Digital Daily » torrent

TorrentSpy Takes a Dirt Nap

John Paczkowski — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:42:40 +0000

If the Motion Picture Association of America is so intent on shuttering BitTorrent trackers, perhaps it should set its sites on the really big offenders, like say … Google (GOOG). It’s going to have to sooner or later, because some day there won’t be any smaller operations left for it to sue.

After a prolonged, and quite nasty, legal battle with the MPAA, TorrentSpy is shutting down. “The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile,” reads a statement posted to the site’s front page by founder Justin Bunnell. “We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves… [W]e now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users–permanent shutdown.”

This Is an Ex-DVD Format

John Paczkowski — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:00:40 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

No Contracts. No Hidden Fees. No Gotchas! … No Company, Either.

John Paczkowski — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:00:59 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

I Smell the Work of Lord Voldem … I Mean 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'

John Paczkowski — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:08:22 +0000

When the manuscript of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”– the seventh and final novel in the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling–was carried by hand from London to New York, the attorney for Scholastic, the book’s American publisher, sat on it throughout the flight. When it was bound and printed, the factory workers who oversaw its production were reportedly forced to work in near-darkness to prevent them from reading it. And when it was shipped to retailers, the vehicles carrying it were tracked by satellite to ensure that they did not deviate from their intended route.

All this for naught. Because the book’s been leaked. And torrented. And uploaded to a number of image hosting sites as well–even as millions of preordered copies sit sealed in closely guarded boxes around the world.

Now granted, the leaked book is being distributed as a poor-quality scan–legible only if the reader possesses some rudimentary Photoshop skills and a lot of free time. Still, some $20 million was spent to prevent exactly this sort of thing from happening. And for what? Harry.Potter.and.the.Deathly.Hollows.Complete.jpg.screenshots.torrent? “We have a litigation specialist poised 24 hours a day, seven days a week to deal with any breaches,” a spokesman for the series’ British publisher, Bloomsbury, told the Telegraph last week. “It is our intention to enforce the embargo vigorously and seek an immediate injunction if required.”

Best get to work on that, guys.