The Expendables lawsuit and will it end movie piracy?

Most people have pirated something in their lifetime and people in the know are aware that Torrent using is a fast and efficient way to get a movie illegally. Pirating is bad. No way around it. Measures have been put in place to stop this, but it has become a problem.

After the recent news regarding individuals being subpoenaed over downloading The Expendables I imagine a lot of companies are going to follow suit. Wired reported the following:

A federal judge in the case has agreed to allow the U.S. Copyright Group to subpoena internet service providers to find out the identity of everybody who had illegally downloaded (.pdf) the 2010 Sylvester Stallone flick — meaning the number of defendants is likely to dramatically increase as new purloiners are discovered. Once an ISP gets the subpoena, it usually notifies the account holder that his or her subscriber information is being turned over to the Copyright Group, which last year pioneered the practice of suing BitTorrent downloaders in the United States.

But maybe companies won’t follow suit though? It might cost more to actually sue all these people than to actually receive compensation from them. Most of the time people download something illegally because they’re poor and can’t afford it – I think?

It is almost a tragedy that Stallone’s image has to be wrapped up in this. After all, I don’t think maybe people who are going to have to fork out a couple grand in settlements will point fingers at the Copyright Group and not Stallone. Right?

You can argue all you want about whether or not it is okay to pirate, but you should stop pirating stuff. Yes, everyone has downloaded a song from their roommate or snagged a movie online for a homework report. Those days are over. I’ve read other places that it won’t stop anything, which is true. But, it will decrease it. I haven’t pirated something in years, but especially wouldn’t now out of fear of being humiliated and paying a couple grand.

Also, it makes you wonder: They’re going after people who are downloading the material, but not the people who are producing the material. I don’t think that’s quite true. Government officials have been trying their best to go after those people for a long time.

The obvious comparison is drug to drug dealer and, yes, they should go after the dealer, but someone has to put their foot down. The companies own the property and have the right to defend it. Get Netflix or a Blockbuster membership. No need to steal.

My favorite part though from the same article:

The closest single lawsuit in size to the Expendables case targets 15,551 BitTorrent users for downloading a handful of porn flicks with titles such as Big Dick Glory Holes and Spin on My Cock. A judge has not decided whether to authorize subpoenas in that case.

The judge has not decided whether to authorize subpoenas in the case and with names like Big Dick Glory Holes and Spin on My Cock, I wonder why?

-Collin