[redmenace]

Anyone know what happened to www.tvtorrents.tv?

[Taristin]

Apparently, a settlement, and they owe money.

[redmenace]

obviously but I am wondering who sued them? I mean MPAA usually chases after people that host actual movies and such.

[Windrunner]

what does the law say on downloading TVshows anyway?

[Grey Wolf]

I think it's technically illegal for the same reasons as music and movies (copyrighted content), but no one really cares at the moment.

[Taristin]

Well, seems someone does...

[redmenace]

grrr, I wonder if btefnet is next.

[T1g4h]

This is why I'm glad I don't use torrents...

[Mongoose]

The whole thing with TV shows being illegal to download makes absolutely no sense.  What's the difference of downloading a .torrent of the latest episode of your favorite series and setting your VCR to tape said episode, or recording it on TIVO?  Last time I checked, those other two methods are perfectly legal.  What are you supposed to do if you miss an episode of a show; wait two years until it comes out on DVD?  Pray that it gets shown as a rerun if the show gets syndicated?

At any rate, these dictatorial, autocratic "associations" are setting themselves up for a huge fall.  The more they try to intimidate people, the more file sharing will increase.  They missed the technology train, and now they're paying for it.

[Bobboau]

the diference is no comercals.

I don't get why the networks don't start there own torents of the shows they could include comercals in the file and they'd have far superior statistics about who watched.

[Rictor]

They just don't learn, do they? The more they fight it, the more resentment grows.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Bobboau
the diference is no comercals.

I don't get why the networks don't start there own torents of the shows they could include comercals in the file and they'd have far superior statistics about who watched.

But by that reasoning (no commericals) the fast forward button is illegal....and what of product placement?

Iincidentally, the MPAA is trying to have the court ruling that protects home recording (i.e. on VCR) from being illegal overturned as part of their 'anti-piracy' lawsuits/lobbying.  In essence, to make manufacturers legally liable for any illegal use (which presumably means your computer is illegal as you can download stuff onto it) and remove protection for people.

The problem is that with VCRs there was a powerful industry lobby (Sony IIRC) fighting for the right to home record; now, the same technology manufacturers for DVD-Rs, etc, also have stakes in companies represented by the MPAA (I think Sony own Columbia Pictures & MGM, for example); partly why recordable DVD drives are still thin on the ground (at reasonable prices), perhaps.

[Grey Wolf]

Not really. A top of the line DVD-RW drive can be purchased for 60 USD or less, and that's not just one brand, but the vast majority.

The difference between a torrent of a TV show and recording a tape of a TV show is that in the second, you're storing and recording the show for your own personal use. A torrent, however, is distributing copyrighted content, and it is act of distributing, not the act of downloading, that is illegal under current laws.

[Pacinoisthemoon]

Yeh, are shutting down, its a bummer but there are still a few that I know of that are up

I currently use Torrentspy.com , it is decent, a lot of seeders

[Nuke]

as techonology allowed for brodcasting and recording buisnesses to be created and thive, the lack of acceptance for new technologies will be theese buisnesses downfall. technology is the only thing about us that really changes, and if you create a buisness around technology you should be prepaird for the nature of it.

alternatively you could nuke the whole place from orbit and end all life thus fixing the problem.

[Swamp_Thing]

Originally posted by T1g4h
This is why I'm glad I don't use torrents...

Other P2P networks aren´t doing any better. Last year alone i heard of 3 major eDonkey sites closing down due to legal issues. Sharereactor, Shareconnector, and some other site i can´t remember.
But what the RIAA fails to understand is that P2P sites are like mushrooms. They pop up over night. So they are fighting a losing battle...

[Inquisitor]

What's the difference of downloading a .torrent of the latest episode of your favorite series and setting your VCR to tape said episode, or recording it on TIVO?

Distribution.

If you want the recording, do it that way.

I don't see it getting any easier to do this sort of thing in the future.

They pop up over night. So they are fighting a losing battle...

And they seem to get shut down just as fast, I think the power of money shutting them down actually makes it a losing battle for the "freedom fighters" (I can't imagine that they get paid to set up litigation targets) who do not have infinite money.

Not sure why some people think that they are the only ones with the patience and persistence to do things. It's like a hacker who tells me he'll "just change his IP" and attack again, as if I was not motivated to prevent each and every time he attacks, like I will get bored and give up preventing him. It's my JOB to prevent it, and failing that, to mitigate the damage. I get paid for it.

Sometimes the guys on the other side of the argument are as persistent if not more. Frequently more, as they have financial incentives to be persistent. All the freedom fighters have is desire, the RIAA/MPAA/whoever has desire and money.

[karajorma]

The Luddites were also persistant. Look at them now.

Trying to fight progress is like trying to hold back the sea. Most of the people on this board have used some kind of p2p and this board isn't exactly alone in that.

Although they won't say it directly but the ISPs are behind P2P. It makes them tonnes of money. They have no desire to see it die off because they know they have lots of customers who will go back to slower BB accounts the second they can't download movies anymore. Why do you think ISPs have fought every single attempt the MPAA have made to get names handed over?

[Mongoose]

I never looked at it that way, Karajorma.  It's actually pretty funny when you stop to think about it.  

Unfortunately, as in my case, when your campus network is your ISP, you have to be more careful about things.  I've only used Bittorrent to download a few anime series, along with some legal downloads released by that method.  I can't even seed for any extended period of time, since I have no idea if my school monitors the amount uploaded or has any restrictions on it.  I'm actually planning on someday buying the DVDs for everything I've downloaded; I'm not doing it out of spite or a desire to break the law, but just because I don't have enough money to pay for them right now.  It's kind of a compromise I had to make.  I don't really condone downloading copyrighted material, but I'd rather see the illegal downloaders win than the bastards.

[SadisticSid]

Originally posted by Inquisitor
Not sure why some people think that they are the only ones with the patience and persistence to do things. It's like a hacker who tells me he'll "just change his IP" and attack again, as if I was not motivated to prevent each and every time he attacks, like I will get bored and give up preventing him. It's my JOB to prevent it, and failing that, to mitigate the damage. I get paid for it.

Sometimes the guys on the other side of the argument are as persistent if not more. Frequently more, as they have financial incentives to be persistent. All the freedom fighters have is desire, the RIAA/MPAA/whoever has desire and money.

The theory doesn't hold as the file sharers grow more distributed though. A couple of years ago everyone went to Suprnova.org for their torrents, now there are probably a good dozen big sites which are all smaller, but if one's ever taken down the others will fill up the void. As file sharing becomes more distributed, the less the marginal return per lawsuit will be for the copyright protection lobbies. And don't forget the financial incentives apply to both sides too; downloading torrent files often means multiple banner hits for very little data transfer, and so probably a significant revenue from advertising.