
IsoHunt to Shut Down as Part of Settlement With Studios - akshat
http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/isohunt-to-shut-down-as-part-of-settlement-with-studios-1200734509/
======
aroch
IsoHunt has been largely irrelevant in the US for the last several years since
they started filtering US IPs[1] and even before then was a pretty poor
selection of torrents with many displaying completely incorrect swarm data.

While I'm not personally bothered by this (from the point of view of someone
who used IsoHunt) I do find this settlement quite annoying and Dodd to be
completely abysmal as a person.

_____________

[1] [http://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-redirects-us-visitors-to-
lit...](http://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-redirects-us-visitors-to-lite-
version-100406/)

~~~
mcantelon
What are better sites for torrent search? I've actually had good luck with
ISOhunt.

~~~
dmix
Kickasstorrents is the best atm in my opinion. TPB is good but their legal
issues make them unreliable technically and I prefer non-magnet links for use
with rtorrent.

~~~
anaphor
rtorrent supports magnet links just fine if you're using a recent version (As
in one from the past year or two).

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esw
What's stunning to me is the $110 million dollar judgment. Did the site really
make that much money, or is this a decision designed to condemn the founder to
a lifetime of poverty?

~~~
_delirium
The MPAA estimates [1] that the company has $2-4 million in assets, but seems
to be asking for the higher number just to send some kind of a message.

If I'm reading correctly, it would be isoHunt, not the founder, responsible
for the judgment, so they would just declare bankruptcy, and the MPAA would
get whatever assets are left in liquidation. The founder wouldn't be
responsible for paying the remainder.

[1] [http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-says-piracy-damages-cant-be-
mea...](http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-says-piracy-damages-cant-be-
measured-131016/)

~~~
benmccann
It appears they were suing the founder, Daniel Fung, personally and in
addition to suing the company. The lower-court case is Columbia Pictures
Industries Inc. v. Fung, 06-cv-05578, U.S. District Court, Central District of
California (Los Angeles). The appeals court case is Columbia Picture
Industries v. Fung, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 10-55946 (San
Francisco).

[http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-
courts/ca9/10-...](http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-
courts/ca9/10-55946/10-55946-2013-03-21.html)

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300bps
Oh no! What is 2004 me going to do to find torrents now?

~~~
jerlundy
You won't get much at 300bps.

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znowi
MPAA doesn't get it. Costly lobbying and crushing lawsuits is not how you
defeat piracy.

This is how you do it:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0ukYf_xvgc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0ukYf_xvgc)

~~~
lallysingh
Then perhaps they're not really trying to defeat piracy? If they're trying to
justify the position of middle-men (say, recording studios in music), then the
lawsuits show them adding value. Even when distribution is no longer
difficult, thanks to the internet.

~~~
JonnieCache
Recording studios are not middlemen. That's where records get made. You can
only go so far in your bedroom before you need a room with a million dollars
of equipment in it.

That's the problem with these modern ideas about people producing content off
their own back, it's not actually possible. You can't make star trek on a
macbook pro with final cut, and you can't make a highly produced album with 10
musicians in your bedroom.

~~~
rux
You can make truly amazing music without the million dollars of equipment
though! It's an optional extra, and I would argue that we would not be
culturally less rich if those studios went out of existence. Worst case is
that we would just have equally good music with a few slightly rough edges. As
an example, I still choose Seth Lakeman's early recordings over his more
recent even though they were made on a budget of a quarter of a macbook pro.

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mcantelon
Gary Fung's not a US citizen AFAIK. What leverage do they have to force him to
pay?

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saejox
Why do they even try? It takes an hour to change the logo and host it
somewhere else.

~~~
DannyBee
So that they can later justify draconian piracy laws.

"It took us seven years to get this one site down, a site that caused us over
110 million dollars in piracy, and we couldn't even collect any of it. Within
hours of a court order, the site was back up with a new name.

<Thus, you should require ISP's to filter their traffic, or whatever> "

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jedanbik
Wow, it's like the anti-acquisition.

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NiekvdMaas
More info can be found in the MPAA press release:
[http://mpaa.org/resources/52c16680-37ab-4f0a-9756-b850fe37ca...](http://mpaa.org/resources/52c16680-37ab-4f0a-9756-b850fe37ca1c.pdf)

The shut down date os Oct 23, 2013 (in a week from now).

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Tichy
What is everybody using for piracy these days?

~~~
MrZongle2
I was hoping to go with a parrot and a speedboat off of the Horn of Africa,
but with the economy as it is I've had to settle with a parakeet and a dinghy
in the local catchwater.

~~~
saraid216
I hear they made a movie of that. Captain Phillips, I believe it's called?

~~~
MrZongle2
I'm not sure. The TV had to be scrapped in favor of an AM radio with one dial
missing.

