Crackdown on tv piracy

Richard Dower

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-piracy-20100701,0,2871905.story

:eek: - never heard of the sites myself, but the article claims 6.7m visitors a month.

amacachi

As long as they keep going after sites and means that only idiots use then I don't mind. :pac:

Richard Dower

Tbf....most tv channels have an "I-player" now, and shows are available to stream the next day.

amacachi

Richard Dower wrote: »

Tbf....most tv channels have an "I-player" now, and shows are available to stream the next day.

Not for us.

spatchco

yep will miss ninjavideo

Richard Dower

amacachi wrote: »

Not for us.

That's RTE for ya, :rolleyes:

Dman001

I didn't think those websites were doing anything technically illegal, they don't upload the videos and don't host them. I was under the impression that they only embed them on their website.

Richard Dower

They hosted links to other sites, it's the same thing!....they may not host say .avi files on their servers, but it's a mute point as hosting links is no different to hosting the actual files.

amacachi

Richard Dower wrote: »

That's RTE for ya, :rolleyes:

Yes, because RTE show everything I could ever want to watch.:rolleyes:

Dman001 wrote: »

I didn't think those websites were doing anything technically illegal, they don't upload the videos and don't host them. I was under the impression that they only embed them on their website.

A moot point you mean? It's not a moot point anyway, it's no different to a certain massive torrent site being mentioned in an article, are they breaking the law by mentioning the sites. Anyway Google is the biggest law-breaker by your reckoning, the amount of direct links to copyrighted material they have is mind-boggling, and it's searchable!

Dman001

Hmmm true but I thought it would be more worthwhile for the police to go after the original files, but Im guessing they would be on some server in China.

amacachi

Dman001 wrote: »

Hmmm true but I thought it would be more worthwhile for the police to go after the original files, but Im guessing they would be on some server in China.

China isn't that big a player in TV piracy terms. There's 6-10 "original files" once a TV show airs and even before it's available to the general public there'll be hundreds of copies of it on different servers for different Transfer protocols which I won't mention. Once it's released it's never going to be stopped.

Richard Dower

^ it's true what you say about Google, they offer the same type of "service", it may not be a dedicated site with links but as you say if you're looking for something Google serves the same basic function.

BaconZombie

You mean like Google and EVERY other website does!!!

Richard Dower wrote: »

They hosted links to other sites, it's the same thing!....they may not host say .avi files on their servers, but it's a mute point as hosting links is no different to hosting the actual files.

DeepBlue

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-piracy-20100701,0,2871905.story wrote:

The targeted websites, he added, are "run by people who have no respect for creativity and innovation."

What??? The movie executives are running these sites now? :pac:

FreudianSlippers

Never used any of those sites myself. I'm just glad they haven't taken down my "Extremely Zealous Tube Vision" website. Last time it went down for a bit over 2 months I was going a bit mad.

RolandIRL

they're never going to stem the flow of tv pirates.
looking over at the Computer & Tech forum, a newsgroup site "newzbin" was shut down, and a day or two later, newzbin2 was set up.
they're not going to be able to stop the uploaders. a lot of them don't even live in the US. once it gets out onto the net, it spreads and if it gets taken off a site, someone else uploads it onto a different site. you will always find links.

Mac Masters

I don't like piracy myself but isn't it a funny thing that in buying a legal copy of a movie you have to sit through a long and annoying unskippable anti-piracy advert every time you want to watch it as opposed to the pirate version! Is it any wonder it caught on if it's advertised in every dvd!

Pushtrak

A friend of mine used ninjavideo.

Oh noes! Now he will not be able to stream video online. He'll just have to download torrents.

matrim

Richard Dower wrote: »

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-piracy-20100701,0,2871905.story

:eek: - never heard of the sites myself, but the article claims 6.7m visitors a month.

Is it not a movie piracy crackdown that just happened to hit sites that also have TV shows?

I have to say at least TV has made attempts to keep up with the times, with most channels having some kind of iPlayer type service, the use of DVR's for recording shows and also pause and replay, as well as some moves towards broadcasting big shows not long after they are out in the US.

But there will be always be piracy. The main way to keep it down to small levels is to offer a paid for service that provides the full flexibility of downloading without being prohibitively expensive.

sink

DeepBlue wrote: »

What??? The movie executives are running these sites now? :pac:

If he was being truthful he should have said

The targeted websites, he added, are "run by people who have no respect for studio profits and shareholder value."

Ponster

spatchco wrote: »

yep will miss ninjavideo

me too.

Living in France and not having a TV, Ninjavideo was the only resource I used to access TV shows. Most of the time I was watching things that I could watch on French TV but there's few things more annoying than watching The Simpsons in French as everything in France is dubbed.

Still though it only took a day before I found a replacement.

pickarooney

Ponster wrote: »

me too.

Living in France and not having a TV, Ninjavideo was the only resource I used to access TV shows. Most of the time I was watching things that I could watch on French TV but there's few things more annoying than watching The Simpsons in French as everything in France is dubbed.

Still though it only took a day before I found a replacement.

How about watching the Simpsons in Québecois?

Mr E

pickarooney wrote: »

How about watching the Simpsons in Québecois?

Pah... its the same as French, but with "eh?" added to the end of every line.

Comment ça va, eh?

DeepBlue

Mac Masters wrote: »

I don't like piracy myself but isn't it a funny thing that in buying a legal copy of a movie you have to sit through a long and annoying unskippable anti-piracy advert every time you want to watch it as opposed to the pirate version!

Gives me another excuse to post this pic! :pac:

Ponster

Mr E wrote: »

Comment ça va, eh?

ça va, et toi eh?

The nice thing about NV is that it had a LOT of great documentaries and was as reliable as the BBC Iplayer. I'd like to see other channels migrate to the same on-line on-demand system.

My name is URL

BaconZombie wrote: »

You mean like Google and EVERY other website does!!!

They don't do it with the intent of facilitating copyright infringement though

briany

Out of all the sites on the list I think I've only really heard of TV shack and I've only visited that one a handful of times tops out of curiosity to what they offered at the time.

I like what TV channels are doing with on demand services but I find that their players are not as flexible in terms of seeking and sometimes you'll still have to wait through maybe a minute-minute and a half of ads you can not skip over (I'm looking at you, 4OD) Don't get me wrong I still use them though as first choice when they have what I want. Sometimes they don't and I need to use other avenues.

"Run by people who have no respect for creativity and innovation." Well it could be argued whether they personally appreciate the content they distribute but TV streaming sites and file sharing sites also have been ducking the law for the last 12 years and staying mainstream somehow so innovation they do have. All in all it's a case of knock nine down and be looking at eighteen tomorrow I feel.

amacachi

My name is URL wrote: »

They don't do it with the intent of facilitating copyright infringement though

Well what do they think people are going to use the links for? I'm not just talking sites, they give results that 2 clicks later you can stream or download what you're looking for.

My name is URL

amacachi wrote: »

Well what do they think people are going to use the links for? I'm not just talking sites, they give results that 2 clicks later you can stream or download what you're looking for.

I guess it's all down to simple intent. Sites like tv-links.co.uk get shut down because they exist to assist people in breaking the law. They have staff actively engaged in making it happen and profit from the act

Google doesn't exist to help people break the law. It might make it easier but they don't seek profit from illegal acts.

Selling crowbars is legal, but lend them to people who want to break into houses & you're an accomplice!

I fully condone piracy btw.. just able to see the reasoning behind sites getting shut down =p

amacachi

My name is URL wrote: »

I guess it's all down to simple intent. Sites like tv-links.co.uk get shut down because they exist to assist people in breaking the law. They have staff actively engaged in making it happen and profit from the act

Google doesn't exist to help people break the law. It might make it easier but they don't seek profit from illegal acts.

Selling crowbars is legal, but lend them to people who want to break into houses & you're an accomplice!

I fully condone piracy btw.. just able to see the reasoning behind sites getting shut down =p

I've had sponsored links show up when looking for things that Google shouldn't be helping me with, so they most certainly are making a profit from it.

There are other sites facing legal action despite most of their links being Hulu, iPlayer and iTunes, which strikes me as hypocritical compared to Google. As well as that, in your link it states that making a profit isn't what makes it a crime.

I understand people pirating when given a reason, for example I see why certain people don't want to pay big money for a DVD boxset here in Europe which for no apparent reason has parts of episodes cut and the alternative is to pay more for a US version, paying 21% more VAT, buying a Region 1 DVD player, power adaptor etc. etc.

Richard Dower

^ think we should avoid condoning piracy, it might get the thread locked.

My name is URL

amacachi wrote: »

I've had sponsored links show up when looking for things that Google shouldn't be helping me with, so they most certainly are making a profit from it.

There are other sites facing legal action despite most of their links being Hulu, iPlayer and iTunes, which strikes me as hypocritical compared to Google. As well as that, in your link it states that making a profit isn't what makes it a crime.

I understand people pirating when given a reason, for example I see why certain people don't want to pay big money for a DVD boxset here in Europe which for no apparent reason has parts of episodes cut and the alternative is to pay more for a US version, paying 21% more VAT, buying a Region 1 DVD player, power adaptor etc. etc.

Making a profit may not be illegal, but it's a sign of intent.

Google has some questionable links yeah.. they also have avenues towards having them removed. It's a legitimate service which can be abused. Obviously infringing linking sites exist for no legitimate purpose.

If there's sites linking to iTunes etc getting shut down then the abuse is being carried out by those enforcing the law. But it still doesn't mean that those more obvious cases deserve to be ignored.

amacachi

My name is URL wrote: »

Google has some questionable links yeah.. they also have avenues towards having them removed. It's a legitimate service which can be abused. Obviously infringing linking sites exist for no legitimate purpose.

If there's sites linking to iTunes etc getting shut down then the abuse is being carried out by those enforcing the law. But it still doesn't mean that those more obvious cases deserve to be ignored.

There's links on Google have been there at least 18 months and haven't been reported. Maybe I should shut up actually in case the TV companies and Film studios just haven't copped it yet. :pac:

They link to iTunes and the rest as well as some illegal links. While they are breaking the law I don't see why they're worse than Google. If I were a cynic I'd maybe think it's because they're an easier target.

briany

Why would Google want to block such links? The lawfulness of having these links is a grey area for them. As long as it's a grey area, and it's generating traffic it would not be advantageous for them to censor themselves lest it provide an advantage to potential competitors who would not censor themselves and gain the users lost by Google (See Eircom download monitoring debacle).