"The Hurt Locker" Torrenters: Prepared to get sued

[Cermage]

Voltage Pictures and the US Copyright Group are teaming up to sue "tens of thousands" of P2P users who downloaded the film The Hurt Locker illegally. A lawyer from the group confirmed the studio's plans to the Hollywood Reporter Wednesday, noting that the scope of this lawsuit is much more far-reaching than the copyright group's past pursuits.

The Hurt Locker, like many other Hollywood films, was leaked onto BitTorrent months before its official release in theaters. It wasn't a particularly high-grossing film—it only made $16 million—but it did end up winning six Oscars. Undoubtedly, the film's early leak online combined with the relatively low earnings is part of the reason Voltage and the US Copyright Group decided to sue. The lawsuit has not yet been filed, but the firm expects it to happen later today.

The US Copyright Group has made a name for itself by helping movie studios (mostly independent ones) sue thousands of P2P users in an attempt to "stop movie copyright infringement and make illegal downloaders pay damages for the content they have stolen." Last month, the group made headlines by helping German director Uwe Boll sue more than 2,000 P2P users for downloading his film Far Cry.

The firm uses tech from GuardaLey, which collects the IP addresses of users that are believed to be downloading the film from BitTorrent. From the IP address, it figures out which ISP is responsible and e-mails it, asking the ISP to retain all logs for the IP address identified at the time in question. Once the content of the download is verified, the lawyers take over and subpoena the ISPs for subscriber information in order to find out exactly who has been naughty. Once the users are unmasked—and according to the group, nearly all ISPs cooperate—the firm sends settlement offers.

As we observed when we covered the Far Cry suit last month, this one is straight out of the RIAA's playbook, and the US Copyright Group is hoping that it works this time around too. "You can guess that relative to the films we've pursued already, the order of magnitude [with The Hurt Locker] is much higher," attorney Thomas Dunlap told the Reporter. With the firm promising thousands more lawsuits on behalf of copyright owners, it certainly looks like it's banking on this strategy bringing in the bucks.

source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/20...-to-be-sued.ars

have to say, thats what you get for torrenting stupidly.

 

[tKo HaXoR]

FAIL?

 

[Justin121994]

Would you get sued even if you used a private torrent site?..

My dad rented the movie so i had no need to pirate, but just asking o.o.

Might make me think twice if I ever download a movie..since I'm 15.. I don't want to be in debt so soon..:S

 

[Feels Good Man]

So if you already torrented it, you're screwed? Only in US or what?

 

[jefffisher]

hmmm i've never heard of that movie and i torrent tons of movies i'm thinking that it probably didnt do good because it sucked either that or not enough commercials.

 

[Feels Good Man]

hmmm i've never heard of that movie and i torrent tons of movies i'm thinking that it probably didnt do good because it sucked either that or not enough commercials.

It wasn't well advertised at all. I remember my brother recommending it to me so I watched it in the theatres. That was the first time I heard about that movie but it was pretty damn good

 

[ChuckBartowski]

It won the oscar for best movie. And best director. And a bunch of other stuff and others at different award shows.

 

[jefffisher]

hmmm i've never heard of that movie and i torrent tons of movies i'm thinking that it probably didnt do good because it sucked either that or not enough commercials.

It wasn't well advertised at all. I remember my brother recommending it to me so I watched it in the theatres. That was the first time I heard about that movie but it was pretty damn good

well now that i've heard it was good downloading it now thanks

 

[TM2-Megatron]

hmmm i've never heard of that movie and i torrent tons of movies i'm thinking that it probably didnt do good because it sucked either that or not enough commercials.

It wasn't well advertised at all. I remember my brother recommending it to me so I watched it in the theatres. That was the first time I heard about that movie but it was pretty damn good

well now that i've heard it was good downloading it now thanks

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, huh?

Anyway, this news = epic fail. ISPs shouldn't just roll over like that.

I wonder how much they'll be suing each person for, anyway... how would they be able to justify any more than the cost of a single ticket each? Sounds kinda stupid, IMO.

 

[ore0]

have to say, thats what you get for torrenting stupidly.
Yeah I guess, but I feel kinda sad. They were pirates just like us, sailing the interwebs doing what they do. And now they're fucked.

QUOTE(jefffisher @ May 15 2010, 04:55 AM) well now that i've heard it was good downloading it now thanks

 

[Feels Good Man]

I'm confused. If you downloaded it before the release here, you're screwed but if you did it after it was released in DVD, you're not screwed?

 

[jefffisher]

hmmm i've never heard of that movie and i torrent tons of movies i'm thinking that it probably didnt do good because it sucked either that or not enough commercials.

It wasn't well advertised at all. I remember my brother recommending it to me so I watched it in the theatres. That was the first time I heard about that movie but it was pretty damn good

well now that i've heard it was good downloading it now thanks

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, huh?

Anyway, this news = epic fail. ISPs shouldn't just roll over like that.

I wonder how much they'll be suing each person for, anyway... how would they be able to justify any more than the cost of a single ticket each? Sounds kinda stupid, IMO.

haha i know what i'm doing i figure if they sued all those other people they practically owe me

 

[Jemlee]

hmmm.... guess we need to be more careful. VPNs and proxies are reccomended i guess

 

[Sefi]

Just use your neighbor's unprotected wifi

.

 

[Potticus]

I think I got this from a friend... Who torrented it.

Better him then me eh?

 

[Advi]

Tor I2P hurr durr

if you can get caught using P2P then piracy is not for you

 

[iamthemilkman]

No movie is worth stealing or paying to go see/renting. Most of the stuff that comes out of Hollywood is pure shit these days.

I'm glad to say I've never downloaded a movie illegally and I rarely go to see them/rent them, either.

I'd rather avoid them entirely, including this overrated horse manure.

 

[Raiser]

No movie is worth stealing or paying to go see/renting. Most of the stuff that comes out of Hollywood is pure shit these days.

I'm glad to say I've never downloaded a movie illegally and I rarely go to see them/rent them, either.

I'd rather avoid them entirely, including this overrated horse manure.

Have you even watched it?
I personally haven't yet, but if it gets six Oscars...

Just askin'. Considering how you say "I rarely go to see them/rent them", what're you basing your "this overrated horse manure" on?

 

[Justin121994]

Hmm whats a good program or proxy.. So if your downloading torrents your safe

?...

 

[Gore]

torrented mine from an obvious place but I'm sure I'll be fine.