What I have discovered...
I have done a little investigation of my own about the guy that Titan Media is suing; here is what I've found so far:- He is a 42 year old man living with HIV.
- He owns no property other than his car which takes him to much needed Doctor appointments and to the grocery store to buy food.
- He has no savings and if it wasn't for his monthly disability check he wouldn't be able to pay his monthly bills.
- He can't even afford to pay the $300 fee required by the court system to properly answer the complaint filed by Titan Media.
I'm sure Titan Media knows this already, but would rather make an example by suing anyone who dares to share their videos, even an impoverished gay man trying to cope with the everyday struggles of living with a terminal illness, who probably just wanted to add a little joy and happiness to the lives of other sick and poverty stricken gay men living with HIV. I'm sure it would be better for everyone involved, at least from a public relations perspective, to come to an agreement with him rather than trying to take what little he has left...
25 comments:
It is indeed sad about this guy's condition. But there are MANY ways to make money in this business WITHOUT stealing. Perhaps you and your kind could just try a little harder instead of ripping off businesses that actually spend great amounts of time and money to produce quality content.
Multi3dia & TitanMedia: Perhaps you and your kind could sell your "quality content" at a more reasonable price instead spending your profits on lawyer fees and bullying litigation.
So...who is ripping off whom? I hope the gay community boycotts your products.
Boycott is running already! Webb - spend your money on PR counselor next time...
I do not like the price of this car.
SO IT IS OK TO STEAL IT!
That is what you are saying. Because it is porn people think they can rationalize their stealing.
I am sorry to hear MikeyG has HIV. That sucks for him. I know many of the Titan Guys do too.
Why is it wrong for them to sue MikeyG and it is not wrong for MikeyG to steal from them?
MikeyG was asked numerous times to stop sharing TITAN files. Basically posted a "Bring it On" post for TITAN to come after him.
Guess what? They did. You can boycott them all you want. But it is MikeyG who fucked himself.
I live in SF and know how much TITAN does for the community here. They mean way more to the community than MikeyG. MikeyG made his bed.
Not to defend anybody but most file-swappers dont make money out of their sharing porn online.
And technically most of the people who download the porn online are people who wouldn't buy it in the first place anyway.
Does not justify anything but that explains why the emphasis of the porn companies is slightly off-kilter. They should focus on making it easier to access their porn for more affordable prices just like Itunes did with music helping to slow the momentum of the filesharing craze instead of being too agressive with what are in the end potential clients
just my opinion
PS:
I dont think there is any point getting angry, bitter or attack each other.
I don't think anybody is begrudging Titan the right to defend what they produce. The issue at stake here is whether those lawsuits are going a little too far a little too hard in pursuit of an objective that noone - including some of the pornswappers - can argue is wrong.
MickeyG may have been doing something wrong and may have been warned but I think that it is still doubtful that destroying his life like a costly judgement has the potential to do is worth whatever symbolic effect Titan is trying to achieve.
And while I dont believe in a boycott, I do believe there is potential for Titan to overreach if they dont play things more carefully. They are rightfully mad but they are pursuing real people who, in the end, don't mean harm even if they unwillingly hurt Titan's business. And the balance between what a lawsuit can do to these people vs whatever it is Titan think they can gain from it is not exactly even.
Only a few minutes of research and I found intact links for 12! TitanMedia titles accessable to everyone. So, all this seems to be rather an issue of protection than stealing.
It's obvious, Mr. Webb speculated on the effect of intimidation but did he reckon on solidarity of gay community?
From the first moment on, this was a huge swollen headed PR event to intimidate bloggers. - When it's coming to terms at court, PR won't help. Did anybody take the effort to calculate how long 100.000 downloads would take?
This is ridiculous!
Here's what Titan Media should ask themselves:
Are we out to make a point, or are we out for blood and out to destroy someone? My guess is their lawyers have convinced them how terrible this has been and have convinced the CEO of Titan Media that they should do everything to destroy Mikey G that they can. Even their statement "Mikey G and his Cronies" makes it seem like this has been a group conspiracy to destroy Titan Media.
I am NOT saying that providing their movies for free was OK. Mikey WAS warned. However, it would be pretty damn shameful if a studio like Titan is out for blood, rather than to make the punishment fit the crime. Of course, I'm sure they think that this does fit the crime.
I'd emailed Mikey about it and apparently, they aren't going after those who posted their entire movies. They're apparently going after anyone who posted ANY content. This means that it could be a picture of Francois Sagat, or even a box cover.
Perhaps he's spreading rumors, but the rather gleeful statement by their lawyers makes me think that this is probably true.
Titan: You should really evaluate what you're doing. I think that if the people you intend to sue offer to settle, that you should think about that rather than going for full on blood. Even the RIAA has been settling with defendants.
Personally, I think they would get more people buying their films if they weren't nearly $60.00 a pop. But of course, they probably say it's due to production costs.
OK,maybe I´m a coward,but I won´t tell you my name anyway . All I can say is : I was a member of MikeyG´s blog,and it was a fine blog!!It was not only the porn posted, it was the overall feeling you had,being welcomed among friends !All my fellow co-members will agree with me,that it made so much fun reading the comments in the shout-box,reading Mikey´s funny posts on Big Brother 8,listening to the music the members liked,seeing pictures of hot men posted every day,helping other members with problems of any kind,etc.
For me,that was a real community,and I really miss all you guys!!
Maybe it was wrong doing posting whole videos,but to all the hypocrites of you,who try to judge us,riddle me this : What would each of you rather do : Buy a goddamn fuck flick for nearly 100$ or try to download it for free ??
Yeah , thought so !!
MikeyG was warned over and over again, and he kept on doing it. It became a game to him and he kept taunting us to shut him down. If you keep poking a bear in the eye with a stick, eventually he is going to bite you! He needs to take a little personal responsibility for his actions and stop acting like the victim.
Titan Media is one of the largest, if not the largest, gay adult studio donors to HIV/AIDS related non-profits organizations. Many on our staff are HIV+ and we have taken care of many employees and friends over the years who have been stricken with HIV/AIDS. So don’t even try and play the AIDs card on this one! I have AIDS as well, 63 T-cells to be exact...does that mean I get to steal whatever I want?
No one has done anything to MikeyG other then file a lawsuit. Which seemed to be the only way to get his attention and to make him stop. As long as he takes responsibility for this actions and acts like an adult, then the punishment will fit the crime. We are not out to destroy anyone. MikeyG has no one else to blame, he brought this on himself.
Mr. Wild West just likes “stirring the pot” and making us out to be the bad guys. If you don’t steal our content then you have nothing to worry about. If you steal our content and we tell you to stop, then you had better stop or you will have something to worry about. It’s as simple as that.
So then, Mr. Webb, if MikeyG were to sign a document agreeing to cease sharing Titan videos, would you drop the lawsuit?
This was far from being a pornpirate ring as launched.
It used to be a private network (600-900 invited members) using Ning (standing for NetworkING, run by Google)as a platform to aid and abet buddies with personal issues, exchange gay gossip, political, social and health information as well as IT support and, yes, private sharing of gay adult entertainment material. Everybody, involved or not, has got the message now, this is wrong.
I doubt, MikeyG has generated even one post of downloads by himself. All he did was fishing them out somewhere on the net to share them with his buddies - many of them HIV+ and indigent like himself. Hard to believe, any of them could have afforded a DVD anyway.
Well, I'm not intending to play on your heartstrings here. I'd rather be wise enough to offer a solution, acknoledging the natural interest of a comany in attending it's interests with all it's risks in executing them relentlessly on one hand and MikeG, who 'fucked himself' as said, most probably without being aware of consequences at all on the other. As a natural born optimist I'm a strong believer in communication as the priciple of life. When communication dies, most everything dies.
Hey! MikeyG, perhaps you should display your sense for responsibility and courage by making the first move and get into communication. In case this wonn't evoke Mr. Webb's respect for you as a person, it will at least boost your self respect.
I hope you know, you're not standing alone.
felix-culpa
Germany
Am I wrong or did Mr. Webb start playing the AIDS card in his comments on Val's blog just a few days ago?
You, Mr. Webb, are speaking with two tongues, believing those fucking queens are too stupid to notice.
This is obscene and a terrible disgrace for gay community in total.
Shame on you!
And to address a previous commenter's remark, yes they are suing anyone who posted any type of content from their movies including screen captures
wouldn't screen captures come under "fair use"? and certainly would be considered publicity, and probably free advertising!
Btw, I think that attacking Keith Webb personally is just as dumb as attacking MikeyG.
In both cases, the people involved are stand-ins for bigger issues and the same way I dont think putting Mikey in trial will bring anything to Titan and the same way I hope once they have made their point, they will tone down the rhetoric, I wish people would be intelligent enough to tone down on Keith Webb who, like him or not, is just doing his job and trying to protect his company, even if we are all free to disagree (as I do) with some of the choices they are making in the process.
Cool down people ! Anger from either parties will only make things worse.
Well in context I am not certain they could get away with claiming the captures were for publicity purposes but it does seem a little out-and-out to be suing people for screen captures.
But once again, K. Webb seems to clearly say that they are suing with a purpose and I think we are all intelligent enough to know it is not financial.
The first blow has been extremely strong but hopefully patience, a little bit of honey and slow retreat in the woods will calm down the bear.
"http://www.chillingeffects.org/search.cgi?search=titan"
The claws of the bear.....
It's curious to read the speculation in the comments of this thread. Unless you're a party involved in this matter, trying to guess what the intentions are of either party is a little silly, especially at this point in time.
U.S. copyright law is pretty clear when it comes to infringement. Regardless of whether there was a profit made from infringement, an individual or entity that shares something that doesn't belong to them is violating the rights of the copyright owner.
Some research shows that Titan Media is aggressive at protecting their intellectual property. This isn't a new stance, they've had a dedicated legal department for the past five or so years. Titan first was concerned with their photographs being posted online at pay-sites. As technology advanced they focused more on peer-to-peer based infringements (Kazaa, eDonkey, etc) of video files. Now that blogging has opened up a wider audience to the infringing of media files it seems more people are taking notice of Titan's dedication to stopping the piracy of their product on blogs.
Very few people seem to realize that the gay video market is much smaller than the straight video market. What a company like Vivid Video makes in sales allows them to have a much lower manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) because there are more men and women purchasing their product. Conversely gay studios, especially those that have higher production values (Titan Media, Hot House, Lucas Entertainment, etc), but cater to a smaller demographic of people, need to recoup that money, along with operating expenses, by having a higher MSRP. These gay porn companies aren't being greedy. They are simply operating businesses that allows them to enjoy their work environment, while allowing individuals to take pleasure whilst viewing the fruits of the studio's labor.
There's no shortage of gay porn on the web. There are hundreds of sites devoted to it. The more a business has it together, the more aggressive that business will be seeking legal action to stop piracy. Sites like UKNakedmen, ChaosMen and SeanCody all lose revenue when links to their content are leaked on message boards and blogs. As someone who particularly likes the content on those sites I'd be annoyed if any of those companies stopped producing movies because a group of people feel entitled and justified to not pay for porn.
Businesses can't compete with free, which is a simple but powerful realization.
-oXe-
San Francisco Chronicle:
"It is unclear how big a business gay porn [Titan, Raging Stallion, Hot House] actually is in [San Francisco]. None of the studio heads would share their revenues, but they did estimate that the gay market was 5 percent to 10 percent of the overall adult market, which is commonly valued between $5 billion to $8 billion. That larger number is unverifiable as well, but if true it could mean the total industry could easily be worth $100 million in the city."
That's a lot of money, folks...
Anti-Piracy Ad For Gay Movies:
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxN_3gP1RHc"
thanks anon, weird but someone had emailed me that same link so i put it up...
you're welcome.. :)
Considering the amount of time it takes to download files, it's my opinion that the folks that are downloading these films are probably not and would not be purchasing these DVDs anyway.
While I am a good online friend of the owner of this blog and agree with the first replier to this thread that it may make for 'better relations' between TITAN and the GLBT community at large to just 'let this one go', and also having lost more than 100 close personal friends to HIV/AIDS since ~1982-1983, being sick, poor, socially isolated or physically handicapped is no excuse for breaking the law. TITAN as a content provider and producer has every 'right' to profit off of their own hard work to the fullest extent possible and if that means locating, identifying, prosecuting and persecuting frequent files sharers, then more power to them. Do I think it is 'fair'? No. Do I think it 'neccesary' to protect their bottom line and ensure profits? Absolutely. For the record, I, too, own and or co-moderate more than 2 dozen forums on Yahoo!, Google and the like. ( I am also a [free] web site owner/webmaster/content provider, so can objectively look at both sides of this issue). People that share copyright protected content (which really should be read to mean anything you didn't personally create yourself and is better than 99% of ALL files shared on the internet) are in violation of the law and anyone doing so, does so at their own risk. As Joe Friday would say... "Just the FAQs, ma'am..."
Post a Comment