Torrents

[Mat Sklansky]

While I have never seen anyone on this site refer to torrents as a way to obtain our books, some of these sites are giving away such pirated e-books.

We have a lawyer trying to address this problem, however, for the time being all mention of torrents are deleted without comment. If someone asks I tell them the reason, but I don't want to make it public. I don't want to help introduce any people to torrents who don't yet know of them.

If you guys notice any such posts and/ or threads please delete without comment, unless you want to send a pm to the offender.

[GuyOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
While I have never seen anyone on this site refer to torrents as a way to obtain our books, some of these sites are giving away such pirated e-books.

We have a lawyer trying to address this problem, however, for the time being all mention of torrents are deleted without comment. If someone asks I tell them the reason, but I don't want to make it public. I don't want to help introduce any people to torrents who don't yet know of them.

If you guys notice any such posts and/ or threads please delete without comment, unless you want to send a pm to the offender.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just for the record, this seems incredibly absurd to me. The fact that 2p2 literature is available illegally via torrents means we aren't allowed to say the word "torrent" anymore? Are you serious? There are lots of problems or questions that come up about torrents all the time (or would be, rather), but we aren't allowed to address them and help them out because that same technology can be used to pirate 2p2 lit, and for that reason alone??? That is absurd. I am sure 2p2 literature can be obtained illegally via the company Xerox, Kinko's, a digicam, and many other ways too. Are we not allowed to mention those either? Or are torrents special for some reason?

GoT

[Mat Sklansky]

the technology is used to pirate other works as well, and we're not going to condone it. In this one case, I feel very comfortable with the subject ban. Moreover, not one person who questioned the deletion of their posts objected when I explained. I don't think I need to explain the difference between the potential effect of a torrent file and photocopies

[Dynasty]

There have been quite a few torrent threads in the WPT forum since the 2005 WSOP main event starting airing on ESPN.

[GuyOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
the technology is used to pirate other works as well, and we're not going to condone it. In this one case, I feel very comfortable with the subject ban. Moreover, not one person who questioned the deletion of their posts objected when I explained. I don't think I need to explain the difference between the potential effect of a torrent file and photocopies

[/ QUOTE ]
Mat,

This is all very silly imo. Torrents are a very popular way to transfer files on the internet now, and for a lot of us who spend a decent amount of time at our computers (most of our 2+2 community) they are just a fact of life. Yes, they can be used in borderline illegal ways, but they are not necessarily illegal or bad. I use them mainly to download episodes of television shows for my own viewing pleasure (perfectly legal) and for sampling new music albums I have never heard before (perfectly legal). Most other people I know on 2+2 and elsewhere use it for similar purposes. Because of they are starting to get more and more popular now, there are going to be more threads invovling torrents in OOT and other forums. Every thread involving a new epi of a TV show or a new album will probably have a mention of bittorrent in it (as it really should).

If you really wanted to ban a subject solely because it's illegal and not anything to do with the fact that you found out that you can copy and distribute 2p2 literature via this technology, then it would make much more sense to ban the discussion of weed or cocaine. Hell, ban us from talking about underage drinking if you really believe that removing all discussion of things illegal is what you should be doing. Those are things that are actually illegal and talked about often and in depth in OOT.

But there is just no reason to ban the discussion of torrents, as they are very useful, very real, and very legal (unlike the aforementioned). The only reason I can see that you seem to want them banned is because you found out they were used to pirate 2+2 literature. As I argued in a previous post, I think that is an absurd reason. And I hope I conveyed here that I think banning their discussion because they can be used to break the law is absurd as well.

GoT

[Mat Sklansky]

It's the piracy issue in general. Do you have a figure on the percentage of torrents being used to do this? Are you certain that the examples you give are perfectly legal?

[GuyOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
It's the piracy issue in general. Do you have a figure on the percentage of torrents being used to do this? Are you certain that the examples you give are perfectly legal?

[/ QUOTE ]
No, I don't have a figure, but BitTorrent (BT) doesn't work like that. The number of .torrent files would have no necessary correlation with how much it is/was downloaded. As far as legality is concerned, it is still legal to download copywrited music files for sampling if the files are deleted from your hd within 48 hours of their creation. As far as the legality of other copywrited files that are exchanged over BT networks, there are a couple reasons why these networks are able to stand up legally much better than past p2p networks. Other people are going to have better knowledge than me on the tech side of this, but from what I've read up on them the fact that you are not able to search for a file by name anywhere other than the www gives keeps BT networks from doing anything illegal there. And the fact that actual users have to post the .torrent tracker and all of their info is very readily available to anyone is also a plus for the networks because they don't hide anything. Most users of BT who know enough about it to be able to host .torrent trackers know enough to host them on servers in places where nothing illegal is being done.

So as far as it being "perfectly legal", I know that what I personally use BT for is in the clear and that the networks can be used that way. Yes it is true that people use them for illegal things, but there are whole BT networks dedicated to only hosting 100% legal torrents. As far as a ratio of legal : illegal usage of BT, I do not know but it is a real number. But again, if you want to ban anything that COULD be abused for illegal purposes, I think that is just silly and dumb.

GoT

[bobbyi]

[ QUOTE ]
As far as legality is concerned, it is still legal to download copywrited music files for sampling if the files are deleted from your hd within 48 hours of their creation.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is nonsense. There is no such law. Please provide some link or reference to this "48 hours" law.

[Evan]

This guy doesn't waste a second!

[AngryCola]

[ QUOTE ]
This guy doesn't waste a second!

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, you're not kidding.

I've heard about the 48 hours thing, too. But I'm not about to go hunting for information this early. :yawn: