Rome - Italian police have shut down what is believed to be the largest BitTorrent tracker file-sharing hub in Italy, Colombo-BT.org, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a record label trade group.

The site was said to provide links to more than 390,000 music files and 500,000 movie files, and counted more than 400,000 registered users.

Three Italian men who ran the site have been charged with copyright infringement, and face prison terms of up to three years in addition to heavy fines.

Italy's Guardia di Finanza undertook the action in cooperation with FPM, the Italian anti-music piracy group affiliated with IFPI.

The IFPI also touted a recent law enforcement action in Mexico that shut down "Sunnydale," a DirectConnect file-sharing hub the group said was housing 1.5 terabytes of illegal content, including local and international music, games and comics. The Mexican Attorney Generals' Office acted on information supplied by the local industry anti-piracy group (APCM Mexico).

Related Links:
http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_news/20080729.html

http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_news/20080721.html