Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Well for one thing accessing a tracker using a torrent that offers copywrite material is not a crime, Downloading it in many countries also isn't a crime per say, uploading it however is (and with bittorrent you upload while downloading). So the only way they can go after someone is to have them upload part of the copyright material to a company peer and then trace the IP. Also taking over a tracker generaly doesnt work either, as a lot trackers are set up to only use volitile memory and to purge if they are tampered with, and they don't keep any logs.

As for going after the seeders, there are way to may of them to effectivly go after (technicaly everyone who is downloading is also seeding the torrent file), most companies just send a take down threat to offenders they catch (via their isp). Its so wide spread now that its like trying to stop a tidalwave with a fishing net (and prosecuting Joe Shmoe college kid who can't afford to buy what he pirates makes the companies look like ogres to the public). So the companies then go after the trackers and index sites and try to take them out. They bring to bear a lot of pressure on countries to tow the line and shut down the sites, even though by law they cannot do that (I would probably bet money the Pirate Bay case gets overturned on appeal).

Aramike, I can easily find direct links to pirated software, and other illegal stuff on google and any other search engine, by your logic they should be prosecuted as well. All search engines work in ways very similar to torrent sites.

I have to say while I don't like software piracy, I don't like corporations using their power to twist the law either. I also don't much like the corporations themselves after being burned so often by them (its funny how them ripping us off with faulty software and the like is perfectly ok, but when they get ripped off they scream bloody murder).