Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 356 posts

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#81

Post by joering2 »

ikeboy wrote: post #33
josho wrote: post #18

I find it interesting that a Polish man was charged by US laws, rather than under Polish law. I think he opened himself to US law by hosting the servers at one point in the US. Regardless, it is rather fascinating that his first visit to the US could potentially be from extradition.

Anyone doing things that affect the US is automatically subject to US jurisdiction. But whether they can be extradited depends on the particular treaty the country in question has with the US.

Are there any good examples of when this works the other way around? A US citizen being extradited to another country for non-violent crimes? Something in tune of computer hacking or hosting a website?

Other than drugs and murders, I have a hard time believing US govt to give out its citizens to third parties...

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#82

Post by dingaling »

GadgetJax wrote: post #56
cocotino wrote: post #15

Wow, this sucks, I love KAT, what now? TPB is rubbish.

Whip out that credit card and start buying stuff instead? Who cares if you don't use it much, it's all relative. I like buying CDs and Bluray, then I rip them for everyday use. But its nice to have something tangible to back it up. Plus its all legal and protected, since I don't rebroadcast any of the content, just private enjoyment.

Recently I asked a friend to keep an eye out for issues of a British magazine of the 1970s / 80s. That he might encounter in charity shops or on eBay, for example.

This week he mentioned to me that he noticed many of them have been scanned and torrented. I've never downloaded a torrent before but this looks like a great opportunity.

So my quandary is: who could I legally pay for an equivalent resource? Many of the authors are now dead and the publisher went bankrupt.

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#83

Post by MichaelBurge »

jerrac wrote: post #52

Does anyone know if there is data somewhere on how much money has been spent by governments (specifically the USA) on attacking copyright related stuff? My main complaint about this is that I'd rather my tax dollars be spent stopping crime that causes physical harm.

In this case, it looks like it went through the ICE since it was an international crime. I can't find a budget newer than 2012, but all of their international investigations combined were $115 million in 2012 so that should be an upper bound for cases like this one.

https://www.ice.gov/factsheets/budget2012

I would suspect that purely domestic crimes are usually handled through the courts. For example, I don't recall the RIAA trying to get individuals prosecuted for crimes nearly as often as them suing people.

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#84

Post by joering2 »

chj wrote: post #43
ceejayoz wrote: post #9

> It also shows that Apple handed over personal details of Vaulin after the investigator cross-referenced an IP-address used for an iTunes transaction with an IP-address that was used to login to KAT’s Facebook account. I find it darkly ironic that a legal purchase of music helped them catch the guy.

Does that mean that Apple basically feeds every transaction information to Feds so that they can find this match?

Most likely. They become PRISM partner right after Jobs passed away, so at this point its a valid guess they share everything.

Or by now Apple simply has its own room 641A.

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#85

Post by ikeboy »

joering2 wrote: post #81
ikeboy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone doing things that affect the US is automatically subject to US jurisdiction. But whether they can be extradited depends on the particular treaty the country in question has with the US.

Are there any good examples of when this works the other way around? A US citizen being extradited to another country for non-violent crimes? Something in tune of computer hacking or hosting a website? Other than drugs and murders, I have a hard time believing US govt to give out its citizens to third parties...

You could start with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:People_extradited_fro...

Of those, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stein_Bagger, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Bastiaens, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kirk_(New_Zealand_politic... are not drug or violence related on a quick glance.

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#86

Post by grayarea »

GadgetJax wrote: post #56
cocotino wrote: post #15

Wow, this sucks, I love KAT, what now? TPB is rubbish.

Whip out that credit card and start buying stuff instead? Who cares if you don't use it much, it's all relative. I like buying CDs and Bluray, then I rip them for everyday use. But its nice to have something tangible to back it up. Plus its all legal and protected, since I don't rebroadcast any of the content, just private enjoyment.

> then I rip them for everyday use

In the country I live in you have just infringed copyright and should expect a lawsuit.

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#87

Post by [deleted] »

joering2 wrote: post #81
ikeboy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone doing things that affect the US is automatically subject to US jurisdiction. But whether they can be extradited depends on the particular treaty the country in question has with the US.

Are there any good examples of when this works the other way around? A US citizen being extradited to another country for non-violent crimes? Something in tune of computer hacking or hosting a website? Other than drugs and murders, I have a hard time believing US govt to give out its citizens to third parties...

[deleted]

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#88

Post by hueving »

aerovistae wrote: post #75
drcross wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should have used bitcoin :(

Wouldn't help much once the bitcoin is exchanged for another currency, thus linking the bitcoin address to his personal information if the authorities compel the exchange to provide the info.

Bitcoin can be laundered through mixers pretty easily making it very difficult to track it into a currency conversion.

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#89

Post by joering2 »

ikeboy wrote: post #85
joering2 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any good examples of when this works the other way around? A US citizen being extradited to another country for non-violent crimes? Something in tune of computer hacking or hosting a website? Other than drugs and murders, I have a hard time believing US govt to give out its citizens to third parties...

You could start with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:People_extradited_fro... Of those, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stein_Bagger , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Bastiaens , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kirk_(New_Zealand_politic... are not drug or violence related on a quick glance.

Thanks for searching this. On the first link I only found one US citizen though.

Re: Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested

#90

Post by AlexCoventry »

rhino369 wrote: post #53
codecamper wrote: post #44

When will the feds learn that this is whack a mole.. and every time the mole improves. (I am 1428x times smarter...)

Whackamole has uses. Sure diehard users will find new trackers but it makes it harder for the average consumer to pirate. My dads favorite tv show tracker went down and he couldn't figure out how to get another private one. He's had to get a dvr and borrow my HBO password.

  > it makes it harder for the average consumer to pirate.
How diehard do you have to be to type "Best torrent sites" into google?
Post reply on HN