The company, a subsidiary of Spanish communications group PRISA (which owns Canal+, SportMania, various satellite channels, radio stations and newspapers), accused Rojadirecta of facilitating copyright infringement on various sports broadcasts by providing access to them via the Internet.

Rojadirecta is a site that indexes http links to sports streams that can already be found on the Internet, and also carries links to .torrent files. It doesn’t host anything at all, it just carries links. It doesn’t operate a tracker and doesn’t even host the .torrent files it links to.

The admin of Rojadirecta told TorrentFreak that they felt the case was brought to scare them into closing the site without due process.

“In 2007 we publshed a press release where we interpreted the report as an intimidating tactic with which we thought the company believed we would give in to the interests of Audiovisual Sport without the need for justice to be handed down,” he told us.

“We decided to ignore them, continue with what we considered to be a legal service
and wait for the court’s decision. So we expected that outcome but we knew it was going to take a lot of time because Spanish courts are totally overloaded with work for many years now. So finally two years later here is the outcome: case filled,” he added.

This week, District Court No.37 in Madrid agreed to provisionally dismiss the complaint against Rojadirecta, after the claims made by Audiovisual Sport against it were undermined by expert police evidence.

“Audiovisual Sport was basically saying that we provide software that allows our users to watch content that in Spain is broadcasted with a encrypted system – probably trying to use a law that was created to stop people using satellite TV decoders without paying,” Rojadirecta’s admin told TorrentFreak.

“That law refers to software and hardware created to decode those signals without paying. The police expert’s report explained that this is not what P2P TV software does. The expert explained that those events are broadcasted openly on International TV stations and that the use of those apps are free, open and universal and not created by us,” he added.

Dismissing the case, the court went on to say that Rojadirecta merely offered links to software and links that enabled users to watch the events. Even though the site carried advertising, no profits were made directly from any infringement.

“We knew that it was a matter of time, because time, and especially logic showed we were right,” Rojadirecta’s admin told us.

A defiant and fully legal Rojadirecta says that sports broadcasts via the Internet of the Spanish soccer league will continue to be linked to via the site, along with many other sporting events from around the world including Champions League, Premier League, Serie A, NBA, MLB, NFL, NPB, IPL etc.

“Of course they [AudioVisual Sport] can appeal but if the things were clear before, with the outcome of this decision they are even more clear, if that’s possible,” he concluded.

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

So, let’s see how well Google does, and how their traffic estimation and ranking compares to actual traffic data and Alexa’s ranking respectively.

One of the interesting features of Google’s site comparison is that it gives an estimation of the daily traffic when you’re logged in on a Google account. The data used for the traffic statistics comes from Google analytics, consumer panels, and other third-party market research.

The traffic data seem to be quite accurate, for some sites at least. The daily (absolute) unique visitors for Mininova, for example, is estimated to be slightly above 2 million a day, which matches with real traffic stats we got from the Mininova team.

As we look at the graph below we can clearly see that Mininova is in the lead judging by the number of visitors, followed by The Pirate Bay. isoHunt and Torrentz compete for the third place. After these four sites there is a huge gap to other BitTorrent sites such as BTjunkie, TorrentReactor and TorrentPortal.

It is interesting to see how many similarities there are between Google’s ranking, and the daily reach according to Alexa.

The regional differences in popularity of the sites are also worth mentioning. The Pirate Bay, for example, is more popular than Mininova in the US, and especially in Sweden. Torrentz, on the other hand, does really well in India, while isoHunt has a relatively large fanbase in Japan.

Overall it seems that BitTorrent sites are still growing, especially The Pirate Bay, since they nearly doubled their traffic in a year. This is pretty much in line with the growth in the number of peers on The Pirate Bay trackers, which went from 5 to well over 10 million in the last 12 months.

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

No more slow downloads, viruses, or adware/spyware required to find the files you are looking for. The Rhever application has a built in easy-to-use search engine to find what you are looking for and does not require you to troll websites looking for .torrent files.

Unfortunately for Rhever, there is no Internet ‘buzz’ around their brand, people just aren’t taking about it, which is a bit strange for such a seemingly great product. If you do a search, 95% of the stuff you’ll find are press releases – and they only appear to be designed to worry people onto their new service.

They play an awful lot on the closure of TorrentSpy in their attempts to generate fear, uncertainty, doubt – and new business for them.

The ‘launch‘ press release lays off most of the scare tactics but is still littered with strange and misleading statements. Rhever spam is posted on dozens of forums, like this one and there are also some ‘interesting’ articles and blog posts around (tagged ‘Rhever’) proclaiming the end of BitTorrent sites. Even Digg doesn’t escape Rhever spam submitted by the company itself.

Also, Rhever use the most contentious music industry statistics to ‘prove’ that other P2P networks are dangerous, and refer to the IFPI as “respected industry analysts.”

If the fear doesn’t work, maybe the comedy angle will get them some subscribers? Rhever has produced a series of (admittedly quite funny) promotional animations showing the benefits of using Rhever over existing file sharing networks. Take a look at the ‘Rhever vs LimeWire’ video below which says that Rhever has done the impossible – and completely eradicated viruses from its network. In its own words:

Each of its [Rhever's] 60,000 servers are run by an administrative team that monitors the servers for any rogue files – viruses, fake uploads and other negative features that are removed instantly

LimeWire vs Rhever

BitTorrent vs Rhever . In this video you will find the secret of the Rhever network..

So it seems Rhever is selling access to good old Usenet and advises its subscribers to use NZB files to get their material, recommending its own (currently non-operational) site to get them – NZB.net.

Considering that Rhever’s strategy is to worry people about the legality of their chosen method of sharing files so much that they sign up, they’re quite cavalier about their own legal position. NZB sites in the US don’t have a great lifespan and offering a full package with Usenet seems very brave.

Finally, here is the KaZaA vs Rhever video:

Rhever is keen to play on the adware bundled with KaZaA, and that proves interesting when armed with WHOIS.

Rhever.com and NZB.net are both owned by a company called JMH Media. JMH Media are the current owners of the MySpaceBar.com domain, which was previously connected to the Scam.MySpaceBar malware. Unsurprisingly, McAfee doesn’t like it at all.

I’m not exactly inspired with confidence to try this Rhever but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained! Time to sign up. Unfortunately, no matter what I put in I get errors, a point not lost on the solitary poster on the Rhever forums:

No mention of prices anywhere. No contract information. No proper terms or conditions. No company information. No privacy statement. No contact information. No postal address.

There is however, a link to the Rhever client, named ’setup.exe’…..

Maybe Rhever’s fear-marketing has got to me? Far from being scared into leaving BitTorrent, all this uncertainty means that i’m too scared to even install ’setup.exe’ due to what might be inside it – an instinct I acquired in my days as a LimeWire/KaZaA user. I think something just backfired.

Well then, another couple of hours wasted looking for The Holy Grail, only to realize that much like the French soldiers in the movie of the same name, I already have one.

What we really need now is a talented animator to make a proper ‘BitTorrent versus Rhever’ video….

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

In April, the appointed judge asked both parties to clarify how BitTorrent works, and what isoHunt’s contribution is to the copying of (copyrighted) material. Little over a month ago the MPAA explained (in private) to judge Wilson why they think BitTorrent sites are infringing copyright, and today isoHunt has filed a response.

“The MPAA has taken a narrow point of view that copyright infringement is stealing, that isoHunt serves no other purpose than promoting and facilitating infringement of Hollywood films,” isoHunt owner Gary Fung writes. He and his lawyers refuse to be compared to “the bogeyman selling pirated DVDs on the street”, and explain why.

One of isoHunt’s arguments is that the site is in fact very similar to search engines like Google. They write: “The essential functions performed at a torrent site are also performed at a comprehensive search site like Google or Yahoo!. To visualize a visit to isoHunt, start off with a visit to Google , only a few things are changed, mostly superficial, and the workings are very similar.”

This is not a new argument, two years ago TorrentSpy used a similar analogy, and last year OiNK administrator Alan Ellis told The Telegraph: “If Google directed someone to a site where they can illegally download music, they are doing the same as what I have been accused of. I am not making any Oink users break the law.”

Indeed, torrent sites do not host or directly link to copyrighted content. In the filing isoHunt goes on to explain how BitTorrent works and what the role of the site is in the downloading process. They explain that all the site does is collect and index metafiles (torrents), and that they are not directly involved in the downloading process.

The MPAA does not agree, and has argued that sites such as isoHunt offer a “centralized index” of copyrighted material. isoHunt, however, does not agree with this view, and tell judge Wilson: “It is a semantic game to argue that Defendants provide a “centralized index.” The words “centralized” and “central” are contrary to the principles that shape and define BitTorrent technology.”

BitTorrent is indeed decentralized rather than centralized, and the claim that BitTorrent sites are an “index of copyrighted material” is not correct either, since .torrent files itself are not copyrighted. Some files may link to copyrighted material (hosted on computers all over the world), but there are thousands of .torrent files that link to material that is uploaded with the permission of the copyright holder.

isoHunt as a service does not infringe or facilitate copyright infringement, all they do is host .torrent files. These files may or may not point to copyrighted material, but this seems to be irrelevant. The site is not alone, hundreds of sites index .torrent files, and even Google has a .torrent search command. BitTorrent or .torrent links have nothing to do with copyright infringement, nor do sites like isoHunt.

“More innocent than Google, Defendants have no part in the design or operational control of the BitTorrent Network and have no more than a membership role,” isoHunt’s lawyers write. Perhaps the MPAA should sue Google next?

To be continued…

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

For years now, many ISPs have sought to limit P2P traffic as they try to reduce bandwidth consumption due to their lack of preparation for the online video and music sharing boom. When it was first revealed that Comcast had been using hacker techniques to limit the effectiveness of BitTorrent traffic, there was quite an uproar and this even led to a FCC hearing.

Of course, it’s not just Comcast messing with transfers, there are many other ISPs around the world using a wide range of techniques to limit P2P traffic. As file-sharers become more aware that ISPs aren’t necessarily giving their subscribers what they hoped they’d already paid for (unlimited traffic etc), slow speeds or erratic transfers often raise suspicions of meddling.

However, ISPs aren’t forthcoming about these activities so asking them often gets people nowhere. Now, thanks to some new software, file-sharers can find out for themselves. TorrentFreak caught up with P2PForum.it and the Gemini Project for the low-down.

TF: What was the inspiration for Gemini Project? Who chose this project name and why?

[_SHIN_]: Well… as to the first part of the question, we can’t but think of a negative inspiration. We’re referring to the much-trumpeted slogan “Internet without limits” dominating the ads for almost all the ISPs. What makes it negative is the fact that the slogan is all about false promises masking a real inability of the providers to recognize the natural evolution of the transmissions over the Internet. Inability that becomes unsustainable when it comes to adjust the physical structures to the ever-developing nature of Internet communications. We all know there’s a general discrimination against peer-to-peer.

The aim of our project is to help the users lamenting over filters and slow downs to find evidence of ISP manipulations.

As to the name, «Gemini» stands for the synchronized activity of the two systems (Gemini A and Gemini B), where the first knows exactly what to expect from the latter, and vice versa.

TF: When did work on the Gemini Project begin? Who is involved and how much time has been spent?

[_SHIN_]: Neither the core application nor the method which that is based upon are original creations by p2pforum.it: we’ve just limited ourselves to put some points of the EFF detailed guide into practice, always keeping in mind that in order to check ISP filters, there needs to be a traceable communications between two hosts, with a given ISP in between.

In about a month, some members of p2pforum.it staff had discussed and technically developed the project. The point we’ve worked on most has been the creation of a system that would be simple for newbies to use while preserving those requirements pointed out by the EFF as necessary in order to get valid, non-altered results.

The test ambiance requires a definite setup that’s overtly invasive, as it involves installing softwares of packet inspection and analysis, disabling NAT and firewall, modifying the configuration for Ethernet cards, and so on.

We thought the best solution was to use a Live operating system in two versions, with the needed software and analysis tools already installed on it, so that users would not have to intervene too much in the process.

TF: Would you tell us a little about the technical aspects of the project, such as the software/systems used and why they were chosen?

[_SHIN_]: The operating system we used as a base is Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10, on which we’ve pre-installed and configured the following elements: Wireshark, a BitTorrent client/tracker, a ZIP file containing mp3 to be transferred from A to B, pcapdiff. We’ve chosen BitTorrent protocol because it is, as far as we know, one of the most filtered, together with the eMule network.

TF: How does the system work?

[_SHIN_]: Each Gemini user launch his/her version of the system (A or B) and type the other user’s IP address. When the two systems locate one another’s presence, clocks are synchronized (via time server) and network-card setups are performed, and the requirements for a valid test (NAT and firewall disabled) are checked. If all the requirements are met, Gemini_A creates the .torrent file out of the ZIP, generating the tracker and the seed.

Gemini_B starts the download. Transmission is recorded on both hosts using Wireshark. After a predetermined period (the default is 4 minutes), Gemini_A sends Gemini_B the Wireshark log, so that Gemini_B can perform a traffic comparison through pcapdiff, producing a final report.

TF: How can the users interpret the data they get from these tests?

[_SHIN_]: The final report is a text file that’s easy enough for an ordinary user to interpret. We’d say it’s self-explanatory. The report shows:
- the overall number of sent/received packets
- the number of forged packets
- the number of dropped packets.

The number of dropped packets should be relatively low, while the number of forged packets should approach zero. Whoever performs the test and needs help to interpret the results, is invited to open a thread in the forum dedicated to Gemini Project – we’ll help them to understand if his/her ISP is really jamming peer-to-peer traffic.

TF: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Do you have anything to add?

[_SHIN_]: There are other things (i.e extensions to the python pcapdiff script, new methods of analysis, etc.) we’re planning to develop and include into coming versions of the project. But improvements and add-ons will depend on community interest and Gemini circulation.

Further information and operating details are available on the forum.

The Gemini ISOs can be downloaded from P2PForum.it

Gemini A and Gemini B

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

This is why Tape It Off The Internet seemed like such a good idea until you actually started trying to use it. There are just not enough good shows being made to justify something as complicated and involved as TIOTI. Enter all your favorites and share them with strangers ‘just like you’ and discover… what? That there are only seven good shows in the world at any one time, you were already watching six of them, and they’re all in the Pirate Bay’s Top 100 anyway. When you strip away the hours of dross and advertising, the truth is that the world’s mighty entertainment infrastructure is only capable of producing half a dozen hours of passable content a week. Maybe it’s because they spend the rest of their time on lawsuits.

One of these rare hours is The Wire. If by some small chance you’re not mainlining it already, think yourself lucky. You have four back seasons to enjoy, of what is quite possibly the last great show television will produce before it’s entirely superseded by — well, by whatever is coming around the way.

I’m not sure anyone has ever attempted to make a show of this scope: The Wire’s by-all-accounts-not-very-nice creator David Simon (Homicide, The Corner) has said his theme over the series’ five years has been ‘the decline of the American empire’ — which means decay of its cities through poverty, of traditional jobs, of the education system, of the police force and of the media. For those getting restless at the back, the show’s also got the slickest, nastiest drug slingers you’ll see on screen and is so realistic that the Baltimore Police have apparently complained it reveals too much about how crimes are — or are not — solved; apparently real thugs love it as well.

Find it and download it — though probably David Simon doesn’t want you to and neither does HBO, which has been actively poisoning Torrents of its other shows. Tell everyone you know about it. Maybe those of them still rocking TVs will raise the show’s increasingly dismal viewing figures.

Or maybe that’s no longer the point. While I sympathise with the plight of the David Simons, David Milchs (Deadwood, John from Cincinnati) and Joss Whedons (Firefly) of this world, and would like to help them in future endeavors, I specifically do not sympathise with the plights of the craven, dim-witted, played-out producers that surround them on all sides. And by ‘playing fair’ and buying the DVD or the cable package, besides the fact that most of our money is not going to the creators and their families, aren’t we really saying we accept the meshwork of shit in order to get the two or three gems that occasionally sift through it? Aren’t we signalling the industry that there’s something we still find acceptable about their way of doing business?

Now I suppose this could seem a bit extreme to some. But again and again in blogs and comments about shows like The Wire you hear ‘I’d pay for this if…’ — if it wasn’t DRM’ed all to hell like HBO’s own online offering, if it was freely shareable, good to be watched whenever, wherever, on whatever, without constant interruption by adverts. The kicker is that we’re not only unable legally to liberate and re-distribute shows from the broken, corrupt mechanisms of television and DVD distribution: we also have no way of supporting creators like David Simon and crew outside of it.

This means that right now, people still stupid or unfortunate enough to sit in front of TVs watching months-old shows or paying massive cash-or-attention premiums for the new ones are heavily subsidising us P2Pers. This is genuinely immoral, because we’re really exploiting people less fortunate than ourselves. Instead, we should be helping them out of the wasteland, and thinking of new ways to get the creators we like creating outside the prison of mass distribution. It cannot be that we are able to figure out how to make GNU-Linux – a world-class operating system — together, but not to make a dozen decent shows a year.

The irony is that TV series really feel like they’re coming into their own, just as the media that spawned them is dying. From the ‘high art’ of Deadwood and John From Cincinnati to the epic modern-day myth of Lost to the (dare I call it) Beckettian dark comedy of Trailer Park Boys, the drawn out tales of our series (often consumed a ’season’ at a time: I know at least three people waiting for The Wire to finish before downloading it) are an undeniable core of our emerging P2P culture.

We are the most passionate viewers ever, talking and writing profusely about the media we love, analysing, promoting, hosting free screenings… And they need us as much as we need them — all of these shows, without exception, enjoy their primary life on the networks, through our blogs, comments, reviews, remixes and fan fiction. Lost in particular has learned that incorporating online feedback can make a great (if utterly Shaggy Dog) story.

Can we find a way to get the shows we want made without buying the goddamn DVD? I remember this guy talking really sensibly a couple years ago about how Joss Whedon could get to make another season of Firefly, and we got this project back up his musings. Why didn’t Whedon try it? Because someone else owned his ideas? Perhaps it could have worked otherwise, and maybe it could work for the future. If you’ve got ideas, throw them in the comments box below. And if you have time in between catching up on The Wire, read this by the venerable guru of Wired magazine, Kevin Kelly — I’m going to try to get him into the next installment of STEAL THIS FILM. See you around. I’ll be back in two weeks to pick up the pieces.

TorrentFreak welcomes Jamie King as our new bi-weekly columnist. Jamie is the Director of STEAL THIS FILM I & II and a member of the League of Noble Peers. He is currently working on a cinema release of STEAL THIS FILM and prototyping an experimental, post-P2P remuneration system for creators.

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

In January TorrentFreak published the list of “most downloaded TV-shows“, where we showed that the most popular episode of “Heroes” was downloaded 2.5 million times on Mininova alone. Even more impressive -across all BitTorrent sites- more than a billion episodes are downloaded every year worldwide.

The graph below shows the percentage of .torrent files per category downloaded on Mininova over the last 2 years – over 40 percent are TV-shows. To support this, we analyzed a sample of 400,000 torrents earlier this year. That data indicated that approximately half of all the people using BitTorrent at any given point in time, were using it to download a TV-show.

The popularity of TV-torrents hasn’t gone unnoticed. In fact, there are reports of TV-studios that allegedly use BitTorrent as a marketing tool, by leaking unaired pilots intentionally. While the movie and music studios continue to fight their “war on piracy”, most of the TV-studios lay low.

On the contrary, Anne Sweeney -the president of the Disney-ABC television group- admitted that she was “inspired” after seeing a pirated copy of the hit-show “Desperate Housewives”. The pirated copy of this popular TV show was the main reason (besides the money) for Disney to sell their shows online. “Coming ‘face to face’ with the high-quality, commercial-free pirated version (of Desperate Housewives) told Disney that it was not just competing with other broadcasters, but with digital pirates and as such was an experience that prompted us to do the iTunes deal with Apple.” Sweeney said at the time.

BitTorrent’s popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed by actors either. Masi Oka who plays Hiro Nakamura in the popular show “Heroes”, made some pro-BitTorrent comments earlier this year. When he was in France to promote the series (before they aired), he was surprised to see how many people had already seen the show thanks to BitTorrent. Oka said that BitTorrent is a great promotion tool, but added “Hopefully, if they can buy the DVD after they watch it on BitTorrent, that would be great.”

One of the members of EZTV, the leading TV-torrent distribution group, told TorrentFreak in an earlier interview that he doesn’t think their work has a negative impact on the TV-industry either. “The only possible impacts can see are positive ones,” Boggibill said “it is free publicity, which may lead to higher ratings when people “discover” new shows and also larger numbers of DVD purchases – it is my understanding that many of the people that download TV shows from us are avid TV fans and will usually buy DVD boxsets of shows they like.”

A factor that plays a role in the rise of unauthorized downloading of TV-shows is that most people simply don’t see it as stealing. It is a signal that customers want something that is not available through other channels and it’s more about availability than the fact that it’s free. It’s not a threat, but more an opportunity.

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

A more in-depth analysis that accounts for the number of people that actually share the files shows that TV-shows are far more popular. Close to 50% of all the people who use BitTorrent at any given point in time do this to download a TV-show, even though the number of available torrents are small compared to music or movies.

The popularity of TV-shows is enormous, series like “Heroes” and “Prison Break” are downloaded over a million times in any given week. This popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed, with some TV-studios allegedly use BitTorrent as a marketing tool, and others leaking unaired pilots intentionally.

Evidenzia also provides an interesting analysis of the number of files that have been released on BitTorrent since early 2004. The graph below shows that it’s at its peak right now – and even more impressive – the number of files released on BitTorrent nearly tripled compared to last year.

Together with the increase in torrents, most BitTorrent sites have noticed an increase in visitors too. Sites like Mininova, The Pirate Bay, and Torrentz more than doubled their traffic and there is no sign that this trend will be put to a halt anytime soon.

BitTorrent is here to stay.

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

It is being reported that Opera v9.20 is vulnerable to an attack which causes it to consume 100% of its host machine’s resources, rendering the PC unusable.

Proof of concept code has been published which shows that the attack can be triggered when people try to download a malformed .torrent file. The bug causes the host machine running Windows XP SP1 or SP2 to become unstable.

There is currently no work-around so anyone worried about this situation should disable the BitTorrent engine within Opera by following the instructions found on Opera’s site.

June 20th 2006 saw the release of Opera V9, which included BitTorrent support for the first time. At the time, Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software said “For Opera 9, we worked hard to push the limits of what people expect from a Web browser, with increased speed, new Web standards support and innovative features such as widgets and BitTorrent”

Anyone who has relied on Opera for their BitTorrent needs but would like to try an alternative should check out the official uTorrent Beginners Guide and some of our previous guides on using other clients.

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

This film tries to simplify its drug abuse message with an analogy of kids putting together a contraption out of Lego blocks. Although the metaphors often don’t make sense, the visual impact of the film is stunning and could easily be quite popular with individuals consuming illicit drugs. Also, like most anti-drug films, this could be a tempting introduction to drugs for some youths yearning to escape their “boring” lives or to rebel against their parents.

Perversion for Profit I (Ca. 1965)

Anti-pornography film produced by financier Charles Keating, linking pornography to the Communist conspiracy and the decline of Western civilization. Keating is pretty serious about it. Here’s a quote: “We must seek to deliver ourselves from this twisted, torturing evil. We must save our nation from decay, and deliver our children from the horrors of perversion.”

Perversion for Profit II (Ca. 1965)

Another quote form this anti-pornography film: “Now, you might ask yourself, why this sudden concern? Pornography and sex deviation have always been with mankind. This is true. But now, consider another fact. Never in the history of the world have the merchants of obscenity, the teachers of unnatural sex acts, had available to them the modern facilities for disseminating this filth. High-speed presses, rapid transportation, mass distribution. All have combined to put the vilest obscenity within reach of every man, woman and child in the country.”

Alcohol Is Dynamite (1958)

Teens Bud and Jack, eager to get some alcohol from the liquor store, ask the adult to buy it for them. Instead, the adult tells them a story of three teenagers who learn the hard way that “alcohol is a violent narcotic.” In true Sid Davis form, the story ends with one innocent teen being killed and one who becomes an alcoholic bum, leaving the others to deal with guilt from their night of reckless abandon.

Last Prom (1980)

A near epidemic of alcohol-related deaths on prom night spurred this film’s release. While alcohol does play a role in the graphic, yet fake carnage we see on the screen, you gotta wonder about that dangerous tunnel. Filmmakers realized that teens would fail to identify with even a slightly dated message; this film was later remade to update the fashions, although the story stayed the same. The school chorus soundtrack makes this film even creepier

Human Reproduction (1947)

Though this sex education film concentrates on presenting the anatomy and physiology of human reproduction in sober medical terms, its release kicked off a controversy in many American cities and towns over the legitimacy of sex education in the public schools. The film is narrated from the point of view of an adult who tries to decide how to answer his son’s natural questions about sex and reproduction. With excellent diagrams of the reproductive process.

As Boys Grow (1957)

Sex education film aimed at teenage boys, with the coach of a freshman track team as authority figure and teacher. How does the male reproduction system work, why does it work that way, and what can we do with that thing.

How Much Affection? (1957)

How far can young people go in petting and still stay within the bounds of personal standards and social mores? You like someone, he or she likes you, everything seems to be fun, but suddenly you find yourself in a position where your physical urges fight against your reason.

A Case For Beer (Ca. 1970)

An educational film about the dangers of selling beer to underage youth. The film is intended for convenience store owners, very informational indeed. Don’t be tricked, or you will lose your license and never sell anything again.

Thanks Archive.org and BEN

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

“Maybe he’s talking trash because he invested $1.7 million in a ‘BitTorrent-like’ company. He’s been transparent about such motivations before. That said, he does has some claim to punditry in the bandwidth space because his $5 billion sale of broadcast.com for yahoo stock set the precedent for valuing bandwidth supply companies based on how quickly they flush money down the toilet. (Amusingly, if you go to broadcast.com today it simply redirects to yahoo.com.)”

Apparently Mark Cuban did not like the tone of the post. He fights back in a comment:

“I like your complexity analogies. You are right. BT has huge challenges. It works great for stealing content. Getting people to contribute bandwidth in order to get content for free. To quote Borat “Thats Nice”. But as you know yourself, you haven’t been able to make a real business out of content being bought and sold using BT. Could it be that there are users, the ones willing to pay for content, have challenges using the clients out there now?”

Cuban’s rants continue for a while, and he starts a discussing with the other commenters. Luckily, Bram was wise enough not to comment, at least up until this point. It is funny to see how personal this rant gets. In his initial post Cuban just said that BitTorrent, as a P2P protocol, has its challenges, but now he’s doubting BitTorrent Inc’s entire business model.

Here’s a great example, taken from Cuban’s comment:

“But where are they ? Not just the customers Bram. The content? I searched for Prison Break. Lots of torrents. None of them Legal. Is this what Fox had in mind when they signed up with you? They wanted people to find bootleg copies of their content? I”m a big shareholder in LionsGate. Is this what they had in mind when they signed with you ? Im sure if I call the CEO, they would say it wasn’t.”

Obviously Cuban doesn’t know that the BitTorrent store hasn’t even been launched yet, but he has a point when he says that it’s strange to see that much infringing content on bittorrent.com. It wouldn’t surprise me if BitTorrent Inc will (partially) take down the links to other BitTorrent sites when the video store goes live.

Anyway, for those of you who can’t get enough of Mr. Cuban, here is a lengthy comment he wrote in response to our “BitTorrent is Doomed” post.

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.