MPAA takes aim at another BitTorrent search site

THE MPAA continues to reach out and send armies of lawyers to the owners of any website making use of BitTorrent and or other file-sharing systems.

The latest victim is Canadian-owned search engine website isohunt.com, which has been sued and labelled a pirate by the association.

As we noted in March, here, IsoHunt attempted to create a coalition in preparation to fight the evil empire on the grounds that the website was a mere search engine, and not a willful pirate site, and thus is doing nothing illegal.

Within the IsoHunt forums Gary Fung, the 23 year-old operator of IsoHunt, said, "the MPAA's allegation that our service is for the sole purpose of helping copyright infringement of their movies is plainly wrong."

For its part, the MPAA claimed Fung had, "chosen not to enter into any negotiations with anybody, but rather to steal… for [his] own ends."

The statement was rather curious, as Fung demonstrated by publishing correspondece he had with the MPAA back in January of 2005, on forums here.

Recently Fung was interviewed on the Canada's CBC, where he warned the world of, "the Internet taking over phone networks and TV and movies and music, (and) all forms of media."

Fung finds the MPAA's attempts to stop the use of BitTorrent and file-sharing protocols futile. There is, he says, "no way to stop the technology."

He suggests distribution systems like BitTorrent could allow Hollywood to "reach a much bigger audience at a much cheaper cost."

Fung declined to make a statement to the INQUIRER for what he said were legal reasons.

In the meantime, isohunt.com remains open for business, and is now enjoying a slew of new users and seeds to download from. µ

L'INQS
CBC
isohunt