Pirate Bay to offer cheap, unlogged VPN
Back in July 2008, torrent tracker The Pirate Bay announced plans to encrypt the Internet. That hasn't happened yet, but they plan to offer a VPN tunneling service to the public starting April 1.
Dubbing the service IPREDator after the controversial Swedish Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) that takes effect the same day. IPRED's main goal is to make it easier for copyright holders to acquire the personal data of suspected illegal file sharers.
By offering a VPN service that doesn't log its traffic, IPREDator is simultaneously setting itself apart from other Web-based VPN services and offering what looks like a way to legally evade IPRED. Without logs, users will be able to exchange data without worrying about a subpoena revealing to whom the data packets were going, or what their contents were.
Other details about the new VPN service are thin, except that users will be asked to pay a small premium, approximately $6.77 or 5 euros, for the service. It's also not clear if the service will be compatible with other non-file sharing uses, or if it will try to compete with other encrypted tunneling services like LogMeIn or GoToMyPC.
The current beta is free and can be signed up for at the IPREDator site, although it's taking only 500 testers. If anybody does get a chance to use the beta service, please post about it below.
Seth peers into the deep, dark corners of software so that you don't have to. He has yet to suffer a single nightmare about OS/2. You can follow him on Twitter. 
I crack games myself to rid them of securom and rootkits so I can actually play the game
some people have no clue how to do this and thus turn to downloading, not all of them are cheap, some actually recognize that illegal versions are far superior to legal versions
Not really. The same people probably pay for their computer, internet service, blank dvds, and probably a netflix account. If they see the value in it they will pay for it. It's not that they aren't spending money on related products.
Something that helps them download or copy more stuff for less than the cost of a cd is not the type of thing they absolutely wouldn't pay for unless it didn't work, or the free alternative was more effective.
Doh.
Well, take another guess: it's not their property, it's the property of the MPAA and RIAA.
Actors and musicians weren't being paid to begin with, all the money has been sucked up and is still being sucked up by the MPAA and RIAA, and it'll always be that way.
If you were the MPAA and RIAA, and are suing an organization centralized around piracy and actually intend on paying actors and musicians the money won from the lawsuit, I'd tell them to sue all they want and I'd hope the piracy organizations lost.
That's not the case. I will rebel until these people are REALLY paid for their work, not because a few ********* executives think they're losing a few million or two.
im thinking people may start exchanging child porn... sounds dangerous
i dont think it is going to stay--
Make your content affordable, DRM free, easy and convenient to get, and ill be more then happy to buy it. But make it overpriced, full of DRM, and hugely difficult to obtain and ill torrent it every time.
I think the huge popularity of steam proves my point.
I help create services that are widely traded on Piratebay and I don't share your attitude. It's something to watch closely and learn from, and it's an important part of the industry. To be honest the file sharers have often done our jobs for us. Because of groups like Napster and the Pirate Bay, there have been many improvements for the consumer which the music and movie industry did nothing but resist. You can view file sharers however you want but don't try to sell people some story about how your downfall is every person's like you are some failing insurance giant.
The truth is, if you fail you will just be consumed by the company with a better distribution model. Files sharers, pirates, whatever you want to call them are spending just as much money, they are just giving it to the companies that support their activities. File sharing fuels computer sales, internet service, mp3 players, even Netflix is involved. Even MS OEM windows sales profit from this. Profiting from piracy and anti-piracy, I'm surprised Apple and MS haven't already consumed the content providers. Maybe they are just trying to be more efficient than Sony.
The SIMPLE FACT OF THE MATTER is that technology has advanced to the level at which the exchange of information is (and rightfully should be) free. We have done what human beings have always done, solved the problem, in this case, the problem of sharing information effectively... Your position is that we should perpetuate the problem so you can make a living. That's like, a conspiracy...lol. If Big Oil, with their hundreds of billions of dollars in free capital were to take steps to discourage green technolgies that would eventually eliminate the need for oil (which I'm sure has happened, and I'm sure many would agree is still happening) rather than contribute to finding a responsible solution, it would be using the same reasoning you are using now.
The information that I download, what i do on my computer, what i do with my information...those are all my business, not the governments and certainly not yours. If people as a whole were smart enough to always shop for the best prices on technolgy, technology stores would go out of business in favor of online discount stores. the same can be said of people buying music/games/movies. You'll get enough money, more than enough, most likely, so stop being selfish.
Musicians, my favorite bunch...if you really are that awesome...make your money doing concerts, prove your skill, stop hiding behind a label and 200 layers of audio dubbing. I hold my entertainers to a high standard, they sure as heck get paid enough, if you're going to make more than 100K a year, you better be a damn good performer or in my eyes, you dont deserve your fame.
the fact is, if I decided to download every song that I ever bought, I would owe the artists less than $10
and I have lots of songs. The companies steal most of the cash away from the artists.
some people who make products are happy that people are enjoying it even if they don't make money off of them. Isn't Crytek proud of their Crysis piracy numbers? Aren't they happy that so many people are enjoying the game even if they would prefer to make cash off of them.
To me, $0.99 is a good price (per song), with somewhere between $10-15 for an entire album downloaded. B&M stores for any kind of digital content are falling by the wayside because they're not as convenient as getting them online. Legitimate sources of downloading digital content need to be streamlined and need to have some form of standardization to make them more mainstream and available to all computer users, almost without regard to their "expertise" to make it work.
Right now we are in that transition and the transition is made longer because of the lack of standardization and ease of use for a large percentage of users.
Do I advocate taking things that don't belong to you? Nope.
Do I advocate a person's right to protect themselves and their machines? Yes. Using a VPN of any kind is not that far of a stretch from using a firewall, or antivirus.
Oh, you say but you didn't want that virus? Well, you still downloaded it.
So you say but I was misled! That's not fair. Ever read some of the DRM licenses? Both are misleading, but one's ok to protect yourself against, and the other's not? Hypocritical? You bet your rear.
Anything that can be wrapped up in protection, can be unwrapped. It's a constant struggle, and has been since the internet started. I do wholeheartedly believe in freedom of information. You've got something that can better the world? Great, so share it with the world, don't hide and hoard it. Why do you think we're advancing at the speed of nothing as a race? Everyone's worried about keeping their own "stuff"...well...at least the person who thought of it first. Anyone else that can legitimately come to the same conclusion or same methodology is screwed though. That's about half retarded.
MusicandLight: Neither SteveAustin, nor anyone else said anything about the artists. Their hatred is rightfully directed towards the useless organizations profiteering "on behalf" of the artists. Ever since music was first played for public audiences, the artist got reimbursed in some way for that work. However, back in the days, the MPAA and RIAA weren't around to say "give me some money for doing nothing".
But if you'd like to touch on the subject of artists these days: Why aren't the MPAA and RIAA pushing new artists that actually have something new and innovative to comtribute to the varying genres? Instead they push remakes, mixes, crap, whatever you want to call the same "vanilla" stuff that is constantly being pushed on to the masses. Yeah, cuz everyone's so willing to go buy 5 new CDs that all sound pretty much the same. The world wants to be entertained and doesn't necessarily see an incredible difference between one version of a song or another. Classical music for example: Orchestra A and Orchestra B both do Beethoven's 5th. Might sound a tad different based on balance of the instrumentation, conducting style, and recording atmosphere and equipment. Only sounds different if you know what to listen for and know how to appreciate it. Your average music listener today just hears the same song twice.
/rant
Video game's RARELY have demos anymore, so when it comes to games, I download the full thing, try it out for a couple days and if I like it I always go and buy it. If I don't I delete it. being that these things cost upwards of 80 bucks now, I'm not going to buy something without playing it, or buying something based on reviews on gaming sites being that most reviews are way off.
I only download movies I already have, just to have a digital copy of them. And yes, I am entitled to my Digital copy. It says so in the EULA. (End User License Agreement) I had to download a movie last night because my BluRay player wouldn't play the old DVD.
When it comes to music, I download the Single from whatever Artist, then go on iTunes and get the whole album if I like it.
Like I said, I cant speak for everyone, but I use Torrents and the like as a test bed to get what I want from this junk filled consumer age. If I dont like something, Im not going to pay full price just to have it collect dust.
Kudos Pirate Bay!!
If he thinks they are useful then he gets the company to buy them.
There is nothing wrong with that as long as you remove the app. from your private computer.
On top of that, further development of practical torrent use is being stifled by heavy handed lawsuits whose goal is to stop torrents of any kind.
never really does much though
"they sure as heck get paid enough, if you're going to make more than 100K a year, you better be a damn good performer or in my eyes, you dont deserve your fame."
lol. One hundred thousand dollars a year after taxes is called "rent" in any decent, artistically productive urban area anywhere in the world. You can spend more than that in a year on studio time alone, and you are a noob with no clue. Most pirates are. And the more they learn, the more they realize how asinine it is to point to "free publicity" or concerts or t-shirts as a revenue stream for a bare minimum living. Just the insurance alone for a decent tour costs well over $100K. It's pointless to discuss this with people outside the industry. They talk out their ass.
I love all this talk about how "musicians can make money touring." Well sure, but if they can only make say 300 bucks a night from a local rock joint, split 5 ways is only $60 per night per person. That's $21,900 working 365 days a year. And most of that goes back into the studio to record the next album that you're only going to steal. Would you work for this kind of pittance?
@dragontsd
Information is not free. Just because its easily accessible doesn't mean you deserve to have it for nothing. The people who keep our information society running are hard-working people with mouths to feed like everyone else. I'm a journalist, and if I weren't paid for my "information," I wouldn't do it.
"Your position is that we should perpetuate the problem so you can make a living."
You weren't referring to anything I said, but here's my two cents: Damn straight. If my choice is perpetuating a "problem" that lets me keep my lights on or finding a solution that gives you something for free because, I'll choose the problem.
I don't know where you get off thinking that all content producers are rich people. Some of us do it because we like it and we can make a living doing it. But if you take away our ability to make a living doing it, what you once got for free now simply doesn't exist, because we will stop producing it.
Seriously, here some of you are advocating the fall of the RIAA and MPAA in favor of a model where artists make their money from live performance. Yeah, great deal for you. Problem is, if the artist doesn't give live performances, or can't because of the nature of his work, he's screwed. You don't seem to grasp that, though.
Maybe I will start working for free. I know, I'll give live readings of the day's news in the local coffee house. Be there at 7 tonight. Five bucks at the door.
If you expect people to pay $0.99 per song from indie artists to find 5 or 6 bands they like, then you have much more money than I do.
Finally, good luck finding small bands and indie artists on torrents. They don't have the proliferation needed to make an impact on their sales. Most bands have their Myspace pages with free streams to sample the music anyways. Torrent downloads only affect the big bands and the crap pop bands with 1 decent track on the CD and the rest is corporate rock with synthesized vocals (Nickelback, Stained, Theory of a Deadman, etc)
It's not everyday you find someone so poorly informed offering up their "wisdom" as if it were valuable to anyone at all. Slacker. Do a half dozen years on the road and live off cd sales and t-shirts and then report back to us. You must be four years old or have the IQ of a bar of soap. Uneducated, inexperienced moron. Shut up.
- by GrenadierGrim March 26, 2009 7:38 PM PDT
- The way I see it is that if I really want something I'd have paid for it, I bought every CD I wanted these past few months, but I also have downloaded things I'd never have bought in the first place, say a movie I saw the trailer for and missed in the cinema. If I wasn't going to buy it in the first place then theoretically noone's out any money :S Besides, there's nothing more satisfying than a healthy collection of boxed CDs and DVDs!
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