In one of the AI lawsuits faced by Meta, the company stands accused of distributing pirated books. The authors who filed the class-action lawsuit allege that Meta shared books from the shadow library LibGen with third parties via BitTorrent. Meta, however, says that it took precautions to prevent 'seeding' content. In addition, the company clarifies that there is nothing 'independently illegal' about torrenting.

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[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (8 children)

Well, did the uploader push it onto my computer, or was it me who clicked on something and initiated the transfer? I'd say it's the latter. So the downloader initiated the copying process... I mean if I steal an orange in the supermarket, we also don't say it fell into my hands and somehow they're guilty...

And additionally you might find other local laws like this: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/156.35
and generally, this is related to wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer... Which all seem to be crimes and something people get charged with if someone wants them convicted of a crime. See Aaron Swartz for example.

[–] Rivalarrival 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

Well, did the uploader push it onto my computer, or was it me who clicked on something and initiated the transfer?

It is NOT ILLEGAL TO ASK FOR A COPY. Copyright law does not prohibit you from asking me for a copy of a work. You are perfectly free to ask me for that copy.

I am not free to give you that copy. If I give you that copy, I am infringing on copyright, not you.

There isn't anything infringement for me to offer to giver you a copy.

If I stand in front of MPAA headquarters with a big red button that says "I will make and give you an illegal copy of a movie if you press this button", I have not violated copyright.

If you press the button, you have not violated copyright. You have merely indicated that you would like to receive an illegal copy; you have not created that copy, nor have you distributed a copy.

If you take the thumb drive I give you, and put it in your pocket, you still have not violated copyright. You still have not created a copy, nor have you distributed a copy. You are now in possession of that copy, but "possession" is not infringement. You would have to do something further with that copy before you would actually infringe on copyright: You would have to create an additional copy, or distribute the copy I gave you to someone else.

I violated copyright when I put the work on the thumb drive, and I violated it again when you received it, but you have done nothing illegal. You did not initiate the transfer; I did, either when I put the big red button out there, or when I handed you the thumb drive.

I mean if I steal an orange in the supermarket,

If you stick a knife in my face and tell me "your thumb drive or your life", in addition to the numerous actual criminal penalties you face, the rights holder could, arguably, claim that you have infringed on copyright by distributing a copy.

[–] vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

if you're found later with a bunch of pirated material, you're the one who gets prosecuted, not whoever you dowloaded it from

[–] Rivalarrival 1 points 20 hours ago

Then you should be able to cite a case where this has happened.

What actually happens when you are found with a bunch of pirated material is... Nothing. Because it is not illegal to merely receive an unauthorized copy.

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