TorrentSpy Enforces DMCA with Star Wars, Family Guy

[dubstylee]

TorrentSpy has been serving the BitTorrent community for a long while, and has swelled to over 100,000 torrents and over a million concurrent downloaders. (No numbers on how many of those are MPAA etc. spies)
In the wake of the EliteTorrents disaster, TorrentSpy has apparently been removing links from its search results. Some report that this has been happening for some time, some claim it's a new practice. Either way, it follows in line with their DMCA notice.

Zeropaid News played around with the TorrentSpy search for a while, and came to the conclusion that if they are blocking results in compliance with the DMCA, they are doing a "great" job of it. The actual torrents aren't gone, or even removed from the search database. They just filter certain queries. For example, a search for "star wars" or "revenge of the sith" returns the DMCA notice, while searches for "sith" are full of results.

We have found evidence of many other "blocked" results as well. Searches for Adobe, Microsoft, and Family Guy are blocked too, but searches for Photoshop, Windows, and Family are full of results.

We are not posting this to get TorrentSpy in trouble, nor do we believe they will get in trouble. They do not host any .torrents themselves, they are simply a search service. Much like Google. Our advice to all torrent sites is to simply host beyond the grasp of the MPAA, RIAA, and their lobbyist counterparts. Then you can laugh at their legal threats.

Via P2P Weblog, Slyck

Read the complete article (http://www.zeropaid.com/news/5430/TorrentSpy+Enforces+DMCA+with+Star+Wars%2C+Family+ Guy/)

[Krell]

Isnt there already a thread on this in the past week?


http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=29170&highlight=TorrentSpy
.

[mcovey]

blow me i know where to get that crap anyway.

demonoid is good
defiant.ws
some private trackers i use

[notbob]

comply with the DMCA?

why even bother keeping the site up? once you block some files, you'll end up having to block them all

idiots

[SmyD]

Ircspy has been doing this forever, since way back when the dvd of shrek was released. Nothing new and if u have to use torrents just go around the filter like the article says.

[Slycktom]

Im not so sure the legal advice given in this article is correct...

[shawners]

They was blocking incredibles.. IT was showing of locked and can no longer download the torrent file. But now there just blocking searches. Its making the DMCA to tell them to filter certain searches. Sent a letter to state no more star wars.. so the "star wars" wont turn up results. Pretty soon all torrent sites are gonna have to come to the conclusion of locking the doors, letting in a1000 users per week.. and have invite system later. Probably best idea is not to mention files on the homepage where there is away to get any court order to shut down the site.

[MrCoggy]

I personally think that Torrentspy are being very clever about this. Since the demise of Suprnova, Torrentspy's demand has gone throught the roof. Giving in to certain requests by the MPAA or the RIAA, or whatever group of copyright cartel holders means that legally they are complying with the DMCA which would help them immensely if they were ever on the receiving end of demands to close down. Google delivers plenty of copyright infringing search results and frequently removes certain collections of keywords in compliance with DMCA demands.

I have to disagree with NotBob. Torrentspy have no control over the content, much like the majority of Google searches and so can happily relinquish certain collections of keywords after discussion with the relevant rights holders. But these keywords cannot be too general otherwise it would impact other, possibly non-rights infringing uses. Torrentspy are being smart, acting within the constraints of the DMCA requests and yet still maintaining a useful function. (Tried their Directory?)

This certainly makes for a ridiculous game of cat and mouse, but so long as Bittorrent exists in its current form and Torrent search sites continue to comply with these DMCA requests, a useful Bittorrent network will be here up to and beyond the day America's Supreme Court decides that the industry can sit down, stop moaning and begin to think of ways to make money from P2P fairly, the same way they have managed with every other technology that has copyright infringed over the last century.

[ivand67]

That is really lame, but the guys at TorrentSpy are doing a great job and to call them out and tell them that they should do things the way that Fredrik guy does over at the Pirate Bay is just wrong.

If they want to be DMCA compliant (somehow), let them be DMCA compliant. It's their site, and they should be allowed to run it the way they want to.

[ducttapeBigSexy]

How is it that google hasn't been sued yet? I can use it to hack, get torrent files, and even get pictures that infrige on copyrights - heck, they locally cache thumbnails of every image, so aren't they infriging on some copyrights? I'd say we all gang up and sue google under the same laws that the MPAA / RIAA are using - maybe it'd wake washington up!

[thongsai]

cuz google doesnt host the torrent files..

[notbob]

I have to disagree with NotBob. Torrentspy have no control over the content, much like the majority of Google searches and so can happily relinquish certain collections of keywords after discussion with the relevant rights holders. But these keywords cannot be too general otherwise it would impact other, possibly non-rights infringing uses. Torrentspy are being smart, acting within the constraints of the DMCA requests and yet still maintaining a useful function. (Tried their Directory?)



if you have no control over content, why pretend you can block it? it just starts the ball rolling down the path of total censorship

soon, a few keywords aren't enough, then you end up blocking everything

every inch you give up gives the copyright holders a mile

[MrCoggy]

if you have no control over content, why pretend you can block it? it just starts the ball rolling down the path of total censorship

Everybody knows that you can't block it simply by blocking a certain order of keywords, but if acting within the DMCA means also leaving a ton of loopholes, then who is wasting their time and money? Me? You? Or the Media cartels?



soon, a few keywords aren't enough, then you end up blocking everything

Isn't it more likely that the site would be ordered down? Same effect and surely less work for the copyright lawyers.



every inch you give up gives the copyright holders a mile

But that would mean they are winning the battle against P2P, which everybody knows isn't true. But, has the damage of P2P been greatly exagerated? Both the RIAA and the MPAA have had tremendous financial years, which considering the rubbish that has been pumped out and the competition in the market is frugging amazing. Almost as if P2P was having a "positive" effect. *shock*

[FrozenShadow23]

if you have no control over content, why pretend you can block it? it just starts the ball rolling down the path of total censorship

soon, a few keywords aren't enough, then you end up blocking everything

every inch you give up gives the copyright holders a mile

The twig that doesn't sway with the wind will snap.

Or something like that.

[jaxxxk]

I think TorrentSpy might have forgotten which side they are on... There isnt no stopping them now! Now they blocked searches for Microsoft and Adobe etc. - The MPAA will expect more search blocks on all the latest movies! TorrentSpy is just a search engine for links - It doesnt even host .torrents for christ sake so they are the least of people to recieve legal action...

[MrCoggy]

I think TorrentSpy might have forgotten which side they are on... There isnt no stopping them now! Now they blocked searches for Microsoft and Adobe etc. - The MPAA will expect more search blocks on all the latest movies! TorrentSpy is just a search engine for links - It doesnt even host .torrents for christ sake so they are the least of people to recieve legal action...

What side are Torrentspy on? What do they owe anybody? I don't recall paying a subscription. Have you even tried visiting Torrentspy since the DMCA search changes were enforced?

Of course the MPAA will request more blocks, along with the RIAA. But these keywords will have to be very specific and cannot be too general. Trust me when I say that this concession made by the owners of Torrentspy makes almost no difference whatsoever and all it will do is prevent the clinically stupid from successfully searching for the files they are after.

[rastabob2]

well anyway this was inevitable. If sites such as these want to remain aflot without the constant threat of lawsuits they had to comply in some way with the DMCA. However blocking searches based on loose strings is not the most satisfactory way of going about doing it: I tried typing "star wars spoof" and had all my search results blocked out, which is a bit ludicrous.


I'd say we all gang up and sue google under the same laws that the MPAA / RIAA are using - maybe it'd wake washington up

Even google takes DMCA complaints seriously, and does filter results accordingly.
Dont forget this: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/notice.cgi?NoticeID=861
Actually ALL major search engines allow you to send DMCA notifications to them.
http://www.seologic.com/faq/dmca-notifications.php

[michielnl]

TorrentSpy, you guys rule!

MPAA can never block all / generic terms. So you do/SEEM to comply with MPAA, while SMART users can use your service the way they want.....

All the critic readers, please have some respect for TorrentSpy, at least they are still up and running ....

[MrCoggy]

All the critic readers, please have some respect for TorrentSpy, at least they are still up and running ....


Unfortunately, every community I've ever come across on the internet has a slew of nay-sayers that make a point about complaining about something that they input next to nothing, or more commonly nil into. If only more people like the creators and management at Torrentspy put their necks on the line, the world would be a more interesting place.

And, you're right. Repect is due to Torrentspy. I'm certainly still able to use their services effectively.