Australian P2P Sites Disappear Overnight

An anonymous reader writes "In the wake of a raid on an Australian ISP, local P2P site operators are shutting down operations in droves, according to community site Whirlpool. The raid was the result of an investigation by Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI), who claim they have a number of targets lined up for future raids. Overnight, a number of sites have shut down or been shut down, and ISPs are reporting major drops in bandwidth usage."

Comments

Dang It!

[vjmurphy]

I was nearly finished downloading the complete works of Olivia Newton John and that new Men at Work greatest hits reissue. Now where will I turn to for my Australian pop song downloads?

Re:Dang It!

[3terrabyte]

Yea, it's legal, but is ain't a hundred percent legal. I mean you can't walk into an internet cafe, boot your laptop, and start downloadin' away. You're only supposed to download in your home or certain designated places.

It breaks down like this: it's legal to buy it, it's legal to own it and, if you're the proprietor of the CD, it's legal to sell it. It's legal to carry it, which doesn't really matter 'cause -- get a load of this -- if the cops stop you, it's illegal for them to search you. Searching you is a right that the cops in America don't have.

Next: Legal Defense Fund

[bigtallmofo]

Not everyone is rolling over to MIPI, however. The administrator of one site has vowed to seek legal advice as a result of MIPI's enquiries into the legality of his operations.

I think I know the drill here. Set up a legal defense fund, collect tens of thousands of dollars and then disappear.

We shall go on to the end,

[t_allardyce]

..we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the web and P2P, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the wireless networks, we shall defend our warez, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight in the bedrooms, we shall fight on the internet cafes, we shall fight in the universities and in the schools, we shall fight in the ISPs; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this filesharing or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our warez beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the Chinese hackers, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World.mp3, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the RIAA.

Draconian business practices

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm appalled that the MAPI chose to take this action, but even more shocking is that the provincial government of the Republic of Australia, is willing to play the role of jack-booted enforcers.

Before you know it, other Australian territories like Fiji or New Zealand will be cracking down on P3P sites. I will no longer do business with Australian web sites.

At least there is hope in that the House of Commons in Melbourne is debating applying the CD levy towards the MAPI demands.

Which is nice.

Free the bandwidth!

[datafr0g]

Free the bandwidth from these Dr Who leak downloading bandwidth wasters and speed up my number of Slashdot homepage refreshes per second, while I wait for the next story to be posted!

Well...

[Grendel Drago]

... if they were Germans, they were right.

--grendel drago

Re:Anti-piracy may hurt ISP business?

[smooth wombat]

Geek: I invented a program that downloads porn off the internet one million times faster.

Marge: Does anyone need that much porno?

Homer: (drooling) One million times...

Re:Good ridence-P2P refugees.

[Shajenko42]

Econ 101 and some business sense tells you that the more people you spread the cost around, the cheaper overall it is for everyone. Less people, higher cost per an individual.

Maybe you should have stayed in until Econ 102, where they discuss cartels and monopolies.