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BitTorrent's Loss is eDonkey's Gain?

MrAndrews writes "According to this BBC article, users in South Korea, Italy, Germany and Spain are using BitTorrent less frequently these days, after lawsuits by the movie industry. However: "While the use of BitTorrent has fallen, file sharers have moved to an alternative network called eDonkey". "

95 of 437 comments (clear)

  1. This is news? by thc69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was under the impression that eDonkey is what everybody uses for file sharing these days, and that BitTorrent was mostly used for software distribution (Free and Open Source, mostly).

    --
    Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
    1. Re:This is news? by PsychicX · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In other news, the MPAA, RIAA, and similar organizations are still stumbling around like friggin morons, trying to kill all file sharing because it is fundamentally evil. God fobrbid they change their business model to avoid becoming obsolete.

    2. Re:This is news? by xtracto · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Indeed, I was using Emule/ed2k network to download long before the Bittorrent / The Piratebay et. al. anwhere available, Personally I find more things on the Ed2k networks...
      As an example, there is NO WAY you can find a movie called "Rojo Amanecer" (mexican movie abou the October 2nd massacre in Tlatelolco) on any torrent, but it is available on Emule.

      I also used sometime Winmx, that was when I was looking for the digital version of back iusses of the GAme developers Magazine which I could not find on emule (less on bittorrent of course) and I think some japanesse or chinesse had it on WinMX because it was there. These days, I could find only the CD 2 of those archives.

      --
      Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
    3. Re:This is news? by Evil+Grinn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      eMule/aMule/etc. are much cooler

      Cooler still is M.U.L.E..

    4. Re:This is news? by Guspaz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I've tried giving eMule a whirl, but unfortunately after spending an enormous amount of time trying to both get it working, and once working, actually download files, I've come to the conclusion that it is best relegated to only rare files that can't be found on better services such as BitTorrent.

      My main complaints:

      1) Setup and use is much too confusing. While BitTorrent has streamlined the process by integrating such things as the "server" (tracker) into the torrent file, eMule tries to manage a list of servers, and doesn't seem to do a very good job of it.

      2) It doesn't "just work". Getting your client to connect to the kademlia network is a nightmare, and after the client launches, IF you have previously been on the network, you CAN expect it to connect. Eventually. Azureus, on the other hand, connects to it's Kademlia network in under a minute, and it works every time. Azureus can also use UPnP to autoconfigure your router for BitTorrent use.

      3) Downloads are slow. I thought I had left behind queues back in the days of fserves and Kazaa. There is nothing like having a file sit at 0% for several days because all the clients that have the file report that their queues are full. BitTorrent's method of isolating client instances into seperate swarms has eliminated this problem. Some clients, such as Azureus, have support for multiple swarms in one client instance, but ensure that each swarm is being properly handled, unlike eMule and it's queues (and queue limits).

      4) It is hard to search. If I do a search one minute on eMule, and then try a minute later, I get quite different search results, and most of the results have very few peers. With BitTorrent, I frequent the few search sites that I use, and get consistant, fast search results. Usually what I want to download has quite a few peers.

      5) eMule "swarms" have tons of useless peers. People who are leeching, or have full queues, or long queues, or are seeding too many files. In a BitTorrent swarm, EVERYBODY is uploading, because if they don't, nobody is going to upload to them, and they aren't going to get very far. BitTorrent users also tend to be dealing with less files at once (Such as only one or two), so they can "concentrate" on those files. An eMule client could be seeding hundreds or thousands of files.

      I will give eMule one thing, it DOES have a lot of rare stuff. It's very hard to download, as I spent a week downloading a 90MB file, but it was sufficiently rare that it was worth it. I will continue to use eMule for when I just can't find what I'm looking for elsewhere, but for more popular files, BitTorrent is a heck of a lot faster.

      The only real advantage of eMule, as I see it, other than having rare files, is that it is a tad more decentralized. Yes, it still has central servers which isn't, but a client can rely entirely on the Kademlia network (considering he can get the bloody thing bootstrapped with no servers). BitTorrent doesn't quite work like this yet. Trackers are now optional due to Azureus's own Kademlia network, and many torrents don't include a tracker at all (Of course this makes them azureus-only since no other BT client has a kademlia implementation that is compatible, or as good). BitTorrent still, no matter what else, requires a source of Torrent files, and that is usually going to be a web site.

      I suppose that technically there is no reason that torrent files couldn't be served up via Azureus's kademlia network... I'm not sure I want that to happen though, as the centralized source that is websites like TorrentSpy and PirateBay just work faster and more reliably than decentralized search solutions. Still, in a pinch...

    5. Re:This is news? by geekee · · Score: 2, Funny

      "In other news, the MPAA, RIAA, and similar organizations are still stumbling around like friggin morons, trying to kill all file sharing because it is fundamentally evil. God fobrbid they change their business model to avoid becoming obsolete."

      In other news, Congress repeals all laws regarding theft. Shopowners are told that shoplifting is now legal, and they should change their obsolete business model.

      --
      Vote for Pedro
    6. Re:This is news? by LordoftheWoods · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Thats an interesting thought, but pretty dumb on the FSF's part if true. Sounds kind of fishy to me. Why would the FSF care about the welfare of a filesharing network? The hardcoded download/upload rate ratio is an incrediably naive way to encourage contribution. The way Bittorent works (the whole choak/snub/blah system) is far superior and doesn't depend on some misguided trust that all clients will enforce the ratio.

      Regardless, the ed2k network has been around for ages. I'd prefer all you attention-grabbing movie pirates go somewhere else rather than making ed2k the next target of the MPAA. The ed2k client/server model is much more centralized than bittorent, so it is naturally unsuited to low-profile filesharing. Instead of tracking down any one of the million tiny bittorent trackers they would just need to connect to one of the public ed2k servers for a list of files being shared. In short, it is much _easier_ for them to find you here. You made the wrong choice. Go away.

    7. Re:This is news? by irw · · Score: 3, Informative
      eMule does not pander to the "I want it NOW!" attitude.

      I'm not going to answer every point, because there's far too much, and it strikes me that you know very little about emule/ed2k and haven't tried very hard to find out.

      1) Setup and use is much too confusing.

      Confusing? How? Did you examine the guide at emule-project.net? Or are you just assuming that because BitTorrent (BT) does everything for you emule will do the same?

      ...eMule tries to manage a list of servers, and doesn't seem to do a very good job of it.

      Substantiate and justify this please. (Lists of servers are largely irrelevant. One server with a large number of users is enough. See +++ below.)

      2) It doesn't "just work". Getting your client to connect to the kademlia network is a nightmare, ...

      Kademlia (kad) is fully p2p, no servers. You need previously-known contacts to connect. Every time you download or upload a file part from/to a client which *is* on kad, your client records that person as a contact. When you start off, you have no contacts, you need to be patient, and in any case you dont have to use kad.

      For the server method, you only *need* one server to start - your client will learn about other servers +++ from other clients as you exchange file parts. You can *google* for server lists too, if you must. There may even be a server list linked from emule-project.net

      3) Downloads are slow.

      Downloads are not *instant*. Yes, there is the queuing system. Please explain to me why you should jump ahead of everyone else who is already waiting for a file? The source's bandwidth is a limited resource. emule slices by time, I'm guessing BT slices by speed. Incidentally, if you are downloading a large, popular file, receiving several parts are once, emule can really eat bandwidth. It comes down to the number of people sharing a file, ultimately.

      4) It is hard to search.

      At least it *has* a built-in search facility. Different search results are caused by the nature of the search mechanism (more so for kad). The search is *not* an index (unlike, say, google). Also, emule tends not to do a full search if it quickly finds >50 unique matches. And the total number of unique matches is limited to 300. With BT, you're searching (fixed) index sites. emule has equivalents, such as the-realworld, osloskop, osiolek, if you care to look.

      As a side note, the very presence of a file in an emule-visible place on your computer means it can be found by someone else through a search, by just the filename. By contrast with BT (I believe) if someone doesnt have a .torrent for a file AND publish it via some *non-BT* method, such as a website, you cant ever get at a file being shared. That is, ed2k provides a way to get the filehash (torrent) without *having* the filehash.

      5) eMule "swarms" have tons of useless peers....In a BitTorrent swarm, EVERYBODY is uploading

      You cant upload before you have parts of the file *to* upload, true of emule and BT. And with emule you *must* share/upload those parts you already have. The emule credit system promotes (through queues) those who upload (RTFM for details). You *could* modify a client to *not* upload, but it would hurt you, because you'll sit in queues for longer. Incidentally, emule doesnt have "swarms" per se. Overnet did.

      Until *you* have parts of a file to upload, *you* are a "useless peer". "Useless peers" cease to be useless when they acquire file parts.

      ...seeding too many files...I will give eMule one thing, it DOES have a lot of rare stuff.

      You dont think these two are connected? People *still* sharing things they got >6 months ago while downloading other things? (There is also no "seeding" per se on emule.)

      I spent a week downloading a 90MB file,...

      (sarcasm) You novice! (/sarcasm) Think for a minute about the bandwidth of the person(s) w

  2. don't spoil it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    shhhhhh

  3. Pffft eDonkey by roman_mir · · Score: 4, Funny

    I moved from bittorrent to IRC. Now that's progress!

    1. Re:Pffft eDonkey by masklinn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hah, I moved from Bittorent to newsgroups, THAT is what I call progress !

      --
      "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
    2. Re:Pffft eDonkey by squoozer · · Score: 2, Funny

      I moved from BitTorrent to writting the ones and zeros down on bits of paper and posting them to people. That really is progress.

      --
      I used to have a better sig but it broke.
    3. Re:Pffft eDonkey by Doctor+O · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, there are lots of people who believe that this is a "brand new way of downloading". Of course, those are of the kind who came on the net when DSL was available and who have their machines on 24/7 just to download movies and music they'll never get to watch and listen to in their lifetimes.

      I've given up on downloading years ago. I just don't care enough to wait days for downloads to complete and find out how to a) uncompress the shitty, obscure compression format du jour and b) how to convert the shitty, obscure codec du jour junk to something usable (or even just *play* it). Plus, if you factor in all associated cost like DSL and flat rate fees and electricity, that makes for a whole bunch of DVDs you can rent or CDs you can buy.

      --
      Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
  4. Funny... by darkitecture · · Score: 3, Informative

    Funny... it was because of increased legal activity that I moved from eDonkey to BitTorrent.

    ...and started using PeerGuardian.

    1. Re:Funny... by imogthe · · Score: 2, Informative

      I tried methlabs' http://methlabs.org/projects/peerguardian-linuxosx / but it almost brought my box to a grinding halt while loading some 18.000 rules into iptables. After that the box was virtually useless as the load average was around 20.0!
      The blurb on the methlab site advertises a very low CPU usage, but that's obviously only for the PG software itself as all the work seems to be done by iptables... YMMV.

    2. Re:Funny... by darkitecture · · Score: 4, Informative


      PeerGuardian 1.x was known to 'occasionally' balloon with its CPU usage from time to time, which was a shame. PeerGuardian2 is just fine though; been running it for at least six months (iirc) and never had it higher than 1%.

    3. Re:Funny... by TheRealJFM · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yep, as the coder of the original PGLinux (a bash/perl script that imported the rules into iptables I can offically say that it sucked, and although it ran ok on my machine it still sucked. it just sucked slightly less than the previous "Linux PeerGuardians which just ran a long list of bash commands, while this version used iptables-restore to import a list of rules, which is IN THEORY (if iptables wasn't somewhat poorly planned for this purpose) much faster.

      However that was *over a year* ago - we picked up 2 new major contributors and the copy you see on that page is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT VERSION, written in C/C++ that uses ip_queue to filter the traffic.

      The script was a thing I posted on our Forums, was never posted on the front page (to my memory).

      Try it, you'll see it's a lot better.

      This should give you an idea of the CPU usage:

      root 5729 0.0 0.4 13312 2196 ? Sl 12:00 0:00 peerguardnf -d -c

      Still incomplete, but I'm sure some more work will bring it up to the standard of the Windows version.

      That said, the safety of Bittorrent over eDonkey is questionable, I'd say that neither is safer than the other. A big dose of common sense is helpful in both situations - stay away from suspicious torrents and servers.

      Just look at some friendly *MediaSentry* owned eDonkey servers - http://blocklist.org/ip/1143410646

      We're not totally sure what they're being used for, but I imagine setting up their own servers allows them to keep logs far more easily, although they'll still have to get some data from you for it to stand up in court.

      --
      Joseph Farthing
      http://josephfarthing.com
  5. Funny... by cecille · · Score: 2, Funny

    I moved from eDonkey / eMule to bit torrent...Is it back in style again?

    --
    ...no two people are not on fire.
  6. You'd have thought by Ixne · · Score: 5, Funny


    ... that the movie industry moguls had played Whack-a-Mole at the amusement parks before and learned something. Guess not.

    1. Re:You'd have thought by tyllwin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It *is* like whack-a-mole, isn't it?

      Anyway, I thought the algorithm of the moment was "If it's popular, torrent it, use emule if it's rare (and be prepared for it to take forever.)'

    2. Re:You'd have thought by computational+super · · Score: 2, Funny
      like police departments and burgerly

      Hmmm... yes, I've seen a lot of "burgerly" police officers, but most of them are more "donutly" in my experience.

      --
      Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
  7. How long is this going to go on? by Anakron · · Score: 2

    How long is it going to be before the *AA realises that suing everybody they can see isn't working? Cat and mouse game indeed.

    --
    There are 11 types of people. Those who understand binary, those who don't and those who are sick of this lame joke.
  8. decentralised? by b100dian · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is a decentralised file-sharing network, where files are not stored on a central server..

    The most widely used ed2k server software is Lugdunum, although MLDonkey provides an open source alternative...(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/eDonke y_Network)

    Doesn't seems more decentralised than bittorrent to me..

    --
    gtkaml.org
  9. Legit or not? by Speare · · Score: 2, Interesting
    If the previous uses of [insert your old P2P tech here] were valid according to the laws of the country in question, then the movie industry should be smacked out of court and life moves on.

    If the previous uses of that technology were not valid according to the laws of the country in question, then the people who are sourcing the illicit data should be smacked around in court and life moves on.

    If you don't like those terms, stay the fuck away from data that you don't have a legal right to transfer, and produce more original data which will have the transfer rights (public domain, creative commons, gpl, whatever) you prefer.

    This has NOTHING to do with the trend to replace [insert your old P2P tech here] with [insert your new P2P tech here].

    --
    [ .sig file not found ]
    1. Re:Legit or not? by orzetto · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Are you saying that because Jack the Ripper used a scalpel, my surgeon has to operate me with a spoon? That since crackers use Linux, we should forbid it (yay, forbid computers altogether!)? That since speeders use cars, we all have to walk only? That since Lucrezia Borgia poisoned people, we should ban chemistry?

      Get the difference: there can be uses and abuses of the same thing.

      --
      Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
  10. Where did you live... by LaserTank2005 · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...the last 4 years? That sounds if nobody ever heard of the ed2k network - now known as eMule / Kademlia...

    1. Re:Where did you live... by Jugalator · · Score: 4, Informative

      That sounds if nobody ever heard of the ed2k network - now known as eMule / Kademlia.

      eMule is a popular client supporting the eDonkey network.

      eDonkey2000 is the official eDonkey client.

      eMule also supports the decentralized Kad network, which is a Kademlia implementation.

      The official BT client also use a Kademlia algorithm for its trackerless torrents, along with Azureus. No implementations are necessarily compatible.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  11. In other news by BlackCobra43 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Confused, the MPAA and RIAA have begun massively suing farms all across America.

    --
    I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
  12. You can't kill the nature of internet :) by Programmer_In_Traini · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This just shows that no matter what the people in legal suits do, they can't kill the sharing ... they cannot kill the internet RAWRR!! :-p

    Seriously, for any network they "shut down" 10 new will popup. The reason for that is that its hard to prove that they're used only for illegal file sharing, many like, BitTorrents and other havea very legitimate use.

    But, that's what makes the world go round these days and lawyers are all the more happy because that's more money in their pockets.

    --
    If you look like your passport photo, you're too ill to travel. - Will Kommen
  13. quality over quantity by Janitha · · Score: 4, Informative

    One might say that bit torrent is losing ground, but in what sense? The number of GB moving back and forth? the number of times you use it everyday for same purpose? Files found on bit torrent tend to be of higher quality and larger size compared to those found in eDonkey network? eDonkey network has files from 1K to several gigs. And torrent files also usually tend to be more legit than those found in eDonkey (as in falsely named, not always but sometimes and corrupt). So it could be that people are using torrents to download a movie using one step, compared to in eDonkey them having to download several copies at a time or simply redownloading since the first copy that was downloaded was not the right one. And admit it, the process for downloading a movie in both these networks are simple, but eDonkey is defintly easier (I don't think so, but many others do) so wouldn't the majority simply choose the easier one?

    1. Re:quality over quantity by MBGMorden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      eDonkey tends to have more persistent files. With a tracker you usually end up with a Window of but so long before either the tracker expires or all the seders remove it in favor of other files.

      With the ed2k network, you find many more people who simply share out certain directories, so that those files are available whenever they're online, and for a very long period.

      As such, I find the eMule is a MUCH better place to look for less popular things.

      The drawback is that ed2k is usually a much slower way to get something. I usually see transfer rates around 15KB/s on Bittorrent, with a fast/popular file sometimes reaching around 100KB/s. When using eMule I usually see speeds closer to 4KB/s, with a really fast file sometimes hitting 20KB/s. Usually downloading a large file is a matter of hours on Bittorrent and a matter of days on eMule.

      I use both quite a bit myself, but I think that I use eMule a bit more.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  14. eDonkey by Eminence · · Score: 5, Informative

    What I don't get is why the post doesn't provide link to some information about eDonkey network and some clients to use. I know it can be found on the Net within seconds, but why not make the article more useful.

  15. Being #1 is good? by Winterblink · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would hardly call being the #1 filesharing network a "gain", with the ??AA's being all lawsuity.

    --
    "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
    -Hoban Washburn
  16. They're moving on? by __aanmdr9234 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let me get this straight - these people are moving ON to edonkey/emule? Most people who do filesharing started off on eDonkey and then switched to Bittorrent for the speeds it offered.

  17. Every movie recently released is secretly porn by Mr+Guy · · Score: 5, Funny

    At least, that was the impression I came to after I tried to use eDonkey for a while. After a half dozen or so downloads, I finally said screw it and went to Blockbuster.

    I figure, in a way, I'm doing Blockbuster a favor. I typically watch movies only once or twice, so I'm just taking their "No Late Fees" policy to the extreme. They are pretty clear that the return refers to the rental, and doesn't terminate your right to view. So I figure as long as I don't distribute I can maintain a moral ambiguity long enough to justify ripping the movie and returning it, on time, to watch when it's more convenient. That way, unlike with a movie purchase, they have the hard copy to rent to someone else, and it's back in the store the day. As long as I don't distribute, it seems to be exactly the same as established precedent law on time shifting.

    Flawed logic, perhaps, but a nifty bit of justification I'd say.

    1. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by MisterMurphy · · Score: 3, Funny

      That sure was a lot of fancy words. I'm sold.

    2. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by masklinn · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I figure, in a way, I'm doing Blockbuster a favor. I typically watch movies only once or twice, so I'm just taking their "No Late Fees" policy to the extreme. They are pretty clear that the return refers to the rental, and doesn't terminate your right to view. So I figure as long as I don't distribute I can maintain a moral ambiguity long enough to justify ripping the movie and returning it, on time, to watch when it's more convenient. That way, unlike with a movie purchase, they have the hard copy to rent to someone else, and it's back in the store the day. As long as I don't distribute, it seems to be exactly the same as established precedent law on time shifting.

      Your behaviour is probably Bad© and AntiAmerican©, if not CommieAnarchistLibertarian© for US standards, but it's been ruled as perfectly legal in France, and therefore would probably be in most of Europe.

      --
      "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
    3. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by bradbeattie · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think that's what personal use comes down to. Imagine the following scenario in the fantastic world of 2029! People have the ability to record any stimuli that they experience, record it and play it back at a later date. If we have that ability, what right does anyone have to my experiences? I can relive that moment in the movie theatre, listening to that song, etc. Now take that as an analogy to today's content-providing world. Do content distributors have the right to tell me not to reminisce on the movie I saw last week? 'Course not. If I had perfect memory, I could relive it too.

    4. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by goldspider · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Flawed logic, perhaps, but a nifty bit of justification I'd say."

      Thanks for giving the RIAA/MPAA justification. Take notice, Slashbots. The parent post is a perfect example of why media industries regard their "customers" with such distrust.

      --
      "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
    5. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by Mr+Guy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Thanks for giving the RIAA/MPAA justification.
      Actually, before you level an accusation like that, you'd need to point how how my logic is flawed. Blockbuster makes the same money they would otherwise, thus the MPAA makes the same money they would otherwise, and I watch the movie when it's convenient. I can't see how this is illegal, except for the fact I have to use deCSS to do it. I don't even make a perfect digital copy, which was part of the stipulation of the Sony Beta case. I make a reduced quality copy.

      The only thing I have telling me it's "wrong" is some vague sense of the RIAA/MPAA wanting me to officially "buy" a copy of it. I can't even put my finger on the law that would make it "wrong" (Again, other than the DMCA). It would seem to my untrained nonlegal mind that the Supreme Court would uphold my right to make a reduced quality backup for the purpose of time shifting. Reading Blockbuster's membership terms, I can't even find where they say I'm prohibited from making a personal copy, except where it says I have to obey copyright law, which I've already explained I can't find where I'm not.

      In short, my logic may be flawed, but I can't personally find where. The MPAA doesn't have to like it, if it's legal.

    6. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by iainl · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I certainly can't find any flaw in your logic if you delete the copy after you've watched it, that's for sure.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
    7. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by ovit · · Score: 2, Insightful

      # CommieAnarchistLibertarian©

      Please don't use "Libertarian" anywhere near the terms "Commie" and "Anarchist". Various dead libertarians are currently spinning in their graves...

              ovit

    8. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by goldspider · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Here's how the (copyright) law reads:

      Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:

      (1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

      Nothing there about a "perfect" duplication. Ripping a DVD would (by my definition, anyway) constitute a reproduction.

      Aside from that, my point isn't to debate the merits of the Blockbuster/MPAA/RIAA business models. It's that actions like what you described give them ammunition to create laws that further restrict all of our rights.
      --
      "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
    9. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by KDan · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe we could harvest that spinnning to produce energy... with the fabulous numbers of outrageous claims published every day on slashdot, there's probably enough spinning to solve the energy crisis!

      Daniel

      --
      Carpe Diem
    10. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by LoverOfJoy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Do you ever rent a movie a second time?

    11. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by siegesama · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That's almost the same thing I do with used CDs!

      1. Head on over to the local used CD place near campus, spend $100 on recommendations and stuff that looks interesting.
      2. Return home and rip and tag and organize everything nicely onto the dedicated storage machine.
      3. When I'm running low on cash, take my accumulated CD stack to said store and sell back
      4. Eventually repeat at 1

      The local brick and mortar gets a cut, and I get an ever-expanding library of music that's correctly tagged, in a format I prefer, and at a good bitrate.

      My experiences with downloading ripped media is that it's usually poor-quality. About the only thing useful is fan-subbed anime, and they're not on things like eDonkey

      Once I get some money stored up for a new RAID in the TB-range, I'll probably start following the same process with DVDs (unless it's something I end up really liking, in which case I prefer the nice case and cover and quality of the version bought from Amazon, like Firefly for example)

      --
      what the hell is a 'junk character', anyway?
    12. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by goldspider · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I usually don't rent them a first time. But if I do, I don't feel entitled to making a copy of it.

      If I want to watch a movie whenever I want, I'll buy it.

      --
      "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
    13. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by BobTheLawyer · · Score: 3, Funny

      Unless Napoleon won and I didn't notice, no French law is binding elsewhere in Europe.

    14. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by Ath · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You have two problems in your point.

      First, you are assuming that all copyright laws are the same as US laws.

      Second, you are not considering the fair use rights. The problem with the status of the law today is that prior court decisions have not been reconciled with the DMCA.

      The DMCA specifically prohibits the actual act of circumvention of a copy protection for most purposes. Copying the work is no longer the violation, the circumvention of the copy protection is.

      I just wish this issue would get to the Supreme Court so it can be resolved. I am always hopeful that they could basically uphold the DMCA while still guaranteeing the rights of individuals to exercise their fair use rights like archival copies and removal of the region coding.

    15. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by GoCoGi · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This can easily be taken further. Noone can forbid you to share your experiences with other people. So if you have *perfect memory* and a *perfect way to communicate* you can make everybode else relive the movie, too.

    16. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by bradbeattie · · Score: 4, Insightful
      You're right on the money. This is where copyright breaks down and we need to choose one of several options.
      • Find some kind of alternate method of digital rights management (Street_Performer_Protocol is an example)
      • Infringe upon people's rights to memory and expression (unjust, I'm willing to argue, but it's the route we're currently walking down)
      • Some other option?
      Either way, information that can be expressed as bits can be copied. We're going to have to address this somehow.
    17. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by IngramJames · · Score: 3, Informative

      Thing is that the European Union more or less binds the différent countries to each other

      To an extent, but it's not tightly coupled in all areas of the law.

      While not binding at all, this sets a european precedent

      IANAL, but I think that would be the case only if the decision was based on a European law, implemented by all member states.

      Each member state is free to have their own laws which do not contradict any European laws. Hence the hoo-haha here right now with our (British) govt wanting to introduce laws which may breach the EU Human Rights laws. They simply can't (legally), but that doesn't stop them from trying..

      --
      'No rational religion claims "supernatural" exists, that's an atheist slander.' - seen on slashdot.
    18. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by BobTheLawyer · · Score: 2, Informative

      You are correct. The French case in question isn't based on European law at all - it's based on a French law which gives consumers the right to copy recordings they have purchased for their private use. This law has no equivalent in most of the rest of Europe, and so the case is entirely irrelevant in most of the rest of Europe.

      Even if the decision was based on European law it wouldn't set a precedent for the UK (it might be "persuasive"). And most of Europe operates a civil law system which doesn't recognise the concept of "precedent" in the same way as English or US law.

      Also NB the European Convention on Human Rights is nothing to do with the EU - it's a creation of the Council of Europe, which is an entirely separate body (and includes a tonne of other countries, e.g. Russia). The UK could abrogate from the Convention if it wanted to - the controversy is whether the UK is free to overrule particular parts of the Convention, but otherwise remain a party to it.

    19. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by InvalidError · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Ripping makes "three for the price of two" rentals much more convenient... being otherwise "forced" to watch three movies in a 24h period sucks and ripping removes this restriction.

      Now, why do rentals typically last only 24h? Because the video club cannot own an infinite number of copies of everything. Shorter rentals cut down on the number of required copies, physical storage space and operating costs. Some clubs are even refunding $1 (or crediting on the next rental) when rentals are returned within 12h or before noon the next day.

      Were it not for the potentially questionable motives behind ripping, some clubs would happily offer half-price rentals for people who rip on-site using their laptops.

    20. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by NotWorkSafe · · Score: 2, Informative

      I believe you mean The Final Cut.

      http://imdb.com/title/tt0364343/

      --
      There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
    21. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by tombeard · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I remember that comment too. Just for the record; You have already paid for all of the commercial TV programming. It is financed by the marketing cost added on to everything we buy. Even if I don't watch any TV I am still paying for it. The advertisers are just hoping for special advantage.

      --
      The reason we subjugate ourselves to law is to better procure justice. If law does not accomplish this purpose then it m
    22. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by tolkienfan · · Score: 4, Funny
      Hear that?

      That's the sound of me packing for France.

      Oh wait - isn't France full of French people?

      Never mind...

    23. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by bofkentucky · · Score: 2, Informative

      Limited government vs. none, its that simple. You may not like the DMCA, I may not like the Brady Bill, and someone else might not like the defense of Marriage act, none of those 3 would exist if our governemt was run by strict libertarians, but unlike a anarchist system, we would still have roads and a military.

      --
      09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
    24. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by murr · · Score: 2, Funny

      could you please explain the difference between "Anarchist" and "Libertarian?"

      I like Kim Stanley Robinson's explanation that a libertarian is an anarchist who wants police protection from his slaves.

    25. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by readpunk · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Nope, sorry. We would still have roads and likely militia's (no not the right wing slaughter you for meth kind... - joke).

      --

      ./revolution
    26. Re:Every movie recently released is secretly porn by AK+Marc · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Really? I've heard talk that sidewalks and roads should be private. If you want to get to your property, then you buy communal property (like a condo, but land only) from one place to another. If you want to travel long distances, then you need to get on the private toll roads and pay to use the road. The complete privatization of roads is something I've heard Libertarians talk about.

      And if you think that Libertarians are for a standing military, then you are talking about a completely different Libertarian party than I've heard about. They discuss the savings of closing all foreign bases and shutting down the military. Let the states or communities organize all volunteer groups to protect us in the case of an invasion, but with little, if any, ability to project power to the other side of the globe.

      No, I've seen little difference between the ideal government from a Libertarian point of view and no government at all.

  18. This isn't the end by ChrisF79 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Let's face the facts. As soon as the RIAA or whatever organization starts scaring people away from one technology, everyone migrates to the next. To see a story touted as news about people switching from torrents to eDonkey seems like common sense really. In six months or so, I think we'll be reading a post on here about how people are switching from eDonkey to whatever comes next. It's a cycle with the organizing bodies constantly playing catch-up.

    --
    Finance tutorials and more! Understandfinance
  19. I hate to be a stick in the mud, but... by th3space · · Score: 4, Funny

    If they keep *telling* the various special interest groups what we're using to rape their respective industries, no fucking wonder there are new rounds of lawsuits every time large groups of people jump from one sinking ship to another...

    Bastard media, be on our side for once.

    --
    "How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
    1. Re:I hate to be a stick in the mud, but... by wfberg · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If they keep *telling* the various special interest groups what we're using to rape their respective industries, no fucking wonder there are new rounds of lawsuits every time large groups of people jump from one sinking ship to another...

      Bastard media, be on our side for once.


      You do realise that it's the media industry you're raping, right?

      --
      SCO employee? Check out the bounty
  20. BitTorrent usage in S. Korea by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 2, Funny

    What the article fails to mention is that in South Korea, only old people are using BT now.

  21. PeerGuardian; false sence of security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Often thought of as a means of evading the anti-piracy wings of corporations and groups such as the RIAA and MPAA, PeerGuardian offers little actual protection against the threat of prosecution. Users of Bittorrent often tout the application as a means of protection, but it offers little more than a false sense of security. Whilst anti-piracy organisations and groups will not be able to connect to peers or seeds using PeerGuardian, these peers and seeds are still broadcasting their IP addresses for anyone, including anti-piracy groups, to see.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeerGuardian

    1. Re:PeerGuardian; false sence of security by darkitecture · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Thats brave! I'd just buy the flippin cd's rather than risk a $15,000 fine!

      Actually I have, you presumptuous jackass. When they release;
      - Seasons 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Frasier;
      - The Daily Show complete run from 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005;
      - Scrubs seasons 2, 3 and 4;
      - The West Wing seasons 5 and 6;
      - the entire run of Top Gear;
      - the entire run of The Wonder Years;
      - the entire run of Parker Lewis Can't Lose;
      - not to mention about a dozen Japanese dorama series

      on DVD, then be sure to let me know; I'll buy them.

  22. Whack a mole by the_Bionic_lemming · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bet the Folks at RIAA and MPAA thought it was fun to play whack a mole when they were kids!

    See It's Karma! First you have fun whacking the game, Now you're fighting for your lives attempting to whack any file sharing out there!

    Ooh, It's Napster! WHACK! OOOH it's KAZAA! WHACK! OOOH IT'S BITTORRENT ! WHACK! OOOH IT'S EDONKEY! WHACK!

    --
    _ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
  23. eDonkey can't stop MPAA/RIAA by LexNaturalis · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It doesn't matter if people move from Kazaa to BitTorrent to eDonkey, as the article mentions, because the internet traffic still ends up in the same place. At some point, the traffic has to go from your computer to another computer via an ISP or other such service (obviously assuming it's not a LAN). The MPAA/RIAA has taken to issuing subpoena's to ISPs, so even if eDonkey is "decentralized" the users can still get caught. I don't see what the point is, really. I mean, seriously... if the BBC is posting about it, do you think the over-priced greedy hawk lawyers of the RIAA/MPAA are going to ignore it?

    --
    Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
  24. Why is this news? by NubKnacker · · Score: 2, Informative

    Don't junkies move from one spot to another to buy their drugs after the cops bust a spot? File sharers are doing the same...

  25. Different purposes... by EvilNight · · Score: 5, Informative

    Use bittorrent for popular, fast downloads. Once the torrent gets old, nobody is seeding anymore, and it dies off. That's when you fire up your preferred eDonkey client and go browsing. Things tend to persist a hell of a lot longer out there. That bullshit about the files being polluted and corrupted is a myth, as well. Since you can preview them instantly as they are downloaded, it's easy to spot the crap files if you manage to find any.

    Of course, now you need to be patient. This is where most people fail. It may take you a solid 90 days to download something old or obscure from eDonkey. It is not an instant-gratification network. Just let the sucker run and it'll come down in its own good time. Let the client software worry about it. I've fished out all manner of content from there that was impossible to find on bittorrent, usenet, or IRC. Old Mike Oldfield concerts, a mint copy of Giorgio Moroder's Metropolis, dozens of old TV shows... average time to download something like that is around seven days. The torrents of the old Dr. Who TV series (every single episode, 26 seasons) took nearly three months. It was around 212GB of data, of course.

    You may want to make sure your firewall can handle a couple thousand connections. If your p2p experience is always sucking hind tit, that might be the cause of your problems. That little Linksys router isn't capable of doing it. Well, maybe if you put linux on it, but why bother when distros like m0n0wall, ipcop, and smoothwall exist? It helps loads if you prioritize ACK, DNS, and any small packets.

    --
    Hell is being intelligent in a world full of idiots.
  26. Re:eDonkey isn't new by g_adams27 · · Score: 2
    > Years back they used it at a tv episode sharing website Unfortunately I can't remember the
    > name of it though. It was originally a page to archive tv shows like the State and MST3k, and moved
    > on to archive other shows... it was eventually shut down though, as it got more popular to share tv
    > shows and the authorities started getting involved.

    You're referring to the Digital Archive Project, which still exists. The one for MST3K is also still around.

    I can't remember what Best Brain's take on that project was, but I believe they got fairly enthusiastic support from MST3K luminaries like Kevin Murphy. The project leaders were very careful not to make available any episode that was available for purchase through Rhino Recordings.

  27. shhhhh!!! by vettemph · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why does slashdot keep letting the cat out of the bag? The first rule of P2P is don't talk about P2P.

    --
    The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
  28. My trouble with eDonkey clones by bogaboga · · Score: 2, Interesting
    What I find troubling with the Linux eDonkey clones (aMule, xMule) is that they:

    1: Do not offer as many features as their Windows counterparts,

    2: Not as stable on Linux as they are on Windows,

    3: Are plain ugly and

    4: Are damn slow on Linux.

    The only software I find a pleasure to look at and also exists for the Windows platform is OpenOffice.org and the GIMP. There are more open source softwares out there but I haven't found them.

  29. One Word.... by DigitalJeremy · · Score: 3, Funny

    FTP.

    The ORIGINAL file sharing protocol. P2P's come and go - FTP will remain mighty!!

  30. I was addicted to pirated movies by WormholeFiend · · Score: 5, Funny

    I downloaded so many of them, that virtually spent all my time burning them to CDs and DVDs.

    Eventually I realized that I had no time left to actually watch any of it, so I deleted all my collection.

    Now I have more time, but no movies to watch.

  31. The real problem with BT by rAiNsT0rm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    IMO is the whole tracker/seed deal. This part should have been made transparent to the point that users didn;t have to see or understand it. I personally never saw it as being that good of a system in the first place. It is not elegant nor does it lend itself to people using the software as it is intended.

    The whole BT thing is a good idea for software releases and large files people are looking to download from a single site, say I go to a distro site and have a choice of FTP/HTTP/BT but to use it for P2P is just useless in my eyes.

    The whole Zen "the interface is no interface" thing was a little unsettling too as I had no idea that my downloads were being slowed by my firewall back when BT first came out until I used a version that showed that there was a problem.

    I still think there is a place for BT and software like it, but not for P2P filesharing. As much as I hate to admit it, I like having n00bs and clueless users on my system so I can access stuff easier and faster. BT was more for the tech savvy and they tend to be smart enough/greedy to never seed a download unless they happened to walk away from a download that completed.

    I still pine for the days when Kazaa lite was not full of viruses/spyware/fake files and instead was a great easy quick system to get exactly what you wanted ASAP.

    --
    http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
    1. Re:The real problem with BT by m50d · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This isn't a mistake in bittorent design, bittorrent is not a filesharing program and was never meant to be a filesharing program. As you say, it's good as an FTP replacement, but the mass exodus to bittorrent for music/movies/warez trading was sheer idiocy. Claims of faster downloads (despite being blatantly false for anyone who actually tests it) are the only reason I can find for it, but even then it makes little sense. Everyone knows FTP is the fastest protocol for transferring files, but the days of people trying to use it for their filesharing are long gone.

      --
      I am trolling
    2. Re:The real problem with BT by rAiNsT0rm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No it is no fault of BT, for sure, it is just the wrong tool for the job as you state. However this article and most others on BT focus on the Filesharing aspect and it just boggles my mind why everyone fled to BT to get their 'Warez on.

      I don't personally think eDonkey is a good solution either though. Poisoned files are too rampant these days to make these types of services viable anymore. What we need is something analogous to IRC where all but the higher intelligence/true geeks can do their thing without it being flooded by idiots and junk. Also some sort of file verification system is needed beyond a user rating system that is pretty fool-proof and solid to keep things legit and flowing smoothly.

      Sure, easier said than done, but it is what is needed to get things back on track from the old days when filesharing was filesharing. Christ I sound like my father... damn aging.

      --
      http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
    3. Re:The real problem with BT by HD+Webdev · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What we need is something analogous to IRC where all but the higher intelligence/true geeks can do their thing without it being flooded by idiots and junk. Also some sort of file verification system is needed beyond a user rating system that is pretty fool-proof and solid to keep things legit and flowing smoothly.

      That would be much like USENET has been and still is. It's as fast as your newsfeed provider allows. News hosts can be found that hold files for at least 30 full days. Leeching doesn't hurt anyone. The initial part of the learning curve is high which stops a lot of people from uploading junk. File verification is easy. Don't download the file until it's been up for a few days. If it's bad/non-working then there will be plenty of replies mentioning that.

      --
      This is not a dream, not a dream...we are transmitting from the year 1-9-9-9.
  32. eDonkey? Yeah right by Pope · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There's still not a 100% working OSX version of a client, and any number of BitTorrent ones, so I'll stick to what works for my system.

    All the DAP stuff I really wanted I got through torrents anyway.

    --
    It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
  33. Re:Good Riddence. by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 2, Informative

    next you'll be saying you're glad porn is gone because they're the negative part of the internet. Crime makes things popular. You can't legally drive a car 200 MP/H, yet you can buy ones which will go that fast.

    Work that one out :P

    --
    I like muppets.
  34. The only way by el_womble · · Score: 4, Insightful

    to stop illegal downloading is to uninvent the wheel. Make ANY device that can digitize analog data illegal unless they are properly licensed by a *IAA authorized service provider. No home movies. No home recording, unless it is to analog media. In a sense make digitzers like stills. Anyone can make Whisky, its easy, unless the equipment to do so is illegal.

    I have little sympathy for the *IAA. Do you think they gave us CD/DVDs because they gave us better quality, or because they increased profit? The fact that they were too miopic to realise that the same technologies that were dropping their bottom line could enable consumers to replace them is karmic.

    The creators of optical media suing bittorrent et al, is like the great ship builders suing boeing and airbus. It shouldn't be allowed to happen. Artists need to stop looking for recording contracts and start looking for marketting contracts. You can still make money in popular arts, its just you can't expect to make money by selling digital facsimilies of that art.

    --
    Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
  35. my P2P round-up by dahlek · · Score: 5, Informative
    aMule is a nice linux client. The donkey is nice in that it has probably the biggest selection, but it's also S L O W.

    IRC is also slow and a pain in the ass - too interactive (they frown at automation), too many different ways of doing things and you have to deal with a bunch of pricks that want you to be grateful that you part of their little circle of piracy - too juvenile. Does anyone really still think, "OOH! look at me, I'm a PIRATE!"??

    Gnutella is very nice for MP3s and small files - the biggest you want here is a music video perhaps at 50megs or so, there doesn't seem to be much large content like movies. With the swarming ability that the clients have these days, downloading can be AMAZINGLY fast - why does eDonkey get more attention than Gnutella? Everyone should put large content files on Gnutella - do it, now! ;) gtk-gnutella is a nice linux client. It's not as pretty as Limewire, but nicer on the ram, etc.

    Bittorrent is the second fastest way that I've seen for downloading large content files, even DVD collections, say, of emulator games come rather quickly, usually approaching 60% of top download speed or more once it throttles up. The downside is the scrutiny at the moment, made worse by the fact that you must leave your download open - that is, you need to keep your client running even after you download the file to share with others - not doing so will get you "punished" in various ways by the sites offering this stuff, sometimes by not allowing you back. This also means that for a large DVD type download, you have 5 gigs of data on your drive much longer than you want - at least it's a problem for me. Further, unless you want to run the client forever, you need to set your upload rate pretty high. On my 1.2Ghz machine, bittorrent takes a toll in resources as well...

    The fastest way to download something is via the newsgroups. Yup, the oldest way is still in some cases the best (it's not P2P, but it fits in my rant anyway). The downside here is for good news service, you have to pay, while the other methods are free.

    Still, with a service like Easynews, you get 3 week retentions - meaning, a "post" stays alive for 3 weeks. Advances like par and nzb make this much easier and more reliable than it has been - it's almost too easy now. An nzb file points to specific articles in specific groups. For anyone familiar with this process, with nzb, you can avoid the old norms of subscribing to groups, downloading headers, searching for content, marking your choices, and telling it to download. Web pages such as binsearch.info allow you to use a web interface to select your content, and will then generate an nzb file for you.

    With a broadband cable connection, you can download DVD sized content in about 2 and a half hours from the groups. Some ISPs still come with news feeds, but they usually aren't worth bothering with. My ISP has retentions lasting just a few hours, with a 1gig/month download limit.

    So, IMHO, use gnutella for MP3s, short popular video clips/music videos and other smaller files (since there isn't much large content to be found). For anything larger, use the newsgroups if you have a good news feed. If not, try your luck with bittorrent.

    Use the donkey only if you can't find it anywhere else and if speed isn't a problem. Oh, and avoid downloading from IRC...

    Of course, I only download legal content :) Legal MP3 files, or copies of files I already own, or emulator ROMS of games I already own, or DVD collections of abandoned ROMs, Linux distributions, or tv shows that I already pay my Cable provider for, etc.

    1. Re:my P2P round-up by Antiocheian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Much to the hapiness of regular, responsible emule users, people like you will never have a satisfactory experience of the ed2k-kad network.

      You are a leecher.

      You entire posting, informative as it is, it is a cookbook for leechers. You don't like bittorrent because you have to seed. Too bad for you. You don't like emule because it's slow. Has it ever occured to you that its slow because people like you refuse to share and you get little credits? You like Gnutella because it allows you leech freely. And you like messing up the usenet by abusing any part of the word "privilege" that it used it be.

      I am glad you don't use ed2k. Just be aware that it works perfectly for those who contribute and those who share.

  36. Re:I don't really get it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Then don't download DivXs with bad sound quality. When I want to watch a movie that is long out of theatres, but not yet available on DVD I'll download a 2cd rip that has an AC3 audio track copied bit-for-bit from the DVD. Even the video is nearly indistinguishable from the less-than-perfect DVD video stream... this is on a 100 inch projected screen. And now, of course, HD content is available on P2P networks. Shrek in 1080p is freakin' sweet! So I really have the opposite argument: When is commercially available media going to reach the level of P2P content.

  37. Re:I agree -- PGLinux is junk by TheRealJFM · · Score: 2, Informative

    PGLinux is basically an alpha, it's incomplete and will probably change a few hundred times before it's finally released.

    The final version will have a GUI and all the prettiness you would expect, but until then we have to deal with one problem at a time.

    Any help the OSS community feels like giving us, the codes on our CVS...

    peerguardian.sourceforge.net

    --
    Joseph Farthing
    http://josephfarthing.com
  38. edonkey/emule is SLOOOOOOOOW by Danathar · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you are used to FAST bittorrent edonkey/emule is going to dissapoint you. For the most popular files it can take DAYS sometimes WEEKS to get a large file in the 100s of megabytes.

    Also...that network is swamped with script bots that download EVERYTHING. I shared out a folder I had with OLD device drivers and out of date software...files that nobody should want. They were being downloaded in a short amount of time which leads me to believe that automated software probably contributes to the slowness.

    1. Re:edonkey/emule is SLOOOOOOOOW by toddestan · · Score: 2, Informative

      I shared out a folder I had with OLD device drivers and out of date software...files that nobody should want.

      As someone who has had to rebuild old Windows 95 era machines, I have hopped onto P2P services in search of old device drivers for long obsolete hardware as kind of a last resort. Didn't have much luck though.

      But yeah, if someone started just downloading them enmass then they are probably just a bot.

  39. Subject to 107 through 122 by Mr+Guy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    107 is the four factor test. Again, I'm not a legal genious, so I'll refer generously to Stanford and the EFF for help in this matter.

    1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
    Personal use is clearly non-commercial.
    2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
    In this case, the work is creative which is a point for their side.
    3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
    In my case, it's a whole copy of the work, another point for their side, however it's a reduced quality copy which is a point for my side.
    4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
    With Blockbuster's particular business model, I've already demonstrated it's actually MORE profitable for them to have me rent a movie rip it in 20 minutes and return it. As for future sales loss, that's not relevant to this argument because of a crucial factor - I delete them after I've watched them. The Supreme Court (Universal City Studios v. Sony Corp., 464 U.S. 417 (1984)) ruled that a time shifted copy does not deprive them of revenue, and that was for a broadcast, not even a paid rental as in my case. I firmly believe that the courts would uphold my arguement that I rented the media that it's on but bought a license to watch the movie. In fact, Blockbuster's terms and conditions does not stipulate how many times you may watch a movie that you've rented, it merely stipulates how long you can keep the media. I've time-shifted the right to watch the movie until after the media is returned, but that doesn't negate my right to watch it, and the Supreme Court upheld my right to time shift it.

    1. Re:Subject to 107 through 122 by Mr+Guy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Also, assuming you are in the US, you may have another problem...the DMCA. You are circumventing a copy-protection scheme to make that copy, assuming of course we are talking about a DVD. Unless that has changed in the last couple years...I haven't been following it much.

      You are correct here, which is why the fair use portion desporately needs to be tested in the courts, even though I don't want to be the one that has to do it! If it's fair use, than in this case the DMCA ought to be tested as to whether it's preventing fair use, and whether that's really legal.

  40. Parker Lewis Can't Lose by xDCDx · · Score: 2

    Parker Lewis Can't Lose was a masterpiece of a series, when aired it way ahead of its a time, and it was heavily underrated. I would almost kill to get it published on DVD.

    Also, let me add this to yout list:
    - Complete seasons 1 and 2 of Get a Life (the available DVDs only have a few 'best' episodes).

  41. Notoriety = Bigger Target by venomkid · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's a shell game at this point. eDonkey will be in BitTorrent's shoes soon enough.

    --
    vk.
  42. Re:Great tarrgeting. by Antiocheian · · Score: 2, Informative

    Then don't connect to servers. Use kad. It's a serverless implementation of kademlia.

  43. Blockbusters "No Late Fees" policy is a scam by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 2, Informative

    so I'm just taking their "No Late Fees" policy to the extreme

    Blockbuster is also taking the "No Late Fees" policy to the Extreme. Their "No Late Fees" policy is a scam. Read the Policy. After reading this, am I supposed to feel sorry for them when someone rips the DVD for personal use?

    If you don't return the movie within 8 days, your "Rental" automatically becomes a "Purchase". You then have 30 days to return the movie and get a refund for the "Purchase", but you still pay a $1.25-or greater Stocking Fee. Remember -- it's not a "Late Fee", it's a "Stocking Fee".

    And that "FUSF Recovery Charge" on your DSL bill is not a "Fee", it's a "Charge" and is governed by different regulation.

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."