Another blow to the torrenting community, Torrentz shuts down

[Jordan]

Source: https://torrentfreak.com/torrentz-sh...rewell-160805/

Torrentz.eu, one of the world's largest torrent sites, has announced "farewell" to its millions of users. The meta-search engine, which hosted no torrents of its own but linked to other sites including The Pirate Bay, has decided to cease its operation. The surprise shutdown marks the end of an era.

Founded in 2003, Torrentz has been a stable factor in the torrent community for over 13 years.

With millions of visitors per day the site grew out to become one of the most visited torrent sites, but today this reign ends, as the popular meta-search engine has announced its shutdown.

A few hours ago and without warning, Torrentz disabled its search functionality. At first sight the main page looks normal but those who try to find links to torrents will notice that they’re no longer there.

Instead, the site is now referring to itself in the past tense, suggesting that after more than a decade the end has arrived.

“Torrentz was a free, fast and powerful meta-search engine combining results from dozens of search engines,” the text reads.

The site’s user are no longer able to login either. Instead, they see the following message: “Torrentz will always love you. Farewell.”

TorrentFreak was contacted by the operator of Torrentz, who prefers not to comment at the moment. It’s clear, however, that another major torrent site is shutting down, leaving a gaping hole.

Torrentz itself never hosted any torrent files but did have a takedown procedure in place, allowing copyright holders to take down infringing links.

Not all rightsholders were happy with the site though. Both RIAA and MPAA have reported the site to the U.S. Government in recent years, which repeatedly placed it its annual “Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets.”

With Torrentz.eu and KickassTorrents both shutting down, the torrent comunity lost two of the largest sites in a period of three weeks. This means that millions of users will have to find new homes.

Founded a few weeks before The Pirate Bay, Torrentz was one of the oldest torrent sites still around. When Torrentz first came online the site was hosting torrent sites, but it swiftly reinvented itself as a meta-search engine, the biggest of its kind.

[SomeGuy]

That's really sad. Anyone "connected" knows what the future of torrenting could be? The torrent protocols were an innovation over using old school protocols, so is there something coming in the future that is better than torrents and also more "secure" against such snooping and other things?
Or is the torrent protocol the pinnacle of human intelligence for the foreseeable future?

[DR J]

This is happening one after another, it makes me sad.

[slikrapid]

“Torrentz will always love you. Farewell.”

interestingly, torrents, warez and any other materialistic thing 'loves' you because without your desire for experiencing them or using them, they would have no purpose, no need to exist

Anyone "connected" knows what the future of torrenting could be?

no one knows that (unless specially gifted), even the next leading site can only vaguely assess their own relevance a priori
what can be said is that people are very interested in digital media, thus one may expect that this need/desire continues to be fulfilled or manifested in one way or another

Or is the torrent protocol the pinnacle of human intelligence for the foreseeable future?

you just answered your own question (and it applies to any human achievement as well)

[SomeGuy]

^ It's just that human natures makes us value more anything that we feel we are losing.
When we have it at our disposal, we don't care much about it. Once we know it's gone, lost and is not accessible anymore, it becomes the best thing ever.
That's why many artists become famous and venerated after their deaths. And that's why "the good old days" seem to be liked more than the present.

[yoco]

Seriously is there any more good free trackers left? After Kat and now this I have no idea where to download from!!!
I'm downloading Kaspersky antivirus and I'll have to wait for half a day cuz it's downloading with 20kb/s!!!!

[hellman]

Seriously is there any more good free trackers left? After Kat and now this I have no idea where to download from!!!
I'm downloading Kaspersky antivirus and I'll have to wait for half a day cuz it's downloading with 20kb/s!!!!

extratorrent mate
thepiratebay

[anon]

is there something coming in the future that is better than torrents and also more "secure" against such snooping and other things?
Or is the torrent protocol the pinnacle of human intelligence for the foreseeable future?

BitTorrent is well-designed. Our problem is that we rely too much on centralized sites to get content, and that those are vulnerable to getting shut down by the cops.

Could there be a next big thing, a new network that solves these problems? Maybe; in fact, I hope something like that is being worked on. The problem is that reasonably "competing" against established protocols would be a lengthy and somewhat luck-based task. People tend to stick to what works, and finding a new torrent site is easier.

I think a reasonable compromise would be to introduce a protocol extension to support searching for and commenting on torrents directly from your client. eXeem tried this approach and failed (and charged money for their client, which certainly contributed to its downfall), but it may be time to revisit the idea. A resource that is decentralized and operated by everyone cannot be shut down. On the other side, it cannot be moderated either, so it would not be possible to delete fake torrents and comment spam. And look at what became of Gnutella...

Seriously is there any more good free trackers left? After Kat and now this I have no idea where to download from!!!

There's TPB and Demonoid

[slikrapid]

Our problem is that we rely too much on centralized sites to get content, and that those are vulnerable to getting shut down by the cops.

in a materialistic sense, a filesharer's problem is 'not engaging in an active fight for what they feel/believe to be right' (ie. a legalization of filesharing, regarding copyrighted files), a lack of political activity - only when filesharing gets accepted as legal, law enforcement will cease to be a problem - millions of actively engaged people would make a difference, but 'strength in unity' is difficult to achieve in this day and age

in a spiritual sense, a filesharer's problem is dependence/addiction on materialistic things (the files he shares or the entertainment he derives from them), it is like choosing bondage to these things

in a deeper sense, there is no problem at all (any apparent problem will be solved during the course of time, any bondage will be reduced when you get ready for something better in your life, but in order to get something better, you have to want it, desire it, believe in it - also, these desires better be ethical/moral or else the bondage will not be reduced but rather increased)

A resource that is decentralized and operated by everyone cannot be shut down.

there are many ways to shut things down but there are also many ways to resurrect them again - which one gets chosen depends on the story that is being told (and naturally, on the origin of the story: the storyteller or story-maker if you will)

[SomeGuy]

in a materialistic sense, a filesharer's problem is 'not engaging in an active fight for what they feel/believe to be right' (ie. a legalization of filesharing, regarding copyrighted files), a lack of political activity - only when filesharing gets accepted as legal, law enforcement will cease to be a problem - millions of actively engaged people would make a difference, but 'strength in unity' is difficult to achieve in this day and age

in a spiritual sense, a filesharer's problem is dependence/addiction on materialistic things (the files he shares or the entertainment he derives from them), it is like choosing bondage to these things

in a deeper sense, there is no problem at all (any apparent problem will be solved during the course of time, any bondage will be reduced when you get ready for something better in your life, but in order to get something better, you have to want it, desire it, believe in it - also, these desires better be ethical/moral or else the bondage will not be reduced but rather increased)

People cannot live without a sense of belonging, of fighting for some "holy cause" and having clear enemies to hate. It's human nature. The problem is not dependence on materialistic things and doing something illegal (I'd argue the problem is people are bored with life and with themselves and need a distraction). The real problem is people don't have things anymore to believe in and a tight community to belong to and fight for, so the excitement of illegal stuff and the sense that there is a We that is fighting against Them, helps them feel less bored and belong to something they see as bigger than themselves.

It's a metaphysical and psychoactive need we all have, and it will manifest where it finds a way to manifest.

[slikrapid]

People cannot live without a sense of belonging, of fighting for some "holy cause" and having clear enemies to hate.

'a sense of belonging' or 'belonging' is always there - if you don't belong in one particular group, you do belong in another one, whatever it may be (applies to any stage in one's life: pre-life/afterlife, birth, life, death, any stages of incarnation/reincarnation, transcendence)

it is possible to 'fight' a holy cause without hating your opponents - it is a cause in which both you and your opponents reach their highest (holy/wholesome) goals, because, in a deeper sense, those goals are actually the same (aka self-realization for every single one of you/them)

It's human nature.

human nature is what you make of it - depending on which desire you choose to follow, there will be a resulting 'human nature' to experience
true human nature is their eternal/transcendental constant: what they really are (a result of the process of self-realization)

We that is fighting against Them, helps them ... belong to something they see as bigger than themselves.

it is a subconscious desire to reveal the truth (about themselves, their selves, their self), because they really are a part of something bigger than themselves, both literally and figuratively speaking, both materialistically and spiritually speaking - but due to current ignorance their choices may be rather poor, until they start seeing things more clearly as they get closer to the (transcendental) truth of their existence

[SomeGuy]

it is possible to 'fight' a holy cause without hating your opponents - it is a cause in which both you and your opponents reach their highest (holy/wholesome) goals, because, in a deeper sense, those goals are actually the same (aka self-realization for every single one of you/them)

I'd argue that most human beings are not comfortable with abstract ideas and concepts like you and me, for example, may be. They need a concrete enemy they can locate, imagine, and see (like the Illuminati, the government, Putin, ISL, the Zionists, whatever).

That's why in most world spiritual and religious traditions they need to make the god look like something they can relate to (like a man for Christianity, some types of animals in India, etc), as well as their enemy (demons and Satan should look a certain frightening way, like represented in your avatar).

So most people will get absolutely confused and will not follow a path that leads to something abstract like self-realization, self-actualization, or peace, because they cannot understand that without a concrete example they can see specifically. It relates to how primordial the reptilian brain is in us, which is the physical world brain. That's why you see also most news bring in specific victims of a disaster, show their pictures, talk to their family, try to make them real because otherwise people don't care.

So, I'd say that human nature is what you make of it IF you are comfortable with abstract concepts. If you're an average person, you are a slave to your whims, desires, stereotypes and first instinctive responses. And they need a specific "US" and a specific enemy "THEM", and they want to feel the glory of being the good guys fighting the bad guys (both sides think they are the good guys, of course).

[slikrapid]

I'd argue that most human beings are not comfortable with abstract ideas and concepts

they didn't particularly try in making sense of them or had other things to do or think about or simply were not ready yet for such things in their life
the mentioned enemies, regardless whether actual or imagined, are a part of the materialistic world and the experiences therein, thus needed in the story told (playing the role of the villains)

That's why in most world spiritual and religious traditions they need to make the god look like something they can relate to

one's relation(ship) to God is a matter of personal preference, so for example, those who prefer the state of nirvana, once achieving this state, do not experience God as a person(ality), but rather something like a blissful void, hence their iconography needs no personal depictions (other than, say, their enlightened masters as ideal examples regarding their commonly shared path)

It relates to how primordial the reptilian brain is in us, which is the physical world brain.

there is no need for the brain to become more advanced in physical terms, it works well as it is for the things it does
there is a human brain (adequate for humans) and there are various reptilian brains (adequate for particular kinds of reptiles)
the reptilian comparison represents coldness (cold-blooded) or lack of emotions or humanity or spirituality displayed in some people (their behavior, ie. their current role)

and they want to feel the glory of being the good guys fighting the bad guys (both sides think they are the good guys, of course).

all sides win eventually, only in a different way, thus all really are the good guys, except they haven't realized how... yet

[SomeGuy]

there is no need for the brain to become more advanced in physical terms, it works well as it is for the things it does
there is a human brain (adequate for humans) and there are various reptilian brains (adequate for particular kinds of reptiles)
the reptilian comparison represents coldness (cold-blooded) or lack of emotions or humanity or spirituality displayed in some people (their behavior, ie. their current role)

More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triune_brain

[Jordan]

Finally some good news among all these bad news recently, scene group CPY cracked the seemingly uncrackable Denuvo anti-tamper.