Iceland?s Largest BitTorrent Tracker Shut Down

[Aussie Rebel]

Things aren't looking good for torrent sites lately

Torrent.is, the largest BitTorrent site in Iceland has been taken offline due to efforts from a coalition of anti-piracy organizations. Their request to seize all computer hardware associated with the site was rejected.

Iceland's Largest BitTorrent Tracker Taken OfflineThings are heating up in Iceland as they witness the first BitTorrent related lawsuit. Torrent.is, the largest BitTorrent tracker in the country has received a preliminary injunction which has effectively shut down the popular tracker. The case was initiated by four anti-piracy organizations, who filed for the preliminary injunction earlier this month. The regional District Commissioners office granted their request last Monday.

Torrent.is had around 26,500 active users before the site was taken offline, this made it by far the largest and most famous private BitTorrent tracker in Iceland. The tracker only allowed Icelandic IPs to connect to their tracker to ensure fast connectivity between peers.

The tracker was founded in May 2005 and used TBSource , it only recently started to generate media attention, which led to its downfall. The site is owned by Istorrent ehf., which is a company established for that purpose.

Svavar Kjarrval, the head administrator of Torrent.is is determined to put up a fight as he told TorrentFreak: ?I?m going to fight this as far as I possibly can. The general public seems to be on our side.?

As a result of the takedown, Snæbjörn Steingrímsson, the executive the Icelandic equivalent of the MPAA (SMAIS), received death threats and other hatemail. SMAIS is one of the four organizations that requested the takedown of Torrent.is and has been the leading war against filesharing in Iceland and it can be safely said that Mr. Steingrímsson is one of the most hated people in the country.

The war on BitTorrent is getting tougher with (upcoming) lawsuits in Canada, The Netherlands, Hungary and of course the U.S. The question that remains unanswered, however, is whether it is illegal to host, or even link to .torrent files that point to copyrighted material. There is no reason for BitTorrent?s popularity to wane until that?s cleared up.
http://torrentfreak.com/icelands-lar...t-down-071127/

[tony286]

very interesting.

[Dirty F]

Sad. Internet freedom is being shut down.

[thonglife]

Semper Fi

[L-Pink]

Originally Posted by Dirty Franck

Sad. Internet freedom is being shut down.

right

[JD]

Originally Posted by Dirty Franck

Sad. Internet freedom is being shut down.

you mean mass copyright infringement right?

[Vick!]

Originally Posted by Dirty Franck

Sad. Internet freedom is being shut down.

My real world freedom of theft was also denied by them. I am sad

[marketsmart]

the problem is that there are so many private torrent sites out there now that you or i will never know about that are in no jeopardy of ever being shut down..

torrents and tube sites will never end unfortunately...

[Aussie Rebel]

Originally Posted by tony404

very interesting.

Indeed

[SmokeyTheBear]

Originally Posted by marketsmart

the problem is that there are so many private torrent sites out there now that you or i will never know about that are in no jeopardy of ever being shut down..

if you and i have never and will never discover them , then they certainly aren't a threat

sharing legit files thru napster was never illegal.. yet how many people are sharing legit files thru napster now ??

take away the copyright material and its not a threat anymore. take away the main audience and you take away the incentive $$

[Aussie Rebel]

Originally Posted by SmokeyTheBear

if you and i have never and will never discover them , then they certainly aren't a threat

sharing legit files thru napster was never illegal.. yet how many people are sharing legit files thru napster now ??

take away the copyright material and its not a threat anymore. take away the main audience and you take away the incentive $$

I agree, I don't think any torrent site even the private torrent sites would have much traffic at all if there were no copyright material on their sites,

If they made it hard to find, I wouldn't give a fuck about them, The point is they make it easy to find and give it away free while cashing in and making bank with stuff we are trying to sell.
Why should they profit when they expect everything free?

[StarkReality]

Originally Posted by Dirty Franck

Sad. Internet freedom is being shut down.

Freedom exists as long as noone exploits it to harm others. Once it's exploited, laws are created or enforced to stop these violations which unfortunately can result in less freedom for everybody, even those using it in a legally allowed way.

So, those to blame are the people sharing copyrighted material and abusing their freedom this way, not those trying to stop the violations.

[xmas13]

Many newspapers offer free online versions, other content producers should follow this example until the situation gets settled, instead of crying like babies. Is it the internet user fault if Hollywood stars and singers get paid millions and cut into corporate profits?
Software? Overpriced.

Thieves complaining about theft, like Bush complaining about lack of freedom. Please give me a break.

[xmas13]

Originally Posted by StarkReality

Freedom exists as long as noone exploits it to harm others.

It's bullshit man. You must be naive. Companies steal, banks steal, politicians are liars and corrupt, and rich countries are the world's biggest arms sellers.

They attack individual freedom because individuals are divided and can't defend themselves.

[xmas13]

Adult companies suffer the most but they are not the ones going after torrent sites. Crying babies are billion dollar companies run by investment funds.

[slapass]

Originally Posted by xmas13

It's bullshit man. You must be naive. Companies steal, banks steal, politicians are liars and corrupt, and rich countries are the world's biggest arms sellers.

They attack individual freedom because individuals are divided and can't defend themselves.

Very few countries grant the right to steal something. They are stealing and then giving it away for free to build traffic. Your newspaper idea is ok except these folks are stealing the newspaper content and giving it away where as your idea is the newspaper gives it away to build their own traffic. I hope you can see the difference.

[Zyzz]

Good riddance

[scottybuzz]

xmas i dont think your replies could be more unresearched. impressive

[sweetcuties]

Great news and more will follow

[ServerGenius]

Shareconnector is next. Dutch anti piracy organisation BREIN is suing them using
a quick procedure meaning the case will serve this week.

Site went last week off-line already after they raided his house.....but I guess that's not
where his problems stopped lol

[ServerGenius]

Forgot to add the source, story is in Dutch: http://www.webwereld.nl/articles/488...connector.html

[thonglife]

Originally Posted by ServerGenius

Shareconnector is next. Dutch anti piracy organisation BREIN is suing them using
a quick procedure meaning the case will serve this week.

Site went last week off-line already after they raided his house.....but I guess that's not
where his problems stopped lol

Also that whole outfit Leaseweb needs to be shutdown.

[gideongallery]

Originally Posted by JD

you mean mass copyright infringement right?

no the right recover files that you have bought a right to view but lost/failed to get content for

or the right to back up your existing content (without giving a simple working copy to anyone) to the most efficient redundant backup in existance.

[The Duck]

Im not sure who suffers from free information flow. Artist and studios seem to be rich still.

[florin]

Originally Posted by Dirty Franck

Sad. Internet freedom is being shut down.

Ha,ha.ha..