TV links shut down and owner arrested

Glaucus · 22 Oct 2007 at 10:49

All I'll add is hopefully in a few years time this wont be a problem, BBC and channel 4 have downloaders. I expect iit wont be long until virgin and sky follow soon. Some of the music industry is realising people want unprotected higher quality music. As broadband increases in speed hopefully the film industry will have some sort of downloader.

One good thing that has come from copyright infringement and downloading. Is shows are now shown at the same time globally. As it Gets more popular this is going to keep happening.

Sh3rlock · 22 Oct 2007 at 10:54

Woopsie for the owner of TV Links.

furnace · 22 Oct 2007 at 11:10

AcidHell2 said:
One good thing that has come from copyright infringement and downloading. Is shows are now shown at the same time globally. As it Gets more popular this is going to keep happening.

I've written a few replies to this thread then not bothered posting them, but the essence of them is pretty much what you imply here... unfortunately it takes people to do things like this before stubborn companies realise they need to change their ways. They won't react to customer demand unless they're seeing a financial loss by not doing so.

Slam62 · 22 Oct 2007 at 11:25

gambitt said:
Are you sure about that?

OK here goes - Steal a car, preferably something fast and get someone to drive it. Put on a balaclava, knock out the security guard and load up the car with expensive goods as quick as possible. Drive off, dump the car and transfer goods to another vehicle.

Am I going to jail now?

cheers mate always wondered how they did it, I expect there will be a rash of thefts now.

Shoseki · 22 Oct 2007 at 11:28

AcidHell2 said:
All I'll add is hopefully in a few years time this wont be a problem, BBC and channel 4 have downloaders. I expect iit wont be long until virgin and sky follow soon. Some of the music industry is realising people want unprotected higher quality music. As broadband increases in speed hopefully the film industry will have some sort of downloader.

One good thing that has come from copyright infringement and downloading. Is shows are now shown at the same time globally. As it Gets more popular this is going to keep happening.

Ah, but will the BBC one load Channel 4 programs, and vice versa? Which one will be available for linux? Which one will allow me to keep programs for 7 days, and which for only a single day? Which one starts charging and the other stays free?

My PC is not the place for all of this political crap. It will take an independant to organise and set this up - not someone from inside one of these organisations. Also, if I pay for the right to watch a program, and the company goes bust, I have nothing - this needs to be protected against as well.

I repeat, companies are not the best people to be doing this. Let people like the BBC concentrate on their dwindling broadcast figures, and when we are ready we set up an independant distribution network and handle a direct relationship between the content creators and the viewers, cutting people like Channel 4 out of the picture entirely.

These people are broadcasters, not software specialists. No wonder the BBC iPlayer is a piece of crap... they want a piece of the pie because they see themselves as being cut out as the "middle men" (and rightly so) yet they are unable to decide what it IS exactly that they specialise in.

Or maybe the BBC will go the way of Sega and concentrate purely on creating content - that is something the BBC is actually good at (from time to time).

Glaucus · 22 Oct 2007 at 11:30

Shoseki said:
Ah, but will the BBC one load Channel 4 programs, and vice versa? Which one will be available for linux? Which one will allow me to keep programs for 7 days, and which for only a single day? Which one starts charging and the other stays free?

#
both allow you to keep it for 7 days.
Linux version of Iplayer will be developed, I expect channel 4 is going the same way. But if you use a minority Operating system, you can't expect support from the beginning.

SK07 · 22 Oct 2007 at 11:31

Damn, just found this out as well. Never really used it but it was still a great site for those missed episodes. I suppose they would have caught on anyway, tyrants like Sky are losing money from there ad-infested Sky-One and extorsionate prices.

Shoseki · 22 Oct 2007 at 11:36

AcidHell2 said:
#
both allow you to keep it for 7 days.
Linux version of Iplayer will be developed, I expect channel 4 is going the same way. But if you use a minority Operating system, you can't expect support from the beginning.

Its got nothing to do with being a minority operating system, its got everything to do with making decent software.

The reason that Firefox so effortlessly compiles on hundreds of different systems is because of the build process doesn't use the shoddy Microsoft .NET ++ process.

Projects based on linux can be unit tested on hundreds of systems and setups automatically, including Mac and Windows, without hacks. Its not a matter of which operating system, unless you are a windows developer, where you see everyone elses' operating system as a minority.

All of the projects I work on work on ALL operating systems. And, funnily enough, computers that could be 15 years old, even the ones that Microsoft has abandoned. The ones that microsoft no longer even support.

I repeat, the BBC clearly does not have the expertise required to produce this, and has too much political involvement. We need an independant (and not a corporation) to produce something to manage the relationship between content creators and content consumers.

FreeStream · 22 Oct 2007 at 11:37

Noooooooooooo!

I watched the BBC Documentary of Chernobyl on there and a few of the Horizon things!!!!

Wish the BBC would hurry up and replace it with a legal means!

stumpy187 · 22 Oct 2007 at 11:44

TBH Its not that big a deal that TV-Links has gone. its not like they actually hosted the files just provided links to other sites. if its not on stage6 i am not gunna watch it

Matt-Page · 22 Oct 2007 at 12:19

I don't believe he was in the wrong, although, he could be seen as involved. The post by the legal student covers that.

They are doing it to make an example of him, although it will have no effect on the pirate industry. There will always be a demand for it and there will always be ways of doing it.

Look at Warez, 5 years ago it was the place to get things from, then sites got shut down, and the files were starting to fill with viruses and advertisement spam. Then it was P2P which took off, then Bittorrent, etc. One which has remained very much untouched are the newgroups.

no governing body or army can put a stop to piracy of videos/software/music. They will just take out some of the common big players. It's like trying to stop all gang activity by arresting one gang leader. There are thousands more.

I agree, it is wrong to watch pirated content, but if companies have not or can not provide a decent online service to see things we want to see, when we want to see it, it will continue to happen. As soon as TVOD happens, the better.

Welshy · 22 Oct 2007 at 12:25

I used that site a lot at uni, kept me entertained when there was nothing on telly.

Illegal I know, and probably should be taken down, but still sad to see

iCraig · 22 Oct 2007 at 12:28

Matt-Page said:
I agree, it is wrong to watch pirated content, but if companies have not or can not provide a decent online service to see things we want to see, when we want to see it, it will continue to happen. As soon as TVOD happens, the better.

As long as bodies still charge for content (they always will) then piracy will always be around. TVOD is fantastic, but I can't see the range of content TV Links categorised being available under an entertainment body for free, unlimited viewing. Even heavy advertising wouldn't cover the costs.

People don't always resort to watching pirated content because the real content is too expensive, it's because it simply has a price tag. If a free alternative is around, it will always be more attractive to a lot of people. Even if the legitimate copies are worth the money. It's also sticking it to "the man" I guess by getting a film or TV show for free when you know other people out there are handing over cash for it.

I just bought some classic films on DVD for like £2.99 each. Absolute bargain, but I bet people will still prefer to download ripped versions of it instead, even though I didn't think twice about handing over 3 quid for a classic bit of entertainment I now own forever.

vincent1989 · 22 Oct 2007 at 13:55

dag nab it

loved the documentaries that were on there...oh well, off to that Swedish place from now on i guess

stealthgeek · 22 Oct 2007 at 14:29

blighter said:
I don't get why its illegal to watch old TV shows that have been aired if you have a TV license etc, seems silly in my opinion.

DVD sales?

benneh · 22 Oct 2007 at 14:31

bringerofdecay said:
dag nab it loved the documentaries that were on there...oh well, off to that Swedish place from now on i guess

Yup, the documentaries were great.

Never fear though, it will reform. This is the 3rd time iirc that TV-Links (as it is now) has been closed down. I've got the owner on msn and he's on-line atm, set to busy though so I can't ask him what's going on. But tbh, regardless of the fact that some people are 'against' redistribution of recorded TV programs/Film the owner is a really nice fellow. I asked him a while ago why (being as he had one of the most popular web-sites in the UK) he wasn't cashing in on advertising etc, and he basically felt that he was trying to build a community, and that the idea was to create something that he had always wanted.. Media on demand, not to generate income (further than needed for the site/forums).

I have nothing against TV-Links, I used it sometimes, and I would have no problem with my own material appearing on there (music/video/photography). The content is low quality, and simply offers convenience. I've actually spent more money on DVD's because of TV-Links, having watched low quality rips etc and wanting a full quality version to archive.

I think the main reason that he'll get into trouble really isn't that he hosted links, but that he also ran a forum that the people that uploaded the content congregated on, and indeed submitted the links to.

gord · 22 Oct 2007 at 14:52

There are still grey areas in copyright law but basically, by linking people to this material this person has infringed on the second exclusive right of the copyright owner, which is "The right to issue copies to the public". This right is retained by the tv companies, for them to publicise their material through their channels. He is linking or for a better word, publicising this material to the public through pirated means.

However, whether this is primary or secondary infringement is difficult. A lot of pirating is considered secondary infringement, but is he doing the actual pirating or is he just publicising pirated material.

Either way, he is breaking the law.

Edit: Interestingly ive just thought, if you have a TV license are you still breaking the law if you decide to use this as your TV service. You are in no way contributing to the creation of pirated material or publicising it, simply using free online TV. It sounds unethical but illegal? Ah, the world of law.

Pho · 22 Oct 2007 at 15:32

AcidHell2 said:
#
both allow you to keep it for 7 days.
Linux version of Iplayer will be developed, I expect channel 4 is going the same way. But if you use a minority Operating system, you can't expect support from the beginning.

Yet if only they used bittorrent and DRM free AVIs from the start they wouldn't have any of these problems. I watch all my recorded TV shows (from my TV Card) via my xbox, although XBMC supports many formats I have no idea if it would work with DRM encoded videos; I suspect not.

What I don't understand is why the BBC really care if people download their shows. Provided those who do have a TV license they aren't really going to be affected, it's not as though they use adverts to fund the network and you could argue that not using software like iPlayer saves them money on bandwidth

.

Glaucus · 22 Oct 2007 at 15:44

Pho said:
What I don't understand is why the BBC really care if people download their shows. Provided those who do have a TV license they aren't really going to be affected, it's not as though they use adverts to fund the network and you could argue that not using software like iPlayer saves them money on bandwidth .

How about all that money from dvd sales?
That's why it's drm, I don't mind to much about drm on video stuff. It's not as if you keep watching unlike music.

Werewolf · 22 Oct 2007 at 16:01

AcidHell2 said:
How about all that money from dvd sales?
That's why it's drm, I don't mind to much about drm on video stuff. It's not as if you keep watching unlike music.

It's also the fact that a lot BBC stuff isn't purely owned by the BBC - the writers, directors and actors all get additional payments when it's shown again officially regardless of the channel it's on (the BBC may only have the "rights" to show it for a few months before other channels can buy additional rights).