AfterDawn: News

MPAA launches assault on P2P

People in the peer-to-peer sharing scene shouldn't be the least bit unfamiliar with possibly one of the biggest name in Bit Torrent, Isohunt.com. In an all out assault on stopping the spread of illegal content, the Motion Picture Association of America launched a police sting on the ISP that housed the servers providing data transmission for the search engine.

This attack came without warning and all of the servers which housed databases of information have been seized for evidence against the company. Isohunt's servers were housed in the US where they were legal territory for the MPAA to pick them apart with copyright infringment laws.



Isohunt had become a target for the MPAA approximately a year ago when they filed a lawsuit against the company that alleged massive accounts of copyright infringement. There is some speculation that this shutdown is a direct result of that legal action, but the MPAA has yet to announce victory on their website, as they're usually very quick to do.

In a statement on their website, Isohunt administrators posted this "Lawyers from our primary ISP decided to pull our plug without any advance notice, as of 14:45 PST. No doubt related to our lawsuit brought by the MPAA, but we don't have more information at this time until people responsible comes to work tomorrow. We will be back in operation once we sort out this mess with our current ISP, or we get new hardware ready at our new ISP."

Source:
Isohunt.com

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 18 Jan 2007 4:50

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• 39 comments

• hughjars

  More resources wasted in this futile on-going 'King Canute' operation.
  
  Idiots.
  
  Sharing is not going to stop just cos the already vastly rich and powerful (in this case the MPAA) have the power to wreck other people's lives in this way.

  18.1.2007 05:20 #1

• ZippyDSM

  *sigh* if they want to play heavy handed they will never win.
  ISO hnt is one of the few things to remove content at the bequest of CP/IP holders yet they cant contact them because the lawyers run the company.

  18.1.2007 05:47 #2

• solarf

  this is horrible. It stops a great torrent site and accomplishes nothing else. Everyone will just go to other sites and continue to download.

  18.1.2007 06:34 #3

• mystic

  how much will this government use for resources wasting tax payers dollars on a ghost hunt. its sad when this administration has started a war with a country who wasn't one of the axes of evil and now they are scaring even isp's over accounts on a server that may share files. isnt it the person uploading the files in question that should be sought and eventuly held accountable? if the people at Isohunt have done no uplaoding then cant they sue the isp for breach of contractand or denial of service? its all for show why dosnt the mpaa( AKA hollywood) get with the program and figue out how to make the movies available to download leagally and then they can go after the ones who continue to uplaod stuff from the cinama... see a small amount of people dont have the internet but most of us do so use that to your advantage like going to sony and downloading from their website their movies it only makes sence.... instead they want someone like itunes or vongo or netflix tocomeup with the way then they will copy them... sad... instead of being leaders they all want someone to lead them to the cash cow.

  18.1.2007 07:03 #4

• ZippyDSM

  mystic
  they don't have to sue its more like lawyers from the RIAA 'talk" to the lawyers of the ISP and the lawyers of the ISP say roll over and the ISP rolls over.
  
  

  18.1.2007 07:07 #5

• mystic

  right but cant the owners of isohunt have their lawyers sue the isp for breach of contract and or denile of serves? I mean they have an account that alows axcess to their websit and or software but if they didnt upload then they didnt do anything wrong....?

  18.1.2007 07:35 #6

• Mr-Movies

  Maybe IsoHunt can start taking donations to make their own offshore Sauvérant Nation to keep from being raided.

  18.1.2007 07:55 #7

• Pop_Smith

  Hold the phone!
  
  According to this article, which I agree with, ISOHunt is a search engine.
  Quote:....on the ISP that housed the servers providing data transmission for the search engine.If ISOHunt is a search engine, even if its targeted specifically at searching for pirated software, doesn't that mean that a ruling, police raid, etc. would have the same effect on Google because it too is a search engine that can be used to search for pirated material?

  18.1.2007 08:02 #8

• mystic

  everyone who wants updated info as of now should go here to read more like the tranmition fro iso hunt to the world.....
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IsoHunt
  
  

  18.1.2007 08:42 #9

• BludRayne

  Do the owners of ISOHUNT still have all the code to run the site? Maybe they can start up a new site with a new name. Everytime the mpaa/riaa sue, just shut down the site and start up a new one. If a bunch of people do this, it will get very costly for the mpaa/riaa to try to sue so many sites. Just a thought.

  18.1.2007 09:37 #10

• craftyzan

  Filesharing may become more decentralized, like in amule, and that will make it even harder to track & crash.

  18.1.2007 09:50 #11

• tabletpc

  i find this funny because they are a search engine under the internet protection act which might i add protects search engines of hacks cracks and key generators also protects isohunt because the servers are on u.s.a land and are covered under the internet protection act and ther for cannot be violated and i hate to tell you all it is is a search engine oh no better shut down google they search for torrents oh no better shut down lycos and yahoo they do to this is bull because they can take the server apart all they want to but it doesn't stop anything because they where not hosting torrents for people to download they are just a search engine that leads to other torrents in other countrys where torrents are legal yes thats right MPAA legal
  
  this just makes me mad

  18.1.2007 12:08 #12

• tabletpc

  also if you read on the site they got there data back today on the 18th because they didn't serve proper papers which i knew was going to happen
  

  18.1.2007 12:12 #13

• craftyzan

  MPAA sounds like it's gettin' desperate.

  18.1.2007 13:22 #14

• georgeluv

  they took down supernova, then 18 million torrent search engines popped up. if it took them this long to take down another major torrent search engine its looking pretty bleak for the MPAA. ill bet iso hunt is back up and running within a week just like pirate bay. looks like the MPAA is having a harder and harder time taking these sites down.

  18.1.2007 13:30 #15

• coleken3

  Looks as if SloTorrent.net is down to.
  
  Back up now.

  18.1.2007 16:12 #16

• PeaInAPod

  Kinda off topic, but this is another reason I would love to see ThePirateBay buy SeaLand and become their own nation.

  18.1.2007 17:50 #17

• Gplanet

  TorrentBox down

  19.1.2007 01:08 #18

• solarf

  does anyone know when Iso hunt will be back? I thought they were moving to Canada?

  19.1.2007 06:27 #19

• Mr-Movies

  Since the Millennium act big money can get away with whatever they want regardless of common sense and what is just. And it’s not just the US most other countries are taking the same position. It’s funny that because someone else does it we must do it that way as well, apparently we can only follow forget about thinking for ourselves. This is a sign of the complete corruption in our system and it is only getting worst. Now a lot of cities are install cameras all over the place so they can watch over us. The sad thing is the masses don’t seem to care and are brainwashed that it is for their own good. The old book 1984 sums all of this up plus more and when it came out people thought no way that could never happen, but now that it is happening no one even sees the ramifications.
  
  It’s good being sheep…

  19.1.2007 09:15 #20

• solarf

  I agree We are sheep and by the way George Orwells book you mentioned totally awesome and quite realistic when compared to what is happening today.

  19.1.2007 09:18 #21

• ZippyDSM

  Mr-Movies
  this is why I have put the breaks on giving money to the "man".

  19.1.2007 09:40 #22

• joe777

  Nobody took down TPB it was a hoax while they upgraded. Just to let you know me harties he he he

  19.1.2007 14:45 #23

• borhan9

  Another one of the greats are in trouble because again the MPAA is at it again. But i gather this is not going to stop isohunt. It may slow them down and halt proceedings but not stop.

  19.1.2007 20:21 #24

• ZippyDSM

  borhan9
  gives them an excuse to fully update/over haul things to ^^
  
  isohunt at 1/20/07 4AM east cost is still down.

  19.1.2007 23:03 #25

• cappyx

  The MPAA should arrest itself and Cr*ppywood for causing the stress and suffering of poeple with thier bad movies. it would seem logical to me that if people are happy watching grainy cheap p2p movies with shaking and hands moving on the screen that the content it self must be of the same quality.

  20.1.2007 04:52 #26

• ZippyDSM

  cappyx
  or enforce CP/IP law thier within or investigate when a corperation seals ideas from poor indavendauls or creators of franchises/brands/characters that never see a dime of the money they deserve.

  20.1.2007 05:23 #27

• raceman94

  Damn MPAA! They're accomplishing something all right...they managing to create more hate against 'em! to hell with the MPAA!

  20.1.2007 06:29 #28

• Ballpyhon

  Let them shut down these servers all they want. People will always find ways to relocate. DATA is copyable and is abundant. no matter what they do, there is more of us than there is of them. STRENGTH IN NUMBERS!!!!!
  
  
  There is no right, no wrong, only popular opinion.

  20.1.2007 18:48 #29

• juaneryle

  Should your ISP be allowed to turn over your personal info to the MPAA?

  20.1.2007 20:37 #30

• raceman94

  Hell no! I'd drop 'em in a heartbeat and go somewhere. Of course the next ISP would probably do the same, and we'd be back at square one! So, as the say..."damned if you do, damned if you don't"!

  20.1.2007 20:44 #31

• PWNed100

  IsoHunt has kicked MPAA's butt in legal battles before...
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IsoHunt#Letters_from_the_MPAA
  Im sure they'll win this time too
  

  22.1.2007 04:13 #32

• georgeluv

  EVERYONE CALM DOWN ITS BACK UP! haha, i cant even use bittorrent cause my isp has no competition thanks to our great laws and government here in america, and they give a two stike limit for warnings for sharing copywrited material. i refuse to leech also, ill just use gnutella 2 it works just as good in my opinion, just not as many old obscure movies and tv shows. but i can get the tv shows from irc.

  22.1.2007 08:44 #33

• BludRayne

  Oh isohunt, how I've missed you. Happy days!

  22.1.2007 09:34 #34

• Gplanet

  breath of iso air!!!!

  22.1.2007 14:30 #35

• c4lvin

  man the MPAA can go suck a dick those bastards

  22.1.2007 17:49 #36

• xhardc0re

  I agree with c4lvin. As long as its the female lawyers doing the sucking :)
  As for the M.A.F.I.A.A., well isohunt should simply say "any files on that computer may not be valid as we were hacked approx 24 hours before the raid". LOL Then they could present a legal argument in court that the MPAA hacked their box & added illegal content. So their snapshot of the system, right after it was seized, is not the true data that was on it before the hack.

  27.1.2007 22:52 #37

• craftyzan

  Format war....figure out a way to zip the files in such a way as to obscure the files from prying eyes? We all know about zipping files and such...just an idea...

  28.1.2007 00:31 #38

• xhardc0re

  Use the software program called MUTE, share only with trusted friends, rename files with 1 and O and other numbers in place of names. don't bother sharing crappy h0llywood movies. tell everyone you know how to get around DRM...there are many ways.
  i dream of a day when I can buy something, back it up for myself & not spend hours doing it. or risk arrest & prison.

  28.1.2007 00:58 #39