World's largest BitTorrent database shuts up shop

BTjunkie shuts its torrenting doors
BTJunkie: gets going while the going's good

BTjunkie has shut up shop after seven years of torrent-indexing action.

The site, which styles itself the world's largest BitTorrent database, posted a notice explaining that the shut-down is voluntary, simply saying that the time has come to do so.

"This is the end of the line my friends," the site's statement says. "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."

Torrential

It may only be February but it's been quite a year for file sharing sites already, with the suspension of Megaupload and the voluntary shut-down of FileSonic.

BTjunkie's founder explained to TorrentFreak that legal action against sites like MegaUpload and The Pirate Bay played a big part in his decision to shut down, suggesting that he wants to get out while the going's good.

But if the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and other rights holders think that torrenting is about to die a death, they could be in for a rude awakening, with BTjunkie's founder adding that "the war is far from over".

Rather than hosting the pirated files as Megaupload did, BTjunkie aggregated download links in a similar way to Newzbin, subject of a controversial website blocking court order in the UK.

Meanwhile, The Pirate Bay remains active with new plans to pirate "physible" objects like trainers and "personal massagers" that can be printed out using 3D printers. Well, it always pays to diversify.

From TorrentFreak

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