Every month a few dozen new BitTorrent sites are unleashed on the Internet, but only a few have something new to offer. One site that popped up recently is worth mentioning, if only for the fact that it has one of the best domains for a BitTorrent index, Torrents.net.
April 1st is traditionally a day for pranks and jokes, but the Russian-led torrent site Vertor has picked this day to inform the RIAA, MPAA and various other anti-piracy outfits that their bullying tactics are not appreciated. The Vertor team has shipped condom packs with a special message to the offices of six leading anti-piracy groups.
A United States court wants isoHunt to stop inducing copyright infringement via torrents that can be found through the popular BitTorrent search engine. The proposed injunction would require isoHunt to censor its site based on a list of keywords. A similar measure led to the quasi-shutdown of Mininova last year.
Colombo-BT, once the largest torrent site in Italy, was shut down in the summer of 2008. At the time no arrests were made, but following an extensive investigation Italian authorities have announced today that two admins and four associates have been reported for breaking copyright law.
BitTorrent is undoubtedly the most efficient way to share large files on the Internet. The key to BitTorrent’s widespread adoption can nevertheless not be exclusively attributed to its technical superiority. Much of BitTorrent’s success lies in the fact that it is web-based, easy to monetize and indexed by Google.
The four individuals convicted in The Pirate Bay trial have a preliminary date for their appeals. Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom will head to the Court of Appeal on 28 September. This date is already being claimed as politically motivated, falling as it does just after Sweden’s parliamentary elections.
In mid-February an Italian court ruled that the country’s ISPs must censor their networks and prevent subscribers from accessing The Pirate Bay. While millions of Italians are now barred from accessing the site, it seems that BiTorrent users in another country nearby have become collateral damage, since they can’t access the site either.
The latest news from around the web, not covered on the frontpage
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Below are TorrentFreak's most discussed articles of the past month. Join the discussion if you like.
Left Quote“The Pirate Bay has been one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship.
Peter Sunde Left Quote
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