4 ms·

While I do believe his confinement is somewhat unethical ... I am still quite intrigued that technical people somehow support the likes of KimDotCom or this gu

While I do believe his confinement is somewhat unethical ... I am still quite intrigued that technical people somehow support the likes of KimDotCom or this guy. I've never used megaupload or piratebay for anything other than ripping off companies of content they own and have right to hold a monopoly over. Every person I know does the same thing. While I greatly appreciate and have benefitted from some of what they do I think the justice system is doing the right thing in giving these guys hell. I agree that it is inevitable that the monopolies will need to change their model but I see no problem w/ suing and fining the living hell out of people that try to bring them down illegally. A strong justice system that upholds the law is above and beyond the most important thing -- despite the inevitable inefficiencies it often introduces to a rapidly changing society.

tripzilch 14y ago
> I've never used megaupload or piratebay for anything other than ripping off companies of content they own and have right to hold a monopoly over. Every person I know does the same thing. Everyone, really? Myself and many people I know actually do (also) use those services for legitimate purposes. In fact, when TPB got blocked by the larger ISPs in NL, the first times I was bothered by that was when I was linked to their blog (blocked) and when I was linked to a legal torrent of someone distributing some large data files (forget what) via TPB. Another case in point, a significant part of MU's 25 petabyte that is being held, isn't infringing either. I'm not saying these services aren't being used for illegitimate purposes, they obviously are. I just find it surprising that you, or anyone you know, has only ever used them for anything but such purposes. edit: while I'm here, I might as well point out that characterizing the confinement as "somewhat unethical" is kind of an understatement IMO.
- joering2 14y ago
  But I am pretty sure you agree with the fact that majority of their traffic/links are directing to copyrighted material that they have no right to distribute anyways? I am not against TPB. I think in most part they benefited good productions. If a movie is real good, enough people will still go to see it in the big screen and buy a br/dvd (production studios are limited with ways to trick people - did you notice how a trailer can be made of all good parts, 10 minutes worth, and then be a crappy movie afterwards?). I know plenty of people that love it because it saves them money on crappy movies (I am not sure if you can get refund for a movie ticket when you say "this movie sucks -- I want my money back!"). Said that, just because any company or business is doing something right while doing other evil things, LE will still go after them anyways. Simply put, you cannot setup a charity organization that feeds homeless, while selling drugs on the side, and ask LE to leave you alone, because some people love to donate for a good cause [charity].
notatoad 14y ago
In my case at least, the support for these guys is because the treatment is so unethical. I don't believe mega upload or thepiratebay should be legal, but I want to see Kim dot com freed because I don't believe the FBI should have the power to arrest New Zealanders and take all their property. I want to see the pirate bay founders freed because I don't believe that solitary confinement is a valid punishment for copyright infringement. I would be supportive of punishments befitting their crimes. As long as they are punished far in excess of their crimes, they are victims and deserve our sympathy and support.
jlgreco 14y ago
> I am still quite intrigued that technical people somehow support the likes of KimDotCom or this guy. I think part of what makes this difficult for some people here to understand is that they do not do a good job of differentiating "support Dotcom" and "support Dotcom's right to due process". He may be guilty as hell, but if I think the justice system is being abused or circumvented, I am going to "support" that person. It doesn't matter how obviously guilty he is, he deserves the same protections and considerations that we give to any other accused.
droithomme 14y ago
> "I've never used megaupload or piratebay for anything other than ripping off companies of content they own and have right to hold a monopoly over." Your argument is that you and your friends are criminals, therefore everyone is. Your reasoning is faulty. Many people used Megaupload for legitimate purposes. I used it to transfer large files containing content I owned to other people, for legitimate legal purposes. There are many services that do this. Megaupload had a very good workflow for this and was easy to use. As far as copyright infringement, YouTube is probably the biggest violator in the world. It is riddled with material that was uploaded in violation of copyright law. Google, YouTube's owner, responds to takedown requests. So did Megaupload.
- stanfordkid 14y ago
  not really. The majority of traffic on youtube is not pirated material. I agree though that I support his right to due process but not his innocence itself.

tripzilch 14y ago

> I've never used megaupload or piratebay for anything other than ripping off companies of content they own and have right to hold a monopoly over. Every person I know does the same thing. Everyone, really? Myself and many people I know actually do (also) use those services for legitimate purposes. In fact, when TPB got blocked by the larger ISPs in NL, the first times I was bothered by that was when I was linked to their blog (blocked) and when I was linked to a legal torrent of someone distributing some large data files (forget what) via TPB. Another case in point, a significant part of MU's 25 petabyte that is being held, isn't infringing either. I'm not saying these services aren't being used for illegitimate purposes, they obviously are. I just find it surprising that you, or anyone you know, has only ever used them for anything but such purposes. edit: while I'm here, I might as well point out that characterizing the confinement as "somewhat unethical" is kind of an understatement IMO.

joering2 14y ago
But I am pretty sure you agree with the fact that majority of their traffic/links are directing to copyrighted material that they have no right to distribute anyways? I am not against TPB. I think in most part they benefited good productions. If a movie is real good, enough people will still go to see it in the big screen and buy a br/dvd (production studios are limited with ways to trick people - did you notice how a trailer can be made of all good parts, 10 minutes worth, and then be a crappy movie afterwards?). I know plenty of people that love it because it saves them money on crappy movies (I am not sure if you can get refund for a movie ticket when you say "this movie sucks -- I want my money back!"). Said that, just because any company or business is doing something right while doing other evil things, LE will still go after them anyways. Simply put, you cannot setup a charity organization that feeds homeless, while selling drugs on the side, and ask LE to leave you alone, because some people love to donate for a good cause [charity].

notatoad 14y ago

In my case at least, the support for these guys is because the treatment is so unethical. I don't believe mega upload or thepiratebay should be legal, but I want to see Kim dot com freed because I don't believe the FBI should have the power to arrest New Zealanders and take all their property. I want to see the pirate bay founders freed because I don't believe that solitary confinement is a valid punishment for copyright infringement. I would be supportive of punishments befitting their crimes. As long as they are punished far in excess of their crimes, they are victims and deserve our sympathy and support.

jlgreco 14y ago

> I am still quite intrigued that technical people somehow support the likes of KimDotCom or this guy. I think part of what makes this difficult for some people here to understand is that they do not do a good job of differentiating "support Dotcom" and "support Dotcom's right to due process". He may be guilty as hell, but if I think the justice system is being abused or circumvented, I am going to "support" that person. It doesn't matter how obviously guilty he is, he deserves the same protections and considerations that we give to any other accused.

droithomme 14y ago

> "I've never used megaupload or piratebay for anything other than ripping off companies of content they own and have right to hold a monopoly over." Your argument is that you and your friends are criminals, therefore everyone is. Your reasoning is faulty. Many people used Megaupload for legitimate purposes. I used it to transfer large files containing content I owned to other people, for legitimate legal purposes. There are many services that do this. Megaupload had a very good workflow for this and was easy to use. As far as copyright infringement, YouTube is probably the biggest violator in the world. It is riddled with material that was uploaded in violation of copyright law. Google, YouTube's owner, responds to takedown requests. So did Megaupload.

stanfordkid 14y ago
not really. The majority of traffic on youtube is not pirated material. I agree though that I support his right to due process but not his innocence itself.