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Ukraine Takes Down Demonoid As A Gift To The US Government

Copyright

from the another-one-down dept

Mon, Aug 6th 2012 02:35pm -

It’s becoming all too common that when the US has some sort of diplomatic event going on with another country, that country pulls some sort of stunt as a “peace offering” of sorts to US diplomats. We saw it with Colombia rushing through its own version of SOPA right before a visit from Obama. And now, the Ukraine appears to have seized Demonoid with the timing designed to coincide with Deputy Prime Minister Valery Khoroshkovsky‘s first trip to the US. Demonoid may well be breaking the law (we’ll wait for the details on that, though the report claims that the site was careful to stay on the right side of Ukrainian law), but the timing is once again suspicious, as is the willingness of other countries to kowtow to US diplomatic pressure in cases like this.

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Companies: demonoid

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Comments on “Ukraine Takes Down Demonoid As A Gift To The US Government”

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100 Comments
Ninja (profile) says:

Re: Seized by the government?

They were. And there are suspicions that during the attack they got hacked. The attack itself went unabated for days which suggest organization and resources behind it. Summary: govt sponsored.

Ah, US, seems you can’t stop pissing off the rest of the world can you? Then you complain when ppl throw bombs and planes at you.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Seized by the government?

This is, by far, the dumbest post I have read today. Seriously? Because America MAY be getting favors from foreign governments in the way of taking down pirate sites,that explains bombings and 9-11? You are an idiot, oh wait, I can see it now. Musad, I can’t download from Demonoid. The Russian government shut it down to make the American’s happy. Go blow somebody up in America!

Ninja (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Seized by the government?

Reading comprehension fail. Nothing is done without interests and the main driving power behind copyright excesses is the US. And the other Govts keep bending down because there’s a lot of money and power involved.

It’s this attitude of the US thinking they can rule the world that generated so much animosity against them. 9/11 was a result of the US being assholes (the Govt) and terrible diplomacy.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:2 Seized by the government?

Being an American, I unfortunately have to agree with you.

We (Government & Business for the most part, although there are also plenty sheep who believe every contradiction they are told) act like we do rule the world. Unless of coarse it would cost them more money to resolve a situation than they would make, at which point you suddenly hear things like we aren?t the police of the world or that we have no jurisdiction, etc.

The truly sad thing is that I really believe that more and more American citizens are starting to view our own government the same way that foreign citizens do; we are assholes and bullies.

weneedhelp (profile) says:

Re: Re: Seized by the government?

“Then you complain when ppl throw bombs and planes at you.”

Ah yes the mighty alCIAda.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120606/03075619216/yet-another-fbis-own-terrorist-plots-involves-group-senior-citizens.shtml

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120501/15580518732/fbi-stops-yet-another-yes-another-its-own-terrorist-plots-this-time-anarchists.shtml

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120430/02112518698/nytimes-realizes-that-fbi-keeps-celebrating-breaking-up-its-own-terrorist-plots.shtml

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120217/13271317794/fbi-saves-us-another-its-own-terrorist-plots.shtml

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111118/23080016837/more-people-realizing-that-fbis-big-wins-are-stopping-its-own-made-up-terror-plots.shtml

Now go find the video of the bomb squad being called in to Oklahoma City bombing to “remove a third bomb” from the building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWwrEEP8EBk

And on and on.

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Re: Seized by the government?

The DDOS was huge and covered up an intrusion into the system.
Then a few days after they redirected the traffic to a scammy ad serving site (nothing like getting the DDOS people to give you impression money) then it stopped.
Then they raided the provider, and funny they were just about to have high level meetings with Ron Kirk who just happened to put Demonoid on the 301 report as being a huge den of scum and villainy.
There was an unconfirmed report the Admin of Demonoid was arrested in Mexico on the authority of the President.

So who wonders what former eastern bloc country is trying to get some special treatment from the Trade Representative, who thinks the public is to stupid to understand secret treaties that the cartels get to read but Congress can not.

I guess Megaupload wasn’t a big enough screw up.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:6 Seized by the government?

Are you saying Germany, UK, Finland, Sweden, France, Italy, Japan, Australia, Canada, Brazil are bad places?

I hope you have lived abroad, because if you had you would know that there nice places to live around the world, this is not an “American” thing only.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:7 Seized by the government?

I’ve lived in Germany, travelled extensively in the UK, France, Italy, Sweden, Canada and have visited Japan as well as other places not on the list. In terms of personal freedom, economic and educational opportunity and quality of life- none hold a candle to the US.

PaulT (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:8 Seized by the government?

Nice subjective analysis you have there. Mine differs to some degree. Do you want to cite some resources, or are you just pretending that your personal experience outweighs those of others?

Having lived in the US, I can honestly say that some aspects of life are definitely worse than life in other countries I’ve resided in. But, I’m not going to pretend that makes the US worse or other countries “better” based on a single person’s experience. There might be hyperbole above, but your comments are no better unless you want to quantify them.

Ninja (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:6 Seized by the government?

I’m in Brazil and I don’t plan to move, despite the problems. The US are a better place to live if you consider the overall at the moment. But the path they are walking right now is very dangerous. And I don’t worry about being bombed because so far Brazil Govt has done (mostly) right with international relations.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:6 Seized by the government?

Yeah, because things are worse in other places on the planet, let’s not fix things that are a problem where you are. There are people who don’t get running water; let’s not fix that leaky water pipe in the basement! Things could be MUCH worse; if you don’t like it then just up and move!

What a thorough douchenozzle.

Wally (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Seized by the government?

Not us, just our politicians. I seldom used Demonoid except for getting the latest version of a Nintendo 64 emulator known as Project 64. The only other “pirating” I did was for the original American McGee’s Alice which, at the time was not Abailible except for my lucky find at my local Good Will thrift store.

Thank God my source of NES, SNES, Sega Genisus, MAME, and N64 is still availible.

It’s sad to see Demonoid go too because there was also a lot of old software preservation going on there….like the Mactimtosh Garden or Home of the Underdogs.

SoulSeeker (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Seized by the government?

I am and AMERICAN, not a GOVERNMENT. Don’t say US or USA and refer to all of us AMERICANS. The government is NOT what we are they are not what we the AMERICAN people want controlling OUR country. Only a matter of time until the traitors called congress senate and the White House will be dealt with. We have the right to defend out county even when it is attacked from within as is happening with the so called government. I stand with my Fellow AMERICANS together we are one and united we are UNBEATABLE!

Wally says:

Re: Re: Seized by the government?

I find it fascinating that the Ukraine brought down Demonoid by illegal means. Demonoid isn’t exactly the legal angel (mostly a ghost in pergatory), but the Ukraine did something even more illegal to bring it down, and it sent people to a scam advertising site. I wonder if these cyber security laws being pushed here in the US will make it tougher to do that.

President Obama’s Administration has a lot of Richard Nixon in it. Extreme use of executive privilege to cover up legal gaffes sound a lot like Nixon to me.

Wally (profile) says:

Re: This will be interesting

Yes they do. Roughly 30% of the world’s SPAM e-mails came from the Ukraine. Another 15% is from Russia, and not sure of the other 55%. They were also the home of one of the World’s largest bot-nets.

I’m going to miss Demonoid because they were the only place that I knew of that removed Torrent hashes and links to torrents that contained viruses or Trojans.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

We won’t mention the U.S. governments willingness to bend over for the recording industry.

You have a valid and equally important point, but keep in mind that no matter how senselessly rabid the MPAA/RIAA become or how gleefully eager the U.S. Gov’t is to bend over for them, things like the O’Dwyer extradition and the Megaupload raid would have been stopped cold a long time ago if the locals had been willing to stand up to the U.S. and assert the sovereignty of their own nation and their own laws. The governments of NZ and the UK are just as at fault as the government of the US for allowing the US to run roughshod over them.

Zos (profile) says:

from the torrentfreak article (they actually hear from the demonoid guy once in awhile)-
(not an exact quote)
it looks like the site was DDOS’d, at roughly the same time, the servers were penetrated. A few days later the ukranian police show up and confiscate the hardware.

At least they didn’t get the admin.

With demonoid beta so close to going live there’s probably a good chance that backups exit. Much respect to him, maybe he can work out a deal like the bay to get hosting with some political cover somewhere.

PaulT (profile) says:

Re: Re: Chilling

“While they DID have older video games and whatnot that you can’t buy anymore, they also had a LOT of new stuff as well.”

Yes, we know your attitude – it’s OK for all art that doesn’t currently turn a profit to disappear from the face of the Earth, because there’s profit to be had for other stuff. I’m sorry if we disagree.

“Pirating NEW content just to get out of paying for it isn’t my idea of “obscure, forgotten and unavailable” art.”

In your rush to attack based on assumptions, you missed the fact that it’s probably not Milton’s idea of it either.

It’s amazing. After years of AC attacks with the same answers in response, you’re still incapable of understanding that people can both be critical of the industry and of the pirates at the same time – criticism of one does not mean support of the other.

In this case, the question is why Demonoid are so much better at storing and distributing the older art. Yes, funding/profitability might be an issue, but everything else from licencing to region restrictions to format are not only within the industry’s control, but a deliberate artificial construct that’s no longer fit for modern business. By addressing that issue, the industry can not only streamline its own models, but remove one of the many justifications for piracy. If only you’d give that a shot rather than launch attacks and ignore any point raised by the “other side”.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

Again, as has been pointed out before, what may be illegal in the United States isn’t necessarily illegal in other parts of the world.

You can’t make the rest of the world follow U.S. law, and actions such as this, done at the behest of U.S. companies, do nothing to endear the U.S. to the rest of the world or make people respect whatever rights you may have. If you aren’t willing to respect the rule of law in other nations, why should they respect your copyright?

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

The issue is that the gulf between what has become illegal and what is considered immoral has widened to Pacific-ocean-level extremes. If U.S. copyright law were enforced to the letter every single individual in the U.S would probably be in jail.

When the law makes singing “Happy Birthday” at Chuck-E-Cheese for your kid illegal it’s very hard to take the moral high ground on the law’s side. I personally believe the enforcement of outdated business models for dying industries by using scare tactics and fines against small businesses is immoral, yet the “law” is on their side.

I’ll admit what they were doing is illegal once you admit what the entertainment industry is doing is immoral. And I’ll follow my conscience over bureaucracy any day. Can you say the same?

Ninja (profile) says:

Re: Re:

All these comments, and not a single one willing to admit that what the site was doing was illegal.

Because he wasn’t doing anything illegal in the UK. As pointed ad nauseam the keyword here is Jurisdiction. I’m sure you’d love to be judged by the sharia right? After all any non-Islamic breaks that law every single day.

Do us a favor and shut up.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

LOL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Saeed_al-Sahhaf

Btw, I love how the Googafia PR people told everyone to describe the shutdown as a “Gift to the US Government”; almost every article uses the exact same wording.

You people should have let legislation pass; that way you could have had some oversight. But no.

Now this war is going to be fought behind the scenes using nefarious tactics and there isn’t a goddamn thing you can do about it. Karma’s a bitch.

PaulT (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

“Googafia”

Really?

“You people should have let legislation pass; that way you could have had some oversight.”

Really?

“Now this war is going to be fought behind the scenes using nefarious tactics and there isn’t a goddamn thing you can do about it.”

The fact that you think this is a “war” speaks volumes, and I’m sure it will be just as successful as every other “war” your country has launched on concepts.

“Karma’s a bitch.”

…and the sooner it hits you, the better.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:

“Btw, I love how the Googafia PR people told everyone to describe the shutdown as a “Gift to the US Government”; almost every article uses the exact same wording.”

You are aware, Google isn’t the one reporting this, right?

There is no Google conspiracy.

“You people should have let legislation pass; that way you could have had some oversight. But no.”

The people DO NOT have to let anything pass. And in fact, the people have very little say in what passes or doesn’t. And oversight? HA! Please. There’s oversight on a plethora of things that get abused, and that oversight wouldn’t have happened. Without that legislation passing, you and your kind still do as you please.

“Now this war is going to be fought behind the scenes using nefarious tactics and there isn’t a goddamn thing you can do about it. Karma’s a bitch.”

This isn’t a war, idiot. It’s telling that you demand others respect the law, but every chance you get your and your kind resort to flaunting it, bending it or outright breaking it. The hypocrisy is strong with your kind.

And indeed, karma’s a bitch. You’ve been sowing a rather large amount of negative karma for over a decade now, and your actions of the past year have probably sown more than that entire decade combined, when the time comes things will blow up quite horribly and in ways you won’t see coming. We’ll sit back and laugh then. You think Demonoid being shutdown is some kind of win and all kinds of awesome? While an inconvenience to some, they’ll be something else. In the long run, it’s another “Mission Accomplished” (ala George Bush’s infamous banner). A bone got thrown your way and just like a dog you’re drooling all over yourself chewing on it. Just like a dog though, you’ll fuck up in your over excitement and the newspaper is going to come down on that nose of yours and bring you back to reality. The people no longer respect you and your kind, the laws you push for are draconian and further showing the people your true colors. Eventually, they’re going to push back.

Anonymous Coward says:

according to this comment on ars t, ‘Carol Guthrie, a spokesperson for the USTR, e-mailed Ars to say: “My understanding is that neither Demonoid nor the Notorious Markets List was raised at last week?s U.S.-Ukraine Trade and Investment Cooperation Council meeting.” ‘

does anyone actually believe that there would be even the slightest admission of what/who was spoken about and whether on or off of the Notorious Markets List? we all know what lying arse holes Kirk and his ilk are. this example is no different. instead of keep grabbing ankles, it’s about time nations stood up for themselves and their people and told the US exactly where to go and what to do!

Ghost says:

Back during the initial DDoS attack I had been able to trace the packets back to the location of origin but right after I got that info, my computer blue screened and I lost it. Afterward the location started to bounce. I wish I still had the info to publish.
Demonoid.me is one of my favorite sites and without it and it massive libraries of stored info, it feels weird. PLEASE COME BACK TO US DEMONOID!

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