Porn Industry Targets Torrent Users

[one eyed jack]

Thats an interesting comment too but as a producer i wouldnt see it as a dark future. Just a natural progression to where its going because technology is in place to facilitate that.

There are plenty models who dont go this route at all for the fact its more lucrative to get paid for a few hours work than to spend triple the time trying to earn the same amount over a period of time.

A lot of models are too lazy for this sort of thing and producers would never be short of new girls coming into the business preferring to just get paid.

I know this because many models have wanted to start their own sites found out all the hassle it involves producing content and not to mention they need a fair bit of capital to get a lot of it going in the first place as well.

[ScottMcGowan]

First of all, I'd like to say kudos to the folks (producers and fans alike) who have said some highly relevant and insightful things here.

First, let me make something clear. I work for Your Choice Productions and generally take care of our internet distribution stuff (e.g. handling business with our Video on Demand partners like HotMovies, and other services). I've been in the business for the best part of 10 years, beginning in 2001.

One thing that I have noticed in my time in this business is that many producers, retailers, and other service providers have historically taken their customers (and potential customers) for granted. I've always viewed this to be an unfortunate syndrome and knew that as the internet proliferated and infrastructure improved, the industry's general disdain for its audience would come back to bite us in our collective asses. In the past 5 years or so, that has certainly came to pass, and it's a damnable shame.

That said, I'd like to make something else very clear.

While we at Your Choice want your business and have a history of aggressively pursuing pirating, we formally turned down the opportunity to participate in an operation similar to ACS's.

I won't go into all of the specifics of why we turned it down. I will say that many of the posts made here by the fans echo some of the concerns we put forth when we made our statement (through a closed industry community) to producers about this operation.

I will say this, however. At Your Choice, we've always tried to promote the idea that there should be no shame in viewing porn- sex, fantasy, exploration, and intimacy (whatever its form) are all healthy things and should be embraced. They are not concepts that should be used against anyone. Unfortunately, ACS and other firms have done just that.

At Your Choice, we combat file sharing the best way we know how- quality, personalized customer service, the best possible products, and respect for our audiences.

We just hope that we will continue to have the opportunity to prove that more and more as time goes on and I'm confident we will.

Cheers, everyone!

[Diggler69]

Thanx for the comments Scott
Nice to see some people have some sort of integrity about how to tackle this problem

This makes interesting reading about ACS and their recent data loss

"ACS law firm hit by data loss in file sharing controversy"

http://www.searchclinic.org/2010/09/acs ... oversy.htm

Interesting you should mention shame as the BBC or the Guardian pointed out how many people on this list of "accused pornography pirates" have jobs or even personal circumstances where this type of public outing will cause all sorts of problems

[Diggler69]

And some more info on ACS

http://www.searchclinic.org/2010/09/acs ... -haunt.htm

Note despite threatening 1000's of people they appear never to have taken anyone to court

If you look at this companies history they are nothing more than shysters looking to make a fast buck by threatening people

If you use these tactics then don't be surprised if hackers knock the s**t out of your websites

[ScottMcGowan]

Diggler, I feel like I can say with quite a bit of certainty that shame (if not outright blackmail/extortion) is the backbone of the entire scheme. At least that's what my own observations lead me to believe.

It's one of the many reasons Your Choice elected to pass on participating.

[one eyed jack]

While I agree with what alot of Scot says, I cant help but feel it sends out a signal to everyone that the adult industry doesnt care if it decides not to do anything about it.

I am not in support of innocent people being made casualties but then if the entertainment business in general lies down and doesnt do anyhting about it then everyone will be lulled into believing it is ok because the business is complacent and impotent to do anyhtign about it.

The way it is so far is that everyone seems to think its acceptable to download things for free simply because it is there for free and doesn't care whatsoever about what they are watching has cost the producer money and that they have to make a return on their investment so it stands to reason that in this most desperate of acts they are willing to enact this ACS Law firm to try and do something about it.

As for these victims caught up in the unsolicited invoicing then who are they? Its all very well coming up with the victims but how do we know this isnt just propoganda used by those who are simply just against this operation out of fear that they in turn could get that dreaded letter.

As many have said, if they received it they would just ignore it so what's the problem anyway?

[Diggler69]

"As for these victims caught up in the unsolicited invoicing then who are they? Its all very well coming up with the victims but how do we know this isnt just propoganda used by those who are simply just against this operation out of fear that they in turn could get that dreaded letter."

Well if you had read the links in my last 2 posts these are some of the people who have problems with ACS

The UK?s Information Commissioner

The UK?s Information Commissioner said ACS:Law could be fined up to half a million pounds for the breaches.(This refers to personal data lost by ACS)

A BBC investigation in August found a number of people saying they were wrongly accused by ACS:Law of illegal file-sharing.

UK consumer group Which? says it has also received a number of complaints. Many contest that IP addresses can be spoofed.

Simon Davis, from the watchdog Privacy International, said he would be asking the Information Commissioner to ?conduct a full investigation? and hoped it would be ?a test case of the Information Commissioner?s new powers?.

?You rarely find an aspect where almost every aspect of the Data Protection Act (DPA) has been breached, but this is one of them,? said Mr Davies.

Sky said they have ?suspended all co-operation with ACS:Law with immediate effect? and that the suspension would ?remain in place until ACS:Law demonstrates adequate measures to protect the security of personal information?.

So which of the above do you believe are PRO PIRACY LOL


Plus if you look at reports from reputable news providers ie BBC, Guardian etc
You will find reports of Mr or Mrs average usually middle aged who don't even know what P2P means recieving threats of court action due to illegal porn filesharing and guess what a lot of people don't have the nous or funds to fight so they pay a few hundred quid fro a quiet life

[Diggler69]

At the risk of" over egging the pudding"

Search Youtube ACS law

ie Lords debate how to STOP ACS LAWs "Legal Blackmail"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE8ol60T ... re=related

So various UK lords are closet Pirate party candidates

[one eyed jack]

a lot of people don't have the nous or funds to fight so they pay a few hundred quid fro a quiet life

Ok so these people are not faceless then but what i dont get is, if you are not guilty of something why not just contest it?

Thats what i would do. i aint paying no fine because someone told me I was guilty of something when I'm not

Fair play though I dont agre for a second that people like this should be targetted but its unfortunate that innocent people do get caught up in the net.

Would it then be ok if there was a more stringent method in place to catching those who were genuinely guilty because I havent read anyone even agreeing to the industries fighting back even if it were by legal means which is why i thought this was frowned upon initially

[Diggler69]

"Ok so these people are not faceless then but what i dont get is, if you are not guilty of something why not just contest it?"

You pay a few hundred quid and the problem is solved but if you go to court how much will that cost you? potentially a lot more and even if you win will you get costs or damages for a false accusation + for some people this type of accusation would be tantamount to defamation or a grave slur on your reputation and or professinal life. Are you going to risk that unknown expense not to mention the fact that people tend to remember lewd accusations better than not guilty verdicts. Very common problem of our legal system people who have deep pockets and are naturally litigous can bully less wealthy people with frivolous legal threats.

"Would it then be ok if there was a more stringent method in place to catching those who were genuinely guilty because I havent read anyone even agreeing to the industries fighting back even if it were by legal means which is why i thought this was frowned upon initially"

I can only assume you are not up to speed with current and proposed legislation to tackle this problem.
A lot of watchdog and civil liberties groups already think it is too draconian i am not 100% sure of the exact current status but the proposal seems to be that on some 3 strike basis people would have their internet connection terminated. This would be done on the basis of copyright holders providing IP addresses and no court case.
In other words no proof that the person accused had actually D/L the material and no obligation for the copyright holder to prove their case in court.
More stringent would to me mean that a copyright holder simply has to make a complaint and the Police will start kicking down peoples doors at 3 am and seizing PC's
Not the kind of world i want to live in
Finland recently passed laws that an internet connection is a basic human right whilst here in the UK if these proposals go through everybody from Macdonalds to the Britsih Library that offers free wifi could face prosecution or simply stop providing these services. Not to mention whole families or households being cut off because of possibly 1 person on the network pirating
As someone who has studied computer networking let me assure you that an IP address proves absolutely nothing, it simply gives you a direction to look in for real evidence ie a copy of the disputed material
The only way to prove someone is genuinely guilty is to produce the material and prove who downloaded it not at all easy and why IP addresses are being thrown around