BitTorrent policies out here: Overly restrictive and weird?

[aryayush]

Hello!

I created a topic about one book publisher making a couple of books available for free download via BitTorrent a fortnight ago and it was deleted.

Similarly, a topic about ImageShack's new service which would allow people to use BitTorrent even if it is blocked or something was closed today.

Apparently, Digit doesn't "encourage or want any discussions with respect to Torrents Trackers or related news (TorrentSpy shut down or Cult of Mac/iPhone available for download at Mininova, etc..). While we know that P2P by itself is not illegal to use (and we you can ask for support should you face any issues) but we all know what you download hence such discussions are grounded here."


Wait. Come back again.

A technology forum is essentially barring all discussion related to exciting developments in what is one of the most commonly used and essential technologies around these parts?

What?!

Something doesn't sound right to me. There's nothing wrong with BitTorrent, the technology. People can put it to illegal usage but that is none of Digit's business. Sure, they shouldn't encourage or aid said usage on this forum. I accept and support that. But putting a blanket ban of anything connected to BitTorrent, even things that are perfectly legal, just does not make any sense.

If some publisher makes some good technology books legally available for free on the Internet, people ought to know about it, no matter which technology is being used. What if those PDFs had been available via direct download? Would it have made any difference in the legality of the download? No, it wouldn't.

Similarly, a service like ImageShack's is a very useful one and, for all intents and purposes, is supposed to be used for legal downloads. Sure, one can use it for illegal stuff, but that should not stop us from pointing out its existence. It's not as if not discussing it will put a stop to people using it.

If this BitTorrent "ban" stays in place, then we should put a stop to all the hyperlinks on this forum. After all, sites like RapidShare are accessed via hyperlinks and we wouldn't want to give the pirates any ideas, would we! Maybe we should also stop all discussions about music players because we know they are used to listen to illegally acquired music.

Then again, why stop at that, we should also stop all discussions about computers in the first place, because that's where it all begins. Let's make the Digit forum a place where people can just log in and wish happy birthdays to other forum members. That'll keep the purists happy and no one will be able to put information gathered from the Digit forum to any illegal use.

What a wonderful place that would be!


I know I'm exaggerating but that has been done in purpose to put the weirdness of this rule into perspective. BitTorrent != piracy. Let's stop this pretense and dogma. We all know what everyone uses BitTorrent for. There's no point in plugging cotton into your ears and running around shouting "no BitTorrent, no piracy".

By all means, it should be a moral duty of the moderators and administrators to put a stop to any discussions veering into illegal territory and to ensure that everyone knows how wrong it is to use BitTorrent and other Internet technologies to illegal use, but they shouldn't put a stop to discussions about the fascinating technologies themselves. That would just hinder our intellectual growth and I thought that's what we came here for in the first place.

Think about it and let me know your opinions. If people agree with me, I'm hoping the forum policies will be changed to accommodate more frank conversation about BitTorrent and related technologies.


Disclaimer: None of this is aimed at anyone in particular. I believe that the moderators on this forum are just doing their duty and ensuring that the forum rules are adhered to. I respect and admire that. This is a protest against the system and is not aimed at any individual(s). I hope no one takes any offense. ]

[legolas]

^ ^ what you say is noble and would be worshiped in an ideal world. But the way I see it, around 99.9% of the materials distributed over p2p is illegal. And you and I know about it.

However, when you say its free and is distributed over p2p or direct download or whatever, it shouldn't matter. I second you in that regard. Condemning a technology while its used for distribution of legal stuffs is in fact some what indirectly not helping promote the actual purpose and thereby still heading towards piracy. But then, this is just my opinion.

[ring_wraith]

@Aayush, I felt another particular rule was funny, only to be notified that the Forum admins did not care about the laws and what not. The forum is ruled by dictators. Get used to it.

Anyway, it's probably for good measure. While you [and the more experienced users] might be able to distinguish between the legal and illegal, many newbies will not. This will result in a huge increase in the amount of work of the mods, who have other stuff to do anyway.

Also, BitTorrent != piracy does not hold true for most people. And that's exactly the problem.

[Faun]

bad bad torrentspy is no longer

Ontopic: yeah many posts get deleted for the slightest context of illicit things, even when said in a manner not readily decryptable.

[aryayush]

Originally Posted by ring_wraith

Anyway, it's probably for good measure. While you [and the more experienced users] might be able to distinguish between the legal and illegal, many newbies will not. This will result in a huge increase in the amount of work of the mods, who have other stuff to do anyway.

We get hundreds of spam comments on MacUser and we have to weed them out ourselves. That does not mean we'll stop the comments feature.

Just because it will mean more work for the mods does not mean they should stop the entire line of discussion. Let's just close the forums then and the mods can chill out in their home and have cups of coffee.

Plus, it wouldn't really mean so much more work anyway.

[ring_wraith]

Originally Posted by aryayush

Just because it will mean more work for the mods does not mean they should stop the entire line of discussion. Let's just close the forums then and the mods can chill out in their home and have cups of coffee.

It's too fine a line to tread. It's like allowing people to discuss the installation of Mac OSX on a PC, which as discussed in a recent thread is possible to do legally.

For every legal application of Bittorent, there are at least a hundred illegal ones. If it was the other way around, then I'm sure the mods would allow it. Like links. For every 100 illegal links, there is one illegal one. It's unnecessary and pointless to have to deal numerous threads only to allow a few to continue.

I hope you see what I mean.

In fact I'm pretty sure this thread is going to be locked down pretty soon for debating forum policy, which is the sole discretion of the admins and mods.

[aryayush]

Originally Posted by ring_wraith

It's too fine a line to tread. It's like allowing people to discuss the installation of Mac OSX on a PC, which as discussed in a recent thread is possible to do legally.

The conclusion of that thread, after all the big bad lawyer types chimed in, was that there is no legal way to install OS X on a PC. I don't know where you arrived at that polar opposite conclusion. You might want to reread the whole thread.

[Faun]

Originally Posted by ring_wraith

In fact I'm pretty sure this thread is going to be locked down pretty soon for debating forum policy, which is the sole discretion of the admins and mods.

inevitable sermon

[aryayush]

Originally Posted by ring_wraith

For every legal application of Bittorent, there are at least a hundred illegal ones.

Really? Are there? I highly doubt that.

[victor_rambo]

I agree that the torrents policies are too restrictive. It just based on an assumption that one is going to download illegal content. But how often can that assumption come true?

If they want to "show off" how strict are they regarding "piracy", they should ban all users who voted in a thread that they are using pirated windows, just IMO.

Anyways, this forum is not run by my thinking. If this forum won't offer help on a particular issue, I know thats are lot of forums besides.

Why should I be so bothered about some forum's policies and get stuck by it, esp if I don't approve of them personally?

[aryayush]

Because once you have in excess of five thousand posts on a forum and have been a member for more than two years, you tend to have a circle of friends that you just can't bear to leave, so the only recourse is to try and improve the forum itself.

[victor_rambo]

Originally Posted by aryayush

Because once you have in excess of five thousand posts on a forum and have been a member for more than two years, you tend to have a circle of friends that you just can't bear to leave, so the only recourse is to try and improve the forum itself.

agree, but did I ask you to 'leave' ? I just meant use other forum or "that" thread .......and you thought

[drgrudge]

Let's see what you can download legally via torrents. Checking the stuffs at Legal Torrents. ****. Hardly anything interesting. The torrents are not well seeded too. I know we can d/l Linux distros, some old movies and random stuffs. IMO, 99% of what you use your P2P client is for d/ling copyright materials.

No P2P related doubts like "what are torrents?", "how to improve speed?", "problem with Azureus" are NOT deleted. You're welcome to ask for support. Only news/support related to torrents sites are grounded. There are better places in the Internet for such discussions and news.

This place is not democratic. But believe me, this forum is one of the friendliest in the Internet with high membership. Though we sound like a monarch, believe me, every one of your request is listened and acted/discussed upon on it's merit. Notice the subtle changes (like enabling the quick reply form back, phpBB to vB, etc..) done without pomp and fare.

Our policy still remains. Every torrent sites related threads/posts will be deleted at sight.

Locked.