AfterDawn: News

U.S. government takes down Torrent-Finder, others

The U.S. government has taken down Torrent-Finder.com today, among others, seizing the sites without any prior warnings.

A number of other sites, such as 2009jerseys.com, and Dvdcollects.com, were also seized, because they link to counterfeit goods.



Torrent-Finder offers links to unauthorized music tracks and movies.

The homepage of the sites now say: "This domain name has been seized by ICE--Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court."

In the notices, the Department of Justice, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm of Homeland Security Investigations are all named.

Torrent-Finder did not have its own tracker, however, and instead acted as a "search engine" for public links to copyrighted material.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Nov 2010 0:39

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• 29 comments

• WW3

  It has begun!

  27.11.2010 00:45 #1

• ddp

  will be less spam on this site then as 2009jerseys.com & Dvdcollects.com do spam this site.
  

  27.11.2010 00:53 #2

• Tristan_2

  Is it possible the Dvd site was hacked and not seized without a court warrent? Its possible to put anything when a hacker hacks a site like when BoingBoing.net was hacked not long ago..but if it was seized, why now? The bill to censor sites for Copyright isn't fully passed yet but if ever.
  

  27.11.2010 00:56 #3

• WW3

  actually i can't say i've ever heard of these specific sites, but I am sure once they start there not going to stop, I can see sites such as demonoid and tpb using as much stealth as possible...
  
  
  
  

  dsi|360 jasper|Western Digital my book essential 1TB external HDD| Em250 Netbook Dual Boot Windows 7 Starter x86-Windows XP Professional x86|
  
  

  27.11.2010 01:02 #4

• plutonash

  sad to day to be an american

  27.11.2010 01:19 #5

• WW3

  Originally posted by plutonash: sad to day to be an american i think the new congress will fight this tho, government doesn't have any right to go after things such as this, it'll be voted down.
  

  dsi|360 jasper|Western Digital my book essential 1TB external HDD| Em250 Netbook Dual Boot Windows 7 Starter x86-Windows XP Professional x86|
  
  

  27.11.2010 01:21 #6

• iamgq

  torrentz are being extinct
  

  True thug Afterdawn memeber since 05! Shout out to all those old school member still in the ranks of Newbie! Represent!

  27.11.2010 06:55 #7

• Amir89

  The most frightening part of all of this, is that the domain owner didn’t get a court summons notice, an infringement letter, a police raid, nothing.
  See the TorrentFreak article: link
  
  Not even the hosting company knew what was going on.
  
  He just got taken out and his site disappeared from the radar like this was an Unmanned Drone strike on a suspected terrorist compound.
  
  This is how the MPAA, RIAA, Susan Crawford & Howard Schmidt (the “Cybersecurity Czar”) see the freckle-faced teens and struggling college kids of the world who just don’t like getting ripped off and don't have the income to afford obscenely over-priced entertainment media.
  
  They want an all-out war on anyone who dares challenge the out-dated business models of entertainment media giants.
  
  Gene Simmons opinion basically encompasses the collective feelings these media moguls and record label/movie studio honchos have regarding file-sharing:
  Quote:"every little college kid, every freshly scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work."
  link
  
  Schmidt’s already called for “online identity cards” and last year a Senate bill was proposed that would allow the President to the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.
  
  It's fast spreading to the rest of the Western world with Australia's proposed ISP-level internet filtering which has just been put on the shelf temporarily and the UK's Digital Economy Bill.
  
  Honestly, it’s going to get to the point where domain names with unfavourable political content will be next on the hitlist.
  
  Not mentioning any names… *cough* Wikileaks.
  
  It’s the logical progression. To secure profits they have to eliminate the source & spread of subversive thoughts & ideas that encourage people to challenge why the hell record labels and movie studios are making such obscene profits from peddling utter crap that costs 10c per disc to produce.
  
  Not to mention, STILL making record profits every year despite the allegedly "damaging impact" of copyright infringement and internet piracy.
  

  
  

  27.11.2010 08:44 #8

• xnonsuchx

  Wow! So many conspiracy nuts around here!

  27.11.2010 18:12 #9

• WW3

  Originally posted by xnonsuchx: Wow! So many conspiracy nuts around here! no, they don't need to be taking down websites, they need to be stopping shit like this from happening, but there cowards!
  

  dsi|360 jasper|Western Digital my book essential 1TB external HDD| Em250 Netbook Dual Boot Windows 7 Starter x86-Windows XP Professional x86|
  
  

  27.11.2010 22:03 #10

• alfa206

  kinda sad that government's wanna take down all torrent site's.. >< but it cannot be helped xD
  

  MY PC: AMD Phenom(tm) 8450 Triple-Core Processor, 2100Mhz, 64bit Windows 7 Ultimate, 2x Samsung1Gb (+3rd is not in use) + 1x Buffalo2Gb 800MHZ, 8188-10235Mb Virtual RAM, GeForce GTS250Green with 512MB ram, 500Gt Buffalo (+500Gb WD is not in use) + 1T WD HDD, Chieftec 500W Power Output, 1680x1050 60Hertz

  28.11.2010 06:15 #11

• ZippyDSM

  When the strings are pulled the government moves.
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  28.11.2010 13:58 #12

• alfa206

  yeah.. wonder what will happen if thoise strings will not be pulled xD
  

  MY PC: AMD Phenom(tm) 8450 Triple-Core Processor, 2100Mhz, 64bit Windows 7 Ultimate, (3x) 3V ADATA DDR2 U-DIMM 800 128X8 2GB, NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 Green, 512MB, WD500Gb +WD300Gb +WD1T, Chieftec 500W Power Output, Acer P235H 23"- (+) HP w2007 20" Wide LCD

  28.11.2010 14:01 #13

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by alfa206: yeah.. wonder what will happen if thoise strings will not be pulled xD If thier are no strings then think Fallout. :P

  28.11.2010 14:23 #14

• juventini

  Shouldn't US Government be using its resources to help Americans find jobs and not help Hollywood protect its profits?
  

  Forza Juve!!

  28.11.2010 16:56 #15

• ntense69

  im really starting to hate my govt

  28.11.2010 20:00 #16

• Jeffrey_P

  Since GWB freedom act the FBI no longer needs a warrant.
  
  The FBI will brake into your residence and steal evidence for a foolproof conviction.
  
  Poor kiddies will never know REAL freedom. As time passes it will be accepted as an, "Oh well, that's the way it goes."
  
  Oh bullshit!
  
  Born in '55 I know what it's like to kick your shoes off and have a funky good time
  
  This makes Baby Jebus cry...
  
  J
  

  Cars, Guitars & Radiation.

  28.11.2010 20:46 #17

• xboxdvl2

  Originally posted by Jeffrey_P: Since GWB freedom act the FBI no longer needs a warrant.
  
  The FBI will brake into your residence and steal evidence for a foolproof conviction.
  
  Poor kiddies will never know REAL freedom. As time passes it will be accepted as an, "Oh well, that's the way it goes."
  
  Oh bullshit!
  
  Born in '55 I know what it's like to kick your shoes off and have a funky good time
  
  This makes Baby Jebus cry...
  
  J isnt searching without a warrent in usa breach of the 4th amendment???.
  
  never heard of 2009jersey.com or dvdcollects.com just scared of what they will go after next (after they destroy the low budget websites).
  

  PS2 with 12 games.
  pc-windows 7,intel core quad Q8400,4 Gb ddr2,WD 500 GB hdd,ATI Radeon HD 4550 graphics,AOC 22inch LCD moniter.

  29.11.2010 08:17 #18

• Jeffrey_P

  Originally posted by xboxdvl2: Originally posted by Jeffrey_P: Since GWB freedom act the FBI no longer needs a warrant.
  
  The FBI will brake into your residence and steal evidence for a foolproof conviction.
  
  Poor kiddies will never know REAL freedom. As time passes it will be accepted as an, "Oh well, that's the way it goes."
  
  Oh bullshit!
  
  Born in '55 I know what it's like to kick your shoes off and have a funky good time
  
  This makes Baby Jebus cry...
  
  J isnt searching without a warrent in usa breach of the 4th amendment???.
  
  never heard of 2009jersey.com or dvdcollects.com just scared of what they will go after next (after they destroy the low budget websites). "Guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. The amendment specifically also requires search and arrest warrants be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause."
  
  Please don't be so naive. It's a used-to-be.

  29.11.2010 16:58 #19

• IguanaC64

  Republicans are even more in bed with big business and "law and order" so I don't see them reversing this trend...esp since the Republicans started this ball rolling in earnest with the DMCA and the Patriot Act. This is the logical progression from those two bills alone.
  
  This isn't so much Red vs Blue argument, though...I only point this out because the comment was made that the new Congress will fight this. I don't believe they will...they're not really Libertarians. Claiming Libertarian values is politically correct right now...so anyone getting into office is talking the talk, but I'd bet money they won't walk the walk.
  
  They don't want to end the costly and useless "War on Drugs"...they have no desire to end the completely unaffordable "War on Terror" started after 9-11...but they'll be more than happy to chop up everyone else's sacred cows. Situational politics at it's best (worst).

  29.11.2010 17:49 #20

• jeff_2

  Can they even do that without prior warning?
  

  If you open up your mind to much, your brain may fall out

  29.11.2010 19:21 #21

• craftyzan

  Torrent-Finder.com morphed into Torrent-Finder.seek and Twitter's getting the word out.
  
  It's government Wack-A-Mole...

  30.11.2010 07:04 #22

• dlc2000

  Soon they wont be able to shut them down.
  
  http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-based-dns-to-counter-us-domain-seizures-101130/

  30.11.2010 18:20 #23

• IguanaC64

  Interesting, makes it harder to block DNS seizures, but seems like it makes it makes it easier for ISPs to monitor/block all traffic to .P2P domains. I'm not sure I like this method, either...

  1.12.2010 09:40 #24

• MagengarZ

  Where there's a will, there's a way. And I refuse to let the government decide what I "should" do with my personal time online viewing and downloading whatever the F**k I want. This is just another means to give the government more control over my mind and free will. I served my country in the name of Freedom; therefore I choose to DIE for the Freedom which I fought for.

  3.12.2010 13:01 #25

• FredBun

  With the patriot act they can do pretty much whatever they want.
  

  3.12.2010 13:29 #26

• pmshah

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: When the strings are pulled the government moves. ....and only then !

  3.12.2010 22:07 #27

• Jimmer12

  We Americans have let our government have WAY to much power and its only getting worse..

  5.12.2010 11:15 #28

• craftyzan

  Can you say "mirrors"?

  5.12.2010 14:21 #29