Lokitorrent sold out like Suprnova?

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 4:51 pm

Lokitorrent wrote:

This website has been permanently shut down by court order because it facilitates the illegal downloading of copyrighted motion pictures. The illegal downloading of motion pictures robs thousands of honest, hard-working people of their livelihood, and stifles creativity. Illegally downloading movies from sites such as these without proper authorization violates the law, is theft, and is not anonymous. Stealing movies leaves a trail. The only way not to get caught is to stop.

From the MPAA: http://www.mpaa.org/CurrentReleases/

MPAA February 10, 2005 press release wrote:

The MPAA's efforts to date have resulted in a 40 percent reduction in the number of servers that continue to operate. One such site that will no longer exist is LokiTorrentâ€”one of the largest BitTorrent host servers. The operator of that site, Edward Webber, agreed to not only pay a substantial settlement with even greater financial penalties for any further such actions, but by Court Order must provide the MPAA with access to and copies of all logs and server data related to his illegal BitTorrent activities, which will provide a roadmap to others who have used LokiTorrent to engage in illegal activities.

And an article on LokiTorrent (and Suprnova) Selling to the MPAA (also reported by Slyck, before and now )

I won't spread any more FUD and will keep my opinions to myself. But know that isoHunt.com will never take your money and run, and certainly not sell your personal information. You can't completely trust what's said on the internet, that includes me. But the fact that we have been running longer than either Suprnova or Lokitorrent, in fact we started before BitTorrent gained popularity (the legacy IRC search here is a testament), shows our commitment to innovate in organizing P2P resources.

To the MPAA: if you like to stop being portrayed as the litigating bastard, stop talking through third party investigators and talk to us directly. We do think you should profit from your works, and I don't believe consumers want to steal either. So maybe we can come to some common ground? The Betamax case and your resulting home video business is an example of what's possible.

UPDATE: We are investigating what happened to Lokitorrent as opposed to media propaganda, as this sets an unjust precedent for all sites associated with P2P. I'm in contact with the EFF and will update as we find out more.

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:15 pm

Quote:

But the fact that we have been running longer than either Suprnova or Lokitorrent, in fact we started before BitTorrent gained popularity (the legacy IRC search here is a testament), shows our commitment to innovate in organizing P2P resources.

Maybe the reason why you havent been shut down is becuase you have never gained the popularity that those sites have gained. If you have been around longer then both those sites then why arent you the biggest torrent site on the internet?

With Lokitorrent going down, who will be the next on the chopping block? I'm not sure. I'll have to check alexa.com to see whos the top dog right now.

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:55 pm

Casca wrote:

Maybe the reason why you havent been shut down is becuase you have never gained the popularity that those sites have gained. If you have been around longer then both those sites then why arent you the biggest torrent site on the internet?

With Lokitorrent going down, who will be the next on the chopping block? I'm not sure. I'll have to check alexa.com to see whos the top dog right now.

Because we choose to keep a low profile and don't pull publicity stunts.

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 7:16 pm

I think calling them "sellouts" is a little harsh. We don't know the specifics of the deal, how the proceedings were going, and how much the settlement was for, and how much lokitorrent was being sued for. We do know that they weren't making as much as they had hoped for their legal defence fund. Maybe it was becoming clear to them that it was a losing battle and they decided to cut their losses. The press release also states that the info on users is being given to the MPAA under a court order, little that can be done there.

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 7:28 pm

A month or two ago LokiTorrent was taking in donations to 'fight the MPAA in court'. Now they've closed down and paid a "substantial sum". Pretty coincidental.

P.S. Requiring people to register only impedes discussion. Thank God for BugMeNot.

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 7:54 pm

IH wrote:

Casca wrote:

Maybe the reason why you havent been shut down is becuase you have never gained the popularity that those sites have gained. If you have been around longer then both those sites then why arent you the biggest torrent site on the internet?

With Lokitorrent going down, who will be the next on the chopping block? I'm not sure. I'll have to check alexa.com to see whos the top dog right now.

Because we choose to keep a low profile and don't pull publicity stunts.

Ok, important question then -- do you keep logs?

p.s.: please reamove the obligatory registration

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:29 pm

Actually this site isn't that low profile either. According to alexa this sites traffic rank is 6500. Considering all the websites in the world that is pretty high. I can only think of a few torrent sites higher than this one. I just hope this site stays with its past and doesn't close down like all those other ones.

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:42 pm

The Pirate Bay is from Sweden and they seem to be resistant to anything from the MPAA. Sites in countries like those might be our only hope.

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:00 pm

so is tracing and/or logs even possible on bittorrents or is that some ploy to scare people? i hear 'kazaa' is definitely trace-able and there may soon be some cracking down on there too.

hmph, so i guess everything on the net can be traced... also if i remember correctly, i thought ive seen some of the torrents on this site redirected to some of the 'lokitorrent' torrents. is this something we should be concerned about?

lol, anyways... fight the power dude and good luck.

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:14 pm

Well,

The bottom line is traceable or nontraceable. There always some way to get in or around BT. It, prob. the most accesible of all P2P. But the thing is that the tracker.

Its like a buglar running from the cops at a buglar convention. So there's not much of any way to track. So the so called "internet anti-piracy jerks" direct all their interest to the sites that connect to tracker. Well, basically the dont crack down on not the source but well,.. US.

Well, who cares about Kazaa, its mostly adware anywayz. So their not any real threat really, well unlike Napster was, back in the glory dayz, when there was basically no queued search or dls'. Well, in conclusion these dayz, nothing is easily overlooked. Holla back.

NEO

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:45 pm

I dont think that referring to Loki as A f**kin SELLOUT is too harsh , in the least.
Selling out the users by giving away tracking info is the most dispicable thing a pirate can do.
Hes a COCKROACH , and one that i wouldnt mind smashing if i could get close too him

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:53 pm

I don't see why the tv industry does upload their own torrents with commercials in the video. That is how they get paid neways...and its obviously a popular large market that is proven but not taken advantage of.

And I know there's video formats out there that could prevent skipping commercials.

Sounds like a logical business decision to me

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 12:02 am

bla321 wrote:

Ok, important question then -- do you keep logs?

p.s.: please reamove the obligatory registration

We can if we want to, so the better question is what would we do with it? I pretty much answered that already, you decide whether you want to trust us.

We require registration for only when you want to contribute something, and we do it for quality control.

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 12:04 am

they just wanted your money to screw you over. they ask for the money then run thats the new scam now

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 12:05 am

BimpnBerry wrote:

I don't see why the tv industry does upload their own torrents with commercials in the video. That is how they get paid neways...and its obviously a popular large market that is proven but not taken advantage of.

And I know there's video formats out there that could prevent skipping commercials.

Sounds like a logical business decision to me

Thank you. I've said this before. If only the studios see what we see.

Some of the US / British TV commercials are actually pretty funny, I wouldn't mind seeing them from time to time.