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Sayrus | on: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues
> Anyone who uses BitTorrent to transfer files automatically uploads content to other people, as it is inherent to the protocol. In other words, the uploading wasn’t a choice, it was simply how the technology works.

What an argument to make in court. It can be proved false in minutes by the plaintiffs.

Teknomadix | parent | next
Not exactly automatically.

Seeding is opt-out, not opt-in… but it is usually a default that has to actively manually overridden. Most users never touch those settings. The average pirate downloading a torrent is seeding whether they know it or not.

The protocol absolutely does not enforce seeding. A client can lie to the tracker, cap upload to 0k. BitTorrent has no mechanism to compel one to share. Leeching a file, downloading and sharing no forward packets is possible. While the "social contract" of seeding is entirely a norm enforced by private trackers and community shame. It is not the protocol itself.

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Ekaros | parent | next
I can't believe that no one has ever tried that one before... So do we now roll back all of the previous copyright cases where downloading music with bittorrent has been prosecuted?
applfanboysbgon | root | parent | next
> So do we now roll back all of the previous copyright cases where downloading music with bittorrent has been prosecuted

No, because those cases were pirating-while-poor. This is pirating-while-trillion-dollar-corporation, which falls under a completely different section of the law.

mcherm | root | parent
At this stage, you are going to far in claiming that. So far, all that happened is that Meta's lawyers claimed it was fair use. They are paid to try every argument they can think of that might work. Just because they make the argument doesn't mean the court will find it has any merit.
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Sayrus | root | parent
From my understanding, Meta's use of the pirated book was accepted as fair use and the plaintiffs admitted to no harm. In the case of pirated music and films, neither of those points are made. Copyright holders assume people who pirate would have bought the content, usually even assuming that one download is one lost sale. And I am not aware of a single case where watching or listening to pirated content was accepted as fair use.

It is interesting to follow how this plays out for Meta and how that will impact future cases.

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gmokki | parent | next
When I pull the trigger and the bullet kills an another person, it is just how technology works. Why would I be responsible if I choose to use it or not?
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gus_massa | parent | next
I agree, that people used to be called "leechers". Somewhat related xkcd https://xkcd.com/553/
throw73848595 | parent | next
This. You can set upload speed to zero, and download entire dataset without uploading anything. Slower but doable.
Etherlord87 | root | parent
As far as I know, setting upload speed to zero disables the limit. You can set it to be very low but not zero.
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gzread | root | parent
You can patch it so zero means zero.
Etherlord87 | root | parent
I think it's a fair argument in the context of big corporations using the technology.
ekjhgkejhgk | parent | next
Lawyers are paid to defend a position. They are intellectual prostitutes.
AlienRobot | parent
My client didn't "buy" illegal drugs. He received illegal drugs. But anyone who makes a drug deal automatically sends money to the drug dealer, as inherent of the protocol. In other words, "giving money for drugs" wasn't a choice, it was simply how drug deals work.