In rather shocking news this morning, The Pirate Bay (TPB) has shut down its torrent tracker. The search engine remains, but instead of dishing up torrents it will instead serve as a magnet-link repository.
TPB cites that the concept of the BitTorrent tracker is dead. "There is no need to run a tracker any more" says their blog. Long-live DHT and PEX -- dynamic, decentralized torrenting technologies!
What this actually means for you and I -- the implications -- is that you need to make sure you have an updated torrent client, like uTorrent or Azureus. Something that supports DHT and PEX. Most of you will already have these technologies enabled by default -- you just don't know about them. In fact, even with this rather dramatic announcement, you probably won't realise any difference in your download speeds.
Piracy will continue as normal, don't worry.
It's simply the end of an era. Perhaps more interestingly, TPB have been talking to other tracker owners and torrent-download sites. They're pushing for everyone to move away from trackers and towards decentralization.
Whether this is simply a 'viva la piracy!' move, or a more sinister strategy by their new owners remains to be seen.
This week, when I saw Jamin and Kiowa Winans of Double Edge Films sending out excited messages on Twitter to the effect that their movie Ink had been ripped and uploaded to Pirate Bay I was intrigued. I guess I was just sort of programmed by negative publicity to see sites like Pirate Bay as a bad thing. On the other hand, once I thought about it, I could certainly see the exposure potential of putting a project in front of the 140 million users of bittorrent sites worldwide. So I put my show up on Pirate Bay to see what would happen. In two days views of the show on its home page tripled.
It is more tricky for a movie though, since a movie is much more of a one shot deal than a weekly TV show. Most people will see a film once, maybe twice if they really like it and maybe buy the DVD if they really, really like it whereas a TV show needs to attract and hold repeat viewers. From that perspective the major studios and probably most indie filmmakers see a pirated film as lost revenue and so bittorrent remains pretty much unexplored territory in relation to positive outcomes.
Kiowa and Jamin on the other hand seem to be approaching the issue from a different perspective. I wanted to get their views on what is happening with their film and spoke to Jamin about it.
Click on the link at the top of the story to continue reading.By Mike Johnston
This week, when I saw Jamin and Kiowa Winans of Double Edge Films... more
(Pictured above - INK packs the house at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on June 10th, 2009)
We just had Jamin and Kiowa on our Film Courage radio show this past week. Their interview has shattered all records for our show from most listens, most downloads, and most page views. All of this in it's first week online. I believe it is a MUST listen. It is an in-depth case study on the money it took to make INK, their decision to retain the rights to their film and self-distribute and even highlights their deals with Blockbuster and Netflix.
Here is the interview: Jamin Winans and Kiowa Winans on Film Courage (Get interview link at website - Pericles)
So now, just two days away from wide-release on NOVEMBER 10th, 2009, on iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, Blockbuster (they even have Region 0 DVD's where it can be seen anywhere in the world) the pirates come thieving.
This news has been sinking in all day. On one side it absolutely infuriates me and on the other I am completely overjoyed...
Pericles Lewnes
Indie Film Curator
@loopmovie
@pretentiousfilm(Pictured above - INK packs the house at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on June... more
With support from the three largest BitTorrent sites and many other well known file-sharing partners, the VODO project offers a novel distribution platform for indie filmmakers. Today VODO presents its second release, the world premiere of In Guantanamo, a critical film about the U.S. detainment facility in Cuba.
The Stockholm District Court has taken action against two founder members of The Pirate Bay. Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij are now banned from operating the site and will have to pay fines of $71,000 each if they continue. This, despite the fact that they nor the site remain in Sweden.The Stockholm District Court has taken action against two founder members of The... more
The Pirate Bay tracker has been in a state of flux for a few weeks now, mostly offline. If your torrent relies on it, what can you do? The easiest solution is to go ‘trackerless’ and use the Distributed Hash Table (DHT), but there are many myths and misunderstandings that can put people off using it.
DHT has been included with many clients since it first debuted in the summer of 2005. however, over the 4 years of life, many myths and misunderstandings have been spread around. These can put people off using it and can give these users difficulties when a tracker goes down. Currently the Pirate Bay is popping on and offline, and Demonoid has been down for a week or two.
The main problem is that most people just don’t understand what DHT is, what it does, and how it works. Not really a surprise since the documentation and even the Wikipedia page are filled with technical jargon, and no simple explanation. Without that basic understanding confusion is inevitable. We did explain DHT in our jargon piece back in 2006 but after 3 years, we decide to cover it again.
The easiest way to think about DHT is to imagine it as a form of ’super tracker’, in some ways a lot like WinMX and Kazaa of old. A large ad-hoc network of peers pass on information requests about torrents without a central server, meaning no control or single point of failure. No information about the contents or even the names of torrents are passed around, making this legal and hard to shut down.The Pirate Bay tracker has been in a state of flux for a few weeks now, mostly... more
"Nasty Old People is the first feature film in Swedish history to be released under a Creative Commons license."
Mette is a member of a neo-Nazi gang, her day job is to take care of four crazy old people that all are just waiting to die. Her life becomes a journey into a burlesque fairytale, where the rules of the game are created by Mette herself. Mette is indifferent about her way of life, until she one night assaults a man, kicking him senseless. Waking up the day after, she realizes that something is wrong, and in company with the her crazy oldies she longs for respect and love. She can tell that the old folks are marginalized by the modern society, but together they create a world and a voice of their own.
Download legally from the Pirate Bay"Nasty Old People is the first feature film in Swedish history to be released under a... more
In August, Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN won its case against The Pirate Bay, and the court ordered the defendants to block access to Dutch visitors. The case was appealed today and rightly so. It appears that the evidence presented by BREIN was faked in an attempt to mislead the court.In August, Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN won its case against The Pirate Bay, and the... more
The Pirate Bay is going on a road trip through Europe, one they hope to end today in a former NATO bunker. After a move from Sweden to the Ukraine, The Pirate Bay has now arrived at CyberBunker, an ISP that can provide them with a facility that can resist a nuclear attack as well as electromagnetic pulse bombs.The Pirate Bay is going on a road trip through Europe, one they hope to end today in a... more
Last Friday The Pirate Bay moved to Ukraine after its Swedish bandwidth supplier was forced to stop servicing the tracker. In the new setup, traffic to TPB is routed through The Netherlands, but anti-piracy outfit BREIN has now asked ISP NForce to stop handling TPB’s traffic. As a result the site is now down for most people.Last Friday The Pirate Bay moved to Ukraine after its Swedish bandwidth supplier was... more
After The Pirate Bay Four were found guilty earlier this year they appealed, and the date for the new trial was set for November. Now it seems that one of the planned lay judges could be disqualified from participation, since he is an employee of Swedish music outfit Spotify – a company partly owned by the plaintiffs.After The Pirate Bay Four were found guilty earlier this year they appealed, and the... more
In the past weeks the Pirate Bay has been ripped, copied and rebuilt by avid file-sharers, guaranteeing that the site’s legacy will be preserved no matter what. The people behind the Kiosk of Piracy take this trend to a whole new level as they have created an offline copy of the site which is open to the public.In the past weeks the Pirate Bay has been ripped, copied and rebuilt by avid... more
The company planning to purchase The Pirate Bay was de-listed from its Swedish stock exchange after concluding Thursday it duped investors and regulators in the $8.5 million deal.
Threat Level has repeatedly questioned Global Gaming Factory’s intentions of turning the world’s most notorious BitTorrent tracker into a legitimate, pay-to-play site. Now, exchange AktieTorget permanently barred the Swedish-based software concern, casting doubt on how company chief Hans Pandeya would pay for the Bay.
Most investors (if there were any) backed out, and Pandeya promised to use his majority stake, or perhaps issue new shares, to shore up financing. Authorities are also iinvestigating possible insider trading ahead of this summer’s announcement of the pending deal.The company planning to purchase The Pirate Bay was de-listed from its Swedish stock... more
Global Gaming Factory (GGF), the company that says it is set to buy The Pirate Bay, has been kicked off the Swedish stock market following several serious violations. Since half of the payment for The Pirate Bay acquisition would be in GGF shares, it is uncertain whether the deal will now go through.Global Gaming Factory (GGF), the company that says it is set to buy The Pirate Bay,... more
San Francisco (CA) - Swedish authorities have reportedly ordered a local ISP to disconnect The Pirate Bay from the Internet. The provider - known as Black Internet - was threatened with fines of 500,000 kroner ($70,600) if it failed to comply.
Rick Falkvinge of The Pirate Party told Torrent Freak that the court order was "absolutely ridiculous."
"The Court seems to consider themselves above the Constitution, while criticizing the effect that these civil actions are having on freedom of speech," said Falkvinge. "This clarifies how copyright law has become untenable, and how information is lacking political skills in the judiciary."
Although Black Internet complied with the order, The Pirate Bay quickly managed to resurrect itself by using the services of a secondary provider. A Pirate Bay Source noted that the organization had been prepared for takedown attempts since 2006.
Swedish ISP forces Pirate Bay to walk the plank
The latest shutdown order was issued after the Motion and Film Industry Association of America (MAFIAA) filed a complaint against The Pirate Bay over alleged copyright infringement.
"We have filed a complaint against The Pirate Bay because they have not stopped their activities after they were sentenced to prison," MAFIAA lawyer Monique Wadsted explained in July.
Unsurprisingly, The Pirate Bay responded to the shutdown order by accusing the MAFIAA of bribing officials.
"The MAFIAA has spent millions of dollars and endless amounts of time to get this ban in order. Our guess is that they also bribed a bit to get it since it violates so many laws not only in Sweden but also in the EU, not to mention violations against human rights. And what do they have to show for it? 3 hours of partial downtime."San Francisco (CA) - Swedish authorities have reportedly ordered a local ISP to... more
Following the earlier court defeat for Fredrik, Gottfrid and Peter and the pending civil action taken by several Hollywood studios, the Swedish authorities have now ordered The Pirate Bay to be disconnected from the Internet. The site’s bandwidth suppliers have been threatened with a large fine. The site is completely offline.Following the earlier court defeat for Fredrik, Gottfrid and Peter and the pending... more
The Pirate Bay we know and love, though still harboring torrents for now, is going away. But that doesn't mean BitTorrent is dead. Far from it. Here are five places to get your torrent on after it closes for good.
Demonoid
Demonoid, besides having a solid community and good quality torrents—no porn, exceedingly few viruses—also operates the other major torrent tracker besides The Pirate Bay. (A tracker is what help makes the whole BitTorrent system work, since it makes sure every peer's talking to each other properly.) It doesn't have the best selection around, but what most of what you'll find there is quality. The catch is that you need to snag an invitation from a member or when they periodically dole them out to the public.
Mininova.org
Mininova's always one of our preferred torrent sites—tons of torrents from multiple trackers, not a lot of crap in the interface, and the search isn't bad. Actually, it's kind of the like The Pirate Bay, but with less crap and fewer headaches. The catch now is that they're slowly implementing a new copyright filter to keep copyrighted torrents from being uploaded. But you should still be able to find True Blood on there, no problem.
ISOHunt
ISOHunt is a BitTorrent and P2P search engine that's got what feels like the most sophisticated search engine of the bunch. But like the others, you just punch in what you're looking for, and it pulls up results you can sort by seeds, date or whatever. It has one of the most massive indices of any site, so it's a good thing the search engine is up to it. Still, with a lot of torrents, it can be hard to find exactly what you're looking for.
BTJunkie
BTJunkie claims to be the largest torrent search engine of all, with around 5,000-25,000 new torrents added to the index daily. The quantity doesn't seem noticeably better than the other sites listed above, however. Also, the interface is really ugly. But you know, it's there if you need it.
EZTV
If you've downloaded a TV show, whatever site you snagged it from, chances are, it came from these guys. They're the most prolific TV rippers around, and usually have solid quality rips of shows up within hours of airing. If you're interested in TV, you might as well just go to the source—their site points to wherever their files are hosted, so you don't have to search through a million different sites to find the right EZTV torrent.
The whole scene is admittedly a bit depressing now, after years of high profile closures—Suprnova, OiNK TorrentSpy and LokiTorrent—so these are what's left of the big sites. And even they're not guaranteed to survive. Demonoid went offline for several months back in 2007-2008, Mininova has a copyright filter attached to it, and really, any site is just a police raid away from possibly going down. So tread carefully, and don't get too attached to any of them.
Most Pirate Bay users were genuinely upset when they found out that their favorite torrent site would be acquired by Global Gaming Factory (GGF) at the end of August. For a small subset of these fans, this move is more than an inked deal, as the coolness and even the credibility of their tattoos is in jeopardy.Most Pirate Bay users were genuinely upset when they found out that their favorite... more
The future Pirate Bay owners have big plans for the site and according to the CEO there is no doubt that the sale will go through. Since most interest thus far has come from the US, the company plans to get a listing at the NASDAQ, making it easier for people to trade stock in addition to files.The future Pirate Bay owners have big plans for the site and according to the CEO... more
Last week the Amsterdam Court issued a default judgment in favor of BREIN versus The Pirate Bay, ordering the site to be blocked in The Netherlands because the defendants didn’t show up. In a response to this verdict, The Dutch Consumers Union says it is disappointed that the judge ruled in favor of the anti-piracy outfit without looking into the content of their demands.Last week the Amsterdam Court issued a default judgment in favor of BREIN versus The... more
