BREIN disconnects ShareConnector
p2pnet news | P2P:- “Last Monday the guys from BREIN visited me at home to convince me to close ShareConnector or else they will start a civil proceeding with a claim.”
What!?
Yup. That’s what you see when you go to shareconnector.com.
It goes on, “Of course, this does not mean I agree with their point of view, it’s just that I can’t afford taking any risks.
“As of today, November 12, 2007 I decided to close down. If there is anything new to report, you will be informed.
“Thank you for all your support and understanding.”
Even the new blog is down. Click here for the Google cache.
Says enigmax on Torrentfreak over in Holland >>>
Having failed to encourage massive punishment against the administrator of eDonkey link site ‘ShareConnector’ in a criminal trial, anti-piracy outfit BREIN has once more resorted to traditional bully tactics – by turning up on his doorstep and threatening him, face to face.
Back in 2004, ShareConnector was an eDonkey force to be reckoned with. As purely a link site (like the vast majority of BitTorrent sites), ShareConnector carried no copyright materials. However, this didn’t stop Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN from pressurizing the FIOD-ECD – Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police – to investigate and eventually shut down ShareConnector.
Initially, ShareConnector’s host had refused to shut down the site stating correctly that offering links is not a crime. However December 2004 saw ShareConnector and another site, Releases4U, raided by the FIOD-ECD, resulting in the seizure of equipment and the arrest of 8 people. At the time, BREIN director Tim Kuik explained they were done waiting: – Our patience was up, after which we went to the authorities – he said.
According to p2pnet, Kuik, going for the jugular, asserted that the ShareConnector admin, Adi, should get up to 4 years in jail as he hid behind – false reasoning that illegal files are actually hosted on different servers and that the actual exchange doesn’t take place on their own servers’, which is, of course, a completely and utterly false assertion on Kuik’s part.
Eventually, after taking nearly 2 years to come to court, the result for BREIN and the FIOD-ECD was a disaster. The admin of ShareConnector was found completely innocent and just a couple of small fines of approximately $350 were handed out to the admins of Releases4U for uploading copyright material. The FIOD-ECD failed to provide any evidence to prove ShareConnector was involved in copyright infringement nor enough to prove that either organization was criminal in nature.
December 19th 2006 saw the triumphant return of ShareConnector, around 2 years after it was shuttered by the police but the return was not to be permanent. Not content with accepting that a criminal trial had taken place at which Adi and ShareConnector were found to be completely legal, BREIN resorted to the tactics it knows best and has had most success with – common bullying.
On Monday November 5th 2007, representatives from BREIN knocked on Adi’s door and threatened him face to face with potentially financially punishing civil action. On November 12th 2007, ShareConnector shut down for good.
The sad message on the site’s homepage now reads:
Last Monday the guys from BREIN visited me at home to convince me to close ShareConnector or else they will start a civil proceeding with a claim. Of course, this does not mean I agree with their point of view, it’s just that I can’t afford taking any risks.
As of today, November 12, 2007 I decided to close down. If there is anything new to report, you will be informed.
Thank you for all your support and understanding.
Next on the FIOD-ECD hitlist are OiNK’s seized servers. They’re likely to find that the situation is exactly the same as it was with ShareConnector, i.e no copyright materials were stored on it, so it’s not easy to see where they will succeed against OiNK where they previously failed. There is no offense of ‘facilitation’ under UK copyright law.
Stay tuned.
Also See:
new blog – Holland vs the Entertainment Cartels, September 15, 2007
Torrentfreak – Anti-Piracy Outfit Threatens ShareConnector Admin at his Front Door, November 14, 2007
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November 14th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
The brein probably brided him to shut down his server. Good!
I am going to start a new Shareconnector server. Please send me your offers Brein, BPI, RIAA.MPAA . . .
Just to let you know that for the case I don’t like your offer I keep at home all the water boarding equipement needed to help put forward my point of view during the negotiation.
Also all the money I will receive from you will be used to sue your but. Fair enought!
November 14th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Then I will start Shareconnector III!
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
it is my view that the judicial has erred here, and that Brein and co should be the ones in the dock. I’m actually so upset that I’ve set up a website on this subject, see above.
I feel that this is cutting to the core of the internet, and that institutions like BREIN should be put back on their leash or we will all end up paying for it.
There has to be a way to de-criminalize the situation, if just by virtue of placing a link you can be found in front of a judge then there is something seriously wrong with the world.