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Report Says 36.4% of World's Computers Infringe on IP

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "According to a new report by Digital Music News, 36.4% of the world's computers have LimeWire installed. Given their claim that filling an iPod legally would cost about $40,000, they're pretty sure that most of those computers are infringing upon at least a few imaginary property rights. BitTorrent shouldn't feel left out, though. BitTorrent actually uses more bandwidth, but the article suggests that this is because it is used to share larger files, like movies."

36 of 331 comments (clear)

  1. It always amuses me by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 3, Informative

    Haven't they heard of NNTP?

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    1. Re:It always amuses me by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

      Have you heard of SHHHHHHH?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:It always amuses me by c_g_hills · · Score: 5, Informative

      usenet.com is commonly confused with Usenet. One is a for-profit company; the other is a global, decentralized, distributed Internet discussion system.

    3. Re:It always amuses me by rob1980 · · Score: 5, Funny

      The first rule of NNTP is that we do not talk about NNTP.

    4. Re:It always amuses me by MBGMorden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Inefficient as in slower (because most people's uplinks are far slower than their downlinks), then yes. Inefficient as in ammount of data transferred (as you seem to be implying), then I don't see how that can possibly be the case.

      In the case of P2P, all transmissions are essentially requests for a part of of a file that a client does not currently have. Now since I'm sending data back out to others then MY OWN bandwidth usage will be much lower, but the internet as a whole won't see much difference.

      Now, when you combine in the fact that on Usenet a) some of the older encoding schemes must translate to 7-bit ASCII first and hence increase the size of a file by 30-40%, and b) because of missed posts you often have to download the original + a number of parity files, I don't see Usenet coming ahead on the efficiency side of things.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    5. Re:It always amuses me by Kjella · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That's the upside. The down side is that everything gets pushed through every link which means more than 3TB/day. A modern design would be a cached pull system. Say you request part afba76a7b687af6b87fa6b87a6fbaf67 (hash sum), it goes to the local central, which checks local store (basicly a LRU disk cache), if not requests it from regional central, who'll again request it from the national central, who'll keep requesting it up the chain. If none of the caching servers can help, ultimately you connect to the torrent and get it from one of the seeds. Your ISP can cache it on the way out too, so you seed once and the backbone doesn't need to pull it from your seed line more than once. If the cache expires, it can be reseeded again as long as there's peers like with regular torrents. Basicly, no wasteful transfer because there's no traversal without enduser, it only passes once over a link, no expirery as long as someone is seeding. Technically, this is not really difficult it's legally the problem is. With many switching to encrypted torrents this kind of acceleration just isn't possible.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    6. Re:It always amuses me by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Funny

      Both are different? As opposed to one being different, and the other one not being different? ;-)

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    7. Re:It always amuses me by phantomcircuit · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's the upside. The down side is that everything gets pushed through every link which means more than 3TB/day. True

      A modern design would be a cached pull system. Say you request part afba76a7b687af6b87fa6b87a6fbaf67 (hash sum), it goes to the local central, which checks local store (basicly a LRU disk cache), if not requests it from regional central, who'll again request it from the national central, who'll keep requesting it up the chain. If none of the caching servers can help, ultimately you connect to the torrent and get it from one of the seeds. Your ISP can cache it on the way out too, so you seed once and the backbone doesn't need to pull it from your seed line more than once. So basically the way DNS works? (minus the torrent part, root DNS knows all)

      If the cache expires, it can be reseeded again as long as there's peers like with regular torrents. Why would the cache expire if the information is stored based on a hash? It cant exactly be updated now can it?

      Technically, this is not really difficult it's legally the problem is. With many switching to encrypted torrents this kind of acceleration just isn't possible. The problem here is that the business model is broken.


      The ISPs could save massive amounts of money on content distribution if only they could cache it all closer to the enduser. They cannot do this now because the distribution is illegal. DRM was supposed to solve this problem by making it so that anybody could download anything but only those with the correct permissions could use the content. DRM however is flawed in that it just cannot work, smart people who want the content will always prevail. Attack is vastly simpler than defense (a good offense is always better than a good defense).



      The solution is to have the sales of music go through a third party distributor (iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Rhapsody, whatever) and have the ISP distribute the actual content. The key here is that the ISPs would have to allow any third party to sell their content through the distribution network to maintain their status as common carriers. Record labels get paid, independent artists and small record labels have the same access to a massively scalable distribution network as the big guys and best of all the load on the network goes down substantially.




    8. Re:It always amuses me by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 4, Funny

      One is more different than the other.

      --
      "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    9. Re:It always amuses me by Frnknstn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You are forgetting something: Almost all usenet downloads take place from the NNTP server set up by the user's ISP. Each file is only transferred only once to each ISP via the Internet at large, rather than than once per user.

      Also, you mischaracterised the the other side of the argument, too: a properly running torrent was many seed, and although each seed may have less uplink bandwidth than downlink bandwidth, the network as a whole should saturate the new peer's downstream bandwidth.

      --
      If it's in you sig, it's in your post.
  2. I bet it's closer to 100% by melted · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you count IP infringements made by software vendors. Face it, in the world where One Click patent can even exits, you're _guaranteed_ to infringe on someone's intellectual property if your code is more complicated than "Hello world". And software vendors can't guarantee non-infringement, either, because there are tens of thousands of vaguely worded patents.

    1. Re:I bet it's closer to 100% by servognome · · Score: 4, Funny

      Face it, in the world where One Click patent can even exits, you're _guaranteed_ to infringe on someone's intellectual property if your code is more complicated than "Hello world".
      Infringements:
      1. Hello World is a registered trademark of Servognome Corp. Any use or redistribution without the implied oral consent of Servognome is strictly prohibited
      2. Patent #45239223 - Display of the words "Hello World" on a digital device
      --
      D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
  3. thankfully by SoupGuru · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thankfully all of us that have eMule installed are downloading purely legal files.

    --
    What doesn't kill you only delays the inevitable
  4. Constitutional Rights? by fataugie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So I guess screw innocent until proven guilty.

    Becuase I have bittorrent installed to download Mandrake, I *MUST* have illegal things on my machine?

    Screw that report and the assholes who wrote it!

    --

    WTF? Over?

    1. Re:Constitutional Rights? by blueg3 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Certainly you understand that statistics and expressed opinions have nothing to do with constitutional rights. They're free to make estimates and inferences all they want.

    2. Re:Constitutional Rights? by Entropius · · Score: 4, Interesting

      When I was an undergrad I was downloading some Linux ISO (required for work) and meanwhile playing a game of DotA, a Warcraft 3 mod.

      WC3 maintains a direct connection to all the other players in the game -- it uses a P2P network model rather than client-server -- but uses a trivial amount of bandwidth (under 10 KB/sec).

      The network admins saw someone with connections open to residential ISP IP addresses and using a lot of bandwidth (ignoring the connection to ftp.mandrake.com or whatever) and call me to tell me that they're killing all my open connections due to P2P download abuse.

      WTF?

    3. Re:Constitutional Rights? by tftp · · Score: 3, Insightful
      If you have a garage full of brand new stereos in boxes and you aren't running a business yes it is suspicous and if a cop sees them he has the right to inquire

      Today the separation between working for someone and running your own business is almost gone. I can work for someone from 9 to 5, then come home and sell antique stereos (or whatever, Wii if you wish) through Ebay. There is no law against this, and only IRS should know. If a police officer sees my garage full of boxes he is welcome to ask, and even to buy. But I owe him nothing else, and I can't see him getting a search warrant only because I have a pile of merchandise. (As long as zoning requirements are met.)

  5. 36.4% of the world's computers have LimeWire insta by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "36.4% of the world's computers have LimeWire installed"

    That's some damned weak logic, since LimeWire's real reason for existance (and the RIAA's opposition to it) is for independant artists to get their music out.

    The RIAA labels have radio and empty-v. Since the RIAA effectively killed "internet radio" P2P is all the indies have.

    Now someone please tell me, I heard a song by some indie whose name I don't remember named "scatterbrain". There are literally hundreds of different songs with that name. How can I get a copy of the lagal song I want without ACCIDENTALLY downloading some crap RIAA song with the same name?*

    The war against P2P is a war against their competetitors, the independant musicians.

    -mcgrew

    * Fuck LimeWire, Morpheus has a check box where you don't automatically share downloaded files. The RIAA can go fuck themselves. Hey guess what they are!

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  6. Nice title slashdot by moogied · · Score: 4, Informative
    Jesus christ, do we have 10 year olds running the headlines now?

    Your Rights Online: Report Says 36.4% of World's Computers Infringe on IP

    ...uh no it doesn't. It says 36.4 use limewire. It does not then say "100% of limewire usage infringes on IP."

    --
    So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
  7. In other news by Nimey · · Score: 3, Funny

    ~36.4% of PC users are freeloaders.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  8. ip is a valid concept by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Insightful

    somehow, there must be a tension of powers between shared public wealth, and private corporate wealth. there is no such mechanism to legally reflect this tension in the current world. and so all we have is the the ever increasing encroachment of corporate ownership into what should naturally be public spheres of public ownership. and so none of corporate ownership can be respected. naturally, some of it should, but not the overextended monstrosity that the corporations currently expect

    and it is not up to the corporations to restrain themselves. it is their job to squeeze money out of every possible nook and cranny. that is what corporations do, that is their nature, it is not their nature. we should not expect them to restrain themselves. it is our job to restrain them, so they do not become cancerous growths. and we, the legal world and our legal frameworks, are not currently doing that. so we must begin doing that then, so that some of private ownership is respected, not none of it, as currently is the case, because current private ownership laws overreach in time and in venue

    as if these means somebody won't still make money, and good money! it is just that the old models won't work anymore, and the corporations are nervous about the unknown

    in the current world, the legions of lawyers representing the corporations, and the congressmen they buy (sonny bono, et al) push the scales firmly in the direction of irrational monetization. in a world where i cannot play "happy birthday" without paying someone, something is seriously broken

    it is not that we shouldn't respect morality. it is that we shouldn't respect a legal system that is seriously broken, and doesn't reflect morality. current ip law is nothing more than an overextended farce

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  9. The Report Continues... by flaming+error · · Score: 5, Funny

    31.2% of computers infringe TCP.
    22.9% infringe UDP.

    The report doesn't mention other protocols, but as IPv6 gains ground, we're all sure to see lots more infringement.

  10. Voluntary systems scans by TheLostSamurai · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the report linked to in the article, the data was collected when users went to a site (pcpitstop.com) and allowed their computers to be scanned so that the software could find "performance improvements" and make suggestions for their machine. Although I'm sure it was buried in the fine print of the TOS, I wonder how many people realized they were allowing this type of information to be sold to data mining and/or marketing companies.

    --
    I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
    1. Re:Voluntary systems scans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So, 36.4% of computers of users who are dumb enough to use a site like that have Limewire installed?

      Is this like one of those sites that tells me "YOUR REGISTRY MAY BE CORRUPT!!!"... on a linux box?

    2. Re:Voluntary systems scans by cgenman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So in other words, 36.4% of all really dumb people have Limewire installed?

      Sounds about right.

    3. Re:Voluntary systems scans by Nalez · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I have no idea how they got the 36.4% number. From data on pcpitstop.com (the claimed source of the information) 1.012 percent of the computers tested by pcpitstop have had limewire installed and running (source: http://pcpitstop.com/spycheck/SWDetail.asp?fn=LimeWire.exe I have no idea how 36.4% of all computers, comes out of 1.012% of the sample running the product.

  11. Almost all computers use IP by corsec67 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since the concept of intellectual property is almost completely meaningless, the title must be about Internet Protocol, and I bet close to 99% of the worlds computers have IP, and most use it every day.

    Oh, you mean that 36.4% of the computers have tools installed that facilitate copyright infringement?

    Can we please stop using the term "IP" or "Intellectual Property" and actually specify what we are talking about, which in this case is copyright infringement? Especially since the source articles never use either of those two term in them?

    It would be very hard to infringe on trademarks using limewire or bittorrent in any way, and the same goes for patents unless the patents cover the implementation of the software.

    --
    If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
  12. Re:$40,000 iPods? by honestmonkey · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well it says "iPod" and not what size. I did an estimate with an 80GB size. I came up with ~$17000 to fill it (20000 songs says Apple). I am guessing that most of my CDs have 12 or so songs on them. If you just use the $0.99 a song from iTunes, then it would of course be ~$20000. There is a 160GB version, so I suppose that is the $40000 they are figuring on. But, I've got a bunch of albums I've bought legally for less than $10 an album, so I don't think that it would cost me the full $40K. Worst case scenario I suppose.

    --
    Everything you know is wrong, Just forget the words and sing along.
  13. Re:bovine excrement by TheLostSamurai · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have just scanned all of the computers on my corporate network. I have concluded that 0% of the computers in my office (out of 300) have LimeWire installed. I am therefore claiming that 0% of the WORLD'S computers have LimeWire installed based on my sample group. /sarcasm

    I believe this is a valid comparison as the data in question was collected when users submitted to voluntary PC scans by visiting a specific website that 99% of the worlds computer users have never heard of.

    --
    I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
  14. Re:36.4% of the world's computers have LimeWire in by Locklin · · Score: 5, Informative

    Indie artists can use HTTP (and Torrent if necessary), theres plenty of willing hosts.

    The Live Music Archive The live music archive provides high quality live concerts in a download-able format. The Internet Archive aims preserve and archive as many live concerts as possible for current and future generations to enjoy. All music in this Collection is from trade-friendly artists and is strictly noncommercial, both for access here and for any further distribution. Jamendo Jamendo offers free access and free download of music tracks, published with Creative Commons licences. On Jamendo, the Artists choose to give access to their music for free to the users. Users are encouraged to donate to artists, and artists earn money from add revenue. Magnature Listen to complete albums for free. If you like what you hear, download an album for as little as $5 (you pick the price), or buy a real CD, or license our music for commercial use. MP3s & WAVs, and no copy protection (DRM). FreeIndie.com A smaller selection of independent artists in various genres. Free to download. IndieFeed A free podcast of independent artists from around the world. CBC Radio 3 A popular weekly podcast featuring new Canadian rock, pop, hip-hop, singer-songwriters, alt-country and electronica.
    --
    "Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns" -Journal of Political Econom
  15. Re:40000 songs = $40,000 sounds right to me by LMacG · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You are assuming that all of those songs need to be purchased at $1 apiece. What about the CDs I already have at home? I know that Sony lawyer said that ripping even one song is OMG theft, but I don't live on her world. What about all the stuff I downloaded from eMusic when I belonged? There was a cost, but not anything close to $1/song.

    --
    Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
  16. Re:That's It? by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny
    The other 2/3 are still waiting for Vista to boot. Or copy one CD.


    (Ducking and running from the inevitable Troll mod points.)

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  17. Missing options, this poll sucks by DrYak · · Score: 3, Informative

    Becuase I have bittorrent installed to download Mandrake, I *MUST* have illegal things on my machine?

    Yeah, exactly.

    Attention **IA, this is my current seed list, you insensitive clod :It's either opensource software, or a couple of movie which are freely available.

    So could now please all this stupid companies stop equating "Peer 2 peer" with "Imaginary Property infringements" ?
    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  18. the other premise by epine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The premise of this argument is that no content worth having exists in the public domain, so any use of this tool must be directed toward infilching upon proprietary content.

    Half of the motivation being the Mickey Mouse copyright extension act was not just to protect Mickey's inflated infantilism, but also to keep the public domain shelf as bare as possible, so legitimate sharing doesn't cloud the wolf cries of MAFIAA, where every untaxed gratification over every untaxed wire represents a pimple-faced insurrection against the natural order bought and paid for.

  19. The property, NOT the law, is imaginary. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You're applying the adjective "imaginary" to the wrong noun. Indeed, you're applying it to a noun that isn't even there. You may not have noticed, but not once have I referred to "imaginary property law" (which would contain the ambiguity you describe).

    It is the "property" that is only imaginary, because it is a non-rivalrous good with a very low marginal cost. In other words, we can both have a copy without deleting the other person's and it's cheap to make more copies. The law tries to make it rivalrous by giving the author legal rights to prevent duplication and certain other things, but it can't do much of anything about the low marginal cost, so a black market flourishes. Yes, they've tried things like blank CD levies, but those don't seem to do much.

    As for the propaganda comment, I'd say that you must be new here, but come on. Believe it or not, I do not represent any government or business, just myself. To call it "propaganda" because you think I'm sensationalizing a report that's going to get passed off to those in power as saying exactly what I said it implies is a bit much. I know the report is badly flawed. That's actually part of why it's newsworthy.

    Finally, you should have realized something already, but I can't count on that if you think that adjectives like "imaginary" modify nouns like "law" that aren't there, so I'll tell you outright: I know all this because I am the submitter and I was the first I know of to coin the term "imaginary property." Don't worry, though. You can use that term freely, as much as you want.

    You're welcome.

  20. DeCSS is still illegal by tepples · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Let's examine that claim. I can buy a used DVD from NetFlix for $5.99. Likewise, I can get new DVDs at Wal-Mart for that price.

    The $40,000 number divided by $5.99 means I could buy 6677 DVDs for that amount of money. If you divide the 160GB maximum capacity for an iPod by that number, that would mean that the compressed size for each movie would average 23 MB. But how will you get the DVDs into the iPod? In the United States, home of Slashdot, Netflix, and the dollar, ripping DVDs by breaking DVD Content Scrambling System isn't lawful. Defenses to copyright infringement are not defenses to circumvention. Universal v. Reimerdes. How much would a high-quality camcorder, a high-quality monitor, and a genlock between the two cost?