

Search or Piracy: isoHunt sez "we're exactly like Google" - CoryOndrejka
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/isohunt-seriously-were-exactly-like-google.ars

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rit
"Sez"? Really? I'd hope for a more intelligent default level of discourse at
HN.

And no, this isn't the article headline.

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tptacek
A 90% overlap in the files indexed by isoHunt and Google won't save them if
90+% of isoHunt's use is infringing.

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hack_edu
Prove it.

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tptacek
Prove what, that 90% of the use of isoHunt is infringing, or that if 90% of
the use of isoHunt is infringing, they'll likely be found liable?

In neither case is it my job to do so, but I'll just quickly note:

(a) The media industry had little problem convincing a judge that 90+% of
Limewire was infringing based on basic data collection and discovery.

(b) The fact that 90+% of Limewire was found, as a matter of fact, to be
infringing allowed the judge to hold them liable for copyright infringement as
a matter of law.

My only point here is that the fact that Google has 90% of the same files as
isoHunt is probably irrelevant; the amount of infringing use of Google is
probably infinitessimal compared to the lawful use of Google, and, to head off
the inevitable argument about how much Google is used to infringe, it's
_certainly_ a far safer fraction than that of isoHunt, which basically exists
almost entirely to facilitate copyright infringement.

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paul9290
This argument is weak as Google is not positioned or marketed for the purpose
of downloading copyright material and those who use it for piracy are an
extreme minority.

A search engine that is affiliate with Bit Torrent conjures up "ah i can
download the latest movie, music,etc for free." Ask yourself how many times
you used piratebay or isohunt to download the latest linux distro or ask the
crowd the same thing. Unless these sites go back in time and start their grass
roots marketing with download the latest linux and public domain materials
they always will be thought of the way to get the latest copyrighted material
for free and stick to the man. Though if they went that route you'd never
would have heard of them.

