Spotify and several major record labels, including UMG, Sony, and Warner, secured a $322 million default judgment against the unknown operators of Anna’s Archive. The shadow library failed to appear in court and briefly released millions of tracks that were scraped from Spotify via BitTorrent. In addition to the monetary penalty, a permanent injunction required domain registrars and other parties to suspend the site’s domain names.

  • eleefece@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    So, this sentence says it’s actually illegal to download copyrighted material through shadow libraries, I get it and now I wonder what could this mean for Meta’s AI case?

  • peacefulpixel@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    they did this publicly. they attached their names to it. pretty much everyone was saying that it was a horrible idea to do so. they did it knowing it wouldn’t only effect them but also piracy as a whole. i’m angry at them for being fucking idiots sure but like genuinely this could be a massive problem for all of us. thanks Anna’s Archive, you really showed them /s

    • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      i’m angry at them for being fucking idiots sure but like genuinely this could be a massive problem for all of us.

  • shirasho@feddit.online
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    5 hours ago

    The US music industry has always been bullshit, going all the way back to record labels. I would feel bad for the artists, but I don’t give two shits about the distributor who acts like they own the music and feels entitled to all monetary rewards for someone else’s work.

  • ji88aja88a@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    does this set precedence for online platforms to sue AI platforms for all the data collection? /s

    • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      Actually, for a while Spotify did use the BitTorrent protocol for content delivery. So this isn’t too far-fetched.

    • GamingChairModel@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      briefly released millions of tracks that were scraped from Spotify via BitTorrent.

      That’s just an awkward sentence construction but it makes sense: they released track via Bittorrent. The tracks were scraped from Spotify.

      I sold my car that was purchased from a dealership via private party sale.

      I charged my laptop that normally accepts 100W via a 20W phone charger.

      I would’ve used a “which” phrase with commas to avoid the confusion, but the sentence as written is valid and makes sense.

  • DosDude@retrolemmy.com
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    12 hours ago

    We sued people. Well, I think. Since the people are unknown. They didn’t show up, so we won. Now unknown people need to pay whatever we say they should pay.

    Great job, let’s pat ourselves on the back. We fought the man and won.

  • From_D4rkness@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    AI still out here taking everything. Only the corporations can steal. Maybe they didn’t like that it was then given to people for free, instead sold again.

    • testaccount372920@piefed.zip
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      12 hours ago

      To go even further, Anna’s Archive has a section for LLM training that the big ones use. Apparrently it’s okay if they use data that has been ruled to be illegal.

    • artyom@piefed.social
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      12 hours ago

      Maybe they didn’t like that it was then given to people for free

      Yeah, I mean, it’s mostly that.

  • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca
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    12 hours ago

    In addition to the damages award, Rakoff entered a permanent worldwide injunction covering ten Anna’s Archive domains

    Bahaha, Fuck Off. The world doesn’t recognize your authority.

  • nucleative@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    A default judgement just gives Spotify some leverage to try to collect money, property, and get injunctions. But as we know from the pirate bay cases, that’s a losing whack-a-mole battle long term.

    But it does make life a bit harder for Anna’s archive unless they show up to fight back, which they probably won’t.

  • exaybachae@startrek.website
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    11 hours ago

    Funny, the statute $2500 should be for the circumvention act, which was likely singular, not per file obtained during or as a result of the act. And the $150k is ridiculous in and of itself, even if for all files obtained. What a strange world we live in.


    Spotify built a system of control in order to profit a few at a cost to many, perhaps everyone else.

    Someone broke that system in order to benefit many, possibly at the cost of some of their ability to profit from their system of control–if they didn’t lose customers, or prospective customers, they didn’t experience any financial loss, or a loss in their ability to maintain their system of control (which is still very much in place and working).

    Either way, nobody was hurt.

    But the person who acted selflessly to benefit of society in general is punished.

    Because… We, as a society, celebrate and work effortlessly to maintain complex systems of abuse in order to satisfy our greed or the greed of others. All despite being taught in school not to lie to and bully each other, and to share with and care for each other.

    As a species: We are bat shit fucking crazy!

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      No, to enable (in the addiction sense) the greed of others. Not “satisfy.” Because it can never be satisfied: they will take and take and take and take until there is nothing left, and still demand more.