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.

  • Xanza@lemm.ee
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    19 hours ago

    We didn’t inhale, so it’s not illegal for us. ~ZuckFuck

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    20 hours ago

    I doubt anything legal would come from this, but it does progress the conversation about piracy:

    “You wouldn’t download a car would you? Cause zuck would without sharing”

      • ursakhiin@beehaw.org
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        7 hours ago

        Hey now, they aren’t Nazis. Nazis at least believe in something, even if it’s something terrible.

  • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
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    1 day ago

    I was actually hoping to see that as a defense. The principal thing that copy enforcement corps always cite is ‘we downloaded a copy from their IP, thus they made a copy and distributed the work’.

    If this works as a defense here then in effect they make direct download portals legal for the users at least.

    • _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 day ago

      You’re forgetting that they’re a rich corporation, and you’re not. They’ll get away with the defense, but even if it set a precedent, copyright groups can still sue you until you’re broke to make an example of you, even if you didn’t legally do anything “wrong”.

      As long as you can sue someone for any reason without repercussions, then it’s always going to be the people with more money who come out on top. Always. Wining a lawsuit doesn’t mean you’re not still financially destroyed and driven into poverty for the rest of your life.

    • Pup Biru@aussie.zone
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      1 day ago

      this is actually the way it works in australia: downloading content is not illegal; sharing content is illegal

      thus as a consumer, usenet is fine

      obligatory ianal

    • juliebean@lemm.ee
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      13 hours ago

      makes me think of the loopholes christian teenagers come up with to claim they’re totally not having premarital sex.

  • Moonrise2473@feddit.it
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    1 day ago

    Where now are the copyright trolls that sued regular students for millions of dollars for downloading 30 songs?

    Under federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per track if the jury finds the infringements were willful.

    Let me see:

    • At least 100 million of books pirated
    • infringements were willful

    So, a 15k billion dollars fine seem appropriate to give to Meta AND criminal sentences to all the c suite.

    Or: apply the same rules to regular people and allow unlimited copyright violations without consequences

  • Ulrich@feddit.org
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    1 day ago

    the company clarifies that there is nothing ‘independently illegal’ about torrenting.

    Ah yes, I’m sure this strawman defense will hold up well for them in court.

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    Is there a way to change the torrent client’s name\version so you appear in a list of seeds as Mark Zuckerberg?

    • boonhet@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      Certainly, but it’s not like that’ll get him in trouble or anything

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        It’d certainly encourage me to up my torrenting game so this shit appears 24\7 at rather weird uploads around the globe.

  • vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 day ago

    ah so they only downloaded them illigally, and then used them illegally, but didn’t share them illegally. got it