Slashdot Mirror
LegalTorrents Offers CC Works Via BitTorrent
An anonymous reader writes "A site called LegalTorrents has just launched that hosts trackers and seeds for digital media licensed under the Creative Commons license. ('We distribute content with the full permission of the rights holders and use the peer-2-peer file-sharing technology called Bittorrent.') The site even provides a way to donate money to artists you like. (LegalTorrents takes 15% off the top unless you are a member, which costs $50 one-time during the beta period.)" It's always good to see "legitimate" content distributed in ways that make it hard to demonize the distribution system itself — something Lawrence Lessig in particular has been doing for years, and his book "Free Culture" is one of the audiobooks available through LegalTorrents. Note that LegalTorrents has been around for a while now, rather than "just launched," but the current beta period won't last forever.
So wait, you donate money to the bands but LegalTorrents takes money off of there for what? Yes, servers are expensive and hosting isn't free, but really, it isn't your bandwidth, or anything. It is like saying you have to pay $15 to host your files on TPB. Just another reason to support the artist by going to the artist's website and donating or buying CDs/going to concerts. Seriously, LegalTorrents makes money off of what? Making a logo?
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
The name of the tracker indirectly spreads the notion that other torrents are inherently less legal. It's a content distribution platform. Much like with firearms, it's the people that use it that commit or don't commit crimes. Not the tools they use.
Other trackers are full of CC and open source contents as well. Just do a search for gentoo, ubuntu, slackware or some such on the pirate bay and you'll see what I mean.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
..... most likely almost universally dismal
Normally I dislike people shilling their wares here but it got me to thinking that it might be interesting if there was one thread where that was *all* that people posted. Everyone has a pet project or knows of one that could use some exposure.
Best of luck to ya.
Depends on your definition of 'legal'. It used to be 'That which does not harm society is legal', lately it has come to mean 'that which special interest groups are unable to buy laws against'.
MP3 Search Engine
"Way better than paying like $30 per full res image at rip off stock photo libraries."
Where are you paying $30? The hi-res images at istockphoto are around $8, and the web-res versions (which I use the most) are under a couple of bucks.
With stock photography, you typically get what you pay for. Corbis, Getty, et al tend to have the best quality, but they're pricy. istockphoto is really cheap, but you often have to sift through a lot of crap. And the "free stock photo" places tend to be awful.
That's why I'm not sure if a torrent tracker for free or CC stock photography would be useful. It would be stuff on the level of the free sites -- that is, generally bad.
istockphoto is empowering a lot of pro and serious amateur photographers. At a buck a download, the royalties can add up really quickly. If I were a pro or serious amateur photographer, if I had the choice of posting to istockphoto or giving it away on a torrent site, I'd go with the former. Yes -- I know that information wants to be free, RMS is god, and every time you pay for copyrighted material a kitten dies, but the bank that holds the note to my house tends to be a little more rigid about making money than many Slashdotters.
Sitting in my day care, the art is decopainted.
I'll give LegalTorrents about six months before an "accidentally on purpose" attack.
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