The MPAA Says It Doesn't Need Proof To Sue You

[RickO'Connell]

The Motion Picture Association of America cries at night when it tallies up all the money it lost from jerks like you who download media from the Interwebs. They’d love to just hunt down all you criminals and break your kneecaps. Problem is, it’s incredibly hard to prove who is actually pirating software and who is distributing it, so they’ve decided to just operate outside the confines of the law… but still in the courtroom.

The MPAA isn’t keen on the idea of having to prove you actually did anything wrong before they sue your ass. That’s too much work. They think intellectual property holders have the right to collect damages to the tune of $150,000 without having to prove that any kind of copyright infringement has taken place. MPAA attorney Marie L. van Uitert (pronounced “wee-tart&#8221 recently said the following:

“It is often very difficult, and in some cases, impossible, to provide such direct proof when confronting modern forms of copyright infringement, whether over P2P networks or otherwise; understandably, copyright infringers typically do not keep records of infringement.”

http://www.ripten.com/2008/06/23/mpaa-says-it-doesnt-need-proof-to-sue-you/#more-5068

 

[The Evolutionist]

I am very much for stopping the pirating of movies, but randomly suing people is not going to stop it. Making better movies that people actually want to pay to see is the best way to start.

 

[MoPlaYa]

If they ever sue someone and lose...then they will get counter sued for sure

 

[terry78]

It's just like the RIAA and the music thing. Suing little kids and what not.

 

[Fading]

Problem is many organizations take ppl to court who may not necessarily be able to fight the charges.

Unrelated, but relavent. I remember watching this report on the news about corporations that decided their budgets could no longer afford to pay ppl the pensions promised to them. So they actively took several elderly ppl to court over this, this one elderly man was crying saying he depended on it but couldn't afford to go to court repeatedly to fight it off and had to give in and didn't know what he'd do now.

So it's similar here that if the MPAA goes after random ppl, their going to start hitting ppl who may be innocent but unable to fight the charges. It's just another notch on the belt of reasons why I hate how sue happy our culture has become.

 

[Nirvana]

Eh, I don't like pirating movies, movies are meant to be enjoyed in a theater. But I don't think randomly suing people will resolve anything..just makes you look like a jackass really.

 

[jaguarr]

Nice blog and all, but there's not context anywhere in the "story" to state what's really going on with some actual FACTS to back it up. And even if the MPAA has said that they "don't need proof to sue you", it doesn't make it true. The burden of proof is on them if they're going to sue anyone for copyright infringement; if it weren't, there would be countless lawsuits bogging down the system over this crap.

jag

 

[Obi-Ron]

Well said jag

 

[jaguarr]

Well said jag

There are plenty of reasons to despise the MPAA and their "business" tactics; no need to make reasons up.

jag

 

[ObakeTora]

that and didnt they report a high gross profit last year despite all the illegal down loaders. Someone here said it best, maybe Hollywood isnt interested in gaining profits from good film making anymore.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Is this a joke? There isn't one person on the internet who hasn't ever downloaded a movie.

 

[Victarion]

Is this a joke? There isn't one person on the internet who hasn't ever downloaded a movie.

So I guess ten years down the line when I'm helping my kid(s) study for their history test, I'll see a section in the textbook on "Uitert v. Teh Internetz."

 

[Leto Atrides]

Is this a joke? There isn't one person on the internet who hasn't ever downloaded a movie.

I doubt that there are that many people who did. If you want to extend it to things like watching movies on Youtube or something, then yeah I'm sure plenty of people have. But I doubt that many people torrent or anything, at most maybe half.

 

[Alex The Great]

*throws out lots of movie disks and deletes files*

 

[Eddie Brock]

They wouldn't be 'The Man' if they played by the rules.

 

[The Evolutionist]

that and didnt they report a high gross profit last year despite all the illegal down loaders. Someone here said it best, maybe Hollywood isnt interested in gaining profits from good film making anymore.

I wasn't implying that all of hollywood is ****, it really isn't. I was implying that I would imagine more people probably pirate the ****tier films than the great ones.

Is this a joke? There isn't one person on the internet who hasn't ever downloaded a movie.

I haven't. And i know many people who are the same. Congrats on making a ******** generalization based on your amazingly egocentric worldview.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

I haven't. And i know many people who are the same. Congrats on making a ******** generalization based on your amazingly egocentric worldview.

Man, **** you!

Sorry, I don't know what got into me...

But seriously, let me rephrase that "Every internet user has downloaded something illegal AT LEAST ONCE"

 

[Peter_Porker]

I used to be a huge movie downloader, but I find the quality of most of the files on some of the streaming sites good enough just to let it stream.

 

[jaguarr]

Man, **** you!

Sorry, I don't know what got into me...

But seriously, let me rephrase that "Every internet user has downloaded something illegal AT LEAST ONCE"

Uhh...my Mom hasn't. There goes your theory based on blanket generalizations.

jag

 

[The Evolutionist]

See, Asteroid-Man has actually pointed out the major problem with all of these copyright infringement lawsuits. It isn't that everyone pirates, it's that most people think that everyone pirates. It's become a part of our culture, so the MPAA and RIAA figure they can just pick people out at random and they'll have done something.

 

[jaguarr]

See, Asteroid-Man has actually pointed out the major problem with all of these copyright infringement lawsuits. It isn't that everyone pirates, it's that most people think that everyone pirates. It's become a part of our culture, so the MPAA and RIAA figure they can just pick people out at random and they'll have done something.

And from the lemons comes lemonade.

jag

 

[The Evolutionist]

And from the lemons comes lemonade.

jag

Perhaps I'm just a little off right now, but I'm not quite getting what you're saying here.

 

[jaguarr]

Perhaps I'm just a little off right now, but I'm not quite getting what you're saying here.

I was implying that you managed to extract something meaningful and insightful from the idiocy.

jag

 

[The Evolutionist]

I was implying that you managed to extract something meaningful and insightful from the idiocy.

jag

I really shoulda gotten that, this funky sleep schedule is screwin me up so bad.

 

[Leto Atrides]

See, Asteroid-Man has actually pointed out the major problem with all of these copyright infringement lawsuits. It isn't that everyone pirates, it's that most people think that everyone pirates. It's become a part of our culture, so the MPAA and RIAA figure they can just pick people out at random and they'll have done something.

I think people who use the internet often, don't realize it is relatively a lot compared to others. Even if you're only spending an hour or two on a message board, or downloading things (illegal or not), or on blogs, or what ever else that requires some know-how/time to find/use, that's probably more than most other people ever bother with. There are countless grandma's that just check the weather and their email, teenagers that only go on Myspace, people who only use it for work, etc.