The death of TV-LINKS.

[G0rF]

SOURCE (http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2195407,00.html)

Major pirate website shut down
Katie Allen
Friday October 19, 2007
Guardian Unlimited (http://www.guardian.co.uk/)
One of the world's most-used pirate film websites has been closed after providing links to illegal versions of major Hollywood hits and TV shows.

The first closure of a major UK-based pirate site was also accompanied by raids and an arrest, the anti-piracy group Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) said today.

A 26-year-old man from Cheltenham was arrested on Thursday in connection with offences relating to the facilitation of copyright infringement on the internet, Fact said.

The arrest and the closure of the site - www.tv-links.co.uk (http://www.tv-links.co.uk) - came during an operation by officers from Gloucestershire County Council trading standards in conjunction with investigators from Fact and Gloucestershire Police.

Fact claims that tv-links.co.uk was providing links to illegal film content that had been camcorder recorded from cinemas and then uploaded to the internet. The site also provided links to TV shows that were being illegally distributed.

Visitors to the site could get access to major feature films, sometimes within days of their initial cinema release. Recent links took users to illegal versions of the Disney/Pixar animation sensation Ratatouille as well as to most of this summer's blockbusters.

"Sites such as TV Links contribute to and profit from copyright infringement by identifying, posting, organising, and indexing links to infringing content found on the internet that users can then view on demand by visiting these illegal sites," said a spokesman for Fact.

The group's director general Kieron Sharp said TV Links was the first major target in a campaign to crackdown on web piracy.

"The theft and distribution of films harms the livelihoods of those working in the UK film industry and in ancillary industries, as well as damaging the economy," he said.

Roger Marles, from Trading Standards said sites such as TV Links allowed people to break UK copyright law.

"The 'users' are potentially evading licence fees, subscription fees to digital services or the cost of purchase or admittance to cinemas to view the films," he added.

The British Video Association estimates that at least £459m was lost to the video, film and TV industries due to piracy in 2006.

[G0rF]

F*CKF*CKF*CKF*CKF*CK!!!!!

Thanks to the BBC's fabulous digital TV signal, which is too weak to even get a picture on 90% of "available" free-view channels, this means I have to buy a f'ckin arial and go back to 1970's-o-vision analogue TV.

AllUC (http://www15.alluc.org/alluc/) and AllOfTV (http://alloftv.net/) are still up and running.

[Ackercoke]

...bah

providing links? copyright infringement? I smell Disertation material

[G0rF]

This is the tracker argument again, and FACT lose those every time. The site is just a catalog of links, the content could be found by anyone with the nouse to look for it themselves... we'll see, hopefully he has a decent lawyer!!!!

The problem is RIAA tends to win these cases (TV / Music / Movie companies are BIG campaign funders), so if FACT allow him to be extradited for arraignment in the US instead of facing charges here, he's going to jail.

[Dragonstorm]

Darn, just have to use one of the other 20 or so sites out there or use torrenets, etc... darn.

[Jekht]

I have to stream DS!

I HAVE TO STREAM! ;)

[Veube]

The British Video Association estimates that at least £459m was lost to the video, film and TV industries due to piracy in 2006.

Awwww. Poor video, film and TV industry. It's a wonder how they carry on making films and TV programmes. They must be running up a HUGE credit card bill loosing all that cash.

I have to LMAO at statements like that. Traditionally you have to HAVE something in order to LOSE it. Seems cause and effect don't apply to these people.

The fact is, if the industry didn't make any money they wouldn't make films anymore. They are, so they do. Prosecuting innocent people just shows them up as money grabbing bastards and so fuel the determination of others to make damn sure they don't give them a penny.

[0bitus]

Damn i just gave that websites address to a mate of mine today for him to check out.

Prefered tvlinks to alluc as well.

[NovaBlack]

gotta agree with Vs point here.. how do they clarify 'lost'

i mean they basically try n say if i watch a film i woulda had to normally buy for say £10, that they have effectively 'lost ' £10.

Except that thats complete BS if there was NEVER a chance of me buying the film in the first place. If i only watch a certain film cos its there, im bored, n need something to do, but wouldnt normally watch it, they havent in any way 'lost' money from me.

infact they are actually gaining the potential to make £10. Imagine i watch a film i thought id hate, but then like it, and subsequently buy it (which i HAVE done). then they have actually MADE money cos of sites like this...

hmm but i guess its true that statistics can be found to prove any point.

[Ackercoke]

hmm but i guess its true that statistics can be found to prove any point.

yes and 50% of all statistics are falsified or lies*

*much like this one

[G0rF]

Erm... I think you'll find that 86% of statistics are made up on the spot.

XD

[Veube]

I heard today on the news that the guys that run these websites make hundreds of thousands of pounds ?!?!?!

HOW ?!

[Jekht]

I never get this either... people always make out that advertising earns you thousands of pounds, but from when I looked into it, it's nearer hundreds... and that's only with a site as popular as tv-links. I know plenty of incredibly popular websites that still require donations to survive, even though they advertise.

Maybe I'm just ill informed, but that's what I've heard/found.

[Midnighter]

Clearly it's the hundreds of thousands that the media companies are losing.
Straight profit for the guys running these sites ;)

/sarcasm

[NovaBlack]

still dont get what they can realy charge the guy running the site with..

i mean it was just links...

no ACTUAL stuff hosted to download directly.





i mean do i get arrested if i sa 'oh you want heroes.. go on google n search for it'

i mean technically youll find it n technically ive helped...

[Midnighter]

He's being charged with pissing off large important executives who have a lot of money and reall good lawyers.

They'll obviously translate that to something in legalese.

Only reason is because they will never get the people who actually host the downloads.

[G0rF]

YouTube?

[savity]

infact they are actually gaining the potential to make £10. Imagine i watch a film i thought id hate, but then like it, and subsequently buy it (which i HAVE done). then they have actually MADE money cos of sites like this...



Never a truer paragraph written.

Point in case - and don't lambast me for the actual film here - I downloaded High School Musical for my other half last year (she likes that sort of stuff). After watching it she went crazy and has now bought the DVD for herself, and for other family members, she bought the Concert DVD, the CDs and now the same is happening with the sequels. And all this happened because I downloaded the first one to see what all the fuss was about.

This is an extreme example I know but I have often bought the DVD after watching online. Although I mostly use downloads for tv series' that are not over here yet - and then end up rewatching them on tele when they eventually make it over here - in this case who is actually losing out?

[Ackercoke]

. Although I mostly use downloads for tv series' that are not over here yet - and then end up rewatching them on tele when they eventually make it over here - in this case who is actually losing out?


Advertisers, tv links doesn't stop every 15mins during your fave programme to seel you a new sofa, or cure your baldness

[savity]

Advertisers, tv links doesn't stop every 15mins during your fave programme to seel you a new sofa, or cure your baldness

Yeah- but I tend to rewatch them when they come over here anyway - so I see those adverts to sell me a sofa. Although now Heroes will be shown on BBC2 anyway then I'm not even causing advertisers to lose money if I just watch the download.

[Ackercoke]

hmm watching on bbc2, so technically you've already paid to watch it!

[NovaBlack]

lol true its already been paid for! tv licence!

lol so technically if you have paid for a tv licence then dont i kind of have a right to see heroes for example..(if bbc own the rights to show it etc), so wether i watch it online or whatever it doesnt really matter.

I know its a bit of a logical jump, stretching th boundarys but at the end of the day theres no 'loss' or 'harm' caused by it.

as far as adverts go.....pffff! I go make a cuppa during advert breaks anyway!

[G0rF]

Yeah, I use(d) TV-L for catching up on stuff (Heroes) that I missed on TV.

For Explanation - The Mrs. likes Heroes, and feels it necessary that we watch it together (aaaahhh). If one of us is out on Wednesday Night, or busy, then we watch(ed) it from TV-L instead.

Re-broadcasting is a grey area. The RIAA / MPIA (MPAA?) has pretty much closed it as a loophole because in the case of retail movies / music, the law is on their side (breach of copyright, NOT theft), but in the case of TV, 80% of US TV channels re-broadcast THEIR OWN SHOWS!!!!! on the net, all TV-L was doing is the same in a country where the TV companies are retardedly slow to catch on.

[NovaBlack]

lol again a funny point....

if you miss a show early in a series you can become lost and bored quickly in the first 24 hours if the plot loses you. You can quickly become so confused its like your trying to interpret some strange life on another planet (mars perhaps).

so by watching the missing episode online (say ep 5) then the tv station benefit from you watching another say 20 odd episodes (and advertising that comes with them) and then you perhaps like it so much you buy it on dvd. Theyl have so much cash theyl be prancing around smiling and singing like happy sopranos.

if you hadnt caught up online you may never have become hooked...

its shameless a guy house got raided n he's gonna get locked up over it. we should organise a prison break. People like this are Heroes.




lol... see the subtle hidden messages there?:D

[G0rF]

if you miss a show early in a series you can become lost and bored quickly in the first 24 hours if the plot loses you.

Funny you should say 24 hours. I missed episodes 2 & 3 of series 1 of "24".

I have never watched an episode since, what would be the point?

[Midnighter]

I also believe anyone who links to "filmed in the cinema" pirates should be shot, and people should not by copies of them on pain of defenestration.
Not because it's illegal.
But because the quality is a steaming pile of rancid shit.

[NovaBlack]

i always like how they say

'you wouldnt steal a car'

'so dont pirate a film'



yeah its the same.. sure.. apart form one being a physical item you deprive someone else of, and one isnt...



i mean whats next

'you wouldnt poison your grandma, poop on her cat, and then pee on her grave steal her car and drive away'

'so dont pirate a film'



lol. so daft. i also ROFL whenever i see the part at the start where it shows you clips side by side from a copied film , n the real thing, and claims the quality in copies is awful. lol. it just makes me laugh. especially if you are watching it on a good quality copy. then its just ironic to the extreme! plus you get to laugh n ask 'where the feck are you gettin your copies from official anti-pirate guy, i could get you a WAY better copy'

oh and the 'it funds organised crime'. lol. yeah.. watchin it on you tube.. organised crime at its worst.

[Midnighter]

What about the people who DO steal cars?
Can they pirate movies with wild abandon?

[NovaBlack]

lol what about the people who give badgers herpes?

you wouldnt give a badger herpes....

so dont pirate a movie....

[Jekht]

Question:

Does the car you steal have to have equal quality to that of the movie you plan to pirate?

[Defunct]

you wouldn't give a complementary reach-around to a spider monkey,

so don't pirate films...

but seriously kids, pirated movies are bad m'kay?

:D

[G0rF]

YOU'RE ALL PIRATES!!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsJyfN0ICU)

Help :-/

[Midnighter]

YOU'RE ALL PIRATES!!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsJyfN0ICU)

Help :-/

Lazy Town is of icelandic origins.
Here's the orignal version with what was clearly the correct lyrics...

WRONG!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvhPUpfN-VQ)

[Jekht]

You both just killed me a little inside.

Anyways, I've resorted to using rapidlinks.co.uk and a 2 month (£6 one time only) megaupload account. From what I've read, as long as I only download tv, I own a tv license, and I delete said content after watching, I'm still in the clear legally.

[G0rF]

This makes no sense.

I only download tv, I own a tv license, and I delete said content after watching, I'm still in the clear legally.

One word: VIDEOTAPE.

[Veube]

http://emea.promax.tv/emea/img/newsletter/nov06/Logo-with-characters.jpg

LAZY TOWN ROCKS !

Robbie Rotten is the pwn !

[G0rF]

Working from home, and access to day-time television are not helping you, are they?