Pirate Party Fulfills Opentracker’s Beerware License
Written by Ernesto on December 31, 2008Opentracker, the BitTorrent tracker software utilized by The Pirate Bay, is released under a beerware license, meaning that anyone who uses it and meets the developer should buy him or her a beer. To fulfill the license, the German Pirate Party donated 50 liters of beer to the main developer at the Chaos Communcation Congress.
Most BitTorrent users have probably never heard of Opentracker, but there is little doubt that many of them will have used it. It is the piece of software that The Pirate Bay is running on, as well as the denis.stalker tracker. Together, the two trackers alone are responsible for the communication between 25 million BitTorrent peers at any given point in time.
Opentracker is a lightweight BitTorrent tracker which uses minimal resources. The software does not store any data or log any IP-addresses, supports UDP-tracking and is more stable and efficient than most other tracker software. Last year, The Pirate Bay started using the software, which allowed them to handle more users with the same hardware.
As with most software, Opentracker comes with a license, although it is an unusual one. The software is published under a Beerware license, meaning that if a satisfied user should ever run into the developer, he or she owes the developer a beer. This is exactly what the German Pirate Party did, as the party is actively using BitTorrent.
As a token of appreciation for all his efforts, the party donated 50 litres of Augustiner, a German wheat beer, to Opentracker developer Dirk Engling (aka “Erdgeist”). “Pirates, P2P and especially BitTorrent is part of a new culture. Users decide on their own what kind of information they want to get, instead of simply sitting in front of the TV,” the German Pirate Party writes on their blog, as they thank the Opentracker folks for all their hard work.
The beer is well deserved of course, and it came as no surprise that Erdgeist promised to share it with the other congress goers.
Pirates Drag the Beer on Stage
Previously: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent
Next: TorrentFreak’s Top 10 Most-Read Articles of 2008
30 Responses
A good idea indeed, but the MAFIAA Nazis, and their apologists, of course, all hate this. They wish to destroy all of this.
Pirates, P2P and especially BitTorrent is part of a new culture. Users decide on their own what kind of information they want to get, instead of simply sitting in front of the TV
Indeed, a great new culture, one that the MAFIAA Nazis wish to destroy. If we do nothing, then the MAFIAA Nazis will run around loose to brainwash the public opinion and destroy this new culture. They are simply pure evil and people simply must know about this. How can we tolerate these MAFIAA Nazis? How can we tolerate and let the MAIFAA Nazis get away with all that they do? How can we let the MAFIAA Nazis try to destroy this new culture?
See the link logout? You must click that first if you wish to have a link in the name.
Sounds like a good idea to me like lol
Heh!
Very very cool!
Since the beerware is already done, if we ever write such an excellent piece of software (doubt we can) we will have to give it out as poison-ware… meaning that if anyone uses it and is very happy with it, they should send a smail vial of poison to Cary Sherman and the rest of the scumbags at RIAA HQ… or Dan Glickman and the rest of the rats at MAFIAA HQ.
Heck, if people are scared of getting caught in the "terrorist" category for sending poison via post… they can instead adopt the sh!tware license where they instead replace the poison with… well, you know :)…
Anyone else notice when they make the news how the pirate community is a load of fun and games/sharing and caring while the MAFIAA community are sleezebags, money hungry, serious low life mangy sons of bit*hes parasites ready to sell their own parents down to the very depths of hell to make a 2c profit per song?
Just my final rant before the new year ;)
Happy new year people!
Cheers!
CJ
http://www.eZee.se
Heh!
Very very cool!
Since the beerware is already done, if we ever write such an excellent piece of software (doubt we can) we will have to give it out as poison-ware… meaning that if anyone uses it and is very happy with it, they should send a small vial of poison to Cary Sherman and the rest of the scumbags at RIAA HQ… or Dan Glickman and the rest of the rats at MAFIAA HQ.
Heck, if people are scared of getting caught in the "terrorist" category for sending poison via post… they can instead adopt the sh!tware license where they instead replace the poison with… well, you know :)…
Anyone else notice when they make the news how the pirate community is a load of fun and games/sharing and caring while the MAFIAA community are sleezebags, money hungry, serious low life mangy sons of bit*hes parasites ready to sell their own parents down to the very depths of hell to make a 2c profit per song?
Just my final rant before the new year ;)
Happy new year people!
Cheers!
CJ
http://www.eZee.se
Finally, back after awhile of hard work.
And what a story to come back to eh? This proves that pirates arnt sleezy liars that do nothing but steal and well lie >.>
Ill save the rant as EZEE seems to have covered it quite well, props^
Oh, love the comment system Ernesto. (That may be abit late, been gone awhile)
haha, 50L's! Now, wheres the Weedware liscense?
Wow what a lucky guy lol. Wonder how much beer he gets everyday :P. Lol
i would buy them a beer any day any time any amount.
A good idea indeed, but the MAFIAA Nazis, and their apologists, of course, all hate this. They wish to destroy all of this.
Pirates, P2P and especially BitTorrent is part of a new culture. Users decide on their own what kind of information they want to get, instead of simply sitting in front of the TV
Indeed, it is a great new culture, one that the MAFIAA Nazis wish to destroy.
If we merely sit around, then the MAFIAA Nazis will be able to brainwash the public opinion more and more to destroy all of this. No, how can we let the MAFIAA Nazis get away with trying to destroy this? They are pure evil, nothing more, and people simply must know about it.
Hey,
totally OT, how did you make your username a link to your site?
Checked out your site btw, i have a 90g tank ;)
You must comment while not logged in.
WeedWare anyone?
j/k
A good idea indeed, but the MAFIAA Nazis, and their apologists, of course, all hate this. They wish to destroy all of this.
Pirates, P2P and especially BitTorrent is part of a new culture. Users decide on their own what kind of information they want to get, instead of simply sitting in front of the TV
Indeed, a great new culture, one that the MAFIAA Nazis wish to destroy. If we do nothing, then they will run around loose to brainwash the public opinion and destroy this new culture. They are simply pure evil and people simply must know about this. How can we tolerate these MAFIAA Nazis?
A good idea indeed, but the MAFIAA Nazis, and their apologists, of course, all hate this. They wish to destroy all of this.
Pirates, P2P and especially BitTorrent is part of a new culture. Users decide on their own what kind of information they want to get, instead of simply sitting in front of the TV
Indeed, a great new culture, one that the MAFIAA Nazis wish to destroy. If we do nothing, then the MAFIAA Nazis will run around loose to brainwash the public opinion and destroy this new culture. They are simply pure evil and people simply must know about this. How can we tolerate these MAFIAA Nazis? How can we tolerate and let the MAIFAA Nazis get away with all that they do?
something is wrong with the comment system oO
anyways cheers to our german friends at opentracker/denis.stalker :)
Their is still no clickable installer for windows is their? That way more people would support it.
Why do you continue to act like that after pretty much the entire TF fanbase has told you your annoying? You sound like one of those crazies on the street corner.
"Act"? It is not an "act." It is clear that the MAFIAA are a bunch of Nazis, who cannot be tolerated. It is not "crazy"; it is a fact that needs to be dealt with.
I am not worried about being sued. I am worried about the MAFIAA Nazis getting to other people.
I am not worried about being sued. I am worried about the MAFIAA Nazis getting to other people – people who might not use I2P.
Thanks for information ;)
__________________________
http://kisalink.info/a/420a89d/
Just join the Invisible Internet Project. You'll never have to worry about being sued again. I2P welcomes you. :-)
I agree, Roze's posts are extremely annoying to read also.
The amount of rep that Roze has, would prove otherwise.
But back on topic: I definitely agree that, should I run into any developer under this licence, they have a night of beer-filled fun on me.
That's pretty groovy.
People on the internet popularized a little thing called Godwin's Law to try to discourage people like you from making Nazi comparisons all the damn time. Everybody here dislikes the MPAA and RIAA just like you do, but calling them Nazis and then insisting it's true? What are you, twelve? And no, this isn't about being politically correct so much as it's about not making us all sound ridiculously angsty and immature.
Actually they are Nazis, and this is not a hyperbole. Godwin's Law excludes cases where it is actually appropriate, of which this is one.
So you're seriously insisting that they are literally Nazis. Wow. I'm guessing you're one of the fringe Libertarians who just calls everybody who isn't also a Libertarian a Nazi. They've become very common on the internet lately. Am I on the right path with you?
Look. The RIAA and MPAA are lame. They abuse the courts, bully good people with inappropriate legal threats, and sidestep the judicial system by using their own private intellectual property enforcement companies whenever they don't think the police would stoop to do what they want. The Framers would have hated them.
That does not make them Nazis or Fascists, however. Fascism is one of many clearly defined ideologies that advocates a very powerful centrally controlled authoritarian government, special because of its policies favoring its native people and exterminating everybody else in the name of national unity. The Nazis were a specific German Fascist regime led by Adolf Hitler that started World War II with the goal of wiping out other ethnic groups and eventually dominating the world.
If you want to call the RIAA and MPAA unconstitutional and deplorable, fine. That would be accurate. But calling them Nazis or Fascists is so inaccurate that any respectable scholar would have a hard time taking it seriously. And saying that "Actually they are the Nazis, and this is not hyperbole" just makes you sound, well, insane.
@ jasperwillem
> Their is still no clickable installer for windows is their?
> That way more people would support it.
If you want this software (opentracker) then you don’t want MS-Win.
The opentracker software is for a specific use-case:
handling thousands requests/sec. with as minimal resources as possible.
MS-Win cannot really handle this load; and if, then only with the opposite of minimal resources.
Therefore opentracker is written intentionally for UNIX-like operating systems.
Furthermore:
If you are willing AND able to aquire and pay a reliable >100Mbit down- AND uplink and traffic in the tera-byte/month category then you [should] know what you do and have no need for a “one-click-installer”.
With best wishes & kind regards
3 references to this post
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.