I'm pretty sure they just threw some number up of $90k, but I can almost guaranteed he made way more than that.
I think the $90K was profits. I'm a bit surprised it's so low...if he was one of the top 10 streaming sites. But....sure....stop it if it's illegal. Have fun with the linking vs hosting argument. I think that could prove interesting. And if someone vandalized my house, or my car -- I do hope the cops will show up. Not the FBI, Federal prosecutors from NY, and ICE, and HSI....What would likely happen -- is a few hours after I called, a cop, on patrol would stop by to complete some paperwork. Last time I called, I just got a case number on the phone for the insurance company. I guess they prioritize....
I agree with this. I just don't agree with dismissing it by saying "it was only $X". Except... you expect someone to show up. In the meantime, "gosh, someone somewhere is getting murdered!" The whole "don't they have anything better to do" argument has never held up with me. It's silly. As for why it's under the jurisdiction of HSI, FBI, etc. I have no idea. But then, I am not arguing that. To me, it doesn't matter.
I go to Justin TV. They suck at showing sports, but if you are into wrestling and don't mind waiting for the ppv reply then its a place for you. And I like how they stream shows. They stream the office episodes all day.
I think we're in agreement here Dunk. The scale of the response is what seems out of line to me. For what appears to be a one person linking site with no real operations or assets. But...absolutely...if he's offside legally (and the NY attorneys may have a better grasp of that then me??)...they should act. I don't think they needed so many agencies, or to take him into custody given what we know about the scope of what he was doing. Just as dumb as the "dontcha got nuthing better to do" (a response that rarely works on a traffic cop), is the "it was illegal so he had it coming" argument without connecting the degree of consequence to the nature of the offence. But, who knows.....maybe he was released right away, the prison thing might just be journalist filler of the max sentence that they have no intention of pursuing. I'm just a little ticked that the copyright holders can't get their acts together on the whole broadcast over the internet thing!
Well, all I used it for was UH games that weren't televised. I'm a huge homer and could care less about out-of-market games, and I stopped watching wrestling when Eddie Guerrero died. I'm not a big fan of watching sports on my computer, so I never even watched many UH games on Channelsurfing, but I really, REALLY liked having the option. I doubt I was the only one, because channelsurfing had like every game in the country it seemed like. I guess it's a little comforting that this guy wasn't hosting the streams, but he sure made them easy to find. Not sure how that's worth 5 years in jail.
The most unfortunate thing about this is how reactionary the entertainment industry is. Most of the people that have streamed a game from a site like Channel Surfing also saw the commercials that went along with it. They were watching the same exact thing as the television broadcast, only not on TV. This man, although what he did was illegal, stepped in to fill a void. If these companies would get with it, I think they would find that people are happy to watch games legally on the Internet. I know would be pleased as can be if I could watch streams of the Rockets, since I don't live in Houston, online without somebody having to get in trouble.
6 years? How long were they scoping out this guy? I wonder how many man hours went into the case? FBI should be looking for ****in BinLaden
FWIW I have no problem with the guy being caught, I just found it funny that Homeland was on the case. Probably not what the creators of it had in mind when they formed (ill conceived start with but I digress...). I can understand why a federal agency is involved. But Homeland? My shot in the dark guess is it has some far reaching powers, more than most agencies, so they get to take part in cases when something needs to be fast tracked.
FWIW Obama also seems to agree with GWB on this one. I can understand things like PPV. For MMA and prize fights streaming sites definitely do cost some money since those are one-offs. But how much revenue really? The audiences for PPV and streaming are largely discrete. Guys who are willing to watch a PPV event in some tiny grainy window are not the same guys who are willing to pay $50 to see the fight live on their 40 inch HDTVs. PPV fans are the MOST invested segment and stream viewers are the least. Not much overlap. For NBA specifically it even makes less sense. As you say they still see some of the commercials and in the long run allowing people to see games during the middle part of the long ass season will without question pay out in larger ratings during the crucial playoffs (which are disproportionately important when network negotiations come in) by keeping casual fans more invested in the league. Dude, your league is failing and losing viewers. Let's make it even harder for ppl to follow their teams. It is illegal so if they find a dude doing this, of course they gotta lock him up. But please shoot me in the face if our best guys are on this case stalking this dude for half a decade and spending 10x what he actually made on the site to prosecute him. And another $40k a year jailing him.
The dude lived in his parents house. Interesting read here: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...ers-heres-how-the-feds-will-hunt-you-down.ars Tells how they took him down. Dude didn't cover his tracks very well.
You do know that the Department of Homeland Security is much broader than you think right? "International terrorism" is not their only responsibility. There are numerous sub agencies working under DHS, one of them being ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). One of ICE's responsibilities is the investigation of computer crimes. Are most in this thread really that concerned that DHS/ICE may have stepped outside of their jurisdiction in lieu of catching terrorists (which obviously they didn't) to bust this guy or is everyone more concerned that a guy that we all received benefits from (free PPVs) just got busted? I would bet on the latter.
I think it's mainly the MMA organization AKA Dana "fcking" White that is really concerned with these streams ruining their business. I think he's been well known to find the internet and threatened to get these streams down. I don't think major TV networks are concerned with this because the ads are shown on the streams anyways, and they don't really lose that much revenue. But as you said it is a real problem for PPV events. But then again, I don't think these streamers will order a 50 dollar PPV if they can't find a decent link. For them it's either watch it online for free, or not watch it at all. I think Dana should just let this go because these free streams will keep people interested in the sports. Me for example, used to stream some of the earlier UFC PPV's when I found out about the sports. Now that I am a avid fan, I order PPV's with friends for really stacked cards and go to a bar or something for less stacked ones. Plus I think arresting these guys and making a big deal out of it is counterproductive. Because now that they have more media attention, people who had no idea they could stream TV online will now try to research and find free streaming sites.
