MPAA closes Loki

Found on The Register on Thursday, 10 February 2005
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One of the only BitTorrent hubs willing to battle the major movie studios has been shut down by Hollywood.

"The operator of that site, Edward Webber, agreed to not only pay a substantial settlement with even greater financial penalties for any further such actions, but by Court Order must provide the MPAA with access to and copies of all logs and server data related to his illegal BitTorrent activities, which will provide a roadmap to others who have used LokiTorrent to engage in illegal activities," the MPAA said in a statement.

LokiTorrent had been one of the only major BitTorrent hubs to stay up and running after the MPAA sent out a flood of lawsuits. The hubs serve as meeting grounds for file-traders looking to pick up software, music, movies and other content.

The "entertainment" industry sure isn't entertaining at all. They are messing with their customers (yes, customers, not pirates) and with artists (who asked them to stop those lawsuits). If this industry would burn down right now, I wouldn't mind at all. They can complain if their business goes down, but actually sales go up. And no, that's not because of those "scary" lawsuits. They can do a happy dance now, but this only strengthens my decision not to buy their music or go to theaters.