The NinjaVideo manifesto
p2pnet view P2P:- Yesterday p2pnet reported “TVShack.net, Movies-Links.TV, Filespump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org and ZML.com have been targeted by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Homeland Security for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement — aka ICE”.
NinjaVideo.net and NinjaThis.net were also shut down but “authorities declined to give the location because the investigation is ongoing”, said CNews.
That may be, but Ninja isn’t staying silent.
Saying Ninjavideo.nethas was also shut down, in a p2pnet Reader’s Write, Phara publishes the transcription of a podcast described as the Ninja Video Manifesto to “understand we are not the evil ones”.
Here it is in full >>>
Hello and welcome to the NinjaVideo manifesto. This one is a bit different from the rest, in that I’m the only person on the line. I’m Phara by the way – just in case you didn’t know, or you’re new to the NinjaVideo podcasts – and I’ll be doing this one solo.
This is partially scripted, partially free thought. And I’m going to try and keep it as light-hearted as I can,but at the end of the day this is probably the most serious podcast we’ve ever done.
This is our Mission Statement; it doesn’t really get much clearer than that.
We decided in light of our recent traffic spikes with the start of the fall season and the havoc it wreaked with our system that maybe it was about time to explain who and what we are as an entity.
I think it’s become quite obvious that NinjaVideo is a bit of a monster to run, and a lot of you are probably curious as to why we do it. So for this podcast I’m not only speaking to you as Phara but also as the voice of the administrators, the moderators, the entire NinjaVideo community, and in a way as one of the representatives of the on-line video world, and perhaps through this you’ll gain a better understanding of why people like us spend such a giant amount of time doing what we do.
By the way, I take the title of representative of the on-line video world very loosely, nobody put me in this position. I’m not quite sure if I want to be in it, but it’s a reality and though this might open me and my website to a bit of unwanted scrutiny it’s something that we as a community felt needed to be done.
So, that’s me, that is Ninja.
And let me now explain who this is for.
This is for everyone. To everyone that’s ever watched a video on-line, to anyone that’s ever viewed a clip on YouTube, to every uploader and downloader, to those within the scene and the peer-to-peer, to the bootleggers that have gotten locked up for selling their warez on the street corner, to the cammers that risk their freedom every single night in movie theaters.
That’s one side of it.
This is also for the other side. We’re doing this all encompassing. This is for the lawyers sending out notices; this is to movie producers and studio heads; to all the scriptwriters and the actors.
This is for everyone.
I’m not going to go too much into what we do, as I think if you’re listening to this, you most likely know. But in a sentence or two:
We are a high quality video site (probably the best one out there, and I say this as a user of my own site and not just as the Admin). We provide TV primarily, as well as a significant documentary section, new movie releases and sporting events in addition to a few other things. We’re loved by millions, but we’re hated by quite a few, and as to how we started, most of us at the top were already members of this on-line video community, and we just saw an emphasis on quality lacking, so we came together to create the highest quality site on-line.
That said, let me explain a little bit about Ninja Main.
We’re realists. We know what brings people to NinjaVideo – Ninja Main in particular – it is zero hour releases on TV and movies. But while they’re here they can learn — from our documentaries to the depth of our forum we are a classroom in so many ways, as well as an outlet for your general entertainment. We did this very consciously.
We could have a third of the videos that we do on the Main site and be equally as successful but we chose not to. We wanted to educate. We wanted to be different from every other site out there by establishing a community that revolves around the Main site.
Our community has its own rules and hierarchy but it’s one where people can shed the superficialities of the physical world and discuss everything from good TV, to good music, to land reform in China, to recent and upcoming elections. And they can do this with complete freedom — as long as it’s done in a respectful manner. People have dedicated enormous chunks of their lives to creating this home of ours online and if one was to skim through my boards they would see it in it’s full glory every day.
Though it may be argued that we — as an entity — are the ultimate leech for what we take from the film and the TV industry, my community and those that helped build it are anything but. This is not an anonymous place of fake thank-you’s and ignorant requests, but the closest that the Internet has ever come to an extended family. There’s really no way for me to explain it and do it justice, but I suspect that if you were to register and to lurk the boards for a few days you would understand what I was saying quite clearly.
So with all that being said, let’s get to some of the central points of this podcast:
Why do sites like NinjaVideo exist?
Why do people like us prefer this online world to theaters so much at a time? What is our take on studios and Hollywood and the businesses that we are so closely tied to, but not quite friendly with?
I’m just going to speak a bit broadly here and go into what is probably the whole point of this, the meat of this.
When did the American pastime of going to the movies become a luxury? Honestly– when? When did family night at the movies start costing fifty dollars without popcorn? As a wise moderator of mine once said, “When did leisure get taken hostage?F
Look around you … the world is in crisis, economic as well as social. Why was one of the few escapes available to us as a society taken out of the layman’s reach? I want to point something out. Your numbers — they’re so wrong. You break record numbers every season. $200 million opening weekends.
Every year, those at the top of your business get richer and richer. And we, your loyal fans, pay more and more to view two hours of regurgitated plot.
You say that piracy is killing you. But do you honestly think that the thousand people who watched a movie online would be the same thousand that would go to the theaters if that option were taken from them?
Your Statistics Are Lies.
If nothing else, it is through Internet word of mouth that so many otherwise obscure films succeed.
I’d like to ask you a question sometimes. Perhaps I’m being naive, but honestly, why can an actor be paid $20 million for a movie? Why are there doctors out there paying off student loans for fifty years, but someone who essentially “lies” for a living makes millions? And this is for the entire entertainment industry. Sports players are very much included in this, mainstream musicians…
And if the comparison to doctors is a bit off, why do you make so much more than your writers?
Why was there a writers’ strike last year that halted TV production for the first time in years when someone like Jennifer Aniston or Jerry Seinfeld was making a million dollars per episode for a twenty-two minute sitcom?
And why — and this is probably more important — Why have we as a society accepted this?
Why do we race to newsstands for glorified tabloids mimicking news? Why is CNN reporting on Britney Spears rather than the Congo? Why am I supposed to care that Angelina Jolie had or adopted another child? Why (this is so upsetting) why are we so obsessed with this disgusting celebrity culture where someone like Paris Hilton is a heroine and children don’t know who Mahatma Gandhi is? Why in a world where for the first time true knowledge is accessible to us via a few keystrokes are test scores plummeting? Please explain to me why college in the United States is utterly unaffordable. This pains me. This pains me so much.
My generation, we’re a generation of cynics, apathetic to all around us, indifferent to all around us. But when did being those things mean that we had to become ignorant? When did that happen? There are times when I find myself bewildered at my own inability to feel compassion but at the same time I’m plagued by these overarching ideals.
I care not for the man standing next to me, but I sob for humanity. I weep for these ideals that I feel are being lost. I fail at paying my own rent on time, but I can stare aghast at someone who doesn’t know there’s a conflict between Israel and Palestine, or that there’s still war going on in the world.
There are giant issues out there. Enormous issues that are so much greater than generic media consumption. Issues requiring attention far greater, far more attention in general than I could ever bring to it.
And yet I see millions being spent squashing a minority like mine. One that at its core espouses the kind of groupthink necessary to enact change. One made of leaders that want to reach out across the world and help each other – even if its via something so small as uploading a newscast, or even a TV show.
But we’re labeled pirates. We’re called thieves. We’re raided and arrested and we’re forced to hide behind aliases while we weave and we bob through these grey areas of laws not yet written. We’re this amorphous Internet scum looking to rob your industry. Right? We are so far from.
You … YOU have done this. You … The studios with your inflated budgets and your ridiculous salaries. You have fed the mob insignificant tidbits about celebrity antics in order for them to pay out their retirement funds in popcorn prices. But not all amongst this mob are sheep.
There are those that refuse to cater to such condescending pandering. And at heart that’s what it is. It’s condescending. It’s patronizing. It’s insulting to us as a generation. Sites like NinjaVideo force innovation upon you. This entire community does. The record profits that you have been making prove that people still go to the movies. Ad spots starting a $250,000 for thirty seconds prove that people still watch TV.
How will you keep your audience? Why should they pay you any longer when it is clear that you care nothing for them? Will you continue to repackage the same story lines? Will you continue to shun independence? Will you continue to force us to read publicist drivel on high school dropouts with the Mickey Mouse club on their resumes? Honestly, it’s time to stop.
Just stop.
Reincarnate yourselves. Utilize us. Don’t shut us down. Make a stand. You’ve made your money. Why don’t you make your statement now? Now that the networks and the MPAA stand together, why don’t you embrace the Internet? And I know that you have too a degree, but it’s lacking. Sorely lacking. Why not let those well-versed in this scene help. You must set aside the status quo. For it is being set aside for you.
Your screeners are being leaked by your own insiders. Let me repeat that for you:
Your screeners are being leaked by your own insiders.
Embrace the peer to peer. Embrace the crowd at your door that would help you acclimate to today’s technological revolution before they blast through your bureaucratic ineptitude. Your very own structuring inhibits your growth. You have generations at the top that know nothing of this new world and cannot grasp the fluidity of the Internet and its rapid-fire growth. Your industry is an industry made up of connections and cronyism and casting couches.
This is the time ripe for change. Be that change.
Once upon a time, visual media was heralded for the positive impacts it made upon society.
Once upon a time a cold war was destroyed at the hands of reporters who showed millions that life was different outside the communist bloc.
Once upon a time I cared to listen to what CNN had to say to me.
Once upon a time, copyright law favored the small, and not the hidden vaults underneath a 500-acre studio.
And isn’t that the ugliest part, honestly… that your writers are forced into the cold with picket signs, while these glorified Barbie and Ken dolls prance around the world for more money than most countries make in a year.
Please, please understand this anger. You must. It’s enough. You have become complacent through your success. You have taken an industry barely one hundred years old and destroyed its public integrity. You have made fools of us and forced a discontent that is exponentially swelling through the ranks of the computer literate.
You and only you opened the door for NinjaVideo. Sites like mine are a direct manifestation of your apathy. You can’t hold entertainment hostage any more. You can’t hold news hostage.
If Rupert Murdoch wants to play FOX news on five different channels, then I’ll build an Al Jazeera category and give it love on Ninja Main. If a documentary maker is saddened that his work will only be seen by a few thousand via a public broadcasting channel, then I’ll give him an audience millions strong.
If you want to take advantage of the fact that the youth of my generation, some of them adults now, are lazy, we will make that youth a force to be reckoned with and give them a home on-line to gather and think. And that’s it. That is the point of all this, of NinjaVideo in particular.
I truly, truly hope that this did not come off as a rant. I guess what I want, what we all want, is to be left alone. I don’t want to go to jail… or court. None of us do. And if we can’t be accepted, how about we’re acknowledged? Not as pirates but as a generation you can learn from. Work with us. Learn from us.
This is what we do. It’s part of who we are. Instead of sending a takedown notice, how about sending an introductory letter? Conference with us about what the evolution of this game should be about, because I assure you – whether or not you ever take NinjaVideo down, there will be more of us. This game can’t be stopped: so how about it’s understood?
We’re a community, made up of millions. We come from every country, every walk of life, and every economic level. And we’re smart. We’re young. We’re articulate. And we’re your audience.
But we’re tired, and we can fight back.
And this is by no means a challenge; it’s just the reality.
Can I afford lawyers? No. Not at all. But will there be a hundred people to take my place if I step down?
Yes … believe me there will be.
So if the moves towards peace could ever be made between our worlds then I would suggest that you take us, NinjaVideo, up on such a reconciliation. We’re grown, we’re educated, and we — more than most — are willing to listen. Perhaps if you are one of those lawyers or studio heads or actors, and for some odd reason you’re listening to this right now, take a moment before you pick up that phone and truly think about what I said.
There is an opportunity here that has never been laid out before.
This has been the NinjaVideo Manifesto and it’s time to wrap this thing up.
We’re your future. We’re here and we’re strong and we’re not moving.
I’ll leave you all with a quote. I tried searching for a few choice ones on piracy and I found myself much more attracted to the ones I found on revolution:
Samuel Adams once said: “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires in people’s minds.”
We have lit that flame and it can’t be put out. Will you help us harness its power, or will you let us all burn with you alongside?
Thank you for listening to the NinjaVideo Manifesto.
This has been Phara, with all of NinjaVideo behind me.
Also see ICE steps up for Hollywood, Big 4 labels — ‘Operation In Our Sites’
Defintely stay tuned.
… and identi.ca
p2pnet – US enforcers nail 7 ‘pirate movie’ sites, June 30, 2010
CNews – Websites seized over pirated movies, June 30, 2010
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July 1st, 2010 at 10:27 am
@ Phara:
Thanks for this. Well said.
Cheers!
July 1st, 2010 at 11:01 am
it saddens me greatly to see this happen. NinjaVideo is like some kind of great mythical ship floating through the internet, brimming with the very finest information. like Phara says, it isn’t just about the entertainment – the documentary section is immense! a person could just wander through it for days, and trip on anything from bbc to pbs or national geographic… nature, politics, religion, quantum mechanics, tesla, jesus, einstein. Ninja provided so much valuable content that simply wouldn’t be available on any cable subscription, regardless the cost. television is frigid and lame like that – the content is always so nauseating… nevermind the commercials. and, if anything worthwhile ever were to grace the annals of the boob tube, good luck trying to catch it during the programmed time slot.
NinjaVideo is the evolution of film and video – the purpose isn’t to keep the information from people; it’s to get the information to them using the fewest possible resources, then let the viewer choose their own programming. that’s what Ninja does – they connect people, and they connect ideas. they give people the information they crave; they don’t keep viewers chained up in the basement of irrelevant, archaic thought, as television programming is so fond of doing. and after all their exhaustive work, they’re being punished. that’s democracy. that’s the corporatocracy.
for the sake of society at large, i really hope this world can come together to realize what it is that NinjaVideo is offering; and may we clearly keep in mind what the alternative is. we’ve been down that road before. we know television. we know hollywood. we grew up loathing the way it would literally feast upon brain cells, but we were so powerless against it. but that’s not the case anymore. for what may be a very brief time (a virtual blip in history, if we fail to protect it), we have the power. we are a nation of zombies reborn, and we take our info streaming.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:05 am
thanks to all Ninja, and all those who know and raise arms against the injustices of patent and copyright law.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:05 am
The online community is buzzing over this. The corrupt MPAA dont know how strong we really are! Save Ninjavideo!!!!!! Witness a movement!!!
SAVE NINJA
WITNESS A MOVEMENT
July 1st, 2010 at 11:27 am
is saddened
that ninjavide.net has been taken down but never fear a phoenix always rises from his ashes 
July 1st, 2010 at 11:38 am
What a sad day today is WHEN the persons who we elected to a office to PROTECT and SERVE our rights FOR all work for the FEW. It is with sincere sadness that Ninjavideo has been a target of the FEW who’s little DIMES have been lost to the INTERNET. When Hulo is on CNN as the GOOD guys DOING THE SAME DAMM THING as the targeted sites. >>>>>>>>WAKE UP AMERICA..<<<<<< this country IS NO LONGER BEING ATTACKED from the OUTSIDE as MUCH as from WITHIN.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:39 am
The NinjaVideo Manifesto
PDF: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UEROOBGG
Audio: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CCKTBMS0 — 45 second wait – Jon
Spread the word.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:53 am
I agree 100% I spent 3 hours tweeting “Save ninjavideo ” and retweeting other peoples posts I even tweeted the the manifesto about 20 times or so I tweeted it so much that now twitter wont let me tweet anymore it keeps telling me I have exceeded my amount of status updates please try again in few hours . That was 10 hours ago and still i cant tweet if somebody else is experiencing this please tell me , So I will post my , opinion here KEEP TWEETING AND RETWEETING ABOUT NINJAVIDEO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
LONG LIVE NINJAVIDEO
July 1st, 2010 at 11:54 am
I’m lost without my ninjavideo, I feel the feds killed a friend… Why didn’t they kill Hulu, oh yeah that’s right, it’s backed by major studios…
July 1st, 2010 at 12:08 pm
damn, the fuc-ing shit comes and took over ninjavideo. get ready for 2012, because it is going to get worse.
July 1st, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Love ninja. It will be sorely missed. Not fond of Phara though. Im pretty sure that when she changes a light bulb she just holds it up and stands still assuming the world will revolve around her.
July 1st, 2010 at 12:18 pm
are yall kidding? ninja was a horiible site , thats was passing out viruses for 6 months. they were bullies, power stricken, (as far as a website will allow) lmao! there are so many better site out there, this is just phara last “rant” before shes hauled off. she is powerless, no army, no moral height, nothing, just an emial box full of sorrys. from a bunch of people she never met. p.s. do not tweet crap to save anything , it will not help , thats just stupid, its gone, be smart and start a forum and hunt links like everbody else , but dont be like phara and her crew and piss everyone off so that your #1 on the radar.
July 1st, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Ok im from Canada first i wake up this morning having to pay an extra 8% on everything from our stupid government. Now your stupid government takes down ninja video. This world is truly going to shit all the political pigs have one concern the green lining in their wallets. Fuck politics its time for a revolt.
July 1st, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Phara be proud that you have the best site on the web . Always have faith no matter how difficult the struggle becomes. The documentaries
that have shown on your site are the most educational and really amazing shows that I sit and watch with my children. Your site has opened doors to my children that no school or classroom has come close to. I sincerely Thank You for that. You have sparked the imagination of generations to come . The documentaries about the Planets,the Oceans ,Ancient life ,Volcanoes and even Whale wars have opened the eyes of countless people , who without your website would have probably never seen the beauty this world has to offer. Your site has changed my life for the better and also the lives of my 2 kids .Keep in mind (Together we stand /Divided we fall).Phara fight the good fight and we will all be praying for you. Sincerely, Tamara Wade
July 1st, 2010 at 12:40 pm
What a rambling manifesto.
I love Ninja Video but this isn’t going to persuade anyone who doesn’t already use the site. There’s no real legal argument presented whatsoever… just a “NV is great because the system sucks.” RIP, NV.
July 1st, 2010 at 12:41 pm
I cannot belived they shut you down!!!!
Like Ninja lover i feel like i’ve lost a friend, a really close friend. One that was always available when i needed them. I’m a student and a single mum and ninjavideo was there for me always especially since after the nursery fees had been paid, the nappies and formula bought, there was barely any change left for much else let alone finding a sitter then paying an arm and a leg to go watch the darn movies.
please come back soon or i’ll go crazy with only my toddler to keep me company and UK freeview (absolute crap), and before fruitless jobhunting makes me top myself.
I LOVE YOU NINJA VIDEO.XX
July 1st, 2010 at 1:08 pm
SAVE NINJA VIDEO!!!!
July 1st, 2010 at 1:43 pm
It certainly looks like we’ve lost NinjaVideo forever. I’ll miss being to watch The F1 in HD instead of shitty iPlayer quality. I’ll miss being introduced to new shows from across the pond and being able to catch up on episodes missed. What i won’t miss is the assholes that ran that site. Every time i accessed it i couldn’t help thinking that NV was total proof that it doesn’t matter if you’re a total asshat with delusions of grandeur, if you’re the best at what you do people will eat your carrots anyway. Which is a bit sad really. The overinflated egos that ran that site got exactly what they deserved. The self proclaimed elite seldom are.
Their main page was i’ll have to admit awesome, but their forums were just a yes-men recruitment site, purely created for electro-social mutual masturbation. The admins, especially Phara blindly fawning over thinly veiled adulation desperate for some e-celeb status that was never going to come. The rats deserting the sinking ship have already forgotten it’s name in their desperate attempt to replace it.
You can posture and pout and rant about how your motives are pure , and yes there will be those who will follow you blindly but manifesto or not you know it has nothing to do with your ‘ideals’ and eveything to do with your sad little ego trip, which you know you brought to an end yourselves. You wanted to be loved by the mainstream and it bit back. What did you think was going to happen when you had the balls(stupidity) to put an AddThis button on every page?
NV was a victim of it’s own success, yes… But also of blind arrogance.
July 1st, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Ninjavideo was a welcomed friend in our family. We loved the “Docu Saturdays” as we called them and preferred NV over Netflix which had less content I’d actually be interested in and well, nothing to be said of consciousness. I hope NV is able to return and all involved are absolved of their anticonsumerist sins.
July 1st, 2010 at 2:57 pm
R.I.P. ninja. You were the best site I’ve seen in terms of community, quality, reliability, and the sheer range of stuff you posted. If there was something good out there, I could rely on you to find it.
July 1st, 2010 at 4:27 pm
we will miss you, the day by day lay out was a winner rip
July 1st, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Ninja video has been a favorite site of mine for years….It sucks that its finally taken down. Granted, the last few months NV has been spewing out a virus every time you access the site it seems -.-
July 1st, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Reading it is one thing. Listening to it is quite another. Her voice was made for this.
Hear the original podcast:
Audio: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CCKTBMS0
Hear the reality – Spread the Word.
July 1st, 2010 at 4:51 pm
I wonder what would happen if we as a community just stopped “arguing” our case and forcing the copyright holders to argue theirs. There is no law (at least in Canada so perhaps in the US it is different) that specifies that companies have any ‘right’ to make money. Nobody has the right to “steal” a product and, yes, there has been some decrease in the profit margins to some degree, but this is a shift in industry and technology, not a shift in the moral fiber of the public. To be analogous, this would be like buggy manufacturers suing automotive makers for a loss of profit and condemning drivers for driving cars. The world has moved on. The public knows what it is willing to spend on media and for what ‘quality’. Independent media is growing and competing with mainstream, centralized media. The world stage of media has opened to include films from all over the world. All of these elements have changed the way people respond to media. I will not pay more for media – both because I am disinclined and now on principle. I WILL continue to go to the theatre to see those movies (probably in the second-viewing theatres) I would have gone to anyway and I will NOT subscribe to cable. I believe that if we choose to be honest to our principles, then we might have a better collective chance of winning this fight. It is the responsibility of the industry (not the police and government) to protect the profits of their efforts. They have the choice to stop producing their information if it doesn’t make money or evolve. They do NOT have the right to hold us responsible to their profit margin. There are many options for these companies to work with the internet community. It has been their choice to work against it which, I would argue, is why they are failing.
July 1st, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Ninjavideo has been an amazing site since I started using it 2 years ago. I am totally saddened that it is now gone. the amount of tv shows and documentaries they had was amazing. what will happen to it all now…
July 1st, 2010 at 5:13 pm
That was a pretty terrible manifesto, but I’ll miss Ninjavideo. I’m sure the chat boards were great, as were the documentaries that I didn’t watch, but I’m not sure that makes stealing content legal. I do agree that the corporations are pretty brutal gatekeepers of movies and television, but the real issue is that we have become so shallow as a society that we require hundreds of millions in special effects (which can only be fronted by massive corporations) to placate our short attention spans.
Why don’t we just support local theatre and local musicians and allow the studios to fall and remake themselves with higher quality but lower budget fair? Oh yeah, because we lack the ability to get off our couches.
July 1st, 2010 at 5:16 pm
I loved ninjavideo. I used it for over a year, and I miss it a lot now that it’s gone. But please, let’s not pretend that we pirate our media from the internet because of some inner calling to “stick it to the man.” I watch my tv on ninjavideo because I am a busy person without regular access to a tv. It’s like having TiVo for free. That’s why I watch ninjavideo: because I am lazy and cheap. The generation that’s now getting their movies and TV online is the same generation that grew up with Napster, Kazaa, and Limewire. We are the “I want it all and I want it now” generation. The manifesto is a bunch of pretty words, and maybe it’s true for some of the ninjavideo community, but most of us? We just like instantaneous free stuff.
July 1st, 2010 at 5:29 pm
I absolutely loved NinjaVideo and anyone who complained about it should look at all the benefits it had without passing judgement. I agree the viruses did get annoying but it was an absolutely free and user friendly site. The quality was usually incredible and I could always rely on them to upload the shows I know and love; both still being filmed and those complete. RIP Ninja.
July 1st, 2010 at 5:35 pm
it was a cool site while it lasted, but this manifesto is just phara’s ego coming out, and some illogical garbage about how they are somehow in the right for stealing intellectual prop from others. pointing to documentaries as a reason why the site has merit, and a forum where people discuss, is just another retarded justification for stealing.
There’s plenty of free stuff on the internet. YOU ARE NOT OPPRESSED! If you don’t want to pay 10 bucks to go see a movie, that’s your choice. I don’t want to pay 50 bucks to take my family to dinner sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I have the right to go and take food from a restaurant, and justify it by saying the food was too expensive, it’s bad for you, and it’s ok, because we discussed culinary topics after we ate the food we stole.
Ninja was shady as well, full of viruses, “the helper buddy” or whatever it was, just seems like hacker type stuff to me. plus them tripping on ban power was pretty stupid too, but it was there site, they could do what they wanted,, it was an ok place, but there’s still plenty of legal content online. Most TV Networks now put their shows online for free temporarily, I know hulu is going to a pay service now, but there’s still a lot of free entertainment out there.
Quit your whining, you knew this would happen. It sucks to see it happen, but come on, this isn’t the best fight to stand up for.
July 1st, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Ninga Video had become something of a tutorial of educational topics, to a resource for our families entertainment. I am of a 1 income, low to middle class family, were our monthly budget does not allow us the option to go to the movies at this time, and with the rising cost’s maybe never? You stated it very clearly and to the point, that most can not afford the ridiculous cost’s to see a movie these days. The rich keep getting richer, and people like me and my family have to wait till the DVD goes on a discounted sales rack, a year from it’s release. What’s wrong with that picture? I am not saying that we never go out to see a movie, but the difference now is, that we will see 1 movie a year, to the 10-15 movies and documentary’s we were saying before. Ninga Video will for sure be missed by me and my family. Hope to see you again some day, and Thank You for the enjoyable times that we have had, if not for your site in this last year!
July 1st, 2010 at 5:42 pm
This whole thing, to use the language of the time and generation, sucks. I’m only barely familiar with NinjaVideo, but it’s still a sad day for ALL of the reasons that have been mentioned in not only their manifesto, but in the hundreds of comments I’ve seen all over the internet already today. But what really gets me, what *really* irritates me, and what REALLY gets me fired up about this particular issue is that it’s *ICE* that’s in charge of this “investigation”.
ICE = IMMIGRATIONS and customs enforcement
How in the world can the government rationalize spending an insanely ridiculous amount of money trying to take down sites like NV (that will never truly die because someone will always replace them) while there is still the MASSIVE issue of illegal immigration going on in the United States?!
Yes, we should be upset about Hollywood raping the American public’s wallets to continue to produce what is often lousy entertainment. Yes, we should be upset about the lack of *education* in regards to how/why the system is working the way it is. But we (the American public) should also be concerned at the blatant misuse of funding that’s sending ICE out on a wild goose chase that will never end in success when they should be targeting a larger issue that has been proven to be part of the major economic crisis our nation is in – ILLEGAL immigration.
July 1st, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Welcome to NEW CHINA.They going to tell us what we can or can’t do.No more freedom in this country.
July 1st, 2010 at 6:08 pm
NinjaVideo has had a big impact on my life so far, every day I checked the website. And every day I learned something new from it. I found amazing series/movies etc, that I would not have been able to see if not for NinjaVideo. I really felt like I lost something the day NinjaVideo went down.
July 1st, 2010 at 6:13 pm
To all whom are concerned,
Yesterday, a saddening act happened to our community. Ninjavideo.net was seized by the ICE for the illegal distribution of copyright materials. We have lived in the shadow of such action for over two years.
Today, the world has lost a collection of media that many will never be able to access again. Today, we have lost a database which not only shared media, but which introduced people around the world to media which they may not ever have heard of if it were not for Ninjavideo. Today, we have lost a place where media was not restrained by the subscription fee you pay, by the channels available on your meagre little box, or by international boundaries.
Americans have lost the ability to watch BBC documentaries once again. Brits have lost the ability to watch American sitcoms without waiting and having to pay extra. The rest of the world has lost the ability to watch programs not filtered by their countries’ respective tastes, choices, or budget limitations. Today, we have lost a friend.
We have lost the ability to search for new experiences without having to pay for the freedom. The entertainment industry is the one who deserves the privilege of our attention. We should be able to choose what to support before we give it money. You are again forcing us to pay for the freedom to browse before we buy. And many of us buy. And many more of us would buy if we were able.
Yet ability, nor care, nor freedom is in this equation.
We, as loyal fans, as dedicated artists and commentors, as consumers of your best and despisers of your worst, should be free to give when we are able and willing, and not be subjugated when you are able and unwilling.
Listen to our voice, our manifesto, our hopes and dreams for a future where music is given, as Radiohead have shown us, where films are shown, as London Free Film shows us, and where TV has no boundaries, as The Daily Show allows.
Please, take a moment to listen to us.
We have taken more than enough of our time listening to you.
Manifesto mp3: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CCKTBMS0
Manifesto PDF: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UEROOBGG
Spread the word.
With utmost sincerity,
The NinjaVideo Community
For it is in giving that we receive.
July 1st, 2010 at 6:15 pm
We see all the comments and we share you concern, an official statement is coming soon
July 1st, 2010 at 6:22 pm
I’m in university and living in a apartment without cable..it didn’t matter because I always knew I had ninja PLUS it had soo many good docus. This is soo shitty..bring in a lawyer?
July 1st, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Stealing can be classified in many terms. Studio executives working with the government will not raise the ghastly wages of the majority of those who work so hard in this medium, mainly because they love it. As I recall, we’re not too keen on slavery in this country either.
Shutting down a site like Ninjavideo.net will not prevent the piracy, nor will it prevent the fact that most patrons to the visual arts do in fact pitch in what they can. Sour apples on both sides (money-grubbing and pirating) can ruin a more than common desire to share culture through entertainment and make a living doing so. It’s time for the entertainment industry to work with patrons, rather than against, to find that next step in profitability and intellectual property, because this route isn’t going to help anyone but the upper crust.
July 1st, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Fan-flippin-tastic! Wake up from this twisted sense of entitlement. The actors being paid $20 million a movie argument just doesn’t float. Most of the creative talent behind the media work pirates insist on enjoying for free- don’t make millions. They are lucky if they are paid thousands! Like every few months when a job comes along. So a few thousand every few months? That’s not a wealthy individual. That’s someone trying to make a living.
July 1st, 2010 at 7:26 pm
I get it if you are under 15 years old and you want to steal this kind of content. Thirty years ago I copied Commodore 64 computer games all the time. I still remember how rewarding it was to find one could cut a notch in a floppy disc and use the other side!
If you are a kid you do this because you don’t have any money. I get it. But if you are over 15 years old time to man up and get a job in this capitalist system so you can enjoy leisure activities and pursue education. If you want free education media – go to the library.
As far as the argument from parents who can’t afford the expense– don’t have kids. What’s it going to be? Kids or movies? Personally, I’m 38 years old and chose movies. Some might find that sad, but you should see all the money I have for fun activities.
July 1st, 2010 at 7:39 pm
I can’t believe this ish. Out of all the things for the feds to be concerned with, they choose to shut down a really good site. I am sad and I hope that something can be done about this other than giving up. Nobody would be on the site if studios stopped producing garbage and the cost of going to the theatre didnt mean not being able to pay your rent. A family of four to the movies is unheard of in these times. Oh well I guess Barnes and noble will get some extra business now. Stay strong!
July 1st, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Ninja Video is the msot amazing thing that ever happened to the internet. Phara you are beautiful for getting out there and speaking your mind about this, and representing the ninja community. Let me know if there;s anything i can do to help out and i’m there. I’ve been with you guys since day 1 and want to make sure ninjavideo comes back online!!
July 1st, 2010 at 9:35 pm
So very sad how profit becomes the only legitimate reason for anything. The only motivation for artists and the sole end for corporations to exists. How terribly sad it is to read that it seems many people actually agree that abiding by unjust laws is rightous. Whatever happened to our duty to work against unjust laws whose sole purpose to make very rich people even richer? It is really all so terribly ugly and so very sad how many people do not see that they are peasants and slaves to an insideous system and elite that they will never join or know, one that cares nothing for anyone or any positive principle, whose only purpose is the fattening of the haves at the expense of the havenots.
I for one do not like slavery. Slavery means being not free. Not being free to engage and act on the internet, where such actions deprive no one of their life or liberty, is tantamount to taking my freedom. Thus, I am enslaved.
The only thing worse than forced slavery is then being convinced that I am not in fact being enslaved but justly treated, that to act freely is depriving someone else of their just right to make a profit. That is the icing on the cake…
July 1st, 2010 at 9:38 pm
well I suppose we can still eat cake…
July 1st, 2010 at 9:57 pm
@ everyone:
I don’t have time until next week to excerpt from the comments for a separate post, but if someone would like to summarise and email me here – p2pnet @ shaw dot ca — I’ll run it tomorrow or Saturday.
Cheers!
Jon
July 1st, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Ninja Video has become a way of life for so many of us. It is what the internet is all about – Freedom, Communication, Education and Entertainment.
Working the hours I do never get to watch anything decent on TV, so for years I just missed out. Ninja Video gave me this back by allowing me to discover and watch shows when I wanted, the documentary section has educated me more than some years of my schooling. I have watched films on Ninja Video and then watched them at the cinema, I have discovered new TV series and gone and bought the Box Set.
Figures are already published about people who download music Illegally, and how they tend to spend the most on legitimate copies.
As a producer of music I have used similar forums to promote my material, leading ultimately to releases on highly regarded ‘paid’ platforms and licensing deals, and I still cant explain the rush when I find my material on so called ‘Illegal Sites’ and see just how many people have took it and enjoyed it ! For myself and many others, there’s a new world order in the world of media and we have to embrace it !
I hope Ninja Video comes back stronger from this, and our future generations are taught about this ridiculous outlook Ninja and other communities fought against.
The Ninja is dead, Long live The Ninja!
Ps . . . THANK YOU to all who made it possible! from just one of the many millions who enjoyed, learnt and appreciated!
July 1st, 2010 at 10:07 pm
This is ridiculous!!! Blasphemy!!!! I feel like ive lost something of great value in my life… How will i ever watch one of the best TV shows ever created like Top Gear??? I will not stand for it! I for one will go up to the President maself and talk to him tell him wat the fuck is going on!! I bet if i gave Obama this speach hed actualy do something!!! I wont let this bull* go down!!
July 1st, 2010 at 10:31 pm
Every morning I “used to” download for later in the evening Ninja TV shows. When the Ninja site would not come up, I feared the worst. Then I soon learned that Ninja was seized and perhaps gone forever. I felt like someone close had died, a great loss!
I also assumed and confirmed via the Net that millions feel the same and are pissed. This action should generate a firestorm to hit back at the .gov and greedy Hollywood. I guarantee you that this action will enable ‘others’ to build upon Ninja’s platform. Put the servers in a country where the US cannot penetrate. Gather Net friends to upload DVDs from private collections, record and edit broadcast TV shows. Do not cam first-run movies (a mistake that Ninja made).
Let the streaming begin!
July 1st, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Shutting down a few websites will only enable more to spawn. This comes, at a time when Hulu has begun to roll out Hulu Plus, a subscription-based service to the formerly all-free legal television site,how convenient that the federal government acting upon ON THE EVE OF THIS EVENT. We want all legal free tv and movie sites and we don’t mind a few commercials here and there ,but you as studio heads want more and more with no respect to us whatsoever ,feeding us the low quality,overly hyped productions with no real entertainment my generation enjoyed.
July 1st, 2010 at 10:46 pm
What a lot of you accusing a lot of us of feeling “entitled” don’t understand is that WE WOULD PAY media companies for the content Ninjavideo.net provided if it were offered. The industry is working against its patrons, as one poster said. We would pay for what we watch and how we watch it if given the market option. I personally won’t waste my time trying to watch something at a specific time of day because it isn’t worth it.
Nobody is claiming piracy is legal or that high ideals make it legal. Simply put the media companies won’t offer anything but targeted marketing, putting up shows at peak hours to target specific audiences and send them messages that most effectively opiate the given demographic.
The fact is that a lot of us don’t want to be anesthetized by media. We’d like to benefit from it, and to do that, we should be able to access diversified content at any time. That isn’t too much to ask. Ninjavideo.net was doing this at cost. They collected donations and ad revenue to keep the servers up and pay their rent. Why can’t some media execs provide it at pretty big profit margins?
“Artist” who posted at 7:05 PM July 1st claims the $20 million figure is misleading, then says people involved in production make very little. I disagree with the logic. Perhaps you didn’t pay attention. If celebrity were less important than good overall quality to the media industry, we’d get better content with more wholesome, educational, enriching elements to it, and some of that $20 million would be more justly distributed. If it weren’t only about the actors and their contorted value systems, we’d get better stuff. Even from a purely capitalist perspective, paying somebody that much for the amount of work involved is ridiculous and against libertarian principles.
The market speaks: As long as you keep giving us crap, we won’t pay for it. We might steal it, but we won’t pay for it. I dare media production and delivery companies, consortia, and communities to offer their video media on demand and at as high quality and with such simple user interface as Ninjavideo.net, with a technology OTHER than Adobe Flash (People watching Hulu are literally baking their computers since Flash videos require so much CPU, which gets computers terribly hot). Ninjavideo.net was creative enough to deliver media en masse using a DivX interface. If you can do that, I’ll pay for it. If you can’t, don’t expect me to go out of my way to watch something at a specific time, or to pay loads for gobs of trash to be Tivo-ed selectively when I only consume a small portion of it.
To all those trashing Phara and the rest of the admins, uploaders, moderators, etc, I challenge you to do what they did and not want to brag a whole lot. Until you’re in their shoes you have no right to presume you can even begin to understand them or speculate on their morals. You probably fear the meritocracy that is the Internet. Don’t flame people because you suck. Do something better with commensurate risk and then show us how not to congratulate ourselves.
Mainstream media companies: You suck. Get better. Stop wasting resources on legal fees or on bribing officials to listen to you more than their constituencies and start spending them on innovation. This is a recession, so innovate or lose ground. It is a true sense of entitlement to think you can still make the same cash by doing the same old thing to cater to a rapidly changing set of demographics. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:09 pm
I really gotta say fu-k the feds, man. Whoever sent them on this one failed hard. I hope they see it in the box office returns that this shit was pointless. Long live ninjavideo.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:48 pm
As far as I am concerned, this is W-A-R. I’m done supporting an industry that champions such malice, greed, and control of information . . . and I encourage everyone else to do the same.
The ultimate authority is our wallets. Close them.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:53 pm
. . . and if you have not already done so, be sure to have a look at the ‘STEAL THIS FILM’ series if you find yourself questioning why all forms of information should be free and available to all.
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:13 am
this is a pretty hypocritical argument: if hollywood made a better product, we’d pay for it!
So what is everyone watching on these video sites? why aren’t you outside kicking around a football or better yet reading a book if it’s all trash.
If you like science documentaries or top gear why don’t you reward the people that worked so hard to provide the quality content you want to pretend doesn’t exist. Get off it. It’s widely recognized we live in a golden age of quality television. From dramas to comedies. Sure there is a lot of crap and there is also a lot of wonderful entertainment.
Creativity is one of America’s greatest resources. All you are doing is poisoning that well and replacing it with a culture of theft.
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:32 am
@ Phara,
Ninjavideo was the best website ever. As far as I am concerned, your website has helped the middle class in American deal with these hard times way better than the government. But, as we all know, if it hurts the rich guys, no matter how little and exaggerated that pain might be, and if the little guy gets a gets a positive, it must be taken away. This is total garbage. What a waste of time by a government who has failing wall street CEO’s pulling in millions of dollars in bonuses alone, two phony wars that cost millions a day to run and an oil leak that has ruined the Gulf of Mexico, so out of all those important issues they “take down” online “pirates” who provide a truly great service to the middle class. I have canceled my Netfilx, HBO/Showtime/Starz, and my local movie theaters subscription. I love my shows, but not at the cost of knowing that I am only “allowed” by the government to watch them that way. If they were so worried about losing money, well now they officially lost my business and I hope others follow. Please let me know on updates to the site or in anyway I can help.
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:54 am
I used NV… often. I loved it. But come on guys, this is a little ridiculous. There are SOOOOO many more important things to be outraged about. Trying to make this into some kind of revolution is absurd. The studios aren’t evil — they’re capitalist. They spend billions creating and marketing products to sell on the market, and NOBODY IS FORCING US TO BUY THEM. It’s not some god-given right to have access to all the entertainment options in the world. There are plenty of free things you can do to entertain yourself, most of them, coincidentally, are much healthier, engaging, and enjoyable than watching big Hollywood TV.
Phara comes off exactly as she is: passionate and dedicated, but immature. If you disagree, chances are you’re probably immature too. I’m sorry, but there’s just too much wrong in this world to shed a tear over the loss of a website that offers free TV and movies. Moving on…
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:40 am
I hope your arrogant ass goes to jail.
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:55 am
Phara, you and NV are simply the best, your words move me.
July 2nd, 2010 at 3:04 am
Bullshit!
July 2nd, 2010 at 3:11 am
there is no intellectual property…
July 2nd, 2010 at 3:24 am
@ Cerro de Pedro
Well said!
The media giants are dinosaurs and seem as though they plan to fight instead of adapting. I won’t pay for and watch crap either…….will they ever understand this? When I see something I like or am excited about a film I do go to the theater to see it. As an artist I am perplex by the notion that culture is a commodity. This is a very recent phenomenon is our society and it is one that will stagnate us(and already has to a large degree).
Here is a great film discussing this stuff (free to download from the filmmaker and distributer) call “Rip a Remake Manifesto” http://www.nfb.ca/film/rip_a_remix_manifesto/
Just remember that ninjavideo is not dead it lives in all of us as a metaphor for something bigger………that is their gift to us all.
July 2nd, 2010 at 3:28 am
oops I meant “Rip a Remix Manifesto”
July 2nd, 2010 at 4:13 am
I used NV, and liked the site.
However, it has also been pretty obvious to me that NV is illegal, and that watching these videos is pretty much theft.
The problem is that the “little guys” like all the writers, set designers, carpenters, cleaners, audio producers, video editors and the many others involved in making any movie/TV show are hurt by this piracy.
Clearly, the “fat cat” executives and A-list artists probably aren’t affected that much. Who cares if they make 1 million a year instead of 2?
But, piracy also means that some hard working joe-schmo costume designer will be out of work and unable to feed their family. That sucks.
July 2nd, 2010 at 4:15 am
QUOTE:
“The studios aren’t evil — they’re capitalist.”
Agreed, my point as well.
July 2nd, 2010 at 6:21 am
I will very much miss Ninjavideo. I mostly watched it for the documentaries. I was able to watch the BBC and Al-Jezzera, information I couldn’t get anywhere else. No more Frontline…
Now I’ll have to get Jerry Fuckheimer movies shoved down my throat at $12 a pop.
Fuck this bullshit!
July 2nd, 2010 at 7:36 am
lol this manifesto should never have been written. someone should’ve consulted a lawyer first
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:57 am
Missing you already, where can I send my money so that we can help you to fight the bastards….
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:28 am
Online TV is very small compared to cable and sat. The networks are making plenty of money and paying Hollywood for their shows. I agree with other posters, I would pay for a site like NV. If Hulu modeled NV for ten bucks, this would work. It would also need to be DIVX format (I like 16:9 aspect so I watch the downloaded files in PowerDVD).
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
I hope you are all safe,and many many thanks for years of viewing pleasure
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:06 pm
SAVE NINJA! The only crime that Ninja really commited was streaming current movies that had just been released. that is clearly piracy, the cams, etc. but current television shows and sindicated tv is up for grabs… if i pay $60/mo to my cable provider to watch tv, why can’t i pay $60 to my internet provider and do the same thing. essentially it’s TiVo on the internet, not having to say “oh i can’t go out tonite b/c my show is on” or “yes absolutely lets go out, i can watch it on Ninja tomorrow.” Anything that is available on TV should be available on the internet…. hello, HULU!!?? Hulu is free, but it’s backed and they only run 30 sec commercials… all that really needs to be done is to remove the pirated (CURRENT IN THEATER NOW) movies. Sindicated tv or movies on tv should be free to the public online the same as they are through your cable provider. simple as that. and as far as Movies being to expensive in the theaters, the manifesto is absolutley correct about that. and I know we all want it now, but we can stick it to the big producers and studios by saying “screw you, i’m not going to pay $50 just to go see a movie with my boyfriend. i’ll just wait til its out on netflix.” yes the wait sucks, but the big studios WILL feel that crunch… we all need to take a stand and stay together, there is NO reason that Ninja couldn’t return on a compromised scale. no current movies. everything else is up for grabs, if it’s on DVD, or on TV if i can watch it through my cable provider, than i should be able to watch it through my internet provider. ALSO, unlike most websites reminiscent of Limewire and Napster, Ninja wasn’t giving this stuff away. You couldn’t upload or download, it was strictly streaming programming. They weren’t letting people copy and keep any of the material. It was only available on the site, at the site. I cannot speak for any of the other websites that were/are wrapped up in this suit, but Ninja are not pirates, they weren’t taking and giving to us… i couldn’t download and burn a copy of Toy Story 3, I could only watch it online, from the site. There are some serious loopholes here that i hope they take advantage of. Ninja you need to find yourself an incredible copyright lawyer!! SAVE NINJA!
July 2nd, 2010 at 7:51 pm
what a shame, what a shame
yet what could you expect from the folks who brought you this entirety?
July 2nd, 2010 at 8:37 pm
NinjaVideo was a much more creative and intelligent community than most of the movie studios that are behind this crackdown. Come on, constant remakes of older movies, wtf? On NV there were so many documentaries, actual education without a commercial brainwash every five minutes in between. English is not my mother tongue, but I like to watch some series in the original language. Impossible over here, it’s dubbed (and often badly). But I’m sure the studies will conclude that now that NV is offline, I will buy the DVD sets at amazon. Well, I got news for you, that won’t happen, since I don’t have the funds. If the governments fix the economy first and provide me with a salary that enables me to do so, I will gladly do. But until then, I’m hurting nobody, since they don’t lose any money. It’s just me who’s losing now, losing a chance to educate and entertain myself, even on a limited budget.
All the best for the NV crew, hope you get away without any punishment. Personally, I think you should be rewarded for fostering education and creativity (through your contests). Good luck!
July 2nd, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Excellent manifesto. The only thing I can criticize is this part; “Make a stand. You’ve made your money. Why don’t you make your statement now?”
It’s naive to think this will ever happen. In a way, what they are doing is just human nature. In all (ok maybe just 99.9%) businesses, the more money they make, the more they want. If not for themselves, then to please their shareholders. This is a war. A war of ideas, philosophy and possibly most of all, control of information.
Phara, you are one of the people who sticks their necks out and we’re grateful for that. But make no mistake, they have no interest in working with people like you unless there’s something in it for them. The idea of sharing without the exchange of money makes their blood boil. The way things are going, we are going to have to come up with new ways to fight them. ACTA is just the tip of the iceberg. They have thousands of people on the payroll who are thinking of new ways to stop file sharing and thousands more who lobby politicians every day.
For a while now I’ve been saying that anonymous P2P is the answer. I know that this doesn’t do much for video streaming sites, but at least we would still be able to share files. Anyway, good luck and stay strong!
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Very sad to see that NV is gone. I was going to pop in and lurk on the forums but my bookmark didn’t work so I did a quick search and found this news.
I am keeping the admins and staff in my thoughts. It saddens me that they are dealing with this. I wish you all the best possible outcome from this.
July 3rd, 2010 at 1:41 am
I’d rather pay $20 every a month to a site like ninja than to netflix, just because of the quality and the content that it provides. I hope they get legal but still keep the quality of the content.
July 3rd, 2010 at 3:14 am
Im lost without ninjavideo… where will I go now to watch TV shows? and don’t say TV, fuck commercials and waiting for the show to come on
I just got a new DVI to HDMI cable, and now its wasted
July 3rd, 2010 at 3:47 am
Grab a book and start reading
July 3rd, 2010 at 4:35 am
I too feel at a loss now that Ninja is gone. I agree with Art, i too would rather pay $20 20 euro, 20 pounds to a site like ninja, than rubbish quality constantly ad interupted (and repetitive ads too) it is a sad day now that ninja is gone, could not beat the high quality streaming. Phara, don’t mind the disparaging comments, the service provided was second to none. I hope you all can get out of this. Thank you kindly for two years of quality streaming, you will be missed.
July 3rd, 2010 at 6:00 am
I was pretty upset to hear the news. I was really enjoying watching the documentaries on my own schedule without needing to plan and record but just simply browse and click spontaneously and not see really pixelated garble on the screen . I pay for my cable and hardly ever use it…and buy movies when I “personally” feel they are really REALY worth it. But I also just heard about changes coming around the corner in the internet world…..Google TV. If the authorities want to be productive….why not see if they can hook some of these people up with jobs that they could perform at and continue their evolution through? Perhaps there is a middle ground between Ninja and Samurai here ?
July 3rd, 2010 at 6:22 am
I guess I failed to mention that it looks like Google TV is looking more like a fancier pvr rather than something a user has instant control over…………poopy…….maybe……. and the Ninja community thing kinda get’s eliminated too. Although I did not participate in discourse within the forums….it still seems pretty weak that they are being forced through this.
July 3rd, 2010 at 6:43 am
I also think that many forms of knowledge ought to be free. The dumbing down of the masses is turning us into asses. Viva la Documentary !!!
July 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 am
I was impressed with the manifesto, and for the most part I am in agreement with it. Very well stated, and even if it is not based on legal argument, it is without a doubt morally correct.
I thank the Ninjavideo Admin. for all of their hard work, and I hate to see that the site was removed. Stationed overseas with the US Army and given no other option for television besides Armed Forces Network (AFN), I was grateful to have Ninjavideo. Sometimes it is the small things that keep us connected with with our home, and a familiarity that so many miss while serving in the military around the world. Trivial as it may seem to some, just being able to keep up with the latest of my favorite shows helped to feel a little less disconnected from home. AFN is generally a season or two (if not more) behind on the television shows that they provide, and all shows are not available. Being able to watch the show(s) that had become routine while eating dinner on a Wednesday or Thursday night, laughing with my husband, was not something that I had to give up due to the military, which a person already gives up so much for. A small thing, yes, but many small things taken away can take its tole. Thank you Phara, and all of the others for providing me with some of the comforts of home. Don’t give up the good fight! I back you, and what you stand for.
July 3rd, 2010 at 7:16 pm
this is complete bs.
July 4th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Ninjavideo may be closed, but not dead!!! There may be only one ninja but there are a lot more out there that will keep alive what you’ve started!!!
July 4th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
To name just two of the excellent Docu’s posted on NinjaVideo in recent times
1- WalMart, The High Cost of Low Price
2- Enron The Smartest Guys in the Room
Ok, here are two more..
3- Ripped Off – Madoff and the Scamming of America
and
4- Food Inc
Somehow I don’t think the people who produce excellent documentaries like the above object to broadening their audience, by whatever means.
Cheers to Phara and the NinjaVideo team!!
July 4th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
us rule the money world but not the mind set it free an run with me samuel ribet uk nottingham
July 4th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
One thing is right here 4 sure. This all about the mighty dollar and they don’t care what we think at all. To them we’re just sposed to do what we’re told. Didn’t they learn especially on a day like today that we will fight for our freedom?
July 5th, 2010 at 12:30 am
Ninja manifesto or Phara’s last public ego trip? Hard to tell the difference!
The site will be missed for its diversity in content, but certainly not for the way it was run.
I guess all the assistance to the feds from a disgruntled ex uploader and her fellow disgruntled ex mod have done the deed.
July 5th, 2010 at 3:25 am
That was awesome. I hope this thing makes it into the public eye and gets things rolling. sites like ninjavideo help the industry more than it does hurt it.
July 5th, 2010 at 3:48 am
I watched pretty much all the documentaries and learned so much.I have 250 channels on my cable that i pay every month for but i don’t have all the programs that ninja offered .it seems like that government does not even look at the positive of any of these websites .I’m pretty sure if ninja had 60 million dollar to offer to government like BP . that would’ve never happened .they say forget about our environment but lets close down what our people can educate from .how is it that Hollywood actors get shit load of money but the viewers even if they want to offer money to watch stuff on the web at anytime have to go trough so much commercials and contracts .Freedom of act my ass .
July 5th, 2010 at 4:08 am
Everything Phara said is true.
I am by no means some anarchist but it’s pathetic that people are suffering without jobs or even food and our “government” is spending millions on this nonsense? Yah, watch your citizens die but get those “pirates!” One guy may watch a movie online illegally, what’s to say the few friends he tells about the movie don’t go pay at the theaters to see it?
Our governments “attack” on webistes like ninjavideo.com is just the executed actions of an extremely greedy, overpaid, misinformed, selfish and pathetic corporate business owner or CEO.
You can not and will not stop digital piracy. Like Phara said the employees are leaking Copy’s of the films before release, THE EMPLOYEES.
The generation that is pirating this movies is quite obviously a lot smarter then those wishing to stop them. Billions or more will be spent and maybe I mean hopefully these socially crippled and close minded people will realize that it is and was all a waste. It’s sad it could not happen before ninjavideo was attacked.
July 5th, 2010 at 6:40 am
I love NV. we will definitely miss u guys.
all ninjaviewers are supporting u!
July 5th, 2010 at 10:32 am
I loved NV but never participated in the forums or read anything about it. I just wanted to get the vids for free and as fast as I could. Never heard of Phara or anybody else involved with NinjaVideo so I can’t really comment on it. I’ll miss NV but it won’t be long until I replace it with another just like it, or better.
July 5th, 2010 at 10:45 am
well, looks like I’ll have to find another site to watch “Hung.” That show is awesome.
July 5th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
its true the flame is on.
July 5th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
What the hell? I thought when we got rid of Bu$hitler we’d have more freedom in this country, not less.
Save us Obama, you’re our only Hope!
July 5th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
You know what’s really sad? Phara didn’t do it for the money. Wait.
What?
She made $$ from that site? Oh, you mean she was raking in the dough from all those ads and crap that would infest my hard drive?
July 5th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Not to mention all the contributions given by the regular folk.
July 5th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Sad day…..all in an attempt to increase the bank balances of Hollywood fat cats and the over inflated egos of talentless rich kids. The black market plays an important part in our economy and must be allowed to exist for the benefit of the majority. For every good review from an online watcher to friends at work or in the local pub, massive amounts of interest and cash is generated in the opposite direction….WHOS KIDDING WHO?
Millions more people will be impacted by closing these sites than by allowing them to exist. From reductions in computer sales and peripherals, IT consultants to computer repair men, no more need for media players and the like which has grown to a massive chunk of the income for major OEM’s and wholesaler…all resulting in less jobs and layoffs for the little guys who are already struggling to make ends meet during these difficult times. Still, DeCaprio and his agents will welcome another Ferrari or two and some new 13yr old twins can make billions….all for reading an autocue! Give us our small chunk back and stop squeezing us for everything you can get. The economics of this only makes sense if the agitators are about to release a similar service where they can charge us for stuff we have already paid for in our subscriptions….blood suckers the lot of them. RIP NV.
July 6th, 2010 at 4:58 am
bye bye phara you stubby, brown cow
July 6th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Loved the site, but I got the impression that the admins were a bunch of tasteless, pretentious faggots, so I’m conflicted as to how I should feel about the site being taken down. I suppose that if the retards that ran the place end up in prison then it’ll be something of a consolation
July 6th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
@asdf
faggots and retards……..your a bright light. Rather deal with people with an edge than bigots like you.
ps you can’t even spell your slurs correct hmmm surprising.
July 7th, 2010 at 1:34 am
Ninjavideo was different to most other sites. They focused on profits, paid people to upload and saved content on their own servers.
Stupid – much!
I agree with free media, but not like this.
To Phara, her yes men, admins and uploaders… enjoy prison.
July 7th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Sadie, maybe you shouldn’t be too quick to criticize other people’s grammar.
July 7th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
btw, if you don’t think Phara and her peeps are ratting out all the other pirate sites, you be wrong.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Truly an extraordinary site, i was naive to think it didn’t have a lot of viewers – so i could watch it for years to come.
My wife and i called it our personal VOD (videos on demand) – so neatly organized and with a huge selection.
I’m from Israel by the way, and i certainly did my part in spreading this site to all my friends.
I definitely think that the site will rise in a different name/format. So don’t say R.I.P, say have a nice vacation/transformation.
July 7th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Its a shame that in our world today a medium cant be reached where all the things on the net can be viewed and redistributed without cost. The technological revolution is here and it can and will not be stopped! Ninjavideo is only one of the many sites that allow users to enjoy movies and shows in the comfort of their own home without having to pay the $200 a month in cable bills and $50 a pop to go to the theatre. Long Live The Ninja You will be missed by myself and millions of others…….We hope to see you back in some sense soon. Phara i was a long time user and private board member and the forums and conversations i had with so many will be cherished forever.
July 7th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
They will all end up in jail as they clearly knew what they were doing was illegal and their own podcasts will be used as evidence against them. Their egos make them seem invincible – as if taunting the feds. So be it – 5 yeas in a federal prison may do them some good.
July 8th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
If your life has been touched, changed, or affected in any way by Ninjavideo, please submit your experiences and letters of what Ninja meant to you, not just shows but as a community and the help they brought you, soldiers, celebs, single moms, etc. If you are military or in the entertainment industry, please send your story to:
areyouarevolutionary@hushmail.com
Thanks in advance for your time.
Iam Revolutionary
July 9th, 2010 at 7:27 am
Possibly the most arrogant, self important piece of drivel i have ever heard. I hope phara gets time.
July 9th, 2010 at 7:41 am
To be fair, they were taking money for showing material that they do not own, they must have been making quite a bit through advertising as well….and I’ll add that those ads often contained the odd virus. I don’t think anyone loves Phara as much as she loves herself and please not let’s pretened the site was there to educate us (her words not mine) and to do us any favours….it was there to make money for the people who put it together. You make the money, you can pay the price.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Phara is a an ignorant megalomaniac. ’nuff said. I enjoyed ninjavideo regardless. Yes, it hurts the industry, but f— the industry and the f— the government – You are telling me I can’t watch shit-ass quality rips of what was already released you’re making millions off of? If ninjavideo was releasing mint condition episodes of shows that didn’t air yet, fine, they are outright stealing. The industry thinks they are going to knock out piracy, but it’s the same as the war of drugs…. For example: Marijuana is less dangerous than smokes or alcohol – and sometimes stimulates the creative process and thoughts ‘outside the box’. The government deems it bad for it may rock the boat. The boat is sinking my friends, embrace marijuana and freedom of media and information.
July 11th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
ninja is already back…………….. URL is different but site is up and working!!!
July 12th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Ninjavideo will be missed. Good luck to Phara and her admins. I’ll be rooting for you.
July 13th, 2010 at 9:03 am
This is SoberJoe a current mod at Ninja. For official information please refer to http://www.saveninjavideo.net or saveninjavideo on twitter. For the haters. Fed time is not a joke. How could you wish that on anyone…. I mean really? For those saying the main site is up? Not true either. Again please visit the blog for all the current info we have. The rest are rumors, haters, or even wishful thinkers. These are the only two places for official info at this time. Do not get suckered by anyone else. If you have been approached please contact me through the blog or twitter. To those who have been supporting Ninja we thank you. To those haters I can only say go look into a mirror.
–Honesty, Love and Loyalty–
*NOTHING SAID HERE REFLECTS THE OPINIONS OF THE NINJAVIDEO ADMINS.*
July 14th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
So NinjaVideo wasn’t really a ninja.
July 18th, 2010 at 11:07 am
“I used NV, and liked the site.
However, it has also been pretty obvious to me that NV is illegal, and that watching these videos is pretty much th–t.”
No it’s not, you’re clueless.
#1. It’s wrong that it’s illegal. If a majority of the population agrees with it, it should automatically be legal, since laws were created to represent the will of the community, not that of a minority of tyrants.
#2. Nonprofit sharing and watching is the future. Current corporations are just very reticent in coming to terms with it, since at first glance it seems like it would drive them to bankruptcy (only there’s a catch: it’s an effect that will hit only the brainless greedy idiots among them and those are exactly the ones making the most noise and starting most of the lawsuits, underlining again and again their incapacity to adapt to a new technology and a new world).
July 21st, 2010 at 3:34 am
Very sad to see this site shut down, i’m sure together we’ll beat the system soon !!!!
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:53 am
the world of riches, ninja was good from a linux user i had no problem no more.too much greed
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
The society we live in is built on greed and greed alone! There are movie starts and football players that earn in a week a lot more than a president or a prime minister earn in a year. Greedy corporations rule the world… BRING NINJA VIDEO BACK!
November 29th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
the “copyright wars” are not completely about money. money is involved but the bottom line is more insidious than that.
there was a bumper sticker i saw recently that said: “Gun control is not about guns. It is about CONTROL.” CONTROL is what the copyright wars are all about. Control of your mind. Control of your culture. Worse, it is about preventing you from having your own culture apart from what some the money-grubbers and control freaks tell you your culture is.
those entities who are the “manufacturers” of “intellectual property” — they make it like bad sausage — are interested in making sure that the only people who can create “copyrightable” things are THEM and NOT YOU. they want this to guarantee their profits and prevent you from being anything other than a perfectly placid sheeple — led around by the nose, watching what you get told to watch, paying whatever price they dictate. as you grow more placid, you will be fed all the opinions they want you to have. then it becomes all about mind control and herding those masses of sheeple.
“they” do not want you to have your own culture. “they” don’t want you to learn from documentaries that “they” don’t sanction. you might not become that placid & calm sheeple they want to lead around by the nose! think about it…. any piece of celluloid crap in hollywood can get funding in a heartbeat — sign up bruce willis to “die hard” one more time and there are millions for you to produce (crap) — but the average documentary can’t get enough funding to do a decent job. now tell me, just why do you think that is? who pulled those strings? i know i didn’t hurt my brain thinking about it…
the sad fact is that the copyright wars are only one part of the corporate-fascist plot. things go a lot deeper and get far uglier the harder you look.
if “we the people” (those who wish to be free) are really going to become free, we must do two things. first, we have to break all ties with the corporate juggernauts that want to control us. until we hurt their wallets significantly, there will be no freedom. they want it all and if we don’t fight back they will have it all. second, we all need to get involved politically and get rid of the corporate lackeys who run our governments. if we want to be free, we need to be willing to fight for it. no people were ever just granted freedom by the powers that be — emperor, king, religious dictator, tyrant or thug — those people had be willing to fight for it.
this is all about CONTROL, control of your mind, control of your money, control of your culture, control of your freedom. if we want to preserve any of those things, we need to disengage completely from Hollywood and major corporations. we need to re-engage in our civic life and demand that our governments truly represent us. (I realize that this mostly applies to the US, UK, Canada and the EU — there are shreds of a democratic republic in the US and democratic involvement is still possible in the others.)
think i am a quack? consider this: Sony put “rootkits” onto people’s computers to “protect” their precious “intellectual property” (music CDs) from getting “ripped” into iTunes. how many Sony execs responsible for HACKING YOUR COMPUTER went to jail? ZERO. that’s right NO EXECS responsible for hacking into your computer went to jail, none. let me ask you this: if you put a “rootkit” on a single computer, how long do you think you would be in jail? do you even think that you would get off with a simple (& small) fine like Sony did? now tell me, who do you think runs this world? after you answer that, answer this, for whose benefit do you think they run it?
December 19th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
WOW! VOICE OF OUR GENERATION INDEED!
THIS IS THE NEW COUNTERCULTURE REVOLUTION!
THE YOUTH OF THIS GENERATION WILL RISE UP and TAKE THE LEAD!
WE SHALL OVERPOWER THE APATHETIC BUREAUCRACY WITH OUR YOUTHFUL VIGOR!
AND CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER!
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
April 6th, 2011 at 3:20 am
if “we the people” (those who wish to be free) are really going to become free, we must do two things. first, we have to break all ties with the corporate juggernauts that want to control us. until we hurt their wallets significantly, there will be no freedom. they want it all and if we don’t fight back they will have it all. second, we all need to get involved politically and get rid of the corporate lackeys who run our governments. if we want to be free, we need to be willing to fight for it. no people were ever just granted freedom by the powers that be — emperor, king, religious dictator, tyrant or thug — those people had be willing to fight for it.
this is all about CONTROL, control of your mind, control of your money, control of your culture, control of your freedom. if we want to preserve any of those things, we need to disengage completely from Hollywood and major corporations. we need to re-engage in our civic life and demand that our governments truly represent us. (I realize that this mostly applies to the US, UK, Canada and the EU — there are shreds of a democratic republic in the US and democratic involvement is still possible in the others.)
think i am a quack? consider this: Sony put “rootkits” onto people’s computers to “protect” their precious “intellectual property” (music CDs) from getting “ripped” into iTunes. how many Sony execs responsible for HACKING YOUR COMPUTER went to jail? ZERO. that’s right NO EXECS responsible for hacking into your computer went to jail, none. let me ask you this: if you put a “rootkit” on a single computer, how long do you think you would be in jail? do you even think that you would get off with a simple (& small) fine like Sony did? now tell me, who do you think runs this world? after you answer that, answer this, for whose benefit do you think they run it