File Sharing/Torrents vs. the Movie/Music Industry

[Winston]

Momopi,
Millions use Limewire to download songs. So how to the record companies decide who to sue out of millions of ordinary people that do it? Look at this lawsuit here:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... downloads/

Isn't it futile for them to sue ordinary citizens since they can't pay up? Is that just a scare tactic?

Also, most of the songs from Limewire are missing lately. Do you know what happened? I can't find any info about it online. Did Limewire take down most of the songs or what? It used to be that every hit song was on there, now only a small percentage are.

What happened?

[Mr S]

If you want to keep track of what's going on in the Bittorrent world read this website periodically:

http://torrentfreak.com/

[Mr S]

Lawyers at it again, up to no good...

http://torrentfreak.com/rights-holders- ... on-100331/

Rights Holders Get 30% from Mass BitTorrent Litigation
Written by enigmax on March 31, 2010

The plague of mass litigation “pay up or else� letters has now hit the shores of the United States. 20,000 BitTorrent users are to be targeted soon, with 30,000 in the months to follow. According to new information, 300 movies are set for enforcement action, with their rightsholders receiving just 30% of the spoils.

The very lucrative turn-piracy-into-profit “speculative invoicing� model has leapt over the Atlantic to the United States and, as with most things stateside, it’s likely to be bigger than ever before.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a company known as U.S. Copyright Group has been monitoring BitTorrent users allegedly sharing various 3rd-rate independent films.

Currently it’s just a handful of movies being targeted, but TorrentFreak has learned that U.S Copyright Group has around 300 titles enrolled into their program meaning that the scope of this action is likely to increase rapidly.

Through its anti-piracy monitoring partner firm Guardaley IT, a little-known German-based company with a UK address shared with dozens of other companies, the group has been harvesting IP addresses for use in legal action.

Already 20,000 users are being pursued through the federal court in Washington, DC, with another 30,000 set to face the same treatment in the months to come.

These lawsuits will attempt to force ISPs to hand over the personal details of the account holder in question, who will then receive a pre-settlement (pay-up-or-else) letter demanding a few hundred dollars to make the whole thing go away. The lawyers involved in this scheme are very upfront about their motivations.

“We’re creating a revenue stream and monetizing the equivalent of an alternative distribution channel,� says Jeffrey Weaver, a lawyer for U.S. Copyright Group.

So what proportion of the revenue stream goes to the rightsholders? In common with similar schemes in Europe, it’s relatively small. TorrentFreak discovered that the majority of a settlement payment – a huge 70% – goes to the U.S Copyright Group and its anti-piracy partners. The remaining 30% goes to the rightsholders.

The numbers involved in these schemes are huge. An admission from group lawyer Thomas Dunlap revealed that the program in Germany handled one particular limited-release movie and netted the copyright holder $800,000.

It is in this open admission of a financial motivation that recipients of these letters will find the key to combating the threats. All they have to remember is that these schemes are simply about generating profit – anything that can be done to reduce or remove the profit element has usually resulted in the lawyers backing off. No profit, no interest.

In the UK, many recipients of these letters enter into “letter-tennis� with the lawyers, asking for or providing small amounts of extra information each time they write, including outright denials, requests for more information and clarification of evidence. The greater the load on the lawyers, the less money they can make, meaning that ‘difficult’ letter recipients get pushed to the bottom of the pile, many never to be seen again.

So far, US Copyright Group says that one ISP has cooperated by handing over the names and address of 71 account holders. However, not all ISPs are playing ball and respect is to be given to those who are apparently fighting in court right now to avoid handing over their details of their customers. ISP TalkTalk has refused to co-operate in the UK and it has done their reputation no harm at all.

US Copyright Group claim that eight account holders have already paid up, but if experience of these schemes elsewhere is anything to go by, figures and statements coming out of these outfits are always calculated ones and just part of the marketing. Perception is everything, and that perception needs to be “people are paying up�.

Despite the element of bluff, expect them to take one or two very unlucky individuals to court in some way. Likely candidates are those prepared to enter into a private agreement which can be pumped up for the benefit of the press to create a convenient metaphorical head-on-a-pike warning to scare others into paying.

If no-one pays, however, the entire scheme collapses. It’s just a question of who blinks first.

[momopi]

Momopi,
Millions use Limewire to download songs. So how to the record companies decide who to sue out of millions of ordinary people that do it? Look at this lawsuit here:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... downloads/

Isn't it futile for them to sue ordinary citizens since they can't pay up? Is that just a scare tactic?

Also, most of the songs from Limewire are missing lately. Do you know what happened? I can't find any info about it online. Did Limewire take down most of the songs or what? It used to be that every hit song was on there, now only a small percentage are.

What happened?

I don't use Limewire, and only use Bittorrent to download Japanese anime.

Yes, it's a scare tactic to make people stop bootlegging via BT.

But let's consider where the music and video industry is going. Currently artists still need to sign with a record company label for promotion and sell CD's. But is it really necessary in the future when everyone will just buy downloads from Apple iTunes?

When Miyazaki's films like Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service were imported to the US, it had to be licensed by Buena Visa distribution (I think). But in the future when we just click on a film and download the HD video to watch at home on our big screens, is it that critical for a hard-copy DVD release?

Regardless of what the record and movie industry think, the future is online downloads. So the effort is to halt illegal downloads as much as possible and sell legal downloads. The real beneficiaries are companies like Apple taking 30% cut as the middle man. Sony, Microsoft, etc. are all in the game too. You can download movies from Xbox 360 and Sony PS3.

[Winston]

I guess Limewire has been shut down. A federal court ordered it permanently taken down after a court battle with the music industry.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/208895/l ... ently.html

Any other alternatives?

Check out this eloquent comment:

Today, it's about ripping off a CD.

Tomorrow, it's about plagiarism.

The next day, it's about "obscenity".

After that, it'll be about "national security".

The slippery slope to censorship cannot be ignored. Once we allow the principle that ANY entity can censor or control ANY part of the internet, Pandora's Box will be opened and the internet as we know it will disappear.

The internet has no government or borders. It is an open platform completely free from hierarchy.

It must remain that way.

Here is a good counter-argument to that.

Alright guys,

As much as it sucks that Limewire was shut down, you can't argue with the reasons why. You can call it censorship, you can call it control, but at the end of the day the government is protecting intelectual property worth billions. 'Oh no, they're trying to control the internet' is that what you're really concerned about? Nobody complains when the government takes action against hackers and spammers. Nobody complains when action is taken against those who create viruses. These could all be called forms of free speach or whatever you like to justify limeiwre as. You're all fair weather fans. You need to remember that the law goes both ways, and you can't just stand behind it when it's conveniant for you. Don't get me wrong, I love Limewire, but I nor anyone else can argue that it was legal or just.

[Winston]

Here is a good point about why the record industry conglomerates in America have already lost the war.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... -shut-down

Too little to late. The RIAA have failed miserably, their whole approach was wrong - Instead of using the internet as an opportunity they threw all the toys out of the pram. LimeWire is but one method of file sharing, what are they going to do now? Go after the torrent sites, newsgroups file sharing sites like rapidshare?
They have lost the war a long time ago

[Winston]

So with Limewire gone, what other site or software can we use to download the biggest database of music? Anyone know?

[Mr S]

So with Limewire gone, what other site or software can we use to download the biggest database of music? Anyone know?

I use Vuze.

Once you have it set to be your default bittorrent downloader you can just go to any bittorrent site and do a search for whatever song or band you like, they pretty much have everything limewire used to have.

You can start here: http://btjunkie.org/

[Winston]

So with Limewire gone, what other site or software can we use to download the biggest database of music? Anyone know?

I use Vuze.

Once you have it set to be your default bittorrent downloader you can just go to any bittorrent site and do a search for whatever song or band you like, they pretty much have everything limewire used to have.

You can start here: http://btjunkie.org/

Is that better than BitLord? BitLord doesn't seem to be able to find many songs with its search engine.

I don't see a download button on that page. How do you use it?

[Mr S]

So with Limewire gone, what other site or software can we use to download the biggest database of music? Anyone know?

I use Vuze.

Once you have it set to be your default bittorrent downloader you can just go to any bittorrent site and do a search for whatever song or band you like, they pretty much have everything limewire used to have.

You can start here: http://btjunkie.org/

Is that better than BitLord? BitLord doesn't seem to be able to find many songs with its search engine.

I don't see a download button on that page. How do you use it?

Download here: http://www.vuze.com/

The search engines on those programs are just going to have legit stuff because they don't want to be sued. You have to use the private Bittorent sites like the one I mentioned above to find pirated stuff then have Vuze down load it for you. You just download the bittorent file from the site then drag it to Vuze to load or automatically set you bittorent files to be loaded by Vuze when you open them.

[Winston]

Well I registered with http://btjunkie.org/ and then was able to use its search engine from its home page. Isn't that the same thing?

Is http://www.vuze.com/ something else? Do I need to download its software, or is using the home page of btjunkie the same thing?

[Mr S]

Well I registered with http://btjunkie.org/ and then was able to use its search engine from its home page. Isn't that the same thing?

Is http://www.vuze.com/ something else? Do I need to download its software, or is using the home page of btjunkie the same thing?

You cant download the actual torrent unless you use bitlord or vuze. All bittorent sites are just search engines with the directory file. you download that which is really small then you open that file in bitlord or vuze to actually download the real file. So yes, you need to download Vuze and use it as the main software that downloads Bitorrents on your computer or use Bitlord.

You obviously aren't using your bitlord properly and thats why you think it sucks.

BTW Opera browser has a built in bittorent downloader into its browser if you want to use that and forget vuze or bitlord, but I think its a little slower.

I like to use these other Bitorrent sites as well:

Best private one - http://www.demonoid.me/ (if you want to join pm me and i'll email you an invite)
http://torrent-finder.info/
http://thepiratebay.org/
http://www.sumotorrent.com/
Lots of Paranormal and alternative stuff - http://www.theoccult.bz/

[Winston]

So is Vuze any better than BitLord? I'm using BitLord now. Is there any reason to change it? Does it have the maximum search capability?

You invited me to Demonoid before and I already signed up for it. But when I tried using Demonoid, I couldn't find most of the things I was looking for. PirateBay had a lot more things I was looking for.

I just entered what I wanted in the search box, and use parameters to filter the search results in BitLord. How else am I supposed to use it?

BitLord is great at finding movies, but when I search for mp3 songs, it brings up files that are huge. Mp3 files are usually just a few megabytes. But BitLord brings up the name of the song with huge files that range from 20MB to 10GB. I have no idea why.

[Mr S]

I don't use the bittorent software for searches, only downloading. I use the actual bitorrent sites and do searches there then bring over the files to download onto Vuze.

Vuze is fast and stable. Download it and try it out maybe you'll like it better than Bitlord. They don't make Bitlord for Mac's so I don't use it but I've seen it before.

[momopi]

I don't BT much anymore. There are some Chinese sites that does streaming and I watch it on my media PC (connected to TV). Try:
http://funshion.com/

It's in Chinese and you'll need to download the streaming software (install on your media PC and not the computer you use for internet banking!). All the listings have nice pictures so you don't actually need to read Chinese to click on the movies, and the English movies are English audio so you don't have to worry about language selection. Just scroll/click around the web site and find you way around.