Live data from Hacker News

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

torrentfreak.com

31–40 of 336 posts

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

#31
Are they going to come after the private trackers after this? The numbers are relatively very small though. I would hate if that happens.

I pay for content whenever I can but those trackers provide me with stuff I mostly never get anywhere else (and in the format and size I want) even if I want to pay.

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

#32
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.

Sharing, not stealing.

It must be comfortable to judge people from comfort of a couch in 1st world country, right? What about point in constitution of many countries about free access to culture?

Music stars make most of their money out of concerts anyways, and selling music is actual way to make money by huge labels. But you surely knew that only 10% of each CD goes to actual performers.

And tbf - the only reason I am using torrents here in Europe is because there is no alternative. Netflix is 1/4th of what it is in US, there is no other services that would have huge library of movies and despite looking many times torrents are still the only option for someone who likes to see huge catalog of movies on demand.

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

#34
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…

I believe the main problem is how the site owner can remain anonymous and still collect the advertising revenue. The hosting does not seem to be so big issue, since these well known sites have been running for quite a while.

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

#35
post #19

What would it take to build a secure & resilient torrent site? I'm guessing fully decentralised and I've seen mentions of * ipfs ( https://ipfs.io/ ) * zeronet ( https://zeronet.io/ * Riffle (anonymous communication) Couldn't we leverage bits of the blockchain technology? Since it's a fully distributed shared database where writers don't trust each other and no middleman is trusted either? (edit:formatting)

What do you need a blockchain for? Storing millions of no more seeded torrents?

There are already magnet links and DHT which is distributed shared database. The only issue is a search function, which is much easier to implement and works much faster when it's done in a centralized form.

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

#36

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

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

Calm down, we're not on reddit. Having a different opinion doesn't make one a troll.

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

#37
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 consumer…

So your excuse for this theft of service is that you simply don't want to pay?

It's lucky for you that prosecuting torrent users is so rare, as I really can't see that one holding up in court.

If you can't afford it, don't steal it. It's as simple as that.

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

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Intent matters. The vast majority of people that buy a gun do not murder people. The vast majority of people that download iron_man.torrent only intend to do one thing with it.

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

#39
post #17
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.

How would assisting copyright infringement benefit the open web?

I see the mention of double standards but it seems very odd to me that someone would support copyright infringement (grabbing films etc.) and deem it acceptable yet we'd balk at someone either:

a) not paying for software we were selling, or b) not paying for a software service we were selling.

It doesn't add up.

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

#40
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yes it is decentralized, but it relies on central authorities to work, which in turn relies on a stable, cross-border legal system - which many believes is currently not in a good state (see Freak_NL's response for example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12230903 ).

People have different views on this of course, but I think we all can agree that it needs a major overhaul to make the majority happy (the legal system that is).

Post reply on HN