YTS Reaches MPAA Deal But Dotcom Faces Decades in Jail?

[shamu726]

How does YTS, one of the most organized and notorious public torrent sites, strike a deal with Hollywood despite being listed as a notorious market by the U.S. government? We're all curious to know more, but spare a thought for Kim Dotcom. He's in the same country as the YTS operator but faces decades behind bars.

After reporting on thousands of file-sharing related stories around the globe for almost ten years, the folks here at TF have a ‘feel’ for how certain scenarios play out. With that in mind, something doesn’t feel right with the ongoing drama involving YTS / YIFY.

When sites as big as YTS get taken down by the MPAA, RIAA, or their partners around the world, these organizations usually order their PR departments to repeatedly bash the big button marked “CONGRATULATIONS TO US”. Yet for weeks following the YTS shut down there was complete silence.

Details of the multi-million dollar lawsuit supposedly filed in New Zealand are nowhere to be found either. And if one was expecting the usual “Shut down by ICE/FBI/DELTA FORCE” banner to appear on YTS.to instead of the usual YIFY movie rips, then there’s only disappointment there too.

Ok, the MPAA have this week admitted they’re behind the shutdown, but the way it’s being handled is extremely puzzling. The announcement from MPAA chief Chris Dodd was muted to say the least and the somewhat compulsory gloating at having taken down one of the world’s most important piracy sites is almost non-existent.

This is odd for a number of reasons, not least when one considers the nature and scale of the operation. YIFY / YTS released as many as five thousand copies of mainstream movies onto the Internet. Between them they were shared dozens of millions of times, at least. Over the past decade those kinds of numbers – and a lot less – have seen people jailed for up to five years in the United States and elsewhere.

Yet according to credible sources the operator of YTS – a 21-year-old who for unknown reasons isn’t even being named – has already settled his beef with the MPAA. This, despite running a site that has been repeatedly listed as a worldwide notorious market in the USTR’s Special 301 Report.

Of course, the operator of YTS isn’t in the United States, he’s in New Zealand, but geographical boundaries are rarely an issue for Hollywood. Take the drama surrounding Kim Dotcom and his former site Megaupload, for example.

Like the operator of YTS, Dotcom also lives in New Zealand. Importantly, it’s never been claimed that Dotcom uploaded anything illegal to the Internet (let alone thousands of movies) yet he was subjected to a commando-like raid on his home by dozens of armed police. He’s also facing extradition to the United States where he faces decades in jail.

Now, think of the flamboyant Dotcom what you will. Then feel relieved for the admin of YTS, who by many accounts is a thoroughly nice guy and has somehow managed to save his own skin, despite providing much of the content for global phenomenon Popcorn Time.

But then try to get a handle on how differently these two people are being treated after allegedly committing roughly the same offenses in exactly the same country. One case is still dragging on after almost four years, with tens of millions spent on lawyers and no end in sight. The other was a done deal inside four weeks.

Earlier this week TorrentFreak spoke with Kim Dotcom who told us he’d been following the YTS story in the media. Intrigued, we wanted to know – how does it feel to be raked over the coals for close to four years, have all your property seized, face extradition and decades in jail, while someone just up the road can walk away relatively unscathed from what would’ve been a slam-dunk case for the MPAA?

“It’s a double standard isn’t it?” Dotcom told TF.

“I think our case has chilled law enforcement and Hollywood against pursuing the criminal route in cases such as this. Quick civil settlements seem to be the new way to go.”

Dotcom may well be right and the fact that New Zealand already has a massive headache because of his case may well have been a factor in the decision not to make a huge example of the YTS operator. At the moment no one is talking though, and it’s entirely possible that no one ever will.

That makes a case like this all the more unsettling. Are we witnessing Hollywood’s ability to switch on a massive overseas law enforcement response in one case and then reel in the United States government in another? It’s worth saying again – YTS was a ‘notorious market’ in the eyes of the USTR yet apparently that be dealt with privately these days.

But with all that being said, it is quite possible that the U.S. government has learned lessons from its heavy-handed actions in 2012 and doesn’t want to repeat them again, least of all in New Zealand, a country whose judges must be growing tired of the Dotcom debacle.

“As the DOJ admitted the Megaupload case is a test case. The test isn’t going well for them,” Dotcom concludes.

And for that the guy behind YTS must be thanking his lucky stars.

Source: TorrentFreak

[poipoi]

For starters, Dotcom was running a full blown company making millions off criminal infringement. I don't know that YTS was so obviously motivated by money, even if impacting the market to the tune of millions.

[steven36]

For starters, Dotcom was running a full blown company making millions off criminal infringement. I don't know that YTS was so obviously motivated by money, even if impacting the market to the tune of millions.

The guy who runs Yify is rating on everyone he handed over all there members ips . Sort of like when EP1C leader went informant and turned IMAGiNE in to the feds . Yify is working for the POPO now. :mellow: in Kim Dotcom case they had to raid a data center in the USA and get Hong Kong police to shut him down he did not shutdown willingly to much money at stake.

[Stricken]

The reason for not being so worried about piracy is because mainstream Hollywood has a deep dark secret.

It's not hard to find this information out.

I seriously think that putting time and effort to figure out how deep the rabbit hole goes isn't worth it.

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”
― Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda

[flitox]

don't remember where i read that but i think that hollywood started as a company that kept on fucking copyright rights of some new york based cinema companies back in the early 1900s

[steven36]

The reason for not being so worried about piracy is because mainstream Hollywood has a deep dark secret.

It's not hard to find this information out.

I seriously think that putting time and effort to figure out how deep the rabbit hole goes isn't worth it.

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”

― Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda

What does a deep dark secret that's not really a secret at all that Hollywood influences the masses got to do with them trying to stop piracy nothing really they was doing this before we were all born way, way, before there was a internet . Hollywood is a city full of actors and movie studios its nothing but a business . They make Movies and TV shows and they never done it for charity . Its all about money and how rich they can become. If they were not able influence the masses there business will go broke.

That's the way they see piracy as a threat to there business as well , What happens in life when people fell threatened they retaliate or they run . And some business that makes billions of dollars a year is not going to run .

Hollywood USA is not the only place in the USA or the world that make movies . And many other countries are just as protective over there copyright as Hollywood . Its just the fact Hollywood is pirated more than the others that it makes the news the most.

[FaeGiN]

I've never cared for this yify. The encodes are crappy and belong in the nineties :D Reminds me of axxo - a low-grade encoder of bought DVDs. Useful once, but not so much now. Maybe now when I look at the top torrents, it wont be full of yify crap.