If you use torrents, you're most likely being monitored.

With things like Netflix instant streaming, Steam and iTunes there is going to be a lot less pirating. I think the key is that they offer a more fair price. Why should I pay $59.99 for Transformers:fall of cybertron on PSN but I don't have a hard copy to keep or if I choose to later sell?

@pyromagnestir said:

Well I lost a decent chunk of my legally purchased music in a hard drive failure and I ain't buying all that shit again, that's for damn sure. And there was no way in hell I was about to wait for the final season of Lost to come out on DVD just because I went on vacation and missed an episode they chose not to replay. So get off my Internet lawn, I guess is what I'm sayin.

Exactly. Some people be fucking greedy. Movies and new albums I understand. But why am I going to pay $20 for an album from a guy who is dead?????? THAT SHIT ISN'T YOURS EITHER. Also, No one even watches Alphas, so there really is no point in waiting for season 2 on DVD. They are lucky that I take the time to invest my time into that show.

If I can't find a used copy of an ancient outta print album or a digital I'll get it online and fuck 'em for thinking I should just stay without that strange piece of musical history :(
 
and yes feds, lamias are hot

I remember when I pirated stuff like a motherfucker, back when I was 15 and had no disposable income.

Was the only way I was going to get my hand on that stuff anyways so it's not like they lost money on it.

Since Demonoid got shut down I've been trying to find a decent private tracker to continue building my audio-book collection. If anyone could hit me up with an invite, that'd be super cool.

@Everyones_A_Critic said:

I had my local ISP warn me twice about torrenting movies, so when we switched to Comcast, I gave up torrenting movies and TV shows and stuck solely to music. Not that that's any better morally, but I've never gotten a warning or been caught for it so whatever. Plus, I'm constantly looking for new shit to listen to and can't afford to buy one fuckin CD a week when the shit is right there for free. I understand I'm helping to ruin the music industry, but I also pay out the ass to awful corporations like Livenation and TIcketmaster weekly whenever my favorite artists come out on tour. Obviously I can't see everyone that comes around, and it doesn't excuse my actions, but if I actually had to pay for music I wouldn't be the concert junky that I am today and I wouldn't have nearly as wide a taste. I'd be buying the latest top 40 CD once a week for $20 with my check. And fuck that. If I get a warning for what I do then I'll stop, but I'm a leech whenever I torrent (yeah, yeah, yeah, blow me) so getting me to stop would literally do nothing in the long run.

It's because the music industry isn't as proactive and just jumps on the back of the MPAA when it comes to trying to get ISPs to start monitoring customers. The MPAA has been big advocate of trying to stop torrenting movies and will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. The RIAA just piggy backs on them since their goals are relatively mutual. You have be even more careful nowadays since ISPs are supposed to be monitoring the lines already for copyrighted material. Think they were shooting for July to actually have mechanisms implemented. So it may already be implemented.

I am not advocating piracy, but if your only means is downloading torrents then I would advise to find a better method. Especially if your means of obtaining the media is through an unencrypted connection. This article was for BitTorrent clients, but the main thing to remember is that ISPs have already said they will monitor customers and start flagging accounts when they think they see illegal copyrighted content coming through. This is why in my original post, I was talking about deep packet inspections. Comcast is one of the ISPs that monitors the lines for the MPAA and RIAA. Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner and CableVision are the other 5.

Edit: Reworded a few sentenances since I kind of brain dumped originally.

Fine, invade my privacy. I'm still stealing your shit and there is no way for you to find me. Muahahaha. Give me all of that free music.

There aren't any laws in Ireland regarding torrenting, which is awesome. And it is ultimately almost impossible to prove anything. They might saw that it was your ISP but that doesn't mean it was you. All those letters and all that shit is just to dupe you into admitting wrong doing. Remember kids - never admit anything to anyone. Oh ya, and torrents are fucking brilliant! Why the fuck would I pay for TV when I can download just what I want to watch and never have to see a goddam ad? If netflix could supply me with that I'd pay them, no problem. But no one offers this service so fuck it.

@jozzy said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Well they don't show Breaking Bad where I'm from...

a company not supplying or selling something in your region doesn't automatically means you are can just use illegal means to acquire it.

Back off the high horse, who gives a shit? The product you are downloading may gain a fan meaning you might buy future releases on DVD or Blu-Ray. If they aren't allowing you toget the product in a reasonable time frame it's pretty much fair game.

It's not like you're hurting anyone to the point of them going out of business, actually it's their fault for not getting the product to you, limiting their audience.

If US networks made their shows more readily available outside of the US maybe they wouldn't cancel every-fucking-thing.

I torrent, but only when I'm completely naked.

@Loafsmooch said:

Interesting to see how different countries look at torrents.. Here in sweden most people I know use torrents for stuff like movies, hbo series, games, music. Nobody gives a damn about it being illegal, it's just the way it is here. There's no consequences, so why pay for something when you can use that hard-earned money to get drunk on the weekends? If someone were to openly say they are hiring movies or paying for a service like netflix they'd probably get laughed at by most.

Yup, pretty much the same in Denmark.

People still use torrents?

But...they are so shitty!

@Sooty said:

@jozzy said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Well they don't show Breaking Bad where I'm from...

a company not supplying or selling something in your region doesn't automatically means you are can just use illegal means to acquire it.

Back off the high horse, who gives a shit? The product you are downloading may gain a fan meaning you might buy future releases on DVD or Blu-Ray. If they aren't allowing you toget the product in a reasonable time frame it's pretty much fair game.

It's not like you're hurting anyone to the point of them going out of business, actually it's their fault for not getting the product to you, limiting their audience.

If US networks made their shows more readily available outside of the US maybe they wouldn't cancel every-fucking-thing.

Wow, high horse really? I torrented stuff when I was a kid and had little money, but I was never dumb enough to justify it with stupid ass reasons like this. Do I really need to explain to you why every one of your arguments is total horseshit?

@George_Hukas said:

For anyone interested..

I was named in the West Coast Productions, Inc. case in a group of 6000 because someone in my house downloaded Tokyo CougarCreampies. I had received a 50 page packet subpoena after my ISP (Comcast) gave up the main account holder's information. I spoke with my entertainment lawyer immediately and he assured me I had nothing to worry about. People were grouped in one big lawsuit and those who weren't were receiving letters that threatened to sue or settle for $3000. They dropped the suit late last year but probably cleaned up pretty well in out-of-court sacre-tactic settlements.

TLDR; I'm a person not an IP address.

Isn't this like a huge problem in Europe? Ambulance chasers just trying to shame or scare people who don't know better into throwing money at them?

I'm in Canada and years ago, I actually got a letter from universal pictures saying "WE NO U R PIRATING MOVIES! STOP! OR WE'LL TAKE ALL YOUR MONEY!". Funny thing is, I share my IP address with several other people around me in the area. So I wanna know how they randomly decided to send me that shit and no one else (also, I've never pirated a movie...so yeah).

It must be nice to work one day, make one digital item, and sell it over.. over and over, and when someone downloads it for free, you take all their money for taking your digital item for free.

@Loafsmooch said:

...so why pay for something when you can use that hard-earned money to get drunk on the weekends?

Because those creations aren't your property to have as you will and the creators and those who funded and released those creations deserve compensation. The whole idea of "I want 'x' without earning the privilege of having 'x' because I want 'x' and that's that" is part of the reason I find a lot of the internet and those who are on it fucking disgusting.

I have no problem paying for stuff, but I am sick of DVD cases clogging up my room and if services such as iTunes weren't so much of a rip-off here in Australia i'd use it more often.. I pretty much only download to get access to a show that a channel buys the rights to and decides to hold onto it for 2+ years, or in the case of Heroes they cut the last 2 eps of season 2 and called the third last episode the season finale, because the rest fell out of ratings season.. thats just a dick move

@dcgc: I think you are right for most part. When I hear about people getting arrested or fined, it is usually for SHARING hundreds of copies, not for downloading it that one time initially.

There are multitudes of ways to hide your IP and to encrypt the data transfers to prevent snooping, most clients have it built in, and if you don't know what that means or how to use it you probably shouldn't mess with torrents, you're safer adding 'download' to the end of a Google search. 
I don't care what you're downloading or why, but if you're going to use it at least be smart about it.

i think it's just bittorrent, because that is supposedly owned by a copyright company. o well on that. i don't think i download anything top 100.

@jozzy said:

@Sooty said:

@jozzy said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Well they don't show Breaking Bad where I'm from...

a company not supplying or selling something in your region doesn't automatically means you are can just use illegal means to acquire it.

Back off the high horse, who gives a shit? The product you are downloading may gain a fan meaning you might buy future releases on DVD or Blu-Ray. If they aren't allowing you toget the product in a reasonable time frame it's pretty much fair game.

It's not like you're hurting anyone to the point of them going out of business, actually it's their fault for not getting the product to you, limiting their audience.

If US networks made their shows more readily available outside of the US maybe they wouldn't cancel every-fucking-thing.

Wow, high horse really? I torrented stuff when I was a kid and had little money, but I was never dumb enough to justify it with stupid ass reasons like this. Do I really need to explain to you why every one of your arguments is total horseshit?

I have to agree with Jozzy on this one. I bet the number of people that actually go out and buy a dvd or blu-ray after they have already illegally downloaded it is probably extremely small. It's like when people say that they will try and work out more and eat more vegetables but never really get around to it. The good intention is present but is never fully realised.

The fact of the matter is that stealing a movie or tv series is not justified by saying: "it is not available in my area." If there is not a legal way of obtaining the desired form of media then stealing is not an alternative. If you illegally torrent, then just say so and own your decision but do not hide behind a Robin Hood-esque argument that the only alternative is to steal it.

The whole white knight/high horse argument is really starting to weigh this whole discussion down. The reality is that just because the product does not necessarily have a physical form does not mean that it is anything goes. Production studios close down just as much as video game studios do and while torrents are nowhere near the "straw that broke the camel's back" it is definitely not helping anyone either. If the media is not available in your region or you cannot afford said media then too bad so sad you are not destined to experience said media. It is a privilege not a right to watch a movie, listen to music, or play a game.

@JasonR86 said:

@Loafsmooch said:

...so why pay for something when you can use that hard-earned money to get drunk on the weekends?

Because those creations aren't your property to have as you will and the creators and those who funded and released those creations deserve compensation. The whole idea of "I want 'x' without earning the privilege of having 'x' because I want 'x' and that's that" is part of the reason I find a lot of the internet and those who are on it fucking disgusting.

I believe indie developers deserve my money, so does developers who actually care about making good games, or art, if you will. If I want to download a shitty cashcow game to try it out or some old movie that was in cinemas a decade ago I couldn't care less about what the creators feel.

Me not spending money on something that'll keep me occupied for two hours makes me a happier person because that money can be used for something more important. That's my reasoning, I know it's a shitty move towards the creators, but I don't care.

Yeah, good luck monitoring my proxy lol.

@Loafsmooch said:

@JasonR86 said:

@Loafsmooch said:

...so why pay for something when you can use that hard-earned money to get drunk on the weekends?

Because those creations aren't your property to have as you will and the creators and those who funded and released those creations deserve compensation. The whole idea of "I want 'x' without earning the privilege of having 'x' because I want 'x' and that's that" is part of the reason I find a lot of the internet and those who are on it fucking disgusting.

I believe indie developers deserve my money, so does developers who actually care about making good games, or art, if you will. If I want to download a shitty cashcow game to try it out or some old movie that was in cinemas a decade ago I couldn't care less about what the creators feel.

Me not spending money on something that'll keep me occupied for two hours makes me a happier person because that money can be used for something more important. That's my reasoning, I know it's a shitty move towards the creators, but I don't care.

You're the problem then. You're the type of person who causes the bullshit we see with the products that credible people want to buy. You're why publishers, developers, stores, and every other type of creator and content producer are paranoid. People like you give the our community, whether it be the video game community, the youth community, or any other technological-savvy community, a bad name.

@antikorper said:

Yeah, good luck monitoring my proxy lol.

This only works if your ISP isn't monitoring.

Well I dont steal anything new anyways. Only hard to find stuff with inflated prices online.

Pirates should be treated like convicted sex offenders.

Oh no, I'm so terrified!

Sorry, but this is duh. 
 
If this shocks you, you'd also be surprised to know websites and advertisement firms mine data about what websites you visit, how long, how often, from where, and what you do there. Among other bits of information.
 
The internet is not as anonymous as people think it is. Anyone with the knowledge can find out who you are if they really cared to. Some of the ways are easier then others- especially if you use a lot of forums and social media. There are other ways beyond that though.

@JasonR86 said:

Good. I have no problem with this. If people want to use torrents they need to be aware of the consequences.

This. I don't really understand what the big deal is about actually paying for content.

This is interesting. Instead working against the actual criminals (like those who kill people while they watch their movie at the cinema), the authorities prosecute the innocent stingy citizens that download shared files. And then "Piracy kills". Heh.

Please review the forum rules regarding spam. Copy & pasting something from another source as a new thread is the very definition of it.