The days of illegal downloading are coming to an end...
18 Nov 2010
Industry NewsThe U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee announced today it had unanimously approved a bill giving the Justice Department new powers to combat websites that illegally offer copyrighted content for sale, download, or streaming. The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, sponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D, Vt.) and Orrin Hatch (R, Utah), would allow federal law enforcement to effectively shut down websites that demonstrably participate in the regular unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material. Several Hollywood guild organizations, including SAG and the DGA, issued a joint-statement in support of the bill, saying, “We believe today’s committee action is the first step in making it much more difficult for rogue site operators to run their sites with impunity.”
Source: EW
Let them try!
ReplyDeleteGive direct link, please.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe for one second that this will make much of a difference.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as how most of the sites in question are owned and operated outside of the U.S., this really won't change much.
ReplyDeleteAnd the days of people making money by ripping people off will continue...
ReplyDeleteRemember when they shut down Napster and illigal downloadings magically stopped ;)?
ReplyDeleteoh wow Americans think they're the only country in the world, take for example Megaupload, I believe it's hosted on Hong Kong, most of the torrent sites are hosted in Sweden, Rapidshare was at least in Germany (damn they should get back there). This will barely make a difference.
ReplyDeleteDexter and CBS/Showtime are really after down-loaders. They send letters if you download a torrent of Dexter to your ISP asking them to disconnect the user infringing on their copyright. Not sure if the Broadcast channels will follow suit or not. I'm wondering how long it will be before new shows show up on Netflix a couple of days later like iTunes does now.
ReplyDeleteIf a similar law passed in the UK (and it worked as intended...), IMO it would mean that viewers would end up waiting a long time for US shows to make it on TV as used to happen. They don't have a short wait out of the kindness of their hearts.
ReplyDeleteEven if it worked, and I have to say I agree with the comments doubting this, I can't see it hurting anyone but the networks. How many viewers would be willing to wait months or a year to catch up with a show because the foreign network that showed season 1 hasn't bought season 2? Most viewers are not that loyal. They'd find something else to watch.
ReplyDeleteOr say someone has access to the show via iTunes, but doesn't want to pay for watching tv for ideological reasons or what have you. This isn't going to change that attitude.
For better or worse illegal downloading helps strengthen the fan base.
If I was to download anything - (which I don't because it's very, very bad ;P ) it would probably be only one show. i.e. Supernatural. But I would always buy the DVDs when they become available, - so how is that hurting anyone?
ReplyDeleteAt least people are watching the shows.
JC, Peter Mandelson's "Digital Economy Bill" has been law for about a year now and everybody I know who file shares has not heard a peep from their ISP's in that time. As many other posters have already said, with the majority of file sharing sites being outside North America, I don't feel that this new US bill is going to have any more effect than the UK bill already in force.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I forgot all about that!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I remember reading a couple of years ago that CBS were thanking YouTube for increase in viewership. The downloading makes you want to watch the show.
ReplyDeleteThis is for a good cause but just like the comments posted, most sites are hosted somewhere else. So is this really going to make a difference?
ReplyDeleteI download CBS/Showtime's series' entire seasons in glorious 720p without paying a cent and never received anything, fuck yeah!
ReplyDelete"which I don't because it's very, very bad ;P"
ReplyDeleteyou're joking right?
Then the networks wonder how they can't build a fan base. In its final season Lost was having 10 million viewers on american TV, but the amount of people downloading in the entire world would double or triple that, that's how they got an enormous fan base, and then they would get their tasty cash by selling toys and whatnot. Downloads help them, a lot. Where I live, practically everyone knew about the show even when it hadn't aired on TV, I wonder how. Still, I don't even care about this law because most of the sites that host the episodes are outside the US, and even if someone hosted an episode in the US, they can't catch everyone. It's the internet, deal with it, if you want something illegal from it, just search it in Google for 10 seconds and you'll get it, no matter if there's 100 laws prohibiting it. The internet is something almost impossible to legislate, please stop trying to do it.
ReplyDeleteThe reason half the shows are so internationally popular is because of streaming and downloading. Do they think people are going to go out of their way to be home on a certain night to watch a tv show?
ReplyDeleteno, she's not! how could say something like that?! ;P
ReplyDeletesometimes I try to do that, but let's face it: it's hard to be patient enough to wait a year or so to watch a new season of a dozen favorite TV shows. But, when the episode airs in my country, I do my best to rewatch all of them. Is it bad at all?
ReplyDeleteOf course, this will magically solve the problem. Lol I remember how legal actions destroyed the illegal music downloading on the internet. It was not pretty. ;D Seriously, I don't think they see the real problem. Why is itunes such a success? People want to download music and if you sleep and don't offer it legally, well, people will find a way to make it happen, illegally. The same thing happened with movies/TV shows. They industry was lazy and didn't offer it legally. Most people who download stuff are not from the US and this law won't change anything. There is a huge international demand and waiting for a show for TWO YEARS or longer is ridiculous when things become and faster. people who download won't go back to watch it on TV if they want a download. They should focus on solving the problem otherwise. Create a platform and have the same advantages as the illegal sites : Fast uploads, different formats, subtitles, etc. just make it legal and let people pay for it. You can't turn illegal downloads into viewers but you can make them pay for it.
ReplyDeleteWTF are torrents?? Usenet all the way!!!
ReplyDeleteThis article wont change anything.....
The only things I download anyways is Dexter and True Blood both coming to a natural ends so I wont download anything after this.
NOOOO! What about fanfiction?!?!?!?! O_O
ReplyDelete