Bittorrent, which had started shortly after the new millennium as a means for peers to share files amongst each other (peer-to-peer), has grown to become a culture for its users and, for those who choose to embrace its secret-society-like underworld, an empire. I am referring, of course, to the empire of private trackers and the unofficial hierarchy that results from such a social structure. Consider the passion membership in these private trackers inspires in people and how this, in turn, influences each person’s association and social standing in the general community of bittorrent file-sharers. Yet as this civilization of piracy prospers, the philosophy under which bittorrent was created, that peers should share what they have with one another, becomes less and less the foundation of its cities. Instead, that foundation shifts towards friendships, rivalries, alliances, rank, and (at its worst) money.
Social relationships and networks, that had originated as the byproduct of having a private community in which members must be trusted, is increasingly becoming the point around which the people’s piracy revolves. While this is often beneficial to the community—such as in cases of friendships and rivalries—it adds the risk of people sharing or holding back based on how their actions will affect their social status. Sharing becomes controlled by who and what can increase a person’s rank; rank becomes determined by the haves and have-nots; and whether a person has or has-not limits the society to which he is confined. Influence is the key that anyone aspiring to get anywhere requires. Ideally, a candidate for membership should qualify depending on how well he can contribute to that community’s needs, but because influence is integral to a person’s advancement it becomes a game of politics. Sharing is reduced to an investment in hopes of gaining something at a later time as opposed to everyone sharing for the sake of sharing—Ephialtes as opposed to Robin Hood. Sometimes file-sharing is removed entirely from the picture in cases where people suck up and make promises of support to establish their relationship with persons in position of power. This can be commonly seen in the form of First Line Support and Staff common to a number of different trackers that have no apparent duties. They will be glorified idlers that are active in social discussions (especially with important people of places they aspire to gain membership), but when it comes to helping people those support members are curiously absent or useless on the subject. Consequently, this leads to theseparvenus, or unqualified persons, being members of other trackers and repeating the process. This would naturally lead to two groups into which members can be categorized, those that ask how their trackers can help them and those that ask how they can help their trackers, except when one additional element comes into play: money.
Historically, the act of charging for services that should be gotten by the merits and affections of both parties alone is symbolized best as prostitution, where enters the whores and patrons of whores as the third group. There can be no denying the financial needs involved in the various operations of a tracker (or forum for that matter), but the controversy lies in those organizations accepting donations beyond the costs specific to those operations. Every organization is responsible for its own budget, and if it is not prepared to pay its own costs in cases of lack of donations then it becomes an organization designed with the expectation of money coming in. Then there are those trackers that charge for membership or have tried that business model and failed such as a now defunct 0-day tracker that attempted a sponsorship program late last year or a TV tracker that charged $24 USD per year for membership. In either case, sharing becomes pay-to-leech instead of the aforementioned sharing for the sake of sharing. Organizations using this pay-to-leech structure are not always clear as their monthly budget is not open to the public, nor can the exact financial responsibilities be determined as some things such as topsite access costs (in itself frowned upon by Scene parties) are not verifiable. As for the patrons of such organizations, the intent is the defining factor. A donation by definition is something given as a gift and not as payment for services received, but there are those trackers and forums that “reward” donations with such things as upload credit, VIP status, or invites. This can be argued to be a sort of counter-gift except that gifts are voluntary, and the rewards are invariably given to everyone who has given their gift. With that in mind, these rewards and their significance must be examined individually. Upload credit allows the person to download that amount without first having to share that amount, contributes to the requirements for promotion within the tracker, and raises the ratio some put so much stock in. VIP or Donor status has the effect of elevating members above the status of their peers or raises their social standing among site-specific benefits. Last of the common perks of donors is the bonus invites rewarded by some trackers which is ordinarily reserved for members that have achieved promotion by merits of contribution such as power users. These trackers do not necessarily seek profit, but notice how all of these rewards can raise the influence level that has been established as so important to those whose priorities rest in personal advancement. This puts both the organizations and the donors’ intentions into question as the donation simply for the sake of supporting something the donor believes in is made complicated by the resulting rewards.
As these problems and others arise in the community-at-large, the Bittorrent Empire moves continually towards collapse. More trackers rise and fall every year; more alliances shift and enemies made; more established sites are put into question because of money. Trackers themselves become trophies and status symbols rather than means of sharing among one another, while sharing increasingly becomes trading. Consider how many people request what are sometimes known as “*** trackers” without contributing to the communities they are already a part of, how many request invites to certain lossless trackers that do not listen to lossless music, and how many request an established magictracker that probably cannot even shuffle a deck of cards. The attention of bittorrent users are on their personal standing rather than their personal security and the good of the community. Think of how many people would reach out to unknown new members to a community versus how many people would greet established bittorrent members in hopes of gaining favor. At the capitol of commerce, which will remain unnamed because of some of the good that comes of it, invites are given and requested without regards to how their recipients can—if at all—contribute to the places in which they are admitted. If things like these continue, the road being paved is clear, and although the dismal future has not been set in stone yet, the populace will have to examine this structure and weigh heavily the toll it is taking on its way of life, its meaning, its culture. Those persons who have gained influence and those of us that are able must either take responsibility and change its course, or watch as the community we care about falls apart.
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