RIP, TorrentSpy!
Published by: Codrut Nistor, in News
May10th2008
For a few years, TorrentSpy has been one of the most popular BitTorrent indexing sites, with more than one 1,000,000 torrents indexed back in August 2007, and a few thousands new ones being added daily. The battle against it was long, and the first successful move was made back in May 2005, when the site was forced to remove all torrents of Star Wars: Episode III, after a stolen workprint of the film was leaked to the Internet. Anyway, it seems now this is all a part of the past...
...because on May 7, a federal judge decided that TorrentSpy should pay the Motion Picture Association of America no less than $110 million, and despite the fact they may not be able to recover this amount from TorrentSpy's principles Justin Bunnell and Wes Parker, who have filed for bankruptcy, the message is clear - MPAA is on a killing spree, and the hunt is not over yet!
In the end, it's good to see that TorrentSpy went down with dignity, without betraying its users, and that's something more important than MPAA's victory. Here's the message present on the site now:
"Friends of TorrentSpy,
We have decided on our own, not due to any court order or agreement, to bring the Torrentspy.com search engine to an end and thus we permanently closed down worldwide on March 24, 2008.
The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile. We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves.
Ultimately the Court demanded actions that in our view were inconsistent with our privacy policy, traditional court rules, and International law; therefore, we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown.
It was a wild ride,
The TorrentSpy Team"
These being said, I have no other words than "Rest in Peace, TorrentSpy. You may be gone, but you'll never be forgotten!"
In the end, it's good to see that TorrentSpy went down with dignity, without betraying its users, and that's something more important than MPAA's victory. Here's the message present on the site now:
"Friends of TorrentSpy,
We have decided on our own, not due to any court order or agreement, to bring the Torrentspy.com search engine to an end and thus we permanently closed down worldwide on March 24, 2008.
The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile. We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves.
Ultimately the Court demanded actions that in our view were inconsistent with our privacy policy, traditional court rules, and International law; therefore, we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown.
It was a wild ride,
The TorrentSpy Team"
These being said, I have no other words than "Rest in Peace, TorrentSpy. You may be gone, but you'll never be forgotten!"
Loading ...
17 Comments on RIP, TorrentSpy!
On 05/11/2008 at 9:11 pm Oguz said:
I just downloaded a torrent from piratebay, and i am so sorry for TorrentSpy. It's been the most valuable torrent source for me for over a year. Rest in peace TorrentSpy. We will all remember you as a hero, a defender of torrent castle...
On 05/12/2008 at 12:06 pm extravirgin said:
Quote: In the end, it's good to see that TorrentSpy went down with dignity, without betraying its users
What a joke. Check your facts SoftDistrict.
On 05/12/2008 at 12:26 pm KodrutZ said:
extravirgin, you know something we don't? As far as the insides of the whole deal became public, TorrentSpy refused to give away IP lists. Do you have a different story?
On 05/12/2008 at 3:44 pm Bonzai_Rockafella said:
Peace to the Torrentspy team, you did great work during you
time toward making the net a bit more "democratic".
The internet is a lot less free precisely because Amerikka is
no longer free in any meaningful sense of the word. If it's any
solace neither I, nor any of my friends have any intentions of
slowing our roll with respect to downloading pirated movies
and songs. Fuck the MPAA!!!
( and the rest of kkkorporate America for that matter).
On 05/12/2008 at 4:04 pm extravirgin said:
KodrutZ,
How about handing over the IP addresses from the TS forum for starters? And any posts or PMs ever made or sent on the forum. Oh and naming the volunteers was a nice move too. Non-US citizens forced to give statements in person to MPAA lawyers.
Let's not make out that the TS owners were bold defenders of liberty and 'net freedom
On 05/12/2008 at 4:12 pm none said:
extravirgin,
From what I heard, the MPAA found the names of volunteers on the forums. The IP addresses that were handed over lacked the last octet, thus making them useless in tracking anyone.
As for the PMs, I hadn't heard anything about that, but it'd be nice to see some links to where you heard this information.
On 05/12/2008 at 4:24 pm Someone there said:
What extravirgin said was spot on. I was there when it happened and I know people that got raked over the coals by the MPAA lawyers. Two full 8hr days locked in a room answering their questions.
The owners of TS backstabbed and betrayed all of its users and then on top of it all perjured themselves in the process.
TS is not any kind of martyr. Just a couple guys looking for the quick buck.
On 05/12/2008 at 5:07 pm KodrutZ said:
Are you one of those that have been betrayed, extravirgin? If this really happened, how come it didn't really make it to the press? That's pretty strange...
On 05/13/2008 at 6:25 am LibertyMan said:
Well, just FYI, my best friend volunteered for TS, and for the record, the IP addresses were given to the MPAA lawyers, IN FULL, despite what you have heard. Furthermore, the top 2 dudes in TS DID in fact give up their boys.
This whole story is a sham....
Take it for what it's worth..
On 05/13/2008 at 8:33 pm Anonymous said:
We are Anonymous
We are Legion
For every one of us that falls, ten will rise from the ashes.
MPAA - Your organization has been condemned by Anonymous as hostile to several basic articles of Human rights and we will persue your destruction until we achieve our goal or you give way to the demand of the masses.
Customers should not be afraid of their Producers. Producers should be afraid of their Customers.
RIP TorrentSpy
On 05/14/2008 at 3:50 am roomaustin said:
Fuck the RIAA!
On 05/14/2008 at 4:38 am Jimi said:
SO when you create something, music, program, art,
whatever, you should always just give it away for free right?
And if you do want compensation, you deserve to have it
ripped off from you anyway?
Thats what youre saying, right?
On 05/14/2008 at 10:24 am KodrutZ said:
You like it, you buy it, that's the idea. I am sure a lot of people who get some album or movie from a Torrent site will purchase the original CD/DVD if it is worth the price. At least some of my friends do this, and I can't say anything against it. I know, it's not fully legal, but...it happens.
After all, there are also a lot of 100% legal torrents, with freely distributable music and sometimes even movies. You'd be surprised to find that not only obscure bands and directors make their products freely available...
Movies and music are not just like food samples - if a small piece of cheese is good, you can get a big piece of cheese and will have the same taste, but music albums and movies can have interesting singles/trailers, but they may prove to disappoint, in the end.
Using a torrent site doesn't make anyone a criminal. You shouldn't have a huge collection of illegally downloaded movies, music and games, that's the idea, and as long as you're not selling pirated content to anyone, you shouldn't be pinned to the wall as a criminal. You get the movie/album, and if you like it, you buy it, it's just as easy as that.
On 05/15/2008 at 10:19 am extravirgin said:
Christ Anonymous. Get over yourself. And the 'try before you buy' argument is weak at best.
On 05/15/2008 at 10:22 am extravirgin said:
Good article on legal torrents btw :)
On 05/15/2008 at 10:53 am KodrutZ said:
Thanks! ;)
Want to add something? Post your comments
1 trackback(s) on RIP, TorrentSpy!
May 15, 2008: Legal Torrents