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ISPs across Europe raided in file-sharing

Laila

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14 European countries were raided by police this week, in a bid to sniff out suspected illegal file sharers.

The raids were apparently part of a two-year investigation prompted by Belgium police and have taken place in countries such as Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The UK is also said to be a target, although this is still to be confirmed.

While there were reports that PRQ, the ISP for Wikileaks and the Pirate Bay, was raided this is not quite the case.

PRQ did confirm to TorrentFreak that it had been visited by police, but it was about specific clients' IP addresses rather than the two sites it hosts.


Police arrest European file sharers in co-ordinated raids | News | TechRadar UK

Pirate bay is down once again :(
Time to wipe my hard drive again, I think so o_O
 
Completely outrageous.
 
Completely outrageous.

It's disgusting.
I wonder how much public money is funded to this. I hope it is the media companies picking up the tab on these.
 
14 European countries were raided by police this week, in a bid to sniff out suspected illegal file sharers.

The raids were apparently part of a two-year investigation prompted by Belgium police and have taken place in countries such as Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The UK is also said to be a target, although this is still to be confirmed.

While there were reports that PRQ, the ISP for Wikileaks and the Pirate Bay, was raided this is not quite the case.

PRQ did confirm to TorrentFreak that it had been visited by police, but it was about specific clients' IP addresses rather than the two sites it hosts.


Police arrest European file sharers in co-ordinated raids | News | TechRadar UK

Pirate bay is down once again :(
Time to wipe my hard drive again, I think so o_O

They will be up and running soon again. Piratebay goes down every so often, and is up again. Other sites have been targeted by DOS attacks, and at some point this crap is gonna bite the "man" in his collective ass, because the hacking world is far far smarter than the police :)
 
I struggle with this one because as a musician I understand that creative industries need to preserve intellectual property but I despair at how long it is taking these industries to wake up and smell the coffee. I strongly believe that if they hadn't initially tried to use the technology to try to rip people off with ridiculous prices for legally downloaded music for example then the illegal file sharing would have been curtailed. Even now they try to charge extortionate prices for a product that incurs no transport or physical manufacturing costs. I look at Amazon and see them selling a music CD cheaper than the cost to download the same music and ask myself if they have really thought this through.
 
I struggle with this one because as a musician I understand that creative industries need to preserve intellectual property but I despair at how long it is taking these industries to wake up and smell the coffee. --

I tend to stay away from file sharing websites, it is a form of theft (IMO) but what I'm always curious about is whether people are downloading or sharing high quality CD / .wav files or compressed MP3s?

"Compressed" to me, means not the same quality as a full wav (I know you can have full quality MP3 but that defeats the purpose of MP3. I also think the music industry needs to look at the marketing and merchandising of other things that could go with CD releases so that people might prefer to buy a product comprising quality magazine / article + music + memorabilia etc. Anything digital can be uploaded and then shared illegaly whereas band memorabilia / T-shirts that are part of a package cannot.

Still thinking this one through..
 
I tend to stay away from file sharing websites, it is a form of theft (IMO) but what I'm always curious about is whether people are downloading or sharing high quality CD / .wav files or compressed MP3s?

"Compressed" to me, means not the same quality as a full wav (I know you can have full quality MP3 but that defeats the purpose of MP3. I also think the music industry needs to look at the marketing and merchandising of other things that could go with CD releases so that people might prefer to buy a product comprising quality magazine / article + music + memorabilia etc. Anything digital can be uploaded and then shared illegaly whereas band memorabilia / T-shirts that are part of a package cannot.

Still thinking this one through..

Compressed files will not be of the same quality of a good CD or .wav file but the compression systems are pretty good these days. Bearing in mind the limitations of the equipment that most music is being played back on and the limited capacity for our ears to pick up high frequencies (especially as we get older) the compressed files make a very good compromise.

I do see what you are saying regarding buying an mp3 download of reduced quality; that is convenience and novelty and the "I want it now" culture really?

It is not at all common to see .wav files on file sharing websites.
 
-- Bearing in mind the limitations of the equipment that most music is being played back on and the limited capacity for our ears to pick up high frequencies (especially as we get older) the compressed files make a very good compromise --

It ranges from youngsters playing irritating MP3s in the street on "tinny sounding" £500 smart phones when a cheap but good radio costing £15 - 20 would give out better quality sound right up to those who spend thousands on sound systems doesn't it!

And even then, the neighbours would complain if the volume went up.

Anyhow, interesting that .wavs are up there too - as are a large number of trojans and viruses!
 
I struggle with this one because as a musician I understand that creative industries need to preserve intellectual property but I despair at how long it is taking these industries to wake up and smell the coffee. I strongly believe that if they hadn't initially tried to use the technology to try to rip people off with ridiculous prices for legally downloaded music for example then the illegal file sharing would have been curtailed. Even now they try to charge extortionate prices for a product that incurs no transport or physical manufacturing costs. I look at Amazon and see them selling a music CD cheaper than the cost to download the same music and ask myself if they have really thought this through.

I understand what you are saying, and frankly I have to admit that it is 100% the industry's own fault. As you said they were slow to smell the roses, and frankly STILL are too slow. The copy write laws are outdated and have not been even remotely looked at. The idea of copy write being linked to a geographic location is idiotic in today's internet world. They should have long ago gone with the idea of letting people buy access to material online regardless where they are. But instead they allow idiotic things like the Itunes store which is nothing but even more limiting as it requires specialised equipment to use. There are still very few sites where you can legally buy music online with no preconditions like hardware and they are all limited to geographic restrictions. Movie and TV makers are making the same mistakes as the music industry did btw.....

Now personally I use to download music illegally, but now days I use Spotify and similar free services that are fully legal to stream music to my machine.
 
It's interesting to see how those of us who otherwise play up so judicial and virtuous (especially when talking to me!) lose it over something like this.


What's the matter? Fearful that you'll all have to start paying for things again? We've all had something for nothing in one way or another but it would plumb the depths to make a moral crusade out of it! If I was doing that then the odd tracks I had through Napster, to avoid buying whole LPs just for the odd song, would be near enough a religion!

Anyone (including me) who's had a few bits without paying ought to be grateful they've had anything at all. You'll give yourselves a complex by deciding that the entertainment industry owes you free leisure.




And what about those fascist control-freak company bosses then? Whatever the rights and wrongs of the system (and the wrongs are vast), it'd be madness to blame them for wanting to protect their wares. You can't just sit there and expect them to do nothing as the hackers and crackers put everything out for free, especially as many fileswappers CHARGE for passing stolen goods now anyway!
 
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I understand what you are saying, and frankly I have to admit that it is 100% the industry's own fault. As you said they were slow to smell the roses, and frankly STILL are too slow. The copy write laws are outdated and have not been even remotely looked at. The idea of copy write being linked to a geographic location is idiotic in today's internet world. They should have long ago gone with the idea of letting people buy access to material online regardless where they are. But instead they allow idiotic things like the Itunes store which is nothing but even more limiting as it requires specialised equipment to use. There are still very few sites where you can legally buy music online with no preconditions like hardware and they are all limited to geographic restrictions. Movie and TV makers are making the same mistakes as the music industry did btw.....

Now personally I use to download music illegally, but now days I use Spotify and similar free services that are fully legal to stream music to my machine.

Not to take the thread off topic but it's another example of how Corporations discover that global free markets aren't such a great idea and suddenly become protectionist and demand that government gets involved to legislate. Where is the laissez faire in that?

Why can't I buy legal music from the cheapest source in the world when other traders are free to buy other commodities at the most favourable global rates. I am forced to buy legal music at a restricted market rate?

BBC News - Q&A: The Digital Economy bill
 
I struggle with this one because as a musician I understand that creative industries need to preserve intellectual property but I despair at how long it is taking these industries to wake up and smell the coffee. I strongly believe that if they hadn't initially tried to use the technology to try to rip people off with ridiculous prices for legally downloaded music for example then the illegal file sharing would have been curtailed. Even now they try to charge extortionate prices for a product that incurs no transport or physical manufacturing costs. I look at Amazon and see them selling a music CD cheaper than the cost to download the same music and ask myself if they have really thought this through.

You don't have to struggle so much as a musician if you realize that you will make more money on concerts than you ever will be able to on CD sales.

So my suggestion to you is to develop a stage presence, book as many places to have a concert as you can, and use song files to develop a fan base who will pay for a concert ticket or merchandise for your band.

If you ask me, that's going to be the future of how the music industry is going to work.
 
That's rather going back to how things were. Bands would tour until they'd literally laboured like a navvy and if they were lucky and had a good manager, they'd get to be one of the bigger bands in town.
 
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