It’s one thing to have “a little Captain in you”, but it’s another to be outted as a booty pirate. Porn companies are cracking down on internet pirating of copyright protected content. For the past year or two several production companies have been targeting people who use file sharing programs like Bit Torrent to download porn. The companies have reportedly recovered millions of dollars from over 100,000 individuals who thought they were getting free porn.
Bit Torrent and other file sharing program users make video files available to other members, and are then able to search for other files that they want, that may be available by other members. Then they can download the file to their own computer. This sounds like cyber utopia. After all, didn’t our parents and teachers always emphasis the importance of sharing? The problem is, that sharing movie and music files is considered Copyright Infringement – it can lead to massive law suits and even criminal liability. The movie and music industry considers it a major cause for falling revenues from record and dvd sales – and they are not happy.
Unlike file sharing technology of old, the new technology does not transfer an entire file from one computer to another. Instead, it takes pieces of the target file from several computers (some times thousands), called a swarm, and then reassembles the file on your computer. This helps protect the providers of the software from copyright infringement suits, but it creates a situation where every individual who provides a piece of the file may be liable for distributing copyright protected material. Porn production companies have found a way to identify all of the IP addresses that make up a swarm during a down load, and are proceeding to file copyright infringement suits against everyone in the swarm. How would you like to be publicly named in a lawsuit for illegally copying “Chucky Teen Butt Fuckers 69” (hopefully a made up name)?
Once the IP addresses making up a swarm are identified, the production companies then get a subpoena forcing the Internet Service Provider to supply the names and addresses of the IP addresses. Recently, this is where the courts have been giving some resistance to these suits. Since a swarm may be made up of thousands of IP addresses, the law suits are typically filed as “Porn Productions v. John Does 1-3,000”, and the production company then seeks subpoenas for all 3000 IP addresses. The Federal Courts many of these cases have been filed in have recently been resistant to issuing subpoenas for 3000 people at a time, when it is quite possible that many of the John Does may not even reside in the geographical jurisdiction of that court. Supporters of the technology are hailing these recent developments as a triumph against the law suits, but they fail to realize that these rulings will end up cost the pirates more in legal fees and damages in the long run.
When the Courts allow the suits to include an entire swarm, the producers are able to identify all the members of the swarm with inside one case, with one motion. They then contact each defendant and give them the opportunity to settle the case quickly and quietly (normally $1-2,000 each). Copyright Infringement often allows statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each file you copy or allow someone to copy. “Statutory Damages” allow the plaintiff to collect the money without proving the value of the file you stole, and without proving how much the theft hurt them…they just have to prove that you copied the file or allowed someone else to copy the file. If production companies have to file multiple suits to go after a single swarm, it will cost them more. If it costs more to prosecute the case, they will want larger settlements.
Those $1000 settlements can easily turn into five and ten thousand dollar settlements, and the cases will still settled. Being named as a defendant in these suits can be embarrassing…do you want the local newspaper to know what porn gets you off? Fighting these cases normally requires surrendering your computer to be examined for other infringing files – do you want the courts seeing your entire porn collection? That barn yard scene you just had to see will probably end up in criminal charges….(and just hope you don’t have any vintage Tracy Lords flicks). And don’t forget the attorney fees! Negotiating a $1000 to $2000 settlement can often cost a couple thousand dollars in your own attorney fees. To try to fight one of these cases will easily run into the $10,000 dollar range. The porn industry is not going to just keep bending over and taking it from copyright pirates. The suits will continue…the issue becomes how much each infringer will pay when caught.
These mass suits have come under fire because they offer settlements so easily, offering to drop the prosecution for as little as a thousand dollars. The criticism is that settling for such small amounts does not really discourage future piracy…it just generates money. With 3000 people in a swarm, if a third settle for $1000, the production recovers $1,000,000, regardless of the quality of the production. In contrast, the music industry filed fewer suits, but went after large Court ordered judgments. Remember the college student who lost an infringement suit to the tune of $365,000? That sent a message. Do the supporters of the technology really want thousands of six figure judgments and the mass publicity to that goes with those types of suits? To the average person, I think $1,000 per file leaves enough of an impression on copyright infringers.
The point is…sharing files is copyright infringement. Porn companies are going after on line pirates. If you insist on getting your porn for free, you are likely to pay in the end.
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