Roundup: Peer-to-Peer News Packets

A number of torrent trackers in Russia have recently been shut down by the local constabulary, in effect reducing file sharing bandwidth use by 80%. In Russia, traffic shapes you! [TorrentFreak]

Two Eastern European emissaries are bending Bill Gates’ ear: Mikhail Gorbachev wants him to intervene in a piracy case, and Romania’s Traian Băsescu tells him that, without piracy, their IT industry wouldn’t have existed. [Slashdot, What PC?]

There was a time when you could count on superheroes to defeat the evil menace of the hour, like Captain America’s victory over the Nazis. Captain Copyright? Erm, not so much. [Slyck]

Hey!Watch, a tool for downloading clips from popular video sharing sites, has now added BitTorrent support. [LifeHacker, P2P Blog]

Blu-ray format high-definition movies, not to be outdone HD-DVD’s early lead in the black market, can now be found at a local torrent tracker near you. [FileSharing Talk]