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BitTorrent Community After SuprNova Shutdown

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the community-is-a-strong-word dept.

prostoalex writes "Folks from MonkeyMethods.org have researched the BitTorrent world after many popular destinations (SuprNova among others) have been shut down. Since BitTorrent always relied on the presence of trackers and servers hosting them, MonkeyMethods decided to see whether the shutdown impacted the BitTorrent community. So has the shutdown of centralized SuprNova had any impact? "In this case, centralization is a feature, not a necessity. Just look at del.icio.us most popular and you'll see BitTorrent sites every couple days, as people uncover new places to find the files they're looking for.""

81 of 377 comments (clear)

  1. Finding things is harder... by mg2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Since the MPAA went on its rampage, finding the stuff I've personally wanted has become more difficult.

    It's funny, though, that they would tear down SuprNova but somehow TorrentSearch slipped through the cracks, and so there is still some activity out there.

    The big question now is whether or not exeem will be worth a damn.

    1. Re:Finding things is harder... by PKPerson · · Score: 2, Insightful

      the MPAA will NEVER completly shut down Bittorent, or p2p in general. 2 things will happen, first, other sitea will emerge, and second a modification of the bittorrent protocol will allow searching without relying on websites.
      BTW:
      isoHunt ownz
      Shareaza is the best client for windows ever, though I wish there was a port to linux. One last thing, can anyone suggest a good (full-featured)Client for linux?

    2. Re:Finding things is harder... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      well, suprnova has been replaced by mininova

      http://www.mininova.org/

      Exeem, well that looks like it is a bit of a failure in my opinion. They have allowed people to rate downloads and attach comments etc. It has become a place to advertise and exeem also contains spyware. Edonkey nostalgia basically..

      I doubt that the (MPAA / RIAA)'s efforts will have a lasting effect since suprnova was replaced fairly quickly and I think the replacement is actually better.

    3. Re:Finding things is harder... by sirReal.83. · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Exeem will be a failure. By keeping the source locked up and Windows-biased, you alienate that very segment of users whose OSes are stable enough to actually stay running for more than 24 hours at a time.

    4. Re:Finding things is harder... by Tezkah · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Regardless of the troll against Windows in the parent, he's right. Exceem is a failure. They not only made it closed source, but they made it spyware, a la Kazaa. Having it on Linux with the adware still inside would *not* have made it an attractive alternative.

      It also connects to a centralized server, which really defeats the point of a decentralized tracker.

      ---
      Buy "Bob"

    5. Re:Finding things is harder... by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Weird, I keep Azureus going for pretty long stretchs, I'm sure at least five days at a time, in KDE with no crashes. The only time I used to get them with azureus was a version or two back with the unified gtk-qt theme engine. This is on debian unstable with sun's java 5.

      --
      Everything will be taken away from you.
    6. Re:Finding things is harder... by badasscat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      People have been suggesting Azureus but I was under the impression that Shareaza was not a bittorrent client.

      Shareaza has a BT client built-in, along with eDonkey, Gnutella and Gnutella 2. It's a great concept (a FOSS-based all-in-one P2P app) and it's a pretty slick looking app but unfortunately the performance is nowhere near any of the standalone apps for the various protocols it supports. (I have verified this in side by side testing.)

      Azureus is what I use, although it's got some issues as well. It's clean and well-organized and gives you a lot of info on the files you're downloading, but it seems to have some sort of memory leak or something... it runs fine at first and transfer speed is never an issue, but after a few hours of running it will bring my entire system practically to a halt. It is impossible to just leave it running in the background, which is really what you're supposed to do with BT.

      I've got a decent system, too - P4 2.4, 512MB, etc. so that's not the issue. It's either a problem with java (Azureus is java-based) or it's a leak in Azureus itself.

  2. full text by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Monkeyin' Around: Is BitTorrent Dead?

    Date: January 10, 2005

    WARNING: "Monkeyin' Around" contains rambling and wild speculation on the future of digital media. Do not operate heavy machinery while reading. Read the first edition here. Visit our blog at http://blog.monkeymethods.org.
    What the heck is this article about?

    After the recent shutdowns in the BitTorrent community, notably the popular site SuprNova.org, many were left wondering if BitTorrent was on its last legs. You can read some of the coverage here . Since this happened, many people are asking: How big of a blow are these shutdowns? Is BitTorrent dead or dying?

    Well, we had the same questions too, and decided we wanted to understand the distribution of torrent files on the Internet. Using this information, we can examine issues such as centralization and other important factors.

    (If you want an introduction to BitTorrent, please read this Wired article and this FAQ)
    Okay Sherlock, what did you guys do?

    Well, first thing, we have some pretty interesting data lying around. One of the initial projects we decided to do as part of Monkey Methods was TowerSeek.org , which is a true crawler-based BitTorrent search engine. Unlike other sites that simply mirror either Google's torrent search functions (try "filetype:torrent induce" for example), SuprNova, or some other site, we wanted to build a real search engine that crawled the Internet automatically. We'll write more about this project soon, but you can give it a whirl right now.

    As part of the backend, TowerSeek.org has a database of links to torrent files, which we realized could be used to understand the distribution of files on the Internet. This would tell us a couple important things:

    How centralized are torrent files on the Internet?

    Do torrent sites follow the 20/80 rule?

    How long is the Long Tail?

    These questions are all important because they concern vital (and interesting) differences between BitTorrent and other P2P protocols. Unlike Kazaa, Gnutella, and any others, BitTorrent has a fundamentally "web-based" interface. That means you go to a website in your browser (preferably Firefox), click on a link from that trusted site, and download. So you would expect these sites to vaguely follow the same distributions as websites on the Internet.

    Also, through the same mechanisms, the architecture of BitTorrent is far more centralized than other P2P networks. For each file, there is a central "tracker" that keeps track of what clients have what pieces of the file, so clients can talk to each other and download efficiently. Kill the tracker, and you kill the ability of any client to trade files with each other. It is for these reasons that BitTorrent is almost more similar to a direct-connect protocol like FTP or HTTP than a P2P network like Kazaa.

    All of these architectural differences make it interesting to look at the data. To answer the questions from above, we did some UNIX pipe-fu to dump out the pages from the database, aggregate them, sort them, and put them in an Excel friendly format, all in one step. 5 minutes later, we were analyzing away.
    What did you find?

    We found a lot of interesting things. First of all, it should be noted that the dataset was from early December, and thus preserves the distribution of torrents before the recent site shutdowns. It may be interesting to look at this data again in a couple months and see how it has changed over time.

    The first thing we did we to simply take the mean, median and mode:
    Mean

    176
    Median

    3
    Mode

    1

    Wow. That's a very skewed distribution. It's clearly biased towards a smaller number of sites with many torrents, followed by a long, long tail. In fact, 1 torrent at a domain is the most common statistic. Let's take a look at the graph:

    Figure 1:

    Ah ha! We can see that this is the classic Zipf Law distribution, at least it looks like it from first glance. How close

    1. Re:full text by laughingcoyote · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My apologies, troll, but bittorrent sites are every bit a "community". I use one quite frequently, and indeed would continue to even if it weren't for its...erm...content. (Sure I'll tell you where the site is, I'd love to see it go the way of suprnova, and you'd have to register to see for yourself anyway.)

      The users there know each other well, have helped each other with everything from technical problems to real-life crises, and of course discuss torrents and their content. To say that this doesn't constitute a "community" is ridiculous.

      And yes, contrary to popular belief, many torrent users DO purchase what they download. But since effectively NO stores will allow you to return open DVD's or software, and movie theatres certainly will not refund your money if the movie sucks, it's generally wise to "try before you buy". (Yes, of course, there are those who never do buy...chances are, those never would have in the first place.)

      Where do we draw the line? Is it illegal to loan a friend a movie? Invite the friend over to watch it? Give a book to someone after we're done reading it? All of these things cut into the creator's potential profits. To me, the ethical line (and yes, I know the legal one is in a different place) is here: Did you make money off someone else's work? If yes, you have done something unethical. If no, you have shared, and that's all.

      For you to say that making a copy of something equates to stealing it is dumb. If I figure out how to build a computer by studying a Dell, am I "stealing" from Dell by buying components and doing it myself next time? Or doing the same for a friend? Your argument would indicate the answer is yes.

      --
      To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
    2. Re:full text by CrackerJack9 · · Score: 2, Informative

      If I steal a new processor and reverse engineer it to make my own identical processor, am I 'stealing'? umm...the smart money would have to say yes. Did you create it yourself with your own resources and imagination? No. Would you have it if it weren't for someone else already creating it? No.

      I'm having trouble seeing how this is a fuzzy area...

      If a penny saved is a penny earned, the same logic can be applied to 'lost sales' (defining this can be a grey area, but stay with me for a second) and in doing so you are essentially 'stealing' from the original creator/owner/seller. Ethical now?

  3. Sure, it made an impact. by Seumas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Instead of everyone focusing on SuprNova, people have found new places that they otherwise never would have bothered with. There are a number of smaller quality sites out there now. Most of them seem to be hosted in Sweden, Netherlands, Brazil, Russia and elsewhere.

    1. Re:Sure, it made an impact. by rm999 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Additionally, a few large sites have sprung up - loki torrent is the obvious example I think. Although it may not as large as supernova, it is pretty close.

    2. Re:Sure, it made an impact. by Inda · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'll say it then because no one seems to have the bottle around here.

      SuprNova was nothing special. It was not the best thing since sliced bread. It was a below-par site.

      There, said it.

      SuprNova was the Kazaa of websites. It was full of broken trackers, passworded files, membership only trackers and your crappy re-encodes. People from other sites used it to advertise their own trackers; stick a few torrents up for a week and watch the traffic flow to your site. SuprNova was a site that was too busy and only served the average masses who wanted The Incredibles in Real video format.

      That was my opinion of SuprNova.

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    3. Re:Sure, it made an impact. by Stanza · · Score: 2, Insightful


      I respectfully disagree.

      I do agree with other comments, the web page was crappy, javascript and frames and popups and crap, but not your comments. Also others did use them as advertisement for thier own trakers.

      But, Suprnova required no logins, I almost never found passworded files, almost everything I found there worked without difficulties. Did I mention no logins? That's why I used them.

      Combine that with them being one of the more popular sites, that meant they were more likely to have the wierd things to look for, and since more people downloaded from there, there was a less chance of files with no one to download from.

  4. Thanks! =D by EvilCabbage · · Score: 4, Funny

    I needed a few new links!

  5. Not really affected at all. by bob301 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The only effect SuprNova's shutdown had on me was to force redundancy on me- now, I get my files from a variety of sources. Sure, it's a little bit harder to browse what's new from 5 different pages, but it also keeps me focused on what I went looking for in the first place.

    1. Re:Not really affected at all. by ThatsNotFunny · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's easy to browse what's new from 5 different pages if the sites have RSS feeds. Get yourself a good feedreader and you'll save yourself some time. :)

      --
      "Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
  6. Slashdot as tracker by SirDrinksAlot · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let's start posting torrents in slashdot comments. I'm probably going to get in a lot of trouble for coming up with the idea but hey, genius can be a curse. :-)

  7. SUPPLY AND DEMAND by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Supply and demand, dammit. People just never understand this. The laws of capitalism don't refer to things that are necessary to create a capitalist economy, or things that are a good idea. They are natural laws. You can't escape them. There is no way out of the iron cage.

    And the laws of supply and demand don't go away just because you try to put laws in their path. You barely even slow them down. The old Soviet Union found that out when black markets sprung up to provide the things the Soviet Union's system couldn't. And the ??AAs of America, much as they try to ignore it, are currently finding that out with the things that are springing up to provide the copyright cartels won't.

    1. Re:SUPPLY AND DEMAND by Spy+Handler · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Exactly right.

      The heroin market is a perfect example of this, and lately methamphetamines. Recently there was a prominent article in one of the major papers (either LA or NY Times I think) about the growing Meth underground economy. In fact it's gotten so bad, several of the Midwest states are in the process of enacting laws to limit over-the-counter allergy pill sales and have drugstore clerks record the identity of purchasers. We're talking about Nyquil and Tylenol Cold here, pretty innocuous stuff. But they contain ingredients that Meth labs use to distill into methemphatamines.

      This is a perfect example of the natural law of supply and demand, like the parent post said. They can pass all the laws in the world, but as long as the demand is there (and the demand for Meth is skyrocketing), there WILL be a supply. I totally understand and agree with this.

      But guess what, when the gov't throws its hands up and says, "We give up! We can't control it" and leaves the forces of supply and demand to settle into their own natural accord, you end up with a situation that is less than ideal. China in late 19th century to 1945 was pretty much in this state of just letting the opium supply and demand run its course. And it did. I don't know what the exact numbers are but something like an overwhelming majority of adult male population in China was addicted to opium and smoking it on a daily basis. Graciously supplied by Great Britain. (oh yeah there was a pretty funny footage in "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" of a China opium house from the 30's.)

      Needless to say, China was not a very healthy society or a pleasant place to live during this era. The opium problem only got under control with the incoming Communist government - basically they just shot and killed anyone caught possessing opium, often on the spot. That reduced the demand pretty quick.

      Okay I know you're gonna say, "There's a big difference between illegal Meth and downloading some XviD moviez". Yes, there are differences. Watching downloaded moviez doesn't destroy your nervous system and gradually turn you into a psychotic dope fiend that ends in your early demise. But just for illustration, let me apply the same principle and see where it might end.

      So let's say the xxAA stops suing downloaders and the gov't decides copyright laws are unenforceable - supply and demand, you know. Courts refuse to hear copyright infringement suits. People are completely free to download any movie, book or music, burn to a disc and sell it on the street corner, with complete confidence that nothing bad will ever come of it. What's gonna happen? Well, it's gonna destroy the movie industry in America. Movies will still get made, but they will be low budget indie-type movies made by artists for art's sake. And they will, 99% of them, suck donkey dick. I've seen low budget films, and they are just BAD. Good movies require millions of dollars to make. Name the last 10 really good movies you saw. Or 20, or 50. How many were low budget (something you or I could make) and how many had budget in the tens of millions?

      Books are a little different because one guy with no budget can turn up a masterpiece. But it's still safe to say that the number of quality titles coming out each year will go down in a copyright-free society, because the percentage of authors who write to make a living will cease writing when the income is gone.

      Okay I didn't want this reply to be so damn long, so I'll just end here with this: take a look at the periods and societies in history that had (or still has) no concept of intellectual property, and those that did (or still do). Determine which is more conducive to the advancement of art, literature and entertainment.

    2. Re:SUPPLY AND DEMAND by zmollusc · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Throwing millions of dollars at a film doesn't stop it sucking ass.
      If the filesharing doors were truly thrown open, then you could still make a big budget film and make money on it. How? By controlling the supply. Sell tickets in advance for 'jaws 5' and start filming when you have got $90,000,000.

      --
      They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
    3. Re:SUPPLY AND DEMAND by G-funk · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Movies will still get made, but they will be low budget indie-type movies made by artists for art's sake. And they will, 99% of them, suck donkey dick. I've seen low budget films, and they are just BAD. Good movies require millions of dollars to make. Name the last 10 really good movies you saw. Or 20, or 50. How many were low budget (something you or I could make) and how many had budget in the tens of millions?

      You've already answered this. Supply and demand. If enough people really want to see $100 million plus movies, they'll pay to see them. They'll realise pretty quickly that if they don't pay to see spider man, there's not gonna be a spider man 2. And if they refuse to pay, then they didn't want to see it so badly in the first place. Most importantly: All the future unmade movies have no right to exist. If the movie industry ends, so be it. I like big some big budget flicks, and I pay to see them at the cinema, even tho I have a broadband connection and azureus and I don't have to.

      Besides wich even if copyright were thrown out monday morning, the ??AA are still free to excercise whatever technological means they please to stop (most) people copying their garbage.

      --
      Send lawyers, guns, and money!
    4. Re:SUPPLY AND DEMAND by hadronzoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Economics also says that marginal cost of production equals price in the long run. If the marginal cost to produce (i.e. copy) media is only the cost of moving bits, the price will tend towards zero.

      Any attempt to artificially prop-up prices will be defeated by the black market (ergo BitTorrent).

    5. Re:SUPPLY AND DEMAND by freemacmini · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe the demand is not manufactured and not natural. This is especially true in movies where demand is created by marketing before the product is even known by anybody.

      Anyway in the end it's all about entertainment. If nobody made movies people would entertain themselves in other ways. Maybe theater would make a come back, maybe people would read more, maybe they would just go out in the park and play more.

      People have found ways to amuse themselves for thousands of years without movies and they would do it again if movies went away.

      BTW I don't believe movies would go away. They would be made cheaper and without paying ben affleck 20 million dollars.

      --
      Get a free Mac Mini
    6. Re:SUPPLY AND DEMAND by Quattro+Vezina · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You don't have to worry about that: demand isn't just the amount of desire to buy something. In order for it to be called demand, the demanders have to have the resources to buy it.

      --
      I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
    7. Re:SUPPLY AND DEMAND by samael · · Score: 2, Informative

      My supply of open-source software doesn't seem to be drying up.

      Or my supply of MP3s.

      --
      My Journal
  8. Dupe by PIPBoy3000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Perhaps we could work on the centralization of articles on Slashdot as well.

  9. Re:first by Saven+Marek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > It's fucking illegal, people. Who cares how this illegal piracy
    > "community" is affected

    Well if you think about it you'll see there are many television shows that aren't shown in my country so I want to watch them. Also, many movies shown overseas that are not released in my country immediately

    Are you saying I do not have a right to watch these? or follow them with my friends who might get them first? I will have to wait and wait months maybe a year to see them, by the time spoilers are posted everywhere? It should be illegal that they are forcing us to pirate (no I won't say theft!) these videos just to keep up with what other people are able to see. The internet is the great equalizer.

    Best mac community on the web

  10. BitTorrent was never designed for Piracy. by ABeowulfCluster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bittorrent was designed to just host large files to a large number of people using a distributed system. It's the 'large number of people' thing which makes it bad for illegal file swapping. If 100 file sharers can find illegal content easily, then so can the copyright holders of the illegally copied content. If they want *privacy* with their fileswapping, then fileswappers should put a proxy function into a separate 'file swapper' client to allow you do download 'thru' another computer which would make tracking down the original user impossible... but a proxy function just increases the total sum of bandwidth used, which isn't what Bittorrent was designed to do.

  11. One falls, others rise by Stevyn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I used to use Suprnova. Then it went down. Now I use Lokitorrent and I get much better transfer rates. It just goes to show the RIAA/MPAA that when you stop one website, another will take it's place and probably do better. This is the same as Napster to Kazaa.

    I understand that Loki was around while Suprnova was still up, but I never used it. Now I use it.

    1. Re:One falls, others rise by Stevyn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      While I like your analogy, because I like analogies, there is one thing you're forgetting.

      With each iteration of P2P apps/networks/protocols, less and less involvement is on the party hosting it. With Napster, IIRC, their servers stored the specific information of where to get the songs. Then kazaa tried to distribute that amongst other servers/nodes. Others services did similar operations, but I don't know too much about them so I can't comment. Now we have bittorrent.

      Bittorrent is similar to asking a guy on the street where you can find something. In some cases, you're asking the guy where the latest linux distro's ISO can be found. In other cases, you're asking the guy on the street where the dvd-rip of iRobot can be found. In the end though, you're simply asking something to point you in the right direction. These sites aren't doing anything illegal (as far as I know, which isn't a whole lot so please correct me if I'm wrong), but just telling people where they can find what in some cases are copyright infringements.

      And if the MPAA is sucessful in shutting these sites down, then something new will come along. Eventually, it will be so abstract it won't be illegal. Hell, bittorrent may come out on top as lokitorrent fights it.

    2. Re:One falls, others rise by Aredridel · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's its, not it's, unless you meant it is, then it is, otherwise it's its that's its.

    3. Re:One falls, others rise by cpt+kangarooski · · Score: 4, Informative

      These sites aren't doing anything illegal (as far as I know, which isn't a whole lot so please correct me if I'm wrong), but just telling people where they can find what in some cases are copyright infringements.

      That's often illegal. Remember, what Napster basically did was to tell people who, precisely, was distributing music illegally.

      Basically there's three different ways to infringe a copyright.

      Direct infringement is when a person infringes on any of the exclusive rights listed in 17 USC 106, 106A, or 602. 106 is the important one of those, and among the rights it lists are the exclusive rights to reproduce (which downloading infringes on) and to distribute (which uploading infringes on).

      However, recognizing that sometimes there will be parties that should be held liable despite not performing the infringing act themselves, there are the other two ways. That there should be this indirect liability at all is not unusual; it's fairly common in many areas of the law.

      Contributory infringement only exists where there is an underlying direct infringement. Where a party, with knowledge of a direct infringement, induces, causes, or materially contributes to the direct infringement of another, it is also liable for the infringement.

      Vicarious infringement also only exists where there is an underlying direct infringement. Where a party, regardless of knowledge, has the right and ability to control the direct infringement of another, and derives a sufficiently direct financial benefit from the infringement, it is also liable for the infringement.

      These are what brought down Napster. They're frequently used to bring down venues of all kinds, whether online or off. For example, the owners of flea markets where vendors would sell infringing works have been held liable.

      There is a degree of a safe harbor for ISPs in specific thanks to 17 USC 512, but in order to be protected from litigation, a variety of specific requirements must be met, and some of them require affirmative action on the part of the ISP (e.g. registering a contact with the US Copyright Office). So many that might have gained some protection if they'd tried to get it, end up without it. Other times, when you're wondering how someone can possibly still be in business, it very well may be because of this.

      Still, with regards to torrent trackers, and sites involved with the BT scene, there's likely a very significant danger of some form of indirect liability attaching even for comparatively minor things, like acting as a facilitator to an infringement.

      --
      -- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
  12. Re:The world will continue to spin by ravenspear · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The old series... not this new crud on Sci-Fi

    As someone who has seen both, I am sure you are in the minority with this opinion. The production quality of the new BSG series is top notch, certainly at least as good as the original, if not better.

  13. Re:first by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 4, Interesting
    What a troll...but I'll bite.

    Ok, who cares how this illegal copyright infringement community is affected? How about the members of that community? I'm sure there's TONS of people on /. who have used those sites, and this is VERY relevant to us, whether you agree with our ethics or not.

    You know, I'd really like to see some sources for your complaint of terminology used for movie and music copyright infringement vs. that of software infringement, because frankly I can recall seeing EVERYBODY being called swindlers, thieves, pirates, etc. I mean, didn't the RIAA start that campaign?

    And if you already own a copy of the work, then it is not illegal. I know I've downloaded a movie on more than one occasion when my DVD got scratched beyond repair.

    --
    Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
  14. Re:first by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 2, Informative
    Well if you think about it you'll see there are many television shows that aren't shown in my country so I want to watch them. Also, many movies shown overseas that are not released in my country immediately
    And the non-availability of something in a country often means that getting it "illegally" is not illegal. For example, canadian courts have consistently ruled that decrypting US satellite TV signals is not stealing, nor illegal because the US satellite TV providers are prohibited from selling their subscriptions in Canada. So, US satellite TV providers have to use private investigators within Canada to track "illegal" subscribers and often use bounty hunters to kidnap them in Canada and drag them to the US where they get jailed for not committing a crime in the US...
  15. not only lokitorrent... by mrwoody · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... but TorrentReactor.net is also quite good...

    1. Re:not only lokitorrent... by ltwally · · Score: 2, Informative
      " ... but TorrentReactor.net is also quite good..."
      What, are you trying to help the MPAA out or something? TorrentReactor got its domain hijacked months ago. The correct link to TorrentReactor is www.torrentreactor.to

      Someone mod this guy down... he's either flat ignorant or actively trying to screw over TorrentReactor. Either way, he's a prick.
      --



      /dev/random
  16. I disagree by SweetAndSourJesus · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's not as if the *AA's anti-piracy forces were formerly Keystone Kops. They're not bumbling around trying to find out where those darn pirates went. In fact, they're probably hep to the latest craze before we are. They're simply being methodical, collecting solid evidence against a site owner before they announce their lawsuit in public. It would be pointless for them to sue a site owner they really don't have a case against, so they bide their time.

    --

    --
    the strongest word is still the word "free"
  17. Comparison to Napster by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This is kind of like what happened when Napster first went down. Everybody panicked, but once people started communicating, people started to learn where html sites were that linked to songs or FTP servers. Then Kazaa came along and all was good again.

    But once all the other P2P apps came along, again we lost some of the consolidation of files. But people still adapted, and people began learning what networks were good for certain types of files.

    Today with bit torrent, we are able to have entire trackers devoted to types of content, such as anime, tv shows, etc, and even before Suprnova and others went down, I still checked a few BT sites for all my files. However, I have to admit, it was pretty damn convenient to just go to Suprnova (which I think easily had the best interface and site mapping) and take a gander at what had been added that day.

    I hope mininova takes off, because I enjoy it, but it really doesn't have the traffic or variety it needs yet to be a big competitor. Torrentreactor is still going strong, and so are several others. Frankly, I wish there was a markup language for bit torrent files that could include info such as what type of file it was (tv show, movie, song, album, etc), and possibly what season/episode, recording method, duration, etc. That way that info could be used with an RSS feed and I could REALLY tailor a personal site to all my needs without having to check each of the seperate sites.

    --
    Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
  18. Re:The world will continue to spin by Aredridel · · Score: 2

    Its.

  19. Re:Exeem! by ltwally · · Score: 5, Informative
    "Exeem is the declared heir to the SuprNova throne."
    I have two replies to that statement:

    Firstly, Exeem is ridden with adware and spyware. I can't speak for everyone out there, but to me, this does not exactly keep on in the spirit of Suprnova.

    Second, because Exeem is decentralized, it will eventually become just another Kazaa, Morpheus, etc etc, as the *AA starts seeding fake files.

    As to the statement that BT is not going anywhere soon... well, who knows. BitTorrent has known issues with NATs and firewalls... and hopefully some future generation of BitTorrent (or a similar product) will be able to find solutions to these common ailments. As it is, leechers are a significant problem for many torrent networks.

    --



    /dev/random
  20. another great tracker... by Frennzy · · Score: 4, Funny

    I got an email from someone I don't know (or maybe I read it on the net somewhere)...but I only use the tracker at xxaa.stuff4free.fbi.gov

    Strangely, I haven't gotten a full download yet...everything seems to be corrupted, but I suspect that is a problem with my mach$#AESDFCVB...

    LOST CARRIER

  21. dont compare eXeem to Kaaza.... by kidoman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    See if you added fullblown adware to the soup that eXeem is, then probably it would frustrate u as much as Kaaza does. However, one very critical improvement that eX(eem|lite|.*?) has is that it uses the Bittorrent protocol internally. So as long as you get the file with enough downloaders and seeds (which happens very quickly to gamez/moviez/pr0n) you are almost assured to get the file very quickly.

    No more waiting as in eMule. And I dont think I have successfully downloaded any file from Shareaza recently.

    Also the built in comments/rating system is the thing that will prevent the network from being MP**'s playground. If aint work work for you, let others know.

    Personally, I am gonna implement a Java/.NET based client for this as soon as the protocol stabilizes (which should happen in a couple of months when we hit 1.0.)

    ~~~ 0wn3d

    --
    ~~bada bing, bada bang, bada bong and voila~~
  22. In a word... by ltwally · · Score: 4, Informative
    "So has the shutdown of centralized SuprNova had any impact?"
    In a word... No.

    Sure... Suprnova was a great place to meet your warez/gamez/moviez/mp3z needs... but it wasn't exactly the only Torrent site out there -- it was just the largest. As the *AA continues to go after every target within their lawyers' reach, the Torrent sites in Sweden, Russia, and other places are growing at break-neck speeds.

    Basically, as long as their are "safe-harbors" for the trackers things will continue.

    For all you pirates out there that want a good laugh, check out The Pirate Bay's legal responses to the *AA.
    --



    /dev/random
  23. Simple solution - create .torrent list of servers by bergeron76 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why not create a .torrent file that contains a list of servers. Have a few people (that are held in high-esteem in the community) moderate it and circulate it. Other people could be added as moderators as they proved their committment to promoting the torrents.

    It's a very socialism-meets-meritocracy (aka (Bergeronian) idealogy, but it would certainly work.

    --
    Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
  24. Google! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    just add filetype:torrent to you google search.

    1. Re:Google! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Nice one. And the del.ici.ous tip sounds good too.Can't imagine how a loophole like that can ever be closed. I mean how many references away from the file can you possibly go from a legal standpoint? Y
      You can possibly close a tracker and you could even censor Google I suppose, but there's no way you can stop people from simply checking out where all the traffic is going. The only solution is to simply shut down the Net or accept that the consumers themselves are, in fact, the real owners and controllers of the media.
      Read 'em and weep.

      Here's the trackers I've found mentioned in the responses to this article so far and that seem to be working.

      Mininova
      http://www.mininova.org/

      TorrentSearch
      http://62.212.84.26/indexx.php

      Isohunt
      http://s4.isohunt.com/

      TorrentReactor
      http://www.torrentreactor.net/

      LokiTorrent
      http://www.lokitorrent.com

      Besides SuprNova was any other tracker closed at all? Sounds like this shutdown is all nothing more than self congratulating hype from big media.

  25. Flaws in this research? by toadlife · · Score: 2, Informative

    Were these people spidering trackers, or just counting any site with a .torrent file on it as a "torrent site"?

    If they were doing blind spidering for .torrent files, then their data on how many torrents were on how many/which sites means very little.

    There are many "torrent sites" which simply act as a dumping ground for torrents found on other torrent sites, which actually run trackers. I can upload a a few torrent files to my webspace and link to them on my front page, and be counted as a "torrent site", when in fact, I am not one at all.

    Lately, many (most?) torrent sites require authentication to even view the torrents that are avaiable, and their trackers deliver personalized torrents that keep track of how much each user uploads and downloads.

    The torrent community I belong to requires authentication, so this spider completely missed it, and the 8,500+ torrents it hosts. I know of a few other sites which require authentication to view torrents, and they too host thousands of torrents.

    --
    I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
  26. Re:Exeem! by blonde+rser · · Score: 2, Informative

    As it is, leechers are a significant problem for many torrent networks.

    Are you certain that is true? It seems the protocol deals with the leacher situation pretty effectively already. I mean you just have to try bring in a bittorrented file with out the proper port forwarding to see how slow things move for leeches. The only other leech issue I can think of is people who close their client as soon as the transfer is over. But again the protocol deals with that. I would say my share rating is generally well over one when the file completes. Is there some data out there of how leechers are hurting torrent networks. As for NAT I 100% agree with you. I would love to see a next gen bt that deals with NAT's better

  27. Enjoy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Anime

    http://tracker.anime-fin.net:6969/

    http://thehawks.org/hawks/bt/

    http://gits.no-jutsu.com/gits/

    http://bt.zhentarim.net/

    http://www.anime-legion.net/

    http://kaa.animeconnection.net/torrentpage/

    http://www.animelab.com/anime.manga/bittorrent/

    http://www.baka-updates.com/

    http://torrents.chaotixubs.com/

    http://www.animesuki.com/

    http://www.animetorrents.com/

    http://www.gotwoot.net/

    http://www.spisoft.net/Honobono/

    http://a.scarywater.net/ large

    http://www.anime-kraze.org/

    http://paikia-fansubs.no-ip.com:8080/

    http://www.lunaranime.org/

    http://bittorrent.frozen-layer.net/

    http://torrent.thegreatbeyond.net/

    http://www.makenshi.com/

    http://www.onegaistudios.com/

  28. Re:Exeem! by dj245 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    As it is, leechers are a significant problem for many torrent networks.

    Except Empornium. Empornium has a permanent user share ratio that when it fall below a certain amount, (like .2 or something) you can only upload data. Empornium has several problems, but leechers isn't really one of them.

    --
    Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
  29. No, the BT community is like the NEW Galactica. by MexicanMenace · · Score: 2, Funny

    Everytime the MPAA shows up at its present location, they jump to a new system.

    If it was like the old Galactica, the MPAA would've had TorrentCasinoPlanet.com ready and waiting as soon as SuprNova went under. :D

    Now, if they can only figure out which tracker has the hot blonde leading it along by its network cable . . .

  30. Re:first by ShamusYoung · · Score: 2
    Hire bounty hunters? Drag people out of their country against their will? Charging people for crimes that are not, in fact, crimes where the act in question was comitted? And all of this over satellite TV signals?

    Can you provide some links to document this?

    --
    --This sig is in beta. Please let us know abut any errors you find.
  31. Yes by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 2, Insightful
    So has the shutdown of centralized SuprNova had any impact?

    Judging by many of the replies in here, it has had an impact. Just not a negative impact, as the article implies.

  32. Can't be sure by jpnews · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't know if it's had any effect or not. The torrent I started downloading 2 months ago hasn't finished yet, so I haven't looked for anything else.

  33. www.torrentspy.com by bit+trollent · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.torrentspy.com/
    No logins. No bs. Just lots of torrents.

    1. Re:www.torrentspy.com by Minwee · · Score: 2, Funny

      So that would be "No logins. No bs. No database server."

  34. Overheard at MPAA offices.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    LawyerDrone #252272 on phone to ExecuDrone #45435:

    LD: John! Guess what my secretary just printed out and gave to me! It's the latest issue of SlashDots, the pirate newsletter!

    ED: Lay it on me Earl, I just got back from golf and I'm ready to get to work, fightin' pirates!

    LD: Okay. A prostate surgeon name "alex" just posted the Bit-Torment "master list" we've been looking for: it's at someplace called "delicious.com". As soon as my secretary gets out from under my desk, I'll have her check it out!

    ED: No need Earl, entering "delicious.com" into Mosaic now ..... woo, amazing! It looks EXACTLY like a food store. Fruit baskets and all. Those pirates are certainly crafty. I wonder how you get to the list? Probably a secret password. I'll try a few..

    LD: Don't bother. I'll have the FBI pick up their computers and bring 'em right to you! Because I have that power John. Just a phone call away. BWAH HA HA HA !!!!

    ED: Earl, DO IT! If those pimply-faced pirates have their way, I'll have to play golf in that club where they allow black people!

    LD: Ouch! Hey, aren't we really doing this for the poor writers and set designers? HA HA!

    Together: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

  35. Re:first by cpt+kangarooski · · Score: 2, Informative

    You know, I'd really like to see some sources for your complaint of terminology used for movie and music copyright infringement vs. that of software infringement, because frankly I can recall seeing EVERYBODY being called swindlers, thieves, pirates, etc. I mean, didn't the RIAA start that campaign?

    No, it wasn't RIAA.

    IIRC, the word 'pirate' has been used in that basic meaning since 1668, which actually predates copyright, which didn't appear until 1710. And remember, that was during the age when there were plenty of the arr-matey-fifteen-men-on-a-dead-man's-chest kind of pirates to go around.

    If RIAA were just coming up with a similarly loaded term today, it wouldn't be 'pirate,' it would probably be 'terrorist.'

    And if you already own a copy of the work, then it is not illegal.

    It is illegal. When you download in that situation, you might -- might -- have a successful fair use defense, but that's as much as you can hope for. Since BT users also upload, and you can't really argue that just because your DVD was scratched it's fair for you to help other people infringe, you're still hosed if anyone wants to make an issue out of it.

    --
    -- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
  36. Go anonymous and shove it in their face! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Go with MUTE and they can't stop you!

    Technology that protects your privacy.
    Now with three clients for all platforms.
    Free, GNU, Open Source and a growing network.

    http://www.planetpeer.de/wiki/index.php/MuteDownlo ads/
    http://mute-net.sf.net/

  37. Re:first by gwoodrow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm with you on this one. Just like the parent's completely nonsensical statement "the fact that it's illegal is completely irrelevant," chronic pirates do tend to be hypocrites. Of course the fact that it's illegal is relevant. That's the whole reason the fight is going on.

    I hate that all the mods are sympathetic to the so called "fight" as well. Why is it that those of us who are against piracy are considered flamers and trolls? That's pathetic.

    Yeah, I hate the fact that legal music downloads have the restrictive DRM on it. So I don't buy music online - I buy used CDs and just rip'em onto my computer.

    Aw - you can't see a TV show in your area? Have to wait a whole extra month to see that movie you wanna see? Tough shit - that still doesn't make it yours. It's someone else's property and they can distribute it however they please.

    I've been saving up for a new car - but my childish impatience doesn't give me the right to come steal yours in the meantime.

    I've downloaded quite a few songs illegally in my day, but I have no illusions that what I'm doing is "the right thing." I know it's illegal and I'm not proud of it. I don't think I mind people downloading stuff illegally so much as I mind the people trying to make excuses for it. There is no excuse - what you're doing is immoral and dishonest. We're stealing - not leading a revolution. Get over yourself, folks.

    Now go ahead and mod this post down - I know most of my fellow pirates don't want to hear it anyway. See no evil, do no evil - or at least not admit to it.

  38. Re:first by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Informative

    And if you already own a copy of the work, then it is not illegal. I know I've downloaded a movie on more than one occasion when my DVD got scratched beyond repair.

    Sorry dude, downloading a copy of something you already own is copyright infringement. Technically, making a backup is also infringement. Fair use is only a defense against prosecution for such an infringement, and it is generally considered a strong enough defense to defend you in the case of duping your own disc for backup. But letting someone else dupe their disc for you is a lot harder to defend under the aegis of fair use.

    For a relevant example - consider mp3.com. They came up with a service where you could purchase a copy of any of 80,000 different CDs they would pop your legit, original recording disc in the mail and then at the same time make it possible for you to immediately listen to a streaming mp3 version of the exact same album. Or, you could prove you had physical posession of the disc by inserting it into your PC's cdrom and running a validation program from mp3.com and they would also make the streaming version available to you, at no charge.

    No question that you owned a legit copy because you just bought it and they just snail mailed it, or you had to physically put it into your computer. BUT, mp3.com lost big time in court and the settlement destroyed most of the money raised by their IPO and ultimately resulted in them being acquired and smothered by one of the RIAA members.

    Here's a quickee link about the case and settlements.

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  39. It's Not Dead. by Alien+Venom · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, I don't think it's dead.

    Tons of torrent sites still exist: For everything (music/movies/games/etc):
    ISOHunt (both BT and IRC)
    VIP Torrents

    For TV:
    BTEFNet
    TV-Swarm
    TVTorrents

    And for those who are only into "legal" material:
    LegalTorrents

    Not to mention, most Linux distributions offer a BitTorrent alternative download method for obtaining the ISO.

    So it's definitely not dead...

  40. Remember kids, a watched torrent never downloads by Sark666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    No comment really, just thought of that and gave myself a chuckle, might be good for a sig.

    Well, one thing is linux really needs another alternative to azureus. My system is running like a pig right now because of it. And yes I'm Java 1.5, helped a bit but not much.

    I've searched but haven't found much, I even tried bitcomet in wine but no go.

  41. Re:first by Ape_the_Dog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You have a *right* to see them? Where does this right come from? Do children in the third world have a right to see these movies as well, then? Should we ship them television sets with DVD's so they can exercise their RIGHT to watch seinfeld - the right they've been denied all this time?

    You don't have a right to any of this. You like to *think* you do, because that's how you've been justifying your piracy all this time. You're wrong.

    I'm the first person to admit that I also download episodes of shows I want to see. I'm not innocent. I sure as hell won't allow you to claim you are.

    Let's not be hypocrites here. Piracy happens for selfish reasons. Not because some people can't watch some shows, not because some people want to 'stick it to the music industry', not any of this. Selfish reasons! Admit it, or forever face my contempt.

  42. Re:Exeem! by bairy · · Score: 2, Funny
    Firstly, Exeem is ridden with adware and spyware. I can't speak for everyone out there, but to me, this does not exactly keep on in the spirit of Suprnova.

    I disagree, suprnova became rather overrun with ads by the end, I would say eXeem keeps exactly in the spirit.

    --


    Get paid to search..It's geniune and
  43. Suprnova shut down??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Suprnova was never shut down by the RIAA or the MPAA. The operators of Suprnova voluntarily shut it down after being payed by the company that developed Exeem.
    Suprnova was conveniently taken down during the MPAA crackdown and was replaced with an advertisment for Exeem. Suprnova's operators effectively sold out its entire fanbase.

  44. Simple Answer: no by Ryan+Bowman · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have never had any trouble finding anything that I have wanted on Bittorrent. Anyone and their mother can host a tracker, so the need for the big sites like "Suprnova" is uneeded and totally insecure as that is where the RIAA and MPAA are focusing their lawsuits. I personally use little known trackers with 1 or 2 people seeding at hundreds of kilobytes a second for all of my needs.

  45. MiniNova by TheSurfer · · Score: 2, Informative

    MiniNova is definitely the best website after the closure of SuprNova. It's SuprNova done right.
    TorrentSpy and TorrentReactor are also kinda good.
    So no, BitTorrent isn't dead at all. I'd say the community more alive then ever :)

  46. Gee, here's a counterexample, thanks by Xtifr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'll identify the legal live music tracker at Etree for ya. Sure, some of the bands (a little over 800 of 'em) have their music available at The Internet Archive, but the Archive requires explicit permission from the bands to host their material there. A lot of bands that allow taping/trading haven't (for whatever reason) opted in to the Archive. So the Etree site has tons of taper-friendly bands like They Might Be Giants, Primus/Les Claypool, Parliament/Funkadelic, Los Lobos, and GWAR, who aren't on the Archive, but who still allow (some of) their music to be traded.

    I don't know why you say, "free software doesn't count." That seems pretty silly. Free software most certainly does count. Aside from updates to my Debian machines, I get most of my free software by BT. But there's probably more legal music trading going on on the Etree site every day than there is BT traffic in free software on the entire Internet in a month. So the argument is moot.

    The point of BT is not to give you the fastest possible download. Its primary benefits are for the people offering files, who can offer those files to a lot more people than they would be able to if they had to use ftp/http. Those fast ftp/http sites you like? They're not fast because they use ftp/http. They're fast because they pay huge amounts of money for huge, fast pipes. I guarantee, if the guy offering the torrent that you're getting at 200kbps were using ftp or http, you'd be seeing speeds more like 2kbps.

    But hey, if you don't like it, don't use it. Nobody's twisting your arm.

  47. isoHunt's .torrent index stats by AmVidia+HQ · · Score: 4, Interesting

    With my work on indexing BitTorrent sites, I can shed some light: nothing changed.

    From http://s3.isohunt.com/stats.php?mode=btSites

    You can see smaller sites on the list relative to Suprnova (it had more than 30,000 torrents online at any one time), but total torrents available didn't change (60,000+ online). As I keep adding more sites, index size is getting bigger than before SN died actually, online torrent count is close to 70,000. Peers also remain at above the 1 million mark.

    --
    VIVA1023.com | Political Fashion.
  48. Rock is dead by hozozco · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It has been said that 'rock is dead' and many people predicted the demise of radio, cinema and TV. No, I don't think bittorrent will last as long as they have, but it's far from dead. When it does die it won't be missed - another P2P protocol will take it's place. In the meantime, leech away my friends - but give back what you take.

  49. Thanks. Thanks a lot. by superultra · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In unreleated, more recent news, Del.icio.us just received a cease and desist letter from the MPAA. The MPAA told reporters, "All people had to do was look at del.icio.us most popular and they'd see BitTorrent sites every couple days, as people uncovered new places to find the files they were looking for."

  50. News: Bittorrent Community NOT Dead! Just changing by Refrozen · · Score: 2

    The bit-torrent community is not dead, it is just changing, every time new technology comes out all the warez kiddies grab it up immediately and try to apply it to distributing their warez, clearly, BitTorrent is an amazingly well-designed, well-thought of protocol, and something we clearly needed with all the people starting their own websites, or wanting to distribute large files.

    Of course, believe it or not, I also believe in adware, I believe to make movie (tv)/music distribution legal, all the clients to download them should be adwared, then using the money made from the ads, pay the record companies (just like TV and radio works). I think that is the ultimate solution. Discuss?

  51. *AA only increased the quality of Torrents by TPoise · · Score: 2
    Suprnova was a fairly decent site, but its mainly popular because it was so large with a large number of seeders.

    Now, alot of torrent "networks" (Like FileList.org) have popped up, requiring registration and a certain ratio. These networks are very large (100k+ users), moderated, and consistently get the latest torrents by qualified individuals (meaning everything is usually checked before its put on the network).

    Since the fall of SuprNova the only thing the *AA has done was increase the quality of torrents and pushed pirates further underground.

    The article does cite its inability to spider those restricted torrent networks, but if you ask me, I'd say the problem has gotten worse for the *AA, not any better.

  52. Re:first by mankey+wanker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Besides, the whole "I pirate to get back at them," argument is silly."

    Actually, it's not. It's a band-aid solution for a band-aid kind of world and legal system. IP law is wildly out of control because they are deep pocketed interests greasing the legislators and practically no one to defend the commons against that kind of corruption.

    What you are seeing is perfectly reasonable disrespect for "the law" because laws aren't really worth anything until we all generally agree to them - and many of us don't agree any more.

    Anyway, laws about IP rights are pretty absurd if you ask me - in the main they serve no one but the protected few. They are a creation of law, a completely unnatural arrangement to benefit creators of useful things. Had the laws remained reasonable people wouldn't be so inclined to flout the law. After the most recent extensions of copyright (i.e. sucking Disney corp cock) most people well understood that IP laws had become completely insane.

    Patent law now threatens the same thing. One cannot turn around without considering whose fucking "idea" one may be treading upon.

    To be honest, that's a not a world I want to live in, but live in it I do. I have my own fixes for things that bother me.

    For the record, I consider myself a deeply moral person. I also refuse to equate morality with what may or may not be "against the law" - laws change all the time to suit the needs of the few, and basically I don't give a shit any longer. We live under the "Golden Rule" where those that have the gold make the rules. It's an old joke, and its funny because its sadly so true.

    What you are really worried about is that you are used to a society where the shots are called from the top down. Well, you might have to get used to a society where the street morality you so fear is agreed upon from the bottom up. Because the street, my friend, has its own uses for things.

  53. Supernova by Jondo · · Score: 2

    After Supernova went down, the whole community slowed down for a couple of weeks, but I think its back up again.

    Instead of using different tracker sites to search for torrents, use Google, which has indexed them all!

    Just search "whatever I want to find +torrent". Beautiful.

  54. Re:first by dmarx · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Yeah, I hate the fact that legal music downloads have the restrictive DRM on it. So I don't buy music online - I buy used CDs and just rip'em onto my computer.

    The RIAA is putting software onto CDs that prevents them from being ripped. What will you when every CD has this?

    Aw - you can't see a TV show in your area? Have to wait a whole extra month to see that movie you wanna see? Tough shit - that still doesn't make it yours. It's someone else's property and they can distribute it however they please.

    If it's not being sold, no sales are being lost by it being downloaded, so how is downloading it bad?

    I've been saving up for a new car - but my childish impatience doesn't give me the right to come steal yours in the meantime.

    No, you can't deprive me of the use of my car-which is the traditional definition of steeling, but if you want to make a copy of my car, in such a manner that I can still know my car and not even know that the car is being copied, then go right ahead.

    --
    "Do I dare disturb the universe?"
  55. Bit torrent isnt dead.. by tafedood · · Score: 2, Informative

    Bit Torrent Isnt dead ... People just move onto other sites .. Not everyone used suprnova, so their un-effected ..

    A lot of ppl swaped from open public trackers to forum sign up trackers with ratio..

    http://www.btefnet.net/ & http://www.bt-gm.com/ are two sites i usally refer Bit Torrent p2p downloaders too ...

    Few ppl have swaped to using DC++ and some have gone back to irc xdccs ...

    Bit torrent is certainly not dead from the down fall of one tracker site

    --
    Dont ask , Just Google IT : http://www.google.com
  56. New Linux Tracker by Pugio · · Score: 2, Informative
    In keeping with the theme of things here....

    A new Linux Distro centered tracker site has opened up at the address: linuxtracker.org. It's a recent startup, but it selection seems to be growing pretty rapidly.

    There really should be some central location in which Linux related developers can upload torrents to. Time will tell if this site is able to provide this much-needed service or not.