Thank you for your work.
They talk about free market but they dont let your computer do one of the most basic things it can do: copying.
The guy clearly understood he was stealing, paid his debt to society, and now has a bunch of knowledge and experience that he can put to use doing something legit and hopefully profitable. I wish him well.
FYI, I'm a bluegrass musician. And I don't know who you think these laws are important for, but it sure as heck isn't us. The copyright industrial complex is screwing musicians first and foremost.
> The guy clearly understood he was stealing,
...then he understood wrong. Stealing is when you take something from someone. In that case, the person from whom you stole no longer has that thing. Copying is not stealing.
If you regard copying as stealing, then I encourage you to steal my music. And if you like it, encourage your friends to steal it from you.
Stealing is just a term that relates to an object or a work. Assault relates to bodily autonomy, and trespassing relates to a physical space.
BTW, even trespass can be construed as stealing someone’s land if the perpetrator claims it as his own and tries to then exclude the rightful owner.
I think people know it's kind of metaphorical anyway. Hey you stole my idea! You stole my joke!
Stealing credit for an idea makes sense, I guess.
• That is not mere trespass! I don't know what the name for that is. Land theft? Dispossession?
Remind me, who at Meta and other AI companies went to jail for ripping off millions of books for AI training?
Are you saying because one person got away with breaking the law, we should stop enforcing laws? I don't understand the point you're trying to make
"I’m really proud of what I made, yes. I come from a broken home, and the community was a home to me for six years, so I have solace there. It also taught me an endless amount about running a startup, achieving critical mass, and talking and listening to customers. If I were to do it over again, I would have probably made an effort to make money instead of just coast."
He was streaming sports events live.
"These laws are very important."
For what? For the critical service of big commercial sports event? Society would break down, if they loose too much paying customers to teenagers who make a website and a little profit?
Now sure, he was making profit, he is and was not a free information idealist. But also not really a criminal in my perspective deserving prison. Definitely not if prison is what you imagine to better someone.
Thank you, TIL. For some reason I assumed that those big sport events bring money to hosts. Your question reminded me of this and I went to check and was surprised to find out that it's not true.
"Studies conducted to assess the impact on employment, tourism, and growth have been inconclusive at best." - https://www.stern.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documen...
Can you convince me I'm wrong?
I would argue that they are not. In fact, I don't think life without intellectual property laws would be at all that different. Ideally, IP would reward creators and inventors, but in practice, it protects the rents of publishers, Big Pharma and Big Tech instead of fostering innovation.
The fact that people, for instance, write free software, and that such software is often superior to commercial, copyrighted software clearly shows that such a model is viable. There would also clearly still be people making music, movies, etc.
Another issue is that enforcement of IP laws is very uneven. In many parts of the world, people already freely share copyrighted materials and freely copy drugs. Effectively, all of this is subsidized by American consumers who don't sail the high seas for their software and movies, and spend thousands a month for their prescriptions.
The thing I found most interesting in these articles is the claim that he didn't pirate the broadcasts, which would have required his site to provide a large amount of bandwidth. Instead, he connected users directly to legitimate streams offered by sports broadcasters, using misappropriated login credentials.
[0]: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.58...
> Apple TV, Android, Android TV/Fire Stick, ChromeCast, fourth-generation game consoles and newer, Roku, smart TVs, smart fridges, Tesla, and the usual web platforms.
Most of those platforms had web support which made my life easier. I had a bridge with the Android apps that kicked the stream out to a native player—nothing unique. It was otherwise just ReactNative.
Wow, so this is what it feels like. Holy shit.
Author here, really didn’t expect this kind of attention. I have been told my tone/writing style can be misinterpreted. It’s important for me to emphasize accountability and responsibility, even if I disagree with certain elements.
This informational site was passed along with my resume for transparency. I never expected it to be here, or seen any anyone. I’m a little shy.
I’m happy to answer questions the best I can while respecting the the courts, the BOP, and the DOJ. The technical or financial aspects of the site and the case I’ll pass on, though.
(PS if anyone at GitHub can help me recover my account—I had it hijacked from me by a “friend” while I was incarcerated—that would be great)
By that metric, you received an unduly harsh sentence. Would you happen to have some insight as to why?
Also, I sincerely appreciate you sharing this, and the means by which you shared it. I honestly think that with your situation (unlike Charlie Javice, Theranos, etc), anyone who reads your candid disclosure would interpret it in a positive way.
I sincerely apologize if this is causing stress.
I am flattered by the reception here, though. Maybe in due time I can talk more about things and it can find its way back to the front page of my CMD+T muscle memory.
Was a fun ride, though not for my blood pressure.
"@dang is a no-op": <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42177590> <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...>
(There's a lot I don't know, I'm just impressed by what it appears you were able to build whilst working other jobs)
Are you legally prevented from pursuing such an endeavour?
Does your criminal record unspokenly make it likely not worthwhile pursuing a legitimate version of what you created?
It’s a terrible look if he’s teaching other people how to do the same thing that sent him to prison. There’s no upside for him and plenty of downside.
In the US, if you are physically located in Los Angeles, you're unable to watch the Lakers (or Clippers) without a cable subscription: having the league-provided streaming package NBA League Pass is not enough. Getting around this limitation was the selling point.
And I'm glad you had a partner who sent you good things to read :)
If you want a book to make an impact on people .. prison is probably the place where many people start reading they would not otherwise. The right book can make all the difference..
EDIT: removed quoted text due to: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45434355
The site is currently receiving the HN hug of death, however. Correction: taken offline by author (probably the right decision).
Btw it sounds like it's a good idea to never report bugs to Major League Baseball. Refusing to pay beg bounty is one thing but offering bounty to then paint it as extortion by the researcher?
White hats take note.
> The system incarcerates people for years and expects them to go back into society and do something with their life. The truth is that the programming that is offered is a world-class joke and 99% of inmates don’t really do all that well when they’re out.
Americans: Do you feel like this is justice? Do you feel like dealing with criminals this way is helping make your society healthier?
Our foundation was built on offering second chances to groups marginalized or persecuted in Europe. A place those cast aside by the old world could start anew, contribute to society, and reshape their destinies away from the strictures and conflicts that had defined their past.
In the American wild west, criminals could go on be to lawmen. People were given a second chance. Second chances are what made America strong (that and opening our country to immigrants to give them a first chance).
Modern America doesn't believe in those things. It doesn't believe in it's foundation myth on immigration and second chances. It doesn't believe in it's 'wild west' myth of immigration and second chances. We have become something very angry and ugly.
I appreciate your interest in this and the interest of the community at large. It's comforting in a way—I feel like the world's worst criminal still. At the same time it's validating to have done something that this community—which I hold in high regard—finds interesting. Maybe in due time I will feel more comfortable to talk more about it; I think I found more product market fit with my words.
typpilol•4mo ago
I'm not going to lie, I've used some streaming sites. But I can't understand the people behind them.
Who's giving away 100s of TB of video decode and bandwidth for free. And why?
tverbeure•4mo ago
> While it was, indeed, a subscription website
phowat•4mo ago
nomdep•4mo ago
That goes well beyond doing “dumb stuff on the Internet”
71bw•4mo ago
Wonder what the implications of just taking the CC numbers 20 years ago would have been?
vunderba•4mo ago
phowat•4mo ago
BLKNSLVR•4mo ago
It doesn't translate to today's Internet.
(This would have been ~25 years ago, maybe a bit more)
typpilol•4mo ago
joshmn•4mo ago
komali2•4mo ago
Not everyone is doing it for the same reason, but there are anarchists doing it because they want people to be allowed to freely access media, and that's the entirety of the reason. No profit motive or clout chasing, they just are frustrated that access to information or media is locked behind a paywall and only available to people with a credit card, or in countries allowed to view that content, or have enough money to subscribe to the services, so they do something about it.
Though I would imagine the majority of the most popular websites are just using client computers as compute, or serving ads.
maltris•4mo ago