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Using Piracy to help Tsunami Victims?

9 January 2005 0:27 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 31 comments

Using Piracy to help Tsunami Victims? The idea of using Piracy to help the victims of the Tsunami in Asia might sound a bit strange to you, especially since today's entertainment industry likes to remind us about links between piracy and terrorism, organised crime and of course the tragic falling of sales, but believe it or not, an Internet piracy group has attempted it. A DVD Screener copy of The Aviator appeared online last night from a group who called themselves simply, "Tsunami-Appeal". The group left a message in the nfo file which would be packed with this movie download.

Ok we bring you this nice movie in superb quality but if you download
and watch it you must dontate some money to the Unfortunate victims
of the Tragedy in Asia. So many people died and more are homeless
so give generously and help some one less fortunate than yourself
Trust me you will feel better.

The movie is currently being traded online through XDCC distribution, P2P networks and of course, it has shown up on the biggest BitTorrent sites. There was some speculation online as to whether the release was the real movie and whether it was DVD Screener quality or not. However, from reading over forums and sites, it does appear to be real. It is an XviD movie, split into 2 parts and is around 1.4GB apparently. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio who has pledged a "sizeable" contribution to UNICEF targeted for aid to devastated areas of Thailand, where his 2000 film "The Beach," was filmed.

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Dela (Staff Member) 9 January 2005 7:47 Send private message to this user   
it was nuked for less than DVDRip quality, but if u read around the quality is still high, and i agree, donate anyways, ive made my donation and everyone should, it'll take years to clear up that situation, and it'll never be forgotten!
dlc2000 (Member) 9 January 2005 8:09 Send private message to this user   
not a problem dela . im for donating to a good cause . it is ironic and very interesting . thankyou for the insight . i now have a better understanding .
cat5 (Inactive) 9 January 2005 8:14 Send private message to this user   
strange yet I feel so so what a right thing to do;) Ok let me scrap up my few twenty or thirty dollars somewhere and donate:)
Toiletman (Senior Member) 9 January 2005 9:42 Send private message to this user   
I think this really comes as a reminder and not as a "spread the word", because hell, if you don't donate you either don't care about 150,000+ dead or you're a selfish bastard.

It's good to know that even release groups are reminding us that we should donate. I applaud Tsunami-Appeal and I would like to see more groups including this in their .nfos.
Balaam (Senior Member) 9 January 2005 10:48 Send private message to this user   
I think this story really underscores what the p2p community is really all about. Of course it's filled with tons for freeloaders and cheapskates, but at its heart its about creating a community with people that you otherwise would never have met. Being able to share movies and games you like with other people. This kind of community is inherently positive, and just because the corporate f*cks won the culture war, doesn't mean their destructive desire to legislate their greed is justifiable. Of course, what "Tsunami-Appeal" did shouldn't be lauded, it's the bare minimum, but if these MPAA and RIAA assh*les would spend a fraction of their "hunt" money on charitable aid, they might actually be able to justify their existence.

Sorry for the rant:)
hijacker (Inactive) 9 January 2005 17:34 Send private message to this user   
Ok we bring you this nice movie in superb quality but if you download
and watch it you must dontate some money to the Unfortunate victims
of the Tragedy in Asia. So many people died and more are homeless
so give generously and help some one less fortunate than yourself
Trust me you will feel better.
is this for real or a hoax?
can anyone tell me?
Balaam (Senior Member) 9 January 2005 17:55 Send private message to this user   
Hoax? Please tell me you aren't asking if the tsunami is a hoax. I think I'd have to suggest you go jump off a bridge if that was the case.
cgranber (Newbie) 10 January 2005 7:12 Send private message to this user   
it is NOT a hoax... they even released a PAL dvdr copy after the xvid had been nuked.
Escobar22 (Junior Member) 10 January 2005 7:55 Send private message to this user   
ummm, how does that help tsunami victims?
Toiletman (Senior Member) 10 January 2005 10:58 Send private message to this user   
Are you fucking joking me?

Did you just ask how a message reminding us to donate to the Tsunami Relief Fund is going to help the victims of the tsunami? WTF?

Everyone is entitled to their own true opinion. Either respect that or don't.
Escobar22 (Junior Member) 10 January 2005 12:33 Send private message to this user   
Yeah, reminding people who are stealing in the first place to donate money makes a lot of sense

*rolls eyes*
rdevanat (Junior Member) 10 January 2005 14:24 Send private message to this user   
I dont believe ppl think donating money to a worthy charitable cause is a hoax. Are ppl just dumb, or dumber.
buraku (Junior Member) 10 January 2005 14:35 Send private message to this user   
i think this is a very good idea. i'd like to see more people do this when releasing a new torrent. just think of a cause that's important to you, and ask people to donate to a charity that supports this cause if they choose to watch the vid you've uploaded. why not? it can't hurt, and it would probably make those who feel guilty DLing stuff feel a little redemption by making a charitable donation.

plus, i think everyone here would probably agree with me when i say that escobar22 is an ignorant jackass.
darthnip (Moderator) 10 January 2005 15:25 Send private message to this user   
excellent article Dela. come on people, like you need a free copy of a movie to help these people out! go look in your fridge or cabinets and see what you have, then stop and think most of these people no longer even have homes to put their cabinets of food into! Where i live we have had no power for a week due to an ice storm, living off of kerosene heaters and candles thru weather in the teens(F), and yet i still donated $500 for these people. The funny thing is, alot of the material you all download comes from these locations so their loss will trickle down to you getting less stuff for free! my point is no matter what in the world is going on with your life, if you are reading this you are better off that all those people hit by the tsunami. time to give something back, and dont bitch about it! hell look around your house and go thru old clothes and shoes even, alot of these people were left with nothing at all!!

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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11 January 2005 14:42

DaOsT (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 7:27 Send private message to this user   
I agre that release group did great reminding us how fortunate we are compared to others in the world

::LivE ForeveR OR DiE TryiN!!::....::DonT FinD US WE WilL FinD YoU::..
ChecK OuT ThE PenguiN GamE AnD PosT YouR HighesT DistancE ON ThE ForuM
http://www.gazholland.co.uk
btstock (Newbie) 11 January 2005 17:42 Send private message to this user   
Ok,i'm brand new at posting, but an old school programmer, so don't get pi$$ed with me, but I'm new to most of this new school stuff. theoretically, how would someone get to something like a download of the aviator movie (and yes, i know that one is nuked). I get to the nfo files, but then have no idea how to actually get to a full file.
Balaam (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 18:54 Send private message to this user   
I personally use newsgroups, specifically easynews.com, because of its great web interface, and I don't mind paying a little for guaranteed valid files, and a plethora of easily accessed files. You can also use any of a number of p2p networks. Look in the File sharing applications forums on this site for more info on that.
btstock (Newbie) 11 January 2005 19:16 Send private message to this user   
so what is the purpose of the nfo files? they don't seem to lead anywhere. am i missing the boat there?
JoeyCool (Junior Member) 11 January 2005 21:24 Send private message to this user   
Just to tell you to help out. The people who wrote it aren't have faith that if you can find your way to your file, then you should be able to find the Red Cross website.
Balaam (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 21:55 Send private message to this user   
Right. It's the same as seeing a homeless man. Just by seeing him, even if you give him money, it won't help homelessness in general, but it should at least remind you to support your local homeless shelter by donating time or money. Modern advertising has proven that just by putting out a message, people are more likely to act on it, even if they just glance at it and move on. The simple fact that they've seen it makes them more likely to act on it.

Personally, because I see positive aspects to the onine sharing community, I wish that more groups would include information about personal crusades in their info's. Not just siminal events like the recent tsunami.
medracer (Newbie) 12 January 2005 3:40 Send private message to this user   
Strange thing about that particular download.I peeked at the sample sent with the (very large) bundle of RAR files. Interestingly, the sample showed a clip from 'Team America', with Turkish subtitles...from the very same pirate VCD copy I personally put onto WinMX for a mate a few weeks ago. Overcome with doubt, I promptly deleted the entire download. I dont believe this Tsunami Appeal is at all genuine. I think it's somebody just having fun with anything with the initials T.A. Like...Total Arseholes...
p200002 (Junior Member) 12 January 2005 5:53 Send private message to this user   
The movie is real. The quality is superb for Screener. The plea is not a scam. Anyway, I have donated to Red Cross.
Toiletman (Senior Member) 12 January 2005 13:15 Send private message to this user   
Why are people posting this bullshit such as "Oh this is a hoax, don't donate to help the unfortunate victims of the Tsunami."

I thought we would've improved from the Middle Ages by now, but hey, I think we've gotten worse as a whole.

Everyone is entitled to their own true opinion. Either respect that or don't.
JoeyCool (Junior Member) 12 January 2005 15:14 Send private message to this user   
It CAN'T be a hoax !! If it were, there would be some kind of link to bring you to some fake Red Cross website. Please explain how you figure it's a scam.
lazygig (Inactive) 12 January 2005 18:41 Send private message to this user   
I have dialup, so I don't pirate movies obviously, and I wouldn't if I had cable, but a friend of mine burned me a copy of 'Team America' that he downloaded. Because of this, I now want to get it when it comes out. Piracy is probably doing more good for the industry than bad. Just because sales are down doesn't mean its cause of pirates.
JoeyCool (Junior Member) 13 January 2005 21:20 Send private message to this user   
Oh it IS because of pirating. I know to many people that otherwise have very high moral standards, but when it comes to illegally downloading music and games, they do it without guilt or remorse. My policy is to ask myself, "If I didn't have access to this Game/Movie by downloading or copying it, would I be buying it at the store?" If my answer is "Yes", then I won't do it. If it's "no", well we know the answer to that. For instance, Spiderman 2 came out on DVD about a month ago. I bought it because I can afford to and it's worth the 15 bucks. If I were to download it, I feel like it would be stealing. A movie like Terminator 3, though, as much as I enjoyed would not make it into my DVD library anytime in the near future in my present financial situation. So i'd have no problem downloading it. Piraters need to reevaluate their moral code cause thier actions are directly affecting the entertainment industry which will soon be reflected by poorer quality of movies and moreso video games.
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