How Mass BitTorrent Lawsuits Turn Low-Budget Movies Into Big Bucks

AdamTReineke · on April 1, 2011

Can't wait for US courts to figure out that IP addresses aren't people. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/court-confir...

wmf · on April 1, 2011

IP addresses don't necessarily map to people, but we should be wary of creating a massive "get out of court free" loophole.

burgerbrain · on April 2, 2011

armandososa · on April 1, 2011

I can't wait for anonymous to make this idiot's life miserable.

nkassis · on April 1, 2011

If you are suing 5000 people could they not pool up resources and get a good legal team? I think this might play against the studios in this case, it's large enough that it might start getting real media attention and maybe just maybe some senators would see this a vote grabbing opportunity.

nickolai · on April 1, 2011

If I read this correctly, the "business model" is largely based on nobody wanting to go public about downloading that kind of movies.

kylelibra · on April 1, 2011

This is like the RIAA asking LimeWire for $75 Trillion.

Estragon · on April 1, 2011

Where is wired getting the list of IP addresses they're using for their "IP detective" app?

  http://admintools.wired.com:8080/lawsuit_app/

EDIT: Oh, it's from this PDF:

  http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2011/03/openmind.pdf

Jun8 · on April 1, 2011

Interesting concept, more of a PR ploy probably. Actually this is a good thing, will show the ridiculousness of such tactics.

On another note, "Openmind Solutions Does 1-2925" would make an interesting adult film title.

unexpected · on April 1, 2011

This is not real. This is another April Fool's Joke.

kerben · on April 1, 2011

The movie featured was an actual production - see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1352388/ - plus the story seems plausible - i doubt its a joke.

burgerbrain · on April 1, 2011

Are you sure? The timestamp on the article is "March 31, 2011 | 2:36 pm" which, unless they botched timezones, is pretty absurdly early to post an april first joke.

Also, the content is not at all surprising...

unexpected · on April 1, 2011

I'm skeptical - this lawsuit was filed on March 7, 2011, but the only time you hear about it is now?

There's nothing on their website about their lawsuit, additionally, if you google around for it, the only thing on it is this Wired article.