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It's not a good week to be a BitTorrent tracker
A site called BTArena popped up recently, offering a complete copy of TPB's index. But it looks like Romanian authorities are threatening that site's operator.
And now a Dutch judge has ordered rival Bittorrent site Mininova to remove every last torrent that links to copyrighted materials. The site has 3 months to comply. If it doesn't meet the deadline, Mininova's operators will face a penalty of up to 5 million Euros, or about $7.1 million.
Mininova has reportedly begun removing some torrents. But it's ridiculously difficult to keep people from uploading copyrighted content to peer to peer networks. And if the site does succeed in ridding itself of illegally uploaded content, the question remains: will anyone use it anymore?
Comments
34
Subscribe to commentsJash SayaniAug 26th 2009 5:19PM
Why can't people pay for Software/Music/Movies ??
LukeyoAug 26th 2009 5:34PM
I don't feel 200$ is an accurate price to pay for the making of 3 vector images.
Jash SayaniAug 26th 2009 5:37PM
vector images?? I'm not syre what you are talking about.
LukeyoAug 27th 2009 7:40AM
I was just using a specific example. Software gets ridiculously pricey.
MitchAug 27th 2009 7:40AM
Because I'm a college student. When I'm done with school I'll be more than willing to pay.
LolrrenzoAug 27th 2009 7:41AM
Some things are reasonable, others are not.
Sure, $20 dollars for a program isn't bad.
But when you want to Photoshop, and they make you pay what, $600 or some crap. That's ridiculous.
Movies / Music aren't bad price wise.
Jash SayaniAug 27th 2009 7:42AM
Ok. I'll have to agree to that.
Students cannot afford pricy software. And also expensive application suites like Adobe Products - Photoshop, etc.
Even I find them very expensive.
brianzblAug 27th 2009 8:42AM
I buy all my stuff after I download it. Try before you buy. It sucks when you get a new CD or program and it sucks, then you basicaly got screwed out of money.
Crazy SerbAug 27th 2009 7:40AM
Who says we don't pay for music/movies/software?
I just like the "try before you buy" option, for some reason... call me spoiled or something.
KevinAug 27th 2009 7:40AM
Regardless of the morality dilemma, how are they ever going to stop the whack-a-mole new torrent site inevitability?
ConroyAug 26th 2009 6:41PM
knock one down, another takes its place; government will never control the internet!
xyz999999Aug 27th 2009 7:41AM
ah! you just wait 'n see, history shows us otherwise.. always.
ConroyAug 27th 2009 7:41AM
I know your exactly right, when this amount of people are connected and government tries to control it, eventually government gets thiers...
pocopeloAug 26th 2009 8:55PM
I'll stop downloading pirate software when governments stop stealing from the people!
If they do it, I take it as an example.
If they prove me wrong, I promise i'll quit downloading... but EVERY person in government, more or less, are corrupt.
So why should I be better than them?
They rule my life.. I just do as they do.
KevinAug 27th 2009 7:41AM
That's a really poor argument. You're not 'stealing' from the government when you pirate, you're 'stealing' from a private party.
I agree that government is corrupt, but your attempted grandstanding makes no sense.
bmrichter847Aug 27th 2009 10:40PM
Sorry this reply is meant for Kevin. I don't see a reply link on his post.
>Kevin said 7:41AM on 8-27-2009
>That's a really poor argument. You're not 'stealing' from the government when >you pirate, you're 'stealing' from a private party.
>I agree that government is corrupt, but your attempted grandstanding makes >no sense.
That argument makes no sense. Who exactly are you "stealing" from?
If I could go into a store, and make an exact duplicate of an item with material that I brought with me with 0 harm to the original item and it took nothing away from it, would I then be stealing the item I replicated?
How about if making toast was copyrighted, would you feel guilty making that toast?
When someone copies something or downloads something they are not stealing anything. It's bits and bytes of data that can be recreated over and over again with no change to the original data.
You are just breaking a copyright. And that is another rule put in place by your overlords. And the poster above related to the government is a hell of allot more based in reality then your point of view. That is really skewed... hah stealing.
It looks like we have been programmed well.
cmsb55Aug 27th 2009 7:41AM
Damn. Mininova is and always has been the first site I go to when looking for something. Now I only have Demonoid!
DeathSkullAug 27th 2009 7:41AM
The price of movies and music on disc has been a rip off for a long time. Paying $20-30 for music or media is ridiculous since the overall price for the media costs only pennies on the dollar. As far as the movie/music on them the price can be debatable at best but it still comes down to the fact that there is no reason for the current or past price for these media types. As far as P2P illegally, most people prefer the try before you buy option since people don't want to waste there money on something they won't/don't like in the end. If the music/movie industry wasn't so greedy and corrupt (collection societies) then people might be more willing to pay for the product, at least at a reduced price compared to the current cost of there products. Maybe instead of forcing people to use the products they sell to the consumer the way the industry wants and only that way the industry should listen to the consumers and produce a better distribution method without the DRM and without all the stupid restrictions that come with it.
Just because the music/movie industry was able to convince/pay off the government official/lawmaker and put into effect these ridiculous laws/restrictions doesn't mean people want to or even should follow them. Especially since the wording of the laws are contradictory on many points. The laws need to be fixed without the interference of the music/movie industry. Good luck with that though since the industry commit a large amount of money to the "elected" officials campaigns, etc.
MursemasterAug 27th 2009 11:03AM
Whoo, time for Economics 101.
"Paying $20-30 for music or media is ridiculous since the overall price for the media costs only pennies on the dollar."
Yes, but you're conveniently forgetting that the content on the media *actually costs money to make*. CDs aren't priced $12 to recoup the costs of producing the CD, they're priced to recoup the cost of *recording the music* on top of all the other costs associated with getting that disc in stores. Don't forget that the retailer is taking a cut, too -- anywhere between 20% to 50% per disc, depending on the store -- so only a fraction of that $12 is going to the EVIL RECORDING COMPANY in the first place. As a result, many albums actually wind up losing money because they simply don't sell enough to recoup the costs of producing it in the first place.
Also, the 'try before you buy' defense is ludicrous. In between Metacritic, GameRankings, Rotten Tomatoes, demos, YouTube and a little bit of good judgement I've been able to avoid laying money down for anything less than triple-A quality product, and guess what? I did it all without having to steal. So get off your high horse and do a little homework for a change instead of coming up with lame justifications for why you're ripping off companies. The culture of entitlement you guys have cultivated is just baffling.
DeathSkullAug 28th 2009 11:38PM
First off maybe you should get off should get off your high horse since your making a common mistake with the so called culture of entitlement BS. The average person with a brain knows that it take money to create/produce products. The only difference is that we prefer to not been screwed out of every dime for the products that we are more then willing to buy legally. I think you need to do some homework and realize that it should never cost anyone $1 a song to purchase for bad/inferior quality music laden with DRM( and yes I know that the DRM has been removed not to long ago). Maybe people are tired of all the games that the industry plays and think that changes need to be forced upon the industry in order for it to change even a little bit.
As far as you "explanation" with regards to the price of music/movie discs, I'll partially agree with you that they need to sell the product for a profit and that the recording/producing of the music/movie is the most costly part. Aside from that though your argument loses since how can you explain the price of digital downloads or if you want to stick to the physical media the actual cost to produce the music/movie (not the made up numbers produced by the industry) in addition to the 10 cents a disc that they pay to make the disc.
You also forget that there is an upfront cost for any hardware (disc creation, recording studios, etc.) which has been paid for and is no longer an additional cost to making the music/movie. As far as the retailer taking a part, what about all the direct to download products. In addition to that what about the contracts that they make with these retailers, etc. Do you really think that they would make these contracts with these retailers,etc. if it wasn't for there benefit overall.
With regards to your checking out reviews,etc. from the websites you listed, that is not the same as actually viewing the movie or music you are interested in seeing/listening to. I and many others prefer not to go off of someone else's review/explanation of the music/movie. Also how exactly is it a lame justification that people want to know what they are buying before they actually purchase it. Especially considering the current financial situation the world is in and the current price being charged for the media.
I personally never P2P a video game since there are demos of games weeks to months before they are released and are being released many different ways (Xbox 360 DL, PC Steam, Direct download from game publishers, etc.)
If the industry wants people to buy then they need to give them a real reason to pay the price there asking for not just complaining about P2P and the supposed "dangers" of digital downloads, etc. Oh, and by the way the music industry has posted another year of record sale. So obviously P2P is actually a benefit overall to the industry(s).
If the DMCA wasn't worded in such a way that it prohibits and at the same time allows for the ripping of legally purchased discs, then at least some people wouldn't want to download a copy of the movies that they legally own. You know some people actually would like to have a backup copy of a disc in case something happens to the physical media or they would like to watch it on there computer without the disc. Maybe the Music/Movie industry should learn to embrace the technology instead of blaming it for everything.
I never said that the music/movie industry was "evil", you did however. I'm merely pointing out that they have tried to restrict and overcharge for the products they produce. I'm also saying that they have never tried to accept new tech. and have wasted time and money to restrict how the consumer uses the product they legally bought and have continued to stop any advancement they didn't like. Maybe they should(and you as well) get a clue and adapt/move on from the old way of thinking and move to a better and easier way of doing business without trying to screw the consumer every chance they get.
I also forgot one thing. There has been study after study, even a recent one stating that those that file share(P2P) are some of the biggest consumers of those same goods and products (including posters, shirts, etc.) Get over yourself and your better then everyone else attitude for thinking that just because you prefer to go off of some reviews and commercials that it is enough for other people to justify the spending of there hard earned money for overpriced low quality products. And by the way the industry has been bashing Google/Youtube and similar sites with DMCA takedown notices and lawsuites over the use of there product (even though the artist/actors/producers wanted it to be up and to be seen). You need to get a clue and look at the larger picture and whats been going on for nearly a century, starting with the player piano and now with P2P. Learn a little more before you start making comments about the subject.