Jared Moya
July 10th, 2006, 06:07 PM
I was handed an interesting link this afternoon detaining a correspondence of sorts between BitTorrent search engine Meganova and those "ad slingers" over at Targetpoint.
It appears as though a year back the guys (and gals?) over at Meganova were contacted by reps from Targetpoint wishing to purchase the site for a paltry $20,000USD. In response they not only only refused, but also discontinued any further association with them, including a hurried removal of all their ads from the site.
The blog goes on to detail some eyebrow-raising business relationships that exist between Targetpoint and several other popular torrent search engines.
The first is Empornium, which as you may have heard was the recent victim of a "hostile takeover." The site initially took on Targetpoint as an investor to "to use their resources to make the site better with better servers, a complete rebuild and a potentially wider audience." But, unfortunately what happened is that a proverbial deal with the devil was made and Targetpoint slowly took over complete control of the site and eventually locked out the site's admins. To further the blow's sting, it was quickly converted to a pay site. Is it just me or is BitTorrent and paysite an oxymoron? When one stops to consider that is by and large copyrighted material being distributed without proper authorization, how can one have the gall to charge you for it? It reminds me of that sketchy situation over at AllofMP3.com, whereby you can buy a whole album "legally" for like a buck and a half.
The second, and the most painful to read about concerns The Pirate Bay, which was recently crowned home of true-blue swash-buckling pirates for having apparently fought off Swedish and United States "G-men" after a midnight server raid. They sailed back into port from self-imposed exile and were cheered and hailed as heroes the world over. Yet, all the while they were quietly raking in millions of dollars from Pirate Bay schwag sales and now, as it comes to light, from obscenely huge Targetpoint ad sales as well.
Not only is the site operating with revenues that far exceed it's operating costs, which is fine, I'm no communist, but when you have ads that can cost in upwards of 20,000 euros ($25,580USD) for a single day, it makes you stop and wonder. Cofounders Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm want people to think it's some sort of "blue-collar site," that it's more of a hobby than it is a full-fledged corporation. Yet, with revenue rising astronomically, especially after the recent media attention, it makes you really want to question your support for such a site.
READ REST OF ARTICLE and PLEASE "DIGG IT" if YOU LIKE IT..................... (http://www.zeropaid.com/news/6850/Has+Pirate+Bay+Sold+Out+the+BitTorrent+Community%3 F)
It appears as though a year back the guys (and gals?) over at Meganova were contacted by reps from Targetpoint wishing to purchase the site for a paltry $20,000USD. In response they not only only refused, but also discontinued any further association with them, including a hurried removal of all their ads from the site.
The blog goes on to detail some eyebrow-raising business relationships that exist between Targetpoint and several other popular torrent search engines.
The first is Empornium, which as you may have heard was the recent victim of a "hostile takeover." The site initially took on Targetpoint as an investor to "to use their resources to make the site better with better servers, a complete rebuild and a potentially wider audience." But, unfortunately what happened is that a proverbial deal with the devil was made and Targetpoint slowly took over complete control of the site and eventually locked out the site's admins. To further the blow's sting, it was quickly converted to a pay site. Is it just me or is BitTorrent and paysite an oxymoron? When one stops to consider that is by and large copyrighted material being distributed without proper authorization, how can one have the gall to charge you for it? It reminds me of that sketchy situation over at AllofMP3.com, whereby you can buy a whole album "legally" for like a buck and a half.
The second, and the most painful to read about concerns The Pirate Bay, which was recently crowned home of true-blue swash-buckling pirates for having apparently fought off Swedish and United States "G-men" after a midnight server raid. They sailed back into port from self-imposed exile and were cheered and hailed as heroes the world over. Yet, all the while they were quietly raking in millions of dollars from Pirate Bay schwag sales and now, as it comes to light, from obscenely huge Targetpoint ad sales as well.
Not only is the site operating with revenues that far exceed it's operating costs, which is fine, I'm no communist, but when you have ads that can cost in upwards of 20,000 euros ($25,580USD) for a single day, it makes you stop and wonder. Cofounders Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm want people to think it's some sort of "blue-collar site," that it's more of a hobby than it is a full-fledged corporation. Yet, with revenue rising astronomically, especially after the recent media attention, it makes you really want to question your support for such a site.
READ REST OF ARTICLE and PLEASE "DIGG IT" if YOU LIKE IT..................... (http://www.zeropaid.com/news/6850/Has+Pirate+Bay+Sold+Out+the+BitTorrent+Community%3 F)