The site’s Facebook page claims the issues are due to an ISP blockade. However, this is unlikely to explain the worldwide outage unless they are referring to the site’s own hosting provider or domain registrar.

“Can’t load Extratorrent.CC ? Some ISPs blocked the website and restricted access to EXTRATIORRENT.CC domain name. We trying to resolve it!,” the status message reads.

TorrentFreak has asked ExtraTorrent staff for some additional details, but we have yet to hear back from them.

For now the site’s IP-addresses, such as http://195.144.21.16/, are still up and running. Various ExtraTorrent proxy sites, including extratorrentlive.com, work just fine too.

From what we have seen so far ExtraTorrent’s issues appear to be DNS related. The site has updated its nameservers today, but at the time of writing the domain name is not resolving to an IP-address.

Considering that the servers remain operational, it’s probably only a matter of time before the extratorrent.cc domain, or a new alternative, is back up.

Update: After roughly half a day the ExtraTorrent domain is working again. There are still some issues as the static files such as images are not loading everywhere.

Update: ET informed us that they had issues with their hosting provider. They switched DNS but that doesn’t propagate immediately, hence the downtime issues.

- image credit

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The site is a thorn in the side of the entertainment industries who have labeled it a “rogue site” on numerous occasions. In recent weeks, however, more concrete actions have been taken.

In September, ExtraTorrent suffered a massive blow when City of London Police convinced its registrar to seize their .com domain. ExtraTorrent was not happy with this decision and threatened legal action.

The registrar eventually decided to redirect the .com domain to the new .cc TLD, but still refuses to return it.

Smelling blood, the MPAA jumped in last week by sending a DMCA request to Google, asking the search engine to remove ExtraTorrent’s new homepage from its search results. The Hollywood group sent a targeted DMCA notice listing only two URLs including ExtraTorrent.cc.

Interestingly, Google refused to take action and decided to keep the site listed, presumably because the copyrighted content referenced by the studios was no longer linked there. Needless to say, ExtraTorrent’s staff was delighted with Google’s backing.

“We are happy to know that Google took the right decision,” ExtraTorrent’s Sam told TorrentFreak earlier this week, when we asked for a comment on Google’s refusal.

“MPAA thought that we would be vulnerable after the domain drama, and that the time was right to go after us using the same tactics London police used with our old clumsy registrar. However, they forgot that Google is not like our old registrar and that they are not as easily manipulated,” he added.

However, just when we were about to publish our findings today we noticed that the new ExtraTorrent.cc domain had disappeared after all. The search giant hadn’t backpedaled on its earlier decision, but it turns out the MPAA wasn’t the only one going after ExtraTorrent’s new home.

On Monday, Fox also sent a takedown notice to Google. This notice listed only one URL – extratorrent.cc – and no less than 110 copyrighted movies and TV-shows including Family Guy, Homeland, Avatar and Life of Pi.

While the DMCA notice doesn’t list any links to individual pages where .torrent files can be downloaded, Google has removed ExtraTorrent’s homepage from its search results after this second request.

Talking to TorrentFreak, ExtraTorrent says they are disappointed that Google gave in so quickly. They are considering contacting the search engine to file a counter notice to get the domain reinstated.

Whether the delisting of the homepage will have a pronounced affect on ExtraTorrent’s traffic has yet to be seen, but Hollywood certainly believes this will be the case. As we have pointed out in the past, with precision attacks the MPAA and individual movie studios are increasingly asking Google to remove the homepages of “pirate” sites.

Thus far results have been mixed. Kickass.to, EZTV and 1337x’s homepages are no longer appearing in Google’s search results, but Google refused to delist ThePirateBay.sx and Torrentz.eu as these URLs don’t link directly to copyrighted works.

Unfortunately for ExtraTorrent the Google ban and the domain issues are not the only pushback they’re facing at the moment.

The site is also being blocked by Internet providers in several countries including Italy and Belgium. To help users circumvent these blockades, ExtraTorrent just launched a dedicated proxy on Extratorrentlive.com.

For the time being, the proxy’s homepage is still indexed by Google….

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

There appeared to be no legal basis for the requests, something which outraged Canada-based EasyDNS who refused to comply with a suspension request for meta-search engine TorrentPond.com

To get the lowdown on the latest developments and in order to be absolutely sure that there is no formal legal process underway, TorrentFreak spoke with City of London Police. They told us that in the summer they began a campaign to target websites “that attract visitors by providing unauthorised access to copyrighted content for criminal gain” and that the project is now in new hands.

“In September the project was taken on by the City of London Police’s new Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit [PIPCU], which has been set up to target serious and organized intellectual property crime affecting physical and digital goods, with a specific focus on offences committed online,” a spokesman confirmed.

“The latest stage of Operation Creative, as it is now known, involves contacting registrars whose website domains have been identified as involved in facilitating criminal copyright infringement under UK law and as result are potentially breaching the terms and conditions of the registrars. PIPCU are then requesting the registrars adhere to their terms and conditions and take consideration to suspending the supplied domain.”

So, while the police are stating that the domain registrars are involved in facilitating a crime, there is no formal legal process which establishes either that or whether the torrent and other file-sharing sites involved are actually illegal under UK law.

Given the status of The Pirate Bay and sites like KickassTorrents in the UK it’s certainly possible they are, but none of the sites are based in the UK.

Legal certainty would of course be of some comfort to registrars trying to decide the best course of action in these cases. However, for PDR Ltd, the company we yesterday revealed as suspending the domains of ExtraTorrent and three other MP3 sites, no such reassurance was needed.

So far PDR Ltd have failed to respond to our requests for comment, but according to Mark Jeftovic of EasyDNS, they may now need to think again.

“Any of those registrars that actually complied with the UK requests to bring down the torrent domains *must* allow those domains to simply transfer out, or they themselves will be in violation of the ICANN transfers policy,” Jeftovic told TorrentFreak this morning.

The problem is that the suspended domains are effectively seized and out of the control of their owners. This, Jeftovic notes, leaves the registrar exposed to the wrath of ICANN.

“Since there were no charges against any of the domains and no court orders, it may be at the registrars’ discretion to play ball with these ridiculous demands. However – what they clearly cannot do now, is prevent any of those domain holders from simply transferring out their names to more clueful, less wimpy registrars,” Jeftovic explains.

“If any of those registrars denied the ability to do that, then they would be in clear violation of the ICANN Inter-Registrars Transfer Policy.”

According to that policy, registrars can only take a domain when it was paid for fraudulently or is the subject of a “court order by a court of competent jurisdiction.” As already established, one of those doesn’t exist.

This means that domain owners who refuse a transferral of a domain to a new registrar will open themselves up to further action under ICANN’s Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy, a battle Jeftovic predicts they will lose.

“This is why it is never a good idea to just react to pressure in the face of obnoxious bluster – in the very act of trying to diffuse any perceived culpability you end up opening yourself to real liability,” the EasyDNS CEO concludes.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The unit has been in operation for some time, but until this week the only immediate signs of its existence were the threatening letters sent out to sites a few months ago. Now the unit is sending letters to domain registrars asking them to suspend the domains of sites that the police – and their Hollywood and music industry partners – say are copyright-infringing criminal organizations.

“Say” is the key word here. There appears to be no court orders and no due process, something that was condemned yesterday by EasyDNS, a registrar approached by the police to suspend the domain of meta-search engine TorrentPond. The Canada-based company refused to do so and published the letter from the police instead.

For half a dozen sites it was already too late. ExtraTorrent, SumoTorrent, MisterTorrent and MP3 sites emp3world.com, full-albums.net and maxalbums.com, all had action taken against their domains this week. However, at least one will be fighting back.

At the start of 2013 ExtraTorrent was the 5th largest torrent site in the world so the fact that the police decided to target the site is significant. Its owners are annoyed to say the least, particularly with PDR Ltd (Public Domain Registry), the registrar that suspended ExtraTorrent’s .com domain and also those belonging to the previously mentioned MP3 sites.

“After contacting PDR [after the suspension] they kept giving us funny replies but finally gave us a copy of the PDF file sent by the London Police,” ExtraTorrent told TorrentFreak.

“This was even more funny than the rest of the communications we had with PDR Ltd because it turned out that the suspension was solely and willfully under the discretion of the registrar and with no legal basis.”

ExtraTorrent says that they view the police correspondence, which suggested ways in which a website could be in breach of the registrar’s own ToS, as “guidance” to PDR Ltd on how to suspend a website domain in the absence of any due process.

“PDR Ltd didn’t even think of spending more time on understanding the content of the email sent by London Police. Basically they just got scared and did what was asked of them even with no legal implications indicated by the sender. The police were dictating to registrars what to do and how to do it their way,” ExtraTorrent explains.

ExtraTorrent remains operational at ExtraTorrent.cc but the site believes that it should fight back in order to regain control over its .com domain.

“We are going to fight this action legally if needed,” the site concludes.

After the news of the suspensions spread yesterday much of the criticism transcended the issues of copyright infringement or whether or not any of the sites had committed any offenses as claimed by the police. The general consensus among critics is that if sites are indeed guilty of a crime then it should be a court’s responsibility to order action to be taken.

TorrentFreak spoke with City of London Police yesterday and asked if it was normal to take this kind of action without court orders. We were informed that more information would be made available in the coming weeks.

It goes without saying that domain names and domain name servers are a crucial part of what makes the Internet tick. Little surprise then that there are concerns when copyright holders with police backing decide to meddle with them without the expected formalities.

As pointed out by EasyDNS, first they came for the file-sharing websites….

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The actions yielded some success as a few smaller sites closed their doors. However, the major targets were unfazed by the police demands and continued business as usual.

This week the newly founded Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) of the City of London Police stepped up its efforts and instead of targeting the site owners, they contacted their domain registrars. In a carefully worded letter the police warn that the sites in question may be copyright-infringing.

“The owners of the aforementioned domains are suspected to be involved in the criminal distribution of copyrighted material either directly or indirectly and are liable to prosecution under UK law for the following offences: Conspiracy to Defraud, Offences under the Fraud Act 2006, Copyright, Design & Patents Act 1988,” the letter states.

“Should a conviction be brought for the above offences, UK courts may impose sentences of imprisonment and/or fines. PIPCU has criminal and civil powers in UK law to seize money, belongings and any property in connection with these offences.”

There is no reference to an active court order that requires the registrar to take action, but the police unit instead points at the obligations the registrars have. Among other things, the letter lists a possible breach of ICANN policy and a violation of the registrars’ own Terms of Services as a validation for the suspension.

The letters were sent to the registrars of dozens of domain names and the fallout is already visible. TorrentFreak spoke to the owner of SumoTorrent.com who confirmed that his domain was suspended yesterday. The site quickly moved to SumoTorrent.sx, but lost a lot of traffic in the process.

MisterTorrent.me was also suspended after the registrar received the police letter, and ExtraTorrent’s .com domain presumably suffered that same fate.

With millions of visitors a day ExtraTorrent is the biggest casualty so far. TorrentFreak talked to the operator who couldn’t yet confirm that City of London Police are behind the suspension, but this seems very likely. For now the site has moved to ExtraTorrent.cc which is still operational.

Not all domain name registrars are blindly complying with the demands of the Intellectual Property Crime Unit. Canada-based easyDNS is refusing to suspend TorrentPond’s domain, describing the police request as overbroad and unfounded as there is no hint of due process.

“Who decides what is illegal? What makes somebody a criminal? Given that the subtext of the request contains a threat to refer the matter to ICANN if we don’t play along, this is a non-trivial question,” easyDNS’ CEO Mark Jeftovic responds.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I always thought it was something that gets decided in a court of law, as opposed to ‘some guy on the internet’ sending emails. While that’s plenty reason enough for some registrars to take down domain names, it doesn’t fly here,” he adds.

It’s unclear how many sites were targeted by the police letter but it’s not unlikely that more registrars will take action during the hours to come. The police letter recommends the registrars to act within 48 hours and asks the companies to “consider their liability.”

“Suspension of the domain(s) is intended to prevent further crime. Where possible we request that domain suspension(s) are made within 48 hours of receipt of this Alert. In respect of the information provided by us, we respectfully ask you to consider your liability and the wider public interest should those services be allowed to continue,” the letter states.

In addition, the registrars are being asked to effectively send the traffic of the torrent sites to a landing page with the City of London Police logo, as well as the logos of their entertainment industry partners. Again, all without citing a court order or specific legal mandate.

“We request that the aforementioned domain(s) are redirected to the PIPCU Warning Page located at IP address: 83.138.166.114,” the letter notes.

TorrentFreak asked the City of London Police for the comment on their latest actions but we have not heard back from them. It’s clear, however, that the cooperation between the entertainment industry and UK law enforcement is serious.

Whether the impact will be lasting has yet to be seen.

Update: The emails were sent to registrars of other “pirate” sites as well, including emp3world.com, full-albums.net and maxalbums.com. We will update this article when more information comes in.

Update: ExtraTorrent confirms that their domain troubles are related to the same issue.

“Our registrar and with no court order or due process got scared of the London Police email and did suspend the domain. We are communicating with the registrar to find a logical solution to this chaos,” TorrentFreak was told.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

As of two days ago the page had more than 140.000 fans, but yesterday Facebook decided to remove it due to copyright violations.

“We have removed or disabled access to the following content that you have posted on Facebook because we received a notice from a third-party that the content infringes their copyright(s),” Facebook wrote.

The site owner is not pleased with the decision, and says Facebook is needlessly censoring the ET community.

“We use Facebook to have a place for ET community to meet, talk, debate, have fun and hang out with each other. Many ET users like to spend their time on their ET Facebook page.”

“We never used FB for the purpose of breaking any rules,” he adds.

However, Extratorrent also admits that they posted links to torrent files on Facebook. Some of these torrents pointed to copyrighted material, which explains the violation of Facebook’s terms of service.

The site owner nevertheless hopes to convince Facebook to reinstate the page. If this is not possible a new one will be created.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The site has come a long way since it launched in the fall of 2006, and is currently one of the few well moderated torrent sites out there.

ExtraTorrent’s owner told TorrentFreak that the site’s users generate 250 million page views and download 50 million torrents a month.

Most users come from the US, followed by India and the UK.

The site is kept online by 9 servers in total, but this number is bound to go up with the ever increasing visitor count. Below is how the servers are setup.

- 1 firewall + load balancer
- 2 data storages + search index
- 2 main http
- 2 static
- 2 backup servers

In the 5 years the site has been online it gained a strong community, and the site staff is determined to keep it going.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Do you know a relatively unknown public BitTorrent site that should be in this list? Put it in the comments.

01. torrentvalley.com

02. yotoshi.com

03. extratorrent.com

04. bitenova.nl

05. torrentscan.com

06. fenopy.com

07. smaragdtorrent.org

08. torrentat.org

09. fulldls.com

10. worldnova.org

11. spynova.org

12. nova9.org

13. 2torrents.com

14. scrapetorrent.com

15. litebay.org

16. monova.org

17. torrents.to

18. torrentradar.org

19. bitdig.com

20. bittorrentshare.com

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.