MPAA turns attention to USENET, takes on Torrentspy, Isohunt, others

**colonblow87** · 02-24-2006, 04:57 AM

Thursday, February 23, 2006

7 new MPAA lawsuits: Isohunt, Torrentspy -- and newsgroups
Snip from a press release issued today by the Motion Picture Association of America regarding seven lawsuits filed today against filesharing service providers -- and newsgroups believed to be hubs for fileswapping activity:
Today’s lawsuits mark the first time the MPAA is taking action against sites that enable users of Newsgroups to easily find and download illegal content. Newsgroups are electronic bulletin boards which in recent years have become a major source of pirated content as users are able to attach movie, music and games files to their messages. The following is a list of the sites being sued by the MPAA and its member companies.

Isohunt.com, BTHub.com and TorrentBox.com: These related Torrent sites facilitate downloads of over 140,000 content items, including popular movies and television shows such as Wedding Crashers, Lost and Desperate Housewives.

TorrentSpy.com is the world’s most-visited site for obtaining infringing content using Torrent software. The site offers over 160,000 content items including 27,182 movies, 21,130 TV shows and over 45,000 music items.

NiteShadow.com has over 24,000 registered members and offers over 1,000 science-fiction TV and movie content including Battlestar Galactica, Quantum Leap, Sliders, Stargate, Babylon 5 and multiple Star Trek series.

eDonkey: Ed2k-It.com is a leading eDonkey site, with over 46,000 registered site members. eDonkey sites provide easy one-click access to specific content items on their peer-to-peer network.

Newsgroups: NZB-Zone.com, BinNews.com and DVDRs.net are membership-based websites that enable users of Newsgroups to initiate easy downloads of infringing content. NZB-Zone offers over 3.3 million files, including Star Wars Episode III, Wedding Crashers, Chronicles of Narnia, 40 Year-Old Virgin and King Kong; BinNews.com offers files for over 3,000 movies; and DVDRs.net has over 37,000 members.

Source:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/23...lawsuits_.html

**reaktor** · 02-24-2006, 07:01 AM

I can understand suing file sharing sites/apps like edonkey and some bt websites, but I think suing newsgroups is totally crossing the line heh, if they are going to sue companies/groups because they facilitate illegal file sharing, they should sue microsoft too, since its usually the first place people start piracy anyway - putting files from their media onto their OS to upload to those sites... those sites and stuff are just the middlemen when you think about it that way

**SeK612** · 02-24-2006, 10:37 AM

They need to go after the whole lot if they're attacking filesharing otherwise users will just jump to another platform (look at the successes they had with the FT network, but people have just switched to other networks rather than stop sharin).

If these lawsuits force the sites to close down then things may begin to filter down the normal users.

It doesn't appear that the MPAA can touch sites hosted outside the U.S, but there are complimentary organisations in various countries (like the BPI in Britain which is similar to the RIAA) which could step in and it's worrying that a planned attack could really effect general filesharing

**muchspl3** · 02-24-2006, 01:53 PM

good thing they haven't came aafter you lot here....

**Filliz** · 02-24-2006, 03:23 PM

As you see they only go after the small sites.
Problably because these sites will just close down instead of taking on a legal battle.

That's probably why Newzbin isn't on the list.

jdoggvt · 02-24-2006, 03:52 PM

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060224-6253.html

The MPAA has filed (PDF) seven more lawsuits in their ongoing efforts to "thwart illegal file swapping on major pirate networks." The targets are various high-traffic web sites that facilitate piracy using services like BitTorrent, eDonkey, and USENET. The MPAA hopes that shutting down these web sites will make it more difficult for the "pirate networks" to accumulate and distribute copyrighted material.

Popular sites Torrentspy and Isohunt are among those listed in the press release as piracy perpetrators presently under scrutiny. According to the MPAA, these sites provide illegal access to tens of thousands of copyrighted works, and facilitate millions of illegal downloads.

The latest legal assault is unique in that it also includes the first MPAA lawsuits against web sites like NZB-Zone.com and BinNews.com that help users orchestrate USENET piracy. According to MPAA executive vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations John G. Malcom, the MPAA is now vigorously pursuing legal action against web site operators that aid and promote piracy on the Internet:

Website operators who abuse technology to facilitate infringements of copyrighted works by millions of people are not anonymous - they can and will be stopped. Disabling these powerful networks of illegal file distribution is a significant step in stemming the tide of piracy on the Internet."

In the past year, the MPAA has shut down about 75 separate Torrent and eDonkey sites. Last week, they successfully toppled the Razorback2 eDonkey server, which was one of the largest in the world with over 1 million simultaneous users at any given time. The MPAA's approach is clear: target the front-ends if the backend network is untouchable.

Is the MPAA fighting a battle it can't hope to win? It depends on the victory conditions. Certainly many of these web sites will be replaced with others, and life will go on; this has happened more than once before in the wake of a major torrent search-site takedown. Of course, most are in agreement that even if the MPAA's aggressive legal tactics finally manage to put the public realm of piracy under close watch, users will simply move towards private file sharing networks that will allow them to evade detection and unwanted snooping. One must ask, however, if this is not the point. If piracy cannot be eliminated, driving it underground may seem like the next best option.

Although the MPAA's frustration with piracy facilitators is understandable, the MPAA could better serve its own interests by working to establish a legal alternative to file sharing that can provide consumers with flexible and affordable Internet content delivery capable of meeting the needs of modern consumers.

**Athlon64** · 02-24-2006, 07:14 PM

It looks like we have to prepare again for the onslaught of newbie's that will come our way once this all goes down. It's going to be hell all over again.

They do this every year...