TorrentSpy Cuts Off US Users, Rather Than Tracking Them

from the and-the-music-played-on dept

Mon, Aug 27th 2007 12:42pm — Mike Masnick

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...

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Filed Under: bittorrent, ip addresses, privacy
Companies: mpaa, torrentspy

26 Comments

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Casper, 27 Aug 2007 @ 12:57pm

No one accused the MPAA of being smart. The real question is, if a user bounces off a proxy in another country and goes back to downloading.... is there really anything the MPAA can do?
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tesseract, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:05pm

This could actually be a good thing, since it forces people to use proxies to use the tracker. Granted, it's a pain, but if it gets the majority of peers in the habit of using proxies, it's really just dealing another blow to the MPAA and RIAA.
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GoblinJuice, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:09pm

I swear, if someone drops the U word here... I'ma cut someone! =D
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GoblinJuice, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:16pm

Re:
Pffft. Same was said about encryption - right around when PGP became known to the unwashed.

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.
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Overcast, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:28pm

Can you say... Proxy? :)
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jLl, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:41pm

Re:
Yeah, actually, we can. In fact, 2 others already have.

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.
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jLl, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:47pm

Re: Re:
[correction]
3/4 said "proxy" or "proxies" before you, Overcast.
Almost overlooked Casper saying it.

(yeah...I already get the irony of this correction...thx)
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Stute, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:47pm

Nonsense, don't you see...?
The MPAA (And RIAA too I would bet) will spin this as a victory against file sharing!
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RandomThoughts, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:48pm

Goblin, of course technical users will be able to get around the safety net companies build in. I could with some help, but I don't. That being said, technical users need to be aware that if they do things for themselves, they will probably be left alone. Do things for others (helping the great unwashed) expect to get some attention.

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.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:50pm

Ahem! www.freeproxy.ca oh excuse me
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illegalprelude, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:57pm

Its very nice to see TorrentySpy protecting its users. I congratulate them
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Overcast, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:59pm

[correction]
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
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matt (profile), 27 Aug 2007 @ 2:04pm

for the geniuses out there
beyond this doing absolutely nothing, what it basically represents is indirectly torrentspy saying "use a proxy". Obviously they ar enot recursing who accesses through an anonymous proxy or tor, which is about a 5 minute set up.

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.
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Michael Long, 27 Aug 2007 @ 2:05pm

Hassle
Goblin has it right. It doesn't matter if it drives some people deeper underground. It just has to make sharing enough of a hassle. How many times doe you have to find your favorite site offline, or get tired of downloading decoys, or hear about a neighbor getting popped by the **AA, before you just say screw it and punch the PPV button on your set-top box?

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.
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uncivilized civilian, 27 Aug 2007 @ 2:25pm

hassle
I have the untimate solution to all your downloading problems. Move to Canada...our government doesn't care what we download, where we download it from or how many or your rediculous laws we break.
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.
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Mac the Ripper, 27 Aug 2007 @ 3:01pm

Why not just rip your own
It is much faster ( 12-20 min/movie), works on all Blockbuster has in the store except for the HD stuff, but who cares, for the price of a rental you can make copies for all of you friends and family. I can see usingthe torrents for software and utilities, but movies and music, why?
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The OC, 27 Aug 2007 @ 3:56pm

Re: Why not just rip your own
Some movies and music are hard to get hold of any other way.
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Mike Mixer, 27 Aug 2007 @ 4:00pm

Torrentspy and the free anklegrabbing lesson
Feel free to apply the KY jelly Torrentspy, if the MPAA doesn't ream you out your largest market will.
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John Doe, 27 Aug 2007 @ 5:34pm

PROXY
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.torrentspy.com/
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commonsense, 27 Aug 2007 @ 8:20pm

just a matter of time..
the education has already started.. even on the homepage of torrentspy -- http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/90771/Log_Onto_TorrentSpy_in_The_US_From_Proxy
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2007 @ 12:52am

What's the point?
How is this supposed to satisfy the judge's order? I mean, since it's not possible to filter out people in the US based on IP address, how is this likely to satisfy either the judge or MPAA? It just looks to me like they are in contempt of court.
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DSG, 28 Aug 2007 @ 1:30am

The point is...
They are now no longer under US jurisdiction (as long as their servers aren't in the US that is).
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2007 @ 1:39am

Re: The point is...
They are now no longer under US jurisdiction (as long as their servers aren't in the US that is).
Why not? What has changed?
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Neil, 28 Aug 2007 @ 9:32am

Re: What's the point?
If there are no US users to track then they are complying with the court....sorta like amputating a diseased limb
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2007 @ 2:07pm

Re: Re: What's the point?
If there are no US users to track then they are complying with the court....sorta like amputating a diseased limb
But they still have US users, so how does that apply?
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2007 @ 8:24am

Everyone should use Tor. http://tor.eff.org/
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