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Priate Bay Verdict

edited April 2009 in Everything Else
They lost.

I'm not sure what to make of this. On one hand, I think that this may be a tipping point where the media companies become a real enemy to the average citizen. A fine is one thing, but jail is another. On the other hand, the owners of the Pirate Bay were brazen. I suspect in Sweden there may be some backlash, but I don't see the rest of the world being too sympathetic over an operation such as this.

Whatever happens, the war will be won with technology. Services such as Oneswarm give file traders a leg up. How long can the media companies fight this war?

I think that quality content providers deserve to be paid. However, I think that media companies need to stop living in the past. They need to adjust their business model to present day reality. I would gladly get all my TV shows from ITunes. At $2 per show, though, I still have cable. If I watch just four or five of shows a week, it's not competitive with basic cable TV. That's absurd since cable offers so much more content. Throw in Hulu and Netflix, and $2 per show becomes even more absurd. Throw in DRM, and it gets worse.

They need to find a price point that makes paying worthwhile. Their advantage is that they can give you a fast download on demand. That's better than many torrents. But if the price is too high, people will accept the inconvenience of bittorrent. They also need you to watch the file whenever you want and however you want - and on whatever machine you want.

Comments

  • edited April 2009
    Why is content worth paying for? Is it all worth paying for?
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • I'm more interested in whether or not Pirate Bay will stick around, or if it will be replaced by something else. If something else does replace it, will it still be based on bittorrent? First we had Napster, then Gnutella and such, then Bittorrent. What will be the next big P2P file sharing technology?
  • edited April 2009
    Why is content worth paying for? Is it all worth paying for?
    Not all content is worth paying for, but some most definitely is. There will be less quality entertainment if nobody pays for content. Money does not equal quality, but it is a factor. The only way Peter Jackson could make the Lord of the Rings movies was by assuring that he could recoup the expense. That's the reality. Somebody could have shot those movies with a Sonycam, but I doubt they would have come out as well.
    I'm more interested in whether or not Pirate Bay will stick around
    They claim that the servers have been moved out of Sweden and will continue to function. I wonder, though, who will step up to run things.
    What will be the next big P2P file sharing technology?
    Oneswarm or something similar. It's a slower model since packets get routed through more users, but not knowing who originated a packet is pretty effective.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • edited April 2009
    Didn't Pirates' Bay buy Sealand on Ebay to build a data haven in international waters? Or am I just full of lies from reading Hetalia?

    edit: Or not. I guess the deal fell through in 2007.
    Post edited by gomidog on
  • edited April 2009
    They've been through so many court cases that they were bound to lose one eventually. A year in jail isn't the end of the world, and I'm fairly confident that The Pirate Bay will live through this. It's not even really the site itself that's important, it's the activist side of the operation we really need around. How many other groups have fought for rights online to the extent that they have?
    Post edited by Sail on
  • I don't even care about Pirate Bay. Last I checked, Pirate Bay doesn't encompass all the bittorrent files online. Mininova? Isohunt? Torrentz? Scrapetorrent? Btjunkie? I mean really, if one of those goes down, move to another one.
  • Will this legal decision have any effect on those of us outside of Sweden? How will this affect Google, Yahoo and other search engines who may end up linking to illegal or copyrighted content?
  • They're going to appeal the decision, and in all likelihood they'll win. Even if they don't, however, the brilliance of the pirate community is its fluidity. When Napster went down, hardly anyone in the know was still using it, and if Bittorrent goes down (and it won't), there'll be something working harder, better, faster, stronger to use.
  • Bittorrent goes down (and it won't), there'll be something working harder, better, faster, stronger to use.
    Someone buy PirateSkyNet.com.
  • It's not even really the site itself that's important, it's the activist side of the operation we really need around. How many other groups have fought for rights online to the extent that they have?
    I agree with this statement completely. Though it may just be a strange rebellious side in me, I kinda feel bad for the admins at Pirate Bay, especially since we've always thought that they would be capable of avoiding legal prosecution.
  • Oneswarmor something similar. It's a slower model since packets get routed through more users, but not knowing who originated a packet is pretty effective.
    WASTE might be a possibility; heavy encryption and trusted networks seem to be the direction we're heading in.

    I myself thing a FRC Oneswarm net would be very cool.
  • So would a FRC DC network, though I don't know how useful it would be in the long-run.
  • WASTEmight be a possibility; heavy encryption and trusted networks seem to be the direction we're heading in.

    I myself thing a FRC Oneswarm net would be very cool.
    WASTE came out a very long time ago. It's from the guy who made WinAmp. The major problem with WASTE is that it is very user-unfriendly. You have to do lots of public/private key management, and it doesn't do NAT traversal. I was thinking of making a new thing, just like WASTE, that does Skype-like NAT traversal and automated key management, but it's way low on the queue.
  • So would a FRC DC network, though I don't know how useful it would be in the long-run.
    Man, I loved the days of Direct connect at RIT.
  • So would a FRC DC network, though I don't know how useful it would be in the long-run.
    Man, I loved the days of Direct connect at RIT.
    Good days.
  • I was thinking of making a new thing, just like WASTE, that does Skype-like NAT traversal and automated key management, but it's way low on the queue.
    Let me take this moment to say that I've always had awe and admiration for people who can just do things like that. You programmers are awesome.
  • I agree with Funfetus. Also, RIT's hub has only grown since the advent of the terabyte hard drive.
  • if only i could access it from off campus..
  • edited October 2014
    Guilty. Again.
    Post edited by Daikun on
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