Marvel and DC Comics Join Forces to Target BitTorrent
Written by enigmax on November 22, 2007When Demonoid disappeared recently, many people were sad at losing access to a great selection of comics. Those people are about to become even more upset as Marvel and DC Comics launch a twin strategy to shutdown a comic torrent community and target usenet uploaders.
A little while ago when Marvel mentioned BitTorrent in one of its comics, it seemed quite an amusing thing to do. Seen by some as a gentle swipe at an unauthorized source, perhaps suggesting an uneasy but peaceful co-existence.
A couple of months down the line and this analysis couldn’t be further from the truth. Marvel are getting into the online digital comic business these days and their attitude seems to have changed. It’s time to take down trackers and take on Usenet uploaders.
Popular comic book tracker Z-Cult FM was threatened by Marvel and DC Comics, as site admin ‘Serj’ explained: “We got legal letters from both Marvel and DC Comics who have been working together to send us these legal threats. We are currently dealing with the legal issues and they have given us 3 days before they are forced to take anymore action.”
As a precautionary measure, Z-Cult FM voluntarily took down their tracker to take a little time to assess the situation and double check the authenticity of the demands. “We have confirmed one of the legal letters is 100% from DC Comics when a phone call was made to DC Comics who confirmed the email and its contents” said ‘Serj’, “As of today we were unable to contact Marvel and we are trying again tomorrow just to 100% confirm it.”
Right now the site itself is back online but is not currently offering torrents. Marvel had demanded that the site be completely shutdown to which ‘Serj’ says: “We will never let the main Z-Cult FM site die even if that means torrent free.”
Those comic fans who get their fix from Usenet don’t escape supply problems either. A prolific scanner/uploader known as ‘Oroboros’ has revealed he’s done releasing comics on Usenet. He said: “I’m done with the newsgroup. I got a DMCA notice from my newsgroup service. I have no posting abilities. I can’t even post a message saying I have to stop posting. If anyone can get to the group, please let them know that I’m done. They have my IP address in the notice and this is my one stated warning.”
However, ‘Oroboros’ didn’t say he was going to stop releasing completely, just on newsgroups: “I’m not done with scanning. It’s just the newsgroup that I can’t access anymore. I will still scan and release into the wild like I did a year and 1/2 ago.”
Another high note, Z-Cult FM’s admin just announced some really good news. Seems that there are benefits to having your material available on BitTorrent after all. Serj explains:
“A comic publisher we talked to while ago who wanted their books banned from our site for their own reasons have just PMed/Emailed me to revoke the ban and are happy for us to share their files here.”
Seems like the start of a great relationship!
Previously: PickyPirate: Metacritic Meets BitTorrent
Next: Forced Exodus of BitTorrent Sites Is Imminent
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Of course they are going after the comics - they make money From those too, so they will go After those too.
And with the complete lack of innovation in torrent/p2p tech over the past 4-5 years, they will win [hell, i may be wrong - the ISPs may beat them to killing p2p - but its all the same thing in the end].
Suggestions for p2p? Check out this article:http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071120-making-malware-unprofitable-economics-key-to-slowing-hackers-down.html
Its about how effective modern malware/worm/virus etc attacks are; its about how evolved they are; its about how DPI can’t spot them, and network security can’t stop them.
In malware, that’s a bad thing - but does anybody else here a little voice in the back of their heads saying “THIS IS THE FUTURE OF P2P!!!” ?
Let’s piggyback off the untouchables - 21rst century botnet malware etc!!!
(PS - that link should end in “.html”, if you are copy/pasting it into your browser).
Seriously, these hackers and crime cartels have done all the work for us.
Hey Oroboros !
Great work and thanks for sharing with us !
Marvel and DC, sorry but pirates are strong, very strong ! ;)
I will never buy another DC/Marvel comic again.
I´ll download them from wherever we move to, or steal them from the comicon. :)
what a joke. the action of taking down a great site like zcult can’t be rationalized for any other reason except the almighty dollar. look @ all the titles published, then take the price in to account. MArvel Illustrated, MArvel Adventures, Thunderbolts, What If, Civil War (useless drab), Avengers (all titles) & they average $2.99US to $4.00US…for under 30 pages & the stories are sub par for most or not even shipped on time.
i stopped collecting about 15 years ago because of prices & stupid glossy covers..and Jim Lee…torrent got me interested again & i sample like crazy, then buy the issues i like. Marvel should have faith in their product, the produce it..then people will buy it regardless of “Free content” via Torrent.
[quote comment="221268"]what a joke. the action of taking down a great site like zcult can’t be rationalized for any other reason except the almighty dollar.[/quote]
no shit.
[quote comment="221241"]Typical corporate reaction to “lost” profits.. sue your customers who are doing your marketing for you. Absolutely brilliant.. I’ll never buy another Marvel or DC comic again. You FAIL Stan Lee![/quote]
Good!!! Yes!!!
Whenever we are reasonably presented with the opportunity to send such a whopping large market signal as this, by all means do so!
Let us show them, one division, of one company, at a time, that they fail!
Stan, you FAIL.
Prince, you FAIL.
Metallica, you FAIL.
As punishment, you LOSE the goodwill, support, and MONEY of your alienated fans. For shame!
[quote comment="221257"]You spelled my name wrong. ;)[/quote]
HAHAHAHA! I didn’t think you’d actually fix it. Thanks mate. :)
Are they really losing profits though. I used to buy a lot of comics but nod download them from the Internet. Save a lot of money that way. Only problem is now I simply spend the same amount or more each week on the latest action figures from Marvel Select, etc.
” Let us show them, one division, of one company, at a time, that they fail!
Stan, you FAIL.”
All you did was show what a moron you are since Stan Lee has almost nothing to do with Marvel’s operations anymore. He even had to resort to suing Marvel after the company tried to screw him over on his profits to the Spider-Man movie.
meh, I was going with the flow; can just as easily substitute
“Marvel Comics, you FAIL.”
“DC Comics, you FAIL.”
It was a statement against companies abusing their formerly loyal fans.
If Stan isn’t that involved in crushing comic-torrents, fine, then nothing against him.
…It’d be nice if you would find a more civilized manner of contradicting others than (just) calling them a moron…
This is just stupid.
There are plenty of other sites that offer essentially 0day releases. Z-Cult was where I went to pick up back issues that I was interested in, to see if they were worth picking up.
And who is making money on back issues? Not DC or Marvel. They sit in long boxes at the comic stores, or god forbid, in Ziploc bags at dirt malls.
Such a waste.
It’s interesting to me because I considered comics an irrelevant medium, and had pretty much forgotten they existed for years and years. Then I ran across some on BT.
I’m also surprised this is such a big deal, as I would think comic books have the same advantage all books do: Not much loss to piracy, since people strongly prefer reading from paper instead of a screen. You don’t hear about textbook publishers going against those trackers (though, in that case, the selection on trackers is horrible too).
I uploaded lots of comics onto Demonoid awhile back. It so happened I was contacted by one of the artists doing X-Men. Sure, you can’t prove it really was him but it looked like it from talking to him.
Of course I was interested in his point of view. I and other “pirates” see downloading as useful, but what about the artist? Well, he liked it. He was supposed to get his comics free from Marvel, but they took for ever to ship it. Since he didn’t want to buy his own stuff, he instead downloaded it of the net.
To bad that Marvel and starts to get cranky. Sure, I haven’t used torrents for a long, long while. There are way better ways to get your comics. Hopefully the scanners will be able to continue, if not I guess I have to stop reading.
Sure, I can buy the stuff…sort of. Marvel Comics here in Sweden is close to non exciting. So of course I do my best to support them. DC Comics doesn’t even exist here. What about buying on-line? Well, you can’t really get the “normal” comics but TPB (Trade Paper Backs) are available on Amazon. Problem is that I have to order from Amazon.co.uk and they have a limited supply. There’s a whole lot missing from the Amazon.com
So thanks Marvel and DC, for making it even harder for me to read the stuff I like!
[quote comment="221394"][quote comment="221257"]You spelled my name wrong. ;)[/quote]
HAHAHAHA! I didn’t think you’d actually fix it. Thanks mate. :)[/quote]
Of course. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly :)
[quote comment="221099"]“buhahaha comics are for kids and nerds”
……wait……i thought computers were for nerds! wtf are we all doing here? omg we’re nerds. oh yea. forgot.[/quote]
bahahhahaaha sooo truue :P
I don’t blame them for trying to stop torrents. They probably don’t realize that there are a lot of sites out there that will just laugh at DMCA complaints. ThePirateBay comes to mind. It’s also difficult to judge how much profit’s being lost from torrents - you can’t assume everyone who downloads something would be willing to pay money for it, and there are always customers who download while still paying for comics (or music, or video, etc).
But as this doesn’t affect me, I don’t really mind other than the general effect on P2P.
A friend, a long time ago, sent me a link where I downloaded Wonder Woman v2. I read the 200-some issues in less than a week and throughly enjoyed myself. I started buying Wonder Woman v3 issues. I also checked out the Civil War issues and came to love the X-Men all over again. I bought the TPBs.
Downloading torrents has gotten me out there buying hard copies of comic books. This action by Marvel and DC has totally disgusted and pissed me off. Pages and pages of ads in their comic books aren’t enough money for them; they had to go after Demonoid and Z-Cult FM to make sure they have all the profits to themselves. They should seriously consider having a BETTER distribution system for their comic books. Reprints, a better order for their issue-chronology, merchandising, BETTER storylines, etc.
Going after scanners/uploaders is petty, insignificant, and futile. Marvel and DC need to fix themselves internally, and NOT with lawyers.
Thank you Ernesto for removing the link to ‘that site’ from the article.
Comics are for kids??
Try reading The Boys….you’ll soon change your mind!!
I download on average 50 comic scans per week……and occasionally buy a tpb……but I would never buy if the comics weren’t available for me to download. As I wouldn’t wanna risk wasting money on shit comics.
Oroboros, you are a god among men. All the guys who scan great books like those by Garth Ennis or Warren Ellis. Those of you laughing at comics need to read anything from Ennis’s run on the Punisher or The Boys, or Ellis’ work like Fell, Ocean, Global Frequency. These aren’t comics as much as mini-movies, but more brutal, hardcore, or more clever than most of what’s out there.
anime/manga= the best
comic= imho sucks… the american can’t make cartoon that are pleasing to the eye.
comic blows, never like it could careless about it…
video games are based on anime/manga…
never liked comic, never will.
it’s for 3-5 years old toddler :)
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