Large Ukraine-based BitTorrent site Demonoid shut down

Demonoid was one of the largest file-sharing sites
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Ukrainian authorities have taken down Demonoid.com, one of the world's largest torrent file-sharing sites.

Investigators from the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs raided the data centre that was hosting the website's servers.

Torrents allow users to download music, video and other internet content by downloading small bits of files from others' computers at the same time.

The shutdown is the latest news in a campaign against file-sharing sites.

It follows the US's closure of Megaupload, and several European ISPs (internet service providers) being ordered to block access to The Pirate Bay.

Demonoid was listed alongside both of these sites in The Notorious Markets List - a document drawn up by the US government at the end of last year highlighting services that "merit further investigation for possible intellectual property rights infringements".

It noted that Demonoid "recently ranked among the top 600 websites in global traffic and the top 300 in US traffic".

Back online?
Users first became aware of the action on 26 July, when attempts to access Demonoid's site yielded a "server busy" message.

The Torrentfreak news site reported that Ukraine's Division of Economic Crimes acted after receiving a request from the international police organisation Interpol.

It said the local authorities then contacted Demonoid's ISP, Colocall, which decided to pull its service, and allowed investigators to copy data off its servers.

"Demonoid is known for its links to relatively rare content which may be harder to come by now," Torrentfreak's editor Ernesto Van Der Sar told the BBC.

"However, it's not going to stop the majority of people from sharing files as the most popular items are available though hundreds of other BitTorrent sites."

The action follows the arrest of one of Demonoid's administrators in Mexico last October. But despite the setbacks Mr Van Der Sar suggested it was too soon to consign the site to history.

"In 2006 The Pirate Bay came back online three days after it was raided, and in the years that followed it grew out to become the largest BitTorrent site," he said.

The BPI, which represents the UK music industry, and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) - which have both campaigned against online copyright infringement - declined to comment when approached by the BBC.

Remember popping in a cassette and recording The King Biscuit Flower hour every week? Or The Grateful Dead hour...or even the radio itself during "commercial free weekends?

Disappointing news - it was my preferred torrent site.

I actually thought they were based in Serbia. Maybe I should have known a few months back that something was up when I sent a Ukrainian friend a membership invite and she couldnt register due to her location.

Pdog wrote on Aug 8^th, 2012 at 8:58am:

I have no idea what any of that means.........But it sounds cool. All secret agent and shit.

fwiw, a few anti virus companies will be budling vpn products and services into their software.... if you use wifi on a mobile device and do not have a vpn on it, you're basically flying a flag, asking for your info to be stolen!!!

"  ...............  use a VPN, so you can DL and UL with a level of security and protection... "


* WTF ?! *


  !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Domains seized from Demonoid BitTorrent site up for sale

The Ukraine-based file-sharing site -- once on the U.S. "Notorious Markets List" -- was taken offline earlier this month in a coordinated international effort.

by Steven Musil   August 12, 2012 5:00 PM PDT

 
Three key Demonoid domains are now up for sale, less than two weeks after the BitTorrent site was taken down in a coordinated effort.

The Ukraine-based site was taken offline earlier this month when local authorities contacted its Internet service provider, Colocall, and forced it to shut down the service's servers. Demonoid was among the Web sites included in the U.S. "Notorious Markets List," which was created to identify "markets, including those on the Internet, which exemplify the problem of marketplaces dealing in infringing goods and helping sustain global piracy."

Three of its domains -- demonoid.me, demonoid.com, and demonoid.ph. -- are available for purchase on domain marketplace Sedo.

Interpol and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said they worked together to take down the site, was ranked in the top 600 Web sites in global traffic and the top 300 in U.S. traffic. However, Colocall said decided to terminate Demonoid's service on its own accord.

"Demonoid was a leading global player in digital music piracy which acted as unfair competition to the more than 500 licensed digital music services that offer great value music to consumers while respecting the rights of artists, songwriters and record companies," Jeremy Banks, director of anti-piracy for the IFPI, said in a statement. "The operation to close Demonoid was a great example of international cooperation to tackle a service that was facilitating the illegal distribution of music on a vast scale."

The action led international hacking group Anonymous to promise to bring down its wrath on the Ukrainian government and use "any means necessary" to restore Demonoid.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57491730-93/domains-seized-from-demonoid-bittor...

I am disturbed by  the last part of that article saying that   ANONYMOUS  is threatening the Ukrainian gov't with it's wrath..."by any means necessary"...that is nothing short of racketeering and
bordering on terrorism, IMO