“Demonoid is an ordinary client for us”: an interview with a Ukrainian pirate tracker provider
Recently, the entire Internet was buzzing about moving The Pirate Bay to Ukraine. And although the rumors were not confirmed, it turned out that we have another world-famous tracker - Demonoid. Petro Vlasenko, the commercial director of Colocall told me about what it is like to host one of the largest pirate websites of modern times.
Demonoid tracker servers in Colocall data center
Despite the worldwide popularity of the site Demonoid.com, little is known about it. His admins do not respond to letters and do not give interviews, even the police do not know their real names, and the tracker itself can be reached only by invitation.
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After a conflict with media moguls in the Netherlands, Canada and Malaysia in April 2008, he moved in with us. Their current provider, Colocall, did not advertise their involvement in the site and, after a year and a half of silence, agreed to an interview for the first time. For the blog pazzive.livejournal.com .
- Peter, your company has the largest data center in Ukraine, right?
- According to various estimates from the first to the third. We do not follow the ratings, this is an activity for young companies.
- Why did you decide to host Demonoid?
- A client came to us and ordered a certain service. We negotiated with him for a long time, he figured out all the details a couple of months, no less. For us, this was not a political decision, Demonoid is an ordinary client under the most usual conditions.
Logo tracker Demonoid.com
- What exactly is your location, tracker inferno.demonoid.com?
- They brought their servers, which now stand in our data center. We do not know what is on them - we do not have access to this information, but they are accompanied remotely by Demonoid technical specialists.
- How can I contact the admins Demonoid?
- They won't answer. Many people want to contact them: journalists, fans, services of various countries. But admins Demonoid-a very selective approach to the correspondence. When our law enforcement agencies had to contact them, I specifically warned them to respond to the request.
- Were they already interested in our bodies?
- Bodies are interested in them all the time. Owners associations are constantly trying to put pressure on us, including through Ukrainian authorities. We redirect them to admins, and do not interfere and do not negotiate.
“Are you being pressured?”
- Ukraine, strange as it sounds, is still a fairly legal state. Therefore, the opinion of some kind of IFPI is only their personal opinion, despite the fact that the budgets of their participants are comparable to the budget of Ukraine.
Demonoid tracker servers in Colocall data center
- Are you not afraid that Demonoid can repeat the fate of InfoStore and mask shows will make the site server?
- The work of the data center takes into account such risks. This can happen not only with Demonoid, but also with any client. We do not control what lies on the servers, anyone can buy our services.
- Now anti-pirates and media lobby want to shift all responsibility for file sharing to providers, so that they monitor their users. Will this affect hosting providers?
- Periodically in the Verkhovna Rada there are such bills. But in the Ukrainian Law on Communication, it is clearly stated that the provider is not responsible for the content of its clients. And what the right holders want is their personal opinion, they are not legislative bodies. Let them buy themselves a deputy and lobby for such a law, then we will fulfill it. So far there is no such law - they are nobody to us and we to them too.
- How do you feel about the strengthening of copyright laws?
- I can not treat them well, because the company where I work, and other Internet providers, this struggle delivers certain troubles.
Media corporations have already lost in this fight, having missed the moment when the content went to the network. They are used to selling things and do not understand how information can be without a package, a beautiful disk, a holographic sticker and a bar code. The world has changed, but they are not. Now they are clinging to the old schemes, lobbying the "necessary" laws. But to stop piracy is likely to fail.
- Sony Pictures Director General Michael Linton said that "the Internet has not given us anything good." Does network development really lead to the collapse of the audio-video industry?
- It is clear that the development of motor transport did not bring anything good for horse sellers.
- And what good did the internet give you?
- First, the workplace. Unlimited source of information - I forgot when I was last at the library. Well, the main thing - communication. In reality, it is difficult to find a person with similar interests, and with the help of the Internet it is much easier to do this.
- A month ago, Demonoid reported technical problems, due to which data from the past few months was lost. To recover, from September 14, the site went offline. Do you know what happened?
“Some time ago, the hard drives flew in one of the racks. But it was before, but what the difficulties of the Demonoid is now, we do not know.
- According to their admins, the person who can restore the tracker is unavailable. Is it about your programmer?
- No, they provide all technical support of servers remotely. We are not talking about our experts.
- Torrentfreak wrote about the president of the Lithuanian anti -pirates, who demanded to close access to Demonoid, and said that you are "extremely difficult to contact." Did you communicate with him?
- Yes, we were called by some kind of boorish boy, with whom we simply could not speak: he immediately began to threaten, an absolutely unconstructive person. We sent him to court, saying that if he brought the decision of the court, we would be happy to fulfill it, since we are fulfilling all Ukrainian laws. And while there is no such decision, we will not talk with him.
- Now access to Demonoid is blocked for certain countries, including Ukraine. Is this your initiative or decision by tracker admins?
- We have no influence on this, this is the tracker's policy. I think, not least, this is due to DDoS attacks.
“Are they being attacked?”
- Yes, there are DDoS attacks, big and serious. But this is always the problem of the hosting provider. We learned to cope with them, at work Demonoid-and they have almost no effect. And, by the way, they are attacking not only: in the last election, we hosted the Central Election Commission server, so they constantly tried to overwhelm him.
The logo of the hosting provider Colocall, who sheltered the Demonoid tracker
- Do you miss the days when online existed separately from offline?
- Before, of course, it was freer. Fewer users whose educational level was higher, because the Internet began as a toy of intellectuals. Every schoolchild uses it now, although it doesn’t bother me personally.
- Are there any disadvantages in such a popularization of digital technologies? Do not be afraid of the abundance of low-quality products on the network?
- Technology has no cons. Any library catalog also contains 90% of garbage. It may be 99% on the Internet, but this does not exclude the presence of something worthwhile. The main thing is to understand what needs to be found, then no garbage will interfere.
“According to Mark Getty, the owner of Getty Images,“ intellectual property is the oil of the 21st century. ” Do you think he's right?
- Until the year 2000, there were louder statements that ended in a dot-com bubble. Apparently, it's time to inflate the bubble 2.0.
- The concept of "intellectual property" is associated with a dilemma: information is not material, therefore it has no price. But people creating it need to pay for work. Can you solve this dilemma?
- It has already been solved for several centuries by constantly changing schemes. One of them was typography - after all, even then information was sold, and not paper with a cover. At that time, the issue of selling intellectual property was decided in this way, then patents appeared and the trade in them. Over time, there will be new solutions.
- And what will happen next? Is it possible to find a compromise between media corporations and pirates?
- Compromise is impossible. This is the eternal struggle of shield and sword, defense and attack. Every time new laws appear, they will find ways to circumvent them. There will be no torrents - another technology will appear, this process will not be stopped.
Demonoid tracker servers in Colocall data center
Despite the worldwide popularity of the site Demonoid.com, little is known about it. His admins do not respond to letters and do not give interviews, even the police do not know their real names, and the tracker itself can be reached only by invitation.
')
After a conflict with media moguls in the Netherlands, Canada and Malaysia in April 2008, he moved in with us. Their current provider, Colocall, did not advertise their involvement in the site and, after a year and a half of silence, agreed to an interview for the first time. For the blog pazzive.livejournal.com .
- Peter, your company has the largest data center in Ukraine, right?
- According to various estimates from the first to the third. We do not follow the ratings, this is an activity for young companies.
- Why did you decide to host Demonoid?
- A client came to us and ordered a certain service. We negotiated with him for a long time, he figured out all the details a couple of months, no less. For us, this was not a political decision, Demonoid is an ordinary client under the most usual conditions.
Logo tracker Demonoid.com
- What exactly is your location, tracker inferno.demonoid.com?
- They brought their servers, which now stand in our data center. We do not know what is on them - we do not have access to this information, but they are accompanied remotely by Demonoid technical specialists.
- How can I contact the admins Demonoid?
- They won't answer. Many people want to contact them: journalists, fans, services of various countries. But admins Demonoid-a very selective approach to the correspondence. When our law enforcement agencies had to contact them, I specifically warned them to respond to the request.
- Were they already interested in our bodies?
- Bodies are interested in them all the time. Owners associations are constantly trying to put pressure on us, including through Ukrainian authorities. We redirect them to admins, and do not interfere and do not negotiate.
“Are you being pressured?”
- Ukraine, strange as it sounds, is still a fairly legal state. Therefore, the opinion of some kind of IFPI is only their personal opinion, despite the fact that the budgets of their participants are comparable to the budget of Ukraine.
Demonoid tracker servers in Colocall data center
- Are you not afraid that Demonoid can repeat the fate of InfoStore and mask shows will make the site server?
- The work of the data center takes into account such risks. This can happen not only with Demonoid, but also with any client. We do not control what lies on the servers, anyone can buy our services.
- Now anti-pirates and media lobby want to shift all responsibility for file sharing to providers, so that they monitor their users. Will this affect hosting providers?
- Periodically in the Verkhovna Rada there are such bills. But in the Ukrainian Law on Communication, it is clearly stated that the provider is not responsible for the content of its clients. And what the right holders want is their personal opinion, they are not legislative bodies. Let them buy themselves a deputy and lobby for such a law, then we will fulfill it. So far there is no such law - they are nobody to us and we to them too.
- How do you feel about the strengthening of copyright laws?
- I can not treat them well, because the company where I work, and other Internet providers, this struggle delivers certain troubles.
Media corporations have already lost in this fight, having missed the moment when the content went to the network. They are used to selling things and do not understand how information can be without a package, a beautiful disk, a holographic sticker and a bar code. The world has changed, but they are not. Now they are clinging to the old schemes, lobbying the "necessary" laws. But to stop piracy is likely to fail.
- Sony Pictures Director General Michael Linton said that "the Internet has not given us anything good." Does network development really lead to the collapse of the audio-video industry?
- It is clear that the development of motor transport did not bring anything good for horse sellers.
- And what good did the internet give you?
- First, the workplace. Unlimited source of information - I forgot when I was last at the library. Well, the main thing - communication. In reality, it is difficult to find a person with similar interests, and with the help of the Internet it is much easier to do this.
- A month ago, Demonoid reported technical problems, due to which data from the past few months was lost. To recover, from September 14, the site went offline. Do you know what happened?
“Some time ago, the hard drives flew in one of the racks. But it was before, but what the difficulties of the Demonoid is now, we do not know.
- According to their admins, the person who can restore the tracker is unavailable. Is it about your programmer?
- No, they provide all technical support of servers remotely. We are not talking about our experts.
- Torrentfreak wrote about the president of the Lithuanian anti -pirates, who demanded to close access to Demonoid, and said that you are "extremely difficult to contact." Did you communicate with him?
- Yes, we were called by some kind of boorish boy, with whom we simply could not speak: he immediately began to threaten, an absolutely unconstructive person. We sent him to court, saying that if he brought the decision of the court, we would be happy to fulfill it, since we are fulfilling all Ukrainian laws. And while there is no such decision, we will not talk with him.
- Now access to Demonoid is blocked for certain countries, including Ukraine. Is this your initiative or decision by tracker admins?
- We have no influence on this, this is the tracker's policy. I think, not least, this is due to DDoS attacks.
“Are they being attacked?”
- Yes, there are DDoS attacks, big and serious. But this is always the problem of the hosting provider. We learned to cope with them, at work Demonoid-and they have almost no effect. And, by the way, they are attacking not only: in the last election, we hosted the Central Election Commission server, so they constantly tried to overwhelm him.
The logo of the hosting provider Colocall, who sheltered the Demonoid tracker
- Do you miss the days when online existed separately from offline?
- Before, of course, it was freer. Fewer users whose educational level was higher, because the Internet began as a toy of intellectuals. Every schoolchild uses it now, although it doesn’t bother me personally.
- Are there any disadvantages in such a popularization of digital technologies? Do not be afraid of the abundance of low-quality products on the network?
- Technology has no cons. Any library catalog also contains 90% of garbage. It may be 99% on the Internet, but this does not exclude the presence of something worthwhile. The main thing is to understand what needs to be found, then no garbage will interfere.
“According to Mark Getty, the owner of Getty Images,“ intellectual property is the oil of the 21st century. ” Do you think he's right?
- Until the year 2000, there were louder statements that ended in a dot-com bubble. Apparently, it's time to inflate the bubble 2.0.
- The concept of "intellectual property" is associated with a dilemma: information is not material, therefore it has no price. But people creating it need to pay for work. Can you solve this dilemma?
- It has already been solved for several centuries by constantly changing schemes. One of them was typography - after all, even then information was sold, and not paper with a cover. At that time, the issue of selling intellectual property was decided in this way, then patents appeared and the trade in them. Over time, there will be new solutions.
- And what will happen next? Is it possible to find a compromise between media corporations and pirates?
- Compromise is impossible. This is the eternal struggle of shield and sword, defense and attack. Every time new laws appear, they will find ways to circumvent them. There will be no torrents - another technology will appear, this process will not be stopped.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/72910/
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