At a time when BitTorrent sites are increasingly at odds with the music industry and file-sharing continues to flourish despite legal action, new thinking is called for. Instead of joining the conflict with BitTorrent sites, Honor Roll Music has decided to sponsor isoHunt instead, one of the leading torrent search engines.
Just a week after the Pirate Bay trial ended, another site finds itself up against the music industry. IsoHunt, one of the leading BitTorrent sites, is fighting out a dispute with the CRIA in court today. Of course, everything can be followed through Twitter.
IsoHunt is one of the world’s largest BitTorrent sites. For quite a while the site has been displaying Google ads through Ask.com. Today there is controversy, as several large companies found out that their ads have been appearing on IsoHunt. Among them, Sony BMG, artist sponsor StatoilHydro and Norwegian online media store Platekompaniet.
The iPhone is a superb gadget and of course, we all know that BitTorrent is a very special tool, so why not combine the two? With the uTorrent WebAPP for iPhone you can monitor, search and add torrents to your PC client wherever you are, making handling torrents on the move easier than ever before.
In 2006, isoHunt was one of the first BitTorrent sites to get caught up in a legal battle with the MPAA. In a guest post for TorrentFreak, Fung gives his view on this copyfight, the right and wrong of the current copyright system, and how it’s abused by lobbyists for the wrong reasons.
Three days before the Canadian elections, the party leader of the New Democrats has spoken out in favor of BitTorrent sites, calling them “fundamental to democracy.” At the same time, isoHunt, the largest Canadian BitTorrent site advises its users not to vote for the Conservatives, considering their stance on copyright issues.
Following Demonoid and QuebecTorrent, the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) has threatened isoHunt with legal action. However, isoHunt has decided to launch a preemptive strike, as it turns the tables and sues the CRIA instead.
The Pirate Bay, Mininova and isoHunt all have millions of visitors every day, searching for music, movies, software and especially TV-shows. Together, the three BitTorrent sites serve an impressive 500 million searches each month, and this number is going up every month.
BitTorrent’s popularity is growing every day. Despite the lawsuits that some of the larger torrent sites are involved in, they continue to grow traffic wise. Let’s take a look at how Google ranks the top torrent sites.
ISPs and authorities increasingly use Deep Packet Inspection hardware to block access to BitTorrent sites, or spy on users’ browsing habits. To offer its users more privacy, isoHunt has now added SSL encryption, making it impossible for your ISP or the authorities to monitor your activities on the BitTorrent site.
Despite being ensnared in legal proceedings with the MPAA, isoHunt is continuing to grow. Adding fuel to the ’significant non-infringing use’ argument is their latest partnership, with the Creative Commons music distribution site Jamendo.
