Why doesn't Valve shut down that major torrent site and crackers?

[Apos]

I'm obviously not going to direct people to the particular site/sites, but there are a few well known bittorrent sites that periodically release cracks for HL2 and CS:S to keep their stolen games up to date. My question is: why doesn't Valve shut these places down? I mean, they have domain names and everything, which means you can track down their ISP and country of origin. In this case, the friggin server and stuff is in Arizona. Hello? By shutting it down, it could lock tons of people out of being able to easily find cracks and hacks and stolen games. So why hasn't Valve, or, heck, the FBI, done anything? I'm sure this and other major sites have been reported plenty of times to Valve and to the legal authorities. So what gives?

 

[bliink]

most of the major sites are in other countries where the laws are more relaxed.. US servers would probably just be mirrors

 

[Apos]

But they could sue the mirrors. The particular site in question has their domain through a service in Arizona called "domains by proxy." But this company is subject to US law, and indeed in their own terms of service they say that you cannot use their service if you are going to engage in illegal activity: which is EXACTLY what's going on. Heck, these people are using them just so they can engage in crime and not get caught. At the very least, someone should take down those companies that aid and abet this activity. It really irritates me: I intensely dislike crackers, hackers, warezers, and so on.

 

[bliink]

But they could sue the mirrors. The particular site in question has their domain through a service in Arizona called "domains by proxy." But this company is subject to US law, and indeed in their own terms of service they say that you cannot use their service if you are going to engage in illegal activity: which is EXACTLY what's going on. Heck, these people are using them just so they can engage in crime and not get caught. At the very least, someone should take down those companies that aid and abet this activity. It really irritates me: I intensely dislike crackers, hackers, warezers, and so on.

If you want, email valve about it with all details/proof you have- apparently, they check that stuff out.

 

[DrunkPanda]

I'm obviously not going to direct people to the particular site/sites, but there are a few well known bittorrent sites that periodically release cracks for HL2 and CS:S to keep their stolen games up to date. My question is: why doesn't Valve shut these places down? I mean, they have domain names and everything, which means you can track down their ISP and country of origin. In this case, the friggin server and stuff is in Arizona. Hello? By shutting it down, it could lock tons of people out of being able to easily find cracks and hacks and stolen games. So why hasn't Valve, or, heck, the FBI, done anything? I'm sure this and other major sites have been reported plenty of times to Valve and to the legal authorities. So what gives?

cuz valve are secretly working with the hackers to crack the game.

 

[Apos]

I've reported the site in question tons of times, but they never seem to do anything about it. I would mail the mirror a legal statement like they request if I could, but I have no legal standing. Maybe piracy just doesn't hurt Valve enough for them to care to spend time knocking down all the little heads that pop up?

 

[BlackMesaDude]

I know that some countries has Torrent sites but they cant be sued since a tracker does not host any files, it just hosts the torrent file so if they sue they cant do much about it and it sucks.

 

[Jadewolf5675]

Nah I use said bittorrent site to download South Park!

 

[qckbeam]

There must be some legal reason for it (I'm no law expert). I think we all know which site you're talking about; they have so much stolen and cracked software, and are so popular and well known that if there was any way to get them I think they'd have been gotten 1,000 times over by now. I mean, you can pretty much name any software title and they'll have it. Perhaps because they only provide torrents (which have many legal and legitimate uses) and not the actual stolen material, they are legally allowed to operate?

 

[smacky]

All bit torrent sites do is providing people with a link to where you can download them, they do not host the files on their servers. It my country its legal to link to it and to download it, only uploading it is illegal, so only servers in the US can be shutdown, but then still, they are just linking to something so its not a crime, they do not put up links to illegal torrents, users are submitting them so its not them doing it..

 

[CriYam]

As I type this I'm downloading 3 eBooks and the latest Daily Show, which I found using 3 of the 14 torrents sites I have in my favorites list.

Send your FBI!

But first you better clear your HD of all your mp3's...

HAHAHA

 

[nvrmor]

be nice if valve could use steam to do something like this:
link

 

[TrevorGrigg]

I assume you mean the Supr one, that site will actually remove links based on legal threats.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Torrent sites only link to trackers. Trackers themselves don't contain anything illegal. Effectively, they're linking to a link. That's like me linking to <insert warez site here> and this site getting shut down for it.

The legal departments of these companies send out letters anyway, because most groups fold as soon as they get a Cease and Desist order. Obviously, some of them have been brushing up on the law..

 

[Spartan]

Bittorrent pwns. Good for getting stuff that's otherwise unavailable.

 

[JCampbell]

Bittorrent pwns. Good for getting stuff that's otherwise unavailable.

BitTorrent is what keeps the Dave Matthews Band music trading community alive and well. I've never seen so many concerts, private shows, and rare recordings until I ventured onto those sites.
</shameless plug>

 

[Apos]

Torrent sites only link to trackers. Trackers themselves don't contain anything illegal. Effectively, they're linking to a link. That's like me linking to <insert warez site here> and this site getting shut down for it.

Bull. Then why are these people hiding their identities? It's such transparent logic.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

If what they're doing actually is illegal, then why have no cases been brought against them? Why have no sites been shut down?

 

[Apos]

Then why aren't they doing it openly? Why hide their identities and locations and so forth? Napster made the same argument, and it failed utterly. They aren't just linking: they are actively creating and promoting a directory of illegal stolen content, not to mention in many cases providing seed files to keep the torrents active.

People are shut down all the time: they just keep popping back up. But we'll see....

 

[Bobcat]

Then why aren't they doing it openly? Why hide their identities and locations and so forth? Napster made the same argument, and it failed utterly. They aren't just linking: they are actively creating and promoting a directory of illegal stolen content, not to mention in many cases providing seed files to keep the torrents active.

People are shut down all the time: they just keep popping back up. But we'll see....

Would you be open about it if you were running a porn store?

Imagine the hell they'd sit through if people could find out their names easy as that...

I don't blame them.