4 ms·

Are DMCA letters still a thing? It seems like Torrenting died out significantly over the last 5 years.

by Jonnax 6y ago

TulliusCicero 6y ago
I moved to Germany and apparently they're still very much a thing here. Torrenting popular shows sans VPN is -- at least according to Germans on reddit -- an easy way to get sued, and forced to pay hundreds of euros. Obviously, I have no interest in testing this out myself, so I take their word for it.
- laingc 6y ago
  I lived in Germany for years, and this is absolutely the case. Don’t mess with torrents in Germany without a VPN. Except for those Linux ISOs, of course.
- Eremotherium 6y ago
  I got C&D from Daedalic Entertainment. They demanded 1.1k or something along the lines. I was on welfare at the time, so a lawyer was not within my means,so I objected. I'm not sure what happened next because I probably didn't open the letter from the court (getting a manila envelope is fucking scary in addition to the stress of already being broke) but they seemed to have got a verdict against me and suddenly I owed over 2k. That being said I got a few letters from lawyers and replied with a legal note promising not to do it again (with any clause concerning automatic fines removed) and beat them by simply ignoring their demands afterwards. So it's entirely possible that I simply fucked myself with Daedalic by not opening their first letter and replying with a note. I haven't pirated in years but have gotten a VPN and will start back up because the fragmentation in the streaming space pisses me off too much especially since there's stuff I can't legally get here.
DarkCrusader2 6y ago
Just go to any popular torrent site and see the number of people in the swarm. A little harder for less popular stuff but nowhere near dying out.
throwaway8941 6y ago
Maybe in the US. Definitely not in ex-USSR. I don't know of any single person who's paying for anything other than Steam games (and that's only because they have prices adjusted to our ridiculous wages.)
ryantgtg 6y ago
Can't wait for the "you don't need a VPN" folks to acknowledge that they don't understand why lots of people actually use VPNs. It's DMCA, man. DMCA.
- dingaling 6y ago
  Rather ironic that people pay for VPN services to access content that they won't pay for. Just don't bother with Big Media content and they won't need a VPN... There's plenty to do in life other than torrenting the latest HBO series.
  - ryantgtg 6y ago
    Rather, it is used for accessing content that you can't pay for, given that Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Go, and I'm sure many more are (or were in the past) simply not supported on linux devices. And, "Plenty to do in life" is a value judgment, and isn't relevant to this discussion.
  - Dylan16807 6y ago
    They'll go after you for downloading something you already paid for, or was free to begin with.
  - a1369209993 6y ago
    "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." -- Robert Goodloe Harper
ocdtrekkie 6y ago
I got one about a month ago (United States, the smallest of the three ISPs available in my area). My ISP had a screwy way of injecting the complaint, which I almost missed. I had to call them and actually request the complaint be sent by mail so I could see the details, which I don't understand why they didn't do in the first place... They actually served it to a guest in my house, who thankfully told me about it, so I could investigate.
flatiron 6y ago
i torrent from home, i also work from home. i just never wanted my job to hire some dumb IT consulting firm to do some cross between IPs on a swam and IPs VPNing in as a "threat analysis" and my dumb name getting dragged into an office. I know it's far fetched, but $40 a year of PIA keeps my mind at ease.
- gcbw3 6y ago
  if you work from home and your company provided computer do not talk exclusively to a VPN tunnel into their network, I doubt they will pay a threat analysis.
cube00 6y ago
They're too busy working through Twitch at the moment.

Are DMCA letters still a thing? It seems like Torrenting died out significantly over the last 5 years.

by Jonnax 6y ago

Are DMCA letters still a thing? It seems like Torrenting died out significantly over the last 5 years.

I moved to Germany and apparently they're still very much a thing here. Torrenting popular shows sans VPN is -- at least according to Germans on reddit -- an easy way to get sued, and forced to pay hundreds of euros. Obviously, I have no interest in testing this out myself, so I take their word for it.

laingc 6y ago
I lived in Germany for years, and this is absolutely the case. Don’t mess with torrents in Germany without a VPN. Except for those Linux ISOs, of course.
Eremotherium 6y ago
I got C&D from Daedalic Entertainment. They demanded 1.1k or something along the lines. I was on welfare at the time, so a lawyer was not within my means,so I objected. I'm not sure what happened next because I probably didn't open the letter from the court (getting a manila envelope is fucking scary in addition to the stress of already being broke) but they seemed to have got a verdict against me and suddenly I owed over 2k. That being said I got a few letters from lawyers and replied with a legal note promising not to do it again (with any clause concerning automatic fines removed) and beat them by simply ignoring their demands afterwards. So it's entirely possible that I simply fucked myself with Daedalic by not opening their first letter and replying with a note. I haven't pirated in years but have gotten a VPN and will start back up because the fragmentation in the streaming space pisses me off too much especially since there's stuff I can't legally get here.

DarkCrusader2 6y ago

Just go to any popular torrent site and see the number of people in the swarm. A little harder for less popular stuff but nowhere near dying out.

throwaway8941 6y ago

Maybe in the US. Definitely not in ex-USSR. I don't know of any single person who's paying for anything other than Steam games (and that's only because they have prices adjusted to our ridiculous wages.)

ryantgtg 6y ago

Can't wait for the "you don't need a VPN" folks to acknowledge that they don't understand why lots of people actually use VPNs. It's DMCA, man. DMCA.

dingaling 6y ago
Rather ironic that people pay for VPN services to access content that they won't pay for. Just don't bother with Big Media content and they won't need a VPN... There's plenty to do in life other than torrenting the latest HBO series.
- ryantgtg 6y ago
  Rather, it is used for accessing content that you can't pay for, given that Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Go, and I'm sure many more are (or were in the past) simply not supported on linux devices. And, "Plenty to do in life" is a value judgment, and isn't relevant to this discussion.
- Dylan16807 6y ago
  They'll go after you for downloading something you already paid for, or was free to begin with.
- a1369209993 6y ago
  "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." -- Robert Goodloe Harper

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

I got one about a month ago (United States, the smallest of the three ISPs available in my area). My ISP had a screwy way of injecting the complaint, which I almost missed. I had to call them and actually request the complaint be sent by mail so I could see the details, which I don't understand why they didn't do in the first place... They actually served it to a guest in my house, who thankfully told me about it, so I could investigate.

flatiron 6y ago

i torrent from home, i also work from home. i just never wanted my job to hire some dumb IT consulting firm to do some cross between IPs on a swam and IPs VPNing in as a "threat analysis" and my dumb name getting dragged into an office. I know it's far fetched, but $40 a year of PIA keeps my mind at ease.

gcbw3 6y ago
if you work from home and your company provided computer do not talk exclusively to a VPN tunnel into their network, I doubt they will pay a threat analysis.

cube00 6y ago

They're too busy working through Twitch at the moment.