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IsoHunt Shut Down?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the copyright-wack-a-mole dept.

psic writes "One of the most popular torrent search sites, IsoHunt, was taken down on tuesday. The owners of the site say that the move came from their ISP without prior notice, though it is probably linked with the MPAA's lawsuit against various torrent search sites earlier this year. They plan on moving ISPs from the US to Canada, and say that moving the servers so someplace like Sweden or Sealand is not an option, as they put it: "BitTorrent was created for legitimate distribution of large media files, and we stand by that philosophy as a search engine and aggregator."" This is a story we've heard before with other sites, only serving to further demonstrate that playing wack a mole with torrent aggregators isn't the solution to anything.

5 of 297 comments (clear)

  1. good idea, bad idea by theStorminMormon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is a story we've heard before with other sites, only serving to further demonstrate that playing wack a mole with torrent aggregators isn't the solution to anything.

    I wholeheartedly agree that, from the perspective of the **AA, playing wack-a-mole isn't a good solution. But as an observer it's pretty funny.

    More seriously, I think it is providing a long term solution, just not the one the **AA want. As these stories grow they continue to be seen as the greedy bullies they truly are. The main purpose of the RIAA and MPAA these days is to do the dirty work for the actual labels/studios and absorb the backlash. People get mad at the RIAA, not Sony. Or so the strategy goes. As anti-RIAA and anti-MPAA sentiment grows in severity and spreads into the mainstream, there will start to be bleedthrough to the actual labels and studios.

    So basically the wack-a-mole strategy is the best education we could hope for that IP laws are a disgrace, that greed is the real motivator of DRM, and that DRM does nothing but create a nuisance for the consumer without effectively harming pirates. I want more and more of your average Joes to hear about stuff like this and start asking "What is with these guys anyway?" The answers will lead to some sensible IP reform.

    It's a long-term goal, and I realize that in the meantime a lot of innocent people are having their lives ruined, but I think that tactics like this go a long way towards the final solution for DRM.

    -stormin

    --
    The Southern Baptist Convention has creationism. On Slashdot, we have porn.
    1. Re:good idea, bad idea by Zapperlink · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The point is IsoHunt is purely a medium which people could search out torrents. The purpose was to make a library of legit legal torrents that people have created. With positive ideas such as IsoHunt's it also brings in the idea that we can also share that which isn't legal with our friends just as quick. To manage this idea would be riddled with problems. Would you shut down google because it linked to bomb making instructions, or even torrents directly where you can get your favorite Adobe product for free? The answer is simply no. It's just another attempt to target a resource that is popular for being able to find things efficiently.

    2. Re:good idea, bad idea by shark72 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "The point is IsoHunt is purely a medium which people could search out torrents. The purpose was to make a library of legit legal torrents that people have created."

      The first clue that the above is bullshit is the site's title. "legit, legal" torrents are seldom distributed as ISOs. If you're thinking that it refers to Linux ISOs, think again -- there's already a site specializing in "legit, legal" torrents. Notice that there are few if any ISOs to be had there, and no Linux distros.

      Listen, I understand why the owners of ISOHunt think they need to keep chanting the "legitimate" line; it's to build a case that they didn't have intent. But we don't need to be their stooges. We know exactly why ISOHunt was there. Let's not kid ourselves.

      --
      Sitting in my day care, the art is decopainted.
  2. Re:a Rose by any other name is still full of crap by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Interesting

    torrents are just the hurricane katrina of the internet.

    Cripes, I *WISH* torrents had that sort of speed. :-\

    BTW, I fully admit to being a looter. I know the law. I just don't give a shit. In a world where our government is selling us out to another country, where illegal aliens are given more rights than citizens, where some soccer dude can get handed a quarter of a -*BILLION*- dollars for playing a game, why should I be a nice little nobody who follows all the rules? Fuck all that. It's every man for himself from this point on.

  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion