[namrog84]

That was before hoarding and building questionable businesses around them became a thing. I remember it being really easy to find textbooks, solution manuals, and related pdf and other stuff as late as 2008 far easier than 6-8 years later.

The main difference were sites like chegg and many other sites started slurping them up to resell in some way.

[loa_in_]

It doesn't take away the torrents, no?

[CaptainFever]

One of my pet peeves is the way people use words like slurp, hoover, take, vaccuum, suck up, or steal, when in reality they mean copy.

I mean if Chegg manages to sell something you can get for free, then all the more power to them lol. Though we could probably do more to educate the younger generation on the magic of torrents. Ignoring angry textbook publishers, of course.

[namrog84]

If they copy then do things to help take down the initial thing. They've done more than just copy. And that's what I believe many places did.

You get your copy. Then send out fake dmca noticed or buy out places. Then sell your copy after everyone else's copies aren't available anymore.

It's a very standard practice in all walks of life. You gain access to a device then improve security and fix issues so that others can't get in anymore. That's a bad person approach. The legal way is to pull up the proverbial ladder or legal loopholes behind you. Good, bad, or whatever. Tons of people and places do it.

It's far more nefarious than just so innocently copying