Friday, January 14, 2005 Jobless man in world-first copyright arrest Taskforce snares 38-year-old for uploading three movies on to internet using latest technology VIVIENNE CHOW An unemployed Hong Kong man has become the first person in the world arrested for uploading three movies on to the internet using the latest Bit Torrent technology. Customs officers, who arrested the man, 38, on Wednesday at his Tuen Mun home, said he uploaded the initial 'seeds' - data that can be used to download a movie or music - for Hollywood releases Daredevil, Red Planet and Miss Congeniality onto the newsgroup bt.newsgroup.com.hk on January 10 or 11. It was the first arrest for a taskforce set up less than a month ago to tackle Bit Torrent (BT) peer-to-peer technology, the fastest-growing system for illegal downloading. Motion Picture Association International's Greater China director of operations Sam Ho Wai-hung said details of the arrest had been sent to the association's home office in California. He said it would act as a useful reference for enforcers in western countries. Customs officers also confiscated the man's two computers, computer-related equipment and about 400 video compact discs - half with pirated movies and the rest authentic products.

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Assistant Commissioner (Intelligence and Investigation) William Chow Oi-tung said the arrest followed co-operation from various parties: the film industry, internet service providers and newsgroup managers. He said the taskforce, set up on December 16, had targeted 'seed-makers', who make the downloading possible. 'We have been monitoring related websites non-stop for three weeks and we successfully tracked down this man.' Mr Chow said although there was no evidence to show the arrested man had profited from uploading the movies, he had still infringed copyright laws.

Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology John Tsang Chun-wah said he hoped the arrest would remind Hong Kong people not to commit such infringements. BT is the world's fastest-growing illegal downloading technology. Mr Ho said that last year there were more than 2,400 cases worldwide of illegal peer-to-peer file swapping - compared with just 107 in 2003 - with more than 600,000 movie files illegally downloaded. At about $50 for a movie ticket, the total daily loss to the film industry could be up to $30 million.

Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers vice-chairman Cheung Tung-joe welcomed the government's action against illegal downloading but said arresting end users involved technological difficulties. 'It's a debatable issue. For example, purchasing pirated VCDs or DVDs is not considered a criminal act,' Mr Cheung said. 'But at least it tells young people that this. Act can destroy Hong Kong's creative industry.' Mr Ho said the association had also found a few BT seeds of Stephen Chow Sing-chi's action comedy Kung Fu Hustle, but they came from Guangdong. (Quoted because it's a paid site.) Warning: This is a sensitive topic on HG.

Post with care. I saw this on the headlines this morning, and in school we were all talking about it. BT is a very hot topic here in Hong Kong, largely because it offers a way to use software for free with zero risk, for now at least. With Hong Kong starting to crack down on illegal downloads - or in this case, a 'seed', an uploader - I believe that other countries will soon follow suit. Driver viamichelin x 950 xp 10. And with the closing down of free major BitTorrent sites such as Suprnova and LokiTorrent, it looks like BT will soon follow the path of Kazaa, perhaps even worse.

This might or might not be a good thing for the software/music/movie/porn industry. Certainly, more people will pay for software/music/movies/porn, but will they pay to the right people? In my opinion, people who are willing to, like (I hope) most of us, buy legit copies, would not be drawn to BT in the first place. Those who won't buy legit software, or don't have the capability to, would go back to commercial piracy. Not sure how the situation in other countries are, but in Hong Kong, this is a major source of income for triad societies. Which means that the companies still lose money as they used to, only this time, the money flows into the wrong hands.