• On TechRepublic: Why Linux will triumph over Windows
March 27, 2008 8:49 AM PDT

TorrentSpy shuts down

by Greg Sandoval
  • Font size
  • Print
  • 12 comments

A prolonged legal fight with the movie industry has forced TorrentSpy, BitTorrent's popular search engine, to shut down.

"The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile," said a note on TorrentSpy's front door. "We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves... we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown."

In 2006, the largest Hollywood film studios accused TorrentSpy in a lawsuit of encouraging movie piracy. A federal judge ordered the company last June to provide the studios with user information found in its computer RAM.

TorrentSpy, often used by file sharers to find bootleg films, tried a series of legal maneuvers in an attempt to protect the anonymity of visitors. In August, the company cut off access to residents of the United States, presumably to avoid complying with the court order.

In December, the judge in the case found that TorrentSpy operators intentionally destroyed evidence in the case, making it impossible for the Motion Picture Association of America to get a fair trial. They had earlier been fined $30,000 for violations of discovery orders and were warned of severe sanctions if they continued to ignore the orders.

The judge ruled against TorrentSpy, which meant that all the company could do was argue over the amount of damages. From that point on, it appeared as if TorrentSpy's days were numbered.

Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET.
advertisement
Click Here
Recent posts from News Blog
Nvidia puts NForce chipset development on hold
Opera 10 browser is here
Neil Young Archives Blu-ray: Rip off?
Acronis revises survey results about backup habits
Acronis miscalculates data on users' bad backup habits
Flickr co-founder presses beta button
Comcast, Sony open retail store
Cox to try coaxing the Internet into submission
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (12 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
When are they going to shut down google
by James7777777 March 27, 2008 9:12 AM PDT
Google is a great search engine for torrents.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=the+bank+job+filetype%3Atorrent&btnG=Search

When will they shut google down for doing the same thing sites like torrentspy and oink did.
Reply to this comment
With Google it's obviously frivolous
by russkeller March 27, 2008 9:38 AM PDT
But with torrentspy the government is just ignorant enough to buy the industries argument.
View reply
by caboose221 August 30, 2008 1:42 AM PDT
Google has so much money its not funny(lol that rhymed) they would have so much to protect themselves. I love Google, it makes life on the net so simple( you know that the internet is under 18 years young D:).
Torrent Spy shut down
by atinaebud March 27, 2008 1:33 PM PDT
Maybe they should consider shutting down the record industry and the movie makers for forcing us to listen to and watch their outrageously overpriced crap.
Reply to this comment
Movie hackers
by BALTHOR1 March 27, 2008 1:35 PM PDT
All torrent files are cleared by the Government.They're changing the content without permission.
Reply to this comment
A SAD day for internet users
by dedalus6 March 28, 2008 1:13 AM PDT
Such a waste of money and resources to stop something that cannot be stopped since the invention of internet. People will always share their contents regardless legal or not.
Reply to this comment
They protected us...thank you
by happysmp March 28, 2008 8:20 PM PDT
$30,000 in fines to destroy information about its users. That's protecting your users...and there's alot to be said about that.
Reply to this comment
god bless torrentspy
by protaper07 March 29, 2008 1:21 AM PDT
torrents.to
Reply to this comment
I'M SPEECHLESS
by S_MARQUEZ March 30, 2008 6:29 AM PDT
WOW...
Reply to this comment
by caboose221 August 30, 2008 1:50 AM PDT
The government will never stop illegal sharing of files. Its impossible.

The price of things on the internet these days is ridiculous. People who want to do things in there life like Photo editing want to use Photoshop 1000 dollars, video editing: Sony Vegas 550 dollars, Adobe Premiere Pro 800 dollars. Windows Vista Ultimate 220 dollars. Its ridiculous. It will always happen.
Reply to this comment
(12 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

The browser battles go on and on

roundup From Firefox to IE and from Chrome to Opera and Safari, there's no sitting still for browser makers looking to keep their products fresh and competitive.

3G wireless still holds promise

The next generation of 4G wireless may get all the headlines, but advanced 3G technology will likely dominate services for the next few years.

About News Blog

Recent posts on technology, trends, and more.

Add this feed to your online news reader

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right