Actually it’s a different domain name (I don’t want to do them a favor so I’ll omit it), and secondly such sites that come and go. The domain name is irrelevant.
The point is, while most of us here are thinking how to use crypto to monetize own (or some of you other people’s) content, the parasites are busy making money without crypto. Like this OpenParasite.
I’m not interested in the exact nature of their model, but it seems these sites are a new gen of torrenting portals which not only display torrent links, but (big innovation) pop up a client-side window that on the one end sucks in video data, and on the other shows it to the viewer.
So they aren’t copying, transmitting or storing other people’s content. Something like Popcorn without the hassle of installing your own app. A small downside is they insert ads and trackers. Okay, that bothers me personally, but most people don’t give a crap.
What’s not to like? It doesn’t require any effort on the lazy viewer’s side and it appears to work well (I just tried to sample a movie, full HD no problemo!). Yes, it can be censored, but most popular movies have like 50-100 sources and just like torrents were never censored, these don’t appear to be censored either.
In summary, I can kind of understand why Average Joe will prefer these sites (as long as they work) to MaidSafe. Open a new tab, search, hit Play, hit Full Screen, watch, close the tab. There is nothing to learn or understand. Just like they like it.
I’m not saying SAFE is too hard, It’s not, but it’s harder than this. Bitcoin is having the same problem.
My point is, sites like that, and cash/PayPal (for Bitcoin) have significant advantages over the theoretically better crypto-stuff. Just like Bitcoin adoption is slow, SAFE will struggle the same way. I don’t know how many people are using this OpenParasite types of sites, but it must be millions. They’ve no clue how it works, etc. They just go there and it works.
The most idiotic part is they make it “easy to earn” (i.e. you stream stuff in a country which can theoretically jail you or fine you $100K for copyright violations, and they pay you $20 for 10,000 streams). Fxxxing morons.
But, my anger aside, this “earning potential” is a big deal because with “fiat” advertisers (who pay and pay more vs. mostly non-existent Tor or SAFE advertisers) one can actually earn a lot more. First, you earn fiat and quickly, and second, and you don’t have to be online all the time and wait for GET
s. For example you can stream over weekends and make $20 (I suppose) and then delete the file on Monday morning. Third, you can “put your bandwidth to work” with a decent 32 GB USB key.
Now, we don’t know how that’s going to pay on SAFE, but if the farmers get 1 SAFE for each MB, movies will be expensive (or MAID will have to be cheaper) to match these ludicrous prices ($0.002/stream). Plus with SAFE the famer needs to actively get involved and learn a thing or two.
Someone jokingly asked “isn’t SAFE just a more expensive version of the Internet”. Of course it isn’t, but as far as video content is concerned, I have to say these parasitic Web streamers and the likes of Popcorn address a huge percentage (user time spent, and network traffic wise)) of market needs for P2P data sharing.
The biggest advantage of SAFE is anonymity, and that will have to work well if the lazy majority is to pay attention.