--Previous Message--
: There can be little doubt that last week's domain name seizures by
: the US Government's Department of Homeland Security and
: Immigration and Customs Enforcement have had a somewhat
: destabilising effect on the presumed security of BitTorrent
: sites.
:
: Many sites - including the Torrent-Finder meta-search engine,
: the first torrent site to have its domain seized - believed they
: operate legally, either under US law via compliance with the
: DMCA or in the countries from where they are hosted or operated.
:
: Last week's actions changed all that, with the authorities
: labelling sites like Torrent-Finder "criminal" with no
: arrests, no trial, and to the outside world, very little due
: process. Indeed, the government gave no explanation at all why a
: search engine should appear among a list of sites offering
: physical counterfeit goods, other than that the entertainment
: industries asked for it to be there.
:
: No surprise then that some of the Internet's largest BitTorrent
: and other file-sharing related sites have been assessing their
: position during the last week and pondering strategies to
: neutralize this new threat.
:
: Today brings an announcement from Demonoid, the world's biggest
: semi-private BitTorrent tracker. Since its inception, Demonoid
: has been available using the .COM TLD (top-level domain) but
: following the action from DHS and ICE, they're now severing
: their links to US control.
:
: "We are in the process of migrating the site to our new
: address, Demonoid.ME," said the site's owner in an
: announcement today.
:
: "Please update your torrents to the new tracker address,
: inferno.demonoid.me. Additionally, you can re download them and
: get them with the new address automatically Also, don't forget
: to update your bookmarks and RSS feeds."
:
: Anyone familiar with the BitTorrent world will know that despite
: its semi-private status, Demonoid hardly flies under the radar
: when it comes to profile. Indeed, the tracker has been under
: increasing pressure recently. Both the RIAA and MPAA mentioned
: the site in their submissions to the Office of the US Trade
: Representative which claim to list the world's most
: "notorious markets" for copyright infringing material.
:
: While news of at least half a dozen alternative DNS systems has
: appeared during the last week (including the BitTorrent-based
: Dot-P2P) to counter domain seizures, TorrentFreak has learned
: that most of the larger torrent sites are securing new domains
: in preparation for future US Government action which seems not
: just likely under COICA, but almost certain.
:
:
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