we're pirates, arrrrrrr

Yesterday in LSE100 the module was 'Who owns ideas?', mostly discussing intellectual property, who should own it and copyright.

Which reminded me of an incident last year when i was still living in LSE halls.

I got this email from the IT services department:

Please be advised that IT Services has received notification (see below) that copyright material has been made available from the IP address apparently being used by your computer. Internet access from this IP address will be disabled until I receive reply to this message with the following assurances:

1. That the offending copyright material has been removed from the computer.
2. That you will not in future make any copyright material available via the LSE network.

The period of disconnection will not be less than one working day; I will normally process replies around 17:00.

This activity is against the law, and contravenes the Rules and Regulations that registered users of the School’s IT facilities are bound by. These can be found on the IT Services Intranet pages at:

http://www.lse.ac.uk/itservices/Rules/default.htm

Conditions of Use of IT Facilities at the LSE can be found at:

http://www.lse.ac.uk/itservices/Rules/condits.htm

Your attention is drawn to sections on Legal Requirements and Prohibited Uses (point 7 and 8) and to the LSE Disciplinary Regulations (points 15 to 18).

Please use the School’s IT and Network facilities responsibly. Not only is the copying and sharing of copyright material illegal, this activity consumes network bandwidth to the disadvantage of others who wish to use the IT and Network facilities for their academic studies.

Should IT Services be notified of further instances of copyright material being made available from an IP address used by your computer then further action will be taken.

Regards

Jeremy Skelton
pp Malcolm Barker
Network Manager, IT Services



-----Original Message-----
From: SonyPicturesEntertainment [mailto:SPECopyright@mc.mediasentry.com]
Sent: 14 October 2009 23:40
To: Skelton,J
Subject: Case ID 952157896 - Notice of Claimed Infringement

Wednesday, October 14, 2009


RE: Unauthorized Distribution of the Copyrighted Motion Picture Entitled
District 9


Dear Jeremy Skelton:

We are writing this letter on behalf of Columbia Pictures Industries Inc., ("Columbia Pictures").

As you may know, Columbia Pictures is the owner of copyright and exclusive distribution rights in and to the motion picture entitled District 9.

No one is authorized to perform, exhibit, reproduce, transmit, or otherwise distribute the above-mentioned work without the express written permission of Columbia Pictures, which permission Columbia Pictures has not granted to 158.143.185.230.

We have received information that an individual has utilized the above-referenced IP address at the noted date and time to offer downloads of the above-mentioned work through a "peer-to-peer" service.

The attached documentation specifies the location on your network where the infringement occurred, the number of repeat violations recorded at this specific location, as well as any available identifying information.

The distribution of unauthorized copies of copyrighted motion pictures constitutes copyright infringement under the Copyright Act, Title 17 United States Code Section 106(3). This conduct may also violate the laws of other countries, international law, and/or treaty obligations.

Since you own this IP address, we request that you immediately do the following:

1) Disable access to the individual who has engaged in the conduct described above; and
2) Terminate any and all accounts that this individual has through you.

On behalf of Columbia Pictures, owner of the exclusive rights to the copyrighted material at issue in this notice, we hereby state that we have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by Columbia Pictures, its respective agents, or the law.

We also hereby state that we believe the information in this notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that MediaSentry is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive rights being infringed as set forth in this notification.

Please contact us at the above listed address or by replying to this email should you have any questions.

We appreciate your assistance and thank you for your cooperation in this matter. In your future correspondence with us, please refer to Case ID 952157896.

Your prompt response is requested.

Respectfully,

A Kempe
Enforcement Coordinator
MediaSentry.

Before i came to London, I was downloading so many movies I forgot when it started. They finally caught up with me here.



Which is an interesting revelation of who owns ideas across the world.

In Britain, its Big Business.

In Malaysia, its your pasar malam DVD seller.

At least LSE had more sympathy, disconnecting me for only one day. The enforcement officer wanted my accounts terminated -.- That's for messing with the real authorities in the state: the people with money.

Threatened, i naturally wrote an apology letter, saying i was 'sorry i did it' and that i 'would remove the film from my computer' and i would 'never do it again'.

Of course i removed the film from my computer..

...onto my external drive.



But the last part was true, i didn't do it again.

It feels like stealing, eventhough you're taking from ridiculously rich companies. And now my drive is emptied of all the other downloads. Except Kungfu Panda.