Torrent Site ‘Franchise’ Eliminated by BREIN
Written by Ernesto on February 07, 2009The Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN has managed to take another 19 torrent sites down, all of them operated by the same person. Last December, the 45 year old man behind the so-called torrent site franchise was already forced to close 75 of his other sites.
BREIN is famous for taking small torrent communities offline. However, they tend to ignore some of the largest BitTorrent sites on the Internet, some of which are also hosted in The Netherlands. Their latest victory is a torrent site franchise, as they like to call it, involving 94 small BitTorrent trackers.
Two months ago, 75 sites involved in this franchise were already pulled offline, and this week the remaining 19 followed. All the sites were allegedly operated by the same person, a 45 year old Dutch man. BREIN, who previously said that the man was involved in an organized piracy ring, will report the man to the FIOD-ECD – the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police.
FIOD-ECD is dedicated to chasing down people alleged to be involved in fiscal, financial and economic fraud – usually major criminals or cases where a significant amount of money is involved. It therefore seems unlikely that they will pursue the man, especially since they were unable to find any evidence in previous filesharing case involving ShareConnector.
BREIN’s strength seems to be their ability to exaggerate and spin the truth in order to influence public opinion, which required us to send them an open letter some time ago. In recent years BREIN has succeeded in taking hundreds of torrent sites offline, mostly by making direct contact with the site host, who then feel they must cooperate. Unfortunately for BREIN, most sites simply responded by relocating to another hosting facility.
In 2007, MyBittorrent, SumoTorrent, BTmon.com, BTjunkie.org, SeedPeer, What.cd, Waffles.fm and many other BitTorrent sites were forced to leave Leaseweb thanks to an intervention from BREIN. Today, all these sites are still online though, which proves that BREIN’s actions are far from effective.
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23 Responses
too bad- wonder when someone closes down the RIAA & BRIEN ‘franchise’
Of course, there is this continuation of the lack of due process, since it is not through the courts, but the good thing is that this is only haphazardly successful, since the hosts decide themselves whether to follow BREIN’s threats.
If BREIN is able to close a BitTorrent operation, then perhaps BREIN also ought to be closed down as well. Perhaps the RIAA and MPAA also ought to be closed down. Also the IFPI as well.
“If BREIN is able to close a BitTorrent operation, then perhaps BREIN also ought to be closed down as well. Perhaps the RIAA and MPAA also ought to be closed down. Also the IFPI as well.”
How did you come to that conclusion?
“How did you come to that conclusion?”
It is the simply the Golden Rule, “do unto others as one would want others to do unto you,” along the lines of the thought, “if BREIN closes down BitTorrent operations… then how would they like it if they were closed down instead?”
“How did you come to that conclusion?”
Another reason, of course, is fairness, equality, and justice. If BREIN has the power to close down BitTorrent operations as much as they want, then, to make it fair, BitTorrent operations ought to have the power to close down BREIN. After all, it is simply fairness, along the idea of “all people are created equal,” and if the people behind BREIN have this kind of power, then the people behind the BitTorrent operations also should have this power, since people in general, after all, are created equal, and thus ought to have fair and equal rights.
I have the power to buy a car and drive to work. by your reckoning, some bum who does not work and gets benifits from the governemnt has the right to free money in order to buy the same car? (my power is my money), you are retarded
BREIN only have this ‘right’ because the hosts believe that if they do nothing they will be taken to court and lose. do you really think that if BREINs hosts received a takedown notice,they would respond? You are living in a dream world…
“I have the power to buy a car and drive to work. by your reckoning, some bum who does not work and gets benifits from the governemnt has the right to free money in order to buy the same car?”
“buy a car” = “shut down somebody else’s website”?
“some bum” = “torrent website operator”?
Your analogy makes no sense.
“do you really think that if BREINs hosts received a takedown notice,they would respond? You are living in a dream world…”
I believe we are speaking a cross-purposes here. You are writing about what happens in law. I am writing about right and wrong.
Roze, You know something, you are absolutely deluded
Well if Rose is “deluded” so is 25 million (atleast) other people who use TPB, and combine that with the LimeWire users, ect. How can a larger percent of the world be deluded, wouldnt that make them correct in turn, and the smaller half wrong? If I am to be labeled deluded, fine by me, im happy this way.
http://bluehumor.org
which were the sites that were pulled down ??
Roze needs closing down….Give us all a rest…
@9 Sandeep
Indeed, it seems like this article contains very little information regarding the matter. What was the name of the person behind these torrent websites and what were these websites anyways? What are the primary sources that indicate that BREIN “previously said that the man was involved in an organized piracy ring” or that BREIN “will report the man to the FIOD-ECD”? More information that points to the sources of information behind all of this would be helpful, I think.
“[...] These sites were part of a franchise hierarchy, led by a single individual named “Topspinner”. Most of the sites involved followed a similar template and charged an initial fee. This fee then allowed users a period of unlimited downloading. [...]”
http://www.slyck.com/story1830_BREIN_Removes_Last_Franchise_Torrent_Sites
Apparently this was a money making scheme i.e. pay to download. I can’t say I feel sorry for this shutdown.
To TF editors: please update the article with this important detail.
“Roze needs closing down….Give us all a rest…”
Hahah.
It isn’t Roze’s fault your analogy didn’t make any sense, fr33tard. Maybe your comments would be more coherent if you stopped sniffing glue?
It’s just a thought.
none of those comments were from me.
although i do agree that roze is deluded and living in a dream world.
a pirate trying to use the golden rule in an argument is also lol-worthy.
Golden rule?
The one who has the gold makes the rules.
Roze, let me help you: define power (political/social (in physics P = W/t ))
bitch sounds like a politician in all her comments, just talkin shit with no general direction other than to confuse and ‘uplift’ stupid ppl.
then logs in from a different name and supports herself.lulz
get your tits out roze
not like politician, but like student of political science (1st grade), and a true believer in democracy. Appropriately naive, too. Don’t worry, it will pass by the time he/she graduates.
Brein doesn’t force anything, they just send some nasty letters around and people take their own sites down.
Most likely simply because the commercial whores fear that the lawyers would cost more then their banner adds/donations bring in.
This is a global problem but no matter what the do pirating will never cease and there will come a time when they will finally realized that they can no longer continue stopping us.Peace to all the HACKERS.
BREIN is the word for brain in dutch. The organisaties is supported by the dutch record and movie industry. I somehow, like dutch music and dutch movies, can’t manage to take them really serious. I found the tune they put under their “DON’T COPY THIS MOVIE” blabla so catchy, I copied it. A lot of people like the tune, until they learn where it’s from. Like kids looks when they discover the cookies from the jar are stale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bescherming_Rechten_Entertainment_Industrie_Nederland
number 1 reason sites close/move is because the first level BREIN complaint is about discovering the identity of the internet site operator. by law (in most countries) the operator of an internet site cannot be anonymous. most torrent site operators in The Netherlands have chosen to remain anonymous and whan a complaint from BREIN arrives they move their sites to avoid exposure
the reason Leaseweb asked torrent sites to leave their network after a complaint from BREIN is different. several years ago in the beginning of bittorrent filesharing (Freak will know the details) when Leaseweb actively supported p2p there was a torrent site that Leaseweb defended in the Dutch courts. unfortunately the operator of the site did not turn up to the Dutch court appointments aed Leaseweb was left with a lagacy of a default judgement against them and the site operator. Leaseweb appealed and the case is ongoing but during the process they are prohibited by the first judgement from participating in activities related to the subject of that judgement i.e. hosting torrent sites, under threat of further legal expense etc
while torrents are not illegal and filesharing is a positive economic feature of the internet bringing profit to our societies, many operators of torrents sites act like criminals and behave as if they are doing something wrong. in the case of Leaseweb somebody pissed in the pool for the rest of us
mininova is an example of a Dutch hosted site that is standing its ground and arguing the case in The Netherlands. h33t is another
we need more people to stand up for what we believe is right and just. ffs 10/10 children are making so called “illegal downloads” that are neither illegal nor immoral nor economically damaging. 80% of those kids will be of voting age within the next 8 years. think about it
http://www.h33t.com where filesharing is legal
I agree,The United states is trying the same crap by shutting down free link sites and movie sites too.funny thing is http://www.fancast.com a good site is owned by Comcast and another site i just love is http://www.digitalpctv.com which is reportedly owned by the MAFIA.Go Figure……
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