Posted on 10/04/2004 10:10:02 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
New technology threatens to do to Hollywood what Napster did to music. … BitTorrent is much faster than file-swapping software used to exchange movies and music over the Internet. … BitTorrent can transfer a feature-length film in about two hours -- a fraction of the 12 hours it typically takes with file-sharing services like Kazaa. ... the speed of the download actually increases with the number of people sharing a particular file.
BitTorrent ... imperils the movie studios' most lucrative source of revenue -- the $17.5 billion the industry reaped last year from DVD sales and rentals.
BitTorrent is a departure from the file-sharing technologies that allow one computer user to obtain a file directly from another over the Internet. Napster popularized file-swapping. When the courts shut down Napster in July 2001, file-swappers switched to Kazaa, which offered a new type of file-sharing program that quickly became the world's most popular ... . Both Napster and Kazaa created self-contained networks that allowed individuals to search for and obtain [files].
BitTorrent isn't a permanent network. It is a software tool that spawns impromptu networks of computer users, all of whom are seeking the same digital file. What makes it speedier than Kazaa is the notion of reciprocity. Anyone downloading a copy of [a movie] is simultaneously exchanging portions of the movie they've already downloaded with others.
It's like a group of people sitting around a table, all trying to assemble a complete version of the hot-selling book "The Da Vinci Code." The book's owner has distributed the pages so that no one has a complete copy. Thus everyone copies and distributes the pages they have in exchange for the missing pages. The swap continues until everyone has the entire book.
Once a download is completed, the network disconnects and disappears without a trace.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Sing it once, get paid once. And the price better go down with each performance.
"OTOH, selling people on a movie that's utter dreck OTHER than the highlights shown in a trailer is a sort of theft as well: a "bait and switch"."
Well, my main point is that BT is just a tool, like any other, that can be used for good or ill.
"I know for sure that many cable companies (like Time Warner), once served with any form of legal notice, will give you up in a heartbeat. They watch for people downloading MP3 music, keep a list ready, and when asked, turn it over.
"
Yes, Time Warner, a company which has extensive entertainment divisions. Ya think they might be interested in web piracy? I'd guess so.
So you use Time Warner Cable to access the net. Let's see how that might work. Time Warner discovers that lots of people are downloading movies, etc. which are Time Warner properties. Do you suppose they might be monitoring their cable modem subscribers to catch that? Gee. What a surprise that would be.
Steal stuff and you run the risk of getting caught. I can't believe so many people believe they can do this with impunity over a long period of time. Watch out, file sharers. The enforcement efforts are just beginning.
I always suspected that Suprnova.org was a MPAA honeypot anyway. It could be that they offer movies up, see who comes in to get them, note their IPs, and then serve the legal notice of infringement.
bump
I love it!
As usual, the MSM is waaaaayyy behind the times. BT has been around for quite awhile.
>> Time Warner discovers that lots of people are downloading movies, etc. which are Time Warner properties. Do you suppose they might be monitoring their cable modem subscribers to catch that
Yes. My roomate temped for the TW division that handles this. They do monitor activity, and they will assist ANY company that has a claim.
Grin
C'mon...my carefully-edited 300 word excerpt complies with all FR posting guidelines and federal copyright law!
"When you steal a car, you inevitably steal it from an individual (unless you manage to take it from a car lot)."
Yes, I should have specified a car lot. The comparison is still apt, given that proviso.
The value of the item is immaterial. Stealing a movie is exactly the same as stealing anything else. It is simply stealing property that belongs to someone else. It's wrong.
Exactly. Congress keeps extending copyright ahead of expiration, violating the whole intent of the Constitutional provision. That means all bets are off. The copyright holders brought all this on themselves when they paid off legislators to effectively insulate them from any copyright limits at all.
Yes, your IP address is shared by the tracker and other peers downloading the same torrent.
"Yes. My roomate temped for the TW division that handles this. They do monitor activity, and they will assist ANY company that has a claim.
"
"New technology"? IT's been around AT LEAST a year that I know of.
Bit Torrent use can be effective, but it just as often ends with a duead and unusable file. This sort of "swarming" file sharing is going to be VERY difficult for the media companies to stamp out.
BitTorrent? They ought to callit BitTrickle. Most of the time it's agonizingly slow.
""now that we have copyright in perpetuity... i have little respect for this concept."
Exactly. Congress keeps extending copyright ahead of expiration, violating the whole intent of the Constitutional provision. That means all bets are off. The copyright holders brought all this on themselves when they paid off legislators to effectively insulate them from any copyright limits at all."
Depends what you're downloading... I get some amazing speeds if I start the downloading as soon as the file's been released. Couple thousand other users downloading at the same time really helps.
If I'm trying to download an older file and there's maybe 10 downloaders and 2 seeds, that takes forever.
Actually, it's very difficult to "steal" intellectual property. You'd have to break into a movie production facility and remove or destroy all copies of the media. BitTorrent and similar tools can be used for copyright infringement, but equating that to stealing is inaccurate as the victim still has use of the property. I'm not defending the practice, but it's clear that Hollywood is vastly exaggerating the threat as an excuse for more unbalanced copyright laws.
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