I upvoted you because I think we need discussions like these! I just think you're not aware of the facts of the case. Meekro points out some of them, but it's w

I upvoted you because I think we need discussions like these! I just think you're not aware of the facts of the case. Meekro points out some of them, but it's worth reading the Popehat saga about it(I've been following it since its launch). The kind of activity Prenda engaged in probably still happens quite often, and people are forced to settle and everyone moves on. What Prenda did(quite exceptionally) was their aggressiveness in pursuing their "victims", the complex shell company structure they set up, then subsequently lied about, their contempt for court proceedings, their perjuries in many cases, etc, etc...basically, they pushed the system to its brink with no consideration, and after 3-ish years, the system bounced back with all the built-up inertia and squished them. To address your specific points: - If they were creating "art" in form of porn they had copyright to said work. No law broken here. - yep - No law broken if you upload your own work to the cloud. You have right to do it. - yep - Finally, no law broken if you try to pursue those who illegally download your copyrighted work. - yep. Except the only question is, are they "illegally" downloading your work if you put it up yourself for free download? This was one of the earliest things that courts grappled with vs Prenda, before the whole thing turned to crazyland. It's useful to check out the early posts on the subject, for example https://popehat.com/2013/03/06/what-prenda-law-is-facing-in-los-angeles/ https://popehat.com/2013/03/06/what-prenda-law-is-facing-in-... Notice how even "early" in this case, things were already shifting away from your devil's advocate position and into allegations of fraud against Prenda and fights with the judges themselves(if you want to take a dive into the crazy, https://popehat.com/2013/03/06/deposition-reveals-prenda-law-business-model-monetizing-squalid-douchebaggery/ https://popehat.com/2013/03/06/deposition-reveals-prenda-law... is a good start..) Here's also a comment from one of the people that were following Prenda closely before Ken got involved, "Die Trolls Die": > Going after porn pirates requires a real investigation which requires much time, effort, and money. One recent case in IN had a Prenda local attorney only doing 5 hours of work – only one hour for the investigation. These outfits were not designed to do this. IMO it is a business model more than any effort to protect the content owners. As none of these porn copyright infringement cases have gone to full trial – judged on the merits (since 2010), it speaks volumes. Dismissals and default judgements only. Saying that, copyright infringement does happen and the content owners do have a right to take action. I just happen to disagree on how they are doing it.