Isohunt Foresees a Legal Future
Written by Ernesto on August 15, 2007Isohunt’s owner Gary Fung speculates about having MPAA-approved movie downloads on his site that will compete with their pirated counterparts. Gary, who called TPB admin Brokep a communist, shows that he’s a true capitalist himself.
In a recent article from the Brisbane Times, Gary elaborated on the future of Isohunt and P2P media distribution in general, stating:
“BitTorrent really helps make content distribution cheaper and faster. The natural progression, as we’ve seen with YouTube and MySpace, is a lot more media distribution is going to be done online, and that’s going to converge with the client and P2P technologies.”
Gary further pinpoints that content owners should embrace P2P, instead of fighting it. One day he hopes to offer “premium” torrents to his users, uploaded and approved by the MPAA and friends. By making high quality files available for a decent price, and without restrictions such as DRM, a lot of people will go for the legal alternative instead of the pirated copies.
Personally, I agree with Gary that content owners should be more open to P2P solutions. A good balance between price on the one hand, and availability and quality (no-DRM) on the other, could really compete with pirated movies. However, there’s still a long way to go. BitTorrent Inc. is currently offering paid BitTorrent downloads, but so far they didn’t convince the content owners to do this without DRM, for a decent price (except their $0.99 promotional offers).
Revenue wise, Isohunt is not doing badly at the moment, even without paid downloads. Gary said that he earns a decent living, even though he pays $6000 each month for hosting, and an estimated $22,000 in legal fees. The legal fees are of course related to the lawsuits initiated by the MPAA. Gary is still awaiting the court’s decision in this case, but he is confident that it will be a victory for Isohunt. In his view Isohunt is just another search engine like Google and Yahoo.
Previously: Torrentz.com: Growing Bigger and Better
Next: Anti-Piracy Lobby Pressures Police to Take On The Pirate Bay
61 Responses
What a sellout scumbag!! yay 1st post I’m so 1337!!
That was a surprsingly fair article, and it came out of a publication from my home town!
you woulda thought gary could afford a decent haircut
Fuk ISOhunt, now hes going to try make money out of torrents which you can get for free else where (such as TPB). yeah, sure people are going to pay for it and give money to those Mother-Fuking BASTARDS at the mpaa and the riaa when they can get it for free, makes total sense.
Terrible fucktard, making profits out of file-sharing is wrong .. don’t care if it’s approved or not.
Somebody should just hack his fucking site and teach him a lesson.
And I thought better of Asians .. OH GAWD
I live about 30 minutes from Gary but our viewpoints couldn’t be more different: the best solution, iMHO, is a Sealand type operation and anonymous downloads. period.
Yay, yet another good torrent site is caving in to the **AA.
[quote]Gary, who called TPB admin Brokep a communist, shows that he’s a true capitalist himself.[/quote]
Ewwww, capitalists :/
Everybody should use Torrentz.com instead of Isohunt. And to be honest I don’t understand why we should read this Asian’s opinion. He doesn’t have a site like thepiratebay,so, with or without his lame site, the p2p world is the same.
[quote comment="147308"]Everybody should use Torrentz.com instead of Isohunt. And to be honest I don’t understand why we should read this Asian’s opinion. He doesn’t have a site like thepiratebay,so, with or without his lame site, the p2p world is the same.[/quote]
One of the best comments here, no infact the best comment so far :D
Agree with ya 100% m8
Who cares about Isohunt anyway?
Never rely on one source. chances are that they never have everything u r looking for. use torrentz.
I’m confused still on why he called TPB admin a communist?
yeah, like TPB don’t make loads of cash.
LOLBOT: Perhaps they do, but it really doesn’t matter. The guys behind TPB actually stand for something, they are putting up a real fight. And they run a tracker of great importance.
I’m done with isoHunt.
isohunt sucks anyway…
I’m sad isohunt sort of sold out… I do see pirated counterparts.. Its just sad .. Isohunt is located in Canada is it not Gary?? Why dude why cave to them… Its just sad.. A good source has disintegrated to nothingness..
Yea, everything you said, except of course, the P2P part. All content providers will eventually embrace Internet distribution. It’s a matter of survival. However, there’s absolutely no compelling reason why the content will be distributed P2P. Besides, why would I’d share my bandwidth with a service that charges for downloads, unless if I get a cut!
Ok you tards:
1) My communist comment was sarcasm, sorry if it wasn’t obvious
2) We run 2 trackers on torrentbox.com and podtropolis.com. Torrentbox’s tracker should be 2nd biggest after TPB’s, and I have always commended their large tracker (although we have different stance on copyright)
3) Capitalist sold out? Incredible. TPB made more from porn ads and I have always said no to them. But lets not point fingers again. All sites of size we are talking about makes money, and not money you have to pay for so STFU.
4) For you ppl from the US, I’m fighting a much expensive lawsuit from the MPAA because of your stupid laws. For ppl not in the US asking why we are “caving in”, you don’t understand the complicated legal issues involved but I have my reasons, and the way we handle copyright issues and US laws will change eventually.
5) Say what you will about copyright, capitalism, so on and so forth but if you stand to reason, the intent of copyright _was_ to encourage the creative arts. Copyright laws need reform, not abolishing. And the only way forward is together with copyright holders. Afterall, you don’t get to share what is not made.
I don’t know if I can explain any clearer.
And Torrentfreak, shame on your baseless sensationalized commenting yet again. WTF did I say we are after “MPAA-approved movie downloads”? Copyright and all things that can be copyrighted is far bigger than MPAA and their movies, Long Tail et al. and I didn’t refer to want to work with any copyright holder in particular, just in general. Stop putting words in my mouth.
6) And why P2P for paid downloads? Because P2P is cheaper and faster than server-client (regular HTTP) and part of that cost saving will be passed to you who pay.
I hate Isohunt as much as the next person and I dont think this strategy will work for them - but in reference to some previous comments - there’s no need to bring racism into it - that doesn’t advance our argument in any way. It just highlights your own immaturity.
Wow … I wonder how much negativity would have been said if Brokep had said this instead of Gary? BitTorrent Inc. is already trying this (as stated above for those not paying attention) and no one’s been this negative to them?
The intent would be that the content you pay for would be better quality than the pirate versions, at a reasonable cost. Whether that is possible or not remains to be seen.
Of course people will continue to pirate stuff, that’s a fact of human nature. But some of us are willing to pay for legal copies after downloading a pirated copy of media that they liked.
I download a CD first. Then if I like it I pay for it. If I don’t like it I delete it. Same theory as people that borrow music/movies/books from their local libraries.
[quote comment="147396"]Ok you tards:
….[/quote]
You want to make us to believe that you are that Asian who runs IsoHunt. If that’s true, you should be ashamed by yourself. You made (and still make) money with us. When we visit your site, we are good, because maybe we will click your SPAM! Why in the hell you call us TARDS? Probably because we used your lame site?
Let me tell you something You shitty china face… Take your site and finger it deep right in your yellow ass you stupid gay. Don’t you realize that WITH or WITHOUT YOU is the same thing?
And now Go To Hell!
And with or without YOU, his site will undoubtedly make money. I doubt he cares.
IH,
I can’t agree with 6). P2P is only faster under particular circumstances, such as when there are a lot of seeders. Anyone familiar with torrent downloads knows that there’s usually a “window of opportunity” when a download is fast, reliable, and frankly, available. That’s just a consequence of the “social” nature of torrents.
Paying customers won’t tolerate slow downloads because they’re selection is six-months old and the original seeders have moved on.
[quote]but in reference to some previous comments - there’s no need to bring racism into it - that doesn’t advance our argument in any way.[/quote]
I agree, being racist over this is stupid and it makes one look ignorant.
[quote]1) My communist comment was sarcasm, sorry if it wasn’t obvious[/quote]
No matter who you are, incase you havn’t noticed, sarcasm is not the most easy thing to portray over the internet ;)
[quote]For ppl not in the US asking why we are “caving in”, you don’t understand the complicated legal issues involved but I have my reasons,[/quote]
I understand that facing a lawsuit is probably pretty scary and stressful.
Maybe you should move to sweden?
[quote]Afterall, you don’t get to share what is not made.[/quote]
Music will still be made without copyright. Just there will be a lot less annoying pop stars that are in it for the money and a lot more real artists who can use the internet to get their music out to the world. Now, as it is, those real artists have a hard time getting through to the world on the internet because of the profit driven people.
[quote]6) And why P2P for paid downloads? Because P2P is cheaper and faster than server-client (regular HTTP) and part of that cost saving will be passed to you who pay.[/quote]
While technically true, savings for companies are rarely ever passed down to the people who buy stuff.
Companies will think “With lower costs for us, we have two choices: Keep the same profits and make the price more fair, or keep the price the same and make more profits”. Which do you think they will choose?
@IH
What the fuck is wrong with you man? No one will EVER pay for P2P downloading, because you can always find it for FREE! It’s the economic model that needs to be changed, not the people’s habits, you moron. When you get your head out of your ass, you might even realize that people will never pay for something available somwhere else, like those 25.000 private sites or those public ones that beat the shit out of your lame IsoHunt.
P.S. I stopped using your site over a year ago, because it sucks balls. You’re going down boy, and TPB owns your sorry ass.
so much hate here…. nearly all those against Gary’s perspective have quite clearly shown themselves to be ignorant racist immature fuckwits.
If any of you can lay of the abuse and derogatory attacks for fiv minutes and and actually look at what the guy is saying, you will see he has his head screwed on and is working on solutions.
The whole tone of this article is propaganda like anyway, its deliberately intended to be provocative.
[quote comment="147476"]so much hate here…. nearly all those against Gary’s perspective have quite clearly shown themselves to be ignorant racist immature fuckwits.[/quote]
And you have shown yourself as the true good shepherd, now fuck off unless you have something smart to say. Go back where you came from and polish your useless bachelor degree in arts.
[quote comment="147476"] you will see he has his head screwed on and is working on solutions.[/quote]
Oh, his head IS screwed, I can commend you on saying that, but until you worthless fuctards come up with a new economic model of content distribution, and present it to the RIAA and MPAA assholes, don’t even bother to brainstorm.
Now, please, eat shit and die.
[quote comment="147427"][quote]Afterall, you don’t get to share what is not made.[/quote]
Music will still be made without copyright. Just there will be a lot less annoying pop stars that are in it for the money and a lot more real artists who can use the internet to get their music out to the world. Now, as it is, those real artists have a hard time getting through to the world on the internet because of the profit driven people.[/quote]
The original goal of copyright is, as I said, to encourage the creative arts. Sure, musicians will continue to make music and people will continue to play, but people also have to eat.
And I’ve heard about the “profit is in live performances not CD/downloads” argument many times. Sure, concerts have always been a money maker for artists. Same applies for the movies’ Box Office. But if you can profit from CD/DVD/downloads also, will you? And people do buy from iTunes.
The problem is not with copyright, but a legal environment and marketplace that allows new internet distribution services to be developed in a way that people can easily buy what they want, free of DRM’s useless inconvenience, while still giving copyright holders some recourse against mass piracy. I don’t need the DMCA to give copyright holders that, it’s only fair. Put yourself in their shoes.
And don’t argue fair use, I know. I am in fact doing something about that.
[quote comment="147427"][quote]6) And why P2P for paid downloads? Because P2P is cheaper and faster than server-client (regular HTTP) and part of that cost saving will be passed to you who pay.[/quote]
While technically true, savings for companies are rarely ever passed down to the people who buy stuff.
Companies will think “With lower costs for us, we have two choices: Keep the same profits and make the price more fair, or keep the price the same and make more profits”. Which do you think they will choose?[/quote]
I will pass cost savings to you if/when we sign up content producers on our sites (present and future). That was my point.
[quote comment="147425"]IH,
I can’t agree with 6). P2P is only faster under particular circumstances, such as when there are a lot of seeders. Anyone familiar with torrent downloads knows that there’s usually a “window of opportunity” when a download is fast, reliable, and frankly, available. That’s just a consequence of the “social” nature of torrents.
Paying customers won’t tolerate slow downloads because they’re selection is six-months old and the original seeders have moved on.[/quote]
Not true. You are talking about 100% consumer to consumer download. I’m talking about the same but supplemented by large server bandwidth. Think iTunes download bandwidth + your usual P2P bandwidth from consumer level peers. The resulting sum can only be faster than either alone.
Everyone that dislikes Isohunt then just don’t use it you don’t have to flame it and then drag racism into it personally I use Isohunt and it works great, the admins are cool, and theres plenty of torrents that are indexed if in the rare occasion I can’t find what I want to download then I’ll go to another site but other than the rare missing torrent I’m perfectly happy with the site and I’ll probably use it for a long time to come.
IH…
3. I use to use your site constantly but dwindled in turn of the lawsuit from the MPAA… Nobody said you had to take on that fight… You are in CANADA!.. Let the CRIA etc come after you, then fight a lawsuit. What reason would you fight this? Will they arrest you if you travel into the US? Will they send the Cdn police after you?? What possible reasons?
6. Gary now cmon your in Canada! Without much choice for an ISP… Id love to hear from you regarding a GOOD ISP!! Rogers = HELL ON EARTH for P2P. Bell = Bandwidth charges yet, anybody? I just got done testing a dsl setup.. Couldnt even get highspeed dsl.. So should I stick with rogers or? HTTP is FAR FASTER on Rogers without a doubt.. To sum it up.. P2P is becoming usesless within Canada… We may not even be able to p2p within Canada, within a few years.. Yes it is that bad..
This article is designed to “get a response” but it wasn’t the one I was looking for.. To all those **tards out there stop bashing something/someone you know so little about, hell I bet most of the bashers havent even used isohunt.
[quote comment="147494"]
And you have shown yourself as the true good shepherd, now fuck off unless you have something smart to say. Go back where you came from and polish your useless bachelor degree in arts.
Now, please, eat shit and die.[/quote]
LoL you make me laugh, surely the prize for the most cliche ridden troll should go to you! Those few statements you have made are so stupid i dont even have to counter them… just PMSL
I always thought art was something for everyone to appreciate. Like going to a art museum and seeing the beautiful pictures. I personally do not care for art and feel that it should go back to when only the rich could support it. Then we poor peasants can download it for free. Hey it gave us Michael Angelo didnt it? Maybe this new system will have the same results. Money only makes artists lazy.
Dude Gary the Pimp looks proud. He want to get rich. Right to get that you must lick RIAA & MPAA assholes!
Deleted isocunt from bookmarks ages ago sellout bitches
So what if he’s sold out and is gonna earn some cash out of his hobby .. good for him … at the end of the day you should be gratefull for the free service you have had .. theres plenty of other sites to use and lets not forget that pirating is in most countrys Illegal, twats like tpb admin and all the limelight they bring the scene is whats really ruining it along with half you whining knob jockeys
I don’t get it. IsoHunt is in Canada. The RIAA and MPAA are in the US. P2P is illegal in the US, it’s not illegal in Canada. Why would Gary even have to fight any lawsuit they try to bring? MPAA/RIAA have no jurisdiction in Canada, and DCMA does not apply. Why not tell them to FOAD? That’s what TPB does.
Ya, what Bryan asked.
I was thinking to myself, “Wow, 70% of the people in this thread are a bunch of dumbasses”.
Then I realized I was on the internet.
:D
IH, personally I think that’s a great idea.
Will it work? No.
What about people who sign up, and download these high-quality torrents and then put them up on TPB? You can’t put DRM because the world is going to hate you for that.
If you can make this work, then by all means go ahead. Just don’t turn your back on free p2p :)
what a wanker!
gonna delete isohunt from bookmarks
Honestly, if they offered cheap movies/music/anything on BitTorrent that were DRM free i would spring for it. I see no use in paying for media that i can not use the way i want to.
what i don’t understand is this mpaa/riaa guys. i mean it proved impossible by now to stop the p2p technology and you thught they’ve learned their lesson by now. WRONG!! they are still chasing the wind. i mean people we all pay a subscription to our isp anyway so why not add a few dollars to the subscription in order to download movies legally and then this money be delivered to the movie companies. and the money should be splitted between them following the most downloaded movies. The profit will be imense to them and i wouldn’t mind paying few extra dollars for top quality movies. Think MPAA and RIAA we could all benefit from this!!!!
all other companies and organisations need to adapt with the world.
cowdung and co are trying to force the world to adapt to them.
they will always be stepped on, and rightfully so!
For a bunch of bastards who download things for free, there sure is a lot of whinning going on.
The pay-for model will work when enough people have been sued or put behind bars. Which is a remote possibility depending on the success of MPAA in the courts.
As it stands, it likely will have a small market. The copy-right owners really don’t have a lot to lose. As it stands, people are already downloading their stuff for free. So why not offer legitimate downloads for 25 cents a pop. Anything is more than nothing.
Several years ago, no one would have thought that people would pay for music downloads. But I know tons of people who use services like itunes, walmart, etc. and pay for music.
Keep it cheap and make it easy to use. that’s the key. It will just take a little time to change people’s download behaviors as it relates to movies, anime, porn.
If there’s enough of a legal threat to downloaders, and the prices are reasonable, why wouldn’t people pay for it?
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