Mininova Removes All Copyright-Infringing Torrents 352
Pabugs writes with news that popular torrent site Mininova has abandoned their attempts at filtering and simply deleted all torrents other than the legal ones they facilitate through their Content Distribution service. According to their blog post, they were left "no other option than to take [their] platform offline" after a court ruling from August. "The judge ruled that Mininova is not directly responsible for any copyright infringements, but ordered it to remove all torrents linking to copyrighted material within three months, or face a penalty of up to 5 million euros."
Another site already replaced it (Score:3, Informative)
kickasstorrents.com
Re:Debate! (Score:5, Informative)
Eg.
Q:Could you help me flash my NintendoDS?
A:No
Q:Could you find me the latest cd on thepiratebay?
A:No
Q:Could you grab me a coke?
A:No
Q:Could you call 911 since I am about to go into cardiac arrest?
A:No
Q:Could you stop aliens from kidnapping my children?
A:No
Q:Could you give me the time of day?
A:No
See, its easy.
Re:Oh no! What will I do? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Same droppings, different pile (Score:2, Informative)
Let me tell you a true story from real life.
While traveling the endless lands of The Barrens and sipping my Mountain Dew drink with ices, I remembered a note my mother left for me in my childhood. It was on the fridge door, with a lovely heart magnet on top of it. I read the note and it said she'll be late home today and she had left me a good salad to eat in the fridge. But that is bad food. I didn't want to eat bad food. I wanted a PIZZA. But I was scared. I truly was. It was the first time I had to go against an authority and it was the first time I had to make a tough decision myself - what kind of a pizza to order. I went to Google and typed in "pizza". There was a nice lady that asked from me what kind of a pizza I would like to have. I just mumbled something along the lines of.. Sliced ham, bacon, pineapple and roasted red peppers with provolone cheese on a parmesan crust.. Family size, pan pizza! And one Mountain Dew. And some chocolate ice cream with strawberries! She said "I'll be there in 20 mins". I felt like a man and went back to my computer.
The thing I'm trying to say here is that whatever they will try, someone will get around it and do what he wants. So did I.
Re:Oh no! What will I do? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Debate! (Score:2, Informative)
Some copyright is quite reasonable. What we need is a legalization of noncommercial copyright infringement. Leave the rest of copyright law perfectly as it is. I should be able to share all the files I want, but as soon as I start trying to make money doing that, that's when it should become illegal (as it is today).
The interesting part here is that the person in question wouldn't have paid for the product anyways, unless it was something that was critical to their work or life(ie - physical item like a light bulb). And entertainment isn't. People will just go elsewhere if the price is too high. For instance, I could have seen my favorite band in concert, but at $140 a ticket, it was too expensive. Since there was no "free" option either, I simply opted out. I heard that they only sold about 2/3 of the total tickets as well. I didn't cost the promoter a sale. There were no damages. I just went elsewhere.
This is a critical point for the producers to understand. Copying isn't a lost sale. I never would have been a sale at all anyways.
So what's the upside? How many of us have bought something after playing a demo or listening to a sample of the music online? Getting exposure for your product means a lot lately, and that means you have to give it away to attract new listeners or viewers. Attempting to squash it will just end up making people spend their money elsewhere. And in this economic climate, you'd think that the major studios and recording companies would figure this out. If they thought it was bad before, with these continuing tactics, they're in for a rude awakening.
My son doesn't even care about watching TV much any more or music on the radio. He watches YouTube for entertainment because it's free. I doubt if he'll even bother to download music at this rate or buy a single CD before he's 18. They just simply put, lost a future customer because there are better free alternatives out there without the idiocy and rules to deal with. He gets $5 a week and that's like gold to him. Spending it on music is the last thing he wants to do at this point. So it goes to his guitar or his bike or video games... all physical things, since YouTube and other similar sites(he likes those free Java-driven game sites for instance) offer him an enormous number of ways to waste time for free.
Even I have never downloaded a single music or movie file. Because there's an almost unlimited amount of better stuff out there for free. I pay a lot of money per month for a fast connection and to be honest, I'd rather watch some crazy video on YouTube (was watching old Battlebots segments for instance last night with my son(who now wants to build a Battlebot - heh)) than more of the boring drek that Hollywood puts out. And I'd rather go out to one of the local bars around town to hear some *live* music than waste it on a CD.
I've seen only three movies in a theater this last year. With online content and 80+ channels of Cable TV, I just don't need music or movies in my life at this point.
Note - since I do live in a major urban area, yes, it is simply a matter of going down the street to find entertainment, so I admit that that's a factor in my favor.
Re:Oh no! What will I do? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Another site will replace it. (Score:2, Informative)
torrentz.com
Re:Debate! (Score:3, Informative)
Not everywhere in the US. In Pennsylvania, for example, "Depraved Indifference" can be tantamount to "involuntary manslaughter."