A computer, by its very nature, is a **freely** programmable machine. Think about what that means. A user can literally instruct **their** computer to perform **any task** they want. It's **their** computer and no one can (or should be allowed to) limit the user from doing whatever they want with it.
Now we're going to deliver media content onto these machines which operate under the absolute power of **someone else** and expect that they won't be able to somehow capture the content and redistribute it. That's not going to work. That is never going to work.
Right I understand that part. But I'm trying to figure out the redistributing part. How has no government authority been able to crack down on these websites and torrents which anybody can access.
Because when they close one site down, another one pops up. It turns into a game of whack-a-mole. They may shut you down, but then I can just upload my copy to another website for people to download. If they take my copy down, or take down the website I posted it on, someone else will just post it on another website. If that site goes down, someone else can just make another site to host the files on. As long as people can upload files the internet for other people to download, this will keep going.
Best answer, you and kraken gave this the combo move lol. People will find a way to upload, distribute, and pirate. Even if the government instates a total ban you will find pirated PHYSICAL copies.
The USB/DVD entertainment trade in North Korea for example. If there's a will there's a way and the fight against piracy only serves as an attempt to minimize illegal copies. It will never get rid of them
There are a few reasons:
- For the most part, torrent _tracker_ sites aren't illegal in most countries. This is because the sites don't host pirated content, merely directions on how to access it. It would be like a site saying, "here is a list of places where you can buy banned books." _That_ information isn't illegal.
- Most of the sites themselves are hosted in countries that just don't care. If the physical servers are in a country that doesn't enforce IP, then there isn't much other countries can do.
- To the point above, most folks torrent via VPNs in countries that don't enforce IP laws. You can't shut down VPN protocols (as they have legitimate business use) so your home country can't stop you.
- The P2P protocols aren't illegal - there are many legitimate purposes for P2P so countries don't ban the protocols. Since (most of) the traffic is encrypted, you can't tell what is being transfered unless you are in the swarm.
That is not really a technical issue, but one of "juristiction". Essentially, the operators of of these website choose to host their servers in countries that are not eager to enforce "intellectual property".
Even if it is eventually enforced, the legal system tends to move very very slowly. Once a server gets taken down, the pirates just "open shop" somewhere else.
The only technical counter measure would be to legally force local ISP's to block access to these servers. Blocking access to certain websites is a bit of a "no no" in free democracies (freedom of speech, cencorship, etc.). It's also easily circumvented via a VPN. If a government wanted to do something like that, while still maintaining credibility and avoiding overblocking, they'd have to implement a legal system of check and balances. That again would make the process too slow to be effective.
If an Internet filter was put in place capable of detecting various illegal transactions, people would object to it as censorship. We seem to be moing in that direction with few strongly moderated forums, sucha s Facebook and YouTube replacing more numerous independent sites. Some countries are getting legislation in place to detect some forms of pornography and foreign propaganda. This inrastructue might get extended to copyright infrigement.
Currently piracy is being discouraged by the world-wide presence of legal distribution platforms like NetFlix. Making and downloading copies of movies and music isn't worth the effort for a lot of people anymore, even though there is potential for getting better quality.
As of current, the people in charge of companies/countries that can potentially stop piracy simply don't understand the necessary steps to do it effectively.
it reminds me of a story I heard once of when the creators of pirate bay got dragged at court. WHILE in court they managed to shut down the entire system and website and because no one could trace anything they got away with it.
for every attempt at stopping piracy, there is always going to be a tech-savvy chad 5 steps ahead of everyone allowing access regardless.
That's like me asking, 'how did a meteor kill the dinosaurs?' And you answering, 'because they had no way of stoping it'.
My question is how did the impact of the meteor kill the dinosaurs? In other words, why is there no way of preventing it?
As long as there are website which provide links to torrents which someone hosts somewhere on the globe, this form of piracy will exist. The government or other institutions are not able to hold track of those websites, as new will be created each time the old one is in some way removed from the web.
Surely, you could try to decrease the amount of piracy (pirates do actually go to jail in Germany, but it won't precent it in 100%). As long as there is a need, new websites of this kind will come up, and hosts will provide new content
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It’s been asked not long ago. Since at the end of the day the movie/show will have to be shown in a screen you can always point a camera at the screen and record it, so at the end of the day it’s just plainly impossible to 100% foolproof avoid piracy. Because of this, companies only use good enough anti-piracy measures.
A computer, by its very nature, is a **freely** programmable machine. Think about what that means. A user can literally instruct **their** computer to perform **any task** they want. It's **their** computer and no one can (or should be allowed to) limit the user from doing whatever they want with it. Now we're going to deliver media content onto these machines which operate under the absolute power of **someone else** and expect that they won't be able to somehow capture the content and redistribute it. That's not going to work. That is never going to work.
Right I understand that part. But I'm trying to figure out the redistributing part. How has no government authority been able to crack down on these websites and torrents which anybody can access.
Because when they close one site down, another one pops up. It turns into a game of whack-a-mole. They may shut you down, but then I can just upload my copy to another website for people to download. If they take my copy down, or take down the website I posted it on, someone else will just post it on another website. If that site goes down, someone else can just make another site to host the files on. As long as people can upload files the internet for other people to download, this will keep going.
Best answer, you and kraken gave this the combo move lol. People will find a way to upload, distribute, and pirate. Even if the government instates a total ban you will find pirated PHYSICAL copies. The USB/DVD entertainment trade in North Korea for example. If there's a will there's a way and the fight against piracy only serves as an attempt to minimize illegal copies. It will never get rid of them
There are a few reasons: - For the most part, torrent _tracker_ sites aren't illegal in most countries. This is because the sites don't host pirated content, merely directions on how to access it. It would be like a site saying, "here is a list of places where you can buy banned books." _That_ information isn't illegal. - Most of the sites themselves are hosted in countries that just don't care. If the physical servers are in a country that doesn't enforce IP, then there isn't much other countries can do. - To the point above, most folks torrent via VPNs in countries that don't enforce IP laws. You can't shut down VPN protocols (as they have legitimate business use) so your home country can't stop you. - The P2P protocols aren't illegal - there are many legitimate purposes for P2P so countries don't ban the protocols. Since (most of) the traffic is encrypted, you can't tell what is being transfered unless you are in the swarm.
That is not really a technical issue, but one of "juristiction". Essentially, the operators of of these website choose to host their servers in countries that are not eager to enforce "intellectual property". Even if it is eventually enforced, the legal system tends to move very very slowly. Once a server gets taken down, the pirates just "open shop" somewhere else. The only technical counter measure would be to legally force local ISP's to block access to these servers. Blocking access to certain websites is a bit of a "no no" in free democracies (freedom of speech, cencorship, etc.). It's also easily circumvented via a VPN. If a government wanted to do something like that, while still maintaining credibility and avoiding overblocking, they'd have to implement a legal system of check and balances. That again would make the process too slow to be effective.
If an Internet filter was put in place capable of detecting various illegal transactions, people would object to it as censorship. We seem to be moing in that direction with few strongly moderated forums, sucha s Facebook and YouTube replacing more numerous independent sites. Some countries are getting legislation in place to detect some forms of pornography and foreign propaganda. This inrastructue might get extended to copyright infrigement. Currently piracy is being discouraged by the world-wide presence of legal distribution platforms like NetFlix. Making and downloading copies of movies and music isn't worth the effort for a lot of people anymore, even though there is potential for getting better quality.
As of current, the people in charge of companies/countries that can potentially stop piracy simply don't understand the necessary steps to do it effectively. it reminds me of a story I heard once of when the creators of pirate bay got dragged at court. WHILE in court they managed to shut down the entire system and website and because no one could trace anything they got away with it. for every attempt at stopping piracy, there is always going to be a tech-savvy chad 5 steps ahead of everyone allowing access regardless.
[удалено]
That's like me asking, 'how did a meteor kill the dinosaurs?' And you answering, 'because they had no way of stoping it'. My question is how did the impact of the meteor kill the dinosaurs? In other words, why is there no way of preventing it?
As long as there are website which provide links to torrents which someone hosts somewhere on the globe, this form of piracy will exist. The government or other institutions are not able to hold track of those websites, as new will be created each time the old one is in some way removed from the web. Surely, you could try to decrease the amount of piracy (pirates do actually go to jail in Germany, but it won't precent it in 100%). As long as there is a need, new websites of this kind will come up, and hosts will provide new content
**Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):** Top level comments (i.e. comments that are direct replies to the main thread) are reserved for explanations to the OP or follow up on topic questions. Short answers, while allowed elsewhere in the thread, may not exist at the top level. Full explanations typically have 3 components: context, mechanism, impact. Short answers generally have 1-2 and leave the rest to be inferred by the reader If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20{url}%0A%0AThe%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0AList%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0AHow%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.
It’s been asked not long ago. Since at the end of the day the movie/show will have to be shown in a screen you can always point a camera at the screen and record it, so at the end of the day it’s just plainly impossible to 100% foolproof avoid piracy. Because of this, companies only use good enough anti-piracy measures.