ISO Hunt Shuts Down US Torrents
Michael Haney
from their Seeders (Bitorrent clients sharing files. Privately owned
Seeders are not blocked from allowing US clients to connect. This
comes after a lawsuit by the MPAA claiming that movies are being
shared illegally on the site.
For some time now the RIAA, MPAA and BSA have been lodging lawsuits
against young children, single mothers, the elderly, and poor families
because of alleged illegal file sharing. A record number of cases are
being dismissed by judges due to the fact that these organizations do
not have any proof to support their cases against these defendants.
These legal actions are enraging an already dissatisfied consumer base
and angering artists because their recording labels are making their
fans feel alienated and persecuted. The end result is lower music
sales, lower attendance rates at concerts, and an over increase in the
use of online services like iTunes or file sharing services like Kazaa
and GNUtella. At the heart of the issue is copyright, and whether or
not the recording, movie, and software industries actually own the
copyrights they claim to be enforcing. Another major issue is the use
of Digital Right Management, a form of control that allows a content
provider to decide for you how you can use a product and what you are
allowed to do with it. DRM is intended as a copy-protection
technology which so far has proven ineffective but has been known to
cause many other issues. One such instance was the release of several
music CDs by Sony using a rootkit DRM technology for the PC and Mac.
The rootkit attaches itself to the operating system kernel and hides
the DRM files. This software proved to be such a severe IT security
problem that Sony was given a warning by the Department of Homeland
Security and several states launched class action lawsuits. Sony has
since discontinued this practice, but many software manufacturers are
using DRM in their products. Many, if they detect a virtual CD drive
on your computer or if you have CD copying software such as Alcohol
120 or Nero, will blacklist your computer and refuse to allow you to
use the product. The infamous Starforce DRM technology does this, and
is being phased out by many game developers due to consumer outrage.
At the heart of all this is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which
violates Fair Use, contradicts current copyright laws, and gives too
much power to content providers and no rights to consumers. It is a
law that is often being abused by companies to stifle competitors.
Contact your local Congressman or Congresswoman today and tell them
you want the DMCA repealed and these organizations stopped.
--
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thez...@gmail.com
http://thezorch.googlepages.com/home
AIM: thez...@gmail.com
Yahoo IM: zorchhaney
ICQ: 343230252
GoogleTalk: thezorch
MSN Messeger: haneym...@hotmail.com:
ThreadWeaver
As far as I can tell, ISO hunt is only blocking us access to THEIR Trackers, not anybody else's. So ISOHunt will still provide torents that link to external trackers, but not to theirs. It's a way of covering their butts. Not that I like it, but I can't blame them.
The MPAA and RIAA seem to believe that all these lawsuits will scare people into 'behaving'. My attitude has always been that by placing DRM or copy protection on something you are assuming I'm guilty and forcing me to prove I'm innocent. This is against everything the American Constitution stands for and I'm surprised that someone hadn't brought them to task for it. My bitter side then reminds me that with all the money those industries are throwing at lobbying politicians, it doesn't matter what the Constitution says anymore.
Like you said, the DMCA should be repealed, if only to save Americans the financial pain of being dragged into a court battle that ends up costing them money even if they're found innocent. Lawyers aren't cheap. One of the founding fathers said that is it better to let a 1000 guilty men go free than to jail one innocent one. I think it applies in this case since none of these are committing crimes against the body (rape,murder, etc).
My solution to the DMCA and many of our problems is a Constitutional amendment to outlaw Lobbying. Lobbying amounts to no less than buying a law. The technical age has made all of our politicians easily accessible and the need for lobbyists have passed. All of the issues and the information relating to them are easily available online to politicians, so they don't need a Lobbyist to buy them an expensive dinner, or more, to 'inform' (read: distort the truth) them of the situation. Yet, there are more lobbyists in Washington than politicians.
All of this is why I don't buy CD's anymore or frequent any online music retailer that uses DRM. Sony sounded the death-knoll for the industry as far as I'm concerned when they pulled the rootkit stunt.
I also find that the music industry is far too bloated and greedy. How can that be? hmmm... I can buy a movie, which inludes two hours of video AND music PLUS extras for about the same cost as a CD, which has one hour of music. Ummm, what? Financially it makes no sense. Not to mention that the artist themselves are making a paltry sum off them. My musician friend quoted me that the highest payout to the artist of a CD ever was 1 dollar a CD. One Dollar. that means that the remaining 14 dollars went to the retailer and the music company. Most get MUCH MUCH less than that dollar. On top of that, most musicians are forced to cover the costs of their tours and their music videos themselves, not the label company. That's why MTV doesn't have videos anymore, and why very few musicians tour anymore. If it wasn't for the fact that the artists pretty much hand over their rights to their own music when they sign up with a label, most would have taken their music to the Indie labels by now. I can only hope that more do in the future, for their sake.
As for copy protection tech on pc software, I despise it. It makes the game unstable and causes more problems for the consumer that it solves for the distributer. Not to mention putting it on a disc is essentially throwing down the gauntlet for the computer savvy to hack. It benefits no one. While I have not run across it, if any software cripples itself simply because I make back-ups of (my docs) using Nero, there will be lawsuits galore.
Bah... and we wonder why other countries hate us when we allow this crap to go on?