Posted by TechNoRati on 04/25/06 19:02

I still think they're not winning this battle... there's going to be
consequences for every action...MPAA just shut down a few more
peer-to-peer sites.
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1160

It's a BAD time for NZB sites indeed.


RichA wrote:
> Not likely. Those greedy bastards have had a monopoly in their
> respective genres
> ever since time began. But maybe reality is catching up with them?
> Maybe they'll just do to every bit torrentor what they did with Bram
> Cohen, theaten to send
> him to jail (the entertainment media has good lawyers, no surprize
> there) unless he sold
> out to them. What is pathetic is the plastic sabre-rattling of the
> entertainment cabal
> and the U.S. government, approaching China with hollow threats while at
> the same time
> BEGGING China to open up it's markets. It didn't work with Japan, and
> it won't work
> with China. Truly sad.
> -Rich
>
> BitTorrent gaining more acceptance
>
> In the world of the Internet, a new idea can be either an asset or a
> threat. It depends on your perspective. BitTorrent, the popular
> peer-to-peer file sharing technology, poses exactly this conundrum to
> Internet service providers and entertainment firms alike.
>
> The technology, which allows computer users to easily share and
> distribute files without occupying much of their Internet connection
> bandwidth, is also responsible for almost one-third of the Internet's
> traffic flow, according to recent estimates.
>
> Conversely, it's this feature that makes the technology perfect for
> content distribution, especially in an era when file sizes have become
> much larger. Video files, having become extremely popular due to
> increased quality and more widespread prevalence of broadband
> technologies, can be easily shared without bogging down a single
> computer, as seen in a traditional Internet server model.
>
> Similar to standard peer to peer sharing programs, BitTorrent allows
> users to search through trackers to see which files are available on
> the shared spaces of other computers, and then download them to your
> shared space. Where the technology becomes different is in the idea of
> contributed bandwidth.
>
> Once a file has been downloaded, the BitTorrent program shares it out
> to other users working to download the file by contributing a small
> part of the computer's bandwidth to help others download the file. A
> larger number of users downloading the same file will allow for faster
> speeds given that each user contributes part of their bandwidth to the
> overall distribution effort.
>
> Despite sharing both legal and illegal files over current Internet
> connections, BitTorrent has been eyed as an ideal distribution model
> for the entertainment industry. Peter Jackson's "King Kong," recently
> released to DVD, has also been offered as a legal online download in
> the United Kingdom. Other studios have looked into online downloads as
> a means of increasing retail sales. Once downloaded, digital versions
> of a movie can be copied to a restricted number of computers depending
> on the rules of the file's DRM (digital rights management) protocol.
>
> "I think peer-to-peer technologies are starting to become more
> accepted," said Tim Bajarin, an analyst for Creative Strategies. "Video
> is a very important part of the Internet and with Internet
> distribution, they're definitely on the right path. The important
> factor is to get the content out there, which helps to curb piracy."
>
> Although BitTorrent and online video content distribution may be en
> route to more widespread acceptance, the data traffic it generates
> still needs to be managed. In light of the increased network traffic,
> network managers have had to craft new ways to control, or "shape", the
> data flow running through their systems. For this task, specially
> designed software can be programmed to identify the characteristics of
> outgoing data, which can be grouped into segments called "buckets."
>
> Each bucket, once created, is assigned a priority. The software manages
> each bucket per the network manager's instructions. Specific data can
> then be restricted so the network devotes only a certain amount of its
> bandwidth to each bucket, according to Laura Bowser, a security
> engineer.
>
> For the home user, popular BitTorrent clients can be controlled via the
> application's preferences. Simple adjustments such as capping the
> amount uploaded to a certain percentage of the computer's available
> bandwidth can make all the difference as well as decrease the amount
> BitTorrent of data an Internet service provider has to manage on their
> end.
>
> Once considered the nemesis of the entertainment industry, peer-to-peer
> file sharing has come a long way since the infamous days of Napster.
> Now a bona fide content distribution tool, BitTorrent can help push
> large files across the Internet through a shared effort.
>
> Copyright 2006 by United Press International

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