Why is WC promoting piracy?

[AndyD33]

Digital Offers: Get a 3-year Usenet.nl subscription for just $49 | Windows Central

That article is blatantly promoting pirating content, which is in violation of the WC/MN CoC.

 

[James Falconer]

Thank for your feedback and concerns regarding our recent Windows Central Digital Offer, which is made available through Stack Commerce. The service in question is for utilizing Usenet, which is a BBS that pre-dates forums. It's often used for discussions and it's used to distribute all manner of legal content including open source.

In no way are we suggesting or advocating piracy. We absolutely support content creators and in fact, a large percentage of Digital Offers are from content creators in the form of software or online training.

We do periodically review offers to be sure they are of the highest quality for our readers and will certainly take your comments into consideration.

We greatly appreciate your continued support and feedback!

 

[AndyD33]

"So why should you be interested in Usenet in 2016? How about the 25,000 TB of music, movies"

That line is blatantly promoting piracy. Not sure how you can see it any other way.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

It's an offer, right? just like the way Microsoft were giving away monsters inc movie for free for sign up? Get ?Monsters, Inc.? for free by connecting Microsoft account with Disney Movies Anywhere - MSPoweruser

 

[xandros9]

OP has a point, what kind of content is this 25k TB made up of?
Its possible its all be arranged behind the scenes and is fine, but more scrutiny might be warranted.

 

[RumoredNow]

The issue seems to be multi-layered.

UseNet is in many ways an internet parallel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet

Legal issues
While binary newsgroups can be used to distribute completely legal user-created works, open-source software, and public domain material, some binary groups are used to illegally distribute commercial software, copyrighted media, and obscene material.


ISP-operated Usenet servers frequently block access to all alt.binaries.* groups to both reduce network traffic and to avoid related legal issues. Commercial Usenet service providers claim to operate as a telecommunications service, and assert that they are not responsible for the user-posted binary content transferred via their equipment. In the United States, Usenet providers can qualify for protection under the DMCA Safe Harbor regulations, provided that they establish a mechanism to comply with and respond to takedown notices from copyright holders.

So the equivalent would be like saying that offering Comcast Broadband is promoting piracy, because the same files can be found on the mainstream internet. It is unfortunate, but true, that people use P2P and bit torrents to share copyrighted intellectual and artistic materials.

Maybe the service shouldn't promote that aspect, but it is there just the same as with other internet services. However, UseNet has a built in "binary retention time" that limits the exposure to piracy far more than methods used on the mainstream web.

I'm not saying your concern is invalid, AndyD33, I'm just trying to place it into a broader context.

 

[tgp]

It is unfortunate, but true, that people use P2P and bit torrents to share copyrighted intellectual and artistic materials.

I think torrenting is often misunderstood. Torrenting is perfectly legal. The problem is what you said here, that there is a lot of copyrighted material shared illegally that way. It taints the whole thing.

 

[AndyD33]

It's an offer, right? just like the way Microsoft were giving away monsters inc movie for free for sign up? Get ?Monsters, Inc.? for free by connecting Microsoft account with Disney Movies Anywhere - MSPoweruser

No, it is not. Apples and oranges.

I think torrenting is often misunderstood. Torrenting is perfectly legal. The problem is what you said here, that there is a lot of copyrighted material shared illegally that way. It taints the whole thing.

Correct. Mentioning the 25TB of music and movies is what is promoting piracy, not the rest of the article.

 

[Guytronic]

Thank you OP.
Feedback is always appreciated here even if it hits hard.

Temporarily closed pending a determination.