I've been wondering about distributed solutions to torrent indexing for a while - maybe some of you know some good discussions on this topic?

What I noticed is that .torrent files are essentially weird, JSON-like dictionaries. It would be trivial to place some metadata in there (ID3 tag info, DublinCore or even just a link to imdb) and this could be indexed very easily. Even easier: turn the parts protocol into a microformat and place some invisible part listings in your HTML files. I feel like such approaches would reduce the need for centralised torrent search sites like tpb/mininova/etc.

BitTorrent already uses a distributed hash table for tracking. A search index can be built on a DHT by using normalized search terms as keys, as with e.g. http://www.faroo.com

This effectively results in individuals being responsible for specific words in the index. I would assume that this becomes a weakness if particular search terms are staggeringly popular or carry liability, though I'm no expert and there may be solutions to this using redundancy and flux in the allocation.

"I supported the Pirate Bay and all I got was this lousy T-shirt"

I prefer what's on their front page right now:

"I spent months of time and millions of dollars to close down The Pirate Bay and all I'll get is this beautiful t-shirt!"

"Showing strength in the face of oppression" Long live the Pirate Bay!

Also it's much zippier than it was. I wonder if it's the new hosting arrangement or just that they've been down and have less traffic at the moment...

What's the point, won't the sale kill them anyway?

The Pirate Bay is not only a website, it's also a political statement. Showing strength in the face of oppression just makes the Pirate Party look stronger. Slumping over and saying it's not worth the trouble just for a few days makes them look weak and uncommitted.

Plus, this is great "free" publicity for them.

> Showing strength in the face of oppression

I think that oppression is a bit strong of a word here. 'Adversity' might be better term to use. When you stand up to a bully on the playground no one says that you're "overcoming oppression."

From TPB's point of view it is oppression. In this context, (asking why the sale isn't the end) that seems to be what is relevant.

That aside, I agree with you that calling this oppression is too much.

I suppose it probably never looks like oppression to people who aren't being oppressed until a bunch of people not in the original oppressed class die. (I was going to say "until someone dies" until I remembered all the people who died for the "war on drugs" in the US, and how it seems like most people still think it's a good thing.)

Isn't it "oppression" when government is the bully?

You probably don't see it as "oppression" because you disagree with some part of the ethic that drives them to fight. I'm just guessing, though.

In my first draft before I submitted I had oppression in scare quotes but decided against them to make the message more like what I imagine the defenders would like it to be.