Filmmakers Behind Hurt Locker, Hunting Out Download Pirates

The producers of "The Hurt Locker" are prepared to unleash a massive nuke on the torrent community.

Those who pirate software, music, or movies often don’t think about the consequences of their actions. However, if the makers of “The Hurt Locker” have their say, they may send a few pirates running for cover.

Filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning movie have launched a full-scale attack against filesharers that downloaded copies of the film. However, the most amazing part of this case is the number of pirates involved in the upcoming lawsuit and the helping hand that ISPs are giving in the investigation.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, tens of thousands of pirates will be targeted in lawsuit which is expected to be filed later this week. In addition, 75 percent of the ISPs involved in the illegal downloads are cooperating with the producers to hand over the ISP addresses of the pirates. “Those that have resisted are mostly doing so, they say, because of the amount of work involved in handing over thousands of names,” reports Eriq Gardner of The Hollywood Reporter.

Some torrent users have been rather defiant and dismissive of the threat to sue. Many commenters over at TorrentFreak resorted to attacking the quality of the movie once news of the impending lawsuit broke. “Not a bad scam. Make a crap movie don’t make enough money of it. Then decide to sue file shares,” stated user markie. “I see a pattern emerging here. Every crap movie being made will come with file shares being sued.”

Another commenter suggested attempting to cover your tracks. “EVERYONE open ur wifiup , that will be the best defense … u cant prove someone went into my public wifi and downloaded it and tried to hide there tracks,” exclaimed JonnieHa1435.

Another commenter, 73, expressed fear over the crackdowns:

This type of stuff really scares me. I used to think that I would just be in danger if I was an uploader, but now as a downloader you are fair game too. I mean, I’m not a newb, but after doing a bit of research, I’m seeing that I’m apparently in no way safe as I thought I was when torrenting: I use PeerGuardian and Transmission and use the Encryption/Bad Peer Block on both, but apparently, this protects me in no way aside from ISP throttling? I’m now freaked even to open my Torrent Client.

Regardless of how things go down with this latest move by the producers of “The Hurt Locker”, it appears that movie studios are pulling out all the stops to combat piracy. And from the looks of things, ISPs are for the most part throwing in their support as well.

Showing 6 comments

‘Hurt Locker’ lawsuit targets record-breaking 24,583 BitTorrent users (Digital Trends) | searchnews.us at 7:26am 25th May 2011 [...] this time final year, a Hurt Locker lawsuit originally targeted 5,000 BitTorrent users. But as IP addresses were revealed, that series skyrocketed scarcely [...]
‘Hurt Locker’ lawsuit targets record-breaking 24,583 BitTorrent users (Digital Trends) at 7:01am 25th May 2011 [...] this time last year, the Hurt Locker lawsuit originally targeted 5,000 BitTorrent users. But as IP addresses were revealed, that number skyrocketed nearly [...]
‘Hurt Locker’ lawsuit targets record-breaking 24,583 BitTorrent users at 4:57am 25th May 2011 [...] the Hurt Locker suit off its shiny gold pedestal.Filed this time last year, the Hurt Locker lawsuit originally targeted 5,000 BitTorrent users. But as IP addresses were revealed, that number skyrocketed nearly [...]
Real Movie Fan at 6:09pm 3rd August 2010 The purpose of getting paid for films is not solely for the benefit of the Beverly Hills crowd. Hollywood is a region full of craftspeople, technicians, and suppliers of support services whose livelihood depends on the filmmaking pipeline. Stealing a movie is still theft - and if somebody can afford a computer and an internet connection powerful enough to download a movie, my guess is they can at least afford Red Box or Netflix. It's not the same thing as a starving person stealing a loaf of bread. Also, downloaders should be culpable as well as their torrent providers. It's like a vice crime. Arrest the doers and the do-ees.
kevinwhitee at 12:23am 13th May 2010 Piracy is a deep rooted evil in the entire film industry. Stringent laws ought to be made to stop it, otherwise film industry will continue to suffer from this evil.
Alta White Teeth Whitening
1. Movie fan at 5:24am 24th June 2010 Yes.People in the movie industry seem to be strugling.But for me Beverly Hills Is not the first place I would worry about.There are people in other industries that have been in real trouble,and they don't even pay 30 000 000$ to some Tom Cruise to fullfill his fantasies.Piracy may not be the right thing to do,but I can't cry for the industry that is in the hands of very few billionaires,and as we see now with these lawsuits,are determined to get their money absolutely anymeans necessary.Thank you!