LegalTorrents Reopens as Community Driven Portal
Written by Ernesto on March 31, 2008It is a bit of an awkward, and perhaps even a suggestive name, but LegalTorrents.com reopens today as a community driven BitTorrent site where users and publishers are able to share Creative Commons licensed content.
LegalTorrents originally started in 2003. The website was founded by Simon Carless, and it listed a small collection of hand-picked .torrent files that were approved by content owners. Until today, Carless was the only person responsible for adding and updating content to the site, but this has now changed for the better.
A few months ago Carless gathered a group of involved people who decided to rebuild the site, in order to make it easier for users and independent publishers to add their own content. Legaltorrents aims to build an active community where users and content publishers will both benefit from.
LegalTorrents’ Jonathan Dugan told TorrentFreak: “We wanted to build a participatory community to keep the site going, and we wanted to provide a real model for content creators to share their work and be paid via donations.”
The new and improved site focuses on Creative Commons licensed content, which can be shared freely. Contrary to most other sites, publishers can choose to accept donations. A small percentage (15%) of the donations will go to the LegalTorrents team, to cover server costs and such.
Unlike in 2003, LegalTorrents now has quite a bit of competition. BitTorrent Inc., Vuze and mininova all offer content distribution platforms for independent publishers today, and NiN recently chose The Pirate Bay to share their latest album.
“BitTorrent Inc, Vuze and mininova are indeed the closest matches to LegalTorrents,” Jonathan Dugan says “However, all of them take a very commercial angle, we are taking a community participation angle.”
The site does not allow anonymous uploads but users can add content to the site once they are approved, similar to mininova’s CD, Vuze and BitTorrent. LegalTorrents hopes to add to this by creating a community where content creators can get paid for their efforts, while sharing it with others.
Recently, more and more publishers have started to use BitTorrent to distribute their works, so their is certainly a market for a site such as Legaltorrents. However, the success of the site will largely depend on the size and participation level of the community, both users and publishers.
Previously: The Most-Coveted Private BT Sites of 2008
Next: ISP To Voluntarily Disconnect File-Sharers, Offers Free Usenet
30 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
Pages: [1] 2 » Show All
I hope the best for them. Its a good way for amateur film makers and the like to get exposure.
Another Fake Torrent distributor community.
So…. ? is there such a thing as an illegal torrent?
^ to answer the question is there such a thing an illegal torrent…
From what is contained in the torrent file, no, because it is a bunch of uncopyrighted meta data… :P
From the legal side of things, well yes because this legal meta data can be linked to copyrighted content…
does that makes sense to you james?
[quote comment="323863"]^ to answer the question is there such a thing an illegal torrent…
From what is contained in the torrent file, no, because it is a bunch of uncopyrighted meta data… :P
From the legal side of things, well yes because this legal meta data can be linked to copyrighted content…
does that makes sense to you james?[/quote]
Like a gun yeah? It’s legal, but it can be used illegally?
[quote comment="323923"][quote comment="323863"]^ to answer the question is there such a thing an illegal torrent…
From what is contained in the torrent file, no, because it is a bunch of uncopyrighted meta data… :P
From the legal side of things, well yes because this legal meta data can be linked to copyrighted content…
does that makes sense to you james?[/quote]
Like a gun yeah? It’s legal, but it can be used illegally?[/quote]
So a torrent is NOT illegal then.
“Recently, more and more publishers have started to use BitTorrent to distribute their works, so their is certainly a market for a site such as Legaltorrents.”
Probably could have done without the screenshot showing just how miniscule that market is.
[quote comment="323924"][quote comment="323923"][quote comment="323863"]^ to answer the question is there such a thing an illegal torrent…
From what is contained in the torrent file, no, because it is a bunch of uncopyrighted meta data… :P
From the legal side of things, well yes because this legal meta data can be linked to copyrighted content…
does that makes sense to you james?[/quote]
Like a gun yeah? It’s legal, but it can be used illegally?[/quote]
So a torrent is NOT illegal then.[/quote]
from the legal casefile @ tpb,it seems to me like having some metadata file that links to copyrighted data isnt illegal.
looks like a terrible place with little content and little seeders. I have no idea how they can compare themselves to those other companies
torrent files are not illegal regardless of what metadata they contain
you cannot copyright a torrent file
what next? legalgoogle …
Huh; in an ideal world, this would be good. Here, it’s a little more tricky.
See, the concepts of legal torrents and of authorized torrents are immensely important; the concept of a torrent site being able to ensure complete censorship of “illegal” torrents and “un-authorized” torrents, however, is a dangerous proposition; I would say too dangerous.
I completely reject this idea, and instead completely replace it with the idea of Mininova, which indexes completely uncensored torrents, but has a SECTION devoted to legal/authorized/”featured” torrents.
Mar29, McCain committed criminal fraud against the elections laws; he is no longer a legal Republican choice. That probably won’t stop him, but I’m just saying…
When Ron Paul is censored from the polls, we will show our support for him in the streets;
When Ron Paul is lied about on the news, we will upload proof to youtube;
When Ron Paul is left off the ballot, we will write him on;
When they tell us he lost, we and 90% of the American people will stand and say, “But I voted for him.”
GO RON PAUL !!!!
[quote comment="324090"]looks like a terrible place with little content and little seeders. I have no idea how they can compare themselves to those other companies[/quote]
That’s where the community participation comes in. If we don’t contribute it cannot become a terrific place with huge content and many seeders. As I read it, they don’t compare themselves to those other companies, they offer an alternative.
I hope content creators realize Bittorrent is here to stay. The distributors are scared because Bittorrent has taken their job away. Content creators can negotiate with online sites like LegalTorrents to market their product. Maybe put advertisement inside your content as 10-second spots or even a tiny animation within the screen. Content creators wouldn’t need to make much to produce and make a living since production costs would be covered by advertisements in the media. And there is very little distribution cost since bandwidth is a lot cheaper than going through a traditional content distributor that’s going to keep most of the money anyway…
keep it up legaltorrents. :)
I remember i saw legaltorrents account on TPB and you guys did a fine job over there.
Respect and promote the freeware. :)
[quote comment="324250"][quote comment="324090"]looks like a terrible place with little content and little seeders. I have no idea how they can compare themselves to those other companies[/quote]
That’s where the community participation comes in. If we don’t contribute it cannot become a terrific place with huge content and many seeders. As I read it, they don’t compare themselves to those other companies, they offer an alternative.[/quote]
let’s be honest here, only 70 year old asian males will thrive in this type of community, no one from a healthy torrent community wants anything to do with a legal torrent site, it just won’t work. but those asians are hard workers, so I might be wrong.
I wish them luck.
Nice to see them back up and running, they had some interesting content previously.
This is a very good thing. No, it doesn’t really interest me all that much, but it’s good to have a site promoting the legal use of BitTorrent. Things like this make it harder for the RIAA and MPAA, not to mention ISPs like Comcast to claim that all BT traffic is illegal.
7 references to this post
Pages: [1] 2 » Show All
Add your response