Is Rapidshare a promoter of e-book piracy?

[jupstin]

Originally Posted by Daithi

The yellow pages provides phone numbers, addresses, and advertising for legitimate businesses. This isn't even remotely analogous to Rapidshare's facilitation of pirated books.

Look up escort services or massage parlors in the Yellow Pages and tell me if you still agree with this statement.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by jupstin

Look up escort services or massage parlors in the Yellow Pages and tell me if you still agree with this statement.

Both of which can be legitimate businesses, and not fronts for prostitution.

While some no doubt are fronts, claiming all are is equivalent to claiming that everything hosted by RapidShare is pirated commercial content of some sort. In short, not true.
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Dennis

[demoric]

Originally Posted by ahi

I expect there is nothing more delightful than filtering a password-encrypted .zip file called "3a35f13.zip" that contains a password-encrypted .zip file called "3a35f13c.zip" which in turn contains the "best" of J.K. Rowling.

I mean... you can tell it's illegal just by looking at the filename!!

Personally, I hope every content provider that wastes any substantial amount of time and/or resources on combating piracy is eventually bankrupted by it. We'll be left both with better content and a more free and civil world.

- Ahi

You can't tell that it's illegal. It could very well be an archive of legitimate data that one person wants to share with a small group of potential clients, but has encrypted it to prevent people from nosing around in it. Microsoft themselves use the security through obscurity model. The data could be server logs, business brochure examples, or just pictures grandma with an address book of emails that you wouldn't want spammers to get.

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by demoric

You can't tell that it's illegal. It could very well be an archive of legitimate data that one person wants to share with a small group of potential clients, but has encrypted it to prevent people from nosing around in it. Microsoft themselves use the security through obscurity model. The data could be server logs, business brochure examples, or just pictures grandma with an address book of emails that you wouldn't want spammers to get.

I think that was his point. It looked like he was being sarcastic.

[Hellmark]

Yeah, that definitely was sarcasm.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by demoric

You can't tell that it's illegal. It could very well be an archive of legitimate data that one person wants to share with a small group of potential clients, but has encrypted it to prevent people from nosing around in it. Microsoft themselves use the security through obscurity model. The data could be server logs, business brochure examples, or just pictures grandma with an address book of emails that you wouldn't want spammers to get.

The others are right. I am sorry to have inadvertently trapped you in a sarchasm.

- Ahi

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Both of which can be legitimate businesses, and not fronts for prostitution.

While some no doubt are fronts, claiming all are is equivalent to claiming that everything hosted by RapidShare is pirated commercial content of some sort. In short, not true.
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Dennis

Which is exactly the analogy that introduced the yellow pages comparison into the thread. Full circle.

[seuzx]

First, it should be clear to everyone by now that piracy can't be stopped, only somewhat lessened.

Second, ebooks are really small in filesize and that's why online file hosts like Rapidshare are more popular than torrents there. Once the filesize gets large torrents and all the other p2p avenues are more efficient.

[geneven]

"We all tend to assume that others feel, think, and act like we do, and that we're representative, regardless of the circumstances and choices. That's almost never true,"

I'd say it's usually true; the average person thinks like the average person, on average. In extreme situations, no, but we're not talking extreme situations here. We are correct to assume that we think like other people like us, otherwise the world wouldn't work, driving would be difficult.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by geneven

"We all tend to assume that others feel, think, and act like we do, and that we're representative, regardless of the circumstances and choices. That's almost never true,"

I'd say it's usually true; the average person thinks like the average person, on average. In extreme situations, no, but we're not talking extreme situations here. We are correct to assume that we think like other people like us, otherwise the world wouldn't work, driving would be difficult.

I wrote the original comment above. It was in response to an assertion by another poster who admitted sharing pirated files through RapidShare, and seemed to presume from that that if he did it, everyone else did too, because everyone else was just like him.

Not so, and an example of what I meant above. We will be broadly similar to others, and that is indeed what allows society to function. But there wil be very definite limits to how similar, and we certainly won't be identical.
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Dennis

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I wrote the original comment above. It was in response to an assertion by another poster who admitted sharing pirated files through RapidShare, and seemed to presume from that that if he did it, everyone else did too, because everyone else was just like him.

I do not think there was an implication to "everyone", I think the implication was that it is common. But I have also gotten the impression that the bulk of what is shared (in bytes) is of questionable nature since it seems that films and TV-series are shared a lot.

From my point of view it does not matter what the percentage is. It must be possible to have services like rapidshare so if people think it is a problem they have to change something else.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by tompe

I do not think there was an implication to "everyone", I think the implication was that it is common. But I have also gotten the impression that the bulk of what is shared (in bytes) is of questionable nature since it seems that films and TV-series are shared a lot.

Accepted. And agreed, RapidShare, by its nature, will wind up hosting illegal content. There will be no realistic way to prevent it.

I think my basic point is that it's usually an error to point to your own behavior as representative. It may well be, but you normally can't prove it.

From my point of view it does not matter what the percentage is. It must be possible to have services like rapidshare so if people think it is a problem they have to change something else.

I agree. Under the circumstances, I wonder what folks concerned that RapidShare is hosting illegal content would see done. Shut down RapidShare entirely?

Along that line, I'm bemused by the German court ruling that RapidShare must filter to keep content from a media company that had sued off it's service. Splendid. How?
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Dennis

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Along that line, I'm bemused by the German court ruling that RapidShare must filter to keep content from a media company that had sued off it's service. Splendid. How?

Huh?

It's quite clear! I've said this several times now: RS use a hash filter which disallows the re-posting of files taken down for copyright violations. The judge's order is to preemitively add a bunch of signatures to said filter.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Huh?

It's quite clear! I've said this several times now: RS use a hash filter which disallows the re-posting of files taken down for copyright violations. The judge's order is to preemptively add a bunch of signatures to said filter.

Sorry, I wasn't being clear enough.

Yes, you can filter for files already taken down for copyright violations by adding hashes. What about new files?

And I suspect it would be fairly trivial to modify files which had already been taken down so they could be re uploaded and slip past the filter, yet sill be usable.

I think I feel the same way about stuff like this as I do about applying DRM. Go ahead and do it if it makes you feel better, but don't expect it to be terribly effective in actually stopping piracy.
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Dennis

[DawnFalcon]

Oh, I agree it won't be effective. But hey, I suspect the publishers and mabe the Judge are the only people involved who think it will be.