The Hurt Locker Producer Sues 5,000 BitTorrenters

Or just stick to the private trackers....Orrrrr don't pirate at all.
Not saying we dont all commit some sort of piracy.
But it has gotten a bit out of hand these days.With everyone on broadband n such.Well most anyways.

But twas a crappy movie.They are just looking for money for they're crap movie.Hollywood is mostly garbage now days with a good release maybe 1-2 times every 1-3 years now days.I'm comparing this decades junk to the awesomeness of the 90's on back.

So these torrenting users are preventing the filthy rich media companies from becoming even richer?

I don't recall seeing media companies compete on price, ever! I think we should sue them for price fixing and extortion.

I don't support piracy in any way, but considering the fact that the media conglomerates have not been able to present a solution for easy online access to content over the last decade, I don't think the law suits are warranted.

Right in one. Peerblock has kept me from getting caught many times.

lol no one uses torrents anymore do they?
If you use torrents expect to get caught

Any insolvent privateer should represent themselves in pro per and force the MPAA to take it to trial. Then declare bankruptcy.

No matter how many oscars they buy, it won't erase the bad press that lawsuits bring. Voltage Pictures is now the guy at the party that calls the cops. No one wants to invite that guy.

these 5000 people...are they only in the US? (and no, i'm not asking coz i downloaded it, i didn't...*cough*yet*cough*)

but as far as i know most EU countries protect the end user (us paying subscribers) quite well...??

Zoemayne, use Firefox with the addon: Adblock plus, very effective against those ads.

Those ads are what keep Tomshardware and every other tech site alive.

...because we are all shaking in our boots. Like people were going to see the movie anyways. Most people who pirated the movie last summer never heard about it but were bored shitless because nothing was on TV and decided "Hell, why not check out another crappy war knock off" and while the acting was better it is definitely another fake of military life. You war directors need to take some notes from Steven Spielberg, at least his flick was a more realistic example of it all and the emotional baggage that goes along with it.

Not to mention the script was stolen from a mans actual experience in which he didn't receive a dime or even a credit about by this director. Talk about pirates, way to STEAL a mans experience Hollywood. I encourage people to Google it and compare the two stories in verbatim.

i'm a good guy, i only torrent bad movies.

I hope all 5,000 decide to fight it. Thats rediculous.

torrents are bad ... they fill up your hard drive

I remember when DirectTV tried to go after illegal subs only to get bad PR out of it.

Eventually DirectTV dropped the whole thing and updated the hardware protection. It's really a scare tatic to get people to go legit.

These Hollywood studios are there to make money like any other business...if they didn't want to make money then they wouldn't exist. Maybe you should do what you do for a living and just give it away and make no paycheck...how does that sound? The studio that made the movie in question, and I might be mistaken, seems to me to be a smaller newer studio since I have never heard of them before and I watch TONS of movies via my Netflix membership. This is probably why they are taking this step and going after these people...I don't blame them.

I'm sure a "botnet" defense argument would work, if not the Chewbacca Defense would crush the opposition.

I hope each one of them have to pay the 1500$, let it be a lesson to all who want to steal.

watched it, it sucked, just another war movie only about something more current...LAME....only I didn't torrent it, I did ya one better, I rented it for 3 bucks and invited 23 people to my basement theatre to watch it for FREE, hmmmm whats worse.. trying before buying or what I did....yes very stupid of the production of studio of QUEEFlocker to take people to court, btw bit torrent download technology is TOTALLY LEGAL, you are getting "bits" of info from simultaneous users

If they want to sue someone, sue someone. I have no problem with that. The problem here is it's a form of extortion. They have little evidence, and I am sure some of the people are innocent. Yet they send out mass letters with a $1500 settlement. Even if you are innocent it will be cheaper to send in the cash than fight it. That is the big issue here, and those types of tactics should be illegal.

First off, it's an awesome movie. The professional critics agree (97% on Rotten Tomatoes), the Academy agrees (6 Oscars) and movie fans agree (7.9 on IMDB). It's not for everybody... kind of like most other masterpieces in any medium but hey, you brain dead teenagers always have Avatar.

Second, why whine about lawsuits against illegal downloaders? If you don't want to pay for a movie then don't download it. What's your argument against that? I can understand if people don't think a movie is worth $20 or whatever, most movies aren't but why download it then?

So you won't mind receiving a letter then, right? Who knows, maybe they grabbed your IP address from somewhere and decided to send you a letter. There is no definitive proof here. You just assume everyone on their list is guilty. Heck, why don't they just send out even more letters. What is to stop other wealthy people who can afford to go to court from doing the same practice in other areas? Where does it stop?

Everyone here, for or against torrents, should be sickened by this practice. These settlements are set specifically to a point where it's below the cost of legal fees. Even innocent people would pay it just in case. That is the whole issue here, not "you shouldn't pirate movies!"

Well if they don't have proof they should have no case (the burden of proof is on them after all). If on the other hand you have a justice system that allows corporations harass innocent people in this way then it's not the corporations that are the problem, it's your whole country.

And while errors are certainly possible, I don't think they had trouble collecting 5000 IP addresses that were sharing this movie. If the only problem in this situation is that prosecuting people by their IP addresses is so unreliable, how come no one is concerned about this when an internet pedophile ring is brought down using the same methods?

I agree, it is an issue with the US law system. Hence why people should contact their public officials about these practices.

As for burden of proof, who cares if they have proof or not. They can afford to create bogus lawsuits, but the average person does not have the money to protect themselves against these types of lawsuits. It's cheaper to pay the settlement than fight it. Why fight it anyway? It will cost more and the end result is the same.

As to pedophile ring or whatever, that is a criminal lawsuit. Everyone in the US is provided free defense in criminal lawsuits. Plus I doubt an IP pull is the only proof that they have. Sorry, but that is not applicable in any way to this situation. That is a criminal suit, and they are not extorting people for money. They are actually proceeding with action, and not demanding money.

If this is the case, then change the justice system, what can I tell you. What's to stop anyone with legal training and time on their hands to file lawsuits against people with no legal training? What's to stop me from sending a bunch of letters demanding money to random people right
now?

As for my example, in criminal cases they're not demanding money but they're offering plea bargains and public defense attorneys are advising their clients all the time to take the plea bargains even if they're innocent so yeah, my example is applicable in that sense. It's just that people who are actually pro-piracy have different standards for justice when it's one of their own in trouble.

5000 poor souls.

Way different plea bargaining for jail time vs. money. If you fight and win a criminal suit then you are a free man. If you fight and win a civil suit you end up paying more money than if you just settled. So no, it is not the same. There is no benefit to winning these types of civil suits, but in criminal suits your freedom, reputation, etc. is worth fighting it.

As for anyone filing a lawsuit, that can happen. Yet the problem there is most small timers don't have the money and time to continue a lawsuit if it does go to court, especially on a mass scale. Of course those practices still happen. Yet with large companies they can afford to go to court, win or lose. Not a big deal. With that knowledge they can further scare people into settling. It's a bully tactic and extortion no matter how you want to spin it. Not only should people notify their public officials, but they should boycott Voltage Pictures, Kathryn Bigelow, and everyone's products that support these types of tactics.

Let me be clear, I would not have an issue if these charges were criminal or if they actually planned on suing people instead of mass offering settlements. Yet by mass offering settlements they are clearly trying to extort money from people, and they should not be viewed in any good light whatsoever.

i do not pirate often, but when i do, i have 3 rules
1. it cant be currently sold in stores (they are not making money off of it anyway)
2. if it is sold in stores, i must already own it (pirated version is usually more portable)
3. i seed what i leach. (if i download 1GB i will upload 1GB)

Ok, let's get this straight. The producer spends, oh say, $25,000 on a lawyer, paper, printing, and stamps for demand letters to 5000 people. If twenty pay, he has broken even. After that, it is all gravy. The producer stands to make up to $7.5M off of his $25K investment. Not a bad racket if your the producer....

I believe the suit is for downloads, not shares. Think about that. Nowhere does it say completed downloads. So its entirely likely that many started the DL but didn't complete it. 1bit of Hurtlocker = GUILTY! = $1500. I think what they should do is just sue everyone everywhere for pirating this movie. Some will settle in fear. Lets pretend thats 1 in 10. Since this type of extortion is only legal in the US, that 307mil (us pop) x $1500 x %10 = $46 billion making hurtlocker the highest grossing movie of all time. Sure half of that will have to go to the law firm, but $26bil on a movie that cost $15 mil to produce is a good investment. Perfect business model.

Guilty until proven guilty, but why even have to prove anything when they'll just pay in fear? Its the new American profit model!

Im sorry but honestly, before they can do this they should need to subpoena your pc and verify that indeed you did DL the movie. Not just part of it, the full thing. Then like most civil suits not backed by corporate greed they should be able to sue for 3x the cost of goods, which would be the purchase price of the dvd. So i see this online for $30 MSRP, you should then be liable for $90 plus legal fees. Sadly this film has been reported by other sources as having been up for DL 6 full months prior to its debut at the festivals. Which means someone at, or possibly, voltage themselves seeded the original copies. Wow, organized corporate crime really does pay.

I guess since I wasted $15 on this piece of garbage in the cinema on the recommendation of many a fool, but I paid cash and didn't save my receipt, therefore I probably deserve a lawsuit from voltage too or at least a hot poker in the ass.

- List of IPs, CHECK
- IP to address counterparts, CHECK*
- Automatic Mailer machine, CHECK
-> 5000 letters forcing the person to pay up a minimum of $1500 dollars, we make 7.5 million. Perfect plan.
THIS IS THE PROBLEM. They are guaranteed money with no actual evidence.



*Ignoring possibilities of someone else using wireless, or the fact we just randomly grabbed IPs from anywhere

I would stop previewing movies aka pirating only under the following circumstances.

When I have shelled out my hard earned dollars to watch a movie in a theater, and decide say 30 minutes into the movie that what I am watching is a pile of junk, I have the right to get up and leave BUT I make a stop at the ticket booth on my way out and they refund my money with no questions or hassles.

As the average movie is 90 min. in length, it should only take you about 30 min. to decide.

There have been a lot of movies that at the end the only thing I could say was thank God I didn't waste my money on this piece of crap. There have also been a lot of movies that I have bought after watching because I have enjoyed them so much. How to train your dragon being the latest, great movie imo, buy it.

Last time I counted my DVD collection was over 300. Yes there are some real losers in the collection, but when they sell them 2 for $7, eh, what the hell, I'll watch it some night I can't get to sleep. Night Shift springs to mind.

Bottom line. If you are going to sell me a product, and that product does not even remotely live up the hype you have put around it and then say too bad so sad I've got your money and I'm not giving it back to you, what are you going to do about? Well, we all know the answer to that one.