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Grown-up conversation about piracy on this site (hexbear.net)
submitted 5 months ago by Vampire@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
40 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Supposing I'm Fred The Fed and I want to shut down Hexbear.net

What if I try to make a case that admins tolerate sharing copyrighted material in violation of Statute XYZ, so the site is illegal and should be seized.

You might say, "Copyright laws are dumb, man! Who cares!" but that doesn't matter. Tell that to the law.

Should we get a lawyer's advice on this? What steps does the site need to take to avoid heat?

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[-] nat_turner_overdrive@hexbear.net 37 points 5 months ago

Should we get a lawyer's advice on this? What steps does the site need to take to avoid heat?

No, and nothing. Nobody is hosting copyrighted content here, ergo no piracy is happening here. We're not a big social media site trying to do an IPO, so we don't even need to worry about bad optics for investors. There's nothing at all worth being concerned about on this subject - it's a complete non-issue.

[-] Cummunism@hexbear.net 14 points 5 months ago

good point on not being a big site with investors, i only thought about the hosting files part.

[-] citrussy_capybara@hexbear.net 35 points 5 months ago

grown-up conversation

guess we should let the adults in the room adopt lemmy.world policies, remove db0 from allow list, and have mods delete piracy links.

should probably shut the whole thing down due to laws against communism and LGBTQ+ support, illegal in many countries

was good while it lasted

[-] nat_turner_overdrive@hexbear.net 28 points 5 months ago

Awful lot of people wishing death upon genociders and fascists, probably best to make rules against that too. Also it's not fair to make fun of famous people, rich people, or politicians in a venue where they can't respond - it's simply not polite.

[-] Rom@hexbear.net 19 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I mean there's nothing stopping them from making an account in Hexbear/a federated instance and commenting. In fact please do that, famous/rich/political people, make an account and comment in our threads, that would be a very good idea for you and would definitely not be extremely funny for us.

[-] nat_turner_overdrive@hexbear.net 16 points 5 months ago

The closest we've gotten is dunking on Haz when he had an account here. We absolutely need more of that.

[-] PointAndClique@hexbear.net 8 points 5 months ago

We have a real celeb @MargotRobbie@lemm.ee

[-] citrussy_capybara@hexbear.net 16 points 5 months ago

be gay, ~~do crime~~ but only within the most restrictive international laws

[-] Infamousblt@hexbear.net 30 points 5 months ago

It's not worth thinking about. If the feds or anyone else wants to shut Hexbear down, they will find an excuse. Or they won't and they'll do it anyway. The feds don't need a reason to shut down something like Hexbear and no amount of hand wringing will stop it.

[-] Vampire@hexbear.net 4 points 5 months ago

I'm not talking about wringing hands (why would ya expect that to work?); I'm talking about getting advice on legal compliance

[-] Infamousblt@hexbear.net 26 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

And I'm telling you that would be meaningless. You don't have to break the law for the feds to shut you down. Even if you're legally in the right you'd still have to go to court over it, you'd still have legal fees, and you'd still lose even assuming you could afford it. "The Law" only applies to folks who can afford the law and even then only if the government decides to let it.

[-] Vampire@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago

Absolute defeatism doesn't seem like a great strategy

[-] Infamousblt@hexbear.net 24 points 5 months ago

Defeatism is when you acknowledge that The Law serves the interest of capital rather than the interest of the people, apparently?

[-] BountifulEggnog@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's joever (on mobile so imagine a giving up emoji of your choice)

[-] leftofthat@hexbear.net 29 points 5 months ago

I asked a lawyer. They said "who the fuck are you? How did you get into my office? What the fuck is a Hexbear? I'm calling the police."

[-] Aquilae@hexbear.net 16 points 5 months ago

Concerning

[-] Rom@hexbear.net 11 points 5 months ago

Looking into it

[-] Zuzak@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago

Better find another lawyer for advice about asking lawyers for advice.

[-] Feinsteins_Ghost@hexbear.net 24 points 5 months ago

exactly what conversations about piracy does this site have? and why would you try to make the case? copyright laws are dumb. but exactly what laws are being broken here? ‘hell yeah pirate all the things’ isnt exactly illegal, nor is it sharing copyrighted materials.

[-] Hurvitz@hexbear.net 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

people sharing links to copyrighted material (mega links to patreon content, links to video game repacks, etc.) and instructions. Probably not illegal for the site to host since its just links, and ancillary to the primary purpose of the site, and it probably helps that we aren't hosted in the US, but still a bit questionable, enough to cause some headaches at a minimum if someone really wanted to come after us.

If we actually attract serious attention from feds I doubt copyright would be the worst of our concerns though. More likely is just DMCA complaints and the like. Not sure how those work when you're hosted in EU, I'm sure there's some amount of reciprocity but idk the details

[-] Findom_DeLuise@hexbear.net 18 points 5 months ago

YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A HEXBEAR

Fuck you, I just did, and I will do it again pirate-jammin

[-] Vampire@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago

Yeah but it gets to a point where that's like saying "Fuck you I'm not gonna pay my taxes what r u gonna do about it arrest me huh"

[-] Kuori@hexbear.net 17 points 5 months ago

idk dog, we didn't censor ourselves on reddit despite threat of community deletion, i fail to see why we ought to do so on "our" platform

there are also bigger fish to fry piracy-wise, even just on lemmy

[-] Vampire@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago

This is my point. It's fine to say that, but that sort of point isn't gonna count for anything if they decide to come after you.

[-] Gucci_Minh@hexbear.net 7 points 5 months ago

Could host the site in a country that hates america?

[-] Cummunism@hexbear.net 11 points 5 months ago

Sharing links isn't illegal, it's hosting files that is illegal. Subreddits having rules against links is a personal choice they make.

[-] Vampire@hexbear.net 2 points 5 months ago

This is my point: we can't rely on dodgy internet lawyers saying sus things like "sharing links isn't illegal".... admins need to get actual advice

[-] Cummunism@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

piracy isn't even close to a priority on here, ive seldom seen a link to pirated content. HexBear has no advertising and no revenue outside of donations. links get shared on reddit in some places because it's a big website and things go unnoticed. The /r/roms reddit has a megathread telling you where to get roms for every system. I think you're worried about nothing. I even tried looking up some cases where someone got nailed for this and main issue is the people/sites that got in trouble were in some way profiting from the sharing of links, whether through ad revenue or charging people for access.

We did have a Hextube site for watching movies with others, that would probably be the worst thing that has happened here but i think that might be inactive now.

[-] D61@hexbear.net 10 points 5 months ago

Files aren't hosted.

No login credentials are being circulated that would allow us unauthorized users to access places where files are hosted.

No problems.

[-] plinky@hexbear.net 8 points 5 months ago

sharing magnet links is kinda within laws already, as you are not doing anything one way or the other. piracy websites get got over receiving money from advertising as i understand it, sharing links to existing website is not illegal as well.

[-] Vampire@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago

General axiom: take legal advice from lawyers.

Corollary: do not take legal advice from not-lawyers.

[-] plinky@hexbear.net 4 points 5 months ago

Non-lawyer axiom: if you think you're doing conspiracy, don't discuss said conspiracy, as it shows intent and awareness shrug-outta-hecks

[-] TreadOnMe@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago

Then why the fuck are you asking non-lawyers?

[-] pooh@hexbear.net 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Just include “only download this if you own the original copy” when posting a link then put a winky face like this 😉 next to it.

Problem solved.

[-] booty@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago

is hexbear even hosted in america? if so, the first and only step to protecting it from the feds should be to host it somewhere else.

[-] Vampire@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago

I looked it up on Who-is, couldn't find the host/server but there were references to Chicago Illinois

[-] nat_turner_overdrive@hexbear.net 8 points 5 months ago

Hexbear is not hosted in America.

[-] allthetimesivedied@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago

Make the case how, Fred The Fucking Cuck Bitch? It’s against the TOS. Prove the admins “tolerate” piracy. What does this shit even mean?

Is what I would say.

(I’m not calling you a fucking cuck bitch, only this hypothetical character.)

this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2024
18 points (100.0% liked)

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