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MPAA: Swiss, Belgian Authorities Shutter Large eDonkey Server

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 22, 2006 - 4:18am.
Los Angeles - One of the largest hubs on the eDonkey peer-to-peer file-sharing network has been shut down, in a joint operation carried out by police and prosecutors in Belgium and Switzerland, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said on Wednesday. The "Razorback2" network hosted over 170 million files, and counted an average of 1.3 million mostly European simultaneous users. According to the MPAA, Swiss authorities arrested the site's operator, while Belgian authorities shut down the site's servers in Brussels. In addition to movies, music, games and software, the MPAA said the Razorback2 network offered "child pornography, bomb-making instructions and terrorist training videos." "This is a major victory in our fight to cut off the supply of illegal materials being circulated on the Internet via peer-to-peer networks," said MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman. "By shaving the illegal traffic of copyrighted works facilitated by Razorback2, we are depleting other illegal networks of their ability to supply Internet pirates with copyrighted works which is a positive step in our international effort to fight piracy." The MPAA claims that since November 2004, it has worked with authorities to close down all of the major eDonkey servers in the U.S. and Europe.
tags: MPAA | eDonkey | Server | Swiss | Belgian | Authoritie |