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copyfight
Posts Tagged “
BitTorrent
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copyfight
Publicity-starved Portland doctor pimps Asperger's symptoms as Internet addiction
"Dr. Block says about 86 percent of Internet addicts have some other form of mental illness, but that unless a therapist is looking for it, Internet addiction is likely to be missed." By "other form of mental illness," we're guessing Asperger's sufferers like BitTorrent's not-so-adorably quirky founder Bram Cohen. [Canada.com] (Photo by Irina Slutsky)
file sharing
Comcast cuddles up to BitTorrent while still choking users
Cable and internet service provider Comcast, half of the local broadband duopoly here in the Bay Area, has promised to stop throttling traffic generated by users of the BitTorrent protocol. This comes in the wake of a mountain of bad press sparked by the discovery that Comcast was interfering with customers' file-sharing transmissions — including an AP reporter's entirely legal Bible download. In return, BitTorrent Inc. promises to optimize the company's client for Comcast's network. However, Comcast isn't showering away the stink; it's just applying deodorant. More »
your privacy is an illusion
Harvard student data hacked and posted on BitTorrent
Harvard University had data on 10,000 graduate-school applicants stolen from a hacked server and posted on BitTorrent. 6,600 students had their birthdates, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and more released. Don't worry, though. The university is paying for identity theft protection for all affected students. "Protecting personal information is something Harvard takes seriously, and we are truly sorry for the inconvenience and concern this incident may cause." Not serious enough to keep from getting hacked, though. Whatever. The University of Chicago would never let this crap happen. Even better? The file was posted on The Pirate Bay in February. What took you so long to make a statement, guv'nors?
digital music
Nine Inch Nails offer free tracks on BitTorrent, double album for $5
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has made the first section of a four-part album available as a BitTorrent download. The rest of the 36-track album is available on the band's website or on Amazon.com, without copying restrictions, for $5. Reznor has been a constant critic of record labels and the music industry for years. Last year he admitted that he frequently pirated music himself. He included this statement in the upload notes for the album, Ghosts I: More »
politics
FCC chair to Comcast: Stop lying about file sharing
At a Congressional hearing, Comcast executives said the company needs to filter some traffic to keep the flow of data constant on its networks — like blocking BitTorrent file-sharing, as it was caught doing last fall. Federal Communications Commission head Kevin Martin is having none of it. "I think it's important to understand that the commission is ready, willing and able to step in if necessary to correct any (unreasonable) practices that are ongoing today," he said today. Martin wants Internet service providers to be more "transparent." Network operators have the right to manage data traffic, but that "does not mean they can arbitrarily block access to particular applications or services," he added. Translation? If you're going to block file sharing, stop lying about it.
copyfight
Pirate Bay file-sharing traffic doubles
A lump of coal for Hollywood executives who went slow on building legal online music and video stores over the past decade: The number of people helping themselves to content at file-sharing tracker Pirate Bay has doubled to 8 million over the past year. The site now indexes nearly twice as many BitTorrent files.
politics
Consumer groups want Comcast fined for thwarting the Bible
A number of consumer groups are petitioning the FCC to fine Comcast $195,000 for every customer affected by their BitTorrent-throttling practices. The FCC has said in the past that service providers can't "block" customers from using certain applications or websites, but it hasn't enforced that policy. Comcast has stated that they aren't "blocking" data transmissions, but are delaying them. Angry users aren't seeing much of a difference. We still think that government regulation is not the answer. You don't like what Comcast is doing? Let your wallet do the talking — change providers or lay your own fiber, bub. Or, considering that Comcast was caught blocking a digital version of the Bible, perhaps divine intervention is what called for. Down with the infidels! (Photo by AP/Douglas C. Pizac)
file sharing
The Pirate Bay looks for life after BitTorrent
The Swedish copyfighters at The Pirate Bay are working on a new protocol to replace BitTorrent. They feel that Bram Cohen's BitTorrent Inc. has too much influence on BitTorrent's technical direction. And then, too, there's the recent news that Comcast is intentionally slowing BitTorrent file transfers. The new protocol will be designed from the ground up to thwart spammers and antipiracy organizations from harassing users or tracking copyright violators. While the site rose to prominence thanks to BitTorrent, The Pirate Bay is the most influential organization in the file-sharing world. We suspect that other file-sharing sites will line up to support the new peer-to-peer protocol. A preliminary release is planned for next year.
politics
Congressman tells Comcast to play nice and share
Comcast has gotten a bitch-slap from Congressman Rick Boucher. Quick recap: Users said Comcast was screwing up file-sharing downloads via BitTorrent but no one believed them. Then the Associated Press did their own report, trying to download the Bible but failing. Comcast blundered through a denial, calling the wire report "web gossip." And it might get sued. All that and a pissed-off Congressman too? Not a good week for Philadelphia's cable guys. More »
great moments in public relations
Comcast calls AP story "Web gossip"
A reader emailed Comcast to complain about its blocking the Bible and received back a typical PR-speak response. Within was this gem: "We have a responsibility to manage our network to ensure that our customers have the best broadband experience possible." Aha! I hadn't realized the "best broadband experience" excluded BitTorrent. That's Comcastic! Also a nice touch: Dismissing a story that ran over the Associated Press wire service as "web gossip." The full email after the jump. More »
lawsuits
Comcast may get sued for BitTorrent disruption
It was only last week that Comcast was getting called the Antichrist for disrupting BitTorrent users on its network and preventing the Associated Press from downloading the Bible. Since then, Comcast has offered nothing but excuses. Now, Comcast might get sued. More »
First the Bible, now ... Lotus Notes? It seems the same technology that Comcast uses to slow down BitTorrent file sharing also prevents emails with large attachments from being sent through Lotus Notes. We pray that this gets fixed soon or we'll be forced to switch to an ISP that isn't quite so evil. And email software that doesn't completely suck. [Ars Technica]
file sharing
Comcast offers excuses for blocking Bible
Amy Banse, an executive at bible-blocking cable company Comcast, admitted at the Web 2.0 Summit on Friday that the company intentionally disrupts BitTorrent traffic. She said the company does so because the "0.01 percent" of customers who engage in what Comcast calls "excessive use" are sending the equivalent of 18,000 emails an hour. Comcast got into this mess after the Associated Press tried and failed to transfer a copy of the Bible using BitTorrent software. The cause? A network analysis revealed deliberate service disruptions by Comcast. The Bible's author has yet respond to requests for comment. (Photo by dmuth)
bubblewatch
Writes HotorNot founder James Hong on BitTorrent's party this week at Fluid, where rapper Sean Kingston took the stage:
Sean Kingston gets violent with BitTorrent
Writes HotorNot founder James Hong on BitTorrent's party this week at Fluid, where rapper Sean Kingston took the stage:Last night, almost as if to out-LA LA, SF company BitTorrent had a small party at fluid to celebrate the launch of their CDN network (brilliant business move!). They apparently arranged in conjuction with a local radio station for Ashanti and Sean Kingston to perform to the tiny crowd. I took a picture of BitTorrent's founders Bram and Ashwin to memorialize the moment, sensing that it denoted SOMETHING.. whether it's a sign that the bubble is getting bigger, or the more likely conclusion that techie work is now getting more main stream and therefore a lot cooler remains to be seen! :)More »
bittorrent
Comcast blocks Bible to fight file sharing
Oh, god. For a few months, there have been rumblings of Comcast, the cable and Internet provider, intentionally disrupting BitTorrent traffic. The Associated Press verified the dusruption by trying to download a copy of the King James Bible via BitTorrent over Comcast-connected computers. A devilishly clever move, downloading a public-domain work unprotected by copyright, and suggesting that Comcast opposes the distribution of the Holy Book. More »
bittorrent
Bram Cohen's violent imaginings catch up with him
Bram Cohen, the founder of file-sharing software startup BitTorrent, has stepped down as chief executive and will assume the role of chief scientist. Why did the inventor of today's most popular peer-to-peer file sharing technology remove himself? Was it because, as many had predicted, inventor founders do not lead their own companies successfully through growth phases? Or did BitTorrent's investors get wind of his frighteningly violent body of writings? More »
After the Motion Picture Association of America sued BitTorrent search engine TorrentSpy for copyright infringement, a federal court ordered the file-sharing searcher to log all user IP addresses and file traffic. To avoid violating its own privacy policy, TorrentSpy has instead opted to ban all US-based IP addresses. [TorrentFreak]
