Media Chiefs Want BitTorrent Removed From Home Entertainment Player

enigmax
October 12, 2011
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Leading figures in the music and movie industries have rallied against the manufacturer of a home entertainment hub. The Freebox server-based system from a French ISP provides Blu-Ray, games and home network playback of media, but the included torrent client has drawn the ire of music and movie bosses, who are now demanding that the feature is removed.

Last year a new device came along which sought to ride the wave of new-style digital media consumption. The Freebox Revolution, from French ISP ‘Free’, consists of a hardware player and separate server offering 300 TV channels, catch-up TV, VOD, NAS hard drive, Blu-Ray player, gamepad and the ability to download games and software directly to the device.

“Free is basically taking head-on Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft for the games, Microsoft (again), Yahoo, Apple, Google and Boxee for the internet TV, Sony and countless other hardware manufacturers for the Blu-Ray player,” BusinessInsider declared on launch of the box.

Naturally the device has all the network options, including WiFi, ADSL and cable connections, and can browse the web via HTTP and grab files using FTP. But shock, horror, it also has another resident protocol – our friend BitTorrent. Entertainment chiefs, it appears, are not amused.

“We have already encountered problems with Free in the past but they have corrected it on the newsgroups in particular,” said Pascal Rogard, CEO of the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD), on hearing news of protocol’s inclusion.

Under pressure from the industry, in 2008 Free agreed to censor its free Usenet service by partially blocking access to some groups allegedly containing infringing material.

“I’m sure Maxime Lombardini, chief executive of Iliad [Free's parent company], will be keen to address the [new] problem,” Rogard noted.

“We can have experts from the music and film industry to look at the new box to see possible solutions. I am sure that the company will modify the software to stop this service.”

But the complaints haven’t stopped there. According to the L’Express, Disney – who supply content for distribution via Free – were said to be surprised by the BitTorrent feature of the box, so too Warner.

Even French anti-piracy agency HADOPI are reportedly aware of the problem but have “not yet been led to investigate the matter.”

But perhaps most outspoken on the issue has been David El Sayegh, head of Legal Affairs at SNEP (Syndicat National de l’Édition Phonographique), the outfit which protects the interests of the French record industry.

“It’s amazing!” said El Sayegh. “This technology is not neutral, it clearly offers illegal downloading of content without a PC.”

El Sayegh says that current French law states that vendors cannot “make available to the public or communicate to the public, knowingly and in any form whatsoever, a program clearly intended for the provision of public works or unauthorized protected objects and knowingly encourage [its use], including through an advertisement.”

But El Sayegh’s interpretation in respect of this particularly issue is disputed by Guillaume Champeau of French tech-news outlet Numerama.

“For an offense to be proven it would need to be shown that Free has encouraged its customers to go to BitTorrent sites where pirated movies are indexed, or at the very least the company developed this tool with that in mind,” he writes, further noting that it has always been for Free’s users to decide how they use the tools provided to them.

The signals being piped into billions of television and radio sets around the world have traditionally provided huge revenue streams for entertainment companies. Maintaining control of these streams proved relatively easy for many years, whether that was via terrestrial, satellite or cable broadcasts. And then along came the Internet and shook everything up.

Demanding that BitTorrent should be removed from a device on legal grounds is as crazy as requiring the same for HTTP because it can be used to access RapidShare. But every file transfer mechanism not under the command of the entertainment companies has the potential to weaken their control, and they won’t like that, whether they carry infringing content or not.

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politux

That didn’t take long. Just buy a cheap pc with an HDMI out and hook that up to your TV. Add a Linux distro, BitTorrent client and VLC and you’re good to go. No need for a special box.
- Anonymous
  
  Google ‘HTPC’. Hook a Wireless Controller with a keypad up to that, good to go! Games, Movies, Pictures, TV Shows & the web all at the tips of your fingers…
- Kr0nZ
  
  I have a setup like that, mythtv, plus sabnzbd, plus sickbeard, plus IR remote, equals epically awesome media center, I don’t use torrent because usenet is so much faster and easier (no need to share back what I downloaded)
  - 7th_Guest
    
    I know, right? Why participate in a culture sharing medium when you can be a greedy and arrogant snub just as easily? Usenet: #winning.
    - Twizzler66
      
      “Why participate in a culture (and bandwidth) sharing medium…”
      
      Never mind the exceptionally faster access speeds of usenet, some ISPs in some countries impose outrageous bandwidth caps – by using Usenet, you can have access to more content without going over your cap. Some ISP’s also impose traffic shaping, throttling the torrent protocol to the point of making it useless. Then of course, there is the fact that only ONE person need share (upload) for many to download – the sharing is still there, just on a different scale.
      
      Calling Bittorrent a “culture sharing medium” is moronic – you are sharing binary information, not culture – when’s the last time you spoke to anyone seeding/leeching any of the files you were interested in?
  - hjk
    
    Selfish!
    - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PXX4S66KOUIGIKTTIMV3CBGO7Y Colin
      
      Selfish he may be; but if he’s not uploading then in most countries he is not committing the AWFUL, WORSE THAN MURDER AND RAPE ‘crime’ of uploading copyright material. So it’s still a middle finger salute to the MAFIAA.
- http://twitter.com/hd420p hd420p
  
  xbmc, sabnzbd+, sickbeard, couchpotato, icelibrary – that is all
  - Anonymous
    
    Why would people buy such a box? Why not just set a 10″ netbook in it’s place?
    
    Install xbmc and torrent client and you are done. With a tv card you can record what you want. and you can set your seedbox up with xbmc even. And use your phone as remote…
    - Subzer0
      
      It’s not just a box, it’s a modem first… it’s what’s gives people internet …(thos who have FREE ISP ) so there is no choice and you don’t eve buy it (but there is a 400 eur. deposit guarantee to give lol… it’s part of the contract they sign. :)
- Guest
  
  Exactly like my setup! :)
  - http://ubuntu.com Guest
    
    It’s amazing! This technology is not neutral, it clearly offers legal downloading of Ubuntu 11.10 tomorrow!
- Guest
  
  Exactly like my setup! :)
Agtrier

Want one!
Justineo14

thats…… just……. Stupid….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vt2F2YKzyA
http://profiles.google.com/skybon ????? ???????

It’s amazing! El Sayegh is still a moron.
- http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja
  
  “It’s amazing!” said El Sayegh. “This technology is not neutral, it clearly offers illegal downloading of content without a PC.”
  
  I think you are referring to this idiocy. Nuclear power is not neutral, it can be used for bombs so lets ban it. Electric power is not neutral, it can be used to power illegal systems for the organized crime so lets ban it. Gasoline is not neutral, it can be used to make incendiary bombs that can be used to damage private property so lets ban it too.
  
  “…further noting that it has always been for Free’s users to decide how they use the tools provided to them.”
  
  That. Any1 can use ANYTHING for legal and illegal purposes. Hopefully the Courts (if the issue ends in a lawsuit – something I see 120% chances of happening) will slap some sense in the MAFIAA. Oh wait, the legal system is owned by the corporations. Back to good old pc then…
Gargamel

I hope they tell them to kiss their ass and keep the client in just to spite them.
http://torrentfreak.com/ Rob8urcakes

It’s always good to see the dying “content industry” thrash about in a panic as their precious profits drop with their inevitable decline simply due to a lack of foresight and adaptability to the new technology.

Their answer is STILL – we want to jail customers and give NO REFUND if they buy our crap blindly with no preview.

How many times have you had to buy an album or movie simply because the one you bought no longer works? Will the industry supply you with a replacement? No!

EPIC FAIL

But France’s Free/Iliad have it spot-on for the future of France and consumers Worldwide = EPIC WIN
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Don-Dilly/1624894683 Don Dilly
  
  I agree.
  It struck me reading the article that it is the media companies on the back foot.
  The ease with which a PC can be used as a settop box wont be stopped, certainly not by picking on one company that dare to offer a download facility that would if they woke up be of benefit to the media conglomerates.
  
  You might as well consider a new tv setup as being a PC with a 42in display.
  Most new graphics cards include an HDMI output and most HDTVs also include an SVGA port. The PC and HDTV were made for each other.
  
  Add to that, both free and proprietry htpc solutions with compatible remotes, bluetooth keyboards many including tracker pads.
  
  The media conglomerates should stop moaning as in reality this freebox is if anything helping to keep them in the game at all as most other solutions would by default exclude their product.
  - http://otester.myopenid.com/ PiRat
    
    This is about complete control though, not profit, if they can’t have it all, it must be destroyed.
Grumpygit

How dare they allow consumers the option to find, download and play CC or any other legal content directly…….they should be ashamed of themselves!!! [/sarcasm]

If they cave, there needs to be a massive boycott…..otherwise how will they learn?
Grumpygit

How dare they allow consumers the option to find, download and play CC or any other legal content directly…….they should be ashamed of themselves!!! [/sarcasm]

If they cave, there needs to be a massive boycott…..otherwise how will they learn?
http://ompldr.org/vYWN3ag/see-what-i-thought-id-do-was-id-pretend-i-was-one-of-those-slut-whores-LOL.html w3ts1ut

It would be silly NOT to include BitTorrent support for such a device.

I also think it’s a little funny that “Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers” are complaining, stop being so dramatic, grow up! You’re supposed to represent culture no? Well culture and technology seems to be maturing faster than you. >:|
http://twitter.com/Mathew30 Mathew Lisett

like i said before, as soon as bitorrent is mentioned in anythignf rom a link to being ina device, and the idiots that deny its the way forward etc want it banned, people sued and make themselves looks like greedy idiots wantignt o live in the past where the consumer didnt have voice of the choice of how to gain their content
Anonymous

Free should provide a SDK, if they choose to remove it. And all installations don’t go through Free, and are decentralized, thus sabotaging all evil MAFIAA attempts at foiling their plan.
- Danny
  
  Fuck the sdk, just open up the device so you can add the client it after. It will be built on Linux anyway so hacking it wouldn’t take long even if they were forced to remove it!
Anonymous

I will not be happy until the big content Industry flops down and finally gasps its last breathe.
gae

Movie companys have no right to tell anybody what technology they are allowed to use in their own home.
Just bcause you make movies dosen’t make you the authority on which technology the world can develop and we all know if they got their way there would be no mp3 players or vcr’s or tape decks or even record players.

Besides, I thought the French had the magic HADOPI law that works so well it stops all piracy….
Jmorse43508

Frakkin’ greedy moronic MAFIAA types. Just because BitTorrent can be used for “illegal” (infringing) purposes doesn’t mean that it will be. Several games, most
notably World of Warcraft use BitTorrent as a distribution system. And there’s plenty of content put up there by non-MAFIAA affiliated groups that want to share their content that way.
- Danny
  
  Add to that all the streaming TV services that use bit-torrent as a distribution protocol. (think kontiki)
RIAAtarded

Where is it the right of a 3rd party to demand anything? I hope Free doesn’t fold to this foolishness. Torrent client is just a piece of software on it’s own it doesn’t equate to infringement. You own a gun, you could rob a bank with it rather then go to the range we better outlaw that. What you bought a car, well there is a potential you could speed or cause an accident we better outlaw that as well. You can’t work off of “maybe”. Sure you can do a lot of things that are both good and bad but I don’t want Hollywood playing big brother. They have a vested interest in restrictions to protect their own assets and little interest in protecting the consumer.

Listen Entertainment Industry and listen close. Get the hell out of my wallet and my home I’m tired of it. Buying a movie now it comes with 3 discs, not because there is more content but it is a requirement to fit in with your new restrictions. Blueray, DVD, Digital? Come on ffs I don’t like 1 disc forget about more. Give us the electronic option we want already. Embrace bit torrent it would be a wicked distribution method, you could offer seeding bonuses toward new titles. The options are limitless to those with vision, the greedy are rarely visionary though.

Oh and as a side note I do TBs with a bit torrent client. On something totally legal. I’m a member of a linux tracker and support open source community and I resent the fact you’re exercising control over something that has nothing to do with you. So here is an idea spend you money on scripts and talent rather then lobbies and lawsuits. You’re not losing money despite the fact your quality is less then stellar and we are in a recession. A download ISN’T a lost sale if the consumer wouldn’t have bought it in the first place. Bucky Larson? What the hell were you thinking. I know it got downloads but hell I thing we should be allowed to sue for lost time watching that piece of crap. 2.1 rating on IMDB? Even the infomercial with that shamwow idiot I’d give a 3.0 . Somewhere you lost the plot so let me give you wiki definition. “Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect.” Now tell me where this fits into that definition?
- Frobe
  
  i think the movie industry is like the music industry in the way they count sales. it used to be that a 2 cd release of music counted as 2 sales, since it had 2 discs. im not sure if it is still treated that way, but would make sense if it is. instead of each dvd sale counting as one, since they put in a dvd/blu-ray/digital download combo pack, instead of a since sale, it would count as 3 sales.easy way to pump up your sales figures. for music, selling 500,000 is considered “gold” and 1 million is “platinum”.come out with a 2cd release, and you only have to actually sell half that to get to those status’. its a way the music biz likes to do it, so they can say “this pop (crap) artist went platinum” which unfortunately is all the little kids need to hear to decide if the “artist” (and i use that term loosely) is “the greatest of all time”. i’ve seen certain rap “artists” using this method for years, hell one even put out a 4 cd release, 2 were actually “original tracks”, and the other 2 were the same tracks “chopped & screwed”, which is actually just a song slowed down so it sounds “cool” when you are drinking your codeine cough syrup & grape soda. but since it was a 4 cd release, the “artist” only had to sell 250,000 to go “platinum”, and once it was declared a “platinum” release, kids would hear about it and buy it, just for that reason. so if movie releases are treated the same way, selling 1 million actual copies would equal 3 million, which pushes the numbers up to make stock-holders happy and makes the media corps tell us how great they are because they sold that many copies. to them, and unfortunately most young people, selling the most = being the best, regardless of actual talent/content.
  
  sorry about all the quotation marks, i just refuse to call most music groups / individuals artists, as they are not artists, just marketing tools.
  - RIAAtarded
    
    I’m with you there m8. Artists use to have talent and were discovered generally after a lot hard work and sacrifice. They were passionate about their craft and never gave up despite what common sense would have told a normal person. Now a days you’re no longer a talent, you need little to no skill.. Milli Vanilli comes to mind they won a grammy for best new artist but never sang the damn song. All you need now is youtube hits of yourself singing to the cat or make one of those idiot reality TV shows sponsored by Pepsi and Ford with a few industry insiders judging what little skill you possess. Lets throw in a few folks that can sing but have some serious life issues so there is an underdog to vote for. Now be sure to turn you cups the right way and roll film. Bill folks to call in and vote, really it is a genius marketing tool if you think of votes as potential sales there is 0 risk to the record industry. Here sing this song , wear this outfit, not working no problem if you make it through to the next round we’ll change it up a bit. Talent doesn’t need to exist just good marketing. That is in truth why I don’t buy much anymore. I don’t want a cookie cutter version of something else. No reboots, remixes, spinoffs. The industry is getting fat, rich and lazy.
    - Guest
      
      When was this mystical time that you speak of? I know of no time when artists that are generally considered “talented” were held above what appealed to the masses. I can’t think of a single period of time in the last 700 years when that has held true.
      
      I think you’re forgetting that art in the past had just as much crap as art in the present. You just don’t see it because it’s quickly forgotten.
    - RIAAtarded
      
      Well here is the problem. Mass appeal isn’t based on skill or talent it is based on market penetrations and saturation. The internet can stream anywhere in the world instantaneously. I can fedex the latest album/movie/software overnight also anywhere in the world. So when you talk about a record going gold , platinum or a movie being the best selling of all time what does that mean now? Well it means nothing other then the fact you could distribute it into the right markets quick enough and make huge sales based on the initial hype from said advertising and marketing. Does that mean it was good? Hell no….It just means you made a shit pile of money off consumers who were hoping your offering wasn’t a pile….
      
      Art is suppose to invoke an emotion response. We replaced that with a monetary one.
Anon

Dear though police, riaatards, and maffiaa, bosses

Let me state loudly and clearly, we don’t give a crap what you want. Culture, the arts, music, and movies will all adapt, survive, and probably thrive without you.

Please die faster.

The end.
Lynx

We need more projects like PioneerOne to show that bittorrent isn’t just for illegal downloads. Once the PioneerOne team can show that it’s possible to have a real TV series using this method, others can follow their footsteps and we will no longer have a need for these large broadcast companies at all.
- Mwhahahaha
  
  I was just wondering if, say for instance, the makers of Pioneer One could technically sue a govt if they outlawed its primary distribution source.
  
  They’re doing nothing illegal, it would be like taking away the road because some people speed, then when I go to pootle down it at 30mph its been removed.
  
  The idea of the box looks great though, everyone sharing and downloading what they want, when they want it. If I could have this whole set up legally for about £10-£15 a month I’d be in like flint.
  
  I’m seeing less and less what studios are bringing to the table in the entertainment industry, esp in music where they’re starting to look more like unnecessary bottom feeders.
  
  Can we have a world wide version of BBC yet? Go on, please. A tiny monthly payment for a huge amount of output.
- Guest
  
  There are no “illegal downloads” there are legal downloads of copyrighted shit.
Anonymous

El Sayegh says that current French law states that vendors cannot “make available to the public or communicate to the public, knowingly and in any form whatsoever, a program clearly intended for the provision of public works(…) and knowingly encourage [its use], including through an advertisement.”

Wait, am I reading that wrong, or does that say that using a program to acquire anything under a GPL, CC, or other public license- like say, Linux or Pioneer One- is illegal? And that telling people about Linux, Pioneer One, et. al is also illegal?
- Danny
  
  Of course it’s illegal. The MAFIAA (and the like) can’t make money if people give entertainment and software away for free! They don’t pay the lobbyists for nothing!
hunny adam

i appreciate google every time help us for everything search in net world i like goole browser which is fast and reliable search web sites also help us every step i so much like google
- Beanie
  
  that Google Translate’s crap though.
  - Danny
    
    Very, it makes everyone sound like they speak chinglish as a first language!
  - Anonymous
    
    I find it to be the most useful app on my smart phone! That is when used in small sentences.
GetFucked

Quick don’t sell any tv’s because they show movies on them that we can’t check to make sure everyone bought rights to the music! And stop .mp3′s because that’s what most formats are that infringe on people’s rights, make the illegal!

SHUT THE FUCK UP. It’s a protocol. Move with technology or get crushed by it motherfuckers.
Anonymous

This sounds like its gonna be good, I mean like seriously.
complete-privacy.us.tc
foff

I already get all my TV off the internet so you have already lost MAfiaa dicks so f the f off mother mother f’ers.
- http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell
  
  Agreed totally, foul language and all. Getting goddamned tired of the MAFIAA trying to dictate to me how I consume my TV.
  
  Here is a thought: offer a subscription that I can download ALL my TV shows in 720p HD (at least) and I will be willing to pay about 25 dollars a month for that.
  
  You all have to get together on this however, I am NOT going to pay 25 dollars X 4 different companies to get all my shows.
  - SomeGuy
    
    I’d be happy with that same service with just the ability to stream it whenever I like (no downloads).. Then, I wouldn’t need my 4TB data server….
http://twitter.com/AlyssaBlindy Alyssa Blindy

FREE:
Don’t fold in to these people’s blocks, or someone else will make a torrent compatible TV, and you will lose money.
Also, you will reenforce how big corporations can do anything, just with some money; it’s unacceptable.
Keep the torrent software coming.
An Unwashed Heathen

Dear MAFIAA and MAFIAA lackeys :

Who the hell do you think you are?! You’re just like Microsoft: can’t compete worth a damn so you try to strangle it, while stealing as much as you can.
I’m sick of you and your filthy rotten kind, so I demand that you get out of my wallet, get out of my house, get out of my congress, get out of my courts, stop breathing my air, go fuck yourselves, and while you’re at it, get your slimy asses off my planet!

Signed, Your Worse Enemy
Anonymous

I find Sony joining in with this one humerus.

This is all about innovation and technology enhancement to meet the needs of the market but this is not the first time we have been here. What I mean is that DVD players gaining support to play DivX/XviD titles have always been shady. Yet let me point out the Sony DVP-NS36, the Sony DVP-NS52P, Sony DVP-SR700H and many more. Thanks Sony for letting us play our download movies simply copied to DVD or to a USB memory stick/HDD.

I am completely sure that once BT supporting players start to become very popular that Sony are going to make their own versions to keep up with the market and to profit. I just hope it goes better than their freshly announced 1 million recall of TV sets which can overheat and release smoke.

I would wonder if this was a case of bullying the market for their own gain? I can only feel though that since Sony is made up to hundreds of sub-companies, each with their on profit agenda, then this is a case of their left and right hands being operated by different brains.
Notme

Media Chefs?

Let’s kill them all!
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Grammar Nazi

The end of the last sentence of the first paragraph should read:
“who are now demanding that the feature *be* removed.”
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Aeon

“This technology is not neutral” … By definition a technology IS neutral. That’s a noob understanding of the world !
Aeon-torrentkreak-com

And i m surprised to read this now, Freebox has been realeased nearly a year ago. Yes, i have one ;)
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DRuNKeN MaSTeR

What an ugly thing. But thumbs up for Bittorrent support :)
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http://artcontrol.me Will

screw them. not letting technology expand
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Mike Rod

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Glad

And I want a pony.

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Media Chiefs Want BitTorrent Removed From Home Entertainment Player

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