BitTorrent Giant BtJunkie Shuts down For Good

http://torrentfreak.com/btjunkie-shuts-down-for-good-120206/

BTjunkie, one of the largest BitTorrent indexes on the Internet, has decided to shut down voluntarily today. A combination of legal actions against fellow file-sharing sites and time-consuming projects have led to the drastic decision that takes out one the main players in the BitTorrent landscape.

Founded in June 2005, BTjunkie has been among the top BitTorrent sites for more than half a decade.

The site was never involved in any legal action, and to keep it this way the site’s operators decided to shut the site down for good today. The following message was posted on the BTjunkie homepage a few minutes ago:

“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 all




Internet Censorship is looming ahead folks, I'm not condoning Piracy but I think the worst is yet to come in the following days

Doot...doot...doot... another one bites the dust....

I don't feel sorry for any of those sites.

I can understand that the generation who has grown up with free downloading as the most natural thing feels buttsmufed. But i have a hard time understanding what this has to do with censorship....?

Olafsto wrote:

I can understand that the generation who has grown up with free downloading as the most natural thing feels buttsmufed. But i have a hard time understanding what this has to do with censorship....?

Absolutely nothing. I'm vehemently against SOPA/PIPA but a lot of the argument online against it is "well, I don't want to have to pay for stuff".

I can't seem to get too worked up over this either.

So far, my life hasn't changed a bit since all these sites starting closing up shop, voluntarily or otherwise. When it effects me directly, I'll start to care I guess.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

So far, my life hasn't changed a bit since all these sites starting closing up shop, voluntarily or otherwise. When it effects me directly, I'll start to care I guess.

Me neither. I used MegaUpload from time to time, but I've never "torrented" (is that the term for it?) so this one is a non-issue for me.

The only bad thing about file hosting sites like MU is that it WAS used for legitimate purposes sometimes. I know unsigned bands that have hosted singles or whole albums there but it's not a big loss, they can always find somewhere else (with a better reputation) to host their music.

Doesn't affect me either. I'm sure some people believe it's the end of the world though.

Hm....

I know the Black Crowes and their associates had their live, authorized, bootlegs available through some of these sources and that will be a drag if you can't get them now! Also, That movie fan edit site used these sources as well.

With all these locker sites and now bit torrent sites falling like dominoes, it does kind of beg the question of what now?

If sales of CDs and DVDs suddenly jump up then I guess we'll see if it's justified. But I don't think that's going to happen, there may be a slight uptick in sales, but I doubt it will be anything significant.

If you take away the "sharing" (stealing) aspect from this generation...I have a feeling they will use their tech saavy to find other ways around. The world is so entitled at this point, they will be screaming revolution at the top of their lungs...even though their viewpoint is permanently skewed.

chewie wrote:

I know the Black Crowes and their associates had their live, authorized, bootlegs available through some of these sources and that will be a drag if you can't get them now! Also, That movie fan edit site used these sources as well.

A lot of this will send the bootleg trade back to the snail mail system until someone figures out a new way to post them online - I used those site primarily for boots (and pay for my albums!)

It's VERY easy to share stuff legally. A band like The Black Crowes could just upload their files on their own webiste. I storage is a problem, pay for a bigger website/webhotel!

Alot of jam bands used those avenues for sharing/trading shows with the fans. There are bands that have file sharing for their tours/shows available from the bands website. Gov't Mule is an example of this. If sites are voluntarily shutting down, that makes it pretty obvious they were doing things that violated existing laws. I too am of the opinion that enforcing "illegal downloading" laws has nothing to do with censorship.

kmorg wrote:

It's VERY easy to share stuff legally. A band like The Black Crowes could just upload their files on their own webiste. I storage is a problem, pay for a bigger website/webhotel!

exactly. storage & bandwidth is pretty cheap these days.

as for sharing, the usenet has been a gold mine from the beginning. most kids today are unaware of that dinosaur though.

The Black Crowes, Chris and Rich Robinson sell a lot of their taped shows on the Live Nation website, which I have bought.

They seem to do both by selling them and then letting their fans have shows for free, as well, through the torrent community. I don't know what they use to decide if they want to sell a performance or not, though?????

Makes no difference in my life.

That sucks. BTjunkie was the only public torrent site I used. Awesome collection of obscure stuff and discographies.

While I'm opposed to the censorship aspects of SOPA and PIPA, I think the idea of stopping online piracy is sound. I never really download so it doesn't make a difference to me; the only times I would download are when I've already bought something on casette or vinyl and I'm not arsed converting it to MP3 myself, or it's sold out and out of print so I couldn't buy it anyway. People will always find ways to share music illegally, even if they're reduced to buying one copy and e-mailing the files around.

All these sites closing shop isn't "the end of the internet", it's law enforcement finally cracking down on an illegal activity (theft, to call a spade a spade) using legislation that is already in place and has been for years. Even if worst comes to worst and all the major illegal file sharing sites shut down, all this music/movies etc. won't just disappear, they'll still be available in shops and for legal download. God forbid people will actually have to go out and spend money on things they like

static wrote:

All these sites closing shop isn't "the end of the internet", it's law enforcement finally cracking down on an illegal activity (theft, to call a spade a spade) using legislation that is already in place and has been for years. Even if worst comes to worst and all the major illegal file sharing sites shut down, all this music/movies etc. won't just disappear, they'll still be available in shops and for legal download. God forbid people will actually have to go out and spend money on things they like

Tough economic times means priorities on spending over digital downloadable media is lessened. Stealing is against the Federal Law but BitTorrent really comes in handy when you don't have the money to spend. I 'mostly' use it for TV episodes that I missed, sometimes for music, but I'm really anal about bitrates, anything less than 320 kbps means crap or I wont even bother

And it's called DISCRETION folks, nobody has the right to tell you what's wrong from what's right

EmoElmo wrote:

And it's called DISCRETION folks, nobody has the right to tell you what's wrong from what's right

So law holds no merit to you, classic. We all have accountability for our actions, regardless of whatever we may personaly deem to be right or wrong.

So to you, nobody could tell you it was wrong to have sex with a minor as long as you were discreet about it. That may be an extreme example, but the same principal applies.

James B. wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

And it's called DISCRETION folks, nobody has the right to tell you what's wrong from what's right

So law holds no merit to you, classic. We all have accountability for our actions, regardless of whatever we may personaly deem to be right or wrong.

So to you, nobody could tell you it was wrong to have sex with a minor as long as you were discreet about it. That may be an extreme example, but the same principal applies.

Agreeing with James here.

Olafsto wrote:

James B. wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

And it's called DISCRETION folks, nobody has the right to tell you what's wrong from what's right

So law holds no merit to you, classic. We all have accountability for our actions, regardless of whatever we may personaly deem to be right or wrong.

So to you, nobody could tell you it was wrong to have sex with a minor as long as you were discreet about it. That may be an extreme example, but the same principal applies.

Agreeing with James here.

X2