London - Italian police have shut down popular music file-sharing forum Downrevolution.net and arrested four alleged operators of the site, which counted 30,000 registered users, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a record label trade group.

The IFPI said that Downrevolution, founded last year, was a forum where users posted links to unauthorized downloads of music and film files on free online locker services like Rapidshare.com and Megaupload.com, where at least a half million downloads occurred.

Under Italian copyright law, the four alleged Downrevolution operators now face potential prison terms of up to three years, fines of about $23,800, and "administrative sanctions running into hundreds of thousands of euros."

Related Links:
http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_news/20080701.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/01/italian_filesharing_raid

http://www.downrevolution.net