Ending the confusion surrounding the popular BitTorrent site's dissapearance

Aug 9, 2012 14:41 GMT  ·  By

The dust didn't take long to settle. After plenty of conflicting reports, it seems that the fate of Demonoid, at least in its current form, is sealed. IFPI, an international recording industry group, has revealed that the site's host has indeed been raided, data has been seized and Demonoid's admins from Mexico arrested.

This comes after ColoCall, the Ukrainian company that hosted Demonoid, denied that any raid took place and after alleged Demonoid admins denied having any link to Mexico.

The misdirection was for nothing, IFPI and the INTERPOL have now gone on record and said that the site has been shut down and that several people involved with it have been arrested.

"IFPI made a number of complaints about the unlicensed service, which repeatedly infringed the rights of its member record companies," IFPI said in a statement.

"In response, INTERPOL coordinated international efforts that saw the site closed down and its servers seized by police in Ukraine and a criminal investigation launched into its owners in Mexico resulting in a number of arrests and seizure of assets," it added.

If there was any doubt that Demonoid had been targeted by the police it has been dispelled now. Demonoid users have every right to worry.

While individual users are seldom targeted in these kinds of raids, there's no telling what the music industry might do next, in its desperation.

"In this instance police forces on different sides of the world worked together with INTERPOL and the music industry to successfully disrupt the distribution chain for illicit digital music products,"  John Newton, head of INTERPOL's trafficking in illicit goods sub-directorate, said.

This marks the second major operation of its kind this year, after the MegaUpload case. Unlike MegaUpload though, Demonoid's owners are going to have a tough time proving their innocence or having their case get that much media attention.