This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Digital MegaUpload Timeline
BTjunkie takes itself offline
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 7 February 2012
BitTorrent search engine BTjunkie has shut down voluntarily, seemingly in the wake of the MegaUpload takedown and arrests in America and last week’s Supreme Court ruling in Sweden over the criminal charges against the founders of The Pirate Bay.
The fact people associated with both Mega and the Bay now face jail time (potential in the case of the former, actual – in theory at least – in the case of the TPB), seems to have made an impact with BTjunkie’s operators.
One of the largest BitTorrent indexes on the net, BTjunkie was never directly targeted with civil copyright litigation by rightsholders, though it was listed as a “rogue site” by both music and movie industry trade bodies in the US, and was among the websites the content industries asked Google to remove from its recommended search function.
And, as the attack on file-sharing services stepped up a gear in recent weeks, it seems the people behind BTjunkie feared they could soon be targeted. The site’s founder admitted to TorrentFreak yesterday that last week’s announcement that the Supreme Court in Sweden had refused to hear The Pirate Bay founders’ appeal, meaning their prison sentences and fines are now final, and the swoop on MegaUpload executives around the world were the main reasons for the voluntary shutdown.
A statement on the BTjunkie website reads: “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!”
Asked if there was any future for BitTorrent websites, the unnamed founder told TorrentFreak: “I really do hope so, the war is far from over for sure”.
