pH7: You're missing the point; it's about offering a quick and easy option as an alternative to going directly to court - which they have every right to do. Just like you and everybody else have the right to file a civil lawsuit against anyone you please.
Red_Avatar: 1. No, YOU are missing the point - you are interchanging a biased lawyer company who benefits from these settlements with a police officer who is backed by the law. One is doing it to make a buck, the other is doing it because it's his duty to uphold the law. One will use tactics to maximise income, the other won't.
pH7: a) They don't have to be as this is not necessary in order to file a lawsuit against someone.
Red_Avatar: 2. I have no idea what you mean by this. Who doesn't have to be as what?
pH7: b) Even if I own the game I'm not allowed to pirate it. Pirating isn't the same as playing an illegal copy - it's about sharing (you don't even have to install it yourself) a copy with others. Hence, even if you've bought the game (it just hasn't arrived yet),
they have every right to drag you to court. Red_Avatar: 3. Pirating isn't always sharing - it can include sharing, but doesn't have to be. You're entitled to a backup in a lot of countries including mine. I can rightfully download a pirated copy although, you're right, I can't share it. That's why I always turn sharing off if I use torrents - or set it so low (1kb/sec) that I barely shared a megabyte or two before the game is down downloading.
Red_Avatar: 4. If you own a license to the game and downloaded it (which, as I said, is legal in many places), he's well within his rights to drop the lawsuit - I think you underestimate what judges can do. It's up to the judge to determine the worth of a lawsuit - I doubt the case would ever fully even get to court before getting dropped.
pH7: Actually, in Germany it is that simple. Whoever "owns" the IP (e.g. the landlord) is responsible for everything that IP is used for. Yes, it's a law I hope never will be passed where I live, but it is a law there where thses letters were sent out. If you can document that said IP shared your property illegally, then the owner of the IP will be held responsible, regardless of it being fair or not - it's the law.
Red_Avatar: 5. Whether it's the law or not, doesn't matter - see, YOU don't get the point. That's exactly the thing - they focussed on Germany because it was much easier to get people to pay up because of this horrible law. Anyone with half a brain knows that it's wrong - old people with an open wifi shouldn't get sued because they're technologically illiterate. Most judges won't even know what an open wifi means or how to close it and they'd expect the average joe on the street to know that?
And THAT is the biggest point - that CD Projekt went after people in a country with this terrible law. That they could attack people using a law that is inherently unfair.
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I don't think YOU realise how easy it is to break the "law". Even surfing the net and browsing sites automatically makes you a pirate since your browser will cache copyrighted images - that's how utterly insane the current legal system is!
pH7: However, CDPR didn't use what the German legislation served them on a silver platter. Instead of going directly to court - where they'd most likely win because of this law - they contacted the person first, making sure that it was correct, even excusing one person that wouldn't had a chance to prove his "innocence" (he was guilty) in court. There's a lot of guess-work in this case, but that's a fact that shows that CDPR did not assume that accuracy of the method reflected the particular kind of pirates they were after.
Red_Avatar: 6. Oh dear, now you're being daft - and naive. They focussed on Germany exactly because of the legislation which would mean people are more likely to pay up. It's called "leverage". Look it up.
pH7: Fairytales about MAC adresses? Yes, I know MAC addresses can be changed and even spoofed (wouldn't be much of a point in this context, though), but I also know that less than 1% actually does this on a regular basis. As far as I can tell, you'd have to change your MAC several times during the download of TW2 for it to have any effect. The inconvenience of it alone would be enough for people to rather take their chances in the big legal letter lottery.
Red_Avatar: 7. Again you miss the point. They claimed their system was waterproof in a statement made before. My point was that there's no way this is true - not that many people use MAC spoofing (which, incidentally, can be done automatically by some of the better torrent programs - IP conceilment as well).
pH7: 3. There's a lot of crap talk, yes, but to me it's more crap coming from the pro-piracy side of it. On one hand you expect CDPR to waive any and all legal rights they have to defend their property if you think it could potentially hurt someone, and on the other hand you reserve the "right" to willfully and knowingly contribute to spreading their property illegally because you yourself don't find it morally objectionable.
Red_Avatar: 8. Besides the question. WE are their customers, they have to appease us, not the other way around. If they pull a move that pisses off everyone, they have to pay for it. If they talk crap and say nonsensical things, then they are to blame for that.
9. Honestly, your entire post basically says "I'm missing the point". You're saying a lot of stuff that is true but completely besides the question.
1.
I am missing
my point? That's .. interesting.
2. It's not necessary to be qualified to judge anything in order to file a lawsuit. I could file one against you today, if I wanted to. I wouldn't get anywhere as I have no real case, but it would inconvenience you.
3. No, you wouldn't mind because then you could safely go on leeching..
4. I know the judge can drop the law suit if it's over a trivial matter for instance. He can only drop the case, though, he can't say that no laws were broken. The lawyers sending out the letters know that as well, and have most likely concentrated on the more serious offenders.
5. Same old argument: "The laws are wrong/I don't like them, so they shouldn't be used!"
If you follow through your own thoughts, it would mean that every german should get a free pass when it comes to online piracy, lest this "horrible law" would be used.
For your information by the way, the browser caching copyrighted images isn't piracy - what's in your cache isn't shared with anyone.
6. I am fully aware they "played it safe" by doing this in Germany, but until you are able to come up with a single "proof" of
anyone being wrongly targeted, what you say is pure speculations (or rather, slander). One of the few things we actually know, is that CDPR dropped their case against one person who had already bought the game. Why send out letters to more people than you've identified with a reasonable degree of accuracy in the hope of innocent people paying up, and at the same time drop a case against one who had already admitted to pirating the game?
7. I think you misunderstand the statement about the sytem being waterproof. Systems may produce false negatives or false positives or both. By designing it to produce only false negatives you end up with only pirates, although you don't get
all the pirates. That's ok, though, as there's no need to identify every single one - it's much more important that those you do identify are indeed pirates. By collecting various types of information from various sources, you'll get a confidence rating for everyone registered. By sending letters to only those you are the most confident about, the chance of anyone wrongly accused is minimal. I would need to see the actual specs in order to say anything about it being 100% accurate - it isn't impossible, just highly unlikely. By changing your MAC you might lower the accuracy enough to take you off the list. It doesn't mean you're "invisible"/"untrackable", just that CDPR won't send you a letter (but RIAA will).
8. No, they don't have to appease us. They don't owe us anything. We gave them money, they gave us a game in return - and that's it, the exchange has been completed, there are no debts.
9. You know why? Because you want this to be about you, about your continued ability to pirate/leech the stuff you want without risking any unpleasant letters, about your feeling of entitlement because you spent a few dollars/euro, about how everyone should bend backwards attempting to appease you, about your feelings being more important than the law, about your morals etc.
