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Comment by pdeuchler

13 years ago

Does having access to the torrent file not give you access to the actual data?

It only gives you access to the data if you can connect to peers that have that data. If North Koreans users do not have access to the international Internet, then they'll only be able to download from peers inside of North Korea, who presumably won't have the data. If the users do have access to the general internet, then they can use any tracker, and The Pirate Bay isn't in a special position.

well, you have to be able to connect to peers who have the actual content to share with you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrent_file

I suppose it gives access in the same way that North Korea visiting Pirate Bay gave them access before. There is a widespread belief that Pirate Bay is some giant repository of a bunch of pirate content, and it simply isn't true. Well, it's true that it's content that aids pirates in finding and downloading that content, but pirate bay itself is quite lightweight.

  • I understand the difference. I was just assuming that since NK invited TPB they were planning on using it within NK. It also makes sense that if you were planning on downloading a large collection of torrents you would want the best possible access to those torrent files, as opposed to crawling for links.

    • Ah okay I understand. I don't think this has anything to do with access inside North Korea however, and if it is actually hosted in North Korea it is likely done purely as a middle-finger to the West, not as some sincere support for filesharing or anything like that.