Leaseweb Forced To Shut Down More BitTorrent Sites
Written by Ernesto on November 16, 2007The Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN has forced LeaseWeb to take down several BitTorrent sites. Although the ISP is determined to fight for its customers in court, for now, it has no other option than to shut down BitTorrent sites when they’re ordered to.
BREIN uses the decision from a case from earlier this year to put pressure on LeaseWeb. In this case, the Amsterdam court ruled that Leaseweb had to take the BitTorrent tracker everlasting.nu offline and hand over the name and address of the owner. Additionally, Leaseweb was ordered to take down everlasting.nu, in case the site returns in the near future.
It looks like LeaseWeb, once the safe haven of many BitTorrent sites, is now seriously under threat. BREIN already used the decision in the everlasting.nu case to take Demonoid down and are now planning to do the same with other BitTorrent sites hosted at LeaseWeb. TorrentFreak got its hands on an email from LeaseWeb, in which they urge one of their customers to take their website offline.
LeaseWeb writes in the email: “In a recent case at the Amsterdam District Court, LeaseWeb was ordered to take down such sites. Although LeaseWeb has filed an appeal and will keep fighting for its client’s rights up to the highest court, LeaseWeb regrettable has no choice but to obey the court order and take down sites that list (bittorrent/edonkey) files.”
This is an alarming statement since there are lots of BitTorrent sites hosted at LeaseWeb. For now only SumoTorrent has confirmed that the .torrent files and the tracker will move to an ISP in Canada, but according to the email from LeaseWeb it is likely that more sites will follow.
Interestingly, the BitTorrent sites are allowed to keep their servers at LeaseWeb as long as they move the .torrent files and the trackers to another host. This means that the frontend of some sites might stay at LeaseWeb and that a link to a file that links to copyrighted content is fine.
To give an indication of the magnitude of the issue, here’s a selection of some of the bigger BitTorrent sites hosted at LeaseWeb and there are many more.
btjunkie.org, seedpeer.com, torrentleech.org, mybittorrent.com, btmon.com, sumotorrent.com, what.cd, waffles.fm, hdbits.org, bitenova.nl, torrentportal.com, monova.org and dozens of smaller BitTorrent sites.
Not all these websites received an email from LeaseWeb (yet). It seems that BREIN plans to focus on the sites that run a BitTorrent tracker, similar to Demonoid and Everlasting.nu, first.
It’s a tough spot for LeaseWeb to be in as a significant part of their income comes from these BitTorrent sites. However, they have to obey the court order, and are pretty serious about it as they write: “We hereby kindly request you to take down the website mentioned below within 24hours. Failure to do so will result in a direct ending of the contract and services provided by LeaseWeb.”
We asked LeaseWeb for a comment and they forwarded a copy of their legal statement regarding sites listing BitTorrent files in which they explain that there is no other option than to take down BitTorrent sites if they are asked to. However, they also state: “LeaseWeb has filed an appeal and will keep fighting for its client’s privacy and right of freedom of expression up to the highest court.”
Stay tuned for updates!
Previously: Police Charge Man in Movie Camming Crackdown
Next: The Pirate Bay Laser Graffiti Tribute
111 Responses
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[quote comment="215557"]
lol@u guys. maybe you should read the article. this has absolutely nothing to do with the US, corporate America, or President Bush.
[/quote]
BREIN gets money to do this stuff from America (MPAA, RIAA, etc), America is behind it all…
I guess, mininova will be the next target. They are cutting off hydra’s heads faster than they can grow again.
What, if there are no safe places left where heads can regrow? If no one is willing to offer the soil for new heads, because he fears the constant pressure of mighty right holder organizations?
I’m not very pessimistic normally, but in the case of bittorrent I see a very bad future, simply because of the centralized structure.
We need new filesharing systems without any heads someone could cut off and with integrated search functionality. Things like KAD, DHT point in the right direction.
[quote comment="215553"][quote comment="215491"]Brein didn’t take Demonoid down, Deimos did, to avoid having to go to court.
If that chickenshit hadn’t ran LeaseWeb probably wouldn’t be in this mess right now.[/quote]Nonsense. You don’t know what you’re writing about. This has nothing to do with demonoid.
Oh and YOU are the chicken shit here. Obviously jealous too. Go run your own bittorrent tracker, then we’ll listen.[/quote]
Actually I have been running my own open bittorrent tracker for years now. Somehow I doubt you’re going to listen anyway.
This has everything to do chickenshit greedy commercial filesharing sites who are only interested in pocketing the money, and can’t be bothered to stand up for themselves when they are accused of wrongdoing while in fact they are not breaking any laws. They simply run off leaving the providers to fend for themselves.
But please don’t let me stop you from putting your foot in your mouth again, it’s amusing.
[quote comment="215632"]leaseweb is ordered to take those sites down because they know which sites are on the servers[/quote]Actually no, they don’t. They have way too many servers and sites to monitor any and all activity on them. And they’re not ordered to take down all sites linking to torrent files because that is not at all forbidden by law in The Netherlands.
Also, by mentioning these webites, like Ernesto does here, he’s already making decisions about them that should be made by a court of law. Who says what they’re doing is illegal? Who made Ernesto the judge of that?
[quote comment="215815"][quote comment="215557"]
lol@u guys. maybe you should read the article. this has absolutely nothing to do with the US, corporate America, or President Bush.
[/quote]
BREIN gets money to do this stuff from America (MPAA, RIAA, etc), America is behind it all…[/quote]
I did not write that. Learn how to properly quote.
FUCKING COCKSUCKERS=MPAA,RIAA.:(:(
Perhaps somebody already made this point (I didn’t read all the posts) but Bittorrent Trackers aren’t breaking the law. Just as Google links to illegal torrent files perhaps so do they, but they also link to legal files as well. Users are responsible for what they post and if they break the law they should be held responsible, not the Tracker. Look at it this way, you could stab somebody with a knife and that would be illegal, but you can also use it for legitmate activities. You can’t make knives illegal outright just because some people use them maliciously. These issues are very irritating because it’s apparent that a majority of people miss the real issue.
Does anybody knows a torrent site with copyright policy (dmca removal request)forced to close by anyone?
I dont,and i am the owner of such a site.I ma receiveng evertyday mails for copyright violations i just delete the torrent and its ok.
They even thank me for the speed of their request ;) .
[quote comment="215557"]You might be surprised to find how stupid they actually are (read the mediadefender story!). So yeah, NOT mentioning websites may very well mean a life-saver for many sites!
Also, you’re the retard here: This is a reverse search made easy for those who need a starting point. The search you’re claiming is so easy is hard; leaseweb is hosting millions of websites, internationally, even.[/quote]
Actually, you’re the retard.
If you really think the RIAA doesn’t know of your torrent tracker, you’re wrong. Whois isn’t to be used to find sites using leaseweb, it’s used to find IF sites you already know about are using leaseweb. This argument is about as pointless as using f** or even e**** to “hide” torrent tracker urls. Anti-piracy organizations know about the sites, then they can just whois and put pressure on the hosting provider. It’s as easy as googling for a torrent site list or viewing one on many other private trackers, then whois that list. They don’t view all sites on leaseweb and then check to see if they’re torrent sites.
Well,
regarding the “url-diskussion”. When the MD emails leaked I scanned them for trackers/site mentioned. Some of the private sites I’m with weren’t on there radar atm, judging from the mails. So I personally think that smaller/low profile trackers might benefit from not being mentioned in an article like this. But I’m shure that BREIN, RIAA, MD et al. are aware of the fact that f.e. seedpeer is hosted by Leaseweb. So I wouldn’t have mentioned any (smaller) private sites in this article, but that decission is not up to me.
As far as I’m aware (and I’m very close to some of the sites mentioned) Leaseweb are handing over details without the inconvenience of BREIN having to even take them to court. LeaseWeb are only in it for the money, they’ve had a good run and they’re not going to fight anything from what I have seen with my own eyes.
As far as listing these sites is concerned, I hardly think Ernesto is telling anyone anything they don’t already know.
Running to a so-called Swedish “safe haven” such as PRQ is no answer, as all these sites are doing is aligning themselves with the biggest and most complacent targets on the internet, TPB.
Plenty of alternative locations out there, and much more sensible to disperse sites instead of leaving them in one convenient place such as the Netherlands.
Oh please. The p2p side exaggerates just as much as the industry. Kids everywhere.
If Kazaa died, then there was emule/ed2k, soulseek, etc.
If ed2k died - then we had torrents, usenet, irc still. If those die, there’s other Darknets, Mute / updated Kademlia only ed2k, DHT, etc, etc, etc bla bla.
All you will need is not an internet page eventually but you’ll simply have a google-ish search bar and field in every p2p client, similiar to what emule et al have / has and you type it in, it spits it out, you download it and move on.
There’s always going to be feeders, uploaders and submitters, leechers and hitnrunners, and fakers and feds.
Thinking massive takedowns matter is stupid, thinking the world is going to end either for movie sales or p2p because either exist is also stupid.
Clearly people want to be able to do something: so they WILL. Period. Love will find a way. Er, I meant greed. On the p2p side; on the industry side. Whichever’s more cunning gets more faster. Tadahh!
“LeaseWeb has filed an appeal and will keep fighting for its client’s privacy and right of freedom of expression up to the highest court.”
Just another reason to prove that what world trade considers as the “criminals” are much more our friends than say.. companies like AT&T allowing the government to illegally take it’s data.
Fuck all this shit. This is becoming a much bigger issue than just copyright and it’s about fucking time.
Either way, my good friend at randpeer.com is finishing his first code-libraries as we speak, so I’m not worried. They’re digging their own graves by pushing us peers and seeds towards total anonimity, which is exactly what they’re doing.
[quote comment="216076"]Some of the private sites I’m with weren’t on their radar atm, judging from the mails. So I personally think that smaller/low profile trackers might benefit from not being mentioned in an article like this. But I’m shure that BREIN, RIAA, MD et al. are aware of the fact that f.e. seedpeer is hosted by Leaseweb.[/quote]No, they’re not. And I’m from (and in) The NL here. The BREIN people are really rather stupid, and my guess is CRIA and RIAA people are too. Also, having seen the “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” DVD plus extras I can easily conclude they’re total idiots when it comes to internet research.
Mentioning websites in a boost article for their victories is the best you could EVER do if you want those sites to be bothered as well. Every sane human with logic and brains can grasp that. Of course, people calling themselves ‘bush’ and ‘Run Forrest run’ will not be among those. They’re the idiots here. Probably hired by MediaDefender people. I’m not reading their posts, it’s pretty useless to ‘discuss’ anything with those retarded demonoid haters. Still pissed off you couldn’t get to Deimos, are you? Dumb fools.
Put yourselves in my shoes as a moviemaker and you wouldn’t really want your works that have been worked on stolen and then distributed for free.
Would you?
Stealing is stealing anyways you look at it consider yourself an inventor music or movies and the funds and time invested in the making of the movies.
Base reality says that most businesses are commercial and you wouldn’t really want your business profits to be siphoned off by a bunch of bittorrent trackers.
Its about time that the governments decided that p2p should be limited to legal dloads and go for the head which would be Bittorrent edonkey etc heads that are raking in the millions by them throttling the lines which really affect the actual purpose of the net.
Here the isps are accused of throttling the lines but what are the p2p’s actually doing? The lines are so full of illegal downloads and them accusing the isps of throttling lines is just hogwash.
When you have a slow isp you know whom to blame when you have the need to get urgent and emergency stuff done.
Glad I moved my tracker last month..
Moving from decentralised to centralised P2P increased usability but sacrificed security.
However, I don’t think all torrent trackers in world could ever be shut down.
The threat is to private trackers in particular countries or regions.
What is needed is users to switch to anonymous BT type clients like dargens.
So that the tracker stays public and more likely to be used for non-infringing uses but sharing is private.
See http://www.dargens.com
The problem is groups like BREIN can easily enough get hold of tracker details just by browsing through torrent search engines, and then doing lookups on each torrent address that is new to them, if it’s inside the area they function in they can then apply their muscle as they’ve been doing. Even some completely private trackers are occasionally found this way because some dweeb added that tracker to a public torrent.
A post for the fools that think “hydra lolz, noob riaa”
Where will the hydra spawn now?
The whole hydra thing is a load of shit, like when oink went down, well, answer was just some guys that wanted to be the same l33t haxx that the OiNK founder was. Anyway: There is no real good hydra because running to Sweden is not a hydra, its not even anything near a hydra, it is more like a hydra with down syndrome.
Will you Toorentfreak Reporters stop naming Sites hosted at Leaseweb or other Sites !!?.
WTF is going on with sites like this here naming Sites one after another while the Feds only wait for unintelligent reports like this ?
Because of YOU our Sites will die one after another.
Just STFU and stay quiet and mostly remove the Sites List of your dammit
Reports and let us stay secure.
[quote comment="216337"]
…
Of course, people calling themselves ‘bush’ and ‘Run Forrest run’ will not be among those. They’re the idiots here. Probably hired by MediaDefender people. I’m not reading their posts, it’s pretty useless to ‘discuss’ anything with those retarded demonoid haters. Still pissed off you couldn’t get to Deimos, are you? Dumb fools.[/quote]
Yeah yeah, everybody is an idiot/retard/fool but you. What a convenient way to avoid all discussion.
Greedy lying chickenshits like deimos who can’t be bothered to stand up for themselves have no place in the filesharing community, no matter how much you claim that everybody who doesn’t share your opinion is hired by MediaDefender.
Had he properly defended himself like the admin of ShareConnector did, then Brein would not have had the opportunity to do what they are doing now. Instead he plainly lied about hardware trouble and ran with his tail between his legs.
And now we can all see how well that tactic worked out for him and the provider he left to fend for themselves. Lucky for him there are still some blind demoniod lovers like yourself to defend his cowardly and deceptive behavior.
[quote comment="216422"]Put yourselves in my shoes as a moviemaker and you wouldn’t really want your works that have been worked on stolen and then distributed for free.
Would you?[/quote]I recommend you to see the ‘This Movie Is Not Yet Rated’ DVD, especially the extras. It isn’t stealing anymore. It might have been in the past, but today it’s a totally different ballgame.
There are WAY more arguments in favor of FREE sharing than you are aware of, obviously. I get tired of people like you, who seem unable to do their research properly, and always have the same old yadayada repetitive arguments. The demonoid website is simple evolution, a development that, even when disregarding the shared content, has so much more value than, say, any new TV-channel or new TV-show or Hollywood writer. The moment people in The Industry start to really understand that will be an important day in the history of Media and Entertainment. Unfortunately, by actions as mentioned in the article written above, this day will only be postponed.
It is much better to let these things go with the flow, to give the people what they so clearly and obviously want. Find out why people share, what they share, where they share it, and which formats are preferred and how much they’re willing to pay for it. Instead, what they do is play stupid as long as possible. Drain consumers for every penny they can get from them. Pretend they can win at this game. They never will. The Scene is way too big now, and the technology has surpassed their standards and morals.
So you’re the industry, SONY, AOL etc. and you offer what? DVD/CD-burners, harddisk recorders, burnable media, fiber to the home internet-speeds and you expect consumers NOT to find uses for them? What are you nuts?
I’m glad I no longer have a seed box with leaseweb while they’re being forced to shut sites down, how long before they start going after the uploaders that have servers at leaseweb?
whatever: Leaseweb is a pain in the ass… no support, slow connections, old hardware for horrible prices. That ship sinks anyway, move you boxes from theses moneymakers, it is not worth it…
Ok I will say this one last time…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
Global License…Global License…
instead of criminalizing peer-to-peer users, to make peer-to-peer exchanges legal, in exchange for a fee on broadband Internet subscriptions, which would go to fund the artists and authors. This is known as the “global license” or “legal license”.
Problem Solved!
:D
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