Analysis of the Legal Framework for Regulating Torrent Sites

This report delves into the complex legal and ethical issues surrounding the regulation of torrent sites. It examines the nature of torrent sites, highlighting their impact on copyright and creativity. The report explores how torrent sites facilitate the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials, leading to copyright infringement and financial losses for content creators. It analyzes the legal frameworks and challenges associated with regulating these sites, including the difficulties in enforcing copyright laws and the constant evolution of technology used by torrent operators to evade detection. The report discusses the implications of torrent sites on creativity and the need to balance the interests of content creators with the public's access to information. It also references cases and legal precedents related to torrent sites and their impact on copyright, piracy, and the broader digital landscape. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for effective regulation to protect copyright and privacy in the digital age.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
The nature of torrent sites................................................................................................................2
How torrent sites violate creativity..................................................................................................4
How they negatively influence copyright........................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Regulating Torrent Sites
Introduction
Torrent sites allow internet access of data through distribution of the data in small chunks
leading to increased download speed and easy access to information. Through a list of trackers,
the user is able to download virtually any data that they want over the internet. These files are
sent via the BitTorrent protocol allowing them to be downloaded from more than one server. The
different chunks of the full file are collected from different sites to make it a complete file which
can be used under normal circumstances. This is perhaps the reason why it is said that torrent
sites infringe copyright issues. The need to protect copyright and control piracy has led to the
need to control torrent sites. This report highlights the proposal of regulating torrent sites.
The nature of torrent sites
Debate over the regulation of torrent sites or the effects that they have on creativity has been on
the rise. The arrest of Vaulin one of the owners of the largest torrent site indicated that there is
need to control torrent sites due to the harm that they cause to the society.
Policies that regulate torrent sites (Rosen, pp. 4).
Torrent sites have been necessitated by an increased rise in the internet and easy sharing of
digital files. These free file sharing services have greatly benefited torrent sites since they can
enable users to access data or digital files that they want without necessarily being termed illegal.
However, most of these frees sharing sites receive advertisement money when users hit a certain
number of viewers. This leads to infringement of copyrights since the files are free to share and
are beneficiaries of such resources are not the owners of the copyright information but rather the
owners of torrent sites. This has led to the need for regulating these rsites to ensure that they are

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regulated. For example, in June 2005 the US Supreme court ruled that peer to peer file sharing
protocols infringed privacy (Gregorian, pp. 147).
With increasing crackdown on torrent sites, the owners are becoming more creative so that they
can avoid the long arm of the law. Increased development in technology is giving them better
opportunities for storing their data and making them more secure. The invention of the google
drive, drop box and Kim Dotcom has led to increased storage of files and resources for
uploading and storing larger files over the internet (Philippines Daily Inquirer, p. 8). However,
internet protocols like google seem to be the best place for these sites where the owners can
share information and still hide their identity from authorities. This has threatened privacy and
creativity since torrent owners have a way to overturn security features and get content from
different websites then upload them on the internet for free access. In the US several cases of
illegality of torrents have existed where torrent owners have been ordered to pay fines like the
Loki Torrent case where the owner was ordered to pay a fine and supply MPAA with server logs
(Borland, pp. 5).
How torrent sites violate creativity
Torrent sites have faced legal issues due to the nature in which they acquire files that they
distribute to their users. Under normal circumstances, information is protected by copyright as a
way of ensuring that the owner is recognized. Using the information illegally or obtaining it
illegally leads piracy (Czerniawski, p. 7). In most cases torrent sites are engaged in movie and
music sharing which are the most popular searched items on the internet. Torrent files overcome
restrictions on internet files by allowing users to access to a list of trackers and some hash codes
that allow downloading of little pieces of the file from different IP addresses that later make up
the whole file. This leads the user to access a full file at the end of the day that may be restricted.

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In the United States different sites, products, files and information are protected by the copy right
law (CISPA Law) which requires permission to access certain files or information (Manish, pp.
4). Therefore accessing such information from the torrent site makes the download illegal and
can lead to jail sentence. However, if the information is not copyrighted then the user is free
from facing any legal restrictions from the government or the owner. This has led to tracking of
torrent sites by following IP addresses used in downloading the files to crackdown illegal
offenders.
How they negatively influence copyright
Many legal analysts have been at cross borders on whether torrents infringe copyright or not.
Advancement in the BitTorrent group through having their own online store has led to the need
to rethink copyright infringement. This store allows renting of movies from movie producers that
allow third party uses to pay for legit use (Karunaratne, P. 289). However, this does not mean
that torrent is now legal. For many people who create artworks like books, songs, poems or
movies, accessing the information through viewing matters more than buying or downloading
the same content. With the advantage of technology once a viewer accesses the information, they
can use other available internet materials to refine the details and get storage (Vora, P. 290). This
means that torrent infringes copyright and privacy by allowing people to access information
through viewing. By viewing the book, it means that I can read it and may not need to buy the
same book again. Through the BitTorrent site and other P2P sites which makes people around
the world to easily have a digital copy of the information. This leaves the owners with little
transfer options due to the effects of torrent sites.
The most infringement to copyright that is reported is peer to peer file sharing. Once one user has
access to a digital file or information they share the file easily across the internet through free

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sharing applications. The applications can turn a computer or smartphone into a server that can
be used to access the files directly (Rochester Institute of Technology, pp. 4). The US seeks to
regulate these torrent sites through the US Copyright law and RIT code of Computer and
Network Use. This has set regulations that guide users and the type of fines that they can receive
in case they violate such regulations. However, it has been difficult to crackdown torrent sites
since they have a way of hiding their security features to make them invincible. This means that
the individual affected is the one who should seek redress for the violation which makes it
difficult and expensive for one user to engage torrent owners. This leads to the increased free
access of torrent information all over the internet.
Conclusion
Torrent sites have been widely accepted by the society because they allow easy access to
information around the globe. People can easily download digital files from the internet through
torrent files. This gives easy access to restricted files through downloading them from the torrent
sites. However, they infringe on the privacy and copyrights of the owner since they give transfer
privileges to third parties who infringe the rights of the owner. The increasing development in
the internet and its related technology has led to the need to regulate the internet to protect
copyright and privacy. Increasing development in website facilities like google has increased
data sharing by allowing transfer of large files of data through the internet. This has increased
privacy issues and thus the need to regulate torrent sites to protect information owners.

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References
Borland, John. " Court: Hollywood gets P2P giant's server log." CNET News 3 September 2006.
Czerniawski, , Michal. "Responsibility of BitTorrent Search Engines for Copyright
Infringements." SSRN 2009.
Gregorian, Jamie. "Grokster, BitTorrent, Copyright Infringement, and Inducement: How Modus
Operandi Can Provide a Functional Standard for Future File-Sharing Cases.” Texas."
Review of Entertainment & Sports Law 2009: 145-167.
Inquirer, Philippines Daily. LOOK: Google search promotes 'best torrent sites' available. 2 July
2017. Points of View Reference Center.
Karunaratne, Sean B. "The Case against Combating BitTorrent Piracy through Mass John Doe
Copyright Infringement Lawsuits." Michigan Law Review 111.12 (2012).
Manish Singh. "With Torrent Sites Facing the Heat, Pirates Get Creative With Google Drive and
Other Services ." Gadget 360 4 September 2017.
Rosen, Ben. "How Apple and the FBI took down the world's largest torrent site." The Christian
Science Monitor July 2016.
Technology, Rochester Institute of. Copyright Infringement-Piracy. 2016. 19 October 2017.
Vora, Vaibhav. "The borderless torrents: infringing the copyrigh laws around the world." The
Journal of the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property 57.2 (2016): 281-320.