Private Torrent Communities

[Red_Hooligan]

If you haven't yet discovered private torrent-sharing communities, it's really something that every leftist would be interested in.


Don't jump all over me here, I'm sure most people know what torrents are. But just for those who don't, a brief explanation.

Torrents, or packages of files (movies, games, software, etc) are available all over the internet. It's somewhat a form of P2P file-sharing.

So, when you download "The Office: Season 1" torrent, you're downloading from someone else. That person actually controls the download; if they stop sharing it, you cease to download the file. And vice-versa, you share the torrents that you download, so that others can download from you.

The problem with public torrent-sharing, is that people have no incentive to "seed", or share their torrents with other people. They tend to just download and download, without regard for other people.

The end result, is too many "leechers", or downloaders, and not enough seeders, or uploaders. This means that the downloads become extremely slow, since the share ratio is too low. Everyone loses here.

However, there are many private torrent-sharing communities. These require memberships, often by invitation-only. Membership is almost always free.

The way private torrent-sharing communities work, is that you have a direct incentive to share with other people. In these communities, the more torrents that you upload, or seed, the better your "ratio" becomes. This is also somewhat of a respect-o-meter. The better your ratio is, the more files you can download without getting below the "minimum share ratio". People that don't share in these communities, get banned and can no longer download nor upload files to or from the community.

The result of this is, that there are always torrents being shared, because people always have an incentive to do so. This means that there are better ratios for torrents, leading to much faster downloads for everyone. The system is so much more efficient than public-sharing. Everyone wins!

This seems to be a good model for communal-sharing in real-life. This is also pretty good evidence that communism CAN work, and in fact is being "worked" by hundreds of thousands of people.

Little do they know they're participating in communal, progressive economic activity! I really think this is a very good thing happening, and I encourage everyone to experience it first hand.

Cheers!

[Killer Enigma]

I don't understand. This strikes me as an argument for privatization. I fully understand your point. I simply think it is a false analogy.

[Red_Hooligan]

Originally posted by Killer [email protected] 02, 2007 05:08 am
I don't understand. This strikes me as an argument for privatization. I fully understand your point. I simply think it is a false analogy.
It's not an argument for privatization; the terminology of "private communities" may have thrown you off. It's simply a community that is separate from the "free market", or public torrent-sharing, and where communal involvement is rewarded with material gains and material freedoms. It's fucking communism, baby.

[nom de guerre]

I agree with you entirely. I thought about this extensively when OiNK was shut down - but it clearly demonstrates an embryonic form of how distribution in a communist society can function, especially in regards to the technological age.

Check this out, it's situ-inspired Marxist writings on digital culture:
http://pygmalionbooks.org/libreculture.php

Another demonstration of why Marx was right when he said "We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things."

[JWG]

I see where you are going with this and I never though of it that way. It is truly an e-commune in which people share. In this case, files over the internet.

Nonetheless, very good to see communism making headway. The internet is a great thing.

[nom de guerre]

The internet will lay the foundation for communist society. It allows, for the first time in history, to collect information and educate people on a mass level, and creates truly horizontal and democratic networks for communication and organization. In fact I think it proves how the material conditions (in this case, technology) can develop new capabilities for organization - for example, demarchy and direct democracy on a level unprecedented in history.

The internet also demonstrates how technological advances eventually can outdate their context in which they were developed. P2P sharing is a perfect example of this: as hard as the RIAA tries, they cannot prevent music piracy. The internet, by its very nature, drags all information on it into the public domain, available to anyone who knows how to gather it correctly. It demonstrates a great contradiction in capitalism.

[JWG]

"It demonstrates a great contradiction in capitalism." -nom de querre

Brilliant ending point! I'm just hoping this new bill in the United States against "home-grown terrorism" doesn't affect us comrades living in the U.S.

The way they are wording it (very general and vague) it could be used against anyone for ANYTHING that speaks of a "threat to the nation."

So much for free speech.

[Red_Hooligan]

Originally posted by nom de [email protected] 02, 2007 05:37 am
The internet will lay the foundation for communist society. It allows, for the first time in history, to collect information and educate people on a mass level, and creates truly horizontal and democratic networks for communication and organization. In fact I think it proves how the material conditions (in this case, technology) can develop new capabilities for organization - for example, demarchy and direct democracy on a level unprecedented in history.

The internet also demonstrates how technological advances eventually can outdate their context in which they were developed. P2P sharing is a perfect example of this: as hard as the RIAA tries, they cannot prevent music piracy. The internet, by its very nature, drags all information on it into the public domain, available to anyone who knows how to gather it correctly. It demonstrates a great contradiction in capitalism.
So, when is the internet getting shut down? :D