MPAA closes Loki

Hollywood hijacks rebel Torrent trader

By Ashlee Vance in San Diego • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 10th February 2005 22:40 GMT

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One of the few BitTorrent hubs willing to battle the major movie studios has been shut down by Hollywood.

A notice from the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has gone up on LokiTorrent, saying a court order has grounded the site. "You can click but you can't hide," the notice reads. "There are websites that provide legal downloads. This is not one of them." The site's operator gave into the MPAA despite vowing to fight the studios with other people's money.

"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.

LokiTorrent had raised more than $40,000 from its fan base to help its legal battle against the MPAA. It's unclear if that money went straight to the MPAA. LokiTorrent has not responded to a request for comment.

The Loki shutdown comes as the MPAA filed a second round of lawsuits against BitTorrent and eDonkey site operators. Netcraft earlier today reported that LokiTorrent went offline - apparently just before the MPAA took it over. ®