TorrentSpy Shuts Down
Written by Ernesto on March 27, 2008A little over a year ago, TorrentSpy.com was still the most visited BitTorrent site, but times have changed. After an expensive two year battle with the MPAA, TorrentSpy decided to throw in the towel and the site has now shut down permanently.
TorrentSpy is no more, Justin Bunnell, the founder of the site writes: “We have decided on our own, not due to any court order or agreement, to bring the TorrentSpy.com search engine to an end and thus we permanently closed down worldwide on March 24, 2008.”
The main reason for the shutdown is the ongoing legal battle with the MPAA, which started February 2006. “We now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown,” Justin writes.
By the end of 2006 TorrentSpy was more popular than any other BitTorrent site, but this changed quickly in August 2007, when a federal judge ordered TorrentSpy to log all user data. The judge ruled that TorrentSpy had to monitor its users in order to create detailed logs of their activities, and hand these over to the MPAA.
In a response to this decision - and to ensure the privacy of their users - TorrentSpy decided that it was best to block access to all users from the US. This led to a huge decrease in traffic and revenue.
This was not enough for the MPAA, who argued that TorrentSpy had ignored the court decision. The legal battle continued, and this eventually led to a preventative closure of the site by Justin, to protect the privacy of its users.
Brokep from The Pirate Bay had this to say about the closure: “Today all big torrent sites are pressured somehow. TPB has its share of pressure, however we expected it and have a legal system that is more just in cases like this. The way that the copyright lobby is going at this is totally wrong and we can’t let them win. And we won’t let them win. Today we reached a loss of a site, but it was more a person having to give up for economical reasons than anything else. The copyright lobby has their big cards - money and influence. In the long run they will have to give up as well. And when they do, I’ll go to the US and buy Justin a well-deserved beer.”
At this point it is not clear what will happen to the TorrentSpy.com domain. Perhaps Justin should offer it to other BitTorrent site owners?
Previously: Mininova Helps CBC to Distribute TV-Show
Next: Comcast Teams Up With BitTorrent and Promises Net Neutrality
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You where my first torrent site I ever used ): .
How about releasing the sourcecode?
It was one hell of a good site, and I know a lot of people would like to run there own indexer but can’t find a stable good one.
Maybe, torrentspy didn’t die at all, just stepuped up its game.
torrentspy - opensource torrent indexer scrpit?
I hope so ): .
- Danny.
“The judge ruled that TorrentSpy had to monitor its users in order to create detailed logs of their activities, and hand these over to the MPAA.” - Holy wowskis, do the folks in charge really just not give a fuck about privacy laws and the law in general over there?
Sounds like TorrentSpy did the right thing.
God Bless the United States of America and their greedy corporations. Not!
Anyhow, it will possibly soon be over. Read a well written article explaining the background to how it could go so totally wrong at:
http://www.falkvinge.com/2008/03/why-us-is-collapsing.html
don’t think i ever used it. another crap public site
A sad day when a torrent site gets shut down. But a reminder to everyone; this is in no way the end. Torrentspy will return in the future under a different name with slight alterations that will keep the site ging strong. R.I.P. Torrentspy. Cheers to what the future will bring!
That was one of the first sites i visited! I used to download KVCD’s and aXXo rips from that site, rest in peace!!!!!!
[quote comment="319791"]This makes me sad :(
TorrentSpy should give the domain to The Pirate Bay so it can redirect there… it would be a last “fuck you” to the MPAA and it would re-direct any users who didn’t know about other places to get torrents to a new index.[/quote]
I absolutely agree with you
it was first torrent site i used but afterwards i moved on to Demonoid and mininova.It’s sad that it has shutdown and also demonoid is gone with the wind but TPB is there and so too is Mininova but hard days are ahead for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Who cares, TorrentSpy was crap anyways…
tpb is unreachable also here in Turkey, we will soon have to find another way to share, keep on…
[quote comment="319887"]The ones with most cash wins in courts, the ones with most cash gets to be president, the ones with most cash gets to decide the laws, the ones with most cash etc..
I dont know why America is stuck but most countries have moved past that 1700 lifestyle and tries to equalize everything so cash doesnt decide the outcome in courts or who gets to lead a country or decide the laws etc..[/quote]
Justin Bunnell, you are one of the better Americans. Thank you for going to such heartfelt lengths to protect the rest of us.
GO RON PAUL !!!
GO RON PAUL !!!
GO RON PAUL !!!
Too bad. It was one of the first sites I used, but changed over to another tracker quickly enough. Nevertheless, good luck to the admins, and kudos for possessing a strong spine.
FUCK RIAA AND MPAA.
[quote comment="319764"]what a sad story :(
torrentspy was the first torrent site i used, and i have a lot of good experiences with it.. but oh well, as long as TPB and mininova hangs on i guess i’ll survive
RIP[/quote]
true that… it was also one of the first torrent sites i ever used…
RIP
This is in fact, very sad.
torrent spy we will miss you
[quote comment="319778"]TS was crap anyway[/quote]
agreed, i stopped going after the porn banner ads took over…
bad day for free speech. free movement.
If you feel bad that TorrentSpy is gone, just remember two things.
First of all, the domain will inevitably be revived by another BitTorrent group…
…And second, TorrentSpy’s self-destruction is a miserable defeat for the RIAA and MPAA. Their prized court ruling - that TS had to monitor its own users and send detailed surveillance logs to the MAFIAA - has been scuttled along with the ship.
Rather than mourning, THAT’S something worth cheering for.
R.I.P. Torrentspy,
It’s a sad day indeed,We lost another nice torrentsite. Like most,I popped my cherry too on torrentspy. Back then it was a easy to use and smart looking site with a proper community. I even liked that shout-wire thing for a while.
After they took the comments down I stopped using TS, just popping in to see it’s bleeding to death.
To bad to see this one gone,but there are more fish in the sea.
Cheers,
-the Queef-
It is better to die with dignity, than to give up and sell out.
RIP TS
A sad day for all file sharing fans.
Fortunately, TorrentSpy was just one of the many torrent site pioneers, and today there are many such sites.
A casualty of war for freedom, peace be with you TorrentSpy and your webmasters as well.
http://www.highspeedtorrent.com
I am from Canada and TS insisted on Blocking me anyway because my “IP was from the states” (Ya sure…because Saskatchewan is totally in the states)…such crap. I am not really sad that it is gone as it was only good for mainstream stuff. All of the stuff that I really wanted was on TPB and Mininova so I never bothered with TS.
TS was my first torrent site. I haven’t been using it much for the last year or so, because they have removed comments and some other things weren’t working for me. Didn’t know they were in trouble.
Thanks for everything.
R.I.P.
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