PDA

View Full Version : BitTorrent user convicted over movie sharing


rossshow
10-26-2005, 10:00 AM
http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=SNYC,SNYC:2004-13,SNYC:en&q=Bittorrent%20%20convicted&sa=N&tab=wn

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39233363,00.htm

A Hong Kong man has been convicted of copyright infringement for using the BitTorrent service to share firms, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.


Chan Nai-Ming was found guilty of distributing three Hollywood films using BitTorrent's peer-to-peer file sharing technology, according to Taiwanese English-language newspaper The China Post.


The unemployed 38 year old used the software to distribute the copyrighted films — "Miss Congeniality", "Daredevil" and "Red Planet". He was arrested by customs officers in January 2005.


Nai-Ming pleaded not guilty to copyright infringement but was convicted after a four day trial. He will be sentenced on 7 November, 2005.


BitTorrent is one of the most popular software programs used to acquire large files over the Internet using peer-to-peer file sharing technology. The application was initially written by programmer Bram Cohen and is open source.


BitTorrent allows its users to download fragments of a large file from many other users, rather than just one. BitTorrent had relied on centralised tracker files to manage this process, but in May this year Cohen announced that they were no longer needed. BitTorrent has increasingly become a distribution channel for spyware and adware and has grown into one of the most widely used means of providing large files for download.


File sharing networks are coming under increasing pressure from the law, while increasing traffic has sparked a clampdown by recording companies and movie studios which have sued thousands of peer to peer users for copyright infringement over the past few years. The US Supreme Court ruled in June 2005 that peer-to-peer makers could be sued if they encourage users to copy material without permission.

foptiludrop
10-26-2005, 02:52 PM
So... he's facing a maximum $50,000 fine and/or four years in jail on each count, but how many counts was he charged with in the first place? Surely they didn't consider the sharing of each one of those crappy movies as a separate count? I'd hope the fact that he wasn't profiting from his miniscule file sharing exploits will be considered by the sentencing judge. Stupid way to go after BT, imo...

janos
10-26-2005, 08:02 PM
As long as they leave us alone in the newsgroups I will be happy. Everything I need is in there.

foptiludrop
10-26-2005, 08:06 PM
Heh, you must not hang out at alt.assassination.jfk, Janos... ;)

rossshow
05-09-2006, 02:27 PM
Now, about 7 months later, a deal has been reached:



"The BBC is reporting that Warner Bros. is to sell movies over BitTorrent (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4753435.stm). Disappointingly, the pricing is set to be about the same as the DVD, even though the download will only become available at the same time as the DVD release, and can only play on one machine. In distributing films via download, Warner will join the ranks of MovieLink and CinemaNow (http://slashdot.org/mainpage/06/04/03/119204.shtml?tid=97). Perhaps they should wait to see how their $1.50 experiment (http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/04/22/1250237.shtml?tid=97) works out first?." From the article: "Other Hollywood studios are now likely to launch similar services. They believe movie fans will prefer to pay a reasonable price for a legal downloaded movie rather than risk illegally swapping a computer file that could contain viruses or be a poor quality copy of a film. "
(

Read More... (http://slashdot.org/articles/06/05/09/1218209.shtml)

foptiludrop
05-09-2006, 04:22 PM
Yeah, a deal, big whoop for Warner... but what about the poor guy who had all those fines and years in prison staring him down over this?