8 ms·

Why would this change anything? Most people using Bittorrent are already violating copyright law. Why should they care about patent law?

• thomasz 15y ago
  I'd bet that this isn't a move to stop piracy, it's just your typical patent troll shakedown.
  • smokeyj 15y ago
    Or maybe a pretext for DHS to shut-down any torrent sites?
    • thomasz 15y ago
      Or maybe part of an elaborate plot by evil intergalactic entities in league with the Illuminati to conquer the world?
      • sukuriant 15y ago
        I, for one, do not welcome our new intergalactic overlords.
• lucian1900 15y ago
  There is plenty of usage that does not violate anything, and is very useful.
  • w1ntermute 15y ago
    Right. For example, Linux distros have been able to significantly defray the costs of digital disc image distribution by using torrents.
    • masterzora 15y ago
      And World of Warcraft uses the protocol for patch distribution. That's a pretty sizeable number of people using bittorrent for legit purposes.
      • huckfinnaafb 15y ago
        Not that bittorrent needs justification - it is a legal technology that has about as much to do with piracy than a CD burner does.
        • seabee 15y ago
          Except that some countries tax blank CDs for this reason. (good job, content creation lobby)
        • masterzora 15y ago
          Oh, of course. Not saying it does need justification, but just adding the string of replies about why torrents are not equivalent to piracy.
          • rick888 15y ago
            ...you mean the ridiculous amount of people that misread my comments? I never said ALL and I never equated it to piracy. To me, because everyone is so jumpy about it..it means I'm probably correct....just sayin
            • rick888 15y ago
              further making my point..thanks :-) afraid? silence the opposition
            • masterzora 15y ago
              > I never said ALL and I never equated it to piracy. No, of course not. You just said nobody was going to care if patents were being infringed because they use torrents for copyright infringement. No, you never said the word "all", but you did ask why this would change anything, which would be quite strange if you were at all considering, say, Blizzard. Of course, this is before we even start to get in on your apparent conflation of the end users (who would be the ones committing copyright infringement with the software) and the developers (who would be the ones allegedly committing patent infringement). And, because it's really not worth starting another comment for it: your automatic assumption that downvotes == people trying to silence the opposition and your subsequent goading are really childish. HN is, for the most part, a sane, sensical, and mature community and it reflects poorly on everyone when you make such baseless assumptions. Have you considered reflecting on what your comment adds or detracts from the conversation? I think you'll find that it adds little while the "everyone is so jumpy about it means I'm right" comment is an inane way to curb conversation.
• DisposaBoy 15y ago
  ... they're two almost entirely different things and besides... it's not directly got much to do with the users.
• choko 15y ago
  Where does this "statistic" come from? What is the basis of your accusation? Do your "facts" include the tens of millions of people that use bittorrent technology for legitimate uses? There are dozens of legal torrent sites, software/OS distros, and even World of Warcraft that use the technology legitimately, you know.
  • rick888 15y ago
    Are you really trying to tell me that you don't believe that the majority of BitTorrent traffic is pirated material? (I nver said all)
    • nitrogen 15y ago
      Two points which render this claim moot: 1. The decision on whether a piece of technology is legal is not based on its majority use, but on whether there are substantial non-infringing uses. (first Google result, didn't follow link: http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/ipmanual/05ipma.html http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/ipmanual/05ipma.h... "Indeed, it need merely be capable of substantial noninfringing uses.") 2. The vast majority of freeway traffic is in excess of the posted speed limit. You don't hear many arguments to shut down the freeways as a result. [Yes, I know proof by analogy is weak.]
    • jlouis 15y ago
      How about HTTP traffic? BitTorrent is just a highly effective content distribution system like HTTP. But unlike HTTP, it scales even if the upstream bandwidth of the initial data server is limited. BitTorrent simply gets all the flak for this property. Facebook uses BitTorrent internally to distribute new versions of their PHP-code to their server park of tens of thousands machines. Because the single server would be upstream-congested if it wanted to push out a change fast.
    • Dylan16807 15y ago
      There's quite a difference between the majority of traffic and the majority of users.
• Symmetry 15y ago
  People may be able to distribute copyright violating material on Bittorrent, but the Bittorrent clients themselves are simply downloaded from normal websites. If they are found to be in violation of this patent it would be pretty simple to just send C&D letters to websites distributing the clients, a far easier task than going after individual Bittorent users.