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

torrentfreak.com

261–270 of 336 posts

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

#261

The first thing that got me to pirate movies was that DVDs did not work because of their DRM after I installed Linux. I had plenty of legally bought movies that just did not work on my computer until I found the right Gentoo packages (libdvd-css or something)... I never tried Netflix because it took so many years for it to work with Linux. Being a free software user, it is easier to pirate stuff than to buy the conte…

> If companies just gave me access to a DRM free .avi/.ogv download for a decent price, I would buy the damn movies.

A million times this. The music industry figured out how to sell DRM free music files years ago and ever since then I haven't pirated a single album. If the video entertainment industry would do the same, my torrenting days would be over.

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

#262
post #230
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you also have to allow for the idea that you are doing harm to the creator if you are making it available for free even if you don't profit from it.

No, I don't allow that idea. If anything, I'm helping the creator by getting one more set of eyes and potentially word-of-mouth advertising out there that wouldn't have happened otherwise. If creators believed their product actually had value, they'd offer a 'try-before-you-buy' option. When they paywall & DRM it, my automatic assumption is that they know it's crap and they'd get nothing for it if they were dealing o…

Someone creates something, they set the rules. End of story. Don't like it? Don't buy. But don't steal, also. If you don't like the price of a shirt and don't like the security in the shop, do you just grab the shirt and leave? Oh, and the store is supposed to thank you, because after all you're going to wear the shirt in public and get a ton of free publicity for the store? Puh-lease...

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

#263
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are still thousand other ways to get what you want. Usenet/Private Trackers/xdcc/FTP/OCH for example. Filesharing will never die, but the easiest available ways will always be a target of the copyright cops.

I recognize all of those but OCH. What is that?

One Click Hosters, probably.

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

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because there's about five rights or so with considerations for hiw they're used. Whereas, "you can use whatever you buy but sharing the file or password is probably illegal" is easy for most people to understand and lets them avoid 99% of lawsuit risk. This is true whether copyright system is good or bad. Just simple, mental model.

Except that sharing is not illegal. The idea itself is absurd and sounds absurd when expressed. If you told people that sharing was illegal, the most common response you'd get would likely be, "lol, wut?"

Sharing what you don't own without owner's permission is either illegal or considered u ethical. Cant recall off yop of head. Buying copywritten works usually buys license yo use, not distribute (share). So, don't share the copywritten work seems like sane default if one wants to stay legal.

Whether or not copyright systems make sense or not is another discussion entirely. Irrelevant even given it has to be changed via Congress by strong, voter push and/or more bribes than pro-copyright groups. If talking laws and metaphors, I focus on what is rather than should be.

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

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that sharing is not illegal. The idea itself is absurd and sounds absurd when expressed. If you told people that sharing was illegal, the most common response you'd get would likely be, "lol, wut?"

Sharing what you don't own without owner's permission is either illegal or considered u ethical. Cant recall off yop of head. Buying copywritten works usually buys license yo use , not distribute (share). So, don't share the copywritten work seems like sane default if one wants to stay legal. Whether or not copyright systems make sense or not is another discussion entirely. Irrelevant even given it has to be changed…

Owning what you don't possess sets you up for legal takeover. No one stops you from handing a book or disc to another person, in fact, entire governmental organizations exist to handle the logistics of freely sharing such artifacts.

Sharing is the first moral many of us are taught.

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

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting example, some would argue that you aren't free to paint depictions of Muhammad in the US either.

Could you elaborate? What law does that violate?

You will be at higher risk from fanatics, Not the law.

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

#267
The thing that gets me is that everyone's fine with libraries and used book stores, as well as sales of second hand games and DVDs, none of which send profits back to the creators or rights-owners.

But digital piracy, that's amoral. Sigh. I like seeing the contortions of logic people pull off to try and explain how these things are different.

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

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not treated differently as a customer. The explanation is that distribution rights are sold by territory because most old school distribution channels are by territory. And content is usally financed by the sale of rights (usually before anyone has seen anything). But streaming is becoming more and more important and those deals will be reviewed. To give you an example, when Netflix opened in my country, Hous…

The fact that there is an explanation for this geoblocking doesn't mean that we aren't being treated differently. Fortunately, Netflix is putting a lot of effort in their own content to prevent exactly this quagmire of regional licensing. They are well aware that it is one of the biggest complaints their customers have. Oddly enough, the new Star Trek series will actually be on Netflix worldwide except for North Amer…

> usually it is only the other way around except for the local-language content.

I personally don't think this is true. There are significant amounts of content on Netflix that are only available in regions such as NLD and GBR that are not available in USA / CAN (Orphan Black comes to mind off the top of my head).

The problem definitely goes both ways.

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

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting 27 countries to agree on something sounds like bureaucracy nightmare to me :) So, I just looked up the word "bureaucracy" in a dictionary and it says "a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.". I always thought that was what a technocracy was. The secondary definition is "excessively complicated administrative procedure…

You seem to have a very bad dictionary. Bureaucracy comes from the French word "bureau", that means office. It names the way things are organized in an office, and was created for private offices, only adopted for governments later.

The French "bureaucratie" was coined in the 18th century by French economist Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay, from French "bureau" (office/desk) + Greek "-kratia" (power of), as a criticism of how government over-regulation can stunt commerce.

It came into English in the early 19th century, carrying a similarly negative connotation. The connotations have shifted back and forth somewhat since then.

Still, it seems that it's never been primarily used to talk about private offices in English or French; the primary use has always referred to governments.

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

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>As you mention, intent is not always to avoid paying. Yeah, not always, but very often. Everyone here is trying to downplay this, but I would say >80% of people (disclamer: pulled from my behind) torrent simply because it's free and if they can easily obtain it free rather than paying, then they will. The argument that people pirate because the paid options are shit, and if they were as convenient as torrents people…

Stop talking "out of your ass". I pirate an occasional movie for a friend, but I spend more time watching shows on Netflix. Why would I even pay for Netflix when I could get anything I want for free ? Because they have a really convenient UI and easy access to their content. I recently purchased a Google Play Music subscription, despite having 10^6 "pirated" songs on my HDD. Why ? Because they have a reasonable price…

Good for you. There are 6,999,999,999 other people in the world. It's not reasonable to assume everyone else thinks the same as you.
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