San Francisco - TorrentSpy.com, the self-proclaimed "largest BitTorrent search engine," has shut off its site to U.S. users in the face of a copyright infringement lawsuit from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), CNET News.com reported.

The site does not host copyrighted material, but does provide links to where users can find files on the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

"TorrentSpy's decision to stop accepting U.S. visitors was not compelled by any court," the company said in a statement.

"Rather, it arises out of an uncertain legal climate in the United States regarding user privacy and the apparent tension between U.S. and European Union Internet privacy laws."

A U.S. judge is set to rule soon on whether TorrentSpy must turn over information on its U.S. users to the MPAA.

The company has appealed a magistrate judge's order that compels it to submit user data stored on the RAM of its servers, which are located in the Netherlands.

Users outside the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to TorrentSpy.com, the company said.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/yw6ebe (CNET)

http://tinyurl.com/ytdycm (DMW previous coverage)

http://www.torrentspy.com