Italian Pirate Bay Block Leads To Massive Traffic Boost For Competing Torrent Sites
from the whac-a-mole dept
A decade into the entertainment industry’s massive game of whac-a-mole when it comes to file sharing sites, you would think that people would realize that blocking or banning any particular site doesn’t do a damn thing to slow the pace of file sharing around the globe. Instead, it does two things: (1) informs more people of the social norm of unauthorized file trading and (2) causes people to scatter to more sites, usually further underground and even more difficult to identify and stop. And, indeed, that appears to be the case in Italy. You may recall that the Italian Supreme Court recently decided that it was okay for a lower court to block The Pirate Bay (the lower court is now deciding what to do), but in response, it appears that users have already figured out how to scatter to other sites, as many other torrent sites have seen an influx of Italian users. Another mole whacked, and yet, more keep popping up. It’s difficult to see how this is a particularly good strategic policy.
Filed Under: bittorrent, italy, pirate bay, traffic
Companies: the pirate bay
Comments on “Italian Pirate Bay Block Leads To Massive Traffic Boost For Competing Torrent Sites”
Well, it’s the thought that counts. 😉
How is this news? ‘Torrent site gets shutdown, user goes to a different torrent site.’
Isn’t it sorta like… you know… obvious?
And anyhow, Pirate Bay is huge, and its a good move to block it… sure there will always be another torrent site, but taking a popular one out of the picture is better than just letting it happen freely.
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There was a time when you could have said that about another torrent site and the pirate bay was just another small time site. “Well at least this big time file sharer is gone! What are these other little ones? pirate bay? that sounds lame and will go no where! We won a major victory blocking that other one!”
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The real funny thing is the legal system is so slow and the internet is so fast. Its really a losing battle to go on fighting it in such an arcaic, case by case basis.
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The site wasn’t shut down, it was blocked by one country.
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Does that inaccuracy really change what my point was? no.
The future is coming
Technology advances, adapt or die.
Enemy
Personally, I want them to keep playing this whac-a-mole game. It is effectively doing nothing at all to solve the “problem”, and the longer it takes them to figure that out, the longer before they try something even more ridiculous. (And probably invasive)
Re: Enemy
I’d like to add; probably ineffectual. Hopefully, it will be something like the Sony rootkit incident. It would be amusing to watch them take out a large number of U.S. Goverment computers. Those moles are heavily armed and whac back.
Re: Enemy
I don’t. I want the good side to win and be over with this shit.
Remember, even though they may be getting nowhere, they are still trying to eliminate basic human rights to do this. In many parts of the world, online privacy has already been lost, because you have these guys spying on people in case they download an mp3 they shouldn’t have.
again?
i dont even know why you bother posting about this stuff, mike. apart from the nauseating precedent set by this legal battle (although i expect it only applies in specific scenarios of infringement via the internet), i expected just as much from the entertainment industry.
ironically enough, the only ‘entertainment’ these companies provide is watching them crash and burn!
Re: again?
“ironically enough, the only ‘entertainment’ these companies provide is watching them crash and burn!”
ROFL … mind if I use that?
Re: Re: again?
be my guest ^_^
Ignorance is truly bliss
Y’all really are too blind to see WHY they keep playing Whac-a-mole???? Are y’all really so stupid as to keep posting about it and brining their game public?
They don’t care if it stops piracy at all. My guess is that their worst lawyers are even the ones assigned to the game.
As long as they keep playing and keep piracy in the press they spend lots less on lobbyists for the politics. The press keeps talking about the game, the politicians keep seeing the press, and when someone comes to them and says “this is out of hand we need to do something” it’s easier to justify the position there-fore costing less in lobbyists and bribes and time etc…
The REAL problem is idiots keep downloading the music and movies illegally. By downloading the music illegally the idiots not only add fuel to the anti-piracy cases. In the end the movie and music people just turn around and use the fact that someone downloaded their product as proof that there is a demand for the product.
If idiots stop downloading illegally and also simply stop BUYING music and movies from these companies they would be able to put this to rest.
BUT instead little mikee m cry’s about how these companies need to embrace the free market with their “free infinite goods” and just accept that the billions in production costs are not really a part of the cost of those infinite goods, and settle for selling t-shirts (oh by the way little mikee m says you shouldn’t protect your brand name or trademarks either on those t-shirts and anyone should be able to sell them too, making it even harder to make your money back).
So in the end mikee m calls the entertainment industry “the entitlement” group all the while he feels that the world is “entitled” to everything for free and those that produce those things should “just go find another way to make money off their hard work.”
OH and here’s the real kicker, little mikee m flys around the world giving little talks about infinite goods all off the very advertising money given to him by an industry that has everything to lose if Copyright and Patents are abolished… Am I the only one that sees the irony in some of the banner ads that appear on this site?
Re: Ignorance is truly bliss
I totally agree with you about the need for a usage and buying boycott.
It would effectively shut down the big four very fast.
How that would help pay for billions in production costs without new business models to generate revenue is something I don’t understand from your argument. Please explain…
Re: Re: Ignorance is truly bliss
Boycotts would not in it’s self give them new business models. What it would do is take away their excuse for maintaining existing models through legislation and legal action.
I have no more or less sympathy for the entertainment industry that little mikee m does. I just feel that actions speak much louder than words. Most of little mikee m’s articles could easily be used to justify further legislation to enforce anti-piracy laws rather than help change things.
I refuse to give little mikee m the respect that he probably even deserves because in my eyes he is doing just as much damage as the entertainment industry is doing.
Re: Re: Re: Ignorance is truly bliss
Are you suggesting that people stop listening to music just to spite a bunch of companies?
I think it’s the artists that need to act. They should be careful who they sign away their rights to.
Re: Re: Re:2 Ignorance is truly bliss
This is the fastest way to change this mess. The middlemen are being brought into the loop by the artists, not the consumers. The law stops us from taking them back out (in theory).
Well, artists, what’s it gonna be?
Re: Re: Re:2 Ignorance is truly bliss
Yes I suggest you stop listening to music from companies that support the actions of the MPAA and RIAA…
You need to demonstrate that their is no market for their products under their current business model. You have to take the arguement that “people still want their mousic, just look at all the illegal downloads” away from them.
If illegal consumption goes away, so does their teeth when fighting for stronger legislation to support their business model. No amount of lobbying in the world can convince a politician that laws need to be enacted to “protect” something without some reasoning behind “protecting” that something.
In otherwords the lobbyist will are currently saying “look at all this illegal downloading, it is killing our entertainment industry, we need to do something to help those poor companies”
BUT if they have no illegal downloads to point to then they have nothing to support their need to support those companies
Re: Re: Re:3 Ignorance is truly bliss
“Yes I suggest you stop listening to music from companies that support the actions of the MPAA and RIAA…”
What we need is a search engine and web site that would only show CC, and independant music.
Actually … hmmm … How about a single payment method that could be used across music sites, sign up once and use it at any member site. Mix that with a search engine – you might like this if you liked that song. Listings off all CC, and free music. Also throw in a listing of black listed songs and artists (RIAA, etc). Allow the people to unban artists they like. Add price comparisons. Then also add links to anti RIAA artists sites. E-mailing current news about your favorite artists. etc etc etc …
… Big Ole Grin … to be available ~Jan 2011
Re: Re: Re:4 Ignorance is truly bliss
“… Big Ole Grin … to be available ~Jan 2011”
Seriously? Have you continued working on any of the stuff we spoke about in the past? That’d be awesome if you did.
Looking forward to what you’re working on….
Re: Re: Re: Ignorance is truly bliss
what so you mean like the boycotts that are already happening? you mean like the boycott that is “fuck paying, lets download it instead?”
the big media have already proven that they will invent statistics to prove that piracy is crippling them. they will just say that their lost sales are due to “piracy” even if it is a boycott. to think otherwise is to blindly ignore their past and current behaviour
what happens when the media talks a lot about it, is people start seeing the rhetoric for what it is and the everyman ends up with a vested interest. now politicians are thinking “hmmmm…. my voters arent going to be happy about this” rather than “hmmm… my voters wont find out about this until im on my way to the bank”
this is a war of attrition. it is the big media vs every man, woman, child and political organisation and i think i know who has more resources.
Re: Ignorance is truly bliss
I don’t see ads on this site ever, so no.
Re: Ignorance is truly bliss
probably maybe even very true. big content’s cynicism knows no boundaries, nor does their lack of respect for customers and potential customers.
a hint of understanding: “piracy” is actually market intel (well done sir!). One of techdirt’s premises is that what kind of company actively fights against what their customers are telling them they want. oh yeah, one that believes it’s customers are “idiots”.
strawman, meet haystack, you guys should be good friends.
seriously??? c’mon, now you’re just making things up.
seriously??? c’mon, now you’re just ignoring facts: techdirt’s been very open in describing how advertising space is a terrible way to make money, and in fact is not at all how the firm makes money.
Re: Ignorance is truly bliss
“The REAL problem is idiots keep downloading the music and movies illegally.”
No, the ‘real’ problem is that they are illegal in the first place. While you may not agree that infringement is a good thing, you say ‘well the real problem is that you’re infringing’ yet tell people to boycott instead. If the ‘real’ problem were that of infringing then you wouldn’t bother with a boycott. How about this: the ‘real’ problem is twits misusing language to make their arguments; whether it be confusing theft with infringement or calling something ‘real’ for faux emphasis.
“BUT instead little mikee m cry’s about how these companies need to embrace the free market with their “free infinite goods” and just accept that the billions in production costs are not really a part of the cost of those infinite goods, and settle for selling t-shirts (oh by the way little mikee m says you shouldn’t protect your brand name or trademarks either on those t-shirts and anyone should be able to sell them too, making it even harder to make your money back).”
Let me raise that label of twit to conniving moron. You’ve gone from suggesting that people should not infringe but should boycott, to attacking Mike’s economic analysis on the basis that things cost too much to be free (which misreads his analysis entirely). That isn’t having your cake and eating it, that’s having your cake and eating someone else’s. While you start off giving the impression that you would favour a boycott you go on to say that those who should be boycotted are right.
all they need to do is use a bittorrent aggregator like ISO Hunt…….
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Until the bittorrent aggregator gets shut down, then you’ll need a bittorrent aggregator aggregator …
actually hes part wrong
A) smart user signs up to 5 torrent sites
B) 1st site shuts down no big deal
see what i mean
and people do this big time
i am member of 20 of them or so
all private
your gonna take forever and a day to get me stopping and by then bw ill have sooooo much i wont care if you pulled power on the internet
haha
come get some
They get enough...
Sorry but until I see a rock star or a movie star driving around in a yugo I’m not going to cry too much for them. These people make enough money off people so if a few people download something for free I’m not going to cry over it.
As a programmer I have made money off apps I have written and yet people have made cracks for it. I’m not rich but for the amount of time I spent writing it I have been paid for it.
Reality Check
The reality of this is that it is a never ending game. Getting people to boycott all music to prove a point is as easy as getting a city to boycott gas to protest the outrageous price per gallon they charge. I for one could not boycott gas as I need it to get to work. Likewise I could not boycott music entirely as I need it to keep me from running morons off the road while I’m burning the gas.
Further the consumers are no different than the industry. Like the industry we shop around for the cheapest prices and you can’t get much cheaper than free. Also like the industry we are willing to fight on for or right of increased pay even if its a loosing battle we waste our entire lives on. For proof of the latter look to nearest retired guy that spent 30 plus years with same company for a meager 2.6% annual raise.
All this crap on both sides extends from simple greed everyone including industry wants everything for nothing. Historically speaking the side with more pull and resources (Aka: big money industry) will win for a while until the world is out of balance. Now looking back at history you will see that every now and then this happens and once it gets to far outa balance you get revolt (ea: US & French revolutions).
So in conclusion we as a society do learn from our past but will never learn to control greed thus leaving a person 2 options revolt or kick back and enjoy the ride. Personally for now I choose to sit back and enjoy the ride.
Oh and they can block and shut down all the torrent sites they want I have one site that searches them all and updates its list regularly so not much changes for me. And as far as shutting down the site I use good luck it doesn’t host links it just directs you to search results on other sites kinda like google.
I’ve told them that if they had read the entire article, they should see that I’ve mentioned the source. But, because I live in Romania, over 50% of Romanian people know to critics, not to give you a good word or to thank you.