BT Junkie Voluntarily Shuts Down Amid Growing Crackdown on Piracy

COMMENTARY | Techworld reports that BT Junkie, one of the largest torrent search websites on the Internet, shut down voluntarily on Feb. 5, amid the growing crackdown on piracy. BT Junkie was not on the same scale as Megaupload, but the seizure of Megaupload and subsequent arrests of those involved with the website, is part of the reason BT Junkie decided to shut down. As an avid Internet user, here is how I think this will hinder freedom of speech on the Internet, and will force many other file sharing websites to shut down.

BT Junkie was not a host of the illegal or copyrighted files, since it merely pointed a user to the file to download from another website. However, the fact that it did not host downloads did not stop Google from censoring the website during a search was essentially hurting business. Basically, a user could use BT Junkie to search for a movie, song, or video game, and then the search results would point the user to the location to download the requested file. This is bad news for freedom of speech on the Internet because it hinders people to share files with one another, since there are a lot of files on BT Junkie that are not illegal or copyrighted. As a frequent Internet user, I find that shutting down file sharing websites is like shutting down my ability to communicate with other people in the world.

I personally think BT Junkie shut down voluntarily before the government could come in and seize materials, which would then be used to build up a criminal case against the founder, and other people on the BT Junkie staff. I think that the pressure of the government is what caused BT Junkie to close, and to me, that seems like intimidation on the part of the federal government. The crackdown on piracy is hindering freedom of speech because file sharing does not always mean someone is illegally downloading a movie, since it could just be a huge picture file from a personal event. At the end of the day, file sharing should not be frowned upon, and the government should not be using intimidation to stifle free speech.

I think that as time moves forward, more file sharing websites will shut down, due to the government cracking down on piracy. Since the government has proved that criminal charges will be brought up against the website creators, more file sharing companies will feel the heat. I think that since the Stop Online Piracy Act was shelved for now, the government will try to prove a point by hitting more websites and arresting those involved with the website. I also think that more file sharing websites will take stronger measures to ensure illegal activity is not going on, which means that as a user, I expect to have to share more personal information with the company in order to have access to the website.

Myself, Personal Opinion

Daniel Ionescu, “BTjunkie torrent site shuts down voluntarily”, Techworld


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