TorrentSpy Cuts Off US Users, Rather Than Tracking Them
from the and-the-music-played-on dept
BitTorrent search engine TorrentSpy has been involved in a legal battle with the MPAA for some time now. The lawsuit took a slightly bizarre twist a few months back when a judge demanded that TorrentSpy start logging details about its users -- something the company had never done and had no plans to do. TorrentSpy claims that doing so will violate its users privacy and violate its own terms of service. Apparently, however, that hasn't convinced the judge to change the ruling -- meaning that TorrentSpy has now cut off access to visitors coming from the US as a way of protecting their privacy. Of course, it'll probably take all of about 10 minutes for most people to figure out other ways to get to TorrentSpy (or they'll just move on to another BitTorrent search engine). Congratulations to the MPAA for driving a bunch of movie fans further underground...
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: bittorrent, ip addresses, privacy
Companies: mpaa, torrentspy
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
We're, what, a decade past that time and most people still don't use encryption.
If something is a "hassle", the majority will never use it. If something requires Johnny Jackass to reconfooble his system - be it software or hardware, it just won't happen.
I mean, hell, most people don't even backup their data! Do you honestly expect these same people to use proxies, encryption, ip lists?
If it weren't for Windows Update, these people wouldn't even patch their goddamn systems.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Try reading the astounding list of 4 prior comments next time.
And, if you had read what little was there before you, you'd have read a very good point that GoblinJuice made:
Apathy trumps Proxy any day.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
3/4 said "proxy" or "proxies" before you, Overcast.
Almost overlooked Casper saying it.
(yeah...I already get the irony of this correction...thx)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nonsense, don't you see...?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Everyone has their expertise, I have seen brilliant people walk into a media interview and do things that someone with a little media knowledge would never do. It takes all kinds. Thats what makes this world interesting.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
3/4 said "proxy" or "proxies" before you, Overcast.
Almost overlooked Casper saying it.
(yeah...I already get the irony of this correction...thx)
hehe, yeah - funny thing is... everyone knew the answer - likely within the first 15 seconds of reading the article, lol
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
for the geniuses out there
I feel sorry for torrentspy for losing some of their webtraffic due to overzealous mpaa/riaa.
So yes, a LOT of people know about proxies, and merely mentioning them in an article like this educates even more individuals on how to get around being tracked.
Given that tracker websites are very low demand (read: mostly text/dialup is almost fast enuff), a proxy would be a non issue most likely.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hassle
The exact same thing happened with Macrovision and VHS. Yeah, you could buy a hardware box to crack it... but how many people bothered? Easier to just keep an eye the the previously-viewed bin at Blockbuster.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
hassle
I'm sure that will change but for now come over to Canada where pot is damn near legal and the internet is still almost as it should be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why not just rip your own
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Why not just rip your own
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Torrentspy and the free anklegrabbing lesson
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
PROXY
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
just a matter of time..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What's the point?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What's the point?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: What's the point?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The point is...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The point is...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]