Slashdot Mirror
Legal Torrent Sites Help Legitimize BitTorrent
Jeff writes "In today's Seattle Times, technology columnist Paul Andrews highlights how legal torrent sites such as CommonBits may lead to wider adoption and acceptance of BitTorrent. With reports that illegal torrent usage may be more than a third of Internet traffic, sites like LegalTorrents, Torrentocracy, Prodigem and bt.etree may offer a compelling defense to future legal attacks while simultaneously promoting fair use rights. Andrews goes on to argue that the future of television may be no further away than integration of podcasting, RSS, tagging and BlogTorrent."
Doesn't that imply that the mere (former) existence of sites like Lokitorrent and Suprnova was illegal?
I'm not sure if that was ever decided by a court - rather it appears that scare tactics caused them to be shut down. For that reason, I personally don't feel comfortable declaring linking to content hosted on other systems illegal.
I'm a big tall mofo.
It only takes 1 illegal site to put BitTorrent in the crosshairs of the *AA groups. In fact, the fact that we are celebrating some legal sites speaks volumes to where BitTorrent currently stands.
But is be legal to download anything that I'm ever going to have any interest in?
I somehow doubt that the content of these sites, and by extension the sites themselves, are going to be popular in the long run.
Just to state the bleeding obvious, of course.
Examples like this can only help the cause, though I'm not sure by how much.
I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
With reports that illegal torrent usage may be more than a third of Internet traffic, sites like LegalTorrents, Torrentocracy, Prodigem and bt.etree may offer a compelling defense to future legal attacks
MPAA: I'm suing you for you website with links to Torrents of all our movies.
Pirate: Look, that other site over there offers torrents of non-infringing material.
Court: Because other people are using torrents lawfully, this guy can pirate all he likes. Case dismissed.
With reports that illegal torrent usage may be more than a third of Internet traffic
The reports state that BitTorrent use may be more than a third of Internet traffic. They don't state that illegal BitTorrent use may be more than a third of Internet traffic.
You've just gone and assumed that BitTorrent is exclusively illegal, while moaning about the fact that others do it too. Way to go, dickhead.
Get it from http://www.bittorrent.com.
The license has changed to the BitTorrent Open Source License
Release Notes:
The only problem with "legitimizing" bittorrent's image is that, as a protocol, it's still the most popular one for illega filesharing. We admins quite frankly don't give one hoot about its benign uses: we KNOW that the second we stop filtering BT traffic, our bandwidth usage is gonna go up.
------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
I missed last week's episode of Lost. None of my friends had recorded it so I found the torrent and downloaded it. Hurley's crazy. Anyway, I would rather have gone to the ABC site, paid like a $1 or something, and downloaded it from them. I want to support stuff I find interesting but there is no way to do that with TV episodes. What do I do, wait for the DVD next year? Please. ABC and the like could use BitTorrent to distribute Pay Per View content. I'd like that very much.
Speak truth to power.
they got slashdotted already :/
anybody got a torrent?
With reports that illegal torrent usage may be more than a third of Internet traffic...
Sorry, but how the hell are the people who come up with the numbers able to differentiate between legal and illegal torrents?
First of all, how do you tell between traffic that's due to Linux ISOs and traffic that's due to the latest movie release? Secondly, how do you differentiate between copying of material that may be legal in one country and copying of the same material that may be illegal in another one?
I'm not saying that legal torrent usage is greater than illegal torrent usage (any more than I would say that more drivers stick to speed limits than break them) but it seems to me that there's no real way of differentiating between the two, so all those reports are arguably just speculation.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
So any legal material that doesn't fit their leftist worldview will be censored... how nice...
No, you idiot, it will just fail to be promoted by this site. There is a big difference. You can do the same kind of thing with your right-wing attack site if you so wish. At the least you can agree that there is a market for news for leftists (whatever "leftist" means - in the USA it apparently means anyone who is not a rabid neocon)
What I want to see is for this to have no biases
So make your own. The existence of this site doesn't stop you doing that, and good luck; you'll need it in heaps. Unbiased news is very difficult, arguably impossible.
I want no political slanting of what gets in, I would far rather it be noted for the fairness of their coverage.
Try the BBC, it comes close.
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog
Slackware has been using BitTorrent for a while now. You have the option of using that, or the normal download methods. You can visit them here.
I've seen many other legitimate uses for BitTorrent, since there are a lot of things to download that are of considerable size.
Guns are sometimes used to commit crimes, yet we do not outlaw them. Bongs are being sold at the local Waterbeds N Stuff. Knives that aren't practical for neither hunting or home protection can be purchased in lots of places. Why should software be any different?
And they said zombies weren't real!
I downloaded the fairly recent Unreal Tournament patch yesterday from 3D Gamers here and their "World" download is a .torrent. When download sites like these start using BitTorrent, I really think it has become a mainstream technology.
I also downloaded the Linux version of the same patch.
Needless to say, the Windows version downloaded at 200+ KB / sec, and the Linux version was restricted by their slightly loaded server at ~80 KB / sec.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Instead of saying , the MPAA this, the MPAA that have you ever tried sending them an email and actually asking them what their position is? Jesus it takes someone as stupid as me to make an informed post.
Dear Oliver,
Thanks for your e-mail.
While Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks allow for a great deal of opportunity
for distribution of entertainment, P2P networks unfortunately enable
massive amounts of pirate activity.
When people upload or download others' copyrighted works, that is, in
fact, illegal. There is nothing illegal about P2P technologies, if
you're sharing work that you have the rights to share. But, most
commercial works you find available on P2P networks (e.g., albums you
find in stores, movies you find in theatres or stores) were not posted
there legally.
It is only this illegal activity that the MPAA is fighting against. We
will continue to embrace technology and the opportunities it offers
responsible citizens using it legally.
Thanks again for writing, and please let me know if you have additional
questions.
Anne
thank God the internet isn't a human right.