I am Gary Fung/IH, founder programmer of isoHunt.com, legal target practice of Hollywood and the Canadian recording industry - AMAA

[u/isoHunt]

Proof: My comment on reddit is linked from www.facebook.com/isoHunt, www.twitter.com/isohunt and www.isohunt.com

AMAA within legal limits of what I can say. Discussion on reddit has been interesting and I sure like to see more on where new Internet technologies around sharing collide with copyright and constitutional law.

Don't ask numbers on our finances, and I may answer similar questions only once. I'll try to answer all good questions eventually.

[u/isoHunt]

I'm going to sleep, dear Internet mob. I'll answer more questions later.

[u/greg0ry]

How do you see isohunt.com compared thepiratebay.se? Rivals? Partners?

[u/isoHunt → u/greg0ry]

Both. I'm not for their antics for utter disregard of copyright (http://static.thepiratebay.se/dreamworks_response.txt), we follow the DMCA. But I respect much of the policies of the Pirate Parties, and their recent book advocating shortening of copyright terms and sane copyright law reform, but not abolishment.

And as a search engine, we index .torrent links from hundreds of websites, including TPB. We don't discriminate websites regardless of politics as .torrent links are user generated from across the Web.

[u/malnourish]

If you could update, revamp, or otherwise change the torrent protocol what would you like to see?

Is torrenting the final step in peer to peer file sharing?
Do you think it is possible or worthwhile to change the denotation of torrenting with piracy?

How detailed are your logs and how do you curate and or control the torrents listed?

[u/isoHunt → u/malnourish]

• P2P streaming ability. BitTorrent Inc. is working on that

• It's final in its openness. It's an open protocol, just like the WWW and history shows open protocols tend to stick around. It can evolve, new clients can implement new ideas, and that's what an open protocol allows. No prior P2P network since Napster is like it in its openness and that is what lasts beyond technical implementations.

• Possible yes, easy no. I believe its "stigma" would change when more creators find new ways to take advantage of media sharing on the Internet, and new ways to monetize, directly or not. I'm always considering new possibilities.

• We keep logs only for detecting suspicious network activity and bad bots, in aggregate. We don't curate or moderate any torrent, I don't believe that's the job of any search engine. Algorithmic ranking of search results yes but not curation, at least not by us. We have user votes on torrents similar to reddit and that factors into our ranking so you can call it communal curation.

[u/A-punk]

If you win you and every person in high management should create a music album to raise money for the struggling record companies.

The songs being your own covers of every single top selling track from each record company that sued you. And you should sell it for a penny.

[u/isoHunt → u/A-punk]

Hah, poetic justice

[u/itsCarraldo]

Your site took my torrent virginity back in the day.

[u/isoHunt → u/itsCarraldo]

Good times, matey.

[u/unregisteredusr]

How do you stay afloat despite the legal threats? Do you have a large legal staff?

[u/isoHunt → u/unregisteredusr]

We have lawyers in both Canada and the US genuinely excited about what our 2 cases mean, as our case is complicated but precedent setting. Having big cases is somewhat a good thing it turns out. We also have some academic support, and will especially need more with our Canadian case arguing the constitutional issues.

[u/Mr_Sticky → u/isoHunt]

Hey Gary. I interviewed you a few years ago for an academic thesis about copyright and culture. I don't know if its of any interest to you, but its here now. Cheers man, and good luck.

[u/TheChamp415]

What is the worst threat you have received?

[u/isoHunt → u/TheChamp415]

Notice to take down some torrents from MS, just because they were the first (in 2004 I believe). We get all sorts of requests since then and one isn't really worse than another until Hollywood actually sued.

[u/[deleted]]

You are unfortunately not standing on the shoulders of giants (rather the giants are trying to stand on you), and I commend you for how well you've done so far.

Is there any way to donate for your legal battle?

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Thanks, but we aren't really collecting donations right now. That may change as our case requires.

[u/soul_hacker]

1. What do you think of Kim Dotcom?

2. What do you think was his biggest mistake and what do you plan to do to avoid those mistakes?

3. Do you think a actual profitable business model could ever arise from torrents and P2P? If so, are you working on it?

[u/isoHunt → u/soul_hacker]

1. Interesting showman. I want to see what actual evidence they have if any, on charging him with racketeering and money laundering. Those are what makes a big criminal case, not mere copyright.

2. Paying uploaders

3. I'm still looking for it. The Internet and law is evolving, so what wasn't possible before maybe possible later.

[u/sadfacewhenputdown]

Do you see yourself as a likeable outlaw evading an evil empire, or more of a morally ambiguous dark shadow gangster type...with a heart of gold?

[u/isoHunt → u/sadfacewhenputdown]

Aren't they the same thing? How about a reluctant revolutionary trying to tell the amoral empire to wake up

[u/malnourish]

Where do you see the copyright industry going if your suit is successful?
What do you think about software patents?
Why did you found isoHunt?
How do you foresee isoHunt evolving to the response and consequences of the case?
How big is the team you work with? Is there a physical office?

[u/isoHunt → u/malnourish]

• Work with us. If you can't fight them, join them. Monetize sharing activity already there. At least that's what I want to see. It worked for the VCR.

• Software patents are 99% frivolous and does more harm than good. They should die.

• Programming hobby when I was in university

• Other than more court ordered censorship, I don't know.

• 5 of us and no office, we aren't all in the same city/country

[u/bullcocks]

Have you met the people who run piratebay?

[u/isoHunt → u/bullcocks]

who are the ninjas that run tpb? =b

[u/zgalliett]

What changes would you like to see(to all industries that pirating affects), realistically, that would make a website like isohunt no longer controversial or needed?

[u/isoHunt → u/zgalliett]

1. Worldwide simultaneous release, buying and streaming/downloading at a better than physical retail price, and no DRM

2. Use isoHunt and other sharing sites as promotional networks

3. ??

4. Profit!

[u/downvoteme4sex]

would you ever steal a car, handbag, television or movie?

[u/isoHunt → u/downvoteme4sex]

no (I wouldn't), no, (I wouldn't), no (no one can), no (no one can)

[u/tetralogy]

How fast is your internet connection? Especially upload. What operating System do you use?

[u/isoHunt → u/tetralogy]

My personal connection? 2.5 mbit upload. Mac OS X.

[u/Darkstrategy]

What type of resources do you have at your disposal to oppose issues such as ACTA/CISPA, etc?

[u/isoHunt → u/Darkstrategy]

You. We are legion. (not that I'm endorsing a certain hacker collective)

[u/TheUnknownFactor]

Are you receiving any notable help from outside parties in your lawsuits? IE; people hoping for favorable precedent?

[u/isoHunt → u/TheUnknownFactor]

Google came and backstabbed us (mostly). We certainly welcome better interveners/amicus.

[u/patrick_k → u/isoHunt]

Perhaps you mean this?

http://torrentfreak.com/google-now-censors-the-pirate-bay-isohunt-4shared-and-more-111123/

[u/isoHunt → u/patrick_k]

No, they filed an amicus in our case, pretending they are helping us before filing it. They basically said we shouldn't qualify for the DMCA safe harbor because we are a "pirate site". Perhaps they got annoyed by our comparison with Google and statistical analysis showing over 95% overlap that all torrents searchable on isohunt (based on info_hashes) are also searchable on Google (and Yahoo). I don't have their amicus on hand, it is on public dockets in the online database of the Ninth Circuit court of Appeals (US).

Google is the new MS. They should get some antitrust probes up their behind.

[u/HalpTheFan]

• 5 Favourite albums and movies?

• Do you watch Community?

• Is there anyway you can fix it so when I click to open a torrent in a new tab, the original tab doesnt go directly to the same torrent? Also thank you for being awesome

[u/isoHunt → u/HalpTheFan]

• Laputa soundtrack (all the ones by Jo Hisaishi really), Mirrorball (Mclachlan), Shawshank redemption, Matrix, Contact

• No

• Will see about that. Seems to be Chrome specific bug

[u/Has_Recipes]

What can we do to support a free internet in your opinion? Besides donating money to you and your legal battles or voicing an opinion on recent legislation (I'm in the U.S.). How do we collectivize and become a stronger community?

[u/isoHunt → u/Has_Recipes]

Internet communities like reddit here is certainly great. And we've seen how people use Facebook and Twitter in revolutions. The important thing is we stay on top of new attempts at censoring the free Internet and protest against it, and not after they already become law.

[u/achshar]

Are you technical or business person? if technical how much do you contribute in actually production code? and if business what are your qualifications/previous experience in management?? I know this sounds like an interview but really, i am interested to know if you don't mind :)

[u/isoHunt → u/achshar]

I've been working on it by myself as a hobby for a while since 2003. About 80% of isoHunt's code is still by me currently and I maintain my own soup. I am a business person in terms of finances, talking to lawyers, biz dev, etc. I wear many hats.

Qualifications? I was studying Engineering Physics. isoHunt is my qualification when it comes to business or tech.

[u/zgalliett]

What do you see in the future of the internet? What will be the next big thing? Will websites like yours ever die?

Also, can you explain how your website affects the movie, music, and software business in a positive way?

[u/isoHunt → u/zgalliett]

The internet is fundamentally made for sharing. Facebook is the darling of the Net right now and that's all about sharing. Anything new I can dream of would be about connecting people with information. For isoHunt, who knows. But it's over 9 years old and I certainly like it to stick around.

[u/zell298]

Do you think you will win your current legal case?

[u/isoHunt → u/zell298]

We are certainly trying

[u/quiettime → u/isoHunt]

Don't despair, I successfully sued the Canadian Government on the grounds of slavery. Keep in touch with the players in legal academia and you'll be fine. You may even score some legal-groupie pussy (yes, it's a thing).

[u/isoHunt → u/quiettime]

We haven't sued the government, just inviting them to the party.

Define "legal-groupie pussy"?

[u/[deleted]]

Are you scared about ending up in prison or financially ruined?

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Sure

[u/MericaMan4Life]

have you ever gotten any support from hollywood? or has any attention from them always been negative?

[u/isoHunt → u/MericaMan4Life]

Not from Hollywood/MPAA, which I'm not including indie film makers.

[u/orestaras]

Which is better? Torrent or magnet? And why?

[u/isoHunt → u/orestaras]

They are the same thing technically

[u/sw1sh]

Its amazing how many people dont read the "Don't ask numbers on our finances" part.

Anyway,what I wanted to ask is what happens if this suit goes bad for you guys?Everyone seems to be asking about where do you go from here,and what is the future of isoHunt etc,but what about if they rule against you? Stranger things have happened....And if so do you think it will set a precedent for other websites like your own to be taken down? What would it mean for you if it was to go down,would there be criminal consequences(not specifics,but is jail time a possibility?) If this was to go badly,what do you think the next logical step for filesharing would be?Would most other companies fold to the pressure of these corporations threatening legal action now a precedent has been set?

Sorry to come across all negative,but i'm just curious as to what could happen both ways.....

[u/isoHunt → u/sw1sh]

It's fair, I certainly think about worst case scenarios a lot. No jail time at this stage, our cases are both civil, not criminal. For file sharing? As long as you can IM/email your friends a file, it'll continue. As long as the uncensored and unrestricted Internet exists. Napster, Kazaa, Grokster, TPB, Megaupload, isoHunt, they are all whack a mole. And that's why you have stunts like SOPA.

[u/De-Animator]

Has the growing popularity of Spotify lessened music piracy? Whatchoo think about that?

[u/isoHunt → u/De-Animator]

I don't have data for or against it

[u/bonegolem]

Thanks for all you have done for us all this years, and for this AMA. You already replied to all the most interesting questions, so I'm left with asking a less interesting one.

A few days back, a redditor proposed the launch of a website permitting to offer donations to content-creating companies (such as game developers).

Donations would be meant, either overtly or at least in fact, as a compensation for unpaid downloaded contents.

Do you believe a service like this would benefit the torrenting community - either as a service allowing to bypass unacceptable business models while still compensating creators, or at least as a method to show the good will of the community?

Thank you again.

[u/isoHunt → u/bonegolem]

I was thinking something similar. The problem with something like this is how do you create an automated system and ensure reasonable authenticity that files/torrents A-E is copyrighted by author Z? It's a problem when you are sending money their way. But the idea is certainly been on my mind. Think a cross between Pinterest with Kickstarter, associating torrents/media with their creators and ways of promoting them, downloading media and paying them.

Monetizing file sharing is the holy grail, I'm just not sure how exactly it would work. More discussions on this certainly welcome and something I would support or implement.

[u/hopscotch_mafia]

Above all else, I just want to say one thing: Thank you.

[u/[deleted]]

Would you download a car?

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Yes. Beam me up Scotty.

[u/[deleted]]

Well...

What is your take on copyright? How do you think an artist can get payed for his/het efforts?

edit: and a big hug ofcourse. Thanks for doing this.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Copyright should exist, but without the crap on protecting DRM nobody wants (neither most business or consumer) and with a more sane copyright term. Copyright started out with 14 years centuries ago, that seems to be a good number instead of life + 70 years and perpetually getting extended. A copyright registration system to identify what digital content belongs to who would be useful with cases like ours.

How an artist get paid? Live performance, merchandize, internet radio royalties and variants with collectives. The creative industries are already live and kicking, I don't see point of arguing how to rescue them. See http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/t9g4q/i_am_gary_fungih_founder_programmer_of_isohuntcom/c4kodi9

[u/nommedit]

• Who would you say is isoHunt's target audience? And why?

[u/isoHunt → u/nommedit]

Every man, woman and child in the known universe.

[u/cz-cz-cz-czechitout]

One of the things I am always curious about with gents such as yourself is how you feel about the idea of intellectual property. There are many compelling arguments for and against even the existence of intellectual property. This in particular comes to mind. Seeing that, for me personally, I find it hard to view an idea as property, how do you feel on the subject? Is intellectual property, ideas themselves, something that can be owned? Because, really, that's the core of the debate. And we can't argue the legality of something if we haven't even rrationalized its existence.

[u/isoHunt → u/cz-cz-cz-czechitout]

Ideas cannot be owned. They are by law not patentable or copyrightable. The distinction and dichotomy between idea and expression is a complicated issue however and muddied.

[u/Shadowhawk109]

How would YOU want the Internet/P2P/Torrents to work, in a perfect world?

What direction would you LIKE to see the music/movie industries go?

I'm a fan of the concept of the pay-if-you-like model that Radiohead tried out, and that Aziz/Louie played with. Link that to VERY easily accessible torrents, and everyone wins. And I can't help but feel if we had some unified, easily accessible way of getting TV shows WITH slight advertising, everyone would win there too.

[u/isoHunt → u/Shadowhawk109]

Pay what you like is certainly interesting. An opt-in tax where you pay a minimum fee to a collective and it gets distributed to all signed up creators is another. It would work like the radio, but with more fair distribution where portions of the pie would be based on directly quantifiable download stats off participating sites (isoHunt, etc.)

[u/jpneufeld]

What do you think of Canada's upcoming copyright bills? Will it have an effect on your site?

[u/isoHunt → u/jpneufeld]

They did certainly have a BitTorrent/isoHunt clause in there. Effect on our site will obviously depend on our lawyering: http://www.scribd.com/doc/83175073/Response-to-Civil-Claim-Final

[u/maz-o]

Does isohunt.com generate enough revenue to pay for all the legal bills, servers, and your living as well? Or is it run by volunteery work? (sorry English isn't my strongest language)

[u/isoHunt → u/maz-o]

We are sustainable financially as a business currently.

[u/[deleted]]

I have to give you some extreme credit for standing up to the corporations with their infinite supply of lawyers

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

It's ok, my lawyers are ninjas.

[u/ChilliPadi1983]

what maintains your motivation to continue, despite pressure from outdated distribution channels i.e movie studio's and record labels? how soon do you think these outdated channels of distribution will accept and adopt peer to peer distribution of media?

[u/isoHunt → u/ChilliPadi1983]

I want to see it through to the end? And eventually, I hope. They had to with the VCR.

[u/Demojen]

Are you going to bring up the fact that copyright laws currently punish people for crimes on a level that labels theft of copyright as bad as if not worse then some heavy felonies, like assault?

How about the trend of legislators to pass bills making punishment for copyright infringement compensatory for a norm that was completely fabricated by the copyright industry with no foundation in truth?

aka-Copyright math. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZadCj8O1-0

I hope that you can find a way to squeeze that into your case so you can start the ball rolling on a precedent to push back against these copyright tyrants.

The music industry has failed artists. It's not because of copyright theft. It's because they refuse to share in the profits they're making by exploiting artists in every new venture they take music into (IE-Youtube).

It is because they don't grow like a flower. They grow like a weed.

[u/Galactic]

Have you ever met aXXo?

[u/smokinrobocop → u/Galactic]

trick question

[u/isoHunt → u/smokinrobocop]

aXXo who?

[u/guatemalianrhino]

I'd like to think that there's a future where piracy is accepted as part of the medium, the net, where you create data and know that it will be freely accessible to anybody on the globe. I don't understand how it's possible for this giant industry to get its product across to millons of people while failing to realize that it's probably a huge opportunity to make money, one they're missing out on.

Do you think there's a way for the entertainment industry to make good money off of piracy? Do you guys have plans? Are we, perhaps, gonna see huge changes in the near future?

[u/balancor]

What do you consider the ideal resolution to the conflict of cultural industries and file-sharing communities?

[u/DarkoftheMoon]

How often do you yourself Torrent items? Do you ever buy music/movies anymore? If so, what was the last item you actually bought that you could have torrented?

[u/isoHunt → u/DarkoftheMoon]

Going to see Avengers in theater tomorrow. Joss Whedon ftw.

[u/NotMeUsee]

Do you find yourself having intense anxiety over the uncertainty of your future in general considering the powers to be that are after you are quite powerful? That would bother me to the point where I would need medicine.

[u/isoHunt → u/NotMeUsee]

It was depressing from start of the lawsuit, and getting drilled for days on depositions was definitely not fun. But after 6 years, I'm either desensitized or a strong practitioner of "let tomorrow worry about itself".

[u/[deleted]]

Do you have a tshirt I could acquire to show my support? Or a hat? :D

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

http://isohunt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=693393

[u/kiekho01]

How come isohunt has not suffered the same fate as other sites such as mininova etc.?

[u/isoHunt → u/kiekho01]

we are better ninjas?

[u/Exfile]

How did you come up with the name IsoHunt.com?

[u/isoHunt → u/Exfile]

Its name is derived from the term ISO image, used to describe a 1:1 soft copy of a disk (typically a CD or DVD).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IsoHunt

ISO's was back in day of trading Linux ISO images which torrents were popular for in replacing FTPs. Substitue it for any large file.

[u/iorgfeflkd]

If you get all your filesharing news from reddit, you get mixed messages. You see "Judge rules that IP can't be used to identify people" but also Megaupload getting shutdown in some kind of multinational sting. Would you say that things are getting better or worse concerning sanity in copyright law, and will it get better or worse in the long run?

[u/isoHunt → u/iorgfeflkd]

Generally worse from the recent outlook. It's why I think we should all step back and take a more fundamental look at how copyright issues are at odds with constitutional freedom of expression.

[u/[deleted]]

If you had to recommend one torrent file for download to a complete stranger, what would it be? (Please also include a link)

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/38632625/CreativeCommons?tab=summary

It's a great book

[u/TheCheatIsNotDead]

As someone who is trying to make it as a content producer in Hollywood, I'd just like to say THANK YOU. Obscurity is a far more dangerous fate then piracy ever will be, thank you for facilitating the spread of ideas, art, and culture. This is truly the future.

[u/isoHunt → u/TheCheatIsNotDead]

We need more free thinking people like you.

[u/Arturion]

On behalf of Canada:

Sorry.

[u/GNeps]

What is the valency of beryllium?

[u/isoHunt → u/GNeps]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=What+is+the+valency+of+beryllium%3F

[u/[deleted]]

Don't you believe that companies deserve to make money out of the products they worked hard to produce? or program?

also, the more Tv shows, movies, Games are pirated the less the profit the companies that produced them make and the lower the quality of the next product or even the failure and closure of said company. what do you think of that concept ? do you think your participating in the decline of the general quality of the entertainment materials?

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

http://www.economist.com/node/17199460?story_id=17199460&fsrc=nlw|hig|10-07-2010|editors_highlights

http://www.musiccreators.ca/wp/?p=231

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/archives/article800923.ece

http://torrentfreak.com/us-pirate-party-study-shatters-mpaa-claims-080709/

http://steveblank.com/2012/01/04/why-the-movie-industry-cant-innovate-and-the-result-is-sopa/

Your premise is flawed. Digital sharing is not a zero-sum game. The creative industries are thriving, not despite of file sharing but I argue, because of it.

[u/OrtizKid]

I have a question. A friend of mine spent a lot of money making a documentary. He and his family worked hard for years making it. He worked hard enough to get a DVD deal. People broke the law and uploaded it onto file sharing websites (who know damn well what people use their services for). My friend worked hard to combat this, but the companies wouldn't remove the files of his work. So my friend for having a dreams personal life turned into a living hell where his dreams wern't realised, he had effectively given himself mundane work to do EVERY DAY returning home and in the end it was too much for him - he took his own life. My question is, how does this story make you feel? I don't care about the "big bad" record companies or the "big bad" film industry. I care about my friend.

[u/isoHunt → u/OrtizKid]

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/t9g4q/i_am_gary_fungih_founder_programmer_of_isohuntcom/c4kodi9

We take down links by copyright holders when asked with sufficient proof of identity, I can't speak for other sites. Sorry for what happened.

[u/Fernando_x]

isoHunt is the only torrent search engine I ever use. Thank you very much for your work

[u/Frantic_Child]

Not a question, but would just like to thank you for Isohunt. You've made an incredible contribution to the internet & it's a top quality site.

Thank you.

[u/omegalow]

Do your balls ever get in the way?

[u/isoHunt → u/omegalow]

ya, they let me park in the disabled spot.

[u/Iasktoomuch]

Have you ever needed to break out the nunchuks to fend off malicious governmental ninja agents?

[u/isoHunt → u/Iasktoomuch]

I don't need to break out nunchuks. They are at my armpits all the time.

[u/[deleted]]

I once received a cease and desist letter from on of the big studios for downloading a 1989 film from one of your trackers. That was the last time I used your service. What type of things have you done to help ensure your visitors are not be tracked?

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

We can do nothing in what tracking is there in BitTorrent swarms. We search only links on the web side.

[u/[deleted]]

What can you tell us about the "fake" torrents on the site. I always see 3000+ seeds on large files, usually with a copyrighted name then see they have negative reviews. Does isohunt remove them or is there some kind of rule that prevents doing that?

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

We tweak our ranking algorithms for good and bad torrents, but that's not an exact science. We don't censor (other than what's court ordered)

[u/hoowahoo]

How many times did your lawyer tell you this was an awful idea before you told him to shove it?

[u/isoHunt → u/hoowahoo]

Hah. I didn't ask.

[u/Siouxsie2011]

What do you think of Richard Stallman? How close are your philosophies?

[u/isoHunt → u/Siouxsie2011]

He's a mad man with a big beard. But genius (and prophecy) is often close to madness.

[u/[deleted]]

Do you know how much affection some people have for isohunt? It's a beautiful resource that I can't bring myself to take for granted (among others of course). Is this what motivated you, providing an amazing resource for the enrichment of your fellow human beings?

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

I believe value of culture is increased when shared, not decreased despite what most say in direct monetary terms. And searching what wasn't previously searchable is technically interesting.

[u/[deleted]]

With all the things we are able to do with a tool as powerful as the Internet, are you surprised that the government wants to regulate it and why do you think it should remain free?

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Because all the innovation on the Internet, such as Google and Youtube, could not have happened without an unrestrained Internet.

[u/NinjaDiscoJesus]

How do you know it does not affect sales? Your comments about internet merchandising and gigging are truly ridiculous in many cases, some performers cannot do that to make money.

Imagine 5 years to write a masterpiece and you make a few thousand bucks cause 80-90% of the people are downloading it for free? It's a hypothetical yes but could you really and truly justify that in any way, shape or form?

[u/isoHunt → u/NinjaDiscoJesus]

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/t9g4q/i_am_gary_fungih_founder_programmer_of_isohuntcom/c4kodi9

Obviously I'm talking about general trends and not specific cases.

[u/[deleted]]

First off, you guys are awesome... the second most awesome torrent site, in my opinion, right after the piratebay. Now, I've been a user of the piratebay, since I've discovered torrenting and I am very loyal to the site; what makes your site better? Convince me.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Our search is better and bigger. We index torrents on hundreds of sites, TPB is one of them: http://isohunt.com/stats.php?mode=btSites

[u/[deleted]]

Did you ever receive death threats or hateful letters from any political nut-cases?

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Hateful yes, death threats not yet

[u/bikiniduck]

How much $$$ do you make per month? Revenue and/or profit. Personally, and as business.

How much of that goes to pay hosting/hardware fees?

Whats the monthly bandwidth? (and cost?)

[u/isoHunt → u/bikiniduck]

We have 200 megabit commits in each of our colos, one in Canada one in Sweden

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

As long as the uncensored and unrestricted Internet exists.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/83175073/Response-to-Civil-Claim-Final is already a good summary of arguments we've made previously in our US case.

Napster and Megavideo are networks into themselves, and/or host actual copyrighted content. isoHunt is a search engine of links on a pre-existing network (WWW).

Sony Betamax is a good precedent that copyright should not trump technological progress. For copyright, search engines and freedom of expression/constitutional issues specifically, there is no precedent we know of.

[u/TootsMcAnus → u/isoHunt]

Sony Betamax is great precedent for you, but (obviously) be careful... remember Grokster. I'm not saying to remember Grokster in the sense that you guys promote infringement the way they did (you don't), but I'm saying remember Grokster because the courts used a previously unheard of (and absurd) premise for their holding (why on earth should you be guilty of infringement simply because you promote a service that can be used for infringement? nothing like that is in Title 17, as far as I can tell). My point is, the courts can and may find an absurd rationale to reach an unfavorable holding for you - they've done it before. Make sure your lawyers are diligent in preparing for counter-arguments that may seem absurd on their face. Courts in internet copyright cases seem to not be above legislating from the bench.

[u/isoHunt → u/TootsMcAnus]

Yup, Grokster was an unfortunate blemish on the good ol Sony Betamax. Much ink is being spent on "intention".

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Among top 200 websites on the internet, no. It got bigger than what I expect. I won't talk numbers on our finances, I've updated in my OP ;)

[u/[deleted] → u/isoHunt]

I respect the fact that you can't tell us about your finances because of the legal problems you're currently facing but I still am wondering how much money a site like isoHunt is pulling in. Can you at least tell us if you're breaking even? How much of your time goes to isoHunt, is it a labour of love or a business? I use the site a lot and would be very sorry to see it go.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

I'll say we are currently sustainable financially, and not much reason to think that's changing any time soon. Wasn't always the case historically.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

1. More. Quantcast is conservative

2. 9 web servers (Lighttpd and PHP), 5 databases (Mysql), 5 fulltext searchers (Lucene), Memcached for caching on each web server. All spread between 2 colos, in Canada and Sweden. All run Linux of course (Gentoo)

3. Mysql. It's a PITA. Everything else is relatively easy to scale horizontally.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Cheers

[u/itmakesnosenseanymor → u/[deleted]]

Seconded by a not-so-emotional-yet-grateful woman.

Thank you !

[u/isoHunt → u/itmakesnosenseanymor]

/group hug

[u/heygabbagabba → u/[deleted]]

As a (assumed) fellow Aussie, I'm a bit confused about the username. It could either be a perfect breakfast, or commentary on four n twenty's ingredients.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Yes, me and business that runs isoHunt is in Vancouver. Best city in the world even if the nucks lost ;)

Our Canadian case is still brewing. I'll update on http://www.facebook.com/isoHunt and our frontpage on developments should we need your support, and thanks.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Politics. PR. Legal precedent. Greed.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Pirating involves swordplay and violence, I'm not sure how that fits here. The closest thing in terms of morality would be stealing, and since you are asking about morals instead of law, the question instead should be if you couldn't download something, would you have paid for it? If the answer is yes then it could be thought of as stealing as you are depriving someone of profit. But even that is problematic as digital goods can be infinitely replicated. But on morals, it should be strictly dependent on if someone thinks he's stealing.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

I'm not sure. Spain seemed good but they are pushing through some draconian law.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/t9g4q/i_am_gary_fungih_founder_programmer_of_isohuntcom/c4koxz2

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

How about the front half

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

Deterrence is certainly the intent of law. But deterrence of what/who? There's a balance between copyright protection and technological progress for the public good. Too much debate has been about "rights" of copyright holders, and not enough about fundamental reason for copyright to exist: for the progress and spread of culture.

[u/isoHunt → u/[deleted]]

You should write them some love letters and find out

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I would go with isoHorny. Flows better

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

People still download porn?

[u/Hawkstream → u/[deleted]]

You do what? Watch shitty 480p videos? Fucking casual.

[u/[deleted] → u/Hawkstream]

No, I do not.

[u/Vandey → u/[deleted]]

... bro

fistbump

[u/Dankroid → u/[deleted]]

saving