BitTorrent Sites Shut Down, Admins Arrested
In a renewed effort to put a halt to piracy, Spanish Police shut down two BitTorrent sites. Todotorrente.com and trackertdt.com were both taken offline and three administrators were arrested and accused of facilitating “copyright infringement”.
The main target, todotorrente.com, was one of the largest Spanish BitTorrent sites in Spain with tens of thousands active users. On the site we now read the following message (translated):
“CLOSED BY JUDICIAL ORDER”
According to the Police, todotorrente.com was responsible for more than 500,000 € in losses to copyright holders, while the site itself made more than 30,000 € in profits. Numbers that can’t be backed up by any evidence of course, but we’re used to that.
Todotorrente.com was not the only site affected by the raids. In addition, the police took down trackertdt.com, a sister site of todotorrente.com. Gamesfive.net, another sister site, now redirects to blackdivx.org.
This is not the first time that Spanish authorities take action against BitTorrent sites. Last year, 15 administrators of BitTorrent and eDonkey sites were arrested, in the largest P2P raid in Spanish history. Most of the sites that were shut down last year (17 in total) remain unavailable up until today, however, pctorrent.com now redirects to newpct.com, one of the largest BitTorrent sites in Spain.
A bittersweet week for Spanish pirates.
