BitTorrent Site BTjunkie Closes In Megaupload Aftermath

BTjunkie, the popular torrent search engine, has been shut down voluntarily by its owners after seven years of operation.

The move comes amidst intense anti-piracy action this year including the FBI’s closure of Megaupload, the signing of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and the finalised punishment against Pirate Bay operators at a Swedish court.

End of the line for sharers?

A message on BTjunkie’s site tells users: “This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on. It’s been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!”

Speaking to TorrentFreak, the site’s owner stated that recent events concerning The Pirate Bay and Megaupload played a significant role in the decision to shut BTjunkie. However, he expressed a hope for the future of other BitTorrent sites. “I really do hope so, the war is far from over for sure,” he told TorrentFreak.

BTjunkie’s voluntary shut down follows a small and recent trend by file-sharing sites to protect themselves from US federal prosecutors. FileServe and Filesonic, two file-sharing sites, have disabled their sharing service, only allowing users to download and retrieve files they personally uploaded. Uploaded.to, another cyberlocker, took the measure of denying US visitors access to the site.

Despite not being directly targeted by the US authorities or any major recording label or film studio, BTjunkie was among the top five most popular torrent sites in the world and caught the attention of both the MPAA and RIAA, both listing the site as a facilitator of copyright infringement.

Jiten Karia

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  • At last it has arrived..From this day forth it seems the freedom of people to share and communicate will forever be changed by one of the most undemocratic countries in the world the good old USA.
    You really cannot underestimate the tragedy of what is about to happen, but it was inevitable, why?
    The control of the internet by America, a country which did not even invent the concept or the reality has taken control
    of individuals rights and freedoms, in much the same way as the military and economic complex of America has taken control of that vile country itself.
    Dwight D Eisenhower warned the Americans as far back as the 1950's to beware of this vile entity, alas Americans so dumb,so insular, so idiotic sat back on their fat assess whilst the patriot act was shoved through congress at the dead of night without even a debate or free vote.
    What we really need is the removal of Google, Microsoft and other American search engines which dominate the internet. Both of these companies have displayed a disgraceful lack of courage to defend not only the sanctity of their own businesses, but also the freedoms they so hypocritically propose for other nations such as; China or North korea.
    Make no mistake this removal of peoples rights to share or communicate on-line puts America very much in the club of nation states such as Stalin's Russia. I unfortunately am a UK citizen who since 1911 have been amongst the most spied upon citizens in the supposedly free democratic world..
    Once I had great hopes for the Europeans and their common sense alas this too has been washed away as sure as the American constitution is nothing more than an historical artifact; rather than a code of living for a free people.
    Americans love to tell you they are free, but the truth is most of them are so uneducated, and so ignorant about the rest of the world it is almost painful to listen to their jingoistic 'land of the free'.
    I for one will seriously miss BTjunkie, a great sharing site as was megaupload. And do not be fooled by the nonsense espoused by American/UK politicians that this has to do with copyright laws, those proposed to collect royalties for: movies, music, books ect. It is nothing of the sort, if it were; then America and Europe would have imposed massive trade bans on countries such as China, India, Philipines, Indonesia and god knows how many more who all indulge in copyright theft on a scale that makes western users of torrents websites look miniscule by comparison.
    There will surely come a time when using the internet is more dangerous to the individual than a Christian walking through the streets of Mecca proclaiming Mohammed was a fake prophet!
    Another great tragedy which has not been discussed in regard to these new American laws are VPN's If you seriously believe that these virtual private networks will be excluded from American scrutiny you are either a complete fool, or about to be roasted in a KFC franchise. I am not a genius with computers but i urge every young person, no matter where they are to use their skills to lay waste to sites like Google and Microsoft, I encourage you to commit what people call cyber terrorism..because if this does not happen, then we are all doomed, and make no mistake about this, freedom will become a mere illusion, like a conjurors trick....
    In the UK every single mobile phone call and sms is recorded and used by the government, the same in America....where the hell will your freedom be when there is no one, or nothing to which you can discuss in private without the NSA listening in, all in the name of keeping america free of fake terrorism..And remember this is a country whose presidents actively encouraged the IRA to kill and murder UK citizens, and whose federal agencies turned a blind eye to their activities, in much the same way they did with the Rebiya Kadheer the uyghur leader who resides in America, it was she who was responsible for the massacre of Chinese civilians in Urumqi Xinjiang in 2009, with the blessing of the American goverment, I know i was in The city when it happened, and every Muslim new it to be the truth also.
    So finally we have arrived at the death of the internet, and make no mistake this is actually what it is; we will now all be duped by idiotic American 'google boxes'and sanitised by pro anti-freedom news such as that portrayed by every single American network, and we of course must include the ridiculous BBC of the UK within this framework....it is a sad day for true freedom loving people of the world, yet most will just go into starbucks drink their coffee and dissolve in divine ignorant bliss to those events which have unfolded...

    I read the lyrics of a great Scottish friends song called 'will I really meet Jimi Hendrix'... in those lyrics there was this beautiful, and completely true line.
    'only in the graveyard will we all be equal, free and truly democratic'....how true, how goddamned true those words ring now....

    rest in peace internet; an invention by a great British scientist at Lucerne in Switzerland, which promised so much in the way of freedom, but now has simply become a tool to enslave.

    David H Maley

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