MPAA sues BitTorrent, newsgroup search tools

**Krell** · February 23rd, 2006, 06:22 PM

The Motion Picture Association of America said Thursday that it sued a new round of popular Web sites associated with movie piracy, including several that serve as search engines but do not distribute files themselves.

The lawsuits mark an expansion of the copyright holders' legal strategy in the file-swapping world, targeting sites that help make downloading easier, but aren't actually delivering the files or the swapping technology themselves.

It's also the first time the group has sued organizations that direct their members to the Usenet newsgroup system, an MPAA spokeswoman said. The movie group makes little distinction between a peer-to-peer network and the search engines that point to pirated works, saying that all facilitate the distribution of copyright works.

"Disabling these powerful networks of illegal file distribution is a significant step in stemming the tide of piracy on the Internet," John Malcom, MPAA director of Worldwide Antipiracy operations, said in a statement.

The issue of targeting search engines rather than actual file-swapping networks themselves has been a touchy one in Silicon Valley, because ordinary search engines such as Google and Yahoo also can be used to find pirated works.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects search engines from liability for linking to pirated works, but only if the site operators don't know that the specific content is infringing, are not deriving financial gain from the links, and act quickly to remove the links when contacted by copyright holders.

Unlike a traditional search engine such as Google, the sites targeted Thursday are filled almost exclusively with links and references to copyright movies, software and music.

IsoHunt, one of the largest search engines targeted, does provide a copyright statement that says, "We respect copyright, and will filter such P2P links at your request."

The full list of sites sued Thursday include Torrentspy.com, IsoHunt, BTHub.com, TorrentBox.com, NiteShadow.com, Ed2k-It.com, NZB-Zone.com, BinNews.com and DVDRs.net.

The MPAA previously announced an agreement with BitTorrent.com, the creators of the BitTorrent file-swapping technology who also run a file search engine. Under that agreement, BitTorrent agreed to take down links to feature films in its search tool.

http://news.com.com/MPAA+sues+BitTor...html?tag=st_lh

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**The Hunter** · February 23rd, 2006, 06:26 PM

So if i search for a big steaming pile of shit, and it leads me to the MPAA, i guess I cant sue the search engine. How can you sue a search engine? Nothing is actually hosted, although when you have the government in your pocket i guess anything goes.

**Mels_Smileys45** · February 23rd, 2006, 06:32 PM

Vey strange indeed but most sites like ISO hunt do provide a download link for the torrent info that BT needs, so I guess thats the angel. They are helping in the act, a vital link in the chain if you will. It was only a matter of time before the MPAA started playing hard ball with BT. It will only get worse from here on. Glad I have all I'll ever need in my life time already. I'll just be sending stuff to my friends through FTP, for the most part, now days.

And newsgroups? Whoa baby

What could be next

**mfgbypooter** · February 23rd, 2006, 06:59 PM

They aren't fucking with newsgroups only sites that host .nzb files, which are kind of like torrent files.

I've always pulled headers from the newsgroups so their threat doesn't affect me in the least.

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**Mels_Smileys45** · February 23rd, 2006, 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by mfgbypooter

They aren't fucking with newsgroups only sites that host .nzb files, which are kind of like torrent files.

I've always pulled headers from the newsgroups so their threat doesn't affect me in the least.

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But it does look as though the MPAA has finally realized that there is a such animal, the animal being newsgroups. I'll bet at some point they will be trying to shut down these services.

Why has this not made the front page yet, other sites have already scooped it.

**Krell** · February 23rd, 2006, 08:50 PM

I posted this one hour after the source. I never post to the front page, I couldnt care less about the front page, and frankly, I wouldnt piss on the front page if it were on fire. The front page is like people slowing down to gawk at a traffic accident.

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**Mels_Smileys45** · February 23rd, 2006, 08:59 PM

LOL but it is some big news and does need to be posted in the news section, if there are any news mods out there.

**Krell** · February 23rd, 2006, 09:03 PM

Then let them post their own news, and leave my humble thread out of it.

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**mfgbypooter** · February 23rd, 2006, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by Mels_Smileys45

But it does look as though the MPAA has finally realized that there is a such animal, the animal being newsgroups. I'll bet at some point they will be trying to shut down these services.

They've known about newsgroups all along and they know they can't shut them down.
They also knew that for the most part newsgroups were too hard for the casual internet user to navigate but .nzb files have changed all that. If you can work a bt client, now you can use newsgroups in the same way.

And that is what scares the shit out of them.

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**DigitalJunkie** · February 23rd, 2006, 11:54 PM

This is actually funny! Like throwing money away will fix their problems. I'm glad, I don't need to work for stupid entertainment industry!!!

**Mels_Smileys45** · February 24th, 2006, 03:29 AM

It will probably shut down some good sites though. More will spring up unless they really kick some balls out of the park. They will have to send some people to prison before site owners will even think twice. This is likely why they have been buddy buddy with the FBI lately.