News Meta defends using pirated material, claims it's legal if you don't seed content

[Admin]

A new court filing alleges that Meta "took precautions" to not seed copyrighted data after downloading 82 TB dataset featuring copyrighted material.

Meta defends using pirated material, claims it's legal if you don't seed content : Read more

 

[3ogdy]

So "Getting torrents is legal, just don't upload them to other computers, then."
Oh alright. Thank you, Meta.

 

[Unolocogringo]

According to DCMA downloading is illegal.
I think it was $250,000 per file when it was music downloads.
So their fine should be calculated as such.
Companies stealing copyrighted work is no different.

 

[phead128]

Using this logic, DeepSeek's crime therefore is downloading and democratizing knowledge (publishing top weights)! If only they just kept it for their own pleasure instead of making it public! /sarcasm.

 

[TerryLaze]

According to DCMA downloading is illegal.
I think it was $250,000 per file when it was music downloads.
So their fine should be calculated as such.
Companies stealing copyrighted work is no different.

This defense is not about downloads at all, the article links to the legal document and meta only defends against improper use of the data.
Like this one.
Section 1202(b) prohibits the “removal or alteration of copyright management information.”

The following is all just my speculation.
If they where seeding someone could argue that others could only download parts and thusly there would have been some "removal or alteration" but if they kept it all as a whole and didn't let anybody else download from them then everything stayed unaltered.

 

[joartrak]

Not a company doing something they probably should not be doing. It's only the 15 year old downloading Metallica that catch any grief. Seems like a non issue that will matter because nothing will be done anyway.

 

[hotaru251]

If META would win on that then Piracy just got its biggest ally ever.
Nintendo would be furious.

But no, in fact, downloading content you know is not legal is in fact piracy.

 

[Heiro78]

So "Getting torrents is legal, just don't upload them to other computers, then."
Oh alright. Thank you, Meta.

In practice it's largely been this way for almost 2 decades. The RIAA is famous for scaring individuals and groups during napster and torrenting days. The letters individuals got weren't for downloading songs but instead for sharing them. ISPs monitor the traffic and had some deal or legal requirement to notify their customers (us individuals) that they must cease and desist the sharing of the songs. Similarly Napster, Megaupload, and piratebay have all been sued for sharing copyrighted material.

 

[Heiro78]

If META would win on that then Piracy just got its biggest ally ever.
Nintendo would be furious.

But no, in fact, downloading content you know is not legal is in fact piracy.

Here's the another side of it, I don't believe nintendo has sued individuals or groups for downloading their games. Instead it's been the websites or services that have the games available to download. I don't believe if meta should win this argument that it would then allow rom websites to exist without fear of being sued by Nintendo (or any other IP holders) lawyers.

 

[tamalero]

"rules for thee not me"

 

[nameless0ne]

This is likely just damage control. They know downloading pirated content is illegal but participating in distribution of pirated contend carries additional penalties.
There were lawsuits where the rights holder would intentionally download content from a single seeder multiple times (like a single mp3 thousands of times). And then they would argue in court that each download is a lost sale with treble damages.

 

[ivan_vy]

What about paying for the lost revenue each if those thousand of books? also a hefty fine. it's not like Zuck has no money and the AI training it's done with commercial purposes. feelings make me say 'META should fall down in flames'

 

[Brian28]

So did they train the AI directly on these employee's PC, or did they have to COPY it to their training center? I'm not buying their excuses.

 

[Rex_Bossman]

So Meta is one of those "hit and run" users. Figures.

 

[JeffreyP55]

A new court filing alleges that Meta "took precautions" to not seed copyrighted data after downloading 82 TB dataset featuring copyrighted material.

Meta defends using pirated material, claims it's legal if you don't seed content : Read more

Arrrgh, Matey!​

Bad boy almost 40 years ago with my Amiga rigs. Everything was fresh and new. Slow modem using floppy disks. Lucky if anything worked. BBS's were the norm. Actually fun!

 

[Co BIY]

I stole them , but only for my own use, I tried not to resell them, mostly.

Pretty sure that would not fly for a shoplifter. (YMMV in California)

 

[syadnom]

trying to step back and be super objective here.

If I buy a book and read it and learn from it, my knowledge isn't 'derivative'.

If I steal that book, I still get to keep my knowledge of it, I just have to pay a fine or jail for the theft.

So 82TB of books should be broken down into a simple spreadsheet of each book, it's label price, and the penalty for theft and Meta should be charged for that amount. You can't throw meta in jail, maybe you could throw the person who downloaded things in but they were an agent of meta so that's murky. The fines should be basically statutory maximums since the jail time isn't super practical.

They could have just bought all these ebooks off Amazon and had fair-use rights to it so the crime here isn't the use of the books, it's the theft of the books.

 

[TerryLaze]

This is likely just damage control.

Nothing likely about it.
That's exactly what a defense to a lawsuit is.

They know downloading pirated content is illegal but participating in distribution of pirated contend carries additional penalties.

Hmmmm, that depends heavily on how the law is worded, and for infringement laws it usually states that copying (which seeding would be) is illegal not the download itself.
Also the fair use doctrine states research, and meta can certainly call what they do research.

 

[Elusive Ruse]

Too bad they cannot prove that not even a byte of data was uploaded while the files were being downloaded.

 

[TerryLaze]

Too bad they cannot prove that not even a byte of data was uploaded while the files were being downloaded.

Isn't it still innocent until proven guilty?

 

[lmcnabney]

Not only are they violating copyright by download intellectual property without paying for it, but they are also 'making derivative works' using that content and then making money off of that derivative work. This is far far far worse and is against everything Copyright was designed to stop.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

They just cooked themselves LMFAO.

That fine is going to be astronomically huge. Not only will the current prosecuting body charge them but any other entity that finds out their content was stolen will sue them and for massive numbers. Multiply that by hundreds or thousands who will want and know they will get money? 🤣

I can't wait to see that total figure

 

[hwertz]

No fan of Meta but they are right. If you are receiving a file the sender is commiting copyright infringemet (if the item is under copyright). you aren't firing it off to anyone if you don't seed.

As for the wider issue with slurping these into a LLM, that's another matter of course.

 

[RAlatalo]

Copyright law allows the copyright owner exclusive control of who can make copies. If you look at it this way, both people involved are making copies. The one receiving it is certainly making a copy as they start from nothing and end up with a copy. It's been argued that reading the material into a machine is also making a copy, with listening or playing or intended uses being licenced. The biggest difference is in damages. If you make a personal copy you only cost them 1 sale, but if you distribute the then you are costing them sales for every copy someone makes. Registered copyrighted items can also get statutory damages, but it should be clear that seeding is much worse than just downloading.

 

[DavidLejdar]

Soooo.... Is Meta saying, that cracked versions of everything in the Meta Quest store is fair game to download, as long as one makes an effort in attempting to limit the seeding?

Not only are they violating copyright by download intellectual property without paying for it, but they are also 'making derivative works' using that content and then making money off of that derivative work. This is far far far worse and is against everything Copyright was designed to stop.

Yeah, it is not like a private person downloading something unlicensed for personal use, where the "damage" is at most the price of what was downloaded. But they apparently used something for business purposes, without permission/license thereto.

And that's usually not considered to be ok. And no quality assurance whatsoever. Like, in a deal with a publishing house, the books are the books. In case of a torrent, well, not really a given, that someone didn't quickly code something that swapped words in the text around, e.g. just for the lulz of it.