‘IFPI Advertising’ Boosts Visitors To Blocked File-Sharing Site
Written by enigmax on March 12, 2008Last week a court ruled that Israel’s largest ISPs should block access to HttpShare, a BitTorrent and http hyperlink site. Thanks to what the owners call “IFPI advertising”, the site is now so busy they’ve had to upgrade their hardware. TorrentFreak caught up with them as they cracked open the champagne.
Haifa District Court Judge, Gideo Ginat: “I order the respondents, that is Israeli internet service providers, to systematically block access to the illicit site, HttpShare, so that surfers cannot enter this site and utilize it in in order to impede upon the claimants’ copyrights.”
In response, the site owners state: “According to Dutch law, sites providing external links allowing surfers to download movie, music, games and program are perfectly legal. Sites cannot store these illicit files on their internet servers, and that is precisely what we do not do. The site merely provides links to file sharing sites that host BitTorrent files or http downloads.”
This fact doesn’t seem to have influenced the judge when he ordered the blocking of the site.
Unfortunately for the IFPI, this block has achieved nothing other than boosting the popularity of the site - dozens of news outlets wrote about the block and the result so far is that visitors are now up to 70,000 a day. HTTPShare even had to get new hardware to cope with the demand - “Big Thanks to IFPI Advertising” says a note on the site.
TorrentFreak caught up with admin ‘Andre’ to hear more:
TF: Please tell us a little about the history leading directly to the creation of HTTPShare.
HTTP: Before HTTPSHARE there was a warez site back in 2003 called ELICOMP.CO.IL. The site’s owner was Eli Amar. Eli had to join the army and could not continue running the site, however he met me and I agreed to fund the site and keep it running. The site indexed HTTP links on all sorts of servers, then we grew in size and developed a crawler which job was to track fast speed .torrent files. The crawler was added to the the site which made it even more popular. We created the VIP zone in which users get fast and direct links (min. 500KB/s) to cover the servers and the programmers cost.
TF: When did your legal problems with the IFPI begin?
HTTP: About 9 months ago, Eli got a package with IFPI prosecution documents, including a court order to shut down the site. Eli didn’t know what to do so he mailed the files to me and I canceled the domain and opened a new one - HTTPSHARE.COM. Then 150K of emails were sent to previous members telling them about the new site and it wasn’t long before search engines like Google and Yahoo picked us up.
TF: Obviously changing the domain name and owner didn’t persuade the IFPI to leave you alone, so what happened next?
HTTP: The IFPI kept sending sending emails demanding us to shutdown the site. I never did so because the site is legal, we do not upload illegal stuff to our server [do not host any infringing media], and what we are doing is not against the law of the country in which we are hosted [Netherlands].
TF: How did the ISP block come about?
HTTP: After the IFPI understood that they are dealing with a new owner they asked the Israeli court to order the ISPs to block the “www.httpshare.com” domain. We all know that the legal system in Israel is corrupted and driven by money and power of the share holders. How can you accept such a ruling from a judge whose son was suspended from his job as a lawyer because of counterfeiting documents and money blackmail?
TF: Why do you think you became an IFPI target?
HTTP: We were a target of the IFPI and similar organizations even at the time of Elicomp. I think we were targeted because of the huge amount of bandwidth my site used while providing Direct external links. At that time the ISPs blocked us, but were then forced to unblock as a result of complaints from their subscribers.
TF: What actions have you taken to try to counter the block?
HTTP: For now we changed the IP of the server and released a program (browser) for the members that uses a server with 10 IP ranges so that it will be a lot more difficult to block it. Since we introduced the browser, the number of visitors has doubled. Also, thanks to the huge amount of publicity we got from the IFPI and sites like yours, we have added an English language forum to the site and translated the names of the forums to make the site easy to use.
TF: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us.
Suing individual users doesn’t work, bullying site owners doesn’t appear to be effective and ISP bans simply create more traffic and popularity for the target site. All this on top of reduced funding for chasing copyright infringers. So where next for the IFPI?
Previously: TorrentLeech is Down Due to DoS Attack
Next: Pirate Bay to Hollywood: Open your Own Torrent Site
42 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
Nice article might check that site out.
First…
Gud on them! the IFPI can suck our balls THEY LOSE haha!
HTTP/1.1 200 IS OK!1
when will the anti-piracy companies realise they’re only giving these ‘piracy’ websites more money for better, faster hardware and services?
@4.
when media industries realised that they are going nowhere and stop funding anti-piracy group and thier lawyers,which means,far-far away in the future……in a distant galaxy…that might last 6 episodes long……..that got torrented in the end………………………… . . . . . . .
“he result so far is an extra 70,000 visitors a day”
Their website says “News: Over 70.000 Visitors per day, we upgraded our network” so I do believe it is 70,000 visitors overall and not 70,000 more than usual (”extra”).
Christmas came early, thanks IFPI.
So far all the IFPI has really acomplished is more traffic and more users, really quite hilarious.. the whole world laughs at you.. you are pathetic.. what a joke.
FACT:
Investing in the IFPI is like throwing your money in the trash.
Well I never heard of them before. Btw “suing individuals doesn’t work”. True enough but it’s what they do and will continue to do, as it’s an extra source of income for them. Be great for them if they could go on suing people forever. That’s why they must be stopped, and it will happen one way or another.
If they threaten to sue, never pay them anything. Let them waste their money on lawyers and courts, and if they win, declare bankruptcy and pay them nothing.
“Suing individual users doesn’t work, bullying site owners doesn’t appear to be effective and ISP bans simply create more traffic and popularity for the target site. All this on top of reduced funding for chasing copyright infringers. So where next for the IFPI?”
now you just made someone from RIAA cry :(
Hahahah… Oh. Should I be laughing at something I saw coming from a mile away?
From the moment the Haifa District Court was bribed… Err, ruled… To block HttpShare, this outcome was obvious to anyone.
Except for the IFPI, that is.
It’s just pathetic. If they stopped devoting all of their efforts to terrorism, and instead focused on growing a braincell or two, perhaps the IFPI could adapt with the times and ensure their survival in the age of P2P.
But instead, those greedy dinosaurs choose to fight against the times, ensuring their own obsolescence, and ultimately a slow, inevitable demise.
Natural selection at work, folks.
@9
ahahahaha, exactly! let me bathe in their tears mwahahahahaaha!
@6
TF say, and i quote; “so far is that visitors are now up to 70,000 a day”
UP TO means thats their top amount per day, not that it has increased by this amount, read the article carefully, i know its hard, but do it anyway.
Really, i never knew about HttpShare.
HttpShare is good so far.
Thanks IFPI for interducing HttpShare for me :)
Long Live to our Jacka$$ friend IFPI LoL
Fantastic news.
The IFPI always seem to manage to achieve the opposite of what they aimed to do.
Congrats httpshare!
Word has filtered down that the authorities tracked down Deimos when he tried to move the site to Malaysia. A front was allegedly set up in Malaysia and Deimos fell in the trap. Word is the tracker was never up legitimately, only to track IPs for demographic information for analysis of the nature of the BitTorrent problem, and to disseminate IPs to the authorities in those countries interested in prosecution. This info came from a knowledgable source on the official #demonoid channel on irc.p2p-network.net. Stay safe, fellow P2Pers
how bout that?
….
get yourself informed about things
http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=182
11.03.2008
By Benjamin Smith-Kavanagh
Shocking and disturbing times ahead in 2008 for the average music and video lover.
In Ireland the Government has introduced new laws that will be brought in by the end of March as was reported by the Irish Independent, which allows our Internet Service Providers ( ISP’s ) to keep track of everything we do on the internet, including music we listen to and downloaded.
[quote comment="310051"]how bout that?
….
get yourself informed about things
http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=182
11.03.2008
By Benjamin Smith-Kavanagh
Shocking and disturbing times ahead in 2008 for the average music and video lover.
In Ireland the Government has introduced new laws that will be brought in by the end of March as was reported by the Irish Independent, which allows our Internet Service Providers ( ISP’s ) to keep track of everything we do on the internet, including music we listen to and downloaded.[/quote]
I read this kinda news everyday, they show off but can’t do anything!
How the fuck they monitor 10000s of customer ?
Think your self, they don’t know what they are writing, alittle rethink will be good before posting.
I would like to see them monitor encrypted traffic.. oh wait thats impossible never mind.
I’m going to check out http://www.httpshare.com/ now. Doubt it will be as good as mininova :)
oh dear….. hebrew. Oh well, mininova here I come
The world goes around and around, The game never ends, Ahhh lets get high and download some movies. Ahhh lets burn the movies to a disc and we will sell them on the street. Ahhhh lets get high and continue to do what ever the fuck we want. Ahhh lets get high and invite over some bitches and we will throw in some porn we just downloaded. Ahhhh lets get high and READ HOW US PIRATES SAIL OUR SHIPS TO COMPLETE VICTORY !!!!!!! Arrrr
@19….. see the little US Flag with the Word ENGLISH under it? Thats ya key to Success!
So far though, pretty good site, so Props to IFPI.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3×7pUhf__Pg
You know, the stupidest thing is, these drooling retarded dinosaurs (your “mafIAA”) are just shooting themselves in the face, over and over and over.
For ten years they’re slapped in the face by hundreds of millions of people who go “hey, I like this and I want it”; if that’s not a loyal customer base, I don’t know what is.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out you can make money off of this - hell, stu-stu-stuttering John could make money off of this; but they insist on shoveling shit onto their products and shooting at any of these potential customers that get within 600 feet of the front yard.
Really, it will be a great step forward for humanity when these guys finish hemhoraging money and just, disappear. They were always the middle men, never creators, and the world will be a lot better off without them.
[quote comment="310040"]Word has filtered down that the authorities tracked down Deimos when he tried to move the site to Malaysia. A front was allegedly set up in Malaysia and Deimos fell in the trap. Word is the tracker was never up legitimately, only to track IPs for demographic information for analysis of the nature of the BitTorrent problem, and to disseminate IPs to the authorities in those countries interested in prosecution. This info came from a knowledgable source on the official #demonoid channel on irc.p2p-network.net. Stay safe, fellow P2Pers[/quote]
bullshit
yeah, encryption seems ok by now, but it’s all about internet control. and the authorities step forward and on.
we all see how this works.
it isn’t about record sales or else.
they would love to ban people using the internet. because we are getting informed about the whole scam we’re into.
I don’t support these guys, they’re not p2p and they’re charging membership for rapidshare links. Visit the site yourself and see - this if heavily frowned upon in the http warez scene of which most of you already know of.
These clowns are making a tidy profit off of getting unweary users to pay for the links, many of which are not hosted by them and thus they incurr no expense.
I’m all for piracy but this site is pure bullshit. Someone should DDOS them for charging.
I don’t p2p but I have in the past. There is absolutely no way the RIAA nor the IFPI will ever win in the end. Just like drugs and the dealers, you may catch a few but that isn’t even scratching the surface. For every 1 dealer you put behind bars, 10 more spring up in their place. It’s a black market world out there except that this type of black market is free(p2p). Whether or not legal and illegal files are being shared the fact remains the same in that there will ALWAYS be a way to acquire what you want digitally.
Like most of the comments say, these guys are dinosaurs who need to become extinct. I just can’t fathom how rich people/corporations feel they need to become even more rich than they are by “trying” to stick it to the lower/middle class. If you are upper class and you still pirate shit WTF is wrong with you? If you are wealthy and you pirate than I think you actually should get caught. I only pirate when I can’t afford something and I want it now. i guess the old saying(at least I’ve always heard this) about rich people is true, they all suck!
[quote comment="310077"]The world goes around and around, The game never ends, Ahhh lets get high and download some movies. Ahhh lets burn the movies to a disc and we will sell them on the street. Ahhhh lets get high and continue to do what ever the fuck we want. Ahhh lets get high and invite over some bitches and we will throw in some porn we just downloaded. Ahhhh lets get high and READ HOW US PIRATES SAIL OUR SHIPS TO COMPLETE VICTORY !!!!!!! Arrrr[/quote]
Shut the fuck up you peice of shit, you dont burn them to CD’s and SELL them.
Commercial Piracy is WRONG (Selling copyrighted material)
I hope everybody who sells copyrighted material is put in jail because thats where you belong.
There is a very distinct line, by selling copyrighted material how can we expect these companies to turn around? Everybody wants to make money, thats understandable, but thats there sale to make, not fucking yours.
title: shitting pirate Rycon
whoa,an ethical pirate !
pirate Rycon claims that:
comercial piracy is wrong,while private piracy is right! downloading pirate content and burn yourself a copy is right,selling them,is wrong.
so when 10k ppl subscribe to broadband to download pirate content for thier own use,is right,while benifiting isp
but when 10 ppl download and burn pirate contentent and sell it to 10k ppl is wrong,while benifiting smart,capitalist pirates.
in some way it’s just like saying that: stealing for your self is right,while stealing stuff and selling them to others is wrong.hehe
hey,pirate Rycon,u sounded like my nick name,really.
Actuley thats exactly what im saying, im glad you understand.
You only have one thing wrong, downloading for yourself is not stealing, stealing is when you STEAL the money that the company would have made off the sale.
Copying is not stealing.
without p2p,u would actually have to go to the cinema to see the movie,thus,contribute to the movie sale.and buy the dvd set if u would like to keep them.
now u downloaded the movie,wacthed it,u no longger feels like to watch it
in cinema,far less than buying the dvd set. u now have got the whole movie experirnce,without paying a single dime/cent,n that’s not stealing ?
now,the whole point movie industry is to “sell” this movie experience,so that u would be entertained/pissed at a price.getting them any other way without paying is just stealing.p-e-r-i-o-d. same as sneaking into cinema without a ticket,unless u are going to say sneaking into cinema isnt stealing either.
What you fail to understand is that people like me wont go into a movie theater and pay for that shit, your acting like its some kind of resource we have to have.
Tell me why I should pay some big record company to distribute music that we can do ourselves? Why not support the artist directly? Fact is there is no place for record companies anymore, nobody listens to the crap they try to shovel down your ears and eyes (unless your an idiot who still watches MTV), the internet revolution has changed the way we discover and obtain music.
Wether its technically stealing or not, I don’t care, the industry is falling apart and THERE WILL BE a new way of doing things, or entertainment will dissapear forever. Which will never happen, there will always be money in entertainment which means there will always BE entertainment.
As of right now the ONLY choice is to pirate, please find me a site that I can download family guy legally (Nevermind DRM free). Cant find it? So your telling me I pay for cable where i saw a episode of family guy, now I want to go buy it so i can watch it anytime, and I cant pay to download it? Well lets see here.. The Pirate Bay has it.. oh and for free.. even better.
So all that in mind, it comes back to my point, Selling copyrighted material is wrong, downloading copyrighted material is right.
I’m wondering why the httpshare has the flag of the USA representing English language.
*sigh*
[quote comment="310767"]I’m wondering why the httpshare has the flag of the USA representing English language.
*sigh*[/quote]
Dont you know the only people who speak english is america? DUHHHH!
so rycon,
assuming,and God forbid,if internet cease to exist,and u would have no other alternatve of having a movie experience,unless u go to the cinema,would u pay for in,or would just lives your lives without movies at all ? if u are the kind of ppl who can live without tv and cinema,well,good for u!
but then there’s no need for u to complaint when big companies tried to shut down p2p and movie sharing anyway,cos as u said,u don really need them.
if on the other hand,u have the need to watch some movie once in a while,it’s only fair that u pay for it,i mean,movie don just get made out of nothing,bruce willis don just get to crash cars,planes etc without
costing a cent,u cant just expect to get somting out of nothing.question is how much is fair?
and on the matters of music,there’s just no way for the artist to be able to collect the revenue for them self,even if p2p can distribute thier music well,imagine ppl world wide pay $1per song to [insert your artist here],via pay pal.then ppl would start complaining pay-pal is charging too much,bank order is too slow and un-enviroment friendly…cash dilivery were lost…etc-etc.the paper works and actual works would be unbearable.
anyway,artist as they are,were unable to manage thier own monies.they are normally too busy,either with drug problems,child custody/mollestation legal battles,shopings,marriages and divorces…they wont have time to attend to thier financial matters.in the end,they still have to hire somebody to manage thier monies,and lawyers too.
and with thier famous poor sense of judgement when it comes to dress/car combination,spouse and agent,accountant,sooner or latter they are going to get ripped by some one they trust,loose every thing and may ended up commiting suicide,hehe
so,no,u cant distribute for them and still contribute to thier profit without some1 in between……..
Yes thats exactly what im saying, sure I LIKE entertainment like movies and music, but if it comes at that high of a cost its not worth it to me, besides most of it is pure crap.
You dont understand how money can come from different things then JUST SALES, the companies are trying to rake in the money from every direction they can. And besides there is a place for cinema, where else can you see a screen that fucking huge, lol, they just rape you on the cost and im not going in there.
Ive got no idea the point your trying to make by paypal, $1 a song is incredibly expensive. Dont know why you would use a service like paypal to purchase music.. that would be dumb.
I dont know what kind of shit artists you listen to, mabye some kind of big ‘rock stars’ that have all those ‘problems’, but all those problems you describe are irrelevant, and not our problem as a consumer. They can hire a manager if they make enough money and that will be that. As the Pirate Bay has recently mentioned, there is no more ‘ROCK STARS’, you are made by these fucking companies like the RIAA, they can make ANYBODY or ANYTHING famous. So if your successful and you have all these problems, then boohoo you don’t get to have 8 cars, NO-ONE cares because EVERYBODY has problems. Its all bullshit.
REAL (Yes Real, not whatever mainstream shit you listen to) artists can only hope to make money off of doing what they love to do, and if they dont well too bad its something they choose. When was being an artists supposed to be a free ride into fame? People have to work day in and day out, if the artists dont make it, its fucking music in the first place when did anybody ever say they were going to make money? Hire lawyers and managers and do all this shit, they just want to PLAY MUSIC, not fucking make a million dollars. All these puppets made by the RIAA are like dust in the wind, can dissapear in a second.
There is still a place for the record company, to do what there supposed to do in the first place, HELP MAKE THE ALBUM. Its not always easy/possible to mix your own album, which is where services like the record company come into play, the artist can pay them directly to mix it, and then distribute it whatever way they see fit.
Besides all that I dont even know where you get the idea that you cannot profit without some one in between, in todays world its perfectly possible to mix your album on your computer and distribute your music yourself, make money off of donations and shows, or do like NIN has done recently with there new album.
You need to take another look at whats going on around you, you dont seem to have an idea of how this all works, stay off the MTV.
“And besides there is a place for cinema, where else can you see a screen that fucking huge, lol, they just rape you on the cost and im not going in there.”—so they ‘rape’ u when they offer big screen (as u said available no where else)and charge u ?
ok,ok.how much they charge u and how much are u willing to pay ?
“Ive got no idea the point your trying to make by paypal, $1 a song is incredibly expensive. Dont know why you would use a service like paypal to purchase music.. that would be dumb”—how then do u propose to pay artist thier loyalty ? how much is reasonable,and how much r u willing to pay ?
“and not our problem as a consumer”—musics AREN’T consumable
if they were,lots of them would fail f.d.a.
“There is still a place for the record company, to do what there supposed to do in the first place, HELP MAKE THE ALBUM. Its not always easy/possible to mix your own album,”
and then u said—”in todays world its perfectly possible to mix your album on your computer and distribute your music yourself”—-so,i m confused,so i’ll ask again,is it possible or not to mix ur own album,yes o no ?
NIN-they are where they are today with the help recording company.had they started out independently,i wouldnt even know who they are.only rich ppl could afford to be generous/pertends to be.-and after watching them on youtube,it left me empty.they sucks.
and no,there’s no mtv where i live.
Download some excellent photos for wallpapers:
http://rapidshare.com/files/98182564/excellent_photos.rar
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