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Paramount Pictures Partner With BitTorrent Release Movie

In a little over two months time, the long-awaited horror movie The Tunnel will receive its world premiere. Rather than a traditional theatrical release, the movie – which is set in abandoned real-life tunnels under Sydney, Australia – will make its debut online for free with BitTorrent. Simultaneously it will be released on physical DVD, to be distributed by Hollywood giant Paramount Pictures.

Tunnel DVDDistracted Media’s Enzo Tedeschi and Julian Harvey first hit the BitTorrent conciousness in mid 2010 when trying to raise funding for their latest project by selling frames of their upcoming horror movie.

The Tunnel is a story based in the real-life networks of tunnels under Sydney, Australia. Created many decades ago, the tunnels were originally intended to house a rail network but construction was discontinued and they later became U.S. General Macarthur’s headquarters during the Second World War.

Although the tunnels were later abandoned, a film crew decided to go down there, and so the story begins. From the trailers available, it looks pretty eerie.

In a little over 2 months, The Tunnel will be released worldwide and, true to the plan from the beginning, that premiere won’t take place in bricks-and-mortar, admission-charging theaters but on BitTorrent – for free.

Simultaneously, The Tunnel will also be released on DVD which will include two hours of exclusive footage including an alternate ending and a behind the scenes documentary. Distracted Media have just secured a physical distribution deal for that product but considering the movie’s key BitTorrent model, one of the companies now partnering them will certainly raise an eyebrow or two.

Transmission Films and Paramount Home Entertainment Australia, who work together on film acquisitions, have just confirmed they will be backing what they describe as “the film that captured the imaginations of internet users globally.”

TorrentFreak caught up with producer and editor Enzo Tedeschi and asked about this interesting partnership, particularly since Paramount – like most Hollywood studios – have shown much hostility to BitTorrent over the years, particularly in the recent and ongoing AFACT v iiNet case in Australia.

“Our experience with Transmission Films and Paramount has been positive, and we’re impressed with how forward-thinking they’ve been on considering our specific project,” Enzo explained.

“From day one we’ve maintained that The Tunnel is not supporting or condoning piracy, but instead trying to incorporate a legitimate use of peer-to-peer in our distribution strategy internationally.”

While some might be suspicious of Paramount given their track record, the Internet community in particular constantly calls for change and for the studios to embrace – not fight – new ideas and distribution models. Being associated with The Tunnel project certainly seems like a step in the right direction.

“So much of the debate at the moment is caught up around what has been happening in the past, but that’s not what The Tunnel is about,” co-producer Julian Harvey told us. “We’re trying to look ahead. We have a film and we’re trying to find an audience.”

The Tunnel will do just that, May 19th on a BitTorrent tracker near you.

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  • Ksju

    movie is simply amazing, I love horror and thrillers, but this is really what you need for thrill-seekers have already looked at it here http://www.greatiful.com and all advise

    • We Hate Spam

      Spammer. Flagged.

  • Some Guy

    Hope this is good, if so it’ll show the movie industries that p2p can and does benefit the movie industry

    • Bogomel223

      More like the movie sucks and this will “prove” that this distribution channel is crap and only freeloading pirates use Bit Torrent.

      • tiger urine

        But imagine if it is good it will show what little a free loading troll such as yourself knows about anything apart from NOTHING…

        • Haxor

          and guess what nothing prevents you form getting and watching it first and if good pay.

          thats a kinda honesty factor. AND imagine if it gets 20 million downloads and even 1 million toss 5$…definitely gets a good go there. See universal on this is trying to see if they can at least profit via it.

          NOW if universal or these types was or had been smart they could have done a 90% to universal and 10% to private sites, and have a donate button ….ya see 10 years ago how it would have really been good. THEY kinda screwed themselves.

          whether its good or not i might toss em a buck anyhow…why not. even crap is worth having the freedom and maybe next time you’ll give a buck when i dont have one.

          As its a horror flick i’ll say it will be half decent and I really hope this does well.
          universal holding the star trek rights is somehting that would be really cool to see this way and ya know …..

  • Renwallz

    As long as it is done right, this form of movie distribution could really take off. That is, release the movie for free over Bittorrent, but also release a DVD/Blu-ray disk featuring behind-the-scenes and other bonuses for the fans to purchase. As long as they only add value to the DVD, and not remove it from the bittorrent release, I would support this.

    • Phobophobia

      a wave to the future?…. I hope. If this really is a success – they will repeat it.

      BUT, if what they release on BT sucks, no one will buy it!

      • LOL

        what they shudve done is release it in the cinema’s as well, because people may want to see this in a cinema rather then at home… what this ‘test’ will show, is that people will ‘donate’ to the creators of such content as this, however the steps they have taken will not show how the piracy affects sales… so if they released this in cinemas(epic viewing), dvd(extra content), and torrents(free), then this will demonstrate that the ‘free’ aspect had no harmful effects on sales. In this case.. it will show nothing new.. except what we already knew.. people pay for stuff they like..

        • Anonymous

          Small steps my friend…

        • Anonymous

          “however the steps they have taken will not show how the piracy affects sales…”

          “Simultaneously it will be released on physical DVD…..”

        • Anonymous

          He was talking about ticket sales in cinema…

          “what they shudve done is release it in the cinema’s as well”

          And my reason for buying DVD’s i like, after i have seen them from downloading, is because i want them to make another movie. You know if an artist is good i want to see more of him and they need to know their work is liked (and money for the next work).

      • LOL

        what they shudve done is release it in the cinema’s as well, because people may want to see this in a cinema rather then at home… what this ‘test’ will show, is that people will ‘donate’ to the creators of such content as this, however the steps they have taken will not show how the piracy affects sales… so if they released this in cinemas(epic viewing), dvd(extra content), and torrents(free), then this will demonstrate that the ‘free’ aspect had no harmful effects on sales. In this case.. it will show nothing new.. except what we already knew.. people pay for stuff they like..

    • Six22

      what if someone rips the bonusses from the dvd and upload it on bittorrent? then its useless

      • Renwallz

        It’s not so much the actual content that matters, it’s the symbolic (and financial) support of the film’s producers. Those who would pirate the bonus material would never buy the DVD in the first place, regardless of what distribution system is used.

        • Anonymous

          That’s actually what piracy was always about. Many warez groups preach the “try before you buy” mantra. If you like something buy it. It’s very likely that the same author will make things you like in the future. Steal the crap & person/people stop making crap. It’s very Darwinian, survival of the fittest & all that.

        • Me

          I watched True Grit and then took a date to see it in the theater. It isn’t uncommon for people to buy and support what is actually good.

        • Me

          I watched True Grit and then took a date to see it in the theater. It isn’t uncommon for people to buy and support what is actually good.

        • Haxor

          no then you get people like me that will beign to make stuff for free and give out and we’ll get better and better and if you donate so be it….
          its same as open source and pioneer one
          get the hint they doing this cause they know we are coming up the pipes to you all, and when i get to point of doing an animated sci fi show a week ill teach everyone i can and whats that mean?

          donate if ya want…..extra cash maybe ill donate to charities and better hardware to continue

    • Anonymous

      The whole idea is to cater to customers needs & they’re not doing that at all with DVDs. DVDs use the old-outdated, inferior MPEG-2 codec. Give me a normal ol’ CD with a 700 mb XviD/DiVX version of the movie for my DiVX players. Since CDs are cheaper to produce, and since the file itself IS lower (but comparable) quality I’d pay about 5-8 bucks a piece for a DiVX disc. Movie studios used to throw all kinds of cash behind new forms of media. The DVD being the one they hopped onto, because they were cheaper to make than VHS cassettes.

      WHY THE HELL ARE PEOPLE STILL USING DISCS? They get scratched, they’re screwed. I keep my movies on a 1TB EXternal HD or an SD Card that goes in the back of my Portable DivX player. On the External, I have about 300 movies so far & it’s the size of maybe 3 DVDs stacked on top of each other. I don’t have room in my house to have 300 DVDs cases laying around. That’s just ridiculous.

      A friend of mine argues in favor of the Artwork. So I picked up a disc of Wolverine Origins laying on his desk & said “Yeah, it looks nice,” flipped the disc to show him the bottom & finished “but I can still watch mine…” to which he responded “Touché”

      • Anonymous

        “WHY THE HELL ARE PEOPLE STILL USING DISCS? They get scratched, they’re screwed. I keep my movies on a 1TB EXternal HD or an SD Card”

        I hope you have backups. Lose one DVD to damage and hey, so what. But lose one HDD to corruption or failure and you stand to lose a lot more.

        • Me

          That’s why you get a real NAS solution AND/OR back up your HDD. I’m with FrostyC. Who needs the case and artwork AND who wants to store all those discs?

        • ITguru

          How about movie distribution such as steam distributes games, you lose your crap, you can log back in and redownload them. But yeah 50 million dvds lying around the house is rediculous.

      • Anonymous

        “The whole idea is to cater to customers needs & they’re not doing that at all with DVDs.”

        Yes, they are. I like DVDs, and Blu Rays too.

        Just because you don’t like them, it doesn’t mean that nobody should.

      • Gayman

        Guess what?
        I have DVDs stored for more than 6 years without a

      • ayman

        Guess what?
        I have over 1000 DVD stored for over 3 years without a single scratch and took only 0.25 square meter in space.
        As for cost, in my region 1GB cost $0.058 for the DVD and $.08.5 for HDD.
        and above this you can afford the DVDs any time on your own but for HDD you will have to suck up to your mummy every time you want to buy one.
        And for losing data, the estimation life of DVD is around 20-30 year(and i have some still fully working for over 8 years), and when you lose data it would only hit a very very low percent of your collection over long period of time.
        So with a proper preservation, good DVD blank quality, and a data catalog program you will have an everlasting collection.

      • Haxor

        1 GB bandwidth costs 1 penny
        your stomped cdr or dvdr costs 10/15 cents respectively, and when you have bit torrent it puts distribution cots to the customer directly.

        MY thought here is if they dont pay anything to distribute it and i do should they not pay me back…and thus the free download, donate button.

  • Blazer

    I wonder if a dvd rip will be released before the actual “official” torrent

  • Mustangx

    I applaud the ingenuity of the project on a hole but something doesn’t sit right with me here now, I own a second of this movie that I of course never had dreams of profiting from, But as I understand it now Paramount must own some of the movie as well and of course plan on profiting from their portions and all other portions others have rights to as well. I hoped the movie would do well and profit but fffs I never wanted to make any other investors riich especially someone who hates the internet that i would stand and fight for. Maybe I need more coffee to wake up but this kinda disturbs me.

    • Whatever

      Good point.

      The MAFIAA is going to profit from the people who made the movie possible. Thats also a good strategy for the MAFIAA to make sure the project fails as the next time there won’t be anyone left to support any more projects like this. Next they say again “See, it doesn’t work for free”.

      • FFS-Remove-Disqus

        I don’t think you quite understand what the MAFIAA (MPAA) does. They’re not profiting from EVERY movie sold…

        • Asd

          “I don’t think you quite understand what the MAFIAA (MPAA) does. They’re not profiting from EVERY movie sold… ”

          You are correct :)

          But, we’re only a few short hops away from that kind of situation, sadly

          Take the music side of the MAFIAA (the RIAA)

          The RIAA claim they should receive profit from every. single. song. broadcast over any internet radio station.

          To be clear “The RIAA has secured legal authority to administer a compulsory license that covers all recorded music.”

          ALL recorded music. Whether the RIAA had anything to do with it or not.

          Next step? Expand that license to include any and all performances and other forms of broadcast music.

          The fact that the RIAA actually has the law on their side in this regard will only spur the movie arm of the MAFIAA (MPAA) to take similar action.

          Has this happened with the MPAA yet? No… will it happen for sure? No.

          Is it a serious possibility given the situation with internet radio? Absolutely.

          http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/04/24/327063/-Is-the-RIAA-Pulling-a-Scam-on-the-Music-Industry

      • Phobophobia

        It wouldn’t surprise me if they were trying to engineer a failure..
        ..a leopard never changes its spots after-all!

    • Anonymous

      “as I understand it now Paramount must own some of the movie as well”

      How so?

      Selling or distributing something does not automatically mean that you own any of the rights to that product.

      If I distribute or sell chocolate bars that doesn’t make me a part-owner of the manufacturing company.

      I may of course have come to an agreement which gives me ‘distribution rights’, but that happens in almost any industry. ‘Sole importer’ is a phrase I see quite frequently.

  • Nommmer

    it will be a complete and utter failure. the film will not make back it’s production budget, low as it is, and no large distributor will ever be stupid enough to offer their IP for free.

    FAIL

    • Ninja

      You are the complete and utter failure. Or some anti-piracy troll. Which would automatically put you under the failure quality.

      There are plenty examples of free that actually makes money. And the success of the model depends solely on the quality of the content offered. If it’s good enough ppl will want the DVD.

      • Bargles

        You cannot have something that is free making money. To make money someone has to pay money for it in which case it no longer fits the definition of free.

        Just thought I’d mention this as you seem to not understand what the word free implies or means.

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FCNK7C55CBUYFVSC5LNWKB322E Buglord

          have you ever heard of something called a donation? when something is very good and free, some people tend to donate to the creators of that thing so that they can keep making good things. the thing itself was free, but some thought it was worth something, so they donated what they felt was right.

    • Ninja

      You are the complete and utter failure. Or some anti-piracy troll. Which would automatically put you under the failure quality.

      There are plenty examples of free that actually makes money. And the success of the model depends solely on the quality of the content offered. If it’s good enough ppl will want the DVD.

    • tiger urine

      Yet another Troll….far too many on here, they must have escaped from that cheap low budget film of the same name ;)

  • Anonymous

    Gosh, i think that i’ll download the movie to see what’s it like. It’s nice to see that some studios are using BitTorrent to do these kinds of relases.

    • Tom

      Can’t wait when it appears on http://www.torrentoff.com but I just know that this movie will be there earlier than on the other torrent sites!

  • I feel ripped off

    I bought frames in this last year.

    I damn sure wouldn’t if I thought for a second they would partner with the Hollywood parasites.

    • Ninja

      If the parasites are trying to evolve and work with us then I don’t see a problem with the partnership. Let’s hope it’s a success and then maybe they’ll see good in file sharing and will stop ruining lives of innocent ppl.

      It’s this kind of attitude that the anti-piracy morons display. You should think about it.

      • I feel ripped off

        /me is definitely not an anti piracy moron.

        I can just look further than spoon fed “it is for the good of us all” people can.

        This is not about them embracing filesharing, it is about them hoping there is some way to claw money off the consumer.

        I wonder if someone got hired by the film industry to collaborate (in the normal and the traitor definition of the word) with the tunnel movie team?

        Nah, everyone knows that sharing files costs jobs not makes them, right??

        • Anonymous

          How about we wait and see what happens before we start making accusations?

    • Ninja

      If the parasites are trying to evolve and work with us then I don’t see a problem with the partnership. Let’s hope it’s a success and then maybe they’ll see good in file sharing and will stop ruining lives of innocent ppl.

      It’s this kind of attitude that the anti-piracy morons display. You should think about it.

    • Anonymous

      Hey maybe that is just to distribute the DVD’s?

  • Loki

    Looks like a mix of Blair Witch Project and The Whole.

    • tiger urine

      Surely you mean “The Hole” and not Whole…

  • Rob

    Why not charge $1.00 dollar per download or set up paypal donation site

    • Anonymous

      Yeah how are we going to be able to show our support?

      • I feel ripped off

        You can buy frames of the film for $1 each.

        That was the whole point of the film, it was a crowd funded movie.

    • anonymous

      I wouldn’t pay to download. However, I would donate after watching if I thought the film was worth it. I would then also pay extra to download the dvd extras as I simply don’t want a disc.

    • Haxor

      cause i dont have a dollar unless i see what quality it is.
      AND there are poor people int his world who cant afford to pay even a buck OR have a paypal account.

      Anyone using paypal after recent bs should give there head a shake.

  • http://twitter.com/xstevie6x stevie

    clever way of busting people downloading torrents

    • MGenius

      lol they cannot bust you or send you a letter if it is legally free e.g. if the rights holder is proving the torrrent free therefore its legally free, which means you cannot turn it into a honey pot as your not breaking the law, its like saying your going to be in trouble downloading linux, which is legally free aswell.

  • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

    Paramount are getting their money-grimed fingernails into this? OK, there’s only one thing worth saying at this stage of the new ‘experimental’ gameplay guys, and it’s here -

    You’re now entering the …

    ’nuff said – until these movie mogul, copywrong cartel c**ts get their act together in this New Age of tech and freedom. Can capitalism be said to hold people back? Honestly?
    Let’s just see how this plays out, but it may take a decade or two – so don’t hold your breath guys.

    • Anonymous

      “Paramount are getting their money-grimed fingernails into this?”

      Isn’t this exactly what you wanted? For the studios to distribute online, and preferably for free?

      No? What is it that you want then?

      • Ryzzo

        You’re missing the point. The idea behind the project was to crowd source the movie and produce and distribute it independently of the Cartels. By Paramount partnering to distribute, they will probably make more money off each DVD sale than the creators while contributing nothing to project aside from their distribution networks to get it into Walmart.

        It’s not necessarily a terrible thing, but I would have rather seen a smaller distribution company involved that would hopefully allow the creators to make additional profit while elevating themselves into the innovative realm of distribution.

        • Anonymous

          “You’re missing the point.”

          Maybe. But, there’s also: “’nuff said – until these movie mogul, copywrong cartel c**ts get their act together in this New Age of tech and freedom.”

          This recent move sounds like they are, at least, starting on that path.

      • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

        What I want is for the law of copywrong to be stripped down to it’s barest bones then re-written and rebuilt in such a way that it properly and fairly reflects the needs of the consumer as well as everyone else.

        A set laws that are bang up-to-date in light of the technological revolution and it’s new and genuine opportunities for more and more people to communicate freely and openly with one another in any harmless way they like without being ripped off for billions of bucks per fucking movie.

        Need to know more of “what I want”?

        • Anonymous

          “until these movie mogul, copywrong cartel c**ts get their act together in this New Age of tech and freedom”

          It may be early days, but isn’t this exactly what they are doing by distributing this movie in the way they are? One small step and all that.

          “without being ripped off for billions of bucks per fucking movie”

          This one’s available for free. Who’s being ripped off?

        • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

          lol
          I trust you’re the type of person who cheats at Trivial Pursuit, because your gameplay in this Thread is too dumb to be taken seriously.

          Need some pictures to help you follow the storyline?

        • Anonymous

          My “gameplay” is to try to understand what people are actually arguing for, and to try to find out how they expect it to be achieved. Ideally with some examples of how it might work in practice.

          People wanted a different, free distribution model. So someone tries it, and what happens? Does anyone say “That’s a start, let’s see where this leads”, or “I like the idea, but maybe they should try xyz”? Nope, it just receives the same old hate all over again.

          People want a change in copyright law. But do they ever propose any workable alternatives? Not that I’ve seen.

          Why is it that nobody ever actually make any positive suggestions, instead of just hitting up on the negative aspects and claiming they have some sort of inalienable rights to something just because they have network access?

          I’m all for some reform (in fact, I think that it’s desperately-needed), and I’m also a file sharer, but sometimes, with all the vehemence and hate I see around here, I wonder whether we’re ever going to get anywhere at all with the idea of moving to a different distribution model, or if we have any chance at all of changing the current (and frankly ridiculous) copyright terms and laws.

        • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

          If you require educated then stick around – read, write better questions, consider the answers (if any), and learn.

          But you better be quick before you or your trolling, ignorant friends get ICE to shut down TF.

        • Anonymous

          @Rob

          I guess “you require educated” (sic) too, and maybe you, too, should read and understand the replies. Which part of “I’m all for some reform (in fact, I think that it’s desperately-needed), and I’m also a file sharer” marks me out as someone who has friends at ICE or is against the idea of sharing and reform of copyright?

          But, as expected, you trot out the standard “you don’t agree with me so you’re on Big Media/the government’s side and you’re a troll” reply, which seems to be about the usual level of debate around here.

          Shame.

  • Whatever

    Headline in a few weeks time:

    “Paramount sues Joes 1-2500 for pirating the DVD version”

    There are more possibilities for news items to appear: paramount steals from artist, paramount sues “enter name” for distributing “insert movie” or paramount asks ICE to take down streaming domain “choose any domain”.

    Skeptical ? YES.

    There is a saying about a bird not making summer in Dutch which would apply here:
    One good news message doesn’t make the company less evil.

    • Ninja

      I can’t say I don’t agree with you but let’s, at least, try to support it (considering it’s a good movie). One bird doesn’t make summer but maybe he does attract other birds into making the summer…

      • Haxor

        how do you know its any good?

    • Anonymous

      Headline in a few weeks time:

      “Paramount sues Joes 1-2500 for pirating the DVD version even though they made a free version available at the same time so people could try before they buy”

  • Pingback: New movie risks it all by launching on BitTorrent and DVD simutaneously | Techno Earth

  • townie2

    if you bought some frames, can’t you then download the movie with no fear of trouble because your a part owner?

    • Anonymous

      What part of distributed free do you not get? And if you bought some frames you can download those 3 frames over and over as much as you want.

    • Anonymous

      “if you bought some frames, can’t you then download the movie with no fear of trouble because your a part owner?”

      Unlikely, check the T&C for what it says about rights and ownership.

      • Anonymous

        Sorry, that’s not clear. The comment above ^^^ refers to downloading the DVD copy, not the free copy. Of course you can download the free copy.

  • http://otester.myopenid.com/ PiRat

    Freedom of information!

    Down with IPR!

    I would still not buy this as it supports the same ***holes that want to restrict the internet.

  • Bob
    • puddi puddi

      thanks

    • DocGerbil100

      Thank you. :)

  • Pingback: Paramount Pictures To Release Film On Bittorrent | JetLib News

  • http://don.reba.myopenid.com/ Don Reba

    Tunnels are not scary. They are a source of fun and wholesome entertainment!

    • Ninja

      Amen.

  • wildfire

    i would state caution and hide your ip adress, but i would donate 2 or 3 dollars if they had a place to do it if they do it the way they say so but i am leary. but if they would embrace this concept i think the money would make the movies and music companys happy and look how many lawyers would be out of business. a good thing.

    • Haxor

      let me get this straight you are gonna hide your ip address hen BLOW your cover and send them your banking details or creditcard number or paypal account which is just like YELLING out the door “YA IM RIGHT HERE”

      so if your gonna donate be advised you be in a country that dont give a shit about what they are doing and there intent is clear a free download whit option to donate.

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  • Paul

    Come on guys, this is the kind of thing we need and have been wanting the movie studios to do for a long time. Now you are knocking it down before it’s even started. Of course the movie industry (Paramount) is involved, they are distributing the DVD. Let’s give them a chance and see where it goes before we write it off as a no go. Saying it’s a fail, sounds dodgy etc is far too negative so early.

    Let’s wait and see eh?

    • http://www.facebook.com/leoplan2 Alvaro Osvaldo López-García

      let’s hope there isn’t any nasty DRM thing

  • Cujo

    well dang it ,, somebody must of bumped his head :D

  • Cujo

    well dang it ,, somebody must of bumped his head :D

  • Anonymous

    Heck yeah dude, now thats what I am talking about. Wow.

    anon-tools.es.tc

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  • Jeremie d

    this is a step in the right direction, but only time will tell whether they are serious about it.

  • http://technuts.spruz.com/ FatGiant

    I do see a problem with a DVD release for-profit based on a crowd funded movie.

    Even if the distribution company is also part of the crowd. What about all the others, that bought frames to make the movie happen, with no expectation of any other profit but the movie itself, and now see a distribution company using THEIR content, payed by their communal effort, to be used as a product to sell?

    Ok, the film makers add some value to the DVD, with the behind the scenes footage, and some other extras, but, let’s not forget, that that value only increases something that was paid for by a community, and wouldn’t even exist without that community.

    Yes, it will be released in BT, ok, but, if you are one of the persons that made the movie possible with your contribution, if you want the extras and bonuses, which were also made using the same money, you’ll have to buy a DVD. That, is what’s wrong with this model.

    Crowd funded movies, perfect. But, distribution of those products, must keep in mind WHO made it possible, and if someone is going to get a profit from it, which is not the base purpose of a crowd funded project, the crowd members should participate in that profit, or, at least receive the for-profit product for free, as at least a thank you. If not, it will absolutely KILL the model. I for one, would never participate in any other project of those film makers, as good or as bad as it could be.

    To the film makers, consider showing respect for the community that made possible the movie. Don’t just milk them twice.

    I had very few intentions of watching this movie as the genre is not my favourite, but, would consider at least sharing it for a while as a means of appreciation, I no longer have such intentions, and will remain indifferent to the movie, until they do show some appreciation for the community.

    • Mustangx

      I was happy to buy the second of the movie I now own the rights to. for my $25 investment I considered my profit to be the ability to enjoy the entire movie knowing in a small way I helped to make it possible and to give this newer business model a fighting chance to succeed. Now I feel that Paramount is actually infringing on my ownership of 1 second of this movie, profiting and getting more money to fight against my right to share books, music and movies over the fence with my neighbor,

      • I feel ripped off

        Have you got your name on the movie poster?

        I have :)

  • http://technuts.spruz.com/ FatGiant

    I do see a problem with a DVD release for-profit based on a crowd funded movie.

    Even if the distribution company is also part of the crowd. What about all the others, that bought frames to make the movie happen, with no expectation of any other profit but the movie itself, and now see a distribution company using THEIR content, payed by their communal effort, to be used as a product to sell?

    Ok, the film makers add some value to the DVD, with the behind the scenes footage, and some other extras, but, let’s not forget, that that value only increases something that was paid for by a community, and wouldn’t even exist without that community.

    Yes, it will be released in BT, ok, but, if you are one of the persons that made the movie possible with your contribution, if you want the extras and bonuses, which were also made using the same money, you’ll have to buy a DVD. That, is what’s wrong with this model.

    Crowd funded movies, perfect. But, distribution of those products, must keep in mind WHO made it possible, and if someone is going to get a profit from it, which is not the base purpose of a crowd funded project, the crowd members should participate in that profit, or, at least receive the for-profit product for free, as at least a thank you. If not, it will absolutely KILL the model. I for one, would never participate in any other project of those film makers, as good or as bad as it could be.

    To the film makers, consider showing respect for the community that made possible the movie. Don’t just milk them twice.

    I had very few intentions of watching this movie as the genre is not my favourite, but, would consider at least sharing it for a while as a means of appreciation, I no longer have such intentions, and will remain indifferent to the movie, until they do show some appreciation for the community.

  • MyndCTRL

    I’m thinkin Paramount has a hidden agenda, they are gonna track every user downloading this movie and keep tabs on them in the future to check and see if they are downloading anything else in the future

    • I feel ripped off

      Let them try.

      I would happily seed it from my dedicated server over http with logging disabled (how lax of me).

    • Anonymous

      Wanna buy a tin-foil hat?

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  • Anonymous

    Hello Torrent Freak,

    Could you guys cover the efforts of Vodo, Clearbits, FrostClick, FrostWire and others in the distribution of a 4 part really kick ass movie called Zenith (by Anonymous)? It started happening yesterday at 1PM Eastern.

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  • Violated

    The first thing I would say is that Paramount is a huge organization make up of hundreds of sub-companies. Each do their own business and normal business decisions wont go through head office.

    This is not unlike Sony attacking pirates doing file sharing while at the same time making DivX DVD players mainly used for those very same files.

    This may seem strange to us but it is all business to them and making money.

    So this is all Paramount Home Entertainment Australia doing what they usually do. No legal issues here so no problem.

    We can only hope for great success when nothing makes head office more happy than huge profit.

    Do well and they may finally see file sharing as a market to be tapped in such view it for free and buy if liked with lots of extras way.

    I also hope when this movie gets released on BT that they do have a donate option when even if people dont desire to buy the DVD they may still want to give a tip if enjoyable enough.

  • Violated

    The first thing I would say is that Paramount is a huge organization make up of hundreds of sub-companies. Each do their own business and normal business decisions wont go through head office.

    This is not unlike Sony attacking pirates doing file sharing while at the same time making DivX DVD players mainly used for those very same files.

    This may seem strange to us but it is all business to them and making money.

    So this is all Paramount Home Entertainment Australia doing what they usually do. No legal issues here so no problem.

    We can only hope for great success when nothing makes head office more happy than huge profit.

    Do well and they may finally see file sharing as a market to be tapped in such view it for free and buy if liked with lots of extras way.

    I also hope when this movie gets released on BT that they do have a donate option when even if people dont desire to buy the DVD they may still want to give a tip if enjoyable enough.

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  • DocGerbil100

    I’ve only been vaguely aware of the Tunnel project since it was announced, but it’s an interesting experiment and I do hope it succeeds. :)

    I have a few observations and questions for those of us being negative about this:

    • I know why everyone is going apeshit at the mention of Paramount – I remember what they’re like as well as you do. Having said that, should we not give them the chance to learn how to do the right thing? Are they not effectively attempting to give us exactly what we wanted? If we are not prepared to let them set aside stupidity for reason, if we are simply going to HATE at them for all eternity, no matter what, where is the incentive for them to stop being a bunch of bastards?

    • It would have been very nice if a more independent company could have handled distribution, but smaller firms don’t have the same mass-distribution resources (I don’t know about other countries, but here in the UK, companies have to pay money up-front to put their products on big chain-store shelves – that’s very expensive). Is it our intention for this project (and by extension, all such projects) to be buried where the mainstream market can never see it? Are we supposed to only support projects that are vanishingly obscure? How does that benefit anyone else?

    • Some of the comments here seem to suggest that the project shouldn’t be allowed to make any money other than via the initial donations. Is it our collective intention that nobody should be ever allowed to make any more than the nominal amount needed to produce a project? We can hardly claim this experiment isn’t worthy of some reward. Civic duty isn’t much of a motivator for most of us, particularly if the reward is no more than a subsistence wage. At grave risk of sounding like a MAFIAA troll, I have to ask: where is the incentive for creators to do their best work, if not by way of some financial profit for their best films? How is it’s success or failure to be judged, if not in any commercial terms? Times-completed count? Number of good comments on TorrentFreak?

    • Since The Tunnel was apparently purely crowdfunded, I can see how people think that keeping all the extras DVD-only was fairly cheeky. Having said that, is there any particular reason why a DVD release shouldn’t have some sort of additional reward for the buyer, given that the DVD buyer is effectively donating money to them for something they can otherwise easily get for free? How can a buyer be rewarded for buying as opposed to downloading for free, if everything paid for through crowdfunding automatically belongs solely to the crowd?

    • Some commenters seem to think that the film shouldn’t be distributed by DVD at all. Why the hell not? I like .AVI files, but many people prefer DVDs, not everyone is comfortable with watching stuff on a computer monitor (or even has the means to do so) and not everyone has the means for online donations. Is it our intention that everyone should be locked into rewarding creators and receiving the product only in the ways we’ve decided are good for them? I’m in favour of consumer-choice placed above publisher-choice. Since when did we become campaigners for top-down political dictatorship and vendor lock-in against all consumers everywhere?

    • I know some of these questions run perilously close to the kind of drivel the MAFIAA trolls like to copypasta all over TF – but judging by our surprisingly-mixed collective reaction to what should have been unalloyed good news for everyone, these are serious questions that I think we really need to be answering now.

    • Anonymous

      Well said, sir.

      That was one of the best well phrased and thought-through comments I’ve seen around here in a long time.

  • Foff

    Losing an HD is no big whoop. I have lost a few and you know what? I did not miss any of the crap I lost. If there was anything I wanted or needed again I just found it and re-downloaded it.

    The point is digital is the future and back-ups are nice but I have about 15tb of stuff and don’t have the cash to buy enough hd’s to back it all up. So the internet is my back-up solution. There are a few rare things that are hard to find once you lose them but it the stuff is just digital bytes on a disk that you seldom or never access then it is not very important. And if you downloaded it for free how valuable can it really be?

    I am not sure if there is a way to monitize bittorrent a few people might pay for a link or buy a disk but once it is widely available for free one the net for free there is not much money to be had, Most people are basically honest so if a movie was available for download at a reasonable cost and quality such as $1 to $3 most would pay.

    Any movie that goes straight to download at this time is like a straight to DVD is clearly going to be a b or c movie. But at some point a paid download needs to be available at the same date as the DVD release. In fact at some point the download should basically replace the DVD release,

    • Mustangx

      Sadly the ISP’s are making the digital solution harder for many rather than easier. To many people have caps that are not reasonable. ATT in the USA recently announced a 150 gig monthly cap. thats a movie a day off Netflix and they are busted. many others in many other countries are far worse off.

      • Anonymous

        “To many people have caps that are not reasonable”

        Do you have any idea how much network traffic, and the infrastructure, costs? It sure ain’t cheap.

      • tiger urine

        thats sad, i do at least 150 gig a day…unless its during sweeps or something ;)

      • tiger urine

        thats sad, i do at least 150 gig a day…unless its during sweeps or something ;)

      • tiger urine

        thats sad, i do at least 150 gig a day…unless its during sweeps or something ;)

    • Anonymous

      “if you downloaded it for free how valuable can it really be”

      Apparently, it’s valuable enough for you to have invested in 15 TB of disk hardware. If it’s not that valuable, and if it’s so easily available, why are you keeping it at all?

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  • Coward

    I’d really hoped that Paramount is being innovative here, but my spidey-sense tells me they’ll pull a Hurt Locker on the P2P users sooner or later…

    • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

      Yep, my Cake-sensor is flashing a bright, loudly luminous and annoyingly frequent yellow (which means the target Cake should be approached with sincere caution due to traps and hijacking – not by the original baker – but by the Parasite oops, Paramount movie moguls who probably bullied and bribed their poisoned finger into this otherwise delightfully tasty morsel).

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  • Aramismantleton

    Hmm…now why would they give it out for free? Could it be that it sucks?

    • DanielRemains

      Probably because you can download it for free to see if it sucks by yourself?

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  • hotdog

    i don’t believe it the same sac of shitz heads that are trying to sue youtube a second time!! Yeah the scumbag owner of paramount/cbs and like so many other channels. Sumner redstone yeah not such a good track record but honestly.Beware.Hopefiully though i hope this is nO gimmick just like sumner redstone owning cnet and people not knowing it’s owned by the mpaa i mean sumner restone and the suing people like when he had people downloading limewire and all those other file sharing programs on cnet. I COULD GO ON AND ON.

  • Foff

    To anonymous I do it because it is like collecting a library of stuff I may have interest in. However if I lose a shelf it just becomes a hassle to replace and after time I find my interests change so I may or may not be interested in replacing. If you like to read you might have a house full of books but if you never read may be you have only a couple.

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  • Petercastaldi

    Ok so who’s ambushing who.
    When I first heard about The Tunnel, the producers were aiming for a Christmas 2010 good old bricks and mortar cinema release off the back of a strong torrent marketing campaign! Nice idea and it would have been the pinnacle of transmedia releasing if they’d pulled it off. But hey everything’s a move-able feast, particularly nowadays and even more particularly for Australian content in the Australian domestic market. Nothing that’s not Hollywood or non-english language and festival branded is working. So you have to be rubbery if you’re going to be a smart producer. We’ll done boys. BUT also be very careful! You have to ask yourselves the question, whose actually winning here?
    Why are Paramount lining up with a Torrent strategy; what do Transmission get out of it. Well everyone gets a brief waft of “cool” by association for a moment and everyone moves on. The big bad Hollyoood studio/distributor dips its toe into alternate, the already fairly cool local lads, tarting successfully with the the ogre, slip into something slightly more risque for a mo, and the producers get a global release. Everyone’s a winner!? Well everyone’s ambushed everyone else for some glory daze.
    Lets just hope that the message is not just the medium and that the Tunnel Is actually worth watching. I hear it is! lets wait and see.
    cheers
    pc

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  • Freescv

    I don’t often buy discs.

    Might get this one for their sharp business model though. Just to prove a point…..I’m happy to buy, esp if good. Support yer own…..

    …but ones sueing everyone aren’t our own…

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  • DocGerbil100

    This morning, I’ve gone through the comments and – compelled by honesty – have found myself clicking the ‘Like’ button on a dozen or so comments left by the Obvious Troll identifying himself simply as “Anonymous”. Some days, using Disqus makes me feel dirty – and not in a good way. I need a shower. :/

    • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

      Hopefully your recent bout of honesty is HIGHLY infectious to the extent that ALL our resident trolls get a non-fatal dose, and pass it on to the MAFIAA and their thugs worldwide.

      btw, is that coconut shampoo I smell? Nice :)

    • Obvious Troll

      You’ve got me wrong, Doc. At least I assume you mean me anyway. I’m certainly some, but definitely not all, of the Anons above, and as some of my comments probably appear to go against the general consensus they would probably be dismissed out of hand as being from someone who’s “on Big Media’s side”. But I’m no troll, I’m just a file sharer and torrent site admin who’s not afraid of telling it like it is.

      I’ve probably been in this game a lot longer than many people here (started with 14.4 kbps modems (after a brief fling with a 1200/75!) on dial-up BBS, then moved on to Compuserve and Usenet). I’m fully aware that this doesn’t make me ‘better’ than anyone else, but I like to think I’m at least reasonably informed about the whole thing.

      For years we’ve all been saying “we want digital releases/downloads” and “distribution should be free” and “business models must change”, and all the other stuff, and yet, when some tentative initial steps are taken in that direction, everyone starts with the “Oh noes! What are they doing!” and “It’s a trap!”, and all the other nonsense.

      Sometimes, with all the dissent and mis-information and contradiction that I see regarding the whole sharing and copyright debates, I wonder whether we’re all going to end up shooting ourselves in the feet, and whether we’ll ever be able to advance towards our goals. Will we simply rail against Big Media whatever they do, just because of who they are? That seems to me to be self-defeating and a hiding to nothing.

      Finally, a distribution company seems to be giving an alternate distribution method a try, and what happens? Everyone piles on the hate and paranoia.

      It will take time for things to change and adapt, we can’t expect everything to happen overnight.

      I’m also fully aware that content costs money to make, and that it has to be recouped somehow. Also, I don’t think that expecting to make a profit off one’s work is a bad thing. I’m not trying to defend the huge and obscene amounts of money we see bandied around, but equally we all have to live and I’m not going to try to argue that people should dedicate their time to working or running business for free.

      In a similar vein, I’m also quite clued up on things like the cost of providing bandwidth and infrastructure, so I do have some idea of how the “it should all be free” and “caps are bad” arguments actually pan out, and I’m painfully aware that it all has to be paid for somewhere along the line.

      The sharing debate and the copyright debate may be intertwined, but they are also two separate things, with perhaps different solutions.

      Copyright, as it stands, is way out of hand. I do believe that one should have the rights to determine how one’s work is used, but I think that the current situation is simply ridiculous. If the terms were reduced to, say, 7 or 14 years then I think that society would benefit, and I’d definitely like to see this happen. But would that change very much as far as the sharing debate goes? Personally, I don’t think so. I can’t see people saying “Great! We got it reduced! I’ll wait seven years before I download that new movie/album/software.” Nope, they’ll very likely still download it.

      I certainly don’t condemn file sharing, but equally I won’t try to defend it as somehow being legitimate or noble. I do it myself, but I harbour no illusions about it. There is some truth in the argument that if unlimited, free file sharing were the norm we’d end up killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Similarly though, I think that all the lobbying that goes on, and the criminalisation of the whole thing, is wrong. Obviously, I know that a download is not always a lost sale, and that the fines and damages that get awarded are frankly completely out of kilter compared to any actual problems it causes.

      And finally, I can’t stand seeing unsubstantiated statements being made, (by those on both sides). People who say things like “75% of the world population approves of sharing” are just as guilty of that as those who say that “piracy cost us a billion dollars last year”.

      If we want to move forwards then we have to present at least some sort of reasoned and accurate arguments and examples (for both sharing and copyright reform), whilst at the same time pointing out the flaws and inaccuracies in Big Media’s ‘studies’, preferably backed up by some sort of evidence. Otherwise we’re not going to get anywhere.

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  • dude

    this movie looks so real and original, just like blair witch… hey wait a second

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  • markie

    This kind of thing really pisses me off. They go on and on about piracy and downloading movies or tv shows via bittorrent. Then they release a movie legally via bittorrent. But on the other hand complain when somebody just downloads a movie via bittorrent that’s not legal.

    Make up you frigging minds. Don’t make one legal and others not.

    • Farkie

      You really don’t understand any of this, do you?

      • markie

        I understand i perfectly. Don’t complain when others download you works without your permission. Because this one time you now give permission to download legally.

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  • Anon

    Bittorrent is the new straight-to-video.

    • Guest

      if not them, then netflix streaming.

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  • Noemail

    honeypot.

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  • Guest

    finally a shocking step in the right direction for the movie industry.

  • Racoult

    Many people tried the “here is the torrent link” and “here is the PayPal-button” thing.

    It works maybe 1:10000. That’s a beyond sh– ratio. The whole trick here is to get marketing for free from a “content-affine” target group (downloaders seem to like horror films much). It might work or not.

    That is not the point here. Its about controlling. Now will those who rip the film with extras “feel double bad”, don’t they? I think those don’t care anyway about anything and this will not stop anybody.

    I find it interesting that people always ask for a new business model, but as we see with the noisecrap-industry – now its not DRM or mp3, its too expensive! I would pay 1cent for an full album, but not $1 for a song! And you promised me a new girlfriend and a new car too, don’t you?

    I have low expectations. In this market there is only one way: stop producing earlier or later. Its already happening: trashy mashed together noise sold as songs, countless repeating of the same story over and over (Pirates of the Carribean part 10 anyone?) and now they will remake the whole 80ties.

    You wanted that, now eat it.

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  • Disappointed_Coward

    When I got the mail about this, it annoyed me… I gave them money to encourage a fair and ecological business model, _not_ to help Paramount. Definitely not…

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