“Demonoid is an ordinary client for us”: an interview with a Ukrainian provider of a pirate tracker

    Recently, the entire Internet was buzzing about the move of The Pirate Bay to Ukraine. And although the rumors were not confirmed, it turned out that we have another tracker known all over the world - Demonoid. About what it is - to host one of the largest pirate websites of today, I told Peter Vlasenko, commercial director ColoCall .


    Demonoid tracker servers in the Colocall data center

    Despite the worldwide popularity of the Demonoid.com site, 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 accessed only by invitation.

    After a conflict with media moguls in the Netherlands, Canada and Malaysia in April 2008, he moved to us. Their current provider Colocall did not advertise any involvement in the site and after a year and a half of silence for the first time agreed to an interview. 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 ratings; this is a lesson for young companies.

    - Why did you decide to host Demonoid?

    - A client came to us and ordered a certain service. We had negotiations with him for a long time, he figured out all the details for a couple of months, no less. For us, this was not a political decision, Demonoid is an ordinary client on the most ordinary conditions.


    Demonoid.com Tracker Logo

    - What exactly is placed with you, the inferno.demonoid.com tracker?

    - They brought their servers, which are now in our data center. We do not know what is on them - we do not have access to this information, but they are remotely accompanied by Demonoid technical specialists.

    - How can I contact Demonoid admins?

    “They won't answer.” Many want to contact them: journalists, fans, services of various countries. But the admins of Demonoid-a very selective approach to correspondence. When our law enforcement officers needed to contact them, I specifically warned them to respond to the request.

    - They were already interested in our bodies?

    - Bodies are interested in them all the time. Associations of copyright holders are constantly trying to put pressure on us, including through Ukrainian bodies. We redirect them to admins, but we do not intervene and do not negotiate.

    - Are they pushing you?

    - Ukraine, oddly enough it sounds, is still a fairly legal state. Therefore, the opinion of some IFPI is just their private opinion, despite the fact that the budgets of their participants are comparable to the budget of Ukraine.


    Servers of the Demonoid tracker in the Colocall data center

    - Aren't you afraid that Demonoid can repeat the fate of Infostor and mask-shows will take out 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 such bills skip. But the Ukrainian law “On Communications” clearly states that the provider is not responsible for the content of its customers. And what rightholders want is their private opinion, they are not legislative bodies. Let them buy a deputy and lobby for such a law, then we will fulfill it. While there is no such law, they are no one to us, and so are we.

    - How do you feel about the strengthening of copyright laws?

    - I can’t treat them well, because the companies where I work, and other Internet providers, this struggle causes certain troubles.

    Media corporations have already lost in this fight, having missed the moment when the content went online. They are used to selling things and do not understand how information can be without packaging, a beautiful disc, a holographic sticker and a barcode. The world has changed, but they are not. Now they are clinging to old schemes, lobbying for the "necessary" laws. But stopping piracy is likely to fail.

    - Sony Pictures CEO 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 road transport did not bring any good to sellers of horses.
    - And what good did the Internet give you?

    - Firstly, the workplace. Unlimited source of information - I forgot the last time I was in the library. Well and most importantly - communication. In reality, it is difficult to find a person with similar interests, and using the Internet it is much easier to do.

    - A month ago, Demonoid reported on technical problems due to which data for the last few months were missing. To recover, from September 14, the site went offline. Do you know what happened?

    - Some time ago, in one of their racks, Winchesters flew. But that was before, and what kind of difficulties do Demonoid have now, we don’t know.

    - According to their admins, the person who can restore the tracker is not available. Is it about your programmer?

    - No, they carry out all the technical support of the servers remotely. We are not talking about our experts.

    - Torrentfreak wrote about the president of Lithuanian anti -pirates , who demanded that access to Demonoid be closed and stated that it is “extremely difficult to contact you”. Did you communicate with him?

    - Yes, some rude boy called to us, with whom we simply could not talk: he immediately began to threaten, an absolutely unconstructive person. We sent him to court, saying that if he brings a court decision, we will gladly execute it, as we comply with all Ukrainian laws. In the meantime, there is no such decision, we will not talk to him.

    - Now access to Demonoid is blocked for certain countries, including Ukraine. Is this your initiative or the solution of tracker admins?

    - We do not affect this in any way, this is the policy of the tracker. I think, not least of all, this is due to DDoS attacks.

    - And they are being attacked?

    - Yes, there are DDoS attacks, big and serious. But this is always the problem of the hosting provider. We learned how to deal with them; they have almost no effect on the work of Demonoid. And, by the way, they attack not only them: in the last election we hosted the server of the Central Election Commission, so we constantly tried to fill it up.


    Logo of Colocall hosting provider, which has hosted the Demonoid tracker

    - Do not miss those times when online existed separately from offline?

    - Before, of course, it was freer. There are fewer users whose educational level was higher, because the Internet began as a toy of intellectuals. Now every schoolboy uses it, although this does not bother me personally.

    - Are there any disadvantages in such a popularization of digital technology? Not afraid of the abundance of low-quality products on the network?

    - Technology has no cons. Any library directory also contains 90% of garbage. Perhaps on the Internet its 99%, but this does not exclude the presence of something worthwhile. The main thing is to understand what exactly needs to be found, then no rubbish will interfere.

    “According to Mark Getty, owner of Getty Images,“ Intellectual Property is 21st Century Oil. ” Do you think he is right?

    - Until the year 2000, there were more loud statements, ending with a dot-com soap bubble. Apparently, it's time to inflate bubble 2.0.

    - The concept of “intellectual property” is associated with a dilemma: information is not material, therefore, has no price. But the people who create it need to pay for the work. Can this dilemma be solved?

    - It has been solved for several centuries by constantly changing patterns. One of them was typography - after all, information was already being sold, and not cover paper. At that time, the issue of the sale of intellectual property was decided as follows, then patents and trade in them appeared. Over time, there will be new solutions.

    - And what will happen next? Is it possible to find a compromise between media corporations and pirates?

    - No compromise possible. This is an 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 can no longer be stopped.

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