Pirate Site Operator Slapped With $10 Million in Damages

[Ernesto]

In August we reported how ABS-CBN was going after several website owners who link to pirated streams of its programming.

The Philippines-based company filed a lawsuit at a federal court in Oregon looking for millions of dollars in damages from two local residents, husband and wife.

The five sites they operated, including Pinoymoviefan.com and Watchfilipinotv.com, barely had any visitors. According to the main suspect, Jeff Ashby, he created them for his wife so she could enjoy entertainment from her home country.

‘I created these websites for my wife who is from the Philippines, so she and others who are far from the Philippines could enjoy materials from their culture that are otherwise unavailable to them, Jeff Ashby wrote to the court.

The sites in question didn’t store copies of the infringing media but merely provided links to other websites, and Ashby shut them down voluntarily as soon as he heard about the lawsuit.

Nevertheless, ABS-CBN branded Ashby a hardcore criminal. In one of their own news report they managed to get the L.A. police to agree with them.

“[Piracy is] supporting their ability to buy drugs and guns and engage in violence. And then, the support of global terrorism, which is a threat to everybody,” LA County Assistant Sheriff Todd Rogers told an ABS-CBN news outlet.

Now, just a few weeks later the case is over. The Oregon District Court ‘ruled’ in favor of ABS-CBN and ordered Jeff Ashby to pay a mind-blowing $10 million in damages.

The company nevertheless praises the ‘unprecedented’ victory in its own news coverage and warns that they will continue to pursue action against pirate sites.

“Jeff Ashby is the first of many pirates that we are pursuing,” says Elisha Lawrence, ABS-CBN’s Associate Vice President of Global Anti-Piracy.

“We have begun a relentless campaign to enforce against all pirate websites due to the numerous reports that these sites contain dangerous malware which cause substantial harm including identify theft of financial information and phishing attacks.”

While the $10 million may do well for PR purposes, the media conglomerate fails to mention that this isn’t a regular verdict. Instead, it’s a consent judgment (pdf) between ABS-CBN and Ashby which the court signed off on.

In other words, the $10 million in damages reported in public is a figure both parties agreed on, without putting up a fight. Needless to say, it’s likely that a separate deal was made behind the scenes.

In fact, a month before the consent judgment the court had already been informed that both parties had settled the case.

Most telling, perhaps, is the response of Jeff Ashby after he was ‘hit’ by the $10 million judgment. Instead of characterizing the damages as unfair and overblown, he now warns others not to mess with ABS-CBN.

“I wish to warn anyone who may be copying and/or publishing content owned by ABS-CBN without their permission, to stop immediately. Continuing without authorization can and will lead to very serious consequences,” Ashby comments.

Originally Published: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 17:21:27 +0000
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[ddoking007]

I'd like to know where they get their information that "ALL Pirate websites" contain malware... but excuse me if I get this wrong but don't you only get malware if you click, download, or do something on A site that has it in the code... I surf the deep web 90% of the time just to see what I can find when i'm bored... and only a moron would not install a Anti virus program and backup their data...

Do they think that the average user just goes to every malware infested site over and over again... or download malware infested programs over and over again what are we retarded to the point that if we see a Ad we click everyone that shows up,download everything we see, or click every link on a page... FUCK NO I have 3 antiviruses, dual encrypted my data, and on top off all that I SCAN EVERY FUCKING THING I LOOK AT AND DOWNLOAD

news flash morons of copyright, patent, government trolls WE ARE NOT CLICKING EVERYFUCKING THING WE SEE AND KNOW WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR AND MOST WILL TRY THEN BUY!!!!

[stormium]

<snip> contain malware... <snip>

they said that to make it seem like they were more concerned with protecting potential viewers instead of coming off as money hungry whores.... gotta play the game.

[ddoking007]

I figured that storm but they make it sound like we are so stupid when it comes to working a computer its like a few old timers I know fuck they don't even know how to fucking use a cell phone.. I and I don't even mean a smartphone either... i'm talking pre touch screen phones.. hell even my aunt who is 30 can't even figure out how to get her own computer to wipe out a program off the system... but at least she knows how to use the damn thing...

and for the old timers I set it up so all they have to do is click once on a icon when they move the mouse that it open the games they they like to play... simple I know but fuck at least they understand it some what...

i'm about ready to post a vent thread in the void.... then just have you admins lock and delete the fucker...

hey theres a Idea make a sub section the trash that auto locks then deletes the post after 3 days....

[stormium]

if you're right, there's no need to get angry and if you're wrong, you have no right to be angry.

lol... so, they aren't saying we are stupid... they are saying that their viewers who might want to watch a stream of their content is stupid. it's a game with words, see... they want to deter pirates by saying that they just won a 10 million dollar settlement, but they want to say it without enticing people to watch streams.

so, don't sweat the small stuff. eventually, they will be cremated by their karma.