America, country of the free... *cough*

[TetsuoShima]

Okay, so now you're thinking wth has this next article to do with the subject... Well, I got a bit liberal in my interpretation. :cyclops:

 

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080515-us-isps-biggest-bittorrent-blockers-in-the-world.html

 

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems have just released results of their own tests into BitTorrent blocking from around the world, and the results are startling: almost no one does it. In fact, out of 1,224 measured ISPs, only 13 were found to block BitTorrent traffic out. And where are the blocks coming from? Predominantly from the USA, where nine of the 13 ISPs were located.

 

Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, and Ireland each had one ISP apiece that engaged in blocking, though only Singapore's StarCom did so with regularity (26 out of the 45 tests that used its network were blocked with TCP reset packets).

 

The researchers also took a look at time of day to see if the blocks occurred only during times of peak usage (generally in the evenings). They did not. Blocks, in fact, were pretty consistent throughout the day.

 

In the mean while Comcast keeps on denying the whole thing: "We don't block, we simply manage and delay..."

 

Riiiiiight. :cyclops:

[USWhoFan]

I hate Comcrap, uhh Comcast.

[GorunNova]

Sure, you're free... free to choose who gets to screw you over.  I love how companies in the US pretend to fully support the capitalistic ideal of a free market, and work together behind everyone's backs to price fix and create effective monopolies.  How can you 'choose with your dollar' when every single provider screws you over in exactly the same way to line their own pockets?

[hayden]

you know what we need, is a Robin Hood incarnation of a Hacker that will give out all the cracked programs he can and steel from the money hungry corporations like microsoft. Google perhaps?

[vystral]

you know what we need, is a Robin Hood incarnation of a Hacker that will give out all the cracked programs he can and steel from the money hungry corporations like microsoft. Google perhaps?

That's pretty much what bittorrent has become.

 

This is why i have verizon internet. they don't throttle your downloads (as far as i know)

[bbbb]

I'd be interested in knowing what ISPs other than the ones mentioned are doing this. As for Bittorrent, I haven't used it in years and even then not much and lost everything I downloaded anyway. I'm concerned for others who have been trying to get the things they need but can't for such strange reasons as mentioned above. Perhaps we have reached that point where the internet becomes more regulated and not so free anymore. It's a shame really as one could find exactly what they trying to find without too much fuss. We tried to help each other. Can't do that very easily now. But really I'd like to know which ISPs are blocking bittorrent.

[USWhoFan]

So much for the "wild west" of the internet! :thinking:

[TetsuoShima]

At least we'll be able to tell stories to our children and grandchildren in 'x' years time.

 

"Back in the old days, we actually got to download things that were not approved... " :o  :cyclops:

[Amnot Borg]

we need our Hollywood saviors to protect us. :P

 

Hack The Planet!

[USWhoFan]

Absolutely! (Kinda hard to believe that's a young Angelina Jolie.)

[Guest]

So much for the "wild west" of the internet! :thinking:

At least we'll be able to tell stories to our children and grandchildren in 'x' years time.

 

"Back in the old days, we actually got to download things that were not approved... " :o  :cyclops:

 

This is so true though.. Its the way its worked with everything over the years. Back in the wild west you could kill someone and not be in too much trouble as long as it wasn't for no reason at all and honorable.

 

We'll be the polluters of the internet, i suppose its a bit better than polluters of the planet. lol.

 

Sweet pics btw. :P

[bbbb]

They do say though that excessive peer to peer was bad for the internet. I never ever considered us to be in that category.

 

I considered and still do consider us to be responsible users of the internet.

[Amnot Borg]

Absolutely! (Kinda hard to believe that's a young Angelina Jolie.)

 

lol, I rented it for the hackers storyline and found myself wondering who this "French" girl named Angelina Jolie was. Then, I was surprised at her great accent and how pretty she was. I was really shocked to find out she was American and Jon Voight's daughter. :P It really was a breakthrough movie for several of those young actors.

[Guest]

They do say though that excessive peer to peer was bad for the internet. I never ever considered us to be in that category.

 

I considered and still do consider us to be responsible users of the internet.

 

Your probably right.. Downloading pirate copy items shouldn't be a crime. Free distributing someone else's merchandise.. fair enough.

 

But i doubt robin hood ever considered himself an outlaw.

[vystral]

I dunno. I can see where piracy should be illegal. Various industries put a lot of time and money into a product, only to have it distributed freely. There can't really be a media industry if they aren't making any money.

 

They just need to be more fair and realign their goals. Take music acts like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Saul Williams. They are either insane, or they understand what I'm talking about. Media industry fatcats don't need to be the richest people in the world, but they do need to put food on their table.

 

The music industry is drastically different today than it was 15 years ago. Today, a band needs a breakout hit on their first album because record companies don't have as much freedom to sign whoever they want anymore. Back in the 60's and 70's, they could just sign whoever they wanted, whether or not they had a breakout hit -- as long as they believed in them. If it weren't for this, Neil Diamond, Pink Floyd and others wouldn't have ever been signed. As much as I hate to say it, the rise of music piracy is in a way killing the creativity of the music industry.

 

Record companies and artists just need to be reasonable. No one wants to pay $24.99 for one album. I personally do not have a problem with paying $5-10 for a CD. Touring and merchandise is where they make the real money anyway.

 

</RANT>

[bbbb]

I don't think music downloading has hurt the industry. If they simply distribute online then they can make their money that way instead of going through record companies. itunes for example. The net is a great way to distribute content.

 

I certainly agree that paying $25 for an album is silly. This was probably what drove people to Napster and music downloading in the first place. Paying $5-10 would have been much more feasible. The music coming out these past few years could be considered to have been not worth $25/album.

 

When it comes to piracy, I think the DVDs, newer games, music was going too far. Older, harder to find games was ok for me as long as they were no longer being sold or supported. Very hard to find movies was also ok. Youtube has changed a lot of things when it comes to net content. Putting hard to find movies on DVD also helps.

[vystral]

Older, harder to find games was ok for me as long as they were no longer being sold or supported.

Abandonware. Several game publishers have done just that.