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

Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

torrentfreak.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 336 posts

Re: Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

#21

Post by jjn2009 »

Svenskunganka wrote: post #11
derefr wrote: post #8

Oh wow, what's going on with torrent sites lately? I feel like we're "running out" of them somehow.

It's a tricky business running a torrent site. Unless it is fully decentralized, it can be shut down fairly easily. Starting a torrent site using the HTTP & DNS protocols is a lost cause. HTTP can be worked around, but DNS is very problematic. I think we'll see more and more torrent sites show up that leverages IPFS[1] or ZeroNet[2], but the second the main browser vendors adds support for something like IPNS (decent…

DNS appears to have a decent amount of decentralization, otherwise what use would it have been to switch around TLDs for the pirate bay?

Re: Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

#22

Post by provoc »

Good. Maybe this will deter people from stealing music, films and software.

It's a disgrace that so many work so hard on their craft, only to have the fruits of their efforts ripped off by the immoral.

I hope the authorities shut all these torrent search engines down, and prosecute the owners to the full extent of the law.

Re: Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

#23

Post by Freak_NL »

jjn2009 wrote: post #17
ENGNR wrote: post #10

The largest torrent search engine? No way, Google is still working fine for me

The double standard is incredible. Google would be well served defending the open web by supporting sites such as torrentz (via legal resources or otherwise), its unfortunate that the PR aspect prevents such a thing.

Why would that benefit Alphabet/Google? They have been working hard at their image of a service provider friendly to the needs of copyright owners (think of how Youtube handles DMCA requests and performs geoblocking based on IP licensing).

Re: Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

#25

Post by JanneVee »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #9
Svenskunganka wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could be, but it doesn't seem likely considering torrents themselves are not illegal, it's what they point to that might be illegal. But then again, I wonder why trackers are seen as illegal? They're nothing more than what a router is.

Technological reality doesn't matter in law. What matters is whether you facilitate crime or not.

Much like gun manufacturers and bullet makers should be charged with facilitating murder.

Re: Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

#26

Post by adrianN »

Freak_NL wrote: post #23
jjn2009 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The double standard is incredible. Google would be well served defending the open web by supporting sites such as torrentz (via legal resources or otherwise), its unfortunate that the PR aspect prevents such a thing.

Why would that benefit Alphabet/Google? They have been working hard at their image of a service provider friendly to the needs of copyright owners (think of how Youtube handles DMCA requests and performs geoblocking based on IP licensing).

> friendly to the needs of copyright owners (think of how Youtube handles DMCA requests and performs geoblocking based on IP licensing).

You mean complying with the local laws? That seems to be something that they have to do.

Re: Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

#27

Post by pipeline_tux »

provoc wrote: post #22

Good. Maybe this will deter people from stealing music, films and software. It's a disgrace that so many work so hard on their craft, only to have the fruits of their efforts ripped off by the immoral. I hope the authorities shut all these torrent search engines down, and prosecute the owners to the full extent of the law.

Torrents are filling the gap where the traditional media companies are still failing. Here in NZ there are 7 different streaming services that I can immediately think of, each with exclusive rights to some content. I'm not paying $80 a month to sign up to each so I can watch their popular "exclusive" show they own the rights to.

If the rights-holders made their content accessible and at a reasonable price to consumers, torrents would disappear.

Re: Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

#28

Post by dineshp2 »

The reason piracy is so popular is because it is free and because it's incredibly convenient, in that order.

The convenience factor is basically, if you want some content (movie, game) it's a simple search and download away (streaming torrents seem to be gaining traction). No legal alternative offers this level of convenience.

I suspect piracy will become harder for the average user due to three letter agencies making life harder for pirates, but it won't stop the determined ones.

Speaking of determined torrenters, Peter Sunde, the founder of TPB had something interesting to say about torrent aggregators being shut down [1]. The idea is that even though downloading torrents itself is p2p, finding the magnet links is still centralized and that is an area that needs to be decentralized.

[1] https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-piracy-scene-nee...

Re: Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

#29

Post by provoc »

celticninja wrote: post #24

oh look a troll, using a brand new account too, what a great way to add to the conversation.

Baselessly accusing others of trolling isn't exactly a stellar addition to the conversation.

Sometimes an echo chamber, as HN often is on the subject of piracy and copyright, needs the occasional dissenting comment to add diversity to the conversation.

Re: Torrentz Shuts Down, Largest Torrent Meta-Search Engine Says Farewell

#30

Post by HugoDaniel »

provoc wrote: post #22

Good. Maybe this will deter people from stealing music, films and software. It's a disgrace that so many work so hard on their craft, only to have the fruits of their efforts ripped off by the immoral. I hope the authorities shut all these torrent search engines down, and prosecute the owners to the full extent of the law.

Are you aware that the authors are the least privileged in current copyright laws ?

Where I live the state even invented a special tax on digital supports (USB, Hard Drives, etc...) to "favor the authors" because of "piracy". Never met a single author that benefited from that. And trust me I know a lot of them.

Copyright laws were made, and exist, to privilege the industry (which does include authors, at the bottom, if you scrap hard enough).

Just read through the legal code of your country and try to place the "so many" who "work so hard on their craft" along the lines.

Post reply on HN