How the Porn Industry Plans to Wipe Out BitTorrent
Written by enigmax on September 11, 2007With all the negative reporting about BitTorrent in the mainstream media, you could be forgiven for thinking that an anti-piracy crackdown against torrent sites would be a depressing issue. On the contrary, the porn industry’s approach to dealing with BitTorrent raises more than a few smiles.
Yesterday we reported on a porn-industry meeting where they decided to take on BitTorrent and tackle the piracy menace. Today we take a look at some of the pre-meeting arrangements and discussions leading up to the ’round table’ meeting. A message on the GoFuckYourself forums (which sent this writer’s Firefox ‘suspicious site‘ plugin crazy) made by ServerGenius (an 8000+ post veteran and member since 2002) sounded quite urgent:
Plan A: Starve the Internet of Pirate Porn
ALL Major Content Producers / Studios / Big Brand names IN HERE NOW!!!!
Hit me up, I have extremely important information regarding content theft, distribution of both Interactive Online Media as well as DVD movie releases. I’m onto a major site that is one of the main sources in distributing new fresh stolen content on a daily basis on usenet but also most torrent sites grab their content from this source to add it to the torrent networks. I not only have info but also everything needed to legally deal with them and to get them permanently shutdown. I’m not joking, I’m not bullshitting I already have taken all the steps needed to get them shutdown…..but want to collect as much evidence from companies who their content is listed before getting them closed down. Doing so will ensure they’ll stay down…..I will assist every step that’s required to get this done properly I need you to confirm on the content that’s yours and your approval to include that info in the documentation to be used to whipe them out.
ServerGenius (SG) reveals the plan to stop porn piracy and starve torrent sites:
I’m after a forum which is very active releasing adult content by using usenet…..The site offers .nzb downloads for its users to download everything without having to look for it……..it’s a usenet for dummies kinda thing as well as a community for quite a few of the bigger release teams that do porn.
The forum is also used a LOT for the torrentsite owners as their main source for new releases……example: Shane’s World releases a new DVD today……it’s ripped, uploaded and added with all the info, screen shots and full dvd-rip tomorrow…..same day or day after…..same content is listed on sites like: puretna.com, empornium.us and many others.
Do I make this up? No I don’t, are you sure about that? Yes I am…… I have logs and any other info that will backup everything I claim….how did you get all this info? Believe it or not, they gave it themselves to me…….but more about that later…..
So the plan seems to revolve around taking down a single NZB site (a site which simplifies UseNet downloading) so that adult trackers immediately lose their source material, just like that. The problem with this plan is - well, everything really. 1) Taking down an NZB site doesn’t remove the content from Usenet. 2) There are lots of other NZB sites and sites which enable you to make your own NZBs. 3) Experienced Usenet users don’t need NZB sites. 4) Releasers have multiple sources, not just Usenet. 5) They’re discussing their take-down plans on the open internet. People read and report on such things.
Plan B: The Solutions to BitTorrent Sites
Ron Cadwell CEO of CCBill (processer of credit card transactions for porn sites) weighs in with some ideas of his own:
I was reading a post that Raw Alex (very smart guy) made in another tread that got me thinking on how you could stop the Torrent sites. You need to attack them like the Spam Groups did on spammers. They went after the backbone providers (Level 3, Sprint, ATT etc). If you could get 7 out of 10 of the major providers to blackhole them they are dead.
The question is how do you do that? Simple.
1. You get a group of adult webmasters to file DMCA notices by the truck load or allow you to file them on their behalf to the backbone providers. The laws are very specific on Damages and what an ISP must do if a proper DMCA notice is files. (Be Very Annoying Here)
2. You start sending them URL’s like what Raw Alex showed about Child Porn. This is a HOT topic and no backbone provider that is a PUBLIC COMPANY would want to be associated with Child Porn Traffic?
3. Each of the large adult hosting companies have a good relationship with 1 if not more major backbone providers. We can also put pressure on their Abuse Departments to blackhole them also due to the complaints?
I am not sure if it will work but if you put enough pressure on them and the fear of newspapers/major companies finding out about it they will want to distance themselves very quickly from these sites.
Bingo Problem Solved
Not even the mighty MPAA/RIAA with their gargantuan anti-piracy budgets seem to have thought of this plan, however Ron Cadwell felt that spamming DMCA notices is the way to go:
With a little programming I am sure A1R3K’s new group could put an online system that could make it very easy to send hundreds of complaints a day to each backbone provider and really put the pressure on them to black hole the sites.
Drunkspringbreakgirls sees no complications and is eager to get on with it:
We need to make a list of all the torrents, which backbone they are using and then we can all start contacting their abuse departments of the providers.
RawAlex steps in with his way to take down The PirateBay:
Swedish embassies based in the US are great places to drop off DMCA notices. Their government not wanting to take action on obvious copyright violation is a real issue, and raising this issue to this level may in fact make a difference.
…and continues:
…with due respect, 90% of the companies providing the actual connectivity are either based in the US or are owned by US companies. As such, to a greater or less extent, they can be touched by a DMCA because they have responsibilities as good corporate citizens in the US.
Example, is piratebay.org - “hosted” by p80.net, which is (shock) registered at Directnic. That would be a good place to send a DMCA.
P80.net is getting their connectivity (the route I get) from sprintlink. Spring comes up with an address in Kansas.
There are all sorts of fun places to deal with on this issue. If P80 / port80 / rix internet is not going to remove connectivity from pirate bay (and like pirate bay will try to hide behind lax swedish laws) then you get the US based companies that provide their connectivity to take the action that US law obliges them to take……
…Piratebay is hiding in Sweden because they know pretty much anywhere else they would get escorted to a cell with Bubba for recreation for the next few years. Again, shows a consciousness of guilt. If they thought they were right, they wouldn’t be hiding under the ice in Sweden.
….unless the guys from PirateBay happened to be a) Swedish and b) not hiding and c) not breaking any Swedish law.
Brokep, one of the founders of The Pirate Bay is not really impressed by these plans. He told TorrentFreak in a response: “We welcome the porn industry to contact us, we need more updates for the legal page, hasn’t been any fun legal threats for a while - and the porn industry have a good sense of humor, just look at the movie names they copy and remake.”
The porn industry certainly isn’t getting much sympathy from the guys on Digg either. Kikkomann felt that torrents provided great publicity for their stars while str3ama felt that the adult industry had some infringement issues of it’s own to deal with.
homesickalien couldn’t understand how the porn movie business could ever lose any money: “it’s not like they’re shelling out millions to some a-list actors or spending loads on CG effects” he said. “All you need is a $50 hooker, a dv camcorder and a dvdburner. the porn industry couldn’t lose money if it tried to.”
However, the industry maintains that it loses 4% of its total worldwide revenue to piracy. ButterBuddha feels they should proceed with caution:
“The fight for that 4% will ruin the industry…”
The full discussions on GFY can be found here and here.
Previously: Most Popular DVDrips on BitTorrent (wk36)
Next: MPAA: Pirate Party Politicians Are Illegitimate Thieves
137 Responses
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Wait, companies who exploit women into having sex on camera..?
95% of porn webmasters do struggle to get their monthly 800$ revenue from affiliate comissions ( the strange numbers you see in the porn links are their affiliate id ). They feel very sad when some *** steal their money by sharing stolen content.The big porn companies don’t give a fuck actually- Some of them do make money with advertising on torrent sites !
Forgive my engrish
Actually, the proposals that have been put forward here, how to shut down bit-torrent sites, runs into a couple of problems.
Firstly is Net Neutrality. Basically, shunning a network is considered anti-competitive in the United States today because of freedom of speech legislation (imagine if someone was promoting the evils of the Bush administration, and the Bush Administration just told a US based backbone to pull the plug so no one could see it. No, the American government is not above that hence their current Net Neutrality push, and why they see it as important… other than also allowing large corporate telcos to victimize the little guys, America is all for that too).
And secondly, shut down one Internet technology and another, more complicated, more distributed, more mongrelly solution pops up with better search options and data through-put exascerbating the original situation. It all fails to deal with the original problem that current content distribution methods are lousy backed by a worthless after sales support (ruined your CD? Buy another one. New licensing fee. Oh, you made a backup before you destroyed it? Pay us $10,000 for infringing our copyright too).
Rip off your customers consistently for a few decades and of course they are going to rebel and demand everything for nothing
Well,
the porn indistry can wipe bittorrents ass.
I heard this is one of their specialities.
:)
It’s not illegal to mail porn via US Post office provided your recipient requests it and it’s discretely packaged. If it was, this outfit would be out of business so dang fast…This is the Netflix of the Porn Industry: Wanted List.
http://www.wantedlist.com/?wlaid=adwords
The torrent industry helps porn
http://www.selfproclaimedexpert.com
A little food for thought
1) You can’t send a DMCA compliant C&D notice to a Tier One Network carrier for an endpoint (user/BT Client) whose Public IP is part of another networks range. What are you going to do attach a traceroute output? How are you even sure that the packets with infringing payloads are traveling a specific backbone route. Packets behave more like electrons vis a vis Heisenberg uncertainty principle (http://tinyurl.com/kofm5). So the DMCA spam will be meaningless. Who will blackhole who. Network admits set your filters to vaporize!
2) Now if the local network owners ILEC’s (DSL & FTTP) and Cable Operators decided that piracy was a threat to VOD revenue growth, then they will be apt to blocking IP addresses that have been identified as hosting or facilitating copyright infringing material. You may scream Net Neutrality, but the RIAA, MPAA, et. al., plus the USTA & NCTA have quite a bit of sway in DC. Sure there would plenty of workarounds…but if they can stem the vast majority John Q. Downloader activity by say blocking thepiratebay.org and the associated Public IPs from their network plus so many more puveying and tracking torrent swarms with confirmed infringing material, they have fighting chance at taking a chunk out of piracy, at least on their distribution network.
That is, As soon as the Telco/Cable complex decide that piracy is bad for their business (think high growth video on demand) they will start to block access to “known” infinging IPs and domains which will have an impact on consumption of pirated material.
The big boys will always get their money…their shareholders demand it!
bh4
I’m a pornographer and have been for 30 years. I run a pornsite and sell to magazines, DVDs, pornsites, etc. So here is my take on this.
Firstly my content (porn I produce) is my property. That means I get to say how it’s used. If you disagree with me please contact me and I will come to your place of work and steal what you produce.
Torrent/Tube sites are able to give away content because they don’t pay for it and they don’t pay for the traffic to get people to their sites. But they are there to make money, they are not a charity. How would they feel if someone hijacked their traffic? Or would that be wrong?
I beleive the porn consumer no longer wants to pay the prices offered for a 30 day porn site membership, but will many pay something for porn consumption. This can be PPV or low cost mini sites. The people who want can consume the free porn we put up as samples. Or they can boast they get it for free. = Steal it. Maybe they would feel put out if they were facing losing their job if someone was stealing their work.
There is here a lot of misleading info. The cost of duplicating a DVD is not mere cents on the numbers required. Figure in the cost of the master as well. However this is a fraction of the cost. Cost of production, shipping and retail has to be added. Nike make a shirt for $1 in the Far East, so can I walk into their stores and steal one? Think of this in relationship to your jobs and wage packet.
Mailing porn across State lines can get you in trouble with the law in the US, go do some research.
We do not pay porn actresses $50, more like $500 and up to $2,000 per scene. So much for them being exploited. LOL Or use crack whores. The reasons are too obvious to even state, think about it for few minutes.
We are not rying to get rid of porn, we are trying to earn a living selling it. Is that so wrong?
You can also use the excuse “They make so much money they will not miss it”
Tell that to the shop assistant about to lose his or her job because people are stealing from the company she works for. Imagine your reaction if your boss came to you and said, “Sorry but we are going to have to cut staff because so many people are stealing from us” What would you think of the people stealing from the company you work for?
Stealing does have consequences. Put yourself in the position of the person suffering from theft. Maybe as an employee of a company, even billionaires have people working for them. The rich don’t suffer, the guy working for him might.
i can almost feel empathy for ur argument… but fact of the matter is… it isnt going to stop.. nor are you going to stop it
lifes a bitch.
No need for generic porn when there’s loads of webcam (user generated content anyone?) stuff up there in usenet. Not to mention porn that is not produced in U.S. but in other countries. I am sure they will get their revenue boost. NZB sites arent a big threat especially since they are small and slow. Most users can use searches instead to create their own NZB or directly through client programs.
Cheers!
GoNZB.com
Professional porn is crap anyway. If it all suddenly disappeared from BitTorrent sites tomorrow, I for one wouldn’t care.
[quote comment="165413"]You can also use the excuse “They make so much money they will not miss it”
Tell that to the shop assistant about to lose his or her job because people are stealing from the company she works for. Imagine your reaction if your boss came to you and said, “Sorry but we are going to have to cut staff because so many people are stealing from us” What would you think of the people stealing from the company you work for?
Stealing does have consequences. Put yourself in the position of the person suffering from theft. Maybe as an employee of a company, even billionaires have people working for them. The rich don’t suffer, the guy working for him might.[/quote]
Your argument is bogus. Making a copy of something does not constitute stealing. Here’s a better analogy:
I see someone wearing a Nike shirt that I like. I make a drawing of it, take some measurements, then proceed to go home and make a shirt for myself based on the Nike design, which I wear but never sell or profit from in any way. The original is still intact. Nike does not get $30 from me, but I am not about to shed a tear because even if I didn’t have the skill to make a shirt like that for myself, I would never have paid the $30 to buy one from Nike. I simply would have gone without.
Making a copy of something is not, and has never been, stealing.
I’ll have to admit, I didn’t read every post, so I hope nobody has already mentioned this, but:
If you do the math, the porn industry says they lose 4%, or 2 billion dollars, every year. If you do the math, the money grubbing bastards are whining about the fact they only get to keep 48 billion dollars a year, due to piracy. 48 billion…..
The US porn industry has never exactly had a surplus of intelligent people, but this has to be one of their more stupid stunts.
Deliberately drawing extra attention to themselves when so many want to see them shut down altogether.
Sexually exploiting the young daughters of America for personal profit, oh yeah, sure way to win friends & influence people.
Please support our fight against those evil file sharers, we may be GANG FUCKING YOUR YOUNG DAUGHTER UP THE ASS & filming it for all to see, but please don’t take it personally, we paid her well, NOW SHE CAN AFFORD LOTS OF DRUGS.
Fools with a death wish, they’d shut up & duck their heads if they were smart & recognised what’s good for them. It wont take much thought for people to recognise it’s not their masturbating sons downloading a file that are the real problem here.
They pull this crap and I’ll stop watchin their fuckin porn and beating off :P
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