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'Italian Pirate Bay' shut down by IFPI, Italian police

31 July 2008 18:43 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 9 comments

The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), along with Italian authorities, have announced the shut down of Colombo-BT.org, Italy's largest BitTorrent site.

Over the course of two days, the tracker's servers were seized and two bank accounts associated with the site have been frozen. The administrators of the site have been charged with multiple counts of criminal copyright infringement and can face large fines and prison time.

Visitors to the site will be greeted with a new splash screen, "Access denied in execution of an Italian Court Authority injunction."

"Colombo-BT.org was Italy's version of The Pirate Bay," said FPM (anti-piracy group) president Enzo Mazza. "Its operators deliberately facilitated availability of copyright infringing content to line their own pockets. The gang of three now face potential prison sentences and hefty fines as a result of their activities. This police action sends a strong message that Italy will not tolerate serious online music piracy so criminals looking for get rich quick schemes should consider other options."

Although there are hardly any sites on the planet that can compare with The Pirate Bay, Colombo-BT did have a large presence, especially in Italy. The site had an "extensive collection of Italian music and multimedia, 390,000 music files and 500,000 movie files, including numerous pre-release titles. The illegal service had more than 400,000 registered users and 800,000 unique user accesses each month."

Although those almost 1 million files are now unavailable, 400,000 users will be looking for a new torrent site to call home. And the cycle begins.

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Discuss this article!
713tex (Member) 31 July 2008 20:54
As always, shut one down and five more will replace it. [ + quote]
windsong (Junior Member) 1 August 2008 0:49
A word to the wise: if you are busted for anything...warez, modchips, pron, theft, whatever...do not talk to the police in their interrogating room until your lawyer is present. Watch and learn: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/28/law-prof-and-cop-agr.html Watch it twice. [ + quote]
susieqbbb (Member) 1 August 2008 4:55
I am not surprised but to little to late. I am sorry to say italy period has the largest rate of piracy. I dont know of anyone buying legit there if you cannot hack it to run illegal stuff they dont buy it there. And just because you shut down onw site doesn't mean another wont become popular. [ + quote]
F4HAD (Junior Member) 1 August 2008 5:05
WOW, i watched that video, twice, and theres only one word in my mind, LOOPHOLES Always happy to help :) ferqusrb, if you are reading this, I have not forgotten what you told me, and Im back, Ive taken your words into consideration, and now Im "helping" You probably havent got a clue what Im on about, but this will revitalise your memory: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/671565 [ + quote]
domie (Member) 1 August 2008 5:07
Italian ed2k site ( ed2k is extremely big in Italy still ) - 280,000 members http://www.dduniverse.net/ita/ [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1 August 2008 5:09
domie (Member) 1 August 2008 5:07
sorry double post [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1 August 2008 5:08
lynchGOP (Inactive) 1 August 2008 11:32
What really pisses me off is that the whole Bittorrent concept IS, WAS, and ALWAYS WILL BE a 'loop hole' of the copyright law. It's decentralized and 'trackers' aren't actual files. For once in my lifetime, something has been created that circumvents ALL laws regarding the possession of "someone else's things". But this is big brother throwin' his weight around.......and I'd like to either kick big brother's ass or just shoot him and put him out of his misery. [ + quote]
DVDBack23 (Staff Member) 1 August 2008 12:54
*Originally posted by windsong:* A word to the wise: if you are busted for anything...warez, modchips, pron, theft, whatever...do not talk to the police in their interrogating room until your lawyer is present. Watch and learn: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/28/law-prof-and-cop-agr.html Watch it twice. Very interesting video, have not seen the cop's one yet, but will be doing so momentarily. [ + quote]
rav0 (Junior Member) 1 September 2008 9:16
DVDBack23, the article title is incorrect. The Italian Pirate Bay is http://labaia.org/ Colombo-BT.org is unaffiliated with The Pirate Bay. [ + quote]