
Re:German commies (Score:4, Funny)
"German prosecutors only pursue larger-scale file sharers. Bush attacks Paraguay."
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Germans doing Republicans a favor. (Score:4, Interesting)
Why? Bush should say something about how terrible it is, and do absolutely nothing. Let's face it - the entertainment industry is not exactly packed with Republicans these days. Republicans need to be about as friendly to the entertainment business as the entertainment business is to coal and nuclear. If the whole world and all of your allies want you to let your political enemies be driven out of business by too much copying, why should you really stop them? Come on liberals, copy away. The pen might be mightier than the sword, but its still a weakling compared to the greenback
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, the actual actors, directors and set workers may lean democratic, but I posit that the actual owners lean heavily to the Republicans. You know, companies like General Electric and so on. Board members, people like that. The sort of people that see movies and songs as commodities, not as artworks. The people behind the RIAA and MPAA, who constantly lobby for longer copyright protections.
It isn't much different in newspapers either. The reporters may be more liberal and social-minded, but the owners oft
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This reads like a Martian found a Thesaurus and a copy of English: the Journal of Literary Criticism and then got stoned on too much Dr. Pepper.
The entire point of communication is to transfer ideas. This is just a really bad attempt at that. It's like someone juggling chainsaws as an attempt to build a house.
logic error (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:logic error (Score:5, Insightful)
Which takes up time in court, Which wastes tax money, Which you and I pay.
Sorry, but that is irrelevant. If you suggest that we should create a system in which only "fair" lawsuits could be brought to court, I'd ask you who would decide which is fair.
In any case, the court can always ask the looser to pay court costs if they decide that the lawsuit had no merits.
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Re:logic error (Score:5, Funny)
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, given that the RIAA have attempted to sue people who don't own a computer, I'd be inclined to disagree...
Re:logic error (Score:4, Insightful)
It is entirely within your power to stop the RIAA suits as well.
Turn off your file-sharing software.
What about legitimate file-sharing, such as creative commons, open source, and free as in free beer content? And how exactly do you define "File sharing". File sharing can be done through anything as simple as e-mail or ftp.
The RIAA's been known to target the most trivial instances of file sharing, and in some cases you [afterdawn.com] don't [techdirt.com] even need a computer [metafilter.com]
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Re:logic error (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure the RIAA is guilty of abuses. They should be punished.
There are legitimate uses of file sharing. They should not be prohibited.
There is an enormous population of people using p2p software to copy movies, music and software with no plans to ever pay the producers for what they use. This should at least be acknowledged.
It is the people in that third group provoking companies to lash out.
I personally have taken a different course and just don't buy what isn't worth buying. I'll do without. I'm not entitled to every song I kind of like but not enough to pay for.
Now, please proceed to mod me down again. I'm as on topic as anyone else in Slashdot, but I'm disagreeing with you and that is usually enough.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
There is an enormous population of people using p2p software to copy movies, music and software with no plans to ever pay the producers for what they use. This should at least be acknowledged.
An enormous population? No. That cannot be acknowledged until it has been proven. The RIAA, for example, claimed that billions of songs were being illegally downloaded a month. Billions, with a B. A couple of months later, they reported that their profits grew a few percent from the previous year.
I can easily picture there are people out there downloading stuff and never paying for it. But lots of people? No, I can't. If all the P2P traffic out there was really about avoiding paying money to producer
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The anecdotal rate at which I was finding Kazaa (and thereby spyware) on customer computers a few years ago indicates there was a better than 50% chance that a home computer with a broadband connection was being used to get copyrighted media via P2P.
Okay. Correlate that with actual money not being spent.
Since we're using anecdotal evidence here, I'll throw some in on my own. I know lots of dudes that are fully capable of downloading movies, games, music, you name it. They know how. They have the means. Some of them even have a theater system set up so they can enjoy that content rather luxuriously. Of all those dudes, and I'm talking 20'ish here, only one of them actually avoids spending money on those things because he can get them on the net.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The criminal sanctions are the wrong instrument. Copyright infringement is a matter of civil enforcement, not criminal enforcement. You cannot spam the Staatsanwaltschaften with copyright infringement.
The RIAA works hard to get the IPRED2 directive adopted which would make criminal sanctions more widely available [ipred.org], effectively messing up the criminal penalty system for the sake of a dying Hollywood movie industry that already lost the war.
It is like the SS who hanged ordinary citizens on the fly who didn't w
Re:logic error (Score:4, Informative)
Correct.
But to sue somebody, they have to know whom.
So what they do in Germany, they send the IP adress of a suppost pirate to the prosecuters, who investigate the matter. While doing this they ask the internet providers for the identity of the person who used that IP address at that time.
In most cases, they stop investigating once they come to the conclusion that no crime was commited.
Now the lawyers of the recording industry get the opportunity to look into the files of the prosecuters, get the information of the suspected pirate and sue him in a civil case.
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No logic error (Score:5, Informative)
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not a logic error (Score:3, Informative)
In germany, the RIAA abuses the criminal courts to get the ID of file sharers. They file a criminal report on which the authorities have to act. Then they demand access to the records in order to obtain the identity of the "terrorist". Criminal charges are dropped in 99.9% of all cases, but the RIAA has the identity and files a civil suit.
Re:logic error (Score:5, Interesting)
For a civil suit, you need to know who to sue. An IP address only won't fly for that in germany - you need identities. But the ISPs are not giving out customer details to private companies. So what the industry does is filing a criminal suit first, so the police has to investigate, subpoenaing the infringers identity from the ISP. Then, the criminal suit is retracted - as there has been no commercial infringment, so there's no success to be found there - but because of court documentation, the infringers name, address etc. are still known to the RIAAish organization. They then use this information for filing a civil suit. The new policy closes this loophole. You could still be prosecuted for downloading even one song, but there is now pretty much no way to get your IP unless you're _probably_ guilty commercial copyright infringment. Where the line is to be drawn is upon the courts to decide. FYI, downloading an only very recently or not yet released movie _does_ probably count as commercial - as it probably hurts the commercial interested of the rightsholder.
It's overally a quite sane way to go about, given how things are(tm).
Parent
I, for one, (Score:5, Funny)
welcome our German overlords.
Wait, what?
Re:I, for one, (Score:5, Funny)
France, is that you?
Parent
Signed/Unsigned tags (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Signed/Unsigned tags (Score:5, Funny)
Articles tagged signed can become negative.
Articles tagged unsigned however, can become twice as positive as signed articles.
Capiche?
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Re:Signed/Unsigned tags (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Signed/Unsigned tags (Score:5, Funny)
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Re: (Score:2)
"In return" (Score:5, Informative)
Beginning next month, copyright holders can just ask ISPs directly for the address of filesharers, so they don't need the public prosecutor anymore. Until then, having the public prosecutor investigate copyright infringement was the only way to get the name and address of the filesharer. No case was actually pursued. It was always just a vehicle to get the necessary information for a civil suit (actually just a way to get people to sign cease-and-desist declarations and pay up: The civil suit also rarely goes to court).
Re:"In return" (Score:4, Informative)
Mod parent up. This is the only relevant post so far.
There will be a new law which gives copyright holders the tools to request infringer user data directly from ISPs which are required to store it for some time. Before that, it was not possible to get this data without a criminal warrant due to personal data protection laws, and so an enormous case load resulted for the public prosecutors. They do not want to play along any longer for smaller cases where no criminal trial will ultimately result. Copyright holders are of course still eligible for compensation by infringers by means of a civil suit. This whole process has just been streamlined. That is all. No free passes for anybody.
Parent
Strange question (Score:2)
Why should taxpayers underwrite their government becoming enforcers for the entertainment industry? Then again, when you see how much politicians are being paid, an answer suggests itself.
Because the entertainment industry claims that laws are broken. Having said that, it's more of a question about what's fair use and what's not.
Only in one part of Germany (Score:5, Informative)
Germany is a federal state, comprised of multiple independent states with their own governments. According to TFA, this only counts for prosecutors from the Nort-Rhine Westphalia.
Come on. Learn a little something about the rest of the world.
Anti-equivocation and conflation post (Score:5, Insightful)
I've already seen it:
This is akin to the local sheriff saying he will no longer prosecute muggings where the victim did not go to the hospital.
This equivocations seem to say that these people want *all* the laws enforced without any regard to a prioritizing by benefit to society.
The key they mentioned was "criminal law for monetary GAIN."
They are right in refusing to criminally prosecute citizens where no appreciable harm was incurred for the monetary enrichment of a single party. Its like watching a car speeding a little but otherwise safely and *NOT* pulling them over and giving them a ticket.
There isn't a single country in the world in which you would want all the laws enforced consistently.
Interview with the district attorney (Score:2, Informative)
Summary of TFA's source (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
come on people, its about distributing, not obtaining, it's ALWAYS about sharing, NEVER about downloading. STOP SPREADING THEIR FUD FOR THEM! [/rant]
downloading is distributing (Score:2)
come on people, its about distributing, not obtaining, it's ALWAYS about sharing, NEVER about downloading.
If you're going to rant at least make it technically accurate. With torrent clients, almost always when downloading you are also sharing. They are in fact realistically equivalent for 99% of file sharers.
There's enough other FUD you don't have to be inaccurate.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe now they will concentrate on more worrying and damaging crimes of house breakers, muggers, and illegal immigration (incl. people trafficking).
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They came first for those who downloaded 3000 songs, and I didn't speak up because I didn't download any.
Then they came for those who downloaded 1000 songs, and I didn't speak up because I didn't download any.
Then they came for those who downloaded 100 songs, and I didn't speak up because I didn't download any.
Then they came for those who downloaded 1 song, and I didn't speak up because I didn't download any.
Then they came for me,
And everyone complained because I stopped seeding the torrents
Re:First they came (Score:4, Insightful)
OTOH, it doesn't really take much to be up to 200 "movies".
A nice long running single TV series will get you to that point.
My current total is up to about 2200.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I guess German broadband speeds aren't as good as those in Japan or Finland [slashdot.org].
At 60Mbps, you could keep 200 torrents running at better than 30KB/sec. That's only 7 hours to download a 2-hour movie at the normal size that most people use with MPEG-4 compression.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Apples and oranges my friend, but, nice try.
In OS, the plan was to transfer money (sub-cent fractions) from the bank's customers into a central account and let them aggregate. Ignoring plot holes like simply editing the account balance, money in this system can only be in one account at a time. It can go to Peter & friends, the customers, the bank, or the void, but not to more than one at once.
File sharing is making clones, at near-zero cost of something that can very well exist in multiple places at
Re:In other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, sure. Why should taxpayers underwrite their government becoming enforcers for car owners?
Parent
Re:In other news... (Score:5, Insightful)
Court time is a limited resource, and prosectors in Germany are making the point that it shouldn't be spent on hundreds or thousands of frivolous lawsuits. Not all crimes are the same, and some "crimes" have no business in court, particularly when they're only there as part of a multinational private-sector terror campaign having nothing to do with redress of grievance.
The Courts have better things to do.
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Re: (Score:2)
In other news, German prosecutors annnounced today that they will only be prosecuting auto thefts when more than 200 are committed, and car break-ins when 3000 are committed. "Our goal is to prevent organized crime", said their spokesperson, "we don't care about the occasional junkie or joy-rider."
Ok, I admit that the above paragraph is a bit down the slippery slope, but the point is that the slope exists. ...
Do you really think the police can afford to spend ten effective salary-years on every car theft investigation? No. They cannot. So they use artificial (and sometimes arbitrary) means to limit the resources put into each case. But when a 'ring of carjackers' aka: a group of professionals, or 'organized crime', you bet your bippie they pull out all the stops to try and bust it. Their response to the **AA is no further down the slope then they already have to go, as like it or not, their pool of resource
stupid analogy (Score:3, Insightful)
You're comparing theft of actual property with making duplicates of intellectual property.
In the former case, you deprive the owner use of said property. In the latter, the owner still has the property.
The slippery slope is actually people like you making stupid analogies about this kind of thing, prompting ever more draconian laws and malicious prosecution.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
And we don't call it theft now do we? Copyright Infringement != theft. You want to label illegal downloading Copyright Infringement, do so. Don't call it theft.
Re: (Score:2)
I hear a lot of deaf-mutes pirate MP3s and enjoy the beats which they can feel through the floor. The RIAA has just demanded that Gallaudet University hand over the names of students from IP addresses.
Re:It's OK (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, when we shot or hanged all of the leaders, took all of the money from the banks, looted the museums and split the entire country in half for almost 50 years it was just a slap on the wrist.
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