After 6+ years of being the 'go to' site for must have content, BTJunkie has voluntarily closed up shop. It's hard to disagree with their reasoning, in that the current environment doesn't accept that sharing is caring. It is, however, saddening that all online content may end up as Google compensated and approved. Expect other torrent sites to go dark in the next few days as well.
I don't hold any ill will towards BTJunkie. They did the right thing. But it's next to impossible to not hold a grudge against western societies that ignore simple facts. With the prevalence of mobile devices and cloud computing distribution there is no possible manner in which the current business model for content distribution works. At middlin' we're giving away a potentially profitable business sector to the east. At best, we're leeching every damned dollar from anything ever created ever. At worst, we are willing to destroy the Internet to protect Disney's profits. That little movie they did about Hercules, or the one which dealt with Miles Standish and Pocahontas? Protected, effectively, into perpetuity. That little thing they did a buncha years back called "The Song of the South"? It is a true piece of Americana, American history, and we won't see it again because a piece that is considered racist will not be allowed to tarnish that Disney brand.
The worst attack against sharing was not the "Megauploads" arrest or even possibly the incident with The Pirate Bay. SOPA and PIPA changed the rules. The U.S.of A. threatened to break the Internet, and that should be no laughing matter to anyone. Kudos to the folk who called in; kudos to the Republicans who voted to kill these awful bills. They certainly didn't do it to favor anything other than the left being smeared by their own Hollywood supporters. Politics is grand ...
This is what SOPA and PIPA would have done.
I'm all for creative types getting paid; a lot if they do good work. But the demand that a CEO of a megacorp makes his bonus, just rankles me when I can see a clear path to future profit and they can't. Pack people into noisy sweaty theaters, with $10 popcorn, screaming babies and a burning urge to see a movie again. Make people buy big CD's or purchase overpriced snippets online. Or ... allow people to purchase content with a distribution model that allows people the access they think they should have. When I was kid, I was willing to pay to see Star Wars about 12 times, though I saw it many more. The money was small because most of those were matinees, and one didn't have the opportunity to see these things at home or on a mobile. That world is not this world. I've purchased Star Wars on DVD, Now I can watch it with whomever I wish, whenever I wish. If the DVD goes bad, I should have the right to say that I've bought that content and it's mine. The law doesn't work quite that way, but it should.
Torrent sites could have been an extremely profitable manner for Hollywood or the music industry to control and profit from content. Instead, we're going to beat this dead horse until it's MORE dead. Via con Dios, BTJunkie.
Rob,
I recently finished a book titled The Gridlock Economy - How Too Much Ownership Wrecks Markets, Stops Innovation and Costs Lives by Michael Heller.
It was a fascinating read and quite apropos to the issue at hand. It has changed my thinking on ownership rights of intellectual property. I think you would enjoy it.
Posted by: Dave Budge | February 08, 2012 at 08:01 PM
Thanks, Dave. I ordered it today.
Posted by: Wulfgar | February 09, 2012 at 04:09 PM
Save your bullshit for Tokarski. He sucks it up. I have no interest in it. ~W~
Posted by: Max Bucks | February 13, 2012 at 12:16 AM
Wired has the Pirate Bay lawsuit story.
http://m.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/02/peter-sunde/
Thought the story was more important than my inept linking skills.
Posted by: Big Swede | February 13, 2012 at 02:38 PM