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MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
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BeyondtheTech
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
To the douchebag that downloaded and watched "From Justin to Kelly," I hope it was worth it. #wifi
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bagellord
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
From what I saw on slashdot the town took it down voluntarily and that the title of the article was just misleading. #wifi
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vlatro
11/13/09

@bagellord: Yeah a small town in a budget crunch, run by elected officials would rather voluntarily comply than face a court order. No surprises there.

Here's the real issue. Over free, public wifi networks, it's virtually impossible to find out who is committing the piracy. The MPAA is scared sh*tless that the trend towards public municipal networks like those proposed for big cities (New York, L.A., Las Vegas etc), some of which are currently under construction, will provide a safe haven for pirates, shielding them from any legal actions.

So we look at the MPAA's playbook. Find the most vunrable target and bring charges. Get a compromise ruling from a low level judge and build on the precident set by that case. This buys some time while they push for legislation requiring users of a public network to register to access the service, making them easier to ID.

Small town with only a few users... They have an ideal target there. The town officials decided to fall on this grenade for the rest of us. They'll comply with requests and back down from the fight, keeping it out of the courts for as long as they can. Rather than fight back through the courts, (where they may very well lose), they'll stall long enough to wage a PR war. Once the public is sufficiently outraged and the local jury pool influenced, their poised to win any legal battle. The MPAA will back down, declaring it a victory for themselves, but in reality, they won't get what they want. #wifi
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Twilightred
11/15/09

@vlatro: Well said. The precedent this sets is frightening; a public, government entity has been coerced by a private organization into making decisions with public resources that are beneficial to said organization. #wifi
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Voyou_Charmant
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
Meanwhile teabaggers and Becktard "conservatives" are crying about their fear of "big government".

While industry cabals and multinational corporations hire think analysts and consultants to find new and exciting ways to figuratively, if not literally rape every man, woman and child. And, as corrupt and inefficient as it can be, "big government" is the only thing that comes close to stopping them. And in this case, it seems to have failed.

What I don't understand is why the city would listen to the MPAA at all. What terrible precedent does this set? Who gave the MPAA this sort of power over government?

Furthermore. How does the MPAA actually know about the download? There is zero information concerning how the MPAA became aware of the download. #wifi
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OCEntertainment
11/13/09

@Voyou_Charmant: You get a heart click solely for introducing me to the word "Becktard". Good on you, sir. #wifi
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OCEntertainment
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
Man, anybody read the original article? Full of such gems as:

"The MPAA focuses most of its efforts on catching the source of the [pirated] movies." -- Heh, sure.

""We target piracy at its source," she [the VP of corporate communications for the MPAA] said. "We really focus on keeping the product out of the market in the first place."" -- I'll say.

"LaVigne has done some homework and found a program that would prevent the illegal downloads from happening in the future; however, it would cost the cash-strapped county about $2,900 to implement, $2,000 for equipment and then $900 annually for the filtering program." -- I'm sure that's a sacrifice the MPAA is more than willing for you to make.

Good read if you wanna see what everyone else outside our little tech circle is hearing. #wifi
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Odin
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
@Varash:
@Kirkaiya:
@not_a_virus.exe.vbs:
The MPAA don't have the power to do this, likely they just bullied the administration into doing it. They don't have the ability to actually pull the plug though. If the town administration stood up to them and said no this wouldn't have happened. #wifi
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AmphetamineCrown
11/13/09

@Odin: I was wondering if anyone else followed the links back. This seems like the MPAA notified the admin about the illegal download and the town shut the thing down. It said nothing about the MPAA filing suit or threatening the town in any way. Of course, it doesn't say the opposite either, and maybe the MPAA did threaten them, but for the reasons pointed out in many comments below, even a fresh-out-of-law-school lawyer is going to figure out that such a threat is a monumentally weak case.

As much as I like Boing Boing, and as much as I hate the MPAA, this strikes me as a very misleading article. #wifi
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UnderLoK
11/13/09

@AmphetamineCrown: All the letter says is to cease and desist immediately. Not that I would know... It's not like I have received a few... I just know a guy who knew a guy that did. #wifi
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Identity (Metric)
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
Killing the entire MPAA (and I guess I can throw in the RIAA too) sounds awfully fine right about now. Does anyone want to round them all up so I don't have to go chasing them? #wifi
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comrade_leviathan
11/13/09

@Identity (Metric): Just imagine how much easier podcasting would be if all you had to do to obtain music rights was find the artist's agent! #wifi
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Identity (Metric)
11/14/09

@comrade_leviathan: That sounds like a dream come true! #wifi
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Benguin
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
Why not go the extra step and shut down the electric grid for providing the power to run the computer to download said movie?

Unless he used a laptop with solar panels...

Alright everybody, time to shut down the sun. #wifi
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not_a_virus.exe.vbs
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
How is a private company able to do this to a public utility? What am I missing? #wifi
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UnderLoK
11/13/09

@not_a_virus.exe.vbs: They can't, they didn't, and you are missing something. ;)

Read the article linked in the one on Boing... They got a letter telling them to stop sharing the movie and in response the owner shut it down.
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Edited by UnderLoK at 11/13/09 8:54 AM UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred

met2art
11/13/09

@not_a_virus.exe.vbs: What you are missing are the facts that boingboing neglected to mention. The MPAA didn't actually shut the town's wi-fi down. The town chose to shut it down voluntarily after hearing from the MPAA. It is still a shitty situation, but the town probably wants to think things over and try to avoid further problems before they go "live" again.

We must not forget, as cool as he may be, Cory Doctorow (and boingboing) is prone to the most extreme hyperbole that the universe has ever witnessed, ever. #wifi
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Kirkaiya
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
Aside from really wanting a super-router like the one in that photo, this article really makes my blood boil. How is that the MPAA (or RIAA, etc) can have legal authority to block access to so many people, based one person's illegal activity? If I were the townspeople, I'd try suing the MPAA - that would be a nice change!

And - worse - doesn't this just open the door to a new form of vandalism, where bored miscreants with laptops can drive around any town (or airport, whatever) with free WiFi, and *intentionally* download something, with the intent of pissing off the entire town.

In fact... I have a car. And a laptop. And those people over in Shelbyville really suck!
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Edited by Kirkaiya at 11/13/09 3:33 AM Kirkaiya was starred Kirkaiya was unstarred

JesusDeSaad
11/13/09

@Kirkaiya: Actually that's a very valid point.

Even better,
People around the states should start downloading stuff in wireless networks around MPAA and RIAA people.

Make the downloads extra nasty in content to sic cops on them too! #wifi
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Nathan Obbards
11/13/09

In reply to MPAA Shuts Down Entire Town's Wi-Fi Over Single Illegal Download
Please tell me it was a worthwhile movie at least and not one of Sony's many doozies. #wifi
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Lee Millar
11/13/09

@Nathan Obbards:

It was a Hannah Montana movie! #wifi
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badhatharry
11/13/09

@Lee Millar: Totally worth it. #wifi
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frigg
12/10/08

In reply to Beijing to be World's Largest Wi-Fi City in 2011
I bet China will pull this off. But I wouldn't be surprised if they substitute a cuter wireless network to be the public face of wi-fi at the last minute.
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badhatharry
12/10/08

In reply to Beijing to be World's Largest Wi-Fi City in 2011
Is there a press release now on how well it's already working?

[gizmodo.com]
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theorieofself
11/19/08

In reply to Meraki's Solar Powered Wi-Fi Repeater Finally Shipping in December
"$749 if you have your own solar panel"

what an effing joke.

DD-WRT + old router = wifi repeater.

then just hook it up to a battery pack & solar a panel.

save yourself $1000+
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
11/19/08

@theorieofself: I can run 20 miles of electric fence off the under $200.00 solar fence unit I bought. A router is proably uses less that the 10,000 volts my fence does. It tingles when you touch it!
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
11/19/08

In reply to Meraki's Solar Powered Wi-Fi Repeater Finally Shipping in December
Isn't there something like this, albeit cheaper, that was designed for the OLPC laptops?
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