All movies, music were free before this on The Pirate Bay. But now, no legal action can be taken against you, even if the courts could track your download to an IP address (which is like the "phone number" of your computer). Download as much as you like. Do NOT be the last guy on your block still paying for movies and music! http://torrentfreak.com/judge-an-ip-address-doesnt-identify-a-person-120503/
Huge decision from a major court. I expect it'll be appealed to the 2nd circuit, then to the Supreme Court. This is only the law in NY, but if it becomes nationally, then yes, content creators will have to find other avenues to generate a profit.
Thanks for the input. It seems the entertainment industry has the football on their own 9 yard line. Not a disaster yet. But time is running out. Improvements in internet anonymity seem to be made on almost a daily basis by pissed off college kids (just read Reddit). And now, the big lawsuits that were intended to scare off the downloaders that they could track, has a bad concussion, bleeding from the ears. The t-shirts are being printed up. Internet is the World Champion. Get ready to dance on Hollywood's grave.
it's only in New York so far.. I had a kid using my wifi, he dl'd something and some bullshit attorneys contacted me via my ISP saying "I could settle the issue for a small amount".. had I contacted them they would have taken me to the cleaners..
You and others of your ilk seem to forget that behind every pirated film or song there are many thousands of regular folks who are working hard trying to make a living in creating intellectual property. Visit a film set someday and take a look at the people who are putting in 14 hour days on union wages in the hope of paying their mortgage, while hackers rip off their careers. It may seem impersonal to you to simply download anything you can get your hands on, or applaud the hackers who make it possible. But it isn't impersonal. The theft is no less serious and immoral than if you were to stick your hand in somebody's pocket and steal their hard-earned cash, or steal their car just because you can 'do it'.
I knew a asst. gaffer for Universal. Guy was 25yo and had a watch collection valued in the 100s of thousands. Grossly overpaid. And yes, I abuse the newsgroups daily at 100Mbps downstream.
Having spent 20 years in the film business I can tell you that an assistant gaffer anywhere is not overpaid for the hours they work, and no matter what the value of his watch collection, that's one hell of an excuse for you to support the theft of anything.