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Iceland’s Largest BitTorrent Tracker Shut Down

Torrent.is, the largest BitTorrent site in Iceland has been taken offline due to efforts from a coalition of anti-piracy organizations. Their request to seize all computer hardware associated with the site was rejected.

Iceland's Largest BitTorrent Tracker Taken OfflineThings are heating up in Iceland as they witness the first BitTorrent related lawsuit. Torrent.is, the largest BitTorrent tracker in the country has received a preliminary injunction which has effectively shut down the popular tracker. The case was initiated by four anti-piracy organizations, who filed for the preliminary injunction earlier this month. The regional District Commissioners office granted their request last Monday.

Torrent.is had around 26,500 active users before the site was taken offline, this made it by far the largest and most famous private BitTorrent tracker in Iceland. The tracker only allowed Icelandic IPs to connect to their tracker to ensure fast connectivity between peers.

The tracker was founded in May 2005 and used TBSource , it only recently started to generate media attention, which led to its downfall. The site is owned by Istorrent ehf., which is a company established for that purpose.

Svavar Kjarrval, the head administrator of Torrent.is is determined to put up a fight as he told TorrentFreak: “I’m going to fight this as far as I possibly can. The general public seems to be on our side.”

As a result of the takedown, Snæbjörn Steingrímsson, the executive the Icelandic equivalent of the MPAA (SMAIS), received death threats and other hatemail. SMAIS is one of the four organizations that requested the takedown of Torrent.is and has been the leading war against filesharing in Iceland and it can be safely said that Mr. Steingrímsson is one of the most hated people in the country.

The war on BitTorrent is getting tougher with (upcoming) lawsuits in Canada, The Netherlands, Hungary and of course the U.S. The question that remains unanswered, however, is whether it is illegal to host, or even link to .torrent files that point to copyrighted material. There is no reason for BitTorrent’s popularity to wane until that’s cleared up.

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  • anon

    bjork is either pissed or happy, whaddya think?

  • Anonymous

    it’s nice to see the general public supporting them unlike america where they don’t seem to give a f*ck, i feel bad for the american file sharers :/

    i hope they win.

  • Someone

    Well, that is a lot of users. 26.500 out of 300.000 Icelanders on one torrent tracker.

  • anon

    Lol, so if im right roughly 12% of the population of Iceland are active users of the tracker.

  • David

    about 10% not 12 I think

  • KungFuTornado

    Still, 10% , that’s a pretty high number.

    Enough to sway politics.

  • http://torrentfreak.com Ernesto

    [quote comment="224654"]Still, 10% , that’s a pretty high number.

    Enough to sway politics.[/quote]

    revolucion! :)

  • Psyhead

    [quote comment="224657"][quote comment="224654"]Still, 10% , that’s a pretty high number.

    Enough to sway politics.[/quote]

    revolucion! :)[/quote]
    http://www.wpclipart.com/blanks/shapes/che_guevara_01.png

  • Psyhead

    hey add some graphics capabilities to the comments man….or tell us how to. It’ll just be a blog then…not a news site.

  • guest

    it’s more like 8.83333333333333333%

  • Alex

    [quote comment="224657"][quote comment="224654"]Still, 10% , that’s a pretty high number.

    Enough to sway politics.[/quote]

    revolucion! :)[/quote]

    Click!!

  • yay

    [quote]It’ll just be a blog then…not a news site.[/quote]

    This is a blog and not a news site…

  • Zoness

    This is definately interesting considering the isolation of Iceland. I think they will fight and hold their own, them scandanavian countries have that tendancy.

  • gaston monescu

    ouch

  • Kevin

    Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
    –Albert Einstein

  • P2P fulfills people’s needs

    Wow lOOk at the insanely high number of Icelanders with their local torrent fix down. I think this proves that file sharing is pretty much a staple these days no matter where you are. Instead of demonizing this sharing phenomenon, why not realize that people sharing with one another only strengthens bonds of love, friendship and trust? Why not? Becuase Corporations have no souls, no heart, they are not alive, they cannot see the wintersnows, nor feel the summer sun… they care only for their most precious…money. As in currency, which is wrong. The answer should not be to litigate, but to understand why. Ever hear of a fair market value for goods? Or convienance? Why should I buy a whole CD for one song I like? Or pay 99 cents even for ine song? P2P gives FREE advertizing, promotes community, and ultimately increases sales.

  • James

    A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.
    President Thomas Jefferson
    1743—1826

  • Middle Man?

    here is a solution that might stop the crackdown on file sharing…

    The main thing the corps are going after BT sites is that the torrent file is hosted on the server. Thought the server is not responsible for the stuff ppl put on the site, why not instead get rid of the .Torrent instead use a system like morpheus or kazaa where the files don’t actually exist but the trackers will remain and a program can find all the torrents based on ur search from the various trackers and this will pop in all the information into ur BT client instead of the .torrent file. So pretty much the program will be the middle man, and as for comments, they still can be hosted on the sites just in a way that u will see it in the program instead of the site.

  • MagicNumbers

    ~312,851 is the icelandic population accordoing to wikipedia

    and if 26,500 people use this traker then the % is acctually 8.5%

    26500/312851 X 100 = 8.47048

    still a very large amout though.

  • UNraped

    so harsh:)
    One torrentsite is attacked in Canada. One torrent site is attacked in Sweden. One ISP is attacked in Norway. One torrentsite is attacked in Iceland.

    I thought it was all doom and gloom, that piracy and sharing are about to die and that the end of the free internet is nigh; and then I realized; this is just a show of force, and they are full of shit.

    Allow me to pull some numbers out of my, err, hat:

    1 out of 100 Canadian sites is THREATENED; 1 out of 100 Swedish sites is THREATENED; 1 out of 100 Norweigan ISPs is THREATENED. A measure to persecute end-users in France is PROPOSED.

    This is the pussy (cat) side they _don’t_ want you to see; that they are a threat, but even in their most vicious, powerful, self-righteous Crusades in the history of anti-(piracy? nah…)SHARING!!!, they are able to effect only a small, even tiny fraction of their victims, and that only through intimidation!!!

  • Roflcer of the Lawl

    I wont be surprised if leaders of anti-piracy start getting killed. In fact, I welcome it.

  • welovefreedom

    sharing will never die
    despite scare tactics
    just like the war on terror…
    we will continue to fight for our freedom. we are freedom fighter
    freedom lover…
    screw dictatorship also known as censorship. slavery = worse then death. war = hell
    knowledge= wisdom
    power to rule all= corrupts everything.

  • Abraham Linken Supporter

    If our government is corrupt and won’t support whats good for the people and won’t even support the majority, then there Must Be a civil war!

    If we can get arrested for going after leaders that cheated in elections, then we must bring together a civil war before it’s too late.

    once we are thrown into prison or a concentration camp We will never win the war on freedom.

  • Comcast

    Where is your fucking source, Mr TorrentTard?

  • War on terror?

    [quote comment="224829"]sharing will never die
    despite scare tactics
    just like the war on terror…
    we will continue to fight for our freedom. we are freedom fighter
    freedom lover…
    screw dictatorship also known as censorship. slavery = worse then death. war = hell
    knowledge= wisdom
    power to rule all= corrupts everything.[/quote]

    I almost feel bad telling you this-but the so called American ‘War on Terror’ is really just a scheme to pump all the OIL out of Iraq-there is credible evidence to suggest that President Bush was fully aware of the September 11th attacks but did nothing to prevent them-so he could have a reason (besides the OIL) to attack Islam, Iraq in general. I do agree that if enough people protest the harsh, unrealistic Anti Sharing laws that there can be positive change, but not until their lies and hypocrisy stink to hugh heaven. Thanks to endless lobbying and HUGE campaign contributions by the MPAA & RIAA the American congress is already bought off.

  • Typo! sorry! ….

    hugh = HIGH

  • Ned

    would servers hosted in Cuba be safe?

  • Juka

    Sad to see people associating file sharing with Ernesto Che Guevara, a true butcher and killer.

    Please leave Che Guevara in hell where he deserves.

  • WiseGuy

    Some Humans can be so stupid sometimes, they fight over paper (which is called Money) and we fight over rocks (coins) why we do worship the wooden idols instead of god because god wants us to fileshare, why aren’t humans more intelligent then this, why do governments keep killing people over paper that you can’t take with you when you die,

    I guess humans will never be wise

  • BizNiz

    Just wanted to clarify two points in this article:

    First off, according to the most recent numbers of the Icelandic Status Bureau, when it was closed down, Istorrent had ~8.1% of the entire population as registered users. Fully active (daily regular usage) users were 7.5% of the nation, and the rest were somewhat less active.

    This is just to stop all this discussion of exactly how many percent it was :D

    Also, it’s probably even safe to assume that this tracker is proportionally the biggest in the world; I’m not sure there are many other trackers that have 8% of their country’s population as regular users :D

    Now, the other thing is that the reason for the network being IP locked is not to ensure greater speeds between users. The reason is that most Icelanders still have to pay-per-byte for all download on foreign traffic. At ~$40(US)/25€ per Gigabyte, it can get quite expensive quite fast, so the IP lock is simply to make absolutely sure that nobody has to pay their ISP a fortune in download fees.

    As for the population being behind Istorrent, I was actually amazed at exactly how much support there is in the community, especially when you consider that most of the news agencies are owned by the very same people that are making efforts to close the sites down, which results in very single-sided, negative and downright slanderous news against Istorrent and it’s users.
    One medium supposedly went to far as to describe Svavar in a derogatory way, using something that could translate to “computer nerd/geek” except with a lot more spite. I’m still waiting to see that in print, because then all hell will finally break loose :)

  • zeigeist movie

    all watch zeigeist the movie if you haven’t
    google it, it’s the first thing to come up
    it’s totally free and they use LEGAL bittorrents to share their movie.

  • zeitgeist movie

    sorry ZEITGEIST movie :)

  • KungfuTornado

    And so the war between us and them is starting to happen.

    I wouldn’t want to be any anti-copyright person now. I’d stay indoors for sure and hope no-ones knows where you live.

  • Psyhead

    [quote comment="224881"]Sad to see people associating file sharing with Ernesto Che Guevara, a true butcher and killer.
    [/quote]

    I realize i should have had a pirate pic there.

    ARRR!!!

    But we should have at least thumbnail adding scripts available :(

  • Deimon

    OMG. 8,5% of Iceland’s total population was a member at that tracker.

  • devGod

    [quote comment="224744"]here is a solution that might stop the crackdown on file sharing…

    The main thing the corps are going after BT sites is that the torrent file is hosted on the server. Thought the server is not responsible for the stuff ppl put on the site, why not instead get rid of the .Torrent instead use a system like morpheus or kazaa where the files don’t actually exist but the trackers will remain and a program can find all the torrents based on ur search from the various trackers and this will pop in all the information into ur BT client instead of the .torrent file. So pretty much the program will be the middle man, and as for comments, they still can be hosted on the sites just in a way that u will see it in the program instead of the site.[/quote]

    I’ve been thinking about these kind of things as well. But dumping all the torrents on something Kazaa-like would make it really easy to put up spam torrents, because torrents are very small.

    Instead I think it would be better to have something like magnet links. But to keep the MPAA/RIAA and the like away you do not put a link up, but only the source, without the .
    There is no way they can demand that you take down such text on your site. (Freedom of speech)

    For example, some time ago the master key for HD DVDs came into the public. I’ve seen people say: ” is not a MAC address!”.

    And if people are lazy, somebody should just write a GreaseMonkey script to turn the text into links. =)

  • Pingback: The War On BitTorrent Reaches Iceland

  • Belligerent Engine

    [quote comment="224881"]Sad to see people associating file sharing with Ernesto Che Guevara, a true butcher and killer.

    Please leave Che Guevara in hell where he deserves.[/quote]
    Sieg heil, Jürgen! 88 fo’ lyf, nigga!

  • dave

    no torrents are safe from the law

  • dave

    Ooops.. I mean, all torrents are safe from the law.

  • James

    I’m confused. Are we allowed to use the internet now or is it illegal?

  • swatje

    wow 26 500 users, thats like 8% of iceland :D.

  • pr1m3 r00t

    [quote comment="224851"]Where is your fucking source, Mr TorrentTard?[/quote]Wouldn’t YOU like to know? Asswipe wants in on your source. So he can pass it on to his anti-peer2peer headquarters?

  • pr1m3 r00t

    [quote comment="224995"]Instead I think it would be better to have something like magnet links. But to keep the MPAA/RIAA and the like away you do not put a link up, but only the source, without the .
    There is no way they can demand that you take down such text on your site. (Freedom of speech)

    For example, some time ago the master key for HD DVDs came into the public. I’ve seen people say: ” is not a MAC address!”.

    And if people are lazy, somebody should just write a GreaseMonkey script to turn the text into links. =)[/quote]David, main developer of RandPeer http://www.randpeer.com/ will probably be getting death-threats from certain black organisations soon.

  • Vendetta

    [quote comment="224657"][quote comment="224654"]Enough to sway politics.[/quote]
    revolucion! :)[/quote]People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

  • Any Mouse

    lots of good that did for Smáís & Co.

    Few new torrent sites were set up within 2 days of the shutdown of torrent.is

    Dci.is for instance.

  • DK

    My questions is… in Iceland, are torrent files (meta data which is not the actual intellectual property) legal like in Sweden or illegal like in the US?

  • torrent man

    If u interesting in downloading by torrent client and u looking for good invite from good web site go through this link http://tracker-invites.org/index.php?referredby=2546 and make registry and have invite and trade invite also good luck

  • Rycon

    Hopefully nobody dies though, in all seriousness the death threats only make file sharers look bad, then they will call us thieving murderers, and the murdering part will be true.

    Just need leet haxxor skillz thats all.

  • Kos

    [quote comment="224674"]This is definately interesting considering the isolation of Iceland. I think they will fight and hold their own, them scandanavian countries have that tendancy.[/quote]
    You bet we do :)

  • Any Mouse

    in response of message #46 from DK:

    Not far as I know, otherwise local search sites such as leit.is and embla.is would be illeagal, so would gegnir.is (lookup system for the libraries) and other indexing services.

    But the Smáís, Stef and co (I suspect it these are just facets of the same small company) would like it to be otherwise.

  • Norm

    This is the last straw!We have to be in active revolt. We must continue to fileshare. We must continue to improve our stealth and security. Don’t give up.

  • GRAINofSAND

    I am almost convinced that torrent folks are either stupid or retarded. I’m not sure if there is room for a 3rd choice there. Why? Because of the 1000s and 1000s of torrent users, no one seems to even be close to coming up with a solution or loop hole to fix the situation. It’s almost mathematical that out of the hundreds of thousands of folks who use torrents someone or a group of them should have a solution to the problem by now. The reason these other organizations do so well is because they are united in there efforts. I mean if all the torrent users gathered in one spot they could easily occupy a whole damn country. Yet they just continue to bitch and moan. Someone with leadership skillz needs to step up and the rest need to follow a plan of action. However, if that was the case…we wouldn’t need to come here. They really should just disable comments on this site cause it’s pointless and redundant.

  • Ohhh crap

    Well For some Unknown reason
    Icetorrent.net
    Dci.is
    have closed shop :(

  • alfredo

    “I am almost convinced that torrent folks are either stupid or retarded.”

    Most of them are just kids.

  • Mr Leader

    I have a solution that can fix this entire problem, use Tor with the source code of Bitorrent and make BitTor, a open source program that file shares and downloads through nodes so your IP Address doesn’t reveal itself and nthis program does not keep logs or sharers and downloaders for privacy, that way everyone is safe and BitTor uses AES 256Bit Encryption. This software also uses Eraser in case a Police Cop, or FBI Forensic Scans your computer to find deleted files, the cops will scream ahhhhhhhhhh!

    Also BitTor should have a New feature called “OpenSeed” where if your brave enough you can become an open puclic seed for people who have seeding trouble, that way files will never have 0 seeds.

    A perfect sharing system for our brave new world, and maybe the EFF can host this sharing software.

    You can share hidden services on Tor, including Bittorrent, why not integrate Bittorent, with Tor together.

  • Mr Leader

    I have an run, use Bittorrent as a hidden service in tor and we will fuck the cops, by ruining their evidence collecting.

    Everyone!!!!!!! Run Bittorrent as a hidden service on Tor. Check your Torrc Config File.

  • Great Idea!

    [quote comment="225322"]I have a solution that can fix this entire problem, use Tor with the source code of Bitorrent and make BitTor, a open source program that file shares and downloads through nodes so your IP Address doesn’t reveal itself and nthis program does not keep logs or sharers and downloaders for privacy, that way everyone is safe and BitTor uses AES 256Bit Encryption. This software also uses Eraser in case a Police Cop, or FBI Forensic Scans your computer to find deleted files, the cops will scream ahhhhhhhhhh!

    Also BitTor should have a New feature called “OpenSeed” where if your brave enough you can become an open puclic seed for people who have seeding trouble, that way files will never have 0 seeds.

    A perfect sharing system for our brave new world, and maybe the EFF can host this sharing software.

    You can share hidden services on Tor, including Bittorrent, why not integrate Bittorent, with Tor together.[/quote]

    Dude you rock! or, as Captain Picard stated: ‘Make it so!’

  • Mr Leader

    [quote comment="225332"][quote comment="225322"]I have a solution that can fix this entire problem, use Tor with the source code of Bitorrent and make BitTor, a open source program that file shares and downloads through nodes so your IP Address doesn’t reveal itself and nthis program does not keep logs or sharers and downloaders for privacy, that way everyone is safe and BitTor uses AES 256Bit Encryption. This software also uses Eraser in case a Police Cop, or FBI Forensic Scans your computer to find deleted files, the cops will scream ahhhhhhhhhh!

    Also BitTor should have a New feature called “OpenSeed” where if your brave enough you can become an open puclic seed for people who have seeding trouble, that way files will never have 0 seeds.

    A perfect sharing system for our brave new world, and maybe the EFF can host this sharing software.

    You can share hidden services on Tor, including Bittorrent, why not integrate Bittorent, with Tor together.[/quote]

    Dude you rock! or, as Captain Picard stated: ‘Make it so!’[/quote]

    Thanx, the reason why this idea came to mind is because If we used Bittorrent with tor it could ruin their network so why can’t we create a new style, and faster Tor network thats secure and safe for people and where people can anonymously share, and download without trouble.

  • Mr Leader

    Also BitTor wouldn’t use centralized servers for the RIAA can’t log us and if the RIAA hacks the middleman node server and log all sharers BitTor can somehow warn us so that we are all safe and can share safe, Take that RIAA, take that Anti-Filesharing cops.

  • GRAINofSAND

    [quote comment="225322"]I have a solution that can fix this entire problem, use Tor with the source code of Bitorrent and make BitTor, a open source program that file shares and downloads through nodes so your IP Address doesn’t reveal itself and nthis program does not keep logs or sharers and downloaders for privacy, that way everyone is safe and BitTor uses AES 256Bit Encryption. This software also uses Eraser in case a Police Cop, or FBI Forensic Scans your computer to find deleted files, the cops will scream ahhhhhhhhhh!

    Also BitTor should have a New feature called “OpenSeed” where if your brave enough you can become an open puclic seed for people who have seeding trouble, that way files will never have 0 seeds.

    A perfect sharing system for our brave new world, and maybe the EFF can host this sharing software.

    You can share hidden services on Tor, including Bittorrent, why not integrate Bittorent, with Tor together.[/quote]

    Next step, secure a name, a site, and a developer to make it happen. Trust me, whoever holds the position to head a revolt will have there very own wikipedia entry. lol. Majority of people are sheep…and if someone ‘builds it, it will come’. Ad revenue from such a site should be enough to fund the project. Especially if it’s done right and is kept professional. There is a vacancy as the CEO of the revolt. Who has the intellect to lead such an army. Step up…we are calling you where ever you are.

  • Mr Leader

    Heres some of the plans and idea for the BitTor project:

    http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/2986/bittoridea1vm8.png

    http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bittoridea2oh0.png
    http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1041/bittoridea2oh0.png

    I want you to review my idea and see if this will work, theres already tor but it woulnd’t work out with Bittorrent so why not make a Tor style network for sharers and Bittorrent users.

  • dpk

    god….

    first demonoid, now this site..?

    TPB NEXT !

  • In-Ice

    As far as i can tell from the news , all torrent trackers public and private are all down same goes for other P2P applications in iceland atm, there are also some rumors that police started to arrest some people for piracy

  • Ezzy Elliott

    Another torrent site going is bad news but doesn’t mean all torrent sites are under threat.

    I think the really danger is if copyright owners start suing individual users.

    I think the way to stop this is using a friend to friend service or anonymous BT, google dargens ( http://www.dargens.com/ ).

    Iceland reputably has the most gorgeous women in the world but even so, the long cold nights, so close to the artic circle, can be really miserable.

  • routerguy

    Using TOR is not a solution, it just creates a bigger problem. TOR *does* anonymyze your IP, but only obfuscates it to the destination. TOR access-points (called an exit node), were developed by the U.S. Navy, and were made open-source because it was too easy to figure out that if it was TOR traffic, it was military, and therefore of interest. Anyone can run a TOR node, and the U.S. Military runs a LOT of them. At the node, neither your IP address, nor your traffic are encrypted. A perfect example is <a href=”http://seclists.org/isn/2007/Nov/0052.html” here dubbed hack of the year

  • malu34

    iceland just got colder. imagine watching reruns of wheel of fortune.

  • Ern

    All torrent-websites in iceland is down now because of smais.is “SMÁÍS”.
    Torrent.is – DCi.is – IceTorrent.net!
    somone in holland/sweden have to set up an icelandic pirate site, it would rock! :D

  • FUCK YOU TORRENT FUCKER

    LOLOLOL

    GOOD!!!

  • FUCK YOU TORRENT FUCKER

    Stealing fucking sites.

    When you stop promoting stolen content then people might give a fuck about you stealing dip shits.

  • eztv

    [quote comment="225301"]I am almost convinced that torrent folks are either stupid or retarded. I’m not sure if there is room for a 3rd choice there. Why? Because of the 1000s and 1000s of torrent users, no one seems to even be close to coming up with a solution or loop hole to fix the situation. It’s almost mathematical that out of the hundreds of thousands of folks who use torrents someone or a group of them should have a solution to the problem by now.[/quote]As mentioned before:
    http://randpeer.com/ (almost ready!)
    http://stealthnet.de/ (quite good already!)
    http://planetpeer.de/wiki/ (take your pick)

    So please, stop nagging. Even TPB is quite busy with solutions, see the suprbay forums. It will all come in time.

    And another hint to ALL trackers out there (also the private ones):
    Allow DHT and PE, for crying out loud, break the private flags. Go work on the amounts of peers, and stop nagging about ratios. The world is broadband now. And to the uploaders:
    Put in at least 2 working backup trackers for your torrent. Don’t leave those thousands of torrents dead after your server’s been seized.

  • FUCK YOU TORRENT FUCKER

    You better obey the law we paid for. It’s cost us all a lot of money to pay politicians etc.

    Now we can sit back and control all you bastards again and take in all the money.

    HAHAHAHAHAHAH

  • mrIceland

    It is also said that internet traffic in iceland went down about 50 up to 75% on some ISP the day after they shutdown the servers. So you could almost say that 8.5% of the nation was responsible for 50% of the data flowing around Iceland ;)

  • Capone

    Good. The internet should only be used for business. People shouldn’t have a right to access the internet.

  • Proud, yet pissed off Icelander

    [quote comment="224653"]about 10% not 12 I think[/quote]

    8.something% of the population.

    That site owned. :’)

  • Yes, quite

    [quote comment="224914"]One medium supposedly went to far as to describe Svavar in a derogatory way, using something that could translate to “computer nerd/geek” except with a lot more spite. I’m still waiting to see that in print, because then all hell will finally break loose :)[/quote]

    Not just that, Snæbjörn Steingrímsson himself posted an article on http://www.smais.is about Radiohead’s new album(he has edited it now, though) that all of the users were “pockmarked”(not sure if it’s the right word) geeks, sitting by their computers wearing nothing except their dirty underwear, in their parents cellar, thinking that they’re “Robin Hood”(wtf).

  • Blur

    Torrent.is can go screw itself and die. Their Icelandic IP-only tracker policy contradicts the true nature of file sharing. They don’t want to share with other countries around the world, but they don’t seem to mind taking their content…

  • Jon (Iceland)

    “It is also said that internet traffic in iceland went down about 50 up to 75% on some ISP the day after they shutdown the servers. So you could almost say that 8.5% of the nation was responsible for 50% of the data flowing around Iceland ;)”

    That coincided with the fact that internet traffic in Iceland is usually higher on Sundays than on Mondays.

    And the dude from Smáís also said that sites like ThePirateBay were only a step away from organized crime, and continued that people all over the world were being killed for the files that Icelanders were innocently downloading in their homes.

  • serg

    there’s about 20,000 people in the Greater Reykjavik Area

  • serg

    scratch that 200,000***

  • BizNiz

    [quote comment="225539"]Not just that, Snæbjörn Steingrímsson himself posted an article on http://www.smais.is about Radiohead’s new album(he has edited it now, though) that all of the users were “pockmarked”(not sure if it’s the right word) geeks, sitting by their computers wearing nothing except their dirty underwear, in their parents cellar, thinking that they’re “Robin Hood”(wtf).[/quote]

    I believe it was sweaty, pockmarked geeks sitting by their computers wearing nothing but their dirty underwear with a skidmark (shitstain) up their back to their neck…. really mature man, that one :)

    [quote comment="225570"]Torrent.is can go screw itself and die. Their Icelandic IP-only tracker policy contradicts the true nature of file sharing. They don’t want to share with other countries around the world, but they don’t seem to mind taking their content…[/quote]

    Contradicts the true nature of file sharing? The true nature of file sharing has usually been acquiring things for absolutely no money.

    Maybe you should try to do a spot of thinking before making comments that do nothing but prove your own lack of intelligence. It’s easy for someone like you, who lives with free download, to sling mud at us Icelanders for trying to not pay hundreds or thousands of dollars each month in download fees, but for us it’s real serious stuff. Most of us don’t have rich daddies that can pay the download fees that we would be charged, if our trackers were open to the world.

    However, I’d welcome you to please move here and live here and download to your heart’s content, and share it at will with others in the world.. just don’t come crying to me when you can’t pay your phone bill.

  • TheDOC!

    If only these people went after the REAL threat to the ‘net: SPAMMERS!!

    No… wait… that’ll never happen, unless spammers started offering music and movies in their BS mailings. Unfortunately they’re not THAT dumb (only by one degree, though).

    Got Priorities? Guess not. Spammers will continue to be low on the radar, even though they do more damage than ANY torrent site will ever do.

    ISPs, take note: If you want to free up bandwidth, go after the spammers!!! They’re the ones that chew up more bandwidth and abuse the hell out of the system.

  • n0?

    revolution….no?

    Most torrent users are just lazy bastards that cry when their favorite site goes bye bye, in all honesty, how many file sharers do you know that would actually -do- something trivial like protest outside the courthouse to gain attention.

  • Media Defender

    None.

    Filesharers are geeks hiding in thier basement.

    This is great news for us corporations and business owners. We take back the interenet as re rightly deserve.

  • Mr Leader

    [quote comment="225736"]None.

    Filesharers are geeks hiding in thier basement.

    This is great news for us corporations and business owners. We take back the interenet as re rightly deserve.[/quote]

    U r so evil. When I make BitTor u r all gonna suffer and all filesharers will get their just desert, and never get caught or arrested and I am sure of that.

    F U Mediadefender.

  • Mr Leader

    What I mean by u r all gonna suffer I mean only RIAA excutives, RIAA Lawyers, Mediadefender, BREIN, all all copyright jerks against filesharing, hahahahahaha mediaOffender

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  • Anonymous

    WTH!

    They have about 300.000 citizens and FOUR(!) anti-piracy-organizations!?

  • ca

    320.000*

  • Terry

    Alltaf gaman ad heyra útlendunga tala um okkar fallega land.. Ísland..

  • Jenny

    [quote comment="225430"]iceland just got colder. imagine watching reruns of wheel of fortune.[/quote]
    We don’t have wheel of fortune here in Iceland;)

  • Siggi

    I miss Torrent.is, the average speed for me there was like 1MB/sec…

    The new icelandic torrent sites have been shut down only days from opening! I hope torrent.is will be back soon¨!

  • Dun, dun

    Snaebjorn has been lying allaround this case and have had a big help from a reporter in one of the media but he is Snaebjorns halfbrother.
    Snaebjorn him self is just a lousy lier.

  • Elvar92 (Icelander)

    Now every single BT website in Iceland has been effectively shut down. All that remains is one forum with links to thepiratebay.com.
    The trial over Istorrent will take place on 12. December. Smáís will have to pay for this, one way or another!

    Istorrent4Life!
    Lengi lifi Istorrent!

  • Sigrún

    HI

    I would like to add that aprox 26.000 ppl in Iceland only used THAT partculate program (which was istorrent). It does not account for the countless others that use other programs to dl. So I think that it’s fair to say that to say that 8% is incorrect number and way under the real value.

  • Óli S.

    The main reason for the raid on the istorrent site was, in my opinion, that the owner started a company (ltd) for this and started selling share/ratio etc. That was a huge mistake.

    P2P and money does not work together.

  • Blur

    [quote comment="225680"][quote comment="225539"]
    Maybe you should try to do a spot of thinking before making comments that do nothing but prove your own lack of intelligence. It’s easy for someone like you, who lives with free download, to sling mud at us Icelanders for trying to not pay hundreds or thousands of dollars each month in download fees, but for us it’s real serious stuff. Most of us don’t have rich daddies that can pay the download fees that we would be charged, if our trackers were open to the world.

    However, I’d welcome you to please move here and live here and download to your heart’s content, and share it at will with others in the world.. just don’t come crying to me when you can’t pay your phone bill.[/quote]

    My apologies, I did not realize that Icelanders pay by the download. However, I still stand by my opinion that this sort of behavior is no different from rabid leeching where you take but don’t share. Most private trackers ban people for this sort of behavior since it hinders file distribution. As Icelanders, maybe you should do more to petition your government to build a better telecommunications infrastructure or initiate market pricing reforms.

  • Ice01

    [quote comment="225570"]Torrent.is can go screw itself and die. Their Icelandic IP-only tracker policy contradicts the true nature of file sharing. They don’t want to share with other countries around the world, but they don’t seem to mind taking their content…[/quote]

    Well, aren’t you Mr.Informed. Had you taken the few seconds requred to read a few comments you’d realize that most icelanders still pay per byte for foreign bandwidth because we have very few, very narrow links to the outside world. I have a 20mb connection and am able to sustain 2mb/s in each direction LOCALLY (as in iceland), when it comes to foreign transfers however, I can hardly maintain 20kb/s via torrents.

    How about YOU screwing yourself and dying? Nope, didn’t think so.

  • david

    Most people don’t pay per GB, like few 40+ years old that don’t use internet that often do. ME and all of my friend in iceland have unlimited download ammount …

  • In-Ice

    [quote comment="227009"]Most people don’t pay per GB, like few 40+ years old that don’t use internet that often do. ME and all of my friend in iceland have unlimited download ammount …[/quote]

    in some low populated areas of Iceland you still must pay per 1/gB , also ISP ‘s in Iceland Throttle external downloads

  • Icelander

    Heard some rumor about Thepiratebay wanting to host torrent.is for us.

  • Another icelander

    The downfall of torrent.is if affecting the whole country.

    Because now people are downloading their stuff from abroad which is pushing the connection from Iceland to the limits.

    The thing is that people don’t seem to understand that the whole connection from Iceland to other countries isn’t even enough to serve the third biggest internet company in Iceland.

    And now i’m only talking about that company and no one else.

    I’m pretty much sick and tiring of hearing people whine about their download speed being slow… there’s nothing you can do about it!!

    The country just doesn’t have the capacity to support it!

  • calmitt (getit:)

    [quote comment="226418"][quote comment="225680"][quote comment="225539"]
    Maybe you should try to do a spot of thinking before making comments that do nothing but prove your own lack of intelligence. It’s easy for someone like you, who lives with free download, to sling mud at us Icelanders for trying to not pay hundreds or thousands of dollars each month in download fees, but for us it’s real serious stuff. Most of us don’t have rich daddies that can pay the download fees that we would be charged, if our trackers were open to the world.

    However, I’d welcome you to please move here and live here and download to your heart’s content, and share it at will with others in the world.. just don’t come crying to me when you can’t pay your phone bill.[/quote]

    My apologies, I did not realize that Icelanders pay by the download. However, I still stand by my opinion that this sort of behavior is no different from rabid leeching where you take but don’t share. Most private trackers ban people for this sort of behavior since it hinders file distribution. As Icelanders, maybe you should do more to petition your government to build a better telecommunications infrastructure or initiate market pricing reforms.[/quote]

    Hello; I’m North American, by the way. Honestly, if you, right now, as a person, decided to have your country invest a few hundred million/a few billion (depends where you are) in doubling your broadband capabilities, you would not get very far.
    Your civility in response, and your creative thought in response, were admirable;
    just that in reality, a) nobody cares, b) it wouldn’t work.

    I appreciate your point though; and I agree that in countries where you are NOT taxed extra for international transfers (you and me, friend), we should seed as much as reasonably possible.

  • calmitt (getit:)

    well, I’ll try to make my point (b) a _little_ bit less ignorant by explaining, even if people DID care it _probably_ wouldn’t work [see first paragraph].

  • A guy

    I heard the sweedish goverment were planning on taking legal action on “thepiratebay.org/” and it will take place in january next.

  • Icelandic Guy

    Man this really sucks

    My whole school (600 student’s) were using torrent.is it just spread around the whole school and to every friend of theirs and all that
    I knew alot of people even just 11 years old and over that were using istorrent
    (most people in my school including me could download unlimited amount without paying)

    i am learning php and c++ and i’m thinking on starting some torrent site or something like that…or atleast some kind of a site

    so does anyone know Svavar Kjarrval’s email? couse on dci.is
    (dci.is is some other site now) he put the whole .php files from istorrent on that site before it closed and it closed before i finished downloading it
    so the whole istorrent site was put on dci! all the .php scripts!!! and i am learning php so that would really have helped me! so i really need his email and ask him to put that on the piratebay or some site

    so where can i contact him? is he active on some forum?

  • patriotx

    he is an admin on http://www.hugi.is/

    i am learning php and c++ and i’m thinking on starting some torrent site or something like that…or atleast some kind of a site

    so does anyone know Svavar Kjarrval’s email? couse on dci.i

  • PatriotX

    Hey!! patriotx what are you doing posting with my nick? btw he’s not a admin on hugi who put you up to this? stealing my nick and talking some bullshit over here.

    And you Icelandic Guy
    The code on dci.is was a old Istorrentcode from autumn 2006 or when SMAIS originally send Svavar the much talked about “letter”, you know when he wasn’t sure weather he would close the site or not, so in case something did happen he put the source code for the site on the net.

    If you want to get in touch with Svavar then contact me through http://www.hugi.is PM I have the same nick there as I do here.

    Extra info on Istorrent: Members that were inactive for more than 2 weeks, (later 2 months) on Istorrent had theyr membership discontinued.

    Istorrent functioned with a invitation key system whereas no one could join unless he or she had been invited by another member.

    Istorrent also had a unique function namely a link whereas copyrightowners could send in a complaint over the sharing of theyr copyrighted material, provited they supply all the neccasary evidents ofcourse.

    The strange thing is almost no one used this function of the web, but it served a powerful purpose as a argument against the organizations that were trying to close the site down, one local singer was the only one that is reported to have used this function and after verifying the supplyed information with the complaint the torrentfile in question was taken off the site.

    This happened just b4 the site got a close down notice so one might say the copyright organizations don’t want they r members settling cases directly with local P2P networks, coz it undermines they r power and authority, which is obviously a good thing.

    Anyway I’m in this P2P biz too over here in Iceland for some years and also have had my computer confiscated and sued and all that shit, but I don’t dig a hole and live in it for the rest of my live that much is 4sure and if I know Svavar Kjarrval right then he’s not a quitter either and I wish him and his Istorrent all the best, and I believe he has a fair chance of beating this case against him.

  • Jóninn

    PatriotX hættu þessu væli, heldur þú að þú hafir einkarétt á þessu nikki. Hvað um það að önnur manneskja noti þetta nikk, er það skráð vörumerki? Efast um að himinn og jörð farist og að einlægir aðdáendur þínir skjóti sig í hausinn vegna þessara skrifa. Er nördaskalinn fylltur með því að rífast um nikk?

  • Magiland

    I have no idea how many fuckng times this has to be said, Besides, I don’t know, ON the EFF tor page, on the tor help page, In the tor docs, and on basically everything ever affiliated with Tor.

    TOR ISN’T INTENDED FOR BT TRAFFIC, USING IT THAT WAY FUCKS OVER EVERYONE ELSE WHO NEEDS IT FOR REAL PURPOSES.

  • fox mulder

    we are back in business
    http://thevikingbay.org/

  • calmitt (getit:)

    [quote comment="227418"]I heard the sweedish goverment were planning on taking legal action on “thepiratebay.org/” and it will take place in january next.[/quote]

    *Working for Fear Factory

    ** “I thought I signed up for the band, and all I got was this lousy mafIAA job”

  • calmitt (getit:)

    :)

  • PatriotX

    Jóninn nema þú sért staurblindur þá er þetta greynilega íslenskur aðili sem er viljandi að villa á sér heimildir, þú hefðir haldi að ég hefði skrifað þetta sem hann gerði ekki rétt?

    Og hvað er hann svo að skrifa?

    “he is an admin on http://www.hugi.is/

    i am learning php and c++ and i’m thinking on starting some torrent site or something like that…or atleast some kind of a site

    so does anyone know Svavar Kjarrval’s email? couse on dci.i
    ”

    Eitthvað bull, það er hvað!

  • mike

    Icelandic Guy,
    Also thinking of starting up a torrent tracker out of the USA. Want to work together?

    M

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  • VoR

    That’s just zealotry gone mad. After all, you can’t lose what you don’t have (people’s money) so why meddle with them? It’s just begging for trouble. But don’t worry, I’ve never heard of any of these death threats being carried out. If they were though I’m sure it would make a difference to the meddling.

    Doesn’t Bjork mean ‘spew’ in Icelandic?

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    advisements acted outrun.dampens hates autistic!cobalt stratospheric

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    Heinlein darts Newcastle memberships hinders rivers code …

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