Actor Admits He’s a BitTorrent Pirate

[kuyaglen]

I liked him enough on "Bones".

 

[LOCO LAPTOP]

I actually don't think it is illegal to download TV shows as long as they still have the original commcercials in them. It is only illegal to re-broadcast them, without the original commericals.

I download it just to watch it WITHOUT commercials. Saves me 20 mins of idiotic "Seen of TV" crap.

 

[w1retap]

yarrrr harrrrrrr fiddle dee deeee

 

[Joe Average]

I download it just to watch it WITHOUT commercials. Saves me 20 mins of idiotic "Seen of TV" crap.

And to be honest, THIS is probably the single largest reason why companies, TV studios, and of course, the advertisers will complain and bitch about such things: because people edit out the commercials and now anyone can watch it "for free" and those producers all supposedly lose revenue.

That's it, in a nutshell. Even Hulu crap gives ads from time to time, but all the stuff I've acquired over the years... not a commercial to be seen in any of it. If someone does leave the commercials, I edit 'em out myself.

 

[R0N1]

Where did he say that he's been downloading TV episodes worth that much? That was just ridiculous.

 

[Kristofff]

Oh gee, he downloaded tv shows that are available for free on actual TV, just probably with commercials removed... almost like you can do with a DVR (except you FF through).... gee the calamity of this reckless abandon!

They are not free. You pay for the show with your advertisement watching or through DVD sales when the studios want to double dip later.

This is the thing about intellectual property, when you are watching it on TV, you don't have a right to any of the video past watching it there as it is broadcasted. You are merely licensed to observe it. Even if you watched it completely with all the commercial on TV, you still do not have the legal ability to download the show because your license does not extend to that, regardless of whether or not you paid your admission by watching the ads.

The worst part is, under current oppressive and overly powerful and outrageous copyright laws, you can get hit with a quarter million dollar fine for something that takes zero effort on your part.

Your government is bought and paid for, whether it comes to music, movies, or anything else. There are no scales of justice anymore because the corporations have a huge lump of money weighing their side of the scale down and will always win the laws they want.

I agree with all of you that the illegality of downloading is rather questionable or laughable.. but I would say logically your arguments are flawed . You can hear songs for free on the radio, but that doesn't make them legal to download.. so why would it be any different for tv shows? Just because they're aired for free, doesn't mean that you're free to download them. TV shows are not free either.. contrary to popular belief, for 90% of all television shows, you have to be paying a subscription to a cable or satellite company to provide that channel.. so in no way is it free.

Why should personal use P2P be viewed as harshly as corporate copyright infringement and commercial copyright infringement.

Why is ok for you to watch your friend's copy of a movie, but not ok for you to download it and watch it?

There is a reason other countries are beginning to rule outright that personal P2P usage is legal and it isn't because they are dirty communists. They realize the damage the current legal mindset is doing to society and can see that there is no reason to shut people's lives down because of a virtual copy of something which is done for personal use and not malicious or commercial gain.

People's thoughts have been so warped by propaganda campaign after propaganda campaign that they fail to see the reality of the situation. Its like how people used to, and still do, swear up and down that weed is the antichrist and will destroy the world as rabid hippies turn into cannibals and serial killers and everyone else melts into couches and become unproductive.

News flash! People will still buy DVDs and watch shows on TV just like they do now, even if personal use P2P is made legal.

Now, if Hulu begins showing every single TV show without ads on the same day they are released on TV, then we might have a problem, but lets not be foolish and project the end of days onto P2P.

Maybe RIAA should outlaw everything. VCR DVD BD MP3players DVR PVR and any and all downloadable or streamable digital content. RIAA MPAA should make it a law that you have to watch a performance live in person, period. Afterwards you should never even speak about it publically. Lets get this rolling.. I mean come on what's the hold up! ... freakin ridiculous.

I'm pretty sure that is their actual plan. Seriously.

(Waits patiently for the "entitlement!!!!!" rants to sidetrack grown up discussion)

 

[PheonixChameleon]

Kristoff.. I think you missed the point of my post. I personally am opposed to the idea that P2P for personal use should be illegal. I'm all for P2P and "pirating".. just getting the same stuff that was played on TV last night anyways. I was just informing those in this thread that seem to believe watching a show on TV is free.. that it isn't free. And that it is a bad example.. like I said, you can listen to songs on the radio for free, but it's still illegal to download them.

On a personal scale, I'm completely opposed to the gustapo oversight by the organizations that feel they have the right to dictate what the consumer is allowed to own and how they should be allowed to acquire this material. The entitlement they feel, to things that are broadcast "freely" is just ridiculous and pathetic. We should have some rights in "the land of the free".. but the RIAA and MPAA says otherwise.

 

[Kristofff]

Kristoff.. I think you missed the point of my post. I personally am opposed to the idea that P2P for personal use should be illegal. I'm all for P2P and "pirating".. just getting the same stuff that was played on TV last night anyways. I was just informing those in this thread that seem to believe watching a show on TV is free.. that it isn't free. And that it is a bad example.. like I said, you can listen to songs on the radio for free, but it's still illegal to download them.

On a personal scale, I'm completely opposed to the gustapo oversight by the organizations that feel they have the right to dictate what the consumer is allowed to own and how they should be allowed to acquire this material. The entitlement they feel, to things that are broadcast "freely" is just ridiculous and pathetic. We should have some rights in "the land of the free".. but the RIAA and MPAA says otherwise.

I was just discussing the point in general, not actually talking at you. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Concentric]

I agree with all of you that the illegality of downloading is rather questionable or laughable.. but I would say logically your arguments are flawed . You can hear songs for free on the radio, but that doesn't make them legal to download.. so why would it be any different for tv shows? Just because they're aired for free, doesn't mean that you're free to download them. TV shows are not free either.. contrary to popular belief, for 90% of all television shows, you have to be paying a subscription to a cable or satellite company to provide that channel.. so in no way is it free.

I agree with you, but the UK is a slightly odd case.

Here we have a kind of "TV tax" - a license fee that everyone with a TV that is capable of receiving free-to-air broadcasts must pay annually. That goes towards funding the BBC, so all their content is provided to the nation for free and there are no adverts/commercials.

My arguement in our case would be that i'm covered by a TV licence for my household, so i'm paying for BBC shows to be produced. Therefore I have no moral objection to downloading BBC content P2P.
Added to this, for shows like Top Gear there is no DVD boxset available (WHY BBC??!?). If there were, I would gladly buy them all.

imo it's about being reasonable.

 

[Concentric]

Oh, I forgot to mention (grr no edit): Stephen Fry rocks.

 

[Ockie]

I agree with you, but the UK is a slightly odd case.

Here we have a kind of "TV tax" - a license fee that everyone with a TV that is capable of receiving free-to-air broadcasts must pay annually. That goes towards funding the BBC, so all their content is provided to the nation for free and there are no adverts/commercials.

My arguement in our case would be that i'm covered by a TV licence for my household, so i'm paying for BBC shows to be produced. Therefore I have no moral objection to downloading BBC content P2P.
Added to this, for shows like Top Gear there is no DVD boxset available (WHY BBC??!?). If there were, I would gladly buy them all.

imo it's about being reasonable.

Yes, there is:

http://www.amazon.com/Top-Gear-10-C...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1247597332&sr=8-1


Not that I would recommend buying that junk biased review tv show other than for it's humor. ... but that is for a whole nother story.


Anyways, time to buy up

 

[Concentric]

Yes, there is:

http://www.amazon.com/Top-Gear-10-C...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1247597332&sr=8-1


Not that I would recommend buying that junk biased review tv show other than for it's humor. ... but that is for a whole nother story.


Anyways, time to buy up

I knew somone would mention that. To clarify, I meant that they weren't doing box sets for each season (only that one for some reason, and only in the US). There are random compilations of challenges and what-not but i'd like the full episodes.

I'm not (and they're not) claiming the "reviews" are fair or useful or whatever - it's an entertainment show and I love it.

 

[Nembot]

Mr Fry (soon to be Sir Stephen Fry in my opinion) is an english institution, one of the most intelligent and interesting people to watch on TV.

 

[Chombo]

I'm I the only one who didn't know who he was before IMDBing him?

None the less his point is only hitting the people who already know what he is saying.

I loved him in Black Adder. I actually found the Goes Forth season for $10 and his role as the general was hysterical.

 

[orty]

Jeeves and Wooster for the win!