Military Intelligence Used to Shutdown BitTorrent Site

Written by enigmax on June 06, 2009 

This week police and anti-piracy groups moved to close down a very large BitTorrent tracker. With 250,000 users, Snowtigers was possibly the largest French tracker. According to reports, police arrested 10 members of staff and seized more than 20 servers, after the military assisted in locating the operators.

France. Land of romance, cheese and fine wines – and administrative base for one of the world’s biggest semi-private BitTorrent trackers. Born in 2005, SnowTigers offered all the usual BitTorrent site content but being French, also carried links to home grown music and movies, a situation the authorities moved to end this week.

On Tuesday, police backed up by members of ALPA (Association Against Audiovisual Piracy) moved to close down SnowTigers, making 10 arrests in the Paris and Toulouse areas. According to Zataz, 21 servers were also seized.

France is becoming known as a country engaging in an increasingly aggressive fight against piracy and their enthusiasm seems to have gone through the roof in this case, with an ALPA spokesperson confirming that they had “worked very closely with the military” to locate the staff of the semi-private site.

Snowtigers fell prey to the military

The police and anti-piracy groups seem to be focused on the revenue generated by SnowTigers which they claim should have gone to the rights holders. ALPA president Frédéric Delacroix insisted that SnowTigers was a criminal organization. “The site has garnered several hundred thousand euros,” he claimed.

As rumors persist that SnowTigers invitations were available to buy via various sources for around 30 euros each, while other users simply donated money to the site, Frédéric Delacroix of ALPA was keen to sow the seeds of doubt in their direction. “All people who have paid money [to the site] can now be questioned,” he said.

Attacking the other major lifelines for any BitTorrent tracker – the releasers and heavy users – Delacroix hinted that there may be prosecutions around the corner for them too. “We are dealing with a truly international network,” he said, adding “the investigation is not complete, it exceeds our French borders.”

Indeed, according to Zataz, SnowTigers had other servers located outside France, namely at LeaseWeb in The Netherlands and Netelligent in Canada. The status of those servers is unclear.

Previously: Mininova Must Block The Pirate Bay and aXXo, BREIN Demands

Next: Z-Cult FM Comic BitTorrent Tracker Turns The Final Page

130 Responses

1 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:44 by OKMR

military is getting involved with P2P? WTF?

2 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:45 by Consigiliano

Well planned operation. Would like to see more like them. Snowtigers should’ve been brought down months ago because of it influence in copyright infringement and making profit from others’ intellectual property.

3 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:49 by Antinomian

@2
There is no such thing as intellectual property. It’s all in your head.

4 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:49 by Pirate Ponten_

This sound like madness!

Ill vote for the Pirate Party tomorrow in the swedish election for the European Parliament!
I hope it’ll be one small step for helping our french friends over there.

5 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:50 by Anonymous

I am very pro torrent but private trackers who profit from this are just asking for trouble. I believe that Spain has it right by downloading is legal long as you don’t profit from it. Although I do feel sorry for this team I believe in free and open to everyone model.

6 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:51 by -------

“all people who have paid money [to the site] can now be questioned”

Can users be prosecuted for donating money to the site?

7 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:52 by law is ANTICHRIST

its only a matter of time before someone comes up with a plan to legally be able to cross boards to question an prosecute… this is scary stuff…Europe has been know to be more socialist then the usa but not much… and using the military for their own gain?.. thats just messed up… there is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty in France obviously… there will be no end of what they will do soon they will look at sites like this and call them criminal…

8 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:54 by piratedude

How sad!

But I’ll vote for Pirate Party tomorrow. And so will my g/f and even my parents!

Fuck the IP cartels! Freedom FTW!

9 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:55 by piratedude

“Your response is awaiting moderation.”

What the hell?

10 Jun 06, 2009 at 22:57 by user

@2, I forgive you for your obvious ignorance. I know you didn’t really mean what you said. No reasoning person can truly hold that kind of opinion, and mean it.

11 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:01 by Ralonto

I didn’t know that filesharing is a threat to national security? Since when is the military used for CORPORATE interests against CIVILIANS? France IS a police state! Let there be no question about that after this occurrence.

12 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:07 by Mongokatten SWE

This is just utter madness, turning the state against their voters. Sarcozy really do have a big mouth and is taking his position waaay to serious after all the threats and sanctions the US has threatened other countries with.

13 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:09 by NoOne

Hey, dont forget that the ACTA treaty is a secret because of national security concerns in many countries, including the US (and Obama is no different than Bush regarding that). This is becoming crazy. Majors should disappear before they do more harm.

14 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:34 by dns777

The military mentioned by ALPA is the military police, not the actual army.
ALPA used the word military just to strike fear…

According to a source close to the staff, the servers seized in France did not contain any important information.
It is doubtful that any user of this tracker will ever be prosecuted.

15 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:39 by Pirates > RIAA

Well there’s another 250k votes for the pirate party. Come on Anti-p2p groups, keep pissing people off and pretty soon you’ll be on the streets.

The laws will be changed, just wait and see.

16 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:48 by sss

one down, two up?

17 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:51 by Anonymous

**pictures**

You click a link to a movie and just start to download it from a public tracker.

20 seconds later, there are armed Apache helicopters circling your house and a tank parked in your driveway.

18 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:53 by Zush

What a waste of time and money. Why don’t they use the military to deal with real criminals?

Oh, criminals are the ones in charge? Sorry, I forgot.

19 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:55 by Anonymous

I can picture this now…

You just finish downloading a movie off of a tracker.

20 seconds later, there are armed Apache helicopters circling your house and a tank parked in your driveway. A suit walks in surrounded by 6 military troops carrying grenades, high-grade armor, and military-issue assault rifles.

“We’re from ALPA, and you have been found guilty of copyright infringement…”

20 Jun 06, 2009 at 23:56 by Anonymous

Sorry for the double-post by the way, the database seems to be lagging.

The second one is better anyway.

21 Jun 07, 2009 at 00:00 by Anonymous

so this is why the France have a military

22 Jun 07, 2009 at 00:08 by Anonymous

Lucky they didn’t bribe some officer to lauch a few missles

23 Jun 07, 2009 at 00:21 by QH

“We’re from ALPA, and you have been found guilty of copyright infringement…”

“should be
we’re from ALPA, we think you are guilty of piracy and will be hanged accordingly without any research done…”

24 Jun 07, 2009 at 00:31 by Trelew

I guess the government is just a tool of corporations. This is truly sad when the abuse of power is justified to appease corporate greed and power.

25 Jun 07, 2009 at 01:03 by Anonymous

@2

Consigiliano if thats really your only name and not unreasoned mind’ or trollstyles’. hate to break it to you but there is no such thing as intellectual property it is a myth.

26 Jun 07, 2009 at 01:08 by Fionn256

@23 Trelew
Where do you think most of the governments money comes from
if you make 100000 a year, and the government takes 10% of that in taxes they get what, 10000, while if a corperation makes 100000000 a year they get 10000000 a in taxes. It would take a lot of people making 100000 a year to make up for the diffrence. AND how many people actually make 100000 a year?
When Microsoft threatened to leave the US, The US Government mostly just droped the case. I don’t agree with this, But I do understand that governments need money just as much as we do, Esp at this point in time.

27 Jun 07, 2009 at 01:09 by Ralonto

“The military mentioned by ALPA is the military police, not the actual army. ALPA used the word military just to strike fear…”

It doesn’t strike fear into me as much as it does outrage. The fact that in the majority of the Western ‘civilized’ world, the population are only ’second-rank’ citizens and the interests of corporate wellfare are concidered more important than the rights and lives of good, decent citizens is something that makes me feel ashamed to call some of these countries ‘civilized’. If a government does not act beneficial on behalf of the people it should represent then it has no right to exist in my eyes.

28 Jun 07, 2009 at 01:17 by Anonymous

France will erect the Great Cheese Wall :)

29 Jun 07, 2009 at 01:29 by Anonymous

Military Intelligence is an oxymoron.

30 Jun 07, 2009 at 01:35 by Use Your Brain?

It seems to me it’s the usual MAFIAA spin-bullsh*t, desired to create fear in all the youngsters in France who download, but at the same time also are afraid their might get caught.

Bet yah, nobody ever gets convicted, 3 – 4 years from now the case gets dropped, ’cause of lack of evidence. Though nobody will hear of this of course, since the “free” press only parades a story, when it’s seems succesfull for the MAFIAA…

31 Jun 07, 2009 at 01:36 by Anonymous

police nation FTW lol

32 Jun 07, 2009 at 01:52 by Widget

@26 Fionn256

You’re close but a bit off, the reason a lot of this happens is because the corporations give directly to the politicians who just vote as they’re told too.

It’s hard to find people that won’t vote for IP when they’re being paid US$150,000 or so per year (in donations to the campaign fund of course, since that’s legal :<)

33 Jun 07, 2009 at 02:05 by Anonymous

The french should do what the Spaniards are doing and protest.

And since “Copyright Tax” is not enough for the industry we should abolish that tax(levy).

Jury nullification is a tool available in some countries were the people can say no even if the evidence says otherwise LoL

USA, Britain and Canada have them so educate your fellow countrymen about it.

34 Jun 07, 2009 at 02:34 by Julie

Hate to say it friends, but I think its going to get a lot worse. If things would get back together, maybe. But we all know I am being truthful. Don’t believe me. Read your Bible. This is just one of the
things the anti- christ is waiting for.

35 Jun 07, 2009 at 02:44 by fake-axxo

I suspect this will continue to go on happening, more and more sites are being threatened everyday.

Even mininova may be required to block torrents using the Pirate Bay tracker.

This is just another reason the open source community will eventually use better distributed hash tables and tracker-less torrents.

We already have a means of privacy with the onion router network http://www.torproject.org/ for anonymity.

The centralized model will never work when it comes to illegal downloading. Napster is a prime example, as are 1000s of other web sites.

Is there anywhere on the planet that is completely safe for illegal downloading?

36 Jun 07, 2009 at 02:49 by kepners

this is pathetic.

37 Jun 07, 2009 at 03:05 by .neo.$ty|e

Hell yeah! It’s great to see that the authorities are finally pulling their out of their asses and moving against the pirates!

The Law : 1
The Pirates : 0

Piracy thinks it can evade the law, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is wrong. Piracy is dying.

38 Jun 07, 2009 at 03:09 by Anonymous

Piracy thinks it can evade the law, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is wrong. Piracy is dying.

Yep you are right mate!

That is why nobody knows or use Retroshare LoL

39 Jun 07, 2009 at 03:23 by .neo.$ty|e

I guess the thing here is.. I used to not care about piracy. I thought exactlty like a lot of people here. “Iiit’ss funnn 2 havvvee teh free sttuff… I don’t waannaa paayy forrr nothhingg.. SOo thatt maek it okay.. ritee?” Then I got a job.

40 Jun 07, 2009 at 03:29 by Anonymous

“Then I got a job.”

You got a job in the wrong business.

41 Jun 07, 2009 at 03:49 by oh noez

@39
getting paid to astroturf isn’t a real job.
You should call up a company and see if they have any openings for glory hole attendants- it’d be a position you are well qualified for.

42 Jun 07, 2009 at 04:09 by Fionn256

@32 widget
of course lobyists play a HUGE factor in this, but you also have to concider the city councilman that is concerned about the lost sales tax, the lost property tax is a major corp goes to another city ect..
A few years ago Union Pacific went to relocate their corp hq to Little Rock and the city council here in Omaha Ne pretty much pulled down their pants, Bent Over, and asked the UP VP’S if they wanted KY or not.
to bad the internet cant’t go back to the days of archies an gophers when you could find anything for free and not have the governments of the world look on. It looks like bit torrent is a dying cause. Whats next? Usenet or IRC? Lets hope the next new tech comes out before the world police figure it out.

43 Jun 07, 2009 at 04:15 by grawss

French military? lol

44 Jun 07, 2009 at 04:21 by meh

France has a military?… who knew…

any way… the site might of been bringing in lots of money, but I’m guessing the majority of the funds it generated went towards the running of the site?

If not… very shameful.

45 Jun 07, 2009 at 05:04 by Alpha XX Omega

My two cents worth:
It puzzles me still today to see the overwhelming response by the profit takers to make sure that those who cannot afford will do without. People with wealth go out and make the purchases and support the revenue needed for the Big Corporations. Those that do not have the middle class or higher class income and cannot afford the big price tag usually resort to practices which are in question here. My question is the value put on intellectual information. Not to confuse apples with oranges. It’s not Bentleys we are concerned with here. Something that really has no substance.
All we hear today is the moaning of the worshipers of Mammon about “Potential Gains and Losses” Isn’t this the same thinking and practice that put the world economic system where it is today. Will they ever ever learn. Until they come to a reasonable residual agreement I will continue to upload and share.
Respectfully Yours
I remain: an uploader (pip)

46 Jun 07, 2009 at 05:33 by Fail

@26

10%? More like 40-60% depending on where you live. I would love to live somewhere where income tax was 10%. I do agree with you to some extent though.

47 Jun 07, 2009 at 06:26 by ngwoo

Isn’t it against the law for the military to get involved in private matters?

Or am I making things up?

48 Jun 07, 2009 at 06:31 by Zoness [US]

Ironic that France cracks down so hard and yet my Seedbox resides within French borders hmmm….

I disagree with torrent sites making money off of invites it hurts the spirit of community. Donations are cool because everyone needs a little help paying for servers but profit should be a no-no.

49 Jun 07, 2009 at 06:52 by hello kitty

@ 48: wait for it…. The Marines will be stomping down your door soon.

50 Jun 07, 2009 at 06:57 by Anonymous

Feel sorry for the french users but it is only a temp set back

51 Jun 07, 2009 at 07:04 by France is gay...

…and everybody knows it too.

52 Jun 07, 2009 at 07:24 by meh

Meh, La gendarmerie nationale is hardly military intelligence. More like countryside coppers.

53 Jun 07, 2009 at 07:39 by Turbis

Using the military to track people on the internet???
Talk about overkill. Making it sound like a freakin war.

French military is obviously just sitting rolling their thumbs all day if they agree to do petty tasks like this one.

54 Jun 07, 2009 at 07:54 by Thraprod

I was gonna say the same thing as #44… there’s a French military? What does it do? Aside from track down and harass innocent pirates, that is. I mean, they aren’t exactly well-known for defending their borders or anything…

55 Jun 07, 2009 at 08:03 by Thraprod

I’m actually pretty proud of pirates right now, come to think of it. HITLER couldn’t inspire the French to actually use their military, but we pirates did!

56 Jun 07, 2009 at 08:04 by Anonymous

Too bad for the French culture!

57 Jun 07, 2009 at 08:06 by Anonymous

“there’s a French military? What does it do? Aside from track down and harass innocent pirates, that is.”

What do they do? They surrender! Deu!

58 Jun 07, 2009 at 08:17 by nah

“Military Intelligence is an oxymoron.”

That reminds me of the movie The Art of War.

There is a scene in it where the FBI agent asks who are you? CIA, NSA ,Army Intel….

It had me laughing cuz I work with Army Intel and there are a bunch of office workers.

Anyhow as much as I hate to see anything happen to BT sites, I gotta say its relieveing to see that at least all these lousy euro countries can stop talking shit about our America and see that they have the same problem.

59 Jun 07, 2009 at 08:24 by Anonymous French

@28

“France will erect the Great Cheese Wall :)”

They have already done it after WWI so German couldn’t invade us again from our mutual border (The Maginot Line). A real cheese line, German went around the cheese through Belgium for WWII. Our military/politics can really be very stupid (they even went to Afghanistan with the US and went back into NATO) :)

Regarding military in this case, they are simply talking of country side cops who are all military (easier to make them work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week…). They are nothing more than policemen.

60 Jun 07, 2009 at 08:25 by Ruslan

That’s sad

61 Jun 07, 2009 at 08:28 by TerribleTony

Too bad for the industries that the French have a habit of ignoring stupid laws.

Allez la France, allez!

62 Jun 07, 2009 at 08:39 by meme

@2 is clearly an anti-piracy dog trying to be a smart ass and posting these opinions here!

63 Jun 07, 2009 at 08:55 by Bagwell

really sad to hear that another torrent site went down.

————-
Bagwell.
http://certcollection.org

64 Jun 07, 2009 at 09:18 by Karl Rosenqvist

This is a serious breach of democracy!
In a democratic state it is necessary to keep civil police and military separate simply because if the army started enforcing legislation it tends to become an oppressive force used by the government to control the people. This is why we have the police, the army is for external threats and not for legal investigations.

65 Jun 07, 2009 at 09:30 by The Truth Hurts

Well you can’t expect the Millitardy Inturdagence to stand up to the Muslims that never work and spend all their time torching people’s cars and houses in Paris!

That might be dangerous!

Much safer to get some armor and sub-machine guns and throw some 12 year old white boy to the floor and steal his computer. Then get your picture taken, get drunk and brag about how you’re saving the world.

66 Jun 07, 2009 at 09:50 by Turbis

@62 More like a lapdog

67 Jun 07, 2009 at 09:51 by FrZbn

Hello,
I’m French and i’m so happy to see this information in english.

But i have to make some precisions. First, in France, a large part of the police is “military”, called “gendarmerie”. It’s not really the military who did it, but simply the part of the police specialised in cybercriminality.

We have an horrible president, sometimes extremist. To be elected, he stole many voices to “Front national”, the parti who came to 2nd turn in 2002. I must precise that Nicolas – seen everywere on tv – Sarkozy is married with an italian singer and he’s very close to media’s lobbys.

In france, in a very close date, providers will have to cut internet connection to users who using P2P, without judgment.

Sorry for my english, I practice a lot because in a close future, French people who like liberty will have to quit the country we use to call “pays des droits de l’homme”

68 Jun 07, 2009 at 09:59 by Martinooooo

It’s not a really “Military Force”…
It has been shut down by the “Gendarmerie Nationale” which is like classical Police but just formed by the military force…
So it’s not military force.

69 Jun 07, 2009 at 10:00 by Nutsack

@57 – Bring on the LOLZ.

In a way this is good, they should carry on pissing off tomorrows voters…I for one am now a loyal Pirate Party voter.

Only when the current band of corrupt pricks are booted will there be a change.

My father used to say “Politics is a dirty business…only fit for pigs”

70 Jun 07, 2009 at 10:07 by Dan

Hey, maybe the French just could’nt afford to pay for their army, and had to resort to whatever money the anti-piracy retards were offering them at the time?

71 Jun 07, 2009 at 10:11 by ddl_ROCKS

Sarkozy is a prickly tw@t of the highest order, but in this case I’m happy they shut down and arrested those pompous snowtigers thieves.

30 euros for an invite? Even then, the same stuff is available on warez sites and can be downloaded at faster speeds from file hosts. In fact, that site more than deserved to be shut down, since they were making that much money and were no longer just sharing for personal use.

It still baffles me that people still go through with the whole ‘donate and get free stuff’ hype.

I’ve been downloading tv shows & movies for like 4 years now, and the only investment I’ve ever had to make was a 1 month rapidshare account.

From that, a friend got me some space and bandwidth on a server. I started uploading files on a variety of file hosts, opened a blog on one of the free blogging platforms. And after like a month, the blog was booming, with at least 10,000 page views per day. The various file hosts paid good money and free premium accounts from so many visits.

Long story short, I’m now settled for like 5-6 years on a variety of file hosts with premium accounts.

So, no bittorrent for me, noooo thank you.

72 Jun 07, 2009 at 10:32 by by Ukraine

Today p2p, tomorrow close personal life…
Politicians caring of millionaires of copyright break all laws of the personal life and freedom of actions of man! If authors want complete control of the products, let will close an original disk in a safe and does not sell!

73 Jun 07, 2009 at 10:57 by anon2

it seems that file sharing is now on par with, if not more serious and dangerous to the World, than terrorism!! Jesus Christ! get real!!

74 Jun 07, 2009 at 11:26 by Anonymous

Sherman tanks crest the hill,*Officers look at each other*, “immediate and unecquvicocal surrender”.

Pimply low rank hands officer piece of paper with name an address of Britney Spears downloader, “mount up boys”

*Inside his head theme tune from the A-Team plays*

75 Jun 07, 2009 at 12:07 by emil

the anti-pirates are so goddamn desperate, military… seriously?

76 Jun 07, 2009 at 12:26 by support

The french gouvernement are really crazy, come like china, a millitary land…

I am very angry about this peoples who make million with indusrty and will make down all poeoples a bit free..

In all case NEVER there will stop us… We are here and forever..
Torrent team

77 Jun 07, 2009 at 12:42 by Sam

Who says torrent or file sharing is illegal ?
If i download Fast & Furious from piratebay link then it will cost me slight less than actual DVD.
I spent $100 for broadband,$100 on electricity and many hundreds for computer.
If MAFFIA wants money then they should charge it from ISP’s ,computer manufacturers etc.
I’m not doing anything illegal because I’ve paid for the content which I’ve recieved.

78 Jun 07, 2009 at 12:56 by Anonymous

lol

you must be the same “sam” from the movie “i am sam”.

79 Jun 07, 2009 at 13:12 by me

hahahahaha, French do what they do best – surrender quickly

80 Jun 07, 2009 at 13:36 by nbucking

Is there a french Pirate party?

81 Jun 07, 2009 at 14:01 by Seb - a french guy

Ok, just let’s clear it for everybody.

This is not real military involved. This is the Gendarmerie, which is the every day police, puting fine for excessive speed on road, arresting thieves and all that stuff.
Gendarmerie is under the Army Minister, and is funded by Military, but is not Military really.
We have two polices: Gendarmerie and National Police. There is some differences and jurisdiction but both are polices.

The ALPA uses the word “military” in their press release in order to scare the shit out of people, nothing more.

82 Jun 07, 2009 at 14:01 by pakoe

the may win a battle but the fight is our

83 Jun 07, 2009 at 14:11 by Sam

Actually no one can stop file sharing and even MAAFIA knows it well.
In a recent article on BBC they admit it.
By these type of actions they want to minimize it only.

84 Jun 07, 2009 at 14:20 by Hacker/pirates of the world UNITE

Maybe they ought to do one for Sarkozy when he ripped of that bad :P
hes a pirate after all

85 Jun 07, 2009 at 14:44 by .NetRolller 3D

@77: Sam, are you serious? :-)

86 Jun 07, 2009 at 15:41 by Rabbit80

The complete history of the french military…
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html

“- Gallic Wars
- Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian. [Or at ths time in history, a Roman -ed.]

- Hundred Years War
- Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; “France’s armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman.” Sainted.

- Italian Wars
- Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.

- Wars of Religion
- France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots

- Thirty Years War
- France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.”…………….

Follow the linkie for more ;)

Since the French have basically lost taht many wars, it is inevitable that they will also lose the war against file sharing :D

87 Jun 07, 2009 at 15:50 by Cujo

@ rabbit ,, good one ;)

hitler socked it to im too ;P

88 Jun 07, 2009 at 15:50 by Anonymous

I hope every pirate in the world pirate the upcomming movie “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

They can come with bulldozers but they never will find the fox LoL

89 Jun 07, 2009 at 16:29 by PirLog.com

Private trackers can’t live without donations. They don’t put much ads so they are forced to take donations.

90 Jun 07, 2009 at 17:02 by h33t

my interests are filesharing

pay-for-leech systems are criminal when the content is copyrighted and without rights from the owners. snowtigers were not filesharers, they were criminals profiting from the work of others

in the snowtiger case, no damage done to filesharers. life for filesharers would be easier if there were no pirates

91 Jun 07, 2009 at 18:01 by Consigiliano

I love the dick

92 Jun 07, 2009 at 18:03 by dre

Serve them damn right but maybe its a little extreme

93 Jun 07, 2009 at 18:25 by Robbo

Business controlling the apparatus of government (legislature, judiciary, police and military) is called fascism. This isn’t about copyright reform – it’s about freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of culture.

Bastards.

94 Jun 07, 2009 at 18:41 by Anonymous

http://dvice.com/archives/2009/06/similarities-be.php

Nintendo should sue the “tonight show” for copyright infringement LoL

95 Jun 07, 2009 at 19:06 by John

Once you start charging for pirated stuff, you’re just painting yourself as a big huge target for legal prosecution. Donations are fine on the other hand.

Sorry, I have no sympathy for these piraters charging users, so I support their legal downfall.

96 Jun 07, 2009 at 19:15 by ariana

mussolini defined fascism as: “the merger of private interests with the government”. this is a perfect example. most western countries are sleepwalking to fascism. the population has been dumbed down artificially by all the entertainment..

97 Jun 07, 2009 at 19:15 by blackHat

Well, at least now we know who the world’s militaries work for…

98 Jun 07, 2009 at 19:26 by Wisconsinite

More whining from the lazy defenders of this criminal act. (file sharing) please go rent something. buy something. your selfish actions are hurting the worlds economy.

99 Jun 07, 2009 at 19:59 by neoshillz

Woohoo, Hooray (hoorah?) for ______.

Finally the PIRATES get what’s comming.

Soon _____ will be ______ and you will see.

Hah hah, har.

(screenshot for “proof”, email for to payroll)

100 Jun 07, 2009 at 20:34 by Anonymous

Thats ridiculous are any of you going to tell me your going to pay for something when its free?

I want to see a world where the internet is free internally and we all share information instead of charging others for it or shoveling out money to massive world-owning companies.

America is having its rights to guns and organic foods taken away… lets see if we can rip down all of our rules against ISPs blocking sites for a little more of a push toward a complete control.

Will the next revolution be about religion and the reformation of logical thinking, or will it be about money? good job world.

101 Jun 07, 2009 at 20:55 by addorange

Looks like we have an addition to our list of “worst countries to be in”.

102 Jun 07, 2009 at 21:19 by me

The closing down of a tracker aside, there’s something very wrong with your country if the military/ intelligence establishment is colluding with private interests. God help the French public.

103 Jun 07, 2009 at 21:30 by Pamela

isn’t it a lil sad thats the most important thing they could think of doing… shutting down a bit torrent site… good job guys one p2p site at time thats whats gonna solve all our problems

104 Jun 07, 2009 at 23:44 by Anonymous

P2P will trump industry. Dying paradigms that refuse to adapt and evolve will be deselected to extinction.

THSNWGRBVFDLC

105 Jun 07, 2009 at 23:44 by THSNWGRBVFDLC

P2P will trump industry. Dying paradigms that refuse to adapt and evolve will be deselected to extinction.

106 Jun 08, 2009 at 00:27 by drummer

military to catch file-sharers?

what the…

are the taking “pirate” term literally or what?

107 Jun 08, 2009 at 00:31 by McPirate

Meanwhile, someone blows up a building killing hundreds all because I got a copy of Fallout3…???!!!

108 Jun 08, 2009 at 00:35 by sawlight

It’s not over or done yet actually, most of the servers were based in Canada, they only found interesting database stuff such as statistics. The tracker, the user and donating system servers are still abroad.

I used to be on that website, since the beginning, never had to pay or whatever, and I basically miss it.

109 Jun 08, 2009 at 01:00 by Frank

@2

Lol, that why well know groups put their album on PB…

110 Jun 08, 2009 at 04:25 by annoyance

to all you pimply faced, basement dwelling pierates. the military is coming and they’re gonna blow up your mommie’s house to smitherenes.

hehehehehehehehe.

111 Jun 08, 2009 at 04:41 by Eponymous

Military Intelligence is THE oxymoron. Thank you, Anonymous. ((The Department of Redundancy Department))
As well as a euphemism for Secret Police, KGB, Gestapo, SS, STAZI, OSS, CIA, MRR, Mr. Ranger, always on the alert for stolen Picanic baskets by notorious criminal mastermind anarchists, like those two talking bears Yogi and Boo-Boo, etc…
Oh and good for you, ddl_ROCKS. You are, as you say, ” now settled for like 5-6 years on a variety of file hosts with premium accounts.” What a bargain.
Have you considered that people who do not subject others to annoying advertising need money coming in because they have to buy or lease servers, bandwidth and pay the people to host them ? I gladly donate a few Euros to these “private trackers,” to avoid propaganda like yours. There are many trackers that lose money every month. Month after month.
What have you done for anyone lately, except criticize? The “warez sites,” you tout are notorious for loading one’s hard drive with spyware. And as for your wonderful, “file hosts.” They do not charge the average customer that you so gleefully herd toward their sites? Yeah, right. You must be very proud. And why are you posting on TorrentFreak if your motto is, “So, no bittorrent for me, noooo thank you,” a free ad for your fantastic blog, perhaps? Even if it doesn’t exist… By the way,it is not bittorent, which sounds like a very bad mouthwash or a studio apt. It is BitTorrent, meaning a Torrent of Bits.
To paraphrase, “a pompous tw@t of the highest order.”

112 Jun 08, 2009 at 05:30 by xentar

Suppose, next time it’ll be strategic bombing.

113 Jun 08, 2009 at 07:43 by Argentinean

Ha!

They are simply afraid of the pirates.
It’s a shame we don’t have a “pirate’s party” here in Argentina. At least we have the soul (a big one, trust me).

One minute of silence for France.
(Although I won’t pay for a torrent service, ever)

Freedom FTW.

114 Jun 08, 2009 at 08:18 by @all

Well in france there are two polices, because politics never wanted to rely on a single force. Traditionally, democrats trust more the police, so there’s a national police force, and conservatives trust more the army, so there’s a military police force known as gendarmerie, which is exactly the same. It’s not really military, it’s just like the other police, but with other chiefs and another employee status.

Concerning the bust, except for the site zataz that was quoted, absolutely nobody relayed the information. But the movie _home_ was released and many voters went to vote for the greens, who are pro-file sharing.

Finally, there is no pirate-party in france.

And for those who said france is a police state, it’s absolutely true, and it’s getting worse day after day.

My 2 (french euro)cents.

115 Jun 08, 2009 at 11:09 by jason01

No doubt the French will protest.. they seem to protest about everything.

116 Jun 08, 2009 at 12:06 by Swopyl

Ahh shit, I had a good ratio !

117 Jun 08, 2009 at 12:30 by LOST IN TRANSLATION

Yeah when he said “military” that just meant “Gendarmerie Nationale”.

Its basically the police, but they are attached to the Ministry of Defense instead of Interior. These guys can be usually be found patrolling the countryside, and historically are in charge of all internet related issues (cybercrime, pedophile networks, and whatever lawyers ask them to do)

If it had happened in the USA, the title would read “FBI intelligence used to shutdown BitTorrent Site”…

118 Jun 08, 2009 at 14:09 by EdmundG

Now I know what the French military is for, and now I know what they were doing during the past two world wars – stopping ‘copyright’ infringers.

Note to Germany – go ahead and have France – the rest of the world will never rush to the aid of this group of surrender monkeys – never again you filthy bastards!

119 Jun 08, 2009 at 14:25 by Americanus

As stated, I think “military” was a mis-translation Gendarmerie would be more exact. It’s like a federal police force, the same as the GRC/RCMP in Canada for which there is no equivalent in US. This is rather a non-article, as the fact is that the Gendarmerie is the only police force which deals with online crime, like the FBI. It would be strange if the NYCPD did it.

120 Jun 08, 2009 at 16:39 by Beliboy

Hi! I just want to ask, are there any alternatives for snowtigers? After all, 250.000 users’ torrent needs must be satisfied somehow:D

121 Jun 08, 2009 at 22:17 by Thomas Jefferson

The French government is becoming increasingly corrupt, and now (like the Bush administration) the Sarkozy government is using French tax payers money, and the “classic” military pretext to accomplish a dishonest agenda. Sarkozy third wife is a singer, and may have here too a vested interest. May time be rape for the emergence of a French Pirat party, as an answer to Sarkozy corruption? It is up to the French voters to decide. Everything indicates it is time for a change in Asterix’s country.

T-J

122 Jun 09, 2009 at 03:21 by Rain

the french army finally wins something .. took them long enough

but .. viva la revolutione

123 Jun 09, 2009 at 05:30 by Georges Danton

Looks as if the French is in need of another Revolution.

124 Jun 09, 2009 at 08:53 by RIAASS

Blame french society for voting ultra conservative puppets.

125 Jun 09, 2009 at 15:24 by Thomas

If you read Adam Smith and Karl Marx and think a little, you will notice that the State is there to defend the capitalist way of life.
That means in other words, the simple citizen is there to provide workforce for the capitalists, that generate the “more-value” (dunno if its said that way in english), to get even richer, while the majority of the population gets poorer.
Since the rich people are the ones that are stronger in the society, there isn`t much left for the State than following what they order.

126 Jun 09, 2009 at 18:26 by Rhayonne

Come to brazil guys!!!!
Fuck off this mens, come to brazil!!!!!
and go tiggers!!! HAUshauhauha

127 Jun 09, 2009 at 22:35 by Proness

The Staff of WhiteTiger became greedy with donations and expensive invites, tbh they deserved it.

128 Jun 10, 2009 at 06:06 by Capitan Manhatan

French army has been always usless, so no wonder they fight their own people and obviesly not a real crime! Thats too scary for them!
But French kids will kick their ass’s like they did in the past!

129 Jun 11, 2009 at 01:04 by beatnik

First of all, there is no way that the government should be an compliant instrument of the industry. With military police it is even more worse. WTF indeed.
It is true that the music industry behaves like an arrogant and spoiled brat which give a fuck on democracy and community.
But on the other side we have to be honest to ourselves. When we load illegal music from the web we are as weak as the people believing in the shallow role models of the music industry. In this case we are not strong enough to bear the commercial pressure inflicted on us. And that is a bad sign.

Give “real musicians” a chance to earn for a living.

130 Jun 15, 2009 at 13:34 by sav

Think about it guys, why all this, Let’s fetch the filesharing down.
If you look back before the torrent community started sharing files PRICES for movies/Music etc where sky high, now the price has fallen on a lot of these cd’s/dvd’s, what they’re trying to do is stop the sharing of movies/music etc so they can start robbing the public again with high prices and shit, let’s face it, 90% of movies/games etc are not worth the plastic they’re burned on.
So I say to them that are anti p2p like the ones that posted here, do your maths first, learn what this shit is all about, then post your opinion, don’t just read some crap on net coming to places like this trying to look leet with your useless comments.

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