Goodbye freedom to choose in Australia

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by PCH

..... Yet both are just as illegal since the net result is the same, - ie you get to watch something you haven't paid for. .....

Hmmm, is loaning a book also illegal? Or is there one law for music & video and another for written text? Surely if you buy the hard copy of something you should be able to loan it, though the recipient may not make a copy.

[rrussell1962]

I think that in Australian Law lending an item without payment is not a right reserved for the copyright holder, therefore you can do it. Most of the DVD's I have say something like "Governed under the laws of the state of California" etc, no idea what the law is there. I think the chances of any applicable laws being enforced if you lend a DVD to a mate are about zero though. It seems to me that the difference with downloading pirated movies off the internet is that in effect a copy is being made - which is a right reserved to the copyright holder with a few limited exceptions such as private study.

[pluto (Hugh)]

Originally Posted by PCH

Absolutely it's illegal Rick, the intro on the dvd probably says 'not to be loaned, hired, shown in public ...' - blah blah blah.

And yet your kid loaning out a dvd to his buddy would generally be regarded as much less naughty, even totally ok, than downloading a movie from a pirate site and watching it for free.

Yet both are just as illegal since the net result is the same, - ie you get to watch something you haven't paid for.

That's not what this says, though I guess if the intro on a dvd says otherwise that would trump this:
http://www.copyright.org.au/admin/cm...8572938d61.pdf

Generally, copyright is not infringed by lending material, since this is not one of the rights
reserved to the copyright owner

Of course it would be illegal if you charged a fee as it would become renting rather than lending.

[Renato1 (Renato)]

Originally Posted by pmrid

I find it amusing to see the righteous indignation people can muster at being told they don't have a right to steal. Shock and horror! The fact that it has been possible to steal with relative ease and impunity doesn't alter the fundamental nature of the act.

Peter

Good point in relation to pirating movies and musics and books.

But where a lot of pirating occurs is in television shows. I tried, I really tried, to watch shows like 24 on free to air. But in Australia continuity is totally ruined by the insane amount of ads.

So - a show is shown on free-to-air or Foxtel on the same day as in the USA. One can record it and try minimize the insane amount of ads by fast forwarding over them. Or one can illegally download the exact same program where someone has mercifully taken the ads out.

A violation of copyright? - Yes.
Has the copyright owner actually lost anything? - Depends on how many people who downloaded the show would actually have watched it with the ads, or switched too something relatively ad-free like Youtube movies or SBS Iview (400 movies available at any time). Presumably if the program with ads had gotten a higher rating on free-to-air, the copyright owner could have gotten more money out of the TV network. But this is all a bit tenuous.
Regards,
Renato

[casstony]

If the owners of the media made it legally available for download at a modest fee many people would pay for the shows rather than look for illegal downloads. Problem solved, no need for big brother to stick their nose where it's not wanted.

[PCH (Paul)]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

Hmmm, is loaning a book also illegal? Or is there one law for music & video and another for written text? Surely if you buy the hard copy of something you should be able to loan it, though the recipient may not make a copy.

I've just looked over some older books, and they did used to say "this book is sold subject to blah blah it is not loaned out, hired other otherwise distributed ..."

Newer books don't seem to come with these stipulations printed inside the first page or two. So it seems that at one time, it definitely wasn't legit to loan out books.

[Starless (Brian)]

Originally Posted by PCH

...

Incidentally, I see thepiratebay is back up already - barely 36 hours after being rumbled by Stockholm Police, - this time with a Costa Rican URL.

If only government departments were a tenth as efficient in the things they do - lol

No it's not.

http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-b...ed-yet-141210/

Don't believe everything, or anything for that matter, you read
in the SMH.

[OzStarGazer]

Originally Posted by Starless

No it's not.

http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-b...ed-yet-141210/

Don't believe everything, or anything for that matter, you read
in the SMH.

http://thepiratebay.cr/

It seems to work.

[jenchris (Jennifer)]

I think Tom Cruise has enough money, why should I pay him even more?
Once the programme has gone to air, copywrite is over as far as I'm concerned.
I only record movies to get rid of ads. I won't watch them with ads in.
like Gladiator, interspersed with ads for nappies or feminine hygiene products.
How are you supposed to enjoy the movie?
I certainly wouldn't buy any of the movies if that was the only option, I'd find something else to do.
I do have some movies I have bought just as I have some music.
When my dvd no longer plays or my tapes become fuzzy and garbled, I don't see the copywriters allowing me to download another copy.
Much like Microsoft won't allow me to put my copy of xp on another pc, even though I no longer use it on my old pc. Why not?

[Starless (Brian)]

Originally Posted by OzStarGazer

http://thepiratebay.cr/

It seems to work.

Have you noticed that everything is apparrently uploaded "today"?
Have you tried to actually access anything?

If you actually read the article I posted the link to you would see that
"ThePirateBay.cr is a Pirate Bay proxy/mirror service".

[Starless (Brian)]

Originally Posted by jenchris

I think Tom Cruise has enough money, why should I pay him even more?
Once the programme has gone to air, copywrite is over as far as I'm concerned.
I only record movies to get rid of ads. I won't watch them with ads in.
like Gladiator, interspersed with ads for nappies or feminine hygiene products.
How are you supposed to enjoy the movie?
I certainly wouldn't buy any of the movies if that was the only option, I'd find something else to do.
I do have some movies I have bought just as I have some music.
When my dvd no longer plays or my tapes become fuzzy and garbled, I don't see the copywriters allowing me to download another copy.
Much like Microsoft won't allow me to put my copy of xp on another pc, even though I no longer use it on my old pc. Why not?

Here here!!!

[OzStarGazer]

Originally Posted by Starless

Have you noticed that everything is apparrently uploaded "today"?
Have you tried to actually access anything?

I tried right now... I didn't need anything, but you made me curious, so I downloaded an astronomy book. It was a bit slow, but it downloaded fine.
Update: Two books downloaded without a problem.

[Miaplacidus (Brian)]

There are many interesting themes winding through this thread. Too many to process really, but what the hey?

If ads for nappies push you further down the demand curve, to the point where you choose to refrain from allocating your time or money or eyeballs to the quiet enjoyment of watching a movie, then surely that just means you allocate your time and money and eyeballs to something else. And the producers and the distributers and networks (and Tom Cruise, too, apparently) will obviously need to rethink their strategy for extracting money from you as part of their prospective audience. Nonetheless, "I stole it because I couldn't be bothered doing what was required to obtain it legally" seems like an infantile defence, even in 2014, even on an internet forum. Will our descendants look upon our pirating of Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad in the same light as we now pity the transportation of our convict ancestors for pilfering a slice of bread? "The poor souls, forced to watch advertisements for feminine hygiene products or face the grim prospect of having nothing worthwhile to watch on television." Heart on sleeve, my care level is closer to the give me a break end of the spectrum.

But then, what would I know? Maybe the age of entitlement has been reborn.

The other hoary chestnut getting it's workout again is this whole other story, about how business and politicians railing against piracy is simply a Trojan horse, designed to get everything we do in our online lives monitored by the governments. (Pompey used a similar tactic back in the day, when he was tussling with Caesar the first.) Er, well, that citadel fell to the Greeks quite some time ago. Whoever thinks that anything they do in the virtual space is safe from prying eyes is living in an episode of Game of Thrones, methinks me lovelies. I also stand firmly on the righteous plinth of right to privacy, but I know quicksand when I'm sinking into it. Hooray for Snowden et al, for sure, and absolutely, but if you want to have a fair crack at keeping your secrets, then step away from the keyboard. And no sudden movements.