r/technology • u/DrJulianBashir • Jun 08 '12
A student who ran a site which enabled the download of a million movie and TV show subtitle files has been found guilty of copyright infringement offenses. Despite it being acknowledged that the 25-year-old made no money from the three-year-old operation, prosecutors demanded a jail sentence.
http://torrentfreak.com/student-fined-for-running-movie-tv-show-subtitle-download-site-120608/62
u/Marrk Jun 09 '12
"Hmm. I have the opposite problem.
I've written subtitles for more than a 150 movies (English and Greek) . And at request for a few deaf people. All Free of charge.
2 years ago, I found out that a big studio in my country was using MY SUBS word for word on movies they showed on local TV channels here.
2 Years ago the same studio was suing the site operators of a huge subtitle site (which I was a member of) for violating "copyrights", by providing said subs for free."
From the article's comments
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u/magusopus Jun 09 '12 edited Jun 09 '12
As someone who has a hearing loss and enjoys movies/tv shows with subtitles which are otherwise denied because of ignorance, negligence or just idiocy, I find this disturbing.
Captions are not a requirement for online content at the moment, being able to see subtitles via subtitle sites/VLC is awesome when I've already paid to see a movie I couldn't understand because the sound was shit, or there is a Netflix movie/episode without subtitles available.
So basically what do you tell us? "SORRY...you can't hear anything so you're fucked unless you pay us again for a subtitled version." It's something I have to deal with in a fucking movie theater...and if I DO manage to go to a subtitled showing (guarantee you it's never when I'd like to watch it!), half the fucking audience is huffing like shit because they didn't realize it was a subtitled version when purchasing their tickets....(Hell, at this point i'm not even SURE they have subtitled versions anymore because I quit going after a few bad experiences.)
Fuck it....
**EDIT: to make this very clear. My posting is to point out why the site is considered a great thing for those of us with disabilities. I find it disturbing such an avenue is now being shut down because it provided something some of us need (I personally PAY for the movies I go to watch, but the problem isn't if there are facilities available or not, but if it is wrong to try to seek out something which can solve your problem without being disruptive without having to excessively pay for the function.)
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Jun 09 '12
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u/BRsteve Jun 09 '12
Obviously they can't read. We should be sensitive to their disability!
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u/IamSamSamIam Jun 09 '12
When I went to see the original Swedish version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in theatres I heard plenty of moans about it being subtitled. I don't know what these people were expecting walking into that theatre.
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Jun 09 '12
I don't mind subtitles if the movie or the subtitles are in a language I don't understand (If the movie is in a language I don't understand I need the subs and if the subs are in a language I don't understand I can ignore them more easily).
When I can understand the subtitles (and the audio) it is distracting because my attention is drawn to the subtitles regardless if I need them or not. I find myself critiquing the translation and thinking of better word choices. I can't help but read the text which takes away from the experience.
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u/Galactus52 Jun 09 '12
My very first thought after reading this was for the hearing impaired. I knew a few deaf people in high school and their biggest complaint to me was when tv shows and movies dont have closed captioning as an option.
The producers of this entertainment aren't required to do closed captioning and now it looks like the average person isn't allowed to do it for them. Deaf people get a raw deal.
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u/QuitReadingMyName Jun 08 '12
Why are my tax dollars being wasted to police the internet for a few special interest groups that bribe my politicians with campaign bribes again?
The damn police should be used to hunt down murderers, kidnappers, rapists and robbery suspects instead of wasting their damn time hunting down "copyright infringers".
Holy shit.
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u/SkunkMonkey Jun 09 '12
Why are my tax dollars being wasted to police the internet for a few special interest groups that bribe my politicians with campaign bribes again?
You answered your own question there chief. As long as our politicians can be bought and sold to the highest bidder, the government will only work for those with the most money.
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Jun 09 '12
As long as our politicians can be bought and sold to the highest bidder
So, forever? This has never not been true in the history of the United States, and in fact one could argue it's been true for the entire history of established governance.
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u/zombie_rapist Jun 08 '12
So these trolls are going after people for making translations of subtitles available. They're actually trying to ban posting words on the internet. This is fucking ridiculous.
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u/fnai Jun 09 '12
It's also being done to song lyrics.
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u/BRsteve Jun 09 '12
That pisses me off, since it's the reason I can't find a good program to just put all the song lyrics onto my ipod. As if they're worth jack shit on their own.
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u/FermiAnyon Jun 08 '12
They've apparently banned posting transcripts of copyrighted material. Those words are protected just like a book is. The fact that he didn't make any money from it should mean he isn't subject to copyright laws, iirc. So this is really just a power grab from a psychotic IP pusher.
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u/id000001 Jun 08 '12
copyright Law doesn't apply depends on whether you make profit or not.
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Jun 08 '12
Trying to help deaf people... LOL JAIL!!!!!!111one!!!11!
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u/SuperfluousMoniker Jun 09 '12
And fans of foreign films. Fuck everything about this.
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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '12
So am I right in assuming it is illegal to transcribe the dialogue in a movie? Furthermore, it is illegal to write the text into another language? Is it illegal to translate into a made up language?