8 ms·

Linking to pirated content is illegal in many European countries.

by gersg 3y ago

ornornor 3y ago
That’s why magnet links were invented for torrents. They don’t link to any content, just give your client a unique ID to find peers for. Like saying a site mentioning that you should look for “cannabis” if you want to get high is illegal. Selling the substance is illegal, telling you how it’s called isn’t.
- creativenolo 3y ago
  I didn’t know this but would like to know more. Can you expand on how they try to circumvent linking and do they circumvent it? It is surprising to hear because as a user they _seem_ like a link. Copy the link into something and get the (illegal) files.
  - defrost 3y ago
    Magnet linking is rather like standing on a street corner and regularly yelling "have you got any cannabis"? Here's a random RARBG magnet link that may or may not work magnet:?xt=urn:btih:468043aa374080fed5ff65e4cd8d4fed002986b5&dn=Rizzoli.And.Isles.S05.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG It doesn't link to a file or embed any tracker names but it does name a 1080p HEVC (x265) encoded season pack of season 5 of a US police procedural drama (which is excess and unrequired but humans do like readable names) What it does provide is a unique hash code that matches the exact torrent ... should you find it. When you add that magnet link to your torrent client it triggers the act of polling any public trackers your client knows about and any peers that have "hit me up about magnets" enabled. Ideally word spreads and eventually some other client | tracker hits you back with word of other peers that at least have some cannabis .. (err, bits of Rizzoli&Isles Season 5 HEVC pack).
    - creativenolo 3y ago
      Great description - thanks. I wonder if they ‘stand up in court’ and/or have ever been tested too.
  - sushibowl 3y ago
    A magnet URI is a little bit like a web link in the sense that it refers to a particular piece of data, but it doesn't point to any particular host or location. It is merely a hash of the files it describes. So in other words, the link doesn't tell you where the particular content can be found, it only tells you what the content is that it refers to. To actually find the content in question you take the link, go on a peer to peer network, and basically ask machines if they have the content in question available or know where it is. There's various ways to do that, in some cases your torrent app might know the location of some centralized "tracker" servers, and ask those servers whether they know locations for those files. Some torrents are "trackerless" and use a DHT, a type of distributed database that keeps information about where to find files.
datadeft 3y ago
But not in all EU countries.
moffkalast 3y ago
Then Google should be prosecuted.
- justinclift 3y ago
  Google has enough lawyers to give the EU and US the run around when they want to. For smaller players, they'd have to think really carefully about whether they want to engage in multi-year litigation with them.
  - WastingMyTime89 3y ago
    > Google has enough lawyers to give the EU and US the run around when they want to. Google has paid something like 10 billions dollars of fines in the EU during the last decade. I don’t think they are giving the run around to anyone.
    - theturtletalks 3y ago
      Are you sure they paid it or they were ordered to do so? Most times, the fine is reduced or appealed ad infinitum.
    - justinclift 3y ago
      Yeah, lets wait a couple of decades and see how those court cases actually end up. Meanwhile, Google will just keep on Googling...
    - einpoklum 3y ago
      Alphabet is valued at over 1.5 Trillion dollars. If they pay 1 Billion USD in fines per year, maybe their lawyers are actually doing an ok job for their client.
      - red-iron-pine 3y ago
        just the cost of doing business at that point
    - 3y ago
yieldcrv 3y ago
and just a civil issue, which doesn’t come with priority or the state power that a criminal case would

Linking to pirated content is illegal in many European countries.

by gersg 3y ago

Linking to pirated content is illegal in many European countries.

That’s why magnet links were invented for torrents. They don’t link to any content, just give your client a unique ID to find peers for. Like saying a site mentioning that you should look for “cannabis” if you want to get high is illegal. Selling the substance is illegal, telling you how it’s called isn’t.

creativenolo 3y ago
I didn’t know this but would like to know more. Can you expand on how they try to circumvent linking and do they circumvent it? It is surprising to hear because as a user they _seem_ like a link. Copy the link into something and get the (illegal) files.
- defrost 3y ago
  Magnet linking is rather like standing on a street corner and regularly yelling "have you got any cannabis"? Here's a random RARBG magnet link that may or may not work magnet:?xt=urn:btih:468043aa374080fed5ff65e4cd8d4fed002986b5&dn=Rizzoli.And.Isles.S05.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG It doesn't link to a file or embed any tracker names but it does name a 1080p HEVC (x265) encoded season pack of season 5 of a US police procedural drama (which is excess and unrequired but humans do like readable names) What it does provide is a unique hash code that matches the exact torrent ... should you find it. When you add that magnet link to your torrent client it triggers the act of polling any public trackers your client knows about and any peers that have "hit me up about magnets" enabled. Ideally word spreads and eventually some other client | tracker hits you back with word of other peers that at least have some cannabis .. (err, bits of Rizzoli&Isles Season 5 HEVC pack).
  - creativenolo 3y ago
    Great description - thanks. I wonder if they ‘stand up in court’ and/or have ever been tested too.
- sushibowl 3y ago
  A magnet URI is a little bit like a web link in the sense that it refers to a particular piece of data, but it doesn't point to any particular host or location. It is merely a hash of the files it describes. So in other words, the link doesn't tell you where the particular content can be found, it only tells you what the content is that it refers to. To actually find the content in question you take the link, go on a peer to peer network, and basically ask machines if they have the content in question available or know where it is. There's various ways to do that, in some cases your torrent app might know the location of some centralized "tracker" servers, and ask those servers whether they know locations for those files. Some torrents are "trackerless" and use a DHT, a type of distributed database that keeps information about where to find files.

datadeft 3y ago

But not in all EU countries.

moffkalast 3y ago

Then Google should be prosecuted.

justinclift 3y ago
Google has enough lawyers to give the EU and US the run around when they want to. For smaller players, they'd have to think really carefully about whether they want to engage in multi-year litigation with them.
- WastingMyTime89 3y ago
  > Google has enough lawyers to give the EU and US the run around when they want to. Google has paid something like 10 billions dollars of fines in the EU during the last decade. I don’t think they are giving the run around to anyone.
  - theturtletalks 3y ago
    Are you sure they paid it or they were ordered to do so? Most times, the fine is reduced or appealed ad infinitum.
  - justinclift 3y ago
    Yeah, lets wait a couple of decades and see how those court cases actually end up. Meanwhile, Google will just keep on Googling...
  - einpoklum 3y ago
    Alphabet is valued at over 1.5 Trillion dollars. If they pay 1 Billion USD in fines per year, maybe their lawyers are actually doing an ok job for their client.
    - red-iron-pine 3y ago
      just the cost of doing business at that point
  - 3y ago

yieldcrv 3y ago

and just a civil issue, which doesn’t come with priority or the state power that a criminal case would