Comics piracy crackdown

[astra]

Originally Posted by happy_terd

Ah, they have done it
DitTo instead of dito, although, so vehemently, argued with me.

P.S. Sorry for

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Amazing. It will be interesting to see how it plays out as well as future actions of the group and law enforcement.

It certainly will. Most of the people involved in creating the unauthorised digital comics put their screen name in them, so anyone with a vested interest could easily target the individual most responsible for any damage they think they may have caused.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Sorry I have to disagree again: "theft" involves the taking of a physical object in such a way that the original owner no longer has it. If you want indeed call it what it is "copyright infringement" would fit the bill nicely. Which is a civil offense, by the way, in most cases.

Within the unauthorised digital comics community, they are calling it "theft of scans", and aren't too happy about it. The irony of that should amuse a few of the people here.

My views on why unauthorised content consumption only has a positive impact on entertainment industry profits can be found in various places on this site so there's no point repeating them here.

But in the case of comics, I think that is even more the case. The market for comics now is almost entirely collector-based, they are just too expensive for casual reading and throwing away, especially for children. Go into any comic shop now and the only people you will see are in their 30s and 40s.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Within the unauthorised digital comics community, they are calling it "theft of scans", and aren't too happy about it. The irony of that should amuse a few of the people here.

I see the same thing from fansubbing groups, where individuals or "teams" work to provide subtitles for foreign films/TV series-- they release the subs (either soft or hard) for the series-- which in itself is a form of copyright violation-- then become indignant when someone else takes "their hard work" and redistributes it differently, or for profit. (They have been especially indignant about a site called Crunchyroll.) They fail to see the irony, and they fail to realize one simple fact-- once something has been made available on the internet-- it is available on the internet.

As for comics, after getting my Sony Reader, I've downloaded a backlog of thousands of issues of comics from titles I read in my teens (yes, I actually read comics on a 5-inch Eink display) but I've never heard of the OP's website before. Mine came from Usenet, and torrents, and Emule, and Avax. Probably plenty available via IRC. They have plugged a trickle, and act like they have held back a flood.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

... become indignant when someone else takes "their hard work" and redistributes it differently, or for profit.

Not that I am overly familiar with the "scene", but this seems to be mainly the case for people who are using this to turn a profit in the first place, uploading something to rapidshare or some other host which pays them for each download, then complain about "illegal" mirrors. As you say, delightfully ironic.

They fail to see the irony, and they fail to realize one simple fact-- once something has been made available on the internet-- it is available on the internet.

Mine came from Usenet ...

That's still around? I thought binaries had killed it for good long ago.

[J. Strnad]

To me it's like issuing speeding tickets. The cops don't get everyone and they'll never wipe out speeding, but it makes people think and maybe speed less or less often knowing that they might be the one who gets caught.

But "content providers" ought to have the sense to realize that these venues for their work exist, and if they make their work available at a reasonable price then most people who are interested will buy it. Some people will never buy anything, some will buy selectively, and some will buy all of their material...it's probably a bell curve.

Print books have never gotten money for every single reader, so why would be expect digital books to?

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Not that I am overly familiar with the "scene", but this seems to be mainly the case for people who are using this to turn a profit in the first place, uploading something to rapidshare or some other host which pays them for each download, then complain about "illegal" mirrors. As you say, delightfully ironic.

Nope, mostly done completely for free. I get them mostly from (and hopefully these links will be allowed-- the copyright holders turn a blind eye to the sites, and requests for removal are honored-- these are long-lived "legit" sites, as far as grey area sites are legit) here for live action and here for animaton.

That's [Usenet] still around? I thought binaries had killed it for good long ago.

No, binaries are what keeps Usenet alive. There are multiple premium services.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Not that I am overly familiar with the "scene", but this seems to be mainly the case for people who are using this to turn a profit in the first place, uploading something to rapidshare or some other host which pays them for each download, then complain about "illegal" mirrors. As you say, delightfully ironic.

"]Crunchyroll[/URL].) They fail to see the irony, and they fail to realize one simple fact-- once something has been made available on the internet-- it is available on the internet.



That's still around? I thought binaries had killed it for good long ago.

Usenet was where I saw DCP members in a flap about this a few days ago, saying they know who that guy is and that he is likely to hand over every IP address he knows of people involved in it. It's still around, but only from commercial organisations where you pay a monthly fee, the free ISP access went years ago.

Commercial use of unauthorised digital content has always been frowned on by people who create it. Rightly or wrongly, they don't like the idea of people making money from their creations. It's very common in the music video bootleg scene, and people caught doing it are expelled from all the forums.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

But "content providers" ought to have the sense to realize that these venues for their work exist, and if they make their work available at a reasonable price then most people who are interested will buy it.

Yes. The way to beat such copyright violations is price and convenience. Have a dedicated site with fast downloads, a large selection, and low prices; also, don't piss off potential customers with crappy DRM and geographical restrictions. I am not a huge fan of Apple, but the iTunes store got this almost right. A tune for a buck? Not turning to the darknet for that.

Some people will never buy anything, some will buy selectively, and some will buy all of their material...it's probably a bell curve.

Yes. Also, those that won't buy at any price literally never will. It's not that they'd suddenly buy if they can't get it illegally. So, stop worrying about lost sales, there aren't any in these cases.

Print books have never gotten money for every single reader, so why would be expect digital books to?

Because they can. Or think they do.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Commercial use of unauthorised digital content has always been frowned on by people who create it.

But if you take Avax or one of its many clones, almost all posts have "no mirrors" somewhere. Why would they care if it wasn't (financially) important to them that people downloaded the stuff off of their account?

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

But if you take Avax or one of its many clones, almost all posts have "no mirrors" somewhere. Why would they care if it wasn't (financially) important to them that people downloaded the stuff off of their account?

Those people aren't (usually) the content creators-- they find it somewhere else on the internet and post it there. The reason is that when they send traffic to Rapidshare or whatever, they get free download slots. It is a way to get premium download service without paying for premium download service. But the people that actually do the scans (and translations) do it for nothing more than to support the "hobby" and the "community."

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

But "content providers" ought to have the sense to realize that these venues for their work exist, and if they make their work available at a reasonable price then most people who are interested will buy it.

DC have known about it for at least 5 years, because that is how long ago I read an interview with Dan Didio in which the subject was brought up. I can't find it now, but there is a reference to it here:

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/soapbo...0871158823.htm

DiDio has said he believes downloading comics allow fans the opportunity to sample books they might want to purchase and he's said the publisher is aware of the fact that due to economic reasons, it's unrealistic to expect DC fans to purchase the more than 60 books they put out monthly

I know Marvel started going after download sites just before they launched their digital comics subscription thing, so maybe this means that DC are getting ready to introduce something similar?

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Those people aren't (usually) the content creators-- they find it somewhere else on the internet and post it there. The reason is that when they send traffic to Rapidshare or whatever, they get free download slots. It is a way to get premium download service without paying for premium download service. But the people that actually do the scans (and translations) do it for nothing more than to support the "hobby" and the "community."

I was thinking of the people who sell them on Ebay or similar places. I didn't know you could get download credits in that way, but I wouldn't really class that as commercial use.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I didn't know you could get download credits in that way, but I wouldn't really class that as commercial use.

They call it "RapidPoints" on RapidShare. I think other providers have similar systems, too.

http://rapidshare.com/faqx.html?show=G110

[mr ploppy]

Anyone that uploads unauthorised files and ties them to a login account must be crazy.