Canadian file-sharing website IsoHunt shutting down after lengthy legal dispute
A Vancouver programmer has announced he’s shutting down IsoHunt, one of the most popular file-sharing websites on the internet.
“It’s sad to see my baby go,” reads a blog post written by Gary Fung. “But I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 10.5 years of isoHunt has been a long journey by any business definition, and forever in Internet startup time.”
He continues: “I’ve done the best I could pushing the social benefits of BitTorrent and file sharing, the searching and sharing of culture itself, but it’s time for me to move on to new software ideas and projects.”
For more than seven years, Fung has been on the defensive side of a legal battle with the Motion Picture Association of America. According to CBC News, he’s now settled that dispute and agreed to pay a fine of $110 million.
Another blog post written by Fung and marked with today’s date states that he will not be commenting on the details of his settlement.
At the time of writing (3 p.m. on October 18, 2013), IsoHunt registered more than 76 million active users downloading and uploading 13.8 million torrent files.
Torrents contain metadata that facilitate the rapid transfer of virtually anything digital, including movies, television shows, music, ebooks, and computer software.
Major entertainment corporations have long argued that websites that provide search and connection services for torrents facilitate the illegal sharing of copyrighted material. Defenders of BitTorrent distribution systems emphasize that torrents are used to transmit every sort of information, and that copyrighted works only constitute a minority of what’s shared.
In a January 22, 2013 posting at IsoHunt.com (the last message published there), the site’s administrator reflects on its longevity and the future of digitial information.
“When I started isoHunt during engineering school, I truly did not think I'd be working on it for 10 years, but here I am. Napster, Kazaa, Suprnova, LokiTorrent. Big names have come and gone, and the Internet has changed. One would think we the people of the Internet are losing to the copyright cartels, but I think different.”
It continues: “I see musicians and filmmakers slowly but surely warming up to new possibilities of Internet distribution and promotion, abandoning notions of "1 download = 1 lost sale" in the physical age. Ideals of the Free Software movement and Creative Commons will face new challenges with 3D printed copies of physical objects, replicated from copyrightable digital designs. We are moving into the world of science fiction. Will copyright or even money be relics like in Star Trek, where all material scarcity and wants are gone, replicators can make anything needed, and holodecks can create any world imaginable? Too utopian perhaps, but if someone from 100 years ago is to look at technologies we have now, a lot of it maybe construed as magic too.”
Comments
33 Comments
GJ Tryon
Oct 19, 2013 at 1:25pm
What is it about these parasites and their journo apologists? Does it occur to the journos burbling about this leech's " social benefits"(see: http://www.straight.com/life/bittorrent-keeps-file-sharing-going-strong) how he came to agree to pay a $110 million fine? Let me spell it out: this Fungus was making money, BIG MONEY, off other people's investments and labor. Do the math: 76 million active users@ $1/month=!!! "Yeah," comes the dopey rejoinder, "but they're big execs, they can afford it." At what point in a person's income level does it become acceptable to start stealing from them? If you're a thief and a slaver and a sponge, so be it, but spare us the silly and self-serving appeals along the lines of "the future is free." What's past is prologue and Isohunt is history.
Buzzbox
Oct 20, 2013 at 11:13am
@GJ Tryon
Isohunt didn't charge any money to use it.
RDSmith
Oct 20, 2013 at 12:35pm
It shows the power of big money. Torrents can be but are not necessarily related to piracy. There are innumerable legitimate uses of torrents, but big money has the power to kill all other uses to protect their interests. Their rights thwart everybody else's. Equality does not exist. Corruption rules the courts. People can drive drunk, but we do not ban cars because of it, because that would be unfair to those that use cars responsibly (it is called common sense). It is the same thing with torrents. You do not point to misuse and then ban all legitimate use because of it, it is ridiculous.
Joe Reid
Oct 20, 2013 at 12:41pm
@GJ Tryon: Isohunt / Napster marked our arrival into the digital age, at a time when the media moguls were selling consumers a dead business model and hoping they keep buying junk. Everyone kept saying that their business models were broken and self-serving but no one paid attention until Blockbuster and HMV went bust. And I for one couldn't be happier. No more late fees, no more buying the same album 10 times, no more waiting in the queue, and no more putting up with rude customer service. I already buy all my media digitally and I can't wait to watch new releases on my 65" TV rather than driving to a cinema and buying over-priced snacks.
Hollywood movies are trash and not worth paying for.
Oct 20, 2013 at 1:58pm
I wouldn't mind paying for a GOOD movie, but there aren't any! Same with US music (eg Miley Cyrus) - all trash.
Realist
Oct 20, 2013 at 2:50pm
@GY Tryon
The only reason sites like ISOhunt exist is because the media industry is too slow to adapt to technology. If they made it simple, and affordable to access their media they could be reaping record growth and profits, but instead they try to charge $60 for a Season of How I Met Your Mother, or $15 for a movie ticket. Sorry, but it's there own fault for not being able to adapt to the times.
informed
Oct 20, 2013 at 4:18pm
to the idiot who thinks isohunt will pay 110 million hey jackass that's part of the agreement an admittance of guilt if you wish no one has or will pay any money its a gesture to scare potential copycats remember limewire and that hundred million win ...not a penny has changed hands and no one is going to jail and not a penny will ever change hands then or now.
Loved isohunt!
Oct 20, 2013 at 4:18pm
That sucks it is shutting down.
Bob_California
Oct 20, 2013 at 4:23pm
Then where does he get the $110,000,000 to pay the fine ?
informed
Oct 20, 2013 at 4:27pm
and by the way i used isohunt for years never payed a cent and if you wanted to pay a dollar a month to remove banner ads it was your choice or you could just install adblocker plus for free and never see the banner ads anyway ....and what have you offered the world for free lately other than your opinion ? ...and as my pappy said opinions are like a$$holes everyone's got one and they all stink !