Sharebeast, the Largest US-based Filesharing Service, Has Its Domain Seized

An anonymous reader writes: The RIAA says that the FBI has seized the domain of file-sharing service ShareBeast, shutting down what it said was responsible for the leaks of thousands of songs. The site now only displays a notice saying the FBI acted "pursuant to a seizure warrant related to suspect criminal copyright infringement." In a statement, RIAA CEO Cary Sherman called the seizure "a huge win for the music community and legitimate music services. ShareBeast operated with flagrant disregard for the rights of artists and labels while undermining the legal marketplace."

Comments

who?

[ganjadude]

never heard of um.

Re:who?

[Snotnose]

Ayup. If some domain that has never made a top 10 list of torrent search engines is the best they can do, then I have to wonder how many millions of $$$ and hours of manpower they're wasting on useless BS.

Maybe TPB and other sites should set up some honeypots to attract the attention of the feds? Sounds like a few hundred $$$ invested will result in a few million $$$ wasted. Asymmetrical warfare and all that :)

Re:who?

[The_Laughing_God]

I found myself asking the same thing, so I checked Alexa (I'm certain there are better sites to check these days). It was rated #8546 worldwide (#9215 in US) in a fairly steady decline since its peak around #4250 in November of last year. Those are "okay" but unimpressive numbers, and it's pretty much been steadily dying. By comparison, a specialty news site like torrentfreak.com is #3808 globally (#3012 US) and reaches the top 2000 when stuff is hitting the fan.

Sharebeast's user base (by IP) was 25.7% US, but 21.4% Indonesian. UK (5.3%), India (4.7%), and Saudi Arabia (4%) also had "significant" shares. The most popular search terms leading to it are not English terms.

Source: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/...

As I said, I'm sure that there are better sites for domain metrics these days, and I can't even see most data Alexa lists because I don't have an Alexa Pro acct. I'd welcome better data from anyone who monitors domain metrics regularly/professionally.

But it really doesn't look like the Feds took down any sort of powerhouse, more like a dying target of convenience (unless they were really worried about Indonesian piracy)

(Incidentally, I was surprised to see Alexa report that slashdot.org (#1672 globally, #1272 in US) gets 40.6% of its visitos from India (where it ranks #302) but only 29.4% from the US)

Re:who?

[Anonymous Coward]

"then I have to wonder how many millions of $$$ and hours of manpower they're wasting on useless BS."

Don't worry, they'll just claim it as lost profits to "piracy".

Re:who?

[x_t0ken_407]

My thought's exactly when I read the title. Odd that they're the US's largest such service.

Re:who?

[Nethemas the Great]

Don't worry, they'll make sure the money they take from the artists to stymie this flagrant disregard for artists' right to fair compensation will not be in vain.

What is "the music community"?

[Anonymous Coward]

More people over more time have shared music than tried to restrict it.

And record labels have had "flagrant disregard" for the natural rights of musicians for quite some time now.

If you're an artist and you want money, set up concerts. If you want more money, ask for people to pay directly to your bank account, or via a credit/debit card processor. No record label nor RIAA has anything to do with improving the music community.

Re:What is "the music community"?

[TWX]

Back in the day a record label wasn't much of an entity. It was usually a local studio with the ability to master onto a viny record, and a record label would publish its literal catalog so that stores could order the records they wanted to try to sell. Contracts between musicians and the label were simple, though admittedly racism was quite ugly for non-white performers in those early days.

I don't know if any singular event can be cited as when the relationship between labels and musicians went crazy, but between ever-increasing production costs through more and more editing and other sound processing work, speculative arrangements where labels became distributors that would essentially consign records to retailers proactively, and other costs that essentially outpaced the ability of the performers to pay upfront for their studio and production costs it's gotten out of hand.

I can certainly see the allure of attempting to use album sales as a driver of income; once the album is cut they don't have to continue to play the same material every single night just to pay the bills and they can both focus on new material and can perform less, but for whatever reason the whole thing is grossly out of whack now.

Re:What is "the music community"?

[doccus]

Before the Beatles and The stones, where Allen Klein suddenly changed from a musician raper to a "record breaking deal maker" ..although, oddly enough, the artists saw no more out of these new deals than the old R&B acts he "represented" previously.. However, until then, you made a record to promote yourself. And, basically, to pay back the indentured sevitude you entered into when you signed a deal with any of the majors such as RCA, Warner or Atlantic. The smaller labels such as King RPM, or others like them usually spent so little on the band and on the studio "Hey you got 3 hours .. don't screw it up"... that they had to engage in creative accounting to show how much the artists "overspent". Records were certainly not made "for the money". You got paid from touring. Why do you think B.B. did 360 shows in a year back then?

Re:What is "the music community"?

[adam525]

Then came the evolution where the record label was THE entity. The record label is responsible for A&R, promotion, marketing, getting the tape/vinyl/cd transferred to media, concert promotion, and on and on.

The evolution I'm referring to here is probably the mid 60's to the late 90's (somewhere in there). There was actually a period in the middle of all that mess where the label wasn't constantly calling the artist saying "I'm not hearing a hit" or ""give me more cowbel"".

Hosting a filesharing site in the US ...

[Anonymous Coward]

... is like tying a bloody steak to your dick and running through a pit of hungry lions; it only results in a razor-toothed fellatio.

Re:Hosting a filesharing site in the US ...

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

About 158,000 results (0.58 seconds)
No results found for "razor-toothed fellatio".

Shut them down

[harryjohnston]

It's well past time the RIAA were shut down.

Just how much is the music industry actually worth? I suppose there's no hope of crowdfunding enough to buy them out, but maybe if a few philanthropist billionaires were willing to help ...

Re:Shut them down

[C0R1D4N]

Google could afford to do it if they were willing to sell. Some of them may be able to be bought out individually or through a hostile takeover, others like Sony, who are part of a major conglamerate, you have to convince to actually sell. There's also the catch of the US Government probably trying to stop a company or anyone else from doing that. They might get away with it though if there were releasing it all into public domain as they bought it, since then there would be no monopoly for the FTC to stop.

In the USA? Seriously?

[myowntrueself]

wtf were they thinking?

USA is probably the worst place to operate something like this.

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course the US is the worst place to fileshare.
And so is pretty much any other country.
This is why you must move your filesharing to a place that is not subject to ANY jurisdiction... one that is NOT FINDABLE.
Move your filesharing to the ANONYMOUS INTERNETS.

The solution to the copyright/patent mess is to keep on sharing
till their business model is completely destroyed.

Start by ripping and sharing all the physical media you own.
And do it over anonymous overlay networks such as I2P and Phantom.
That way you can share 24x7x365 without fear of the MAFIAA.
No one needs to feed the machine (with at least $9.50 to the machine and
$0.50 to the artist) and you can Bitcoin your money straight to the
artists that make a difference in your life.
The only thing these labels and distribution companies exist to do
is to tax both you and the artist and to payoff politicians.
SCREW THAT.
Crush these useless "intellectual property" companies once and for all.
Share and share at will my brothers!

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Quality is paramount, bandwidth and storage are cheap, therefore...
CD and DVD *must* be shared losslessly, as FLAC files and VOB dirs only.
BluRay *may* be shrunk to DVD-9 ISO file / VOB dir format before sharing.
Don't waste people's time and quality by jerking them around with
arbitrary format choices on your end, give them lossless and let
them choose to downconvert on their own as they wish.

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[popo]

But was the company actively involved in the illegal activity?

It was it just some users.

Because YouTube is also home to hundreds of thousands of pieces of pirated material on any given day.

And my personal favorite copyright violation tool is Pinterest, whose entire business involves republishing and distributing copyrighted works.

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[WoodstockJeff]

I don't see evidence that they were HOSTING in the US, just that their domain was ".com". The COM top level domain is US, and the domain was seized, not the servers.

If you know the IPs that the domain USED to point to, you can probably still use their system.

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[Daemonik]

The RIAA says that the FBI has seized the domain of file-sharing service ShareBeast, shutting down what it said was responsible for the leaks of thousands of songs.

Yeah, how about arresting the RIAA employees and band reps who leak these songs out onto sharing sites to drum up interest in new groups or new albums from old bands?

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[Trax3001BBS]

Because YouTube is also home to hundreds of thousands of pieces of pirated material on any given day.

I captured a video from Battle Field 3, flying the F-35. The F-35 has a warning tone when damaged, some company claimed rights to this sound; allowing them to place ads on that video (which as far as I can tell haven't done yet - but it sees little traffic).

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

No it isn't. The top level domains are INTERNATIONAL! Just because the TLD's are managed by an entity that lives in the US does NOT mean they are US. That is just an assumption that has been made by a lot of people, but you will find that a lot of non-US organisations use the TLD's if they operate internationally. the convention should be that you have a country specific suffix to indicate where you are based. I manage sites using both country specific and TLD's with one suffix pointing to the other.

But back on point, this looks like the FBI and probably the Justice Department again being shills for "The Establishment".

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[Raenex]

I searched for this but came up empty. Could you post copyright notice you received?

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[phantomfive]

But was the company actively involved in the illegal activity?

Probably. To understand the legal arguments, the Limewire case is instructive. Essentially to be guilty you need two things:

1) Aid others in copyright infringement.
2) Intend to do so.

Youtube avoids guilt by providing several tools for copyright holders, and also by actively removing infringing movies. Thus although they are aiding infringers, you can't prove that's their intent. They don't have to be perfect at it, just good enough to avoid the legal standard.

I don't know how Pinterest avoids copyright infringement lawsuits, but your characterization of their business model made me laugh: it's so true.

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[TheRealHocusLocus]

That way you can share 24x7x365 without fear of the MAFIAA.

SOLAR SYSTEM NETWORK TRACE BEGINS. That 'year'=7year time span most closely corresponds to the orbital Synodic period of near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis. If you were actually located on Apophis you'd be using the Siderial period for measure. Therefore I assume you're probably just co-locating on Apophis, using a server whose clock-year tied to its relative position with Earth. At its closest pass of ~23,500 miles gives a fiber ping guesstimate of ~419ms ping under best-ever conditions on April 12, 2029. But most often worse. That's pretty awful. I'll bet there are lots of unplanned outages too, at incredible distances like these the backhoe factor really adds up. I hope it's cheap.

Suggest you move your seedbox to the Netherlands.

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[pnutjam]

I'll just leave this here, sig with link to a good vpn that supports torrenting (affiliate link, help a brother out..)

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

Don't waste people's time and quality by jerking them around with arbitrary format choices on your end, give them lossless and let them choose to downconvert on their own as they wish.

It's funny because your own "arbitrary format choice" about using FLAC means more work to get a file I can use (AAC or ALAC) on OS X, iTunes, iPod and iPhone. Same thing about using a VOB directory vs a single m4v file.

Not that I care anyway, because I'm a nice little citizen and I pay for my media because otherwise the people running the RIAA and MPAA wouldn't be able to afford caviar and such, starving to death in their Rolls-Royce while being driven around by their chauffeur.

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

Fuck Pinterest, you can't view things unless you register.

Re:In the USA? Seriously?

[Trax3001BBS]

I searched for this but came up empty. Could you post copyright notice you received?

This is a hard request. I can't find the video on youtube so need to log into my youtube account, which I can't seem to do.

Then it gets deeper; Google Domains and usage of Webtools under the same account hardwired (as in being routed) the two I use the most into one. I think I've lost control of the two accounts, I need to dig further.

You'd be looking for Trax852 or II-Trax-II, remarks would mention "f-35 going under a bridge "Gulf of Ohman"" any DRM issues are addressed with that account; some icon gets your attention.

They aren't asking for it's removal but that it can now be used by *.* for advertisement purposes outside of my control. the claim addressed EA.com (released BF3) who passed ownership to another company.

I found the video on my hard drive, but if I can't find it on youtube I imagine I just removed it as I don't do ads on videos.

Re: In the USA? Seriously?

[pnutjam]

Private Internet Access, I get great speeds and use this vpn for torrenting, location shifting, streaming video, etc. https://www.privateinternetacc... (referal link, help a brother out...)

I felt a great disturbance in the Internet,

[Irate Engineer]

...as if millions of Beiber fans suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

But really, hosting something like that in the U.S. was stupid. Who in that company didn't think that the MAFIAA wouldn't get the goverment to crush them like an ant at some point?

RIAA statement

[Kyogreex]

I find it interesting that the RIAA and other similar groups seem to have to comment on these things. I can't think of a single industry outside of the entertainment industry that's so congratulatory (and self-congratulatory) over the law coming down in their favour.

Re:RIAA statement

[TWX]

When you're a monopoly or near-monopoly, as just about all American-distributing labels are a part of the RIAA, it doesn't matter how much you alienate people. Arguably being an umbrella-membership group there's even a bigger disconnect, since people won't necessarily associate a given band with even their label, let alone that label to the RIAA.

Besides, the average person doesn't care.

Re:RIAA statement

[Anonymous Coward]

What i find interisting is they congratulate themselfs continuously for allowing security breachs on their production facilities to a point where the songs / videos are published in the pirated markets ahead of the normal markets.

RIAA, something something glass houses

[maugle]

... a huge win for the music community and legitimate music services. ShareBeast operated with flagrant disregard for the rights of artists and labels while undermining the legal marketplace."

Look, I agree that ShareBeast (first I've heard of it, though, so how big was it exactly?) was screwing over the artists. But the RIAA has just as much contempt for the artists as anyone - even more than pirates, since the pirates at least appreciate their works - and there's no end to the stories of hardworking musicians who've been bankrupted by RIAA execs with lots of big promises and lots of fine print in the contracts.

Just sayin'... I expect a similar statement to be made about the RIAA and its members when they eventually crash and burn.

pursuant to a seizure warrant

[turkeydance]

no comment

Re:pursuant to a seizure warrant

[jd2112]

I had no idea that it was illegal to be an epileptic.

...you keep getting what you got

[PopeRatzo]

Who in their right mind would host a file-sharing site in the US? Why not just put on a pair of fake antlers and run around in the Wisconsin woods on the first day of deer season?

Whatever Happened to Rule of Law?

[K. S. Van Horn]

In a society in which rule of law held sway, it would not be possible for the FBI or any other governmental agency to simply seize a domain; Sharebeast would have to first be convicted of having broken a law that specified seizure of the domain as a possible penalty, or the RIAA would have to win some sort of civil suit against Sharebeast first.

Re:Whatever Happened to Rule of Law?

[ihtoit]

when the real public backlash starts, they'll bring the plight of the children into it, compare anyone who disagrees with them to Hitler, accuse them of being Holocause deniers or climate change deniers, the usual discredit tactics loser trolls like to employ. Only they'll be using it to distract from the fact that yes, absent a bench warrant for seizure, the FBI did in fact break the Law by depriving an innocent concern of business by removing its ability to operate! And remember folks, in the United States, as everywhere else under the rule of Constitutional Law, every person is innocent until proven guilty. Until you remove the rose-tints and see what is REALLY going on.

Re:Whatever Happened to Rule of Law?

[turp182]

In this case the site itself is like a semi-truck full of stolen goods. It can be taken and then documented for the trial.

A truck full of stolen goods would certainly be seized.

The participants are innocent until proven guilty, but the assets regarding such prosecution can certainly be taken (look into asset forfeiture, it's a much more terrible version of this situation).

Re:More BS

[Anonymous Coward]

Many believe "military action is in order". I hope not, but I hear people say hings like that all the time.

Sure, and there are people out there who would like to return the United States to life in the 1950's, except without 'negroes' and no voting rights for women. They're the ones who need to be stamped out, not the rest of us. Luckily humans have a finite lifespan, and the 'great white male' is slowly but surely dying out.

racist

domain seizures on suspect?

[viperidaenz]

Can the FBI take over a company's retail shops, black out the windows, lock the doors and put up FBI seizure signs over it if they're suspected of criminal activity?

I don't see how that's any different than taking a domain name.

Re:domain seizures on suspect?

[flink]

Can the FBI take over a company's retail shops, black out the windows, lock the doors and put up FBI seizure signs over it if they're suspected of criminal activity?

I don't see how that's any different than taking a domain name.

The cops can seize real property (store front), inventory, and assets if a prosecutor can make a convincing case that they are part of an ongoing criminal enterprise: e.g. stolen goods, contraband, part of a money laundering operation. It's somewhat comparable to jailing a suspect prior to trial. You want to halt the suspected criminal activity and make sure the evidence doesn't disappear, so you "arrest" the property.

Once a trial takes place if the business owner is cleared of charges, the property would presumably be restored. Unfortunately by that point htere may not be a business left to restore the property to.

Re:domain seizures on suspect?

[gstoddart]

The copyright cartel has FAR better lobbyists, and essentially the FBI and DHS are now the ones who enforce these things.

Getting DHS responsible for copyright enforcement (via ICE) means they can now pretty much do anything their corporate masters ask of them.

Which is astounding since it means the US government now jumps at the call of multinational corporations. Which is a pretty sweet deal if you're a multinational corporation.

hmmmm

[MightyMartian]

ShareBeast operated with flagrant disregard for the rights of artists and labels while undermining the legal marketplace

So a lot like RIAA's members then.

Re:Bahamas is not US it CHINESE!

[ihtoit]

fuck you talking about? Bahamas is that bit between fucking Florida and fucking Cuba. It's nowhere near fucking China.

(with fucking apologies to Gordon fucking Ramsay).

"[...]while undermining the legal marketplace."

[tlambert]

"[...]while undermining the legal marketplace."

Isn't that SOP for every music label, when it comes to every other music label?

Songs were "leaked"?

[gweihir]

Are songs now secret?

Re:Songs were "leaked"?

[chipschap]

Are songs now secret?

Yes, they are. You are to pay for them but you may not listen to them.

Re:More BS

[Antique Geekmeister]

>> and the 'great white male' is slowly but surely dying out.

> How the actual fuck are you calling me 'racist"

I can't imagine why anyone would call you racist. I must not be "great white maile" enough to imagine hatred for genetic or sexual class would possibly make anyone think you're even biased, much less racist.

Let us all now celebrate!

[cornicefire]

I hate pirates. Everyone who works for a living should now celebrate the end of a sleezy website that stole from the working man and woman. Hip hhip hooray!

That's not how any of this works...

[Timex]

There are, of course, the legal ramifications (*cough*FourthAdmendment*cough*) regarding seizure without a court's say in the matter. (IANAL, etc, etc...)

There is also the fact that those that really cared about this site probably know the site's IP, and with that in hand, who cares what they do with the domain? Add the IP to your local /etc/hosts file (or its Windoze equivalent), and you're golden.

I'm pretty sure at this point that the RIAA (and MPAA for that matter) spend far more in legal fees from their delusions than they actually make in profits.

Re:More BS

[kheldan]

Wow, triggered much? Are you one of these 'social justice warriors' that I keep hearing about, or are you just another garden-variety Internet troll trying to stir shit up? Tough to decide. No matter, I'm not taking your bait, one way or another. On the off-chance you're neither SJW or troll, then you need to realize that 'race'-related issues are real, and they're a big problem, and sticking your head in the sand about them isn't going to solve them. Being squeamish about even the language necessary to discuss the issues at hand is as bad (if not worse) than just ignoring the problem entirely; trying to 'sanitize' the discussion by prettying-up the language used is disingenuous at best. You want to change hearts and minds on issues of race? Then everyone needs to experience how ugly and disgusting it actually is.

Re:Google has been actively censoring many sites

[doccus]

I'm having a real problem lately, not just with google, but even with VPN extensions. None suddenly work. Not one. I just get "unable to connect to VPN server". If I use a web based VPN server it doen't work either. I haven't been able to find anyone else complaining on the web about it though.. Is it because I'm in Canada? There's some alternative news websites that I can't access without a VPN vbecause Canada blocks them, it's not even for bypassing video restrictions.. so it sux...

Isn't the IP address more important?

[kmoser]

Okay, so the Feds seized the domain names. Why don't the pirates continue to operate with just their IP? Not that I'm advocating it. Just wondering.

Re:More BS

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, triggered much? Are you one of these 'social justice warriors' that I keep hearing about, or are you just another garden-variety Internet troll trying to stir shit up? Tough to decide. No matter, I'm not taking your bait, one way or another. On the off-chance you're neither SJW or troll, then you need to realize that 'race'-related issues are real, and they're a big problem, and sticking your head in the sand about them isn't going to solve them. Being squeamish about even the language necessary to discuss the issues at hand is as bad (if not worse) than just ignoring the problem entirely; trying to 'sanitize' the discussion by prettying-up the language used is disingenuous at best. You want to change hearts and minds on issues of race? Then everyone needs to experience how ugly and disgusting it actually is.

Of course race issues are real and a big problem. But, wishing the "white man" dies off is not solving anything either. In fact, you're just being a hypocrite and a giant douche. Racism works both ways, and it will not end when people keep being racist (such as yourself). That's just the simple fact. If you can't grasp that, then you should probably seek some sort of help for assisted living since you probably can't tie your own shoes, wipe your own ass, or even eat without drooling food all over yourself.

Re:I have a greased up Sharebeast Yoda Doll in my

[doccus]

How to Shove a Yoda Doll up your ass! The 9 Step Greased Up Yoda Doll Shoving process. Go Linux! Tsarkon Reports [.............]
But you can never leave

Hey look, I have already got chest pains. Making me laugh so hard is both unfair and cruel. I thinkl the late Mr Zappa has serious competition in the whole "Zappa-esque" humor category...
You win the top cookie for today!

Re:More BS

[kheldan]

Gee, you sure get angry when someone doesn't agree with everything you say, don't you? Maybe you should seek some professional help for your anger and anal-retention issues, they must really interfere with your functioning in normal society -- which is probably why you get your panties in a bunch here on the Internet, which I'd imagine is the only place where you're even remotely tolerated: the one place where your diarrhea of the mouth doesn't have any real-world consequences, mister anonymous coward.

Re:More BS

[kheldan]

.. you'll definitely get dealt with, boy.

(emphasis mine, on that last word)
I'm a middle-aged white man and I'm criticising other men (and women, where applicable) in my same demographic, and that makes me racist, eh? I think not, I think I'm just 'telling it like it is', which to reiterate: There are people in my particular demographic (the aforementioned 'great white males') who would wish to return the world to the 1950's -- except without any blacks in it (to which they were referred to, historically speaking, as 'negroes') and without voting rights for women.
(and since you're apparently such a SJW, how come you're not trying to pin 'sexist' on me as well, hmm?)

..oh, and as to the quote of you, above? That definitely sounds like you're assuming I'm a black man (and I am not) -- and in that case, you DARE to refer to me a 'boy'? Really? Sounds to me like I was right, YOU are the racist here.

Get correct. The world does not need more of your kind of person in it. Time for you to stop flying that Confederate flag, it amounts to hate-speech.

commentsubjectsaredumb

[Falos]

> responsible for the leaks of thousands of songs
So shut down the Internet.

The associative chain of causality is but a tool for the powers that be to leverage at will.

Re:Google has been actively censoring many sites

[barbariccow]

I know you're not into slashdotting them

I think "slashdotting" links died 5+ years ago. There's probably more traffic from web bots scanning slashdot pages that hit the links on slashdot than real people clicking them....

Re:More BS

[kheldan]

Notice, nowhere in the definition of the word "boy" does it say anything regarding a racial slur. You're just an idiot and backpedaling at this point. Nice try. And, I'm about as anti-confederate flag as it gets. You think I'd be getting all over you about racism if I was a confederate flag waver? Are you really this dumb?

So, how does it feel to have false judgements and accusations shoved in your face? Did you enjoy it? Was it fun for you?

Please bugger off now. I'm done with you. Besides which you're just embarssing yourself.