That's the effect they were looking for. It's a basic terrorist tactic (in the original asymmetric warfare sense, not the "calling you a terrorist is an announcement that we're willing to violate our own professed norms to kill you and people like you" modern sense.) They found a sympathetic working class single native mother who had done relatively little filesharing to attack brutally, so average people could see and say "if they're willing to do that to her, they're certainly willing to do it to me." And the government announced with its verdict "and we'll help them do it."
My aging father, who has gone from a math-major programmer to nearly computer illiterate in 40 years, won't even take a file from me directly, out of fear. I think of that fear as a bit hysterical, but he uses Windows and an iPhone, so who am I to say that his devices won't report that file to the proper authorities some day in the future, after a forced update? Who am I to say it's not somehow doing it now, and flipping a flag at the NSA or Amazon marking him for special attention?
I obviously believe something like that at some level, with my insistence on FOSS and control over my devices.
The avenues for pirating have narrowed in an extreme way over the past five or so years. There can be no one professionally interested in piracy who isn't aware of all of them.
The government could just choose a week where they decide to contact and charge everyone associated with piracy, and pull down every pirate site. They could show PR-style grace by giving 98% of people a symbolic fine in return for the destruction of all of their digital storage, and give the other 2% brutal prison sentences. Everyone would then be placed on a public blacklist to encourage ISPs to ban them.
Entirely possible, and entirely consistent with centrist values. So I'm no smarter than people who don't pirate.
My aging father, who has gone from a math-major programmer to nearly computer illiterate in 40 years, won't even take a file from me directly, out of fear. I think of that fear as a bit hysterical, but he uses Windows and an iPhone, so who am I to say that his devices won't report that file to the proper authorities some day in the future, after a forced update? Who am I to say it's not somehow doing it now, and flipping a flag at the NSA or Amazon marking him for special attention?
I obviously believe something like that at some level, with my insistence on FOSS and control over my devices.
The avenues for pirating have narrowed in an extreme way over the past five or so years. There can be no one professionally interested in piracy who isn't aware of all of them.
The government could just choose a week where they decide to contact and charge everyone associated with piracy, and pull down every pirate site. They could show PR-style grace by giving 98% of people a symbolic fine in return for the destruction of all of their digital storage, and give the other 2% brutal prison sentences. Everyone would then be placed on a public blacklist to encourage ISPs to ban them.
Entirely possible, and entirely consistent with centrist values. So I'm no smarter than people who don't pirate.