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MPAA Files Lawsuits Targeting Major Torrent Sites
Posted by
CowboyNeal
on Fri Feb 24, 2006 03:40 AM
from the not-so-fast dept.
from the not-so-fast dept.
diverge_s writes "Slyck news reports on a new wave of lawsuits the MPAA has filed against major Bit Torrent search sites including: Torrentspy, Isohunt, Torrentbox, Niteshadow and Bthub. From the article: '"Website operators who abuse technology to facilitate infringements of copyrighted works by millions of people are not anonymous - they can and will be stopped," said John G. Malcolm, Executive Vice President and Director of Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations for the MPAA. "Disabling these powerful networks of illegal file distribution is a significant step in stemming the tide of piracy on the Internet."'"
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Cringely on P2P vs Streaming Data Centers 179 comments
Anonymous Coward writes "Robert X Cringely is postulating today that as bandwidth applications grow, the data centers will never be ready to serve 30 million concurrent streams of data. Akamai, with its tens of thousands of servers spread in an intelligent topology, still can't serve more than 150,000 concurrent streams, which is never going to impress the TV network exec used to audiences in the millions. Cringely choruses that secure P2P is the solution to delivering not only high quality video but also to audiences that scale in the millions. BitTorrent seems
to have worn out it's welcome with the MPAA recently, so maybe the future holds P2P networks owned and managed by Hollywood?"
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But noone told the sites be sued? (Score:5, Interesting)
FYI (Score:5, Informative)
I remember when the MPAA did this last time and the torrent sites shut down completely because it was in their subpoena (sp?) thing, so does this mean that TorrentSpy is defying the MPAA and (potentially) putting themselves up for harsher penalties?
Re:FYI (Score:4, Informative)
Well, from the interview it seems they haven't recieved anything from the court, only been informed that a lawsuit has been filed. Once they do get a court order (I believe subpoenas are only request for information), and have something like 24-72 hours to comply (I don't remember exactly), we'll see if they're going to stick to their guns.
searching is not illegal (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:searching is not illegal (Score:3, Interesting)
Trust me, you would not want to be an "Information Location Tool" which include "a directory, index, reference, pointer, or hypertext link" without complying with 512 d) of US copyright law. It might not be illegal
Re:Same tired old argument (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, we must al
Re:Same tired old argument (Score:3, Insightful)
A BitTorrent site, on the other hand, merely has the potential to give thousands or millions of people access to free movies, music, TV shows, software, and porn, and the only threat it poses is to the business models that are founded on restricting free
Re:Same tired old argument (Score:3, Insightful)
After that happen, you'd be surprised how much of artists you liked are in fact are indies and has no relation to the RI
Re:Same tired old argument (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Same tired old argument (Score:5, Insightful)
You cannot buy culture. You learn about it, you appriciate it, you emulate it.
You have just proven his point - you have no culture, and apparently no idea how to debate.
Re:Same tired old argument (Score:3, Insightful)
Once upon a time, before the copyright cartels came to dominate, such work was created on a comission basis. There is no intrinsic reason that we can't go bac
And the same old tired misnomers. (Score:5, Insightful)
Not all people consider sharing of information and media to be "illegitimate". The idea that culture can be controlled and bottled up by powerful media companies is a quaint 20th century notion.
You are quite correct in questioning the effect of any ban. Bit-torrent networks and other types of filesharing are rooted in basic human behaviour and desires. That's not going to change any time soon.
Re:Same tired old argument (Score:4, Insightful)
Are you serious?! BitTorrent is frequently used for distributing large, legitimate files - in fact, I use it on a weekly basis, and I do not infringe copyright with it. BitTorrent is now the standard way of distributing many files that it is legal to distribute, from Linux distributions through to demos of commercial games, and banning it would therefore affect a huge range of legitimate activities.
Sorry, but while there ARE systems it would make sense to ban, based on your argument - such as other P2P systems like Kazaa and ED2K - I'm afraid BitTorrent is actually the one example of a P2P system that has been embraced by legitimate users and is widely used for legal purposes. It is the one P2P system that it would be MOST stupid to ban.
Incidentally, you win today's prize for the most careless use of language. "There are plenty of legal ways to distribute files", you said. There sure are - and BitTorrent is one of them.
By the way, if you think bananas are normally used for peaceful purposes, you can't have watched many cartoons. A banana skin is a very common weapon.
Here's the real trick (Score:3, Insightful)
Since a BT tracker is simply a search engine, are you sugge
Re:searching is not illegal (Score:3, Insightful)
Gracias (Score:5, Funny)
There is some more info here... (Score:5, Informative)
2. Slyck Forums [slyck.com]
3. Another blogger with some good quotes [hishamrana.com]
4. Normality Net with more info [normalitynet.com]
5. Amit's Page with even more commentary [blogspot.com]
Drive by linkings!
new addition to pirate bay legal threats page ? (Score:5, Insightful)
P2P, torrents etc. are simply like having the best radio station and film channel in the world. It lets me try out stuff without spending my hard earned cash (an ever decreasing amount of which I have to spend on "non essentials" such as entertainment) so I know that I like something before I buy it.
Oh how the *AA dinosaurs futiley roared as the small furry mamalls took over their world
Re:new addition to pirate bay legal threats page ? (Score:3, Informative)
Yes. "Try before you buy" is such a horrible concept. I hope they get those pesky CD players out of the music stores soon. Personally I blame the music stores for bringing this absolutely irrefutable need for DRM.
Here's a hint: DRM only hastles legitem
Re:new addition to pirate bay legal threats page ? (Score:5, Insightful)
And I'm tired of people assuming that the only possible reason anyone might want to insist on using precise terminology is in the mistaken belief that this might justify morally bankrupt actions.
Where in the post you replied to did it say "it's okay because it's not stealing"?
Where in the post you replied to did it say "copyright infringement is not wrong"?
Nowhere.
Why are you incapable of understanding that people might view copyright infringement as morally wrong, and yet still desire people to use the correct name for it, instead of calling it stealing, which it isn't? Why are you incapable of understanding that there is a reason why we have different laws on different subjects, with different penalties for different crimes?
Copyright infringement and theft are both illegal, but they are illegal under different laws, are judged on different criteria, and are punished in different ways. They affect the victim in different ways and harm the economy in different ways. They are no more the same thing than rape and murder are the same thing.
That is why you should use different names for them. Not because one is any less illegal than the other. Not because one is any more moral than the other. Merely because while both are wrong and both are illegal, they are nevertheless not the same thing.
They're going after NZB sites too (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:They're going after NZB sites too (Score:4, Insightful)
The actual reason for suing them is probably because there are fewer NZB sites than there are news providers, and it's strategically best to go for the head of the snake. If you go after a search site, you impair all their users on many different news providers (and may be able to identify a lot of them too). If you go after a news provider, you impair their users (etc.), but not any from other providers. If you go after uploaders, you impair all their downloaders. If you go after downloaders, you only get them. So start at the head of the snake, and you'll get the most bang for your buck.
Freedom for the Culture! (Score:5, Insightful)
Freedom [wikipedia.org] for [gnu.org] the [ucla.edu] Culture [wikipedia.org]!!!
Re:Freedom for the Culture! (Score:4, Insightful)
Same goes for those "millions" who you talk of the will of. They probably couldn't give a flying fuck, so long as they can get the latest Hollywood shitfest for free.
Oh, btw, it's cute that you linked to the FSF homepage right after a link to a page on "anti-copyright". Especially when the GPL would fall over without copyright laws in place.
Absurd (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh noze, teh cops! (Score:3)
Yup, this will show those little shits, they'll have to run to #8 on thier bookmark list now. Ha, take that.
YAWN. Stupid MPAA, no cookie. You are making the same mistake the US military is, fighting the wrong war, and losing both because of it.
-Charlie
Thanks, didn't know half of these (Score:5, Funny)
Up-side-down People! (Score:3, Insightful)
MPAA and RIAA are spending billions to make headlines such as "MPAA sues grandpa without computer", "RIAA sues 13-year old girl for sharing mp3", "DRM technology in audio CD-s installs without a warning and opens your PC-s to hackers", "don't use the uninstaller, it leaves your PC even MORE open to hackers", "MPAA and RIAA join together to sue Earth and be done with it".
If I could separate myself from this twisted reality we live in, where this is supposed strategy to drive up sales, I'd say they are doing everything possible to make people hate them.
Re:Up-side-down People! (Score:5, Interesting)
The Pirate Bay loves these guys (Score:4, Informative)
Most of these sites aren't hosted in the US, or in countries that recognize torrents as being pirated material.
Please do! (Score:4, Insightful)
You have stolen enough (Score:5, Funny)
You will vind a hidden registration link.
You guys have now stolen so much, the MPAA cannot afford anymore to pay a $30 registration fee to Iteksoft. http://www.iteksoft.com/modules.php?op=modload&na
Extra Taxes/Levy (Score:3, Insightful)
Clarifications from isoHunt.com / TorrentBox.com (Score:5, Informative)
* Yes, this is MPAA's FUD. The lawsuit included.
* No, BitTorrent and P2P are not illegal (yet). They are not solely tools of thieves as the MPAA like to portray them as. There are many legal torrents in isoHunt's search index.
* No, I haven't got anything from MPAA about this lawsuit of theirs, but the press release is real and we are working with other sites, sued or yet to be sued, and the EFF on this.
* This is significant as they are suing search engines. isoHunt.com is a search engine. It does not discriminate, it index by algorithm. If we can, we'll be pulling in Google and Yahoo to say a few words that search engines are not illegal (yet).
* No, I'm not a crook. I see P2P as the new VCR, and I intend on proving that P2P can be used to the benefit of content creators, as a cheap and global vehicle for distribution and promotion.
Read more and comment on my forum announcement if you like:
http://isohunt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38933 [isohunt.com]
Who's Next? Wag that Dog! (Score:4, Insightful)
Then they closed down the P2P centralized servers.
Next they went after the distributed P2P systems and scared them off.
They started suing random P2P users with large share directories, often missing the mark.
Then they went after sites that stored only torrent files, and no actual content.
Now they're after the sites that index the torrents, and have neither actual content, nor torrent files.
Your own personal computer is next on their hit list of infringing devices.
Is anyone aware of just how small these content industries really are compared to the overall economy? They are the tail wagging the dog!
Re:A Message from the Internet to the MPAA (Score:4, Interesting)
Im just about making ends meet as a software develoepr, and one of my games is available as a torrent. No doubt this isnt exactly helping sales. So I suppose that the torrent sites you support check the financial data of each submitted torrent, will spot that I'm a solo developer who needs the cash, and decline to list torrents of my stuff right?
Bullshit. This is just freeloaders getting everything they can for free because they think they wont get caught. Dont insult everyones intelligence by dressing it up as some kind of robin hood tale.
Many things the **IA do is bullshit, but closing torrent sites that encourage illegal content is fine by me. Bittorrent is a superb system that works wonders for distributing game demos and movie trailers etc. By defending its usage to steal IP, your just going to bring the whole system down.
Re:A Message from the Internet to the MPAA (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not saying everyone out there downloading from BT is a saint who just wants to try before they buy. That would be bullshit. But there are enough people out there who doubled or even trippled
Re:A Message from the Internet to the MPAA (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A Message from the Internet to the MPAA (Score:3)
Re:In other words (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Misplaced effort (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Shooting themselves in the foot (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Shooting themselves in the foot (Score:5, Interesting)
I know your comment was a joke, but actually in many countries there's a tax on blank media that goes to content providers. So...in many cases, blanks DO count.
Re:Shooting themselves in the foot (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Shooting themselves in the foot (Score:4, Informative)
Of the four storage media you list, only one has the levy applied to it — blank CDs. The levy applies to "blank audio recording media", and according to the way they define that, hard drives, USB sticks and blank DVDs are not affected. At one point, the Copyright Board [cb-cda.gc.ca], who decides what media have the levy applied, applied it to portable digital audio players, but the courts struck that down.
About a year later, they said "Well, we *can* stop online piracy, so we will propose a bill that makes it illegal and we will make additional income from legal bullying and litigation".
My biggest problem with that, is that they "forgot" to remove the levy. So now, file-sharing is basically illegal...
Wait, wait, wait. Lost somewhere in your story is the point at which the bill you refer to (bill C-60, I presume) became law. And bill C-60 has not become law. So I don't know what you're on about.
Re:Shooting themselves in the foot (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem I see is that they take down legal content in the pursuit of pirated DVDs. Why should the BT community that isn't pirating DVDs be paying for the abuse of a few?
With the approach the MPAA applies, bars, clubs, etc. would be shut down when a couple patrons are arrested for drug dealing or prostitution because they're "enabling" the illegal activity. For some reason, there doesn't seem to be a lot of precedence for the *AA approach of shutting down entire businesses when pursuing a few criminals.
Re:Shooting themselves in the foot (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I'll get modded troll (Score:4, Insightful)
Look at the success of the Muslims protesting the Cartoons of the profet Mohammad. USA Newspapers and TV are scared shitless to air the offending cartoons, in fact, you have to hunt real hard to find out what the hoopla is all about.
Imagine if every lawyer working for the RIAA suddenly had to fear for his life every time he issued a supeona against a website. Imagine if every spammer thought that his family could be in danger when he sends out the 6 billion emails for Penis Enlargement.
They'd think twice about doing such things if it meant their car would have flats, their house could be burnt and their family kidnapped and beheaded.
There's an old saying that freedom must be taken. If we want to be free of these gangsters, then we need to take action, and it's very likely going to have be violent action because these days nobody understands anything else.
The terrorists have won. They have taught us that terrorism can get people to change their ways. Look how much they have changed the USA. We need to take that lesson and apply it to other areas that need change.
So, yes, while I don't want to agree with you, I admit that that only way I see real change happening is after some people die. It's not a nice thing to say; but it's an awful reality that we may have to come to accept.
And please don't send the FBI to my house, I'm not a lunatic about to commit these crimes, I'm simply pointing out that this is likely to happen sooner or later.
Thanks!
Re:I'll get modded troll (Score:3, Informative)
No, you have to type "Mohammed" into Google, and it's on the first page. Better yet, type "Mohammed caricatures" and you get several pages of links. That's not "hunting real hard", tha
Re:isohunt seem like nice guys (Score:3, Interesting)
http://thepiratebay.org/legal.php [thepiratebay.org]