There was a major shutdown of a private BitTorrent website recently. The French military was apparently used to shut down Snowtigers. 10 people were arrested and frequent members and donators are said to be of possible concern into the investigation.
Note: This is an article I wrote that was published elsewhere first. It has been republished here for archival purposes
The report comes from 01net (Google translation). From the report:
With more than 250 000 members, was part SnowTigers space distribution of counterfeit hottest of the Internet francophone. To subscribe, you had to be co-opted by a member. The access was controlled by the IP address of the subscriber, any connection attempt from another address led to banishment from the community.
Users who offered money on the online donation, were credited status VIP, Very Important Personnality. A distinction that allowed them to more quickly download the latest films and albums in fashion. “In organized crime, said Frédéric Delacroix, SnowTigers was able to raise several hundred thousand euros on the back of the right holders.”
This site offers all possible digital fakes. Film: Angels and Demons with Tom Hanks, DVD Xmen Origins: Wolverine (images of Russian origin and french, Ed). But also music. SnowTigers disseminated before the release on the market, new albums from Christophe Willem or Calogero, including the provision of software and games for consoles (DS, PS3 …) with links Torrents proposed by active members .
“We are dealing with a true international network, confirms the general delegate of the Alpa. The investigation is not complete, it exceeds our French borders. Other areas targeted are downloading. Frequent users and users who make donations may be concerned by this investigation. “However, no information is now whether the police has given him to find the members of SnowTigers. If so, it seems that a few months of the implementation of the law Anti e (Hadopi), the early warnings have already found all the recipients.
While there were servers abroad, as of this writing, SnowTigers.net is currently unreachable. Two other private BitTorrent websites have been shut down in the past – OiNK and EliteTorrents. With an investigation that took place since 2007, it could be enough for other private BitTorrent website regulars nervous whether or not they could be next, but then again, that could be the purpose – to mane an example out of the website.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
