Torrent search engine BTjunkie is the latest file-sharing
service to fall on its sword in the wake of the
Megaupload sting. Junkie, one of the largest BitTorrent
indexes, decided to shut down voluntarily.
A statement on the
website reads, “This is the end of the line my friends. The
decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut
down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate,
but it’s time to move on. It’s been an experience of a lifetime, we
wish you all the best!”
The site was never directly targeted by copyright holders, an
unnamed BTJunkie founder
told TorrentFreak. However, the site was reported to
the US Trade Representative (USTR) in 2011, the
RIAA and
MPAA listed the torrent index as a ‘rogue’ site, and Google
censored the search term.
Despite avoiding legal attention so far, the site’s founder told
TorrentFreak that the legal action against file-sharing
sites Megaupload and The Pirate Bay played an important role in its
closure.
Online storage locker Megaupload was
seized and shut down by the US Department of Justice in January
2012, for allegedly breaching copyright infringement law. The
site’s staff members were arrested and founder Kim Dotcom was
recently been
denied bail.
Meanwhile, the founders of The Pirate Bay were arrested for
copyright infringement in 2009. This month, the supreme court of
Sweden
made the ruling final, and announced that the founders will not
be able to appeal their months-long prison sentences or combined
fines of 46 million kronor (around $6.83 million).
In response to Megaupload’s shutdown, a raft of popular Web
lockers have
neutered the ability to share files with others. FileSonic,
FileServe and Uploaded.to all cut off file-sharing in the days
after Megaupload was seized.
The Pirate Bay, on the other hand, moved its domain name from
.org to the Swedish .se. A Pirate Bay insider
told TorrentFreak that this was to prevent US
authorities from seizing the popular domain.
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Torrent search engine BTJunkie voluntarily shuts down
