Originally posted by: Stark
Originally posted by: SportSC4
"...from what I can tell, the penalties laid out for downloading one season of a TV show with BitTorrent are much harsher than if you actually stole a DVD set of the same show from a government store...For stealing the DVD you could face no more than up to 1 year imprisonment and up to a $100,000 fine; for downloading the same material you could face statutory damages of up to $3,300,000, costs and attorney's fees"
http://offtheshelf.nowis.com/index.cfm?ID=5
from a slashdot story
good link!
while i agree that downloading movies and software is wrong and should be shut down (and the guy running loki has no excuse for posting seeds of that stuff), tv shows should fall under "time shifting" (which is why we can own DVRs and VCRs, which were both hated by the "entertainment industry" initially).
if tv networks start prosecuting people who download their shows, the backlash is going to be severe. i may stop using bt until this shakes out a little bit, but odds are i won't give a crap about shows like desperate housewives, alias, or lost from here on out (since i started watching them after dl'ing the shows from bt)