cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/37157681
The battle over a $1 billion piracy judgment against internet provider Cox Communications has reached the Supreme Court, where the company receives broad support. Amicus briefs from the U.S. government, major tech companies, and various other parties, warn that the current ruling creates a dangerous precedent. They argue that the Fourth Circuit ruling, which makes passive service providers liable for their customers’ actions, invokes broad liability and puts people’s internet access at risk.
Their (incorrect) logic is that if you were pirating you weren’t purchasing their content anyway.
I don’t think anyone is an exclusive pirate or purchaser. Everyone is on the scale between one of the other, whether that’s someone who mostly pirates but goes to the movies on occasion, or someone who mostly pays for Netflix but will hunt down something Netflix doesn’t have.
You and I know thats true and piracy in some cases is shown to increase sales because people decide its worth money and/or talk about it more. Heck some people pirate things they already own just because they’re too lazy to find the copy they own.