Any wasted fbi guys here?

[JackSpratts]

So that must not be what they are talking about when they say "members are required to share 100gb of copyrighted material to join" (quoting a story posted to the Register.co.uk). Excuse me? If they are talking about the hubs, well, you don't "join the network" to login to a hub. You connect to one of the hubs with our name in it. That's really all there is to it. We are just a collection of people with similar interests (read the forums to learn some of them) who also help eachother out in the hubs. To join a hub (like all other 13,000+ Direct Connect hubs out there, besides ours), you need a preset "minshare" that the hub decides. That is, files you are willing to share with other users in that hub. We do NOT police these files beyond the stuff we KNOW is illegal (underage porn, beastality, etc). Beyond that we are very clear with one point: THE USER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR SHARE!

well yes, technically. although i think he's being just a bit disingenuous. "i'm shocked, shocked, people who post here are file-sharing!" right. still, his argument is the one used by the ivy league dc hub operator last year, and it's equally valid. the problem he'll have is the same one the student faced: a severe shortage of funds necessary to work that defense up thru the various verdicts and inevitable appeals. it was a non-starter for the ivy-leaguer (a law student btw). he gave up and settled.

the doj is wrong, the riaa is wrong, and he'd probably beat them, if they didn't get him first on his own personal shares, assuming he had any (and really what's the point otherwise?). still, being right is no victory per-se, speaking in a strictly legal sense. this fight won't be won until people all over america enter their voting booths and decisively expel the fascists who persecute the very citizens supporting them.

- js.