Four Year Sentence Upheld For Pirate Site Operator

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You can argue the whole piracy thing all you want but, when it comes right down to it, is four years of your life, financial ruin, and a criminal record for the rest of your life really worth it?

A man who ran a movie streaming site that generated £300,000 and cost the movie industry millions has failed to have his four-year sentence reduced. Paul Mahoney was told by Northern Ireland's most senior judge that his offending had been persistent and that matters had only been made worse by his ignoring of cease and desist notices.
 
This is slightly different than just tradin' some warez. This is someone who was selling the streaming bits. I believe the line is drawn when money exchanges hands. If it is for free then I don't really see an issue. But this guy is why the other IS an issue. The powers that be just see this asshole making cash off their IP, so they go after anything that pops up. They even gave the guy warnings. This is just a stupid fuck. No real argument needed.
 
Part of me says he deserves it.

If he was raising revenue from the practice, then I'm fine with throwing the book at him.

I just wish the courts would start pushing for a more realistic estimate of "industry losses" due to piracy. The practice of counting each download as a lost sale is quite frankly ridiculous. Sure, some of them might have been sales, but the overwhelming majority of the downloaders would likely just not watched the film if they had to buy it, especially considering how many of them are kids without much income.

I'd argue that the ACTUAL losses to the industry, are more like 1-2% of the "download count * sales price" metric they are so fond of using.
 
I wonder if the only way he'll be able to make a living after leaving jail is through piracy...
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Part of me says he deserves it.

If he was raising revenue from the practice, then I'm fine with throwing the book at him.

I just wish the courts would start pushing for a more realistic estimate of "industry losses" due to piracy. The practice of counting each download as a lost sale is quite frankly ridiculous. Sure, some of them might have been sales, but the overwhelming majority of the downloaders would likely just not watched the film if they had to buy it, especially considering how many of them are kids without much income.

I'd argue that the ACTUAL losses to the industry, are more like 1-2% of the "download count * sales price" metric they are so fond of using.
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His site brought in £300,000, that would be (at most) their actual losses, not the $million they claim.
 
The Lamb said:
I wonder if the only way he'll be able to make a living after leaving jail is through piracy...
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As long as he is willing to actually work then no he shouldn't have a problem. Finding work is not that difficult as long as the person is willing to put the time in knowing that after he gets out that he is basically starting over and needs to build the resume up with respectable references to boot.
 
When I first read this I thought it said "Pirate Ship". And I was like... hell 4 years isn't that bad a risk at all if you have nothing to lose (ie - Africa).
 
If you are publicly hosting and profiting from pirating, what do you think was going to happen?
As far as how the companies calculate losses do to piracy, these are crap numbers. They cannot prove that because someone downloaded something that it counts as a lost sale. The person may have never had intention to buy the video. I do agree that the pirate has no business downloading the resources without paying.
 
When I ran a particular site those C & D letters are no bullshit. Then again I was not making money and doing it for the hell of it. Took whom ever several years to find me but they did...
 
acidrain97 said:
When I ran a particular site those C & D letters are no bullshit. Then again I was not making money and doing it for the hell of it. Took whom ever several years to find me but they did...
Click to expand...

And that is the difference when you are making money off it. You are now double dipping and they will find you quickly!
 
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