Danes face up to 6 years jail for telling people how to illegally stream

[viper37]

So they facilitated crime?

By that logic someone operating a shooting range facilitates murder.

Besides, "facilitating crime" is not a crime - aiding and abetting is. And for aiding and abetting to be punishable, one has to have clear intent and aiding and abetting must be linked to a specific crime or an attempt - not abstract.

I dunno Marty - what if a shooting range owner puts up their targets dressed up as homosexuals?  And hands out addresses to where noted homosexuals live and work?  At some point if someone does go out and shoots a gay person after using that range and that information, hasn't that crossed the line into abetting an offence?

In the case mentionned here, they didn't do the second part.

They told people how to use a gun equipped with a gaydar would be a better analogy

Popcorn Time does in fact facilitate piracy*.  I can't see any other use for this software in its default configuration.  If you want to use it to stream legal torrents, you have some work to do: first, find a site that has legal torrents, second, obtain the API key for this site, something not all sites have.

What makes PT much more different than other existing tools and private pirate torrents&usenet groups is that it's fairly easy to use.  Configure a tool like Kodi with illegal add-ons that will let you download and automatically sort content from illegal torrent and usenet sites requires a lot of work for the non initiated.  With PT, you load it, you got your list of movies & tv shows, click the one you want to watch, voilà.

Imho, some networks should hire these guys to develop user interface for their products.  And take good note of the one software-does-it-all approach.  Paying a 10$/month subscription to Netflix, 10$/month to HBO, 10$/month to Amazon Prime (if I'm American), 10$/month for Hulu, that tends to be very expensive to be legit.  Then, there's the problem with stupid copyrights restriction that won't let me legally watch Saturday Night Live on the internet because I'm Canadian.  It's on fucking cable wich I pay for, but if I want to watch an episode or show it to my friends: "sorry, you're not American, go fuck yourself".  (Yes I know, it can be easily circumvented, but it's still illegal, even if it's on TV).

Napster facilitated piracy but pushed music vendors from a traditional, comfortable model toward some uncharted territory.  Eventually, iTunes came, and other legal streaming/downloading sites for music.  You can now pay 1.50$ for that song you like instead of buying the CD at 20$.  And I don't have to devote an entire shelf to these things, they all sit on my hard drive now.

TV&movie industry will have to move toward this model.  6-7$ to rent a movie in low quality is way too much.  Going to the city twice to get a fucking a Blu Ray an return it is inconvenient.  And the selection is highly limited, only the most recent blockbusters are available.

With a tool like PT, I could get access to movies&tv series from all accross the world if I wanted to.  Stuff that isn't aired here, stuff from Australia, Africa, England.

On the one hand, I cannot condone piracy, even if I got screwed one time too many by Bell.  On the other hand, I realize that forcing the issue with piracy is the only way to make the tv/movie industry evolve.


*Apparently, streaming is a grey area.  If you keep the downloaded file on your computer, it is a clear violation of copyright in Canada.  If you don't, it's more of a legal grey area, apparently.

[garbon]

So they facilitated crime?

By that logic someone operating a shooting range facilitates murder.

Besides, "facilitating crime" is not a crime - aiding and abetting is. And for aiding and abetting to be punishable, one has to have clear intent and aiding and abetting must be linked to a specific crime or an attempt - not abstract.

I dunno Marty - what if a shooting range owner puts up their targets dressed up as homosexuals?  And hands out addresses to where noted homosexuals live and work?  At some point if someone does go out and shoots a gay person after using that range and that information, hasn't that crossed the line into abetting an offence?

How do you "dress up as a homosexual" exactly? 

Lots of rainbow flags.

Shit, I've never dressed up as a homosexual.

[Barrister]

So they facilitated crime?

By that logic someone operating a shooting range facilitates murder.

Besides, "facilitating crime" is not a crime - aiding and abetting is. And for aiding and abetting to be punishable, one has to have clear intent and aiding and abetting must be linked to a specific crime or an attempt - not abstract.

I dunno Marty - what if a shooting range owner puts up their targets dressed up as homosexuals?  And hands out addresses to where noted homosexuals live and work?  At some point if someone does go out and shoots a gay person after using that range and that information, hasn't that crossed the line into abetting an offence?

How do you "dress up as a homosexual" exactly? 

Lots of rainbow flags.

Shit, I've never dressed up as a homosexual.

You should have come to me sooner.  I'm full of helpful advice to let you live your gay lifestyle to be as fabulous as it can be! 

[Tonitrus]

Barrister Eye for the Queer Guy? 

I don't think Bravo will be picking that one up.

[garbon]

With those fucking pleats? Hell no!

Besides, rainbows are really rather tacky. Pick a color scheme already.

[Admiral Yi]

I tried to dress Shelf up as a 1950's high school jock but he wasn't buying. 

[jimmy olsen]

Then again, explaining how to do something that COULD result in copyright violations should not carry the same sentence as armed robbery.

Agreed, far too harsh for a nonviolent crime.