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Demonoid Shut By Ukrainian Authorities

Posted by samzenpus on from the book-em dept.

hypnosec writes "After a prolonged outage that lasted for nearly a week Demonoid has reportedly been audited and closed down by the Ukrainian law enforcement agency. According to reports the Ukrainian anti-cybercrime police division carried out an investigation of ColoCall – the hosting service provider for Demonoid. Servers were sealed after all the data on the servers was copied. According to ColoCall the servers haven't been seized but, they are not operational any more. The hosting service provider is going to end the agreement with Demonoid. 'Investigators have copied all the information from the Demonoid servers and sealed them.' a manager from ColoCall, wishing to stay anonymous, said."

34 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. You're a GOOD dog!! Yes you are! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    About time that the Ukraine accepted what most governments of the world have already accepted--that the U.S. is your master and you had goddamn well better do whatever the fuck we tell you to!

    Now sit, rollover, and say "We're your bitch!" ....No, SAY IT LOUDER!!

    1. Re:You're a GOOD dog!! Yes you are! by lightknight · · Score: 3, Funny

      Lord and master. We own their land, too.

      --
      I am John Hurt.
    2. Re:You're a GOOD dog!! Yes you are! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because there are so few countries with copyright laws you mean ?

      No, because websites shouldn't be taken down just because there is some infringing material on them. The US is already seizing domain names randomly. That's bad enough. Other countries don't need to go and do similar things.

      Also I've recently visited a very large software company (in America), and the developers were nearly universally in favor of copyright laws and destroying things like demonoid and thepiratebay.

      Not exactly the most unbiased group to ask, eh? Ask me if I deserve a million dollars.

    3. Re:You're a GOOD dog!! Yes you are! by shentino · · Score: 3, Insightful

      At least candied walnuts, unlike serving a public enemy's head on a platter, don't require other people to get squashed.

      Catering to someone's likes is ok, but catering to their hatred in a way that hurts others is not.

  2. Color me surprised by dyingtolive · · Score: 5, Funny

    If your shit's not safe in the Ukraine, it's not safe anywhere.

    --
    Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
    1. Re:Color me surprised by f3rret · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well if the story is anything to go by, then the site was not closed down over copyright claims, it was shutdown over serving malware adds.

      I can see why the Ukranians would shut it down over that.

      Russian doesn't give a damn about US copyright claims.

      --
      Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
    2. Re:Color me surprised by JDG1980 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Russian doesn't give a damn about US copyright claims.

      Ukraine != Russia.

      The former Soviet republics that are now independent states (including Ukraine) tend to be friendlier to the US and EU than Russia itself is, because they rely upon NATO support to maintain effective independence from Russian control.

    3. Re:Color me surprised by interkin3tic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Does the Ukranian government regularly take action against malware? If not, then no, they got shut down for copyright infringement, and "We're shutting down this malware site for your protection, citizen" is a lie on the same level as "We had to shut down the protest because they didn't have a proper permit, not because we don't like their message."

    4. Re:Color me surprised by C0C0C0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Ukraine != Russia.

      The former Soviet republics that are now independent states (including Ukraine) tend to be friendlier to the US and EU than Russia itself is, because they rely upon NATO support to maintain effective independence from Russian control.

      Ukraine != Poland, either. The entire northern half speaks Russian natively and, despite the best efforts of the Ukrainian Ukrainians, they appear to have the upper hand in parliment right now. I'd say that the jury is still out, and while Ukraine certainly isn't Belarus, they lean a lot more towards Moscow than you suggest.

      --
      You are totally blocking my view of the wall. - Dogbert
    5. Re:Color me surprised by gl4ss · · Score: 5, Interesting

      there's another twist of the story that ". According to one source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the investigation was timed to coincide with Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovsky's visit to the United States, after he released a statement with the US Trade Representative agreeing to "redouble" intellectual property enforcement. While the ColoCall source says Demonoid has backup servers elsewhere, nothing has been restored at this point."

      http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/6/3223253/demonoid-bittorrent-tracker-shut-down-by-ukrainian-police

      so they're doubledowning and redoubling efforts. Maybe they won't bother with finding out who to prosecute and for what, but that's not the point of eastern european lipservice police work really.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    6. Re:Color me surprised by horza · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ukraine is incredibly corrupt. It's the main factor dragging the country down. A young girl can hitch-hike home in the early hours of the morning after clubbing and be safe. There is nearly no aggression I have seen. Hanging out around the Black Sea on a Friday night is safer than being in London. The people are really friendly, and sometimes even charge the real price! However the police patrol the streets and if they see a drunk tourist they will drag him down a side street and kick the crap out of him before taking his watch and wallet. Even simple paperwork at the police station means bribes for everybody you come into contact with. Scams from "law enforcement" officers are rife. If one top guy decides Demonoid is out, don't expect them back. Certainly there will be no appeal. Wonderful country with fantastic people, but don't expect real justice.

      Phillip.

      --
      Property for sale in Nice, France
  3. Huge victory for content industry! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Congratulations! It will now take people an additional 3 clicks to find the movie, game or song they want to steal!

    Keep up the good work, guys, people will stop making unlicensed digital copies any day now!

    1. Re:Huge victory for content industry! by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 4, Informative

      When Doctor Who started up again Demonoid torrents were the only way us USAians could see it *at all*. It probably helped Who and many other BBC shows get their American deals.

      There is definitely advantages for content owners here whether they want to admit it or not.

    2. Re:Huge victory for content industry! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you think demonoid was the only place to get Doctor Who, you're hilariously incorrect.

    3. Re:Huge victory for content industry! by neminem · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You mean except for all of the other torrents that existed in other more actually private private trackers? And probably also public trackers.

      I'm not arguing with your main point (New Doctor Who is exactly how I got introduced to the wonderful world of illegally stealing tv shows too), but Demonoid wasn't the only place you could go (I've only ever used it for a few things.)

  4. OTOH, US Law Enforcement could take a lesson... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    OTOH, US Law Enforcement could take a lesson on how to conduct a raid on a datacenter. Go in with a forensic team, isolate, copy, preserve, and leave the shit in place. You don't go in with bolt cutters to cables, wipe out businesses of a dozen other bystanders in the facility, seize stuff for months, or prevent businesses from starting back up.

    1. Re:OTOH, US Law Enforcement could take a lesson... by jamstar7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But that's not as much fun, nor does it appeal to the 'cowboy' mentality it seems a lot of Feds have been cultivating lately. And the collateral damage? Shouldn'tve put your data on a server those eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil terrorrorrorrist pyrates could use! Now go file the appropriate papwerwork, along with the appropriate fees, and maybe, if you're good kids and eat all your vegetables, they MIGHT let you see your (totally legal) data sometime before the Second Coming of Elvis.

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    2. Re:OTOH, US Law Enforcement could take a lesson... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      wipe out businesses of a dozen other bystanders in the facility, seize stuff for months, or prevent businesses from starting back up

      You're assuming that this isn't the entire point of a raid: Send a clear message to all businesses on the planet, "don't come in contact with anything near copyright violation, if nessessary, we'll nuke the site from orbit, if that's the only way to be sure."

  5. Re:Bout time by preaction · · Score: 5, Informative

    Demonoid was a torrent site, not a storage service.

  6. Re:Just like the war on drugs, nobody ever learns. by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As much as I agree that Obama is part of the problem (he's a huge corporatist, allowing banks to get off the hook like he did) he's running against Romney who will do NOTHING except what corporations one. There is no candidate standing that will curb corporate abuse. It's not a party issue.

  7. Shocking! by frovingslosh · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is a Ukrainian law enforcement agency? Who knew?

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:Shocking! by HapSlappy_2222 · · Score: 4, Funny

      There sure is!

      Not only is there a law enforcement agency, but he's a pretty good guy, too.

  8. well.. crap by lemur3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know its been said before.. but I think itd worth saying again..

    A lot of stuff on demonoid wasnt in print anymore, and there was a big focus on books/other things that arent readily available anymore.

    I think that it brings up a big point that we miss when the whole debate of copyright infringement and pirating the newest movies is brought up in relation to these torrent sites.

    These places are in some ways the last place to easily access important parts of the culture of the world.... Is it so important to protect the newest blockbuster films at the cost of so many people losing access to bits of global creative culture that they cant access legally ?

    1. Re:well.. crap by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One area that is constantly ignored are the grey-area copyrights (where no one knows who owns the copyright because a copyright holder has gone bankrupt) and the stuff in torrents that is not even in print. Trading that stuff doesn't hurt anyone and, as a matter of fact, often gets them noticed again and brought back into print. Has anyone ever heard a greedhead from the *AAs even acknowledge this?

    2. Re:well.. crap by DarwinSurvivor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You'd be lucky to get them to acknowledge that grey-area copyright and out-of-copyright materials even exist in the first place!

    3. Re:well.. crap by Shagg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Of course they won't acknowledge this. The **AAs are not advocates of the artists, they're advocates of the distribution companies. By definition, they couldn't care less about grey-area copyrights because those don't have anything to do with their business.

      --
      Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
    4. Re:well.. crap by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 4, Interesting

      One area that is constantly ignored are the grey-area copyrights (where no one knows who owns the copyright because a copyright holder has gone bankrupt) and the stuff in torrents that is not even in print. Trading that stuff doesn't hurt anyone and, as a matter of fact, often gets them noticed again and brought back into print. Has anyone ever heard a greedhead from the *AAs even acknowledge this?

      You don't understand. If you're consuming entertainment material that isn't available legally anymore, you're STEALING from the makers of content that is legally available. How can this be? Simple. You have X hours of entertainment time in your week. If there is no free entertainment available, you will purchase entertainment that is not free. By going back to out-of-print material or by dipping into TV/movies that are no longer available, you are wasting your valuable entertainment dollar-hours that should have been invested in Big Entertainment. For shame.

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
  9. Re:Just like the war on drugs, nobody ever learns. by CanHasDIY · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is no Democrat or Republican candidate standing that will curb corporate abuse.

    FTFY.

    Third parties don't get enough notice in this nation to be included in such a generalization (which, if all third parties were included, would become false anyway).

    A quote I've been trying to spread around: "The only wasted vote, is the one that goes to a Democrat or a Republican."

    Here's hoping it catches on...

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  10. wtf are you talking about by poetmatt · · Score: 4, Informative

    they never had malware ads, but they did turn on the ads after being DDOS'd due to the bandwidth bill. Considering that such a thing happened literally in the last two days I can't see why the Ukranians would shut it down that fast or even have the capability to, for that matter.

  11. Re:Oh it's just the Ukraine by TheSpoom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The data is being delivered to the US as a gift.

    --
    It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
    - E. Debs
  12. DDOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So, are we comfortable with officially labeling the DDOS from which Demonoid has been suffering these past few days an act of officially-sanctioned vandalism on the part of law enforcement, local or otherwise? Because this is damned coincidental, if not... and should be terrifying to businesses the world over if true.

  13. Re:WTH is Demonoid? by ch0knuti · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here you go
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonoid

  14. In fact, there were plans to join NATO by tlambert · · Score: 4, Interesting

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine%E2%80%93NATO_relations

    It's currently on hold because of their current president and parliament, as part of trying to keep Russia from coming unglued at them. However, if their stated intention to join the EU goes through, it's likely they will become a NATO member state (21 of the 27 EU member states are currently members of NATO). Currently, they engage in joint military exercises with NATO.

  15. Re:Please educate me by Znork · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Technically you don't even need a tracker anymore as magnet links are enough for distributed hash tables, and magnet links can easily be distributed anywhere, while DHT is a builtin component of the transfer network. TPB already operates that way and would work fine on Tor (as far as I know there could already be several such tor sites, can't say I've checked).

    After that it'll probably go to i2p or turn over to the various f2f networks available. Sharing technology is already several generations ahead. The only question is really how far the pressure will go to push people towards an utterly unmonitorable network.

    Of course, ending up with an evolved completely opaque network has advantages once We The People will be forced to start lining people up against the wall.