The Department of Justice’s relentless crusade against piracy has reached new heights of absurdity. Five men, Kristopher Dallmann, Douglas Courson, Felipe Garcia, Jared Jaurequi, and Peter Huber, have been convicted of “stealing” TV shows, with the government claiming they ran a Netflix knockoff called Jetflicks that stole millions from the real Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.
For the paltry sum of $9.99 a month, Jetflicks provided access to a staggering 180,000 episodes of TV shows, which were allegedly “stolen” from pirating websites. The government claims that Jetflicks raked in millions, but the real question is: who’s really getting hurt here? Is it the content creators or the consumers who are forced to pay exorbitant prices for overpriced streaming services?
FBI assistant director David Sundberg claims that the defendants tried to disguise Jetflicks as an aviation entertainment company when complaints from copyright holders and payment issues arose. But isn’t that just a clever business move? After all, companies like Netflix and Hulu have been doing the same thing for years – providing cheap, convenient entertainment to the masses. Why should these five men be punished for doing the same?
The real victims here are the consumers who are forced to pay outrageous prices for subpar streaming services. The government’s heavy-handed approach to piracy only serves to stifle innovation and creativity. The real question is: who will ultimately pay the price for this outdated, draconian approach to intellectual property?
