Originally posted by: Jay

Originally posted by: NeilBEven still, the guy has a point - If you were to share a film that was not yet available as in this case, wouldnt that be considered the same as sharing a film that has left the cinema and not yet hit DVD?

The difference is that Blade Runner is available at retail, has been for years, and it's my expectation that anyone downloading this fan-made DVD also own a retail copy. If they don't own a retail copy, they shouldn't be downloading it.

But isn't this the case all the time with torrents? I wouldn't consider it the same as leaving the cinema and being copied immediately, NeilB, I consider it the same as sharing a torrent of the retail disc. What bothers me so much is that you really give preservation a bad name by copying anything you can at all under that title.

"Know, however, that these two threads have caused me to review the forum rules and clarify my expectations regarding file sharing in order to crack down on any inappropriate behavior."

Well I'm glad you have put thought towards it, and carefully considered it.

Here's an interesting thing, NeilB and Jay - and this kind of explains why Jay and the others hold their view that sharing TV rips is different from sharing DVD rips. Us humans have a rather dull habit of always assuming we are right. What we'll do is decide on something - that is form a conclusion. That conclusion might be that "copying something off TV that's available on DVD isn't piracy because TV is a public broadcast". What that person would then do is look for evidence to support his conclusion, while ignoring evidence that contradicts it. This is a biased view, yes, but by habit we will all do it unless we are aware of it and choose to look at both sides carefully before reaching a solid conclusion.

I loosely work with the TV industry, and if someone abuses TV broadcasts it's not that different to abusing retail DVD's - except that there is no encryption put in place to prevent people from doing so. It would be really similar if DVD's didn't have encryption in the first place. If you copy something off TV, that's fine - no one has ever been successfully sued over that in Australia... you don't have a legal right to do so without first obtaining written permission, although so many people believe they do, and if you do record without that permission you are breaking copyright law - but as most recording (95%+) is done to "watch later" rather then to "keep", it's no bother. But what is a bother is when that copy you made is shared with others. Because that is taking works you don't own and sharing them with people who don't own them either. One of the ways TV has to try and compete with DVD is to offer people things they can't get on DVD - at least not yet. Copying and sharing this is not preservation, it's piracy. Aussies have the largest rate of TV piracy in the world, not something we should be proud of.

Because something has not been released on DVD or home video is not a ticket to copy, share and distribute it. Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was not released on home video until 57 years after the first theatrical release. Until then it was only ever seen in theatres. Now if a movie was to come out only in theatres today, and then do that for another 57 years before being released on home video (where you will have the opportunity to watch the film in theatres) - would you call ripping that and sharing it "preservation" or "piracy"? It may count as preservation if they change the film, but if they don't then you've still got the film to enjoy, in the environment it was designed to be enjoyed in.