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Torrentspy Disables Searching For US IPs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the everyones-favorite-pariah dept.

dr_strang writes "Torrent indexing site Torrentspy.com appears to have disabled torrent searches for IPs that originate in the United States. Instead of a results page, users are directed to this page, which states: 'Torrentspy Acts to Protect Privacy. Sorry, but because you are located in the USA you cannot use the search features of the Torrentspy.com website. Torrentspy's decision to stop accepting US visitors was NOT compelled by any Court but rather an uncertain legal climate in the US regarding user privacy and an apparent tension between US and European Union privacy laws."

3 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. The Obvious Reason by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Torrentspy's decision to stop accepting US visitors was NOT compelled by any Court but rather an uncertain legal climate in the US regarding user privacy and an apparent tension between US and European Union privacy laws. From the Wikipedia page (and as linked on the related Slashdot articles):

    On May 29, 2007, A federal judge ordered TorrentSpy to begin monitoring its users' activities and to submit these logs to the Motion Picture Association of America. TorrentSpy's attorney, Ira Rothken, has stated that TorrentSpy would likely turn off access to U.S. users before it started monitoring anyone, since such monitoring is in violation of TorrentSpy's own privacy policy.[1] As of August 24, 2007, TorrentSpy has been closed to United States users. Looks like they finally got around to it ... although it wasn't ordered by a judge, a US judge certainly left them no choice.

    I wonder if this can be accessed from the United States through Tor.

    I also wonder if I have to start worrying about other sites blocking American users simply out of fear & safety from the United States MPAA/RIAA run court system? I used to feel sorry for Chinese people who had to suffer from their government's censorship and now I have to wonder if I'm going to start suffering from other servers censoring me based on my government's actions.
    --
    My work here is dung.
  2. Time for wiki-torrent by superpulpsicle · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Someone create a privatized wiki-torrent where people can put up their own torrents. That way you can never be sued cause you're not responsible for the contents.

  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion