this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025

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Meta defends using pirated material, claims it's legal if you don't seed content (www.tomshardware.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 123 points 2 weeks ago

Piracy I can forgive, but leeching... that's unforgivable.

[–] [email protected] 106 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If this defense is accepted by the courts it will make downloading pirated content legal for everyone.

[+] [email protected] -12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Technically, it's ~~already legal(?)~~ rarely prosecuted.

Please do not spread disinformation.

https://www.garfinkelcriminallaw.com/chicagocriminalblog/can-i-get-jail-time-if-i-download-a-movie-illegally

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Well it depends where you live...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

The copyright industry has pushed the "making available" narrative for so long, that's sort of become the dominant talking point. IANAL, but as an internet user, I have opinions*:

a. That seems entirely backwards from what the law intends. "Making a copy" is done by the downloader, which is explicitly what the law is about.

b. The industry only went the other way because it was more convenient from a litigation perspective. It's far easier to sue one person for seeding to 100 peers than to go after the 100 individuals who downloaded from that seeder. They got a few courts to go along with the more loose interpretation to get precedent for the next and the next suit.

* always be aware of your local copyright laws before listening to some rando online.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 2 weeks ago

Oh not only are you caught torrenting everything on the internet, but you're also a leech? Talk about a piece of shit.

Also if this holds, piracy is legal. We'll just all switch to Usenet where you don't need to seed!

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 weeks ago

So not only was this multi-billion dollar, fortune 100 company too stingy to pay for training data, it was too stingy to reseed the data it pirated!

Either seed or don't torrent. Don't be a leech.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago

God damn leech

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago

It IS legal to download stuff if you don't seed where I live. But it's still not legal to create derived works and then claim copyright on those works.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

Lmao wouldn’t it have been great if they made this argument 20 or so years ago?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Nothing's illegal if you don't get caught, LOL!

Meta, probably

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

In Canada that is the law but making it publicly available through a chat bot would still be illegal

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Meta has a chatbot that makes pirated books available?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Meta AI

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

It can't even reproduce the opening paragraph of Moby Dick