Mininova removes links to copyrighted files

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Source: CBC News - Technology & Science - Mininova removes links to copyrighted files

Mininova, one of the biggest torrent file-sharing websites in the world, has removed links to all copyrighted content that it does not have official agreements for.

Thursday's move is a win for the entertainment industry as users of the site are now cut off from a major source of torrent files, which link to downloads of television shows, music, movies and other copyrighted content. The victory is likely to be short-lived, though, as peer-to-peer file sharers move on to other torrent sites and new technology.

Mininova, which was founded in 2005 in the Netherlands by five students, made the concession as the result of a court case brought forward by BREIN, a Dutch anti-piracy group. In June, a judge ruled that Mininova was not directly responsible for copyright infringement but ordered the website to remove links to such torrents within three months or face a fine of up to 5 million euros.

The site's founders are still considering appealing the ruling, but in the meantime are allowing only uploads from approved partners.

"It's very unfortunate that we're forced to take this action, but we saw no other option," co-founder Niek van der Maas told the TorrentFreak website.

Mininova has operated as a legitimate business and according to financial records filed in the Netherlands, it pulled in revenue of more than one million euros in 2007. The site's founders said much of that revenue came from advertising on the site, affiliate partnerships and some toolbar offerings, and that after taxes and expenses, it didn't account for much profit.

The website also made efforts to remove links to copyrighted material, unlike The Pirate Bay, another big torrent site, which has taunted entertainment companies by posting their takedown requests and mocking them.

The Pirate Bay itself recently removed its tracker links, replacing with them with a more decentralized kind of peer-to-peer network that will be harder for copyright holders to pin down. The Pirate Bay's founders were found guilty of promoting copyright infringement earlier this year by a Swedish court.

Peer-to-peer users are expected to migrate to the new technology, which uses magnet links to find files, and to other torrent sites that will inevitably spring up as the big ones gradually shut down.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8382012.stm

Court ruling forces Mininova to end illegal torrents

The Netherlands-based file-sharing website Mininova has removed all torrents that enabled users to download copyright-protected material.
The move follows a ruling in a Netherlands district court three months ago ordering the firm to remove links to illegal content.
The court said that Mininova's notice and take down policy was insufficient to keep it operating within the law.
The news is the latest in an ongoing campaign against file-sharing sites.
Although Mininova has not totally shut down operation, it has now removed all torrents that would enable users to download copyright-protected material, opting instead to only host a limited 'featured content' service, which offers legal licensed files.
Tim Kuik - director of Dutch anti-piracy group Brein, said: "We applaud the fact that Mininova now uses the BitTorrent technology for legal business.
"We are not against the technology but only against the use of that technology for illegal purposes."
In a blog post, Mininova staff said the court ruling leaves "no other option than to take our platform offline, except for the content distribution service".
But they added that they were still considering an appeal against the court order.
Although Mininova ending illegal file sharing will be a small step forward for representatives of the music and film industry - who have been campaigning for years against illegal file sharing - the worlds two largest sites , isoHunt and The Pirate Bay, continue to operate.
Last month, a different Dutch court ordered The Pirate Bay to remove all links to the material of a group of Netherlands-based music and film makers.
The action, brought by Stichting Brein, was against The Pirate Bay's former spokesperson Peter Sunde, along with founders Frederik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholmmen.
However, the founders dispute the ruling saying that they sold The Pirate Bay and no longer had any control over its content.
The current owner of The Pirate Bay is a Seychelles-based company called Riversella Ltd.

Why the political section? Well, piracy on the Internet always have been a political issue especially with the demands to update copyrights laws.

 

[Foxrac]

Wow, damn, I don't use torrent so often because it crashes my Linksys router after downloaded too many movies.

I prefer piratebay over Miniova.

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Yep. Going to be interesting where this go. The thing is that Napster changed the world. Illegal torrent sites showed our social and political flaws.

Yes, people have been exchanging illegal files for a few decades now, but the difference is that the programs that we saw since Napster and therefore after took what is publicly-available Internet and served it to the masses on a silver platter.

In response, they tried to launch Netflick, Live On-Demand movies, iTunes... but these still doesn't meet our societal and political needs in the world we are in today. It's a problem if everyone and their grandmother's dog is taking advantage of the system-- something fundamental have to change.

 

[Jiro]

Wow, damn, I don't use torrent so often because it crashes my Linksys router after downloaded too many movies.

I prefer piratebay over Miniova.

piratebay is going to get shut down soon. very soon.

 

[Dismal Shadow]

 

[Banjo]

piratebay is going to get shut down soon. very soon.

They've tried to shut down The Pirate Bay so many times and failed to. Maybe one day, but so far... they are still here.

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Yeah, but the thing is that Pirate Bay is officially dead according to their former Swedish owners. Problem is that it got relocated to a country in Africa by someone else that wanted to hijack the name.

 

[Banjo]

Yeah, but the thing is that Pirate Bay is officially dead according to their former Swedish owners. Problem is that it got relocated to a country in Africa by someone else that wanted to hijack the name.

Pirate Bay Shutting Down; Are Torrents Dead? - Reviews by PC Magazine

Seems like you weren't kidding.

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Yeah... I keep a close tab on file-sharing and electronic books, because to me... it's interesting to see if history will reshape itself or not...

The Google Books conflict is interesting right now.

 

[yizuman]

One gets shut down, 10 more pops up. It'll never stop.

Yiz

 

[omegaman]

Pirate Bay is not shutting down. It is evolving; file-sharing is evolving.

It is sad to see Mininova kneecapped, but I am sure new torrent sites will pop up.

 

[Jiro]

Pirate Bay is not shutting down. It is evolving; file-sharing is evolving.

It is sad to see Mininova kneecapped, but I am sure new torrent sites will pop up.

it is shutting down as of November 17th if I recall correctly. The plug's off but the server's still running.... just the matter of time. and yes you are correct - it is evolving to something new called DHT. With DHT feature, you don't need site like pirate bays and mininova.