Torrent Site Ships Condoms To Anti-Piracy Offices

[Mr. Gibs]

The pressure mounting on BitTorrent sites worldwide has increased dramatically over the last year. This worsening climate can be largely attributed to a handful of entertainment lobby groups that try to shutter these sites through legal actions and political influence.

One torrent site that has been floating under the radar, relatively speaking, is now pushing back at these outfits with a rather unusual action. The Russian-based team of operators behind Vertor.com has sent special packages to six of the leading anti-piracy groups through which they hope to send a clear message.

The packages, containing the local brand of Vizit Overture aroma flavored condoms, are accompanied with a note that doesn’t allow for much speculation. “We wish your parents had used it,” the message reads, venting the frustration of the Vertor team and many of the site’s users.

The people behind Vertor informed TorrentFreak that their action is a joke, but one with a clear message. “I’m sure that every one of us would want to say something like this to these bloodsuckers, but not everyone has the opportunity to be heard,” an anonymous source from the Vertor team said.

The condom shipments were sent out yesterday are expected to arrive within a day at the anti-piracy offices. They are believed to be free of anthrax and other kinds of hazardous materials.

Source: http://torrentfreak.com/torrent-site-ships-condoms-to-anti-piracy-offices-100401/

[hdood]

So the message is "we wish the people who are trying to stop us from breaking the law had never been born?"

Okay...

[Tech Star]

:laugh:

Nice.

[fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj]

So the message is "we wish the people who are trying to stop us from breaking the law had never been born?"

Okay...

It's the fault of the people that upload illegal content, not those who start/host the website.

[nullie]

So the message is "we wish the people who are trying to stop us from breaking the law had never been born?"

Okay...

Consider the law should be changed and that copyright and patent doesn't hold a place in this modern day and age, and that the industry relying on them needs to reinvent itself.

[Doli]

This would be better if the story was published after the shipment and the source came from receivers and not the senders.

Reciver: "Who sent us this s***?" ---> April fools news story, not Sender:"hey look at what we are going to do for April fools".

[hdood]

It's the fault of the people that upload illegal content, not those who start/host the website.

Dubious. The reality is that most of the Bittorrent exists primarily to facilitate piracy.

Consider the law should be changed and that copyright and patent doesn't hold a place in this modern day and age, and that the industry relying on them needs to reinvent itself.

Copyright is a fundamental part of our society. I understand that you want to get everything you can for free, but the reality is that those who create things really do need to get paid, because they really do need to feed themselves and their families, and they really do need money to cover the production costs (which in many cases are huge.) You want to deprive those in the creative industry of the ability to make money doing what they love. All because you want stuff for free. You don't care about them, you just want stuff for free. If they want money, they should get real jobs instead, right? Sell t-shirts? Consulting services? Daytime job as a plumber? Pay expenses with monopoly money?

[Mr. Gibs]

Copyright is a fundamental part of our society. I understand that you want to get everything you can for free, but the reality is that those who create things really do need to get paid, because they really do need to feed themselves and their families, and they really do need money to cover the production costs (which in many cases are huge.) You want to deprive those in the creative industry of the ability to make money doing what they love. All because you want stuff for free. You don't care about them, you just want stuff for free. If they want money, they should get real jobs instead, right? Sell t-shirts? Consulting services? Daytime job as a plumber? Pay expenses with monopoly money?

That may be true for some people, not all. There are people who will be more willing to pay for the software / movie / music if the prices were more reasonable.

While I fully understand that production costs can be ridiculously huge, especially for movies, theres a simple solution. Pay the actresses less instead of charging us more. I personally don't find it very fair that the people who make $5 million per movie they make then go and complain about how they're losing money by people downloading their stuff.

[itzwolf]

If true, that's quite funny! :laugh:

[bnajbert]

Source: http://torrentfreak.com/torrent-site-ships-condoms-to-anti-piracy-offices-100401/

Personally I believe that piracy exists because it fills a niche where there is a lack of product or service. I used to DL everything I played on my computer but now since steam came along I've found it much easier and convenient to throw my discs away and instead just logon to steam and download the content at will on any computer I want. Supply & Demand. Movie Industry feel free to take a long hard look at how Steam works and why, then get a friggin clue.

[hdood]

That may be true for some people, not all. There are people who will be more willing to pay for the software / movie / music if the prices were more reasonable.

While I fully understand that production costs can be ridiculously huge, especially for movies, theres a simple solution. Pay the actresses less instead of charging us more. I personally don't find it very fair that the people who make $5 million per movie they make then go and complain about how they're losing money by people downloading their stuff.

Well, most people in the movie and TV industry don't make that much money and actually do a lot of work and have pretty stressful lives, but sure, there are ways to cut money, and there are ways to make better products that are more likely to entice people to pay. It can't be cut to zero though, which is the problem with this fantasy of abolishing copyright. I'm convinced that for the most part there is nothing ideological behind it, they just want stuff for free.

[shakey]

That may be true for some people, not all. There are people who will be more willing to pay for the software / movie / music if the prices were more reasonable.

While I fully understand that production costs can be ridiculously huge, especially for movies, theres a simple solution. Pay the actresses less instead of charging us more. I personally don't find it very fair that the people who make $5 million per movie they make then go and complain about how they're losing money by people downloading their stuff.

Exactly. Why pay the same price for a e-book that the hardback cost, when you aren't even getting anything other than digital words. Production cost have gone down on many items, yet the price has seemed to only go up. They can't dare cut the cost of anything they do, but they sure can raise the price of what we will pay for it. Of course, when the industry starts to actually lose money, instead of having billion dollar profits, they will have a better ground to argue on. At the current time, most people who illegally download would never have purchased said item in the first place, but due to them having said item, they have advertised it to their friends and family, actually helping the company/artist gain popularity and most likely added sales. Its a funny slippery slope.

[hdood]

At the current time, most people who illegally download would never have purchased said item in the first place, but due to them having said item, they have advertised it to their friends and family, actually helping the company/artist gain popularity and most likely added sales.

I'm not sure if I agree. Sure, most of the time they wouldn't pay for it, but some of the time they would. When piracy is so simple, many people prefer to instead spend their money on more "real" things like beer (and digital things that can't really be pirated, like online games.) That's the sad reality.

As for the advertising factor, I don't really buy it. They'll just make others pirate it too.

[Mr. Gibs]

Well, most people in the movie and TV industry don't make that much money and actually do a lot of work and have pretty stressful lives, but sure, there are ways to cut money, and there are ways to make better products that are more likely to entice people to pay. It can't be cut to zero though, which is the problem with this fantasy of abolishing copyright. I'm convinced that for the most part there is nothing ideological behind it, they just want stuff for free.

Well you see the way it stands right now is movie companies / producers etc are still making profits even though piracy is widespread. This, to some extent, shows they can cut prices and entice more buyers without going out of business.

While there will always be people who download purely because they can get something for free, this isn't always the case.

Some people download movies to see if they like it before going to buy a dvd/bluray permanent copy.

There are people who download games to play them because demos are either **** or non-existant nowdays, and then go ahead and buy the game. I, for example, have done this numerous times.

Same thing applies to music.

Not everyone of us has the luxury of being able to buy something to test out wheter its good or not. If I was to buy a computer, for example, theres numerous ways for me to see and make sure that the one I'm buying is good for what I want.

Now when it comes to movies, the only things I have is reviews, which can greatly differ because people aren't alike, and trailers, which aren't exactly an accurate representation of the movie. So the only other way is download a copy and then decide. I know this isn't exactly the most righteous way of doing it, but hey its better than wasting $30 on a movie that you end up hating.

[Southern Patriot]

Copyright is a fundamental part of our society.

Copyrights in and of themselves serve a good purpose. The problem is that they have been repeatedly extended and expanded over the years to the point that they no longer serve the purpose they were intended for. They were originally supposed to last for a limited time so that an author could be rewarded for his work but then the work would be released to the greater good of society, but now they are just a hair short of eternal. Disney thrives on copyrighting the works of authors of the past century. What valid purpose does it serve for a copyright to outlive the author of a work by 75 years? What valid purpose does it serve for copyrights on software to last 10 times longer (or more) than the hardware they are intended to run on? Every piece of personal computer software ever written is still covered by copyright (other than those few things that were released from copyright by their authors).

[bnajbert]

That may be true for some people, not all. There are people who will be more willing to pay for the software / movie / music if the prices were more reasonable.

While I fully understand that production costs can be ridiculously huge, especially for movies, theres a simple solution. Pay the actresses less instead of charging us more. I personally don't find it very fair that the people who make $5 million per movie they make then go and complain about how they're losing money by people downloading their stuff.

It's funny that you should say that about paying the actors less money because as of late I'm finding that the best movies have no-name actors who get paid next to nothing. I'm not saying that all the stars aren't good actors, but honestly how many more romantic comedies starring Jennifer Anniston do we have to endure with her $20-30M paycheck attached? I'm not just saying this because I don't care for romantic comedies, start hiring actors outside of the loop, start buying scripts from writers outside of Hollywood. Their is better ideas out there but you have to be willing to look at them to see them.

[JoseyWales]

none of this has ever been about being legal or not. it has always been about money and how much they can bleed from consumers. if they had their way you would have to pay for music or movies/tv even if you walked by someone else watching or listening to something. they have created more p2p users than they have stopped because of their "war" on p2p..

[shakey]

I'm not sure if I agree. Sure, most of the time they wouldn't pay for it, but some of the time they would. When piracy is so simple, many people prefer to instead spend their money on more "real" things like beer (and digital things that can't really be pirated, like online games.) That's the sad reality.

As for the advertising factor, I don't really buy it. They'll just make others pirate it too.

Give a reason for someone to pay for something. That's what is supposed to spur business anyway. If your item is not worth purchasing to anyone, it will most likely be pirated by people. If you make it worth purchasing, then people will pay. Usually companies end up shooting themselves in the foot, and forcing people to not want to pay for their product, take example most game companies (ubisoft, activision) and computer games. Most computer games that come out are released as poor ports or released unfinished, full of bugs and glitches that break the game for many. These games will rarely get patches, updated, or extra content. Now, same situation, but provide a better company (steam) and what they have to offer. They are doing great in profits. They make games that work for most, but if they don't, they provide excellent support to making sure it will work. It calls comes down to the worth of said item, and how the company has affected its user base. If someone has the money for something, and they feel like they will get what their money/time is worth, they will purchase the item usually. Now when they feel they will not get the worth of the cost of said item, you get piracy or just no sale at all.

In a industry with so much re-churned out ideas and products, they need to excite the customer, show that the customer can count on said item/company, and provide it at a reasonable price and way of getting it.

[MrChainsaw]

Is this a new way of protesting? lol

[c3ntury]

Well.. its nearly as good as the (rather large) archive of replies TPB team send back to DMCA notices and the such.

[hdood]

Give a reason for someone to pay for something. That's what is supposed to spur business anyway. If your item is not worth purchasing to anyone, it will most likely be pirated by people. If you make it worth purchasing, then people will pay.

Sort of. The fact that it's so easy to pirate kind of changes the game. It's human nature to want to get as much as possible with as little investment as possible. Everything is pirated. Awesome products are pirated. ****ty products are pirated. Products with big names behind them are pirated. Indie products are pirated.

Now, same situation, but provide a better company (steam) and what they have to offer. They are doing great in profits.

Valve do pretty well because they specialize in software where much of the experience is online-based and so can't be pirated. It isn't a coincidence that these sell well, and it's not just because they're good. People pay for them because they have to.

Don't get me wrong here, I don't oppose better services, and better quality products. I just don't live under the illusion that it alone is going to do that much to stop piracy, unless you were to reduce the price to unrealistically low levels.

Well.. its nearly as good as the (rather large) archive of replies TPB team send back to DMCA notices and the such.

Made doubly funny by the fact that, oops, turns out they actually were breaking the law.

[Solid Knight]

Consider the law should be changed and that copyright and patent doesn't hold a place in this modern day and age, and that the industry relying on them needs to reinvent itself.

...? Yes, in this modern age of instant mass distribution it makes more sense to not copyright your works than it did in the past where mass distribution cost more money.