In one of the AI lawsuits faced by Meta, the company stands accused of distributing pirated books. The authors who filed the class-action lawsuit allege that Meta shared books from the shadow library LibGen with third parties via BitTorrent. Meta, however, says that it took precautions to prevent ‘seeding’ content. In addition, the company clarifies that there is nothing ‘independently illegal’ about torrenting.

  • katy ✨
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    2 days ago

    So they’re inconsiderate assholes and leeches.

  • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
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    2 days ago

    I was actually hoping to see that as a defense. The principal thing that copy enforcement corps always cite is ‘we downloaded a copy from their IP, thus they made a copy and distributed the work’.

    If this works as a defense here then in effect they make direct download portals legal for the users at least.

    • _cryptagion @lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      You’re forgetting that they’re a rich corporation, and you’re not. They’ll get away with the defense, but even if it set a precedent, copyright groups can still sue you until you’re broke to make an example of you, even if you didn’t legally do anything “wrong”.

      As long as you can sue someone for any reason without repercussions, then it’s always going to be the people with more money who come out on top. Always. Wining a lawsuit doesn’t mean you’re not still financially destroyed and driven into poverty for the rest of your life.

    • quirzle@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      Has anyone in the US ever been busted for downloading from a direct download portal? Or usenet?

      I think any progress here is mostly in principle, as I don’t think there’s a big practical risk to downloading only as it stands today, though I don’t follow things as closely as I used to and could be mistaken.

    • Pup Biru@aussie.zone
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      2 days ago

      this is actually the way it works in australia: downloading content is not illegal; sharing content is illegal

      thus as a consumer, usenet is fine

      obligatory ianal

  • Xanza@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    We didn’t inhale, so it’s not illegal for us. ~ZuckFuck

  • Moonrise2473@feddit.it
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    2 days ago

    Where now are the copyright trolls that sued regular students for millions of dollars for downloading 30 songs?

    Under federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per track if the jury finds the infringements were willful.

    Let me see:

    • At least 100 million of books pirated
    • infringements were willful

    So, a 15k billion dollars fine seem appropriate to give to Meta AND criminal sentences to all the c suite.

    Or: apply the same rules to regular people and allow unlimited copyright violations without consequences

    • quirzle@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, admitted in court that he downloaded and distributed 30 songs.

      Your example is exactly why meta didn’t seed.

      • Moonrise2473@feddit.it
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        2 days ago

        It’s a weak defense because the clients still exchanged metadata with other clients, plus there’s the big issue of using the copyrighted works for their own profit, and not just archiving/preservation/personal use

        • quirzle@lemmy.zip
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          It’s a solid defense, since the lawsuit’s about the sharing of the books. The metadata of the torrents isn’t part of the relevant IP, and how they used the content they downloaded is a separate issue.

    • juliebean@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      makes me think of the loopholes christian teenagers come up with to claim they’re totally not having premarital sex.

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    I doubt anything legal would come from this, but it does progress the conversation about piracy:

    “You wouldn’t download a car would you? Cause zuck would without sharing”

  • Ulrich@feddit.org
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    2 days ago

    the company clarifies that there is nothing ‘independently illegal’ about torrenting.

    Ah yes, I’m sure this strawman defense will hold up well for them in court.

  • vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de
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    2 days ago

    ah so they only downloaded them illigally, and then used them illegally, but didn’t share them illegally. got it

    • boonhet@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      Certainly, but it’s not like that’ll get him in trouble or anything

  • J-Bone@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    Haha, what a bunch of scumbags. They can"t even seed back when pirating.

    We really need to round up all of Meta’s executive directors, seize all their assets (every last cent) and require them to do mandatory two decade live-in community service as junior custodians (the lowest level custodians in the whole institution) at hospice centres or infectious disease hospitals. De-mining work and resource extraction junior support would also be good options for community service work.

    Not for this of course, more like knowingly enabling genocide in Myanmar and so on.

  • dicksteele@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    I know it’s their legal defense and all, but it’s not like any of us thought they would seed in the first place. Their business is only about taking for profit, not sharing or giving anything back.

    • apotheotic (she/her)@beehaw.org
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      2 days ago

      I don’t think anyone expected them to seed on purpose but its not inconceivable that they’d accidentally let some seeding through, or not consider it in the first place.