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> Prosecutors allege that pirated movies and other content shared through his site cost copyright holders more than $500m (£322m) in lost earnings, making it on

by brink 14y ago

> Prosecutors allege that pirated movies and other content shared through his site cost copyright holders more than $500m (£322m) in lost earnings, making it one of the biggest cases of its kind. I doubt the point / accuracy of this statement. Those who downloaded the content would have just gotten the content somewhere else. As much as the FBI would like to, you really can't point the finger at Dotcom for this loss of revenue.

jstalin 14y ago
Correct. They're probably trying to calculate that number by assuming that every person who downloaded something copyrighted would have otherwise purchased it. Pure bunk.
lindenr 14y ago
That's not the point. This whole case has been just testing the water for the FBI - seeing how far the public (and the NZ government) will let them go. Whether they have grand designs for after Dotcom nobody knows (conspiracy!), but this case is clearly about more than all that money copyright holders supposedly lost (I'm in agreement with you on that - I doubt they would have lost any less without MU).
- sageikosa 14y ago
  I never suspect conspiracy when incompetency is much easier. Men with badges hiding behind organizations often forget the scope and source of their vested powers.
  - lindenr 14y ago
    I doubt there is a conspiracy behind this; I just left the comment (too?) open to the possibility.
  - Wingman4l7 14y ago
    "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor
- awakeasleep 14y ago
  I'm intrigued by the FBI presence off US soil. I thought they were a domestic-only agency.
  - kaffiene 14y ago
    As a NZ citizen, I'm furious about it. I don't mind the request for extradition, I hate the use of FBI agents in NZ, the heavy-handed nature of the raid, the ignorance of due process but mostly the fact that the FBI illegally removed items of evidence from the country. That's arrogant and offensive as well as illegal.

by brink 14y ago

jstalin 14y ago

Correct. They're probably trying to calculate that number by assuming that every person who downloaded something copyrighted would have otherwise purchased it. Pure bunk.

lindenr 14y ago

That's not the point. This whole case has been just testing the water for the FBI - seeing how far the public (and the NZ government) will let them go. Whether they have grand designs for after Dotcom nobody knows (conspiracy!), but this case is clearly about more than all that money copyright holders supposedly lost (I'm in agreement with you on that - I doubt they would have lost any less without MU).

sageikosa 14y ago
I never suspect conspiracy when incompetency is much easier. Men with badges hiding behind organizations often forget the scope and source of their vested powers.
- lindenr 14y ago
  I doubt there is a conspiracy behind this; I just left the comment (too?) open to the possibility.
- Wingman4l7 14y ago
  "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor
awakeasleep 14y ago
I'm intrigued by the FBI presence off US soil. I thought they were a domestic-only agency.
- kaffiene 14y ago
  As a NZ citizen, I'm furious about it. I don't mind the request for extradition, I hate the use of FBI agents in NZ, the heavy-handed nature of the raid, the ignorance of due process but mostly the fact that the FBI illegally removed items of evidence from the country. That's arrogant and offensive as well as illegal.