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December 30, 2004 4:55 PM PST
LokiTorrent fights MPAA legal attack
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LokiTorrent, a Web site and index of files available through a peer-to-peer technology known as BitTorrent, posted a letter from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) on its site on Tuesday. The letter states that the MPAA has filed suit in district court in Texas against the site and demands that Loki Torrent cease linking to video files that could infringe on studios' copyrights.
"If you've ever benefited from this site or file-sharing in general, now is the time to show your support," a message on LokiTorrent stated. "We are looking at a cost of $30K per month in fees."
So far, the site has garnered nearly $18,000, or about 60 percent of the total needed for a month, according to a bar graph on the site.
The MPAA could not be immediately reached for comment.
LokiTorrent is the latest file-sharing site to run into the legal guns of the motion picture industry. Several peer-to-peer sites disappeared from the Internet earlier this month, after the MPAA filed suits against them.
Sites acting as "hubs" for BitTorrent sharing of movies, TV shows and other free downloads are the most recent focus of the copyright holders' war on peer-to-peer technology.
BitTorrent technology streamlines downloads by having a centralized server that hosts indexing information, but locates the actual data files on members' computers. Someone downloading a large file will grab the actual data from one of several members' computers that have already downloaded the file. The result is a faster download that does not overwhelm the bandwidth of any single server.
The technology has become an efficient way for companies to offer large downloads legitimately and economically. For example, Linux vendors MandrakeSoft and Xandros offer the free version of their operating system only through a BitTorrent download. By doing so, neither company has to pay large bandwidth fees when a large number of users download the software.
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P2P,
file-sharing,
download,
finance
Why? Afraid of the MPAA? No longer able to report the whole truth for fear of liability or just legal costs?
is the link to scanned pages of the letter sent 2 loki; my heart goes out to the admin and staff of lokitorrent.com