BT under attack HUGE

[Heywould3]

lots of sites are closing on their own just from the EURO news..

http://www.slyck.com/

[Roundabout]

Hollywood Wants BitTorrent Dead

Hollywood movie studios launched new legal action Tuesday against operators of sites that help connect people to movies on three major peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.

In the United States and the United Kingdom, the Motion Picture Association of America, the main lobbying arm of U.S. film studios, filed civil lawsuits against more than 100 operators of BitTorrent "tracker" servers that point to locations where digital files of movies, music and other content can be found.

The MPAA also targeted operators of servers for the eDonkey and Direct Connect networks. The group's actions include criminal complaints and cease-and-desist orders issued to ISPs on four continents. Acting in cooperation with the MPAA, French law enforcement authorities took related action Monday, and actions by authorities in Finland and the Netherlands followed Tuesday.

BitTorrent, eDonkey and Direct Connect allow millions of internet users to share copies of movies, music, software and games. The services don't host the files themselves; instead, they point users to other users who have the files available for sharing. In BitTorrent's case, users tap tracker sites that keep dynamic lists of where files are stored and available for download. The MPAA is trying to cripple BitTorrent and its peers by suing people who host the tracker servers. Because of its efficiency in helping users handle very large files -- such as digital copies of feature-length films -- BitTorrent has attracted the enmity of Hollywood.

Lots more HERE

[Cobra]

So they're going to try to kill off yet another technology that has plenty of legitimate uses. Wonderful.

[bugster]

The services don't host the files themselves; instead, they point users to other users who have the files available for sharing.

Is this illegal itself.
Telling someone where they can buy heroin is not illegal as far as I know, so how can a web site containing Torrents be illegal?

Any law experts out there care to comment? Adam?

[lordsmurf]

Boo hoo. I never liked it anyway.

I have only seen ONE torrent -EVER- that was not warez. It was a Linux distro. Of course, it was available by FTP and HTTP too.

I love the "legit uses" argument, but I've never seen it in action. Anybody have any examples or LEGIT torrents being used?


I agree with this too:

"These people are parasites leeching off the creativity of others," said Malcolm. "They generate ad revenues by way of pop-up ads (and) banner ads, and they solicit online donations."

Anything to keep away those newbies with questions like "ya kewl, dl'd newmovie.p2p.perfect100%.dvdrip.screener.xvid.avi and need help with 1-click program to put it onto one VCD. TIA" or "how do I convert a .torrent file to DVD?". No loss here.

[VCDHunter]

Boo hoo. I never liked it anyway.

I have only seen ONE torrent -EVER- that was not warez. It was a Linux distro. Of course, it was available by FTP and HTTP too.

I've seen loads of torrents that aren't warez - I used to use it regularly.

[jimmalenko]

@LS:
You know I like to play DA with situations such as this, so please bear that in mind when reading the rest of this response

TIA

I have only seen ONE torrent -EVER- that was not warez. It was a Linux distro. Of course, it was available by FTP and HTTP too.

I love the "legit uses" argument, but I've never seen it in action. Anybody have any examples or LEGIT torrents being used?

FYI, I've DL-ed quite a few freely-distributable public domain movies from not-for-profit organisations ...... churches .... sunday book clubs .... my local tiddlywinks consortium ....

I CAN see how it COULD be useful IN THEORY for things like home-made family movies and the like, but I certainly have not seen or heard of any cases where this is occurring. IMO I would hazard a guess to say that there would be very little legitimate trading going on. Not to say that there isn't, but in a majority-rules situation, I think we all know the score

**********

Anything to keep away those newbies with questions like "ya kewl, dl'd newmovie.p2p.perfect100%.dvdrip.screener.xvid.avi and need help with 1-click program to put it onto one VCD. TIA" or "how do I convert a .torrent file to DVD?". No loss here.

For the sake of the future livelihood of this place, I couldn't agree more. For the sake of my future livelihood at this place, I'll leave it at that

[flaninacupboard]

what was the name of the US firm offering legal movie downloads? i think they used the BT engine, or something very similar.

BT is a very clever engine - XP service pack 2 was being distributed on it until microsoft told the people hosting trackers to stop. seems a bit weird to me.....

Well, if BT goes, something better will replace it.

[bazooka]

Boo hoo. I never liked it anyway.

I have only seen ONE torrent -EVER- that was not warez. It was a Linux distro. Of course, it was available by FTP and HTTP too.

I love the "legit uses" argument, but I've never seen it in action. Anybody have any examples or LEGIT torrents being used?


I agree with this too:

"These people are parasites leeching off the creativity of others," said Malcolm. "They generate ad revenues by way of pop-up ads (and) banner ads, and they solicit online donations."

Anything to keep away those newbies with questions like "ya kewl, dl'd newmovie.p2p.perfect100%.dvdrip.screener.xvid.avi and need help with 1-click program to put it onto one VCD. TIA" or "how do I convert a .torrent file to DVD?". No loss here.

Oh ye wise one, you have a narrow viewpoint of the whole picture.

There are lots of valid uses.

When the Fedora Core servers were hammered, you could still get the latest version through bittorrent.

You can also get various other legal things covered by the GPL so please take the splinter out of your eye.

Just because you have only viewed one valid use doesn't mean there is not more.

[ViRaL1]

Boo hoo. I never liked it anyway.

I have only seen ONE torrent -EVER- that was not warez. It was a Linux distro. Of course, it was available by FTP and HTTP too.

I love the "legit uses" argument, but I've never seen it in action. Anybody have any examples or LEGIT torrents being used?


I agree with this too:

"These people are parasites leeching off the creativity of others," said Malcolm. "They generate ad revenues by way of pop-up ads (and) banner ads, and they solicit online donations."

Anything to keep away those newbies with questions like "ya kewl, dl'd newmovie.p2p.perfect100%.dvdrip.screener.xvid.avi and need help with 1-click program to put it onto one VCD. TIA" or "how do I convert a .torrent file to DVD?". No loss here.

http://www.anarchy-online.com/free/ad_campaigns/freecampaign

I just started picking this up this morning. As a matter of fact, this is the reason I downloaded BitTorrent.

[Cobra]

lordsmurf,

I used BitTorrent to download the free Linux distros I have. BT was a lot faster than their servers were - they were totally bogged down. How about game demos? Shareware and freeware? Public domain content? It's all on there.

You are right though - I bet 95% of BT use is for illegitemate purposes. However, just because I said I would hate to see the technology disappear does not make me a "warez lover".

Cobra

[lordsmurf]

However, just because I said I would hate to see the technology disappear does not make me a "warez lover".
Cobra

Used generically, not against anybody here in particular.

[Capmaster]

BT under attack HUGE

Did Yoda write this topic title?

[Heywould3]

BT under attack HUGE

Did Yoda write this topic title?

Hahahaha.. :P i didnt want to word it as news, i thought it would get moved to another section i know how some MODs like to click their speical buttons

[Capmaster]

BT under attack HUGE

Did Yoda write this topic title?

Hahahaha.. :P i didnt want to word it as news, i thought it would get moved to another section i know how some MODs like to click their speical buttons

Yes ...we use them as phallic substitutes all the time ...

[yoda313]

BT under attack HUGE

Did Yoda write this topic title?

Hello,



Me's writes' okdoke you bloked foosll!!!!

Kevin

[adam]

The services don't host the files themselves; instead, they point users to other users who have the files available for sharing.

Is this illegal itself.
Telling someone where they can buy heroin is not illegal as far as I know, so how can a web site containing Torrents be illegal?

Any law experts out there care to comment? Adam?

You rang? Well, yes it can be illegal. Its a subjective test where the copyright holder has to prove that the service knew they were linking to infringing material and didn't do anything about it.

17 USCS § 512

(d) Information location tools. A service provider shall not be liable for monetary relief, or, except as provided in subsection (j), for injunctive or other equitable relief, for infringement of copyright by reason of the provider referring or linking users to an online location containing infringing material or infringing activity, by using information location tools, including a directory, index, reference, pointer, or hypertext link, if the service provider--
(1) (A) does not have actual knowledge that the material or activity is infringing;
(B) in the absence of such actual knowledge, is not aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent; or
(C) upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness, acts expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material;
(2) does not receive a financial benefit directly attributable to the infringing activity, in a case in which the service provider has the right and ability to control such activity; and
(3) upon notification of claimed infringement as described in subsection (c)(3), responds expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity, except that, for purposes of this paragraph, the information described in subsection (c)(3)(A)(iii) shall be identification of the reference or link, to material or activity claimed to be infringing, that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate that reference or link.

As for telling someone where to buy heroine, it can rise to the level of aiding and abetting if you actually setup the purchase, which IMO is more like what torrent links do. But just telling someone that drugs can be purchased from this guy or this place isn't a crime.

[ViRaL1]

But just telling someone that drugs can be purchased from this guy or this place isn't a crime.

Well....???

[Tearren]

adam wrote:

linking to infringing material and didn't do anything about it.

I'm not looking for a debate, but it is my understanding that torrents don't link to information at all. '.torrent' files that are offered for download at a site contain nothing more than hash and checksum information.

Tearren

[adam]

I don't know how torrents work except that when I click on them and pick a directory, it starts downloading. To me it seems exactly like the type of information location tool described in that statute but you'd have to analyze the underlying technology to make an argument either way. Nevertheless, if the service provider is going to be held liable for contributory infringement for hosting torrent files, that is the statute it would fall under. Also, I don't think they are going after sites that just host torrent files, they are going after the sites that host the actual trackers used to link the users who are doing the filesharing.

[Faustus]

Boo hoo. I never liked it anyway.

I have only seen ONE torrent -EVER- that was not warez. It was a Linux distro. Of course, it was available by FTP and HTTP too.

Torrent is actually an excellent model for how to get large ammounts of data out to a large group of users without having to pay special distrubited services to help share the file out (Like MS and others do for some stuff on their websites)

I've downloaded a linux distro this way also. If I was told correctly doesn't Steam use BT in some way? ( could be wrong there) Also the World of Warcraft trailer download from their site uses BT, as well as their larger game patchs.

As far as site being taken down... yeah boohoo I agree, but it does have it uses.

[888888]

One day the MPAA and RIAA will get there's, and I hope it will be painful.

[bigmicka]

Codemasters the game developers use BT for all demos and game patches from their website.

mic