Does anybody remember those?
On the plus side, they can be used for sending farking great files across the web lickerty split, on the down side, many people use them to send and receive premium content for free. I know a lot of people who would say that's a good thing but I happen to know a few guys in the software business who've lost a lot of money because of piracy and pretty much entirely of this nature. So there's one reason why you can expect me not to be supportive of torrents. But torrents themselves are not the problem. All they do is make it easier to do. Like putting the most valuable items in a shops front window. I know you could argue that whole 'it's not guns that kill people but it makes it easier for people to kill' thing but there are many other methods that are not policed, for example, file splitting. Instead of sending huge files in tiny packets controlled automatically by machine, you're just sending huge files in tiny packets controlled by the user. You could say that it deters buyers but there is software that will manage the downloads automatically and join them so really what is the difference. All they have done is make it more difficult for the general public to find the kit needed. And it's not really that hard to find anyway.
If you are going to get rid of torrents you'll have to get rid of file splitters, download managers, upload to download on websites, accessing PCs remotely, WLAN, PS3s, X-boxes, WiFi, game servers, mobile internet, ACID tested web browsers, the iPhone, Skype, high traffic chat room, bulletin board, forum, feed & podcast support, iPods, managed networks, fiber optics, Pipes, AJAX, inset frames, fast forwarding javascript, php, asp, cgi and all other server side scripting, hub server devices, MySQL databases, file hosts, Sun Java, C++, blutooth, WEP, wireless, cyphers, 3G phone networks, broadband network cards, Sky digiboxes, freeview digital tv, file servers, portable hard-drives, task schedulers, Yahoo messenger, portable browser toolbars, mouse & keyboard input simulators, WebTree, Google Chrome, Firefox & Internet Explorer web browsers, site watchers, function request services, dynamic bookmarking sites, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Google, 4chan, Youtube, CSS formatting from an external file, javascript from an external file, modern graphics cards, multicore processors, usb flash disk drives, voice operated computers, blue ray disks, virtual users, avatars, chat bots, advertisement rotators, web organizers, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office, disk defragmenters, operating system installation disks, ROM emulators, object orientated programming, Metal Gear Solid 4, Dot Hack, Orange Box, Garry's Mod, Steam, touch pads, pen tablets, web-cams, web email, SD cards, 6 axis controller, Wiimote, Wiiware, fingerprint scanners, MS Paint, Photoshop, Notepad, text files, HTML 1.0, Atari ZX Spectrum, Megadrive, Neo Geo, PS1, SNES, auto-books, BIOS, hot key synthesizers, disk burning software, Windows Media Player, iTunes, Windows Movie Maker, Exile (the game), Elite (the game), Dungeon Keeper, any of the Tivola games, Worms (for Amiga), Lemmings (the game), a retro point and click game but not Diskworld, tape drive, Norton Anti-virus, Eye toy, any Singstar, BT Home-hub, combination scanning and printing device, most modern joysticks for PC with more than 1 button, USB WildTap, Sound neutralizer, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, any Fight Night for X-box, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, The Sims, original series Petz for PC, Simpson's Road Rage, My Sims, Ghost in the Shell (movie) on DVD, Linux, One Look, Vigilante 8, Carmageddon TDR 2000 (for PC), Halflife (for PC), Doom, Quake, Adventure Quest and copies, Fantastic Contraption, Toribash, Doomsday, Adobe Flash, infinitely recursive calls, some models of Japanese toilets, radio towers, Tamagochi, Furbies, Pin recessive keyboards, laser keyboards, laser mice, the Nintendo Power Glove, the PS2 steering wheel and peddle set, the PS2 light gun, Sony Walkman, Bounceware, credit card readers, a LAN, PS2 memory card reader, a Lego Mind Storms Robotic Invention kit, Battle Chess, MUGEN, Morrowind (for PC), all AVGs, Nintendo DSi, Dreamcast, Apple 2, a fax machine, laser pen and infrared sensor, flat USB to USB wire with SelfDrive, Cyriak's No More Memory on unaltered MP3, War of the World (original) on tape, 2XL memory tapes, punch card reader, Bar-code Battler, floppy disk drive of any size, zip disk drive, MSW Logo, Crocodile Clips, multiple tier logic circuit development software, the Falling Sand game, wireless digital watch, a pulse powered watch, scientific calculator and many more, because every last one of these can be abused to download huge amounts of data automatically without mixing them.
Do you know why they wont do this? Because this would make them look like they were taking away all our liberties. Which they are, just only picking on the ones everybody already associates with criminal activity, and not the others which are not. But torrents are a tool and can be used as a force for good. For example, a site I visit called Team Artail had a huge art archive that was going to be removed. The moderator put the files in a torrent and the members downloaded it in a matter of days. The alternative would be for everyone to download over a hundred zip files, which doesn't bare thinking about. Thanks to torrents, I got all the art in a matter of hours and not weeks and all I had to do was click 1 button and do my own thing not click several hundred buttons and have to keep going back to it every 2 minutes to see if it had finished yet.
This is how torrents can be used to make life better for everyone. The problem is not torrents. The problem is that the internet is to vast and localized for the authorities to control, and if they centralized it so they could monitor everybody, people would complain and there'd still be a black market internet they couldn't control. The illusion is that by controlling the major method they stop it but all they do is deflect some of it away from the general public. For a start, there is an easier way to do that, Google. Police Google and all the sites with illegal activity vanish. Even just by suggesting you're going to police it you would stop the majority. The risk is that it would require you to police all search engines and that's way beyond their capability.
Basically you're screwed either way. Either police the internet removing everyone's basic human rights or make it look like you're making a difference when actually you've done very little effect to anything. I see they went with the latter.
Anywise, you might be wondering why I'm talking about torrents. Basically we've found some software called 'Always Share', which uses torrents and all those ways mentioned above to upload and download huge files. Be warned though, you can use this software legally but using to acquire or traffic premium data is illegal. Anywell, we've got a little shrine dedicated to it on Dooms if you wanna look.
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To clarify, I do not use torrents
Now stop asking
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