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In what appears to be an escalating incursion into a user’s digital privacy, a collective of film companies continue to implore the court to compel Reddit to surrender its users’ personal details. This move is part of an ongoing piracy liability case against Internet Service Providers. Reddit, however, steadfastly resists, staunchly defending its users’ rights to anonymous speech.

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[-] Gio@dormi.zone 46 points 1 year ago

ive pirated 99.99% of the movies ive seen come find me xD

[-] gamer@lemm.ee 20 points 1 year ago

Wait, is it even possible to pay for movies outside of a movie theater?? I have taught everyone I know how to use bittorrent because I assumed that was a basic computer literacy thing. My grandma regularly pirates TV shows so they have something to watch at her adult daycare. That old bitch even offers DVD copies for a buck fifty.

[-] jabjoe@feddit.uk 8 points 1 year ago

Hope you also taught them to use a VPN.

[-] jemorgan@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

Okay, I see this so much, but I have been ~~pirating virtually all of my media~~ downloading Linux ISOs (in the US) without a VPN for… 20 years?

I’ve gotten about a dozen letters from my ISP and I just chuck ‘‘em in a bin.

[-] BeakEm420@ttrpg.network 5 points 1 year ago

Haha, I used to do this (throw away the letters). Then one day my ISP shut off my internet for 24 hours (Verizon FIOS), so I got a VPN.

[-] jemorgan@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, if they’re going to twist my arm, that’s one thing haha. Surprised that your ISP actually took action.

[-] manapropos@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 year ago

Depending on the ISP your service can be terminated for pirating. VPNs are cheap enough where you might as well just use one

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

What's a cheap good VPN for someone in the US?

[-] camethroughtor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

Mullvad's fast and $5, but it's hosted in Sweden. Can't have everything I guess

[-] manapropos@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 year ago

I’m using surfshark, I got it a 3 year subscription on a discount a while back. On reddit they had r/vpndeals if I remember right, that was a good source to find discounts. Not sure if there’s a similar community here on Lemmy

[-] tok3n@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I'm on Xfinity and the only time I've gotten a warning was torrenting a movie from a public tracker without a VPN. I switched back to a private tracker and no issues even without a VPN.

Your mileage may vary.

[-] jemorgan@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Okay, so I kind of lied, when I set up my radarr/sonarr/transmission/etc docked compose setup earlier this year, I did purchase PIA VPN, which is like $60 per year I believe. Didn’t want to have to think about it anymore, and I can afford it now, so whatever.

But still, over 20 years, that’s like a $1200 savings. When all that you’re realistically risking is having to switch ISPs, and that’s so unlikely that I’ve never met anyone who had to do it, I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as people make it out to be.

Having said that, don’t pirate things without a VPN and blame me when the fuzz comes for ya

[-] zbecker@mastodon.zbecker.cc 1 points 1 year ago

@jemorgan @manapropos

Before using a VPN, I was sent numerous letters from my isp to knock it off. It really depends on both isp and where you live. If you live in the US, my understanding is that it's the isp who can get sued for allowing you to pirate, so while they don't want to lose your money and will give you numerous chances, they will eventually cease to do business with you.

[-] mechoman444@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I still can't figure out why ISPs are even doing this. They have no financial reason to stop piracy from happening.

[-] jemorgan@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I’ve always thought it had something to do with absolving themselves if liability.

From what I understand, companies hired by copyright owners send a DMCA request to whichever ISP owns the IP addresses that show up in their honeypots.

ISP has to act on those requests in some way, so they send a sternly worded letter that basically says “we have been notified that your network was used to download copyrighted material illegally. Piracy is bad, you naughty boy/girl. If this continues, we may have to take action which could include canceling your service (don’t worry we won’t because we want your money)”.

Hypothetically, they could turn your information over to the digital rights company, who then could hypothetically file charges against you, but there is established judicial precedent in the US that says that showing that activity came from a specific IP address isn’t enough to convict an individual of a crime without more evidence. Could have been anyone in the household, or it could have been someone who hacked into the network and used it for piracy.

If we want to get even more hypothetical, they could try to convince a judge to issue a search warrant, seize your device, and look for evidence there, which could be used to convict you. But that is an insane amount of effort to go after one of the hundreds of thousands of people who downloaded ~~an episode of game of thrones~~ an Ubuntu ISO.

They do pull out all of those stops going after the original uploaded, though, but if that’s you you’re using way more than a VPN.

[-] zbecker@mastodon.zbecker.cc 0 points 1 year ago

@jemorgan @mechoman444

I have had my service turned off for 24 hours once and that's why I finally started using a VPN, as that was just annoying.

[-] mechoman444@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yes. They turn my internet off until I call them and someone over the phone scolds me for wanted to watch The Flash.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago
[-] dudebro@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Nothing disgusts me more than seeing a dvd for $40.

[-] Brisolo32@lemmy.eco.br 6 points 1 year ago

Rent a dvd Rip it Return the dvd

[-] Bootheal0179@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Yep, I’ve pirated so much that my whole crew all refer to me as Captain Jack Sparrow. My MO is to fire a warning shot over the bow of every movie studio and if they don’t quickly capitulate, I’ll raise the Jolly Roger and take them by force. That’s the only true pirate’s modus operandi.

[-] INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone 9 points 1 year ago

Oh yeah? Well one time I downloaded a car.

[-] ErevanDB@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 year ago

He would, in fact, download a car.

[-] Dohnakun@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm sure there's one swimming somewhere in the dark ~~sea~~ net.

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago
[-] INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

People have been doing that for years :)

[-] AbyssalChord@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Damn, all I ever managed was to download some extra RAM.

[-] madcaesar@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago
[-] Jerkface@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Take 'im away, toys.

this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
826 points (98.8% liked)

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