The new site has access to the old database, but some questions remain unanswered

May 9, 2013 11:36 GMT  ·  By

While everyone has heard about MegaUpload's shutdown last year, it's another file sharing site that most pirates miss, Demonoid. The BitTorrent site had been around for years and fostered a thriving community.

The site was taken down by authorities last summer and, while there was some hope of it coming back, nothing has materialized so far.

That is, until yesterday when old Demonoid users got an email out of the blue telling them that the old site is back under a new name and a new domain, D2.vu.

While the site looked different, the old user credentials worked, indicating that the new site had access to the old Demonoid database.

Within hours of it coming online though, it went down again, as it was seemingly used to distribute malware. But it turns out that it may not have been a hoax or a scam after all.

The malware may have been served by one of the ad networks the site used. Either way, the site had to change hosts.

With a new host, still in the US, the site went back up online. What's more, TorrentFreak managed to get ahold of the people running it and get some answers. Apparently, they have access to the Demonoid database as it was when it got shut down last year.

They do not own the domain or the name though, which accounts for the rebranding. But they say they did it for the community, they simply wanted to bring back the old Demonoid feeling.

That said, there are some differences, for one, the new site doesn't have a tracker, the thing that made Demonoid special. There's no forum yet, so the "community" aspect is rather lacking. There will be an IRC channel for the site, but that's about it for now.

At the time of writing, D2.vu is down and there's no indication whether it will come back online. The whole thing is a bit peculiar to say the least, but it's the most anyone has gotten to bringing back Demonoid.