BTJunkie voluntarily shuts down

BTJunkie, the file sharing and torrents index voluntarily decided to shut down after being in existence for 7 years. As a final closing message, they wrote on their site, btjunkie.org, " This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on. It’s been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!" According to Torrent Freak, the shutdown has to do with the Megaupload and Pirate Bay cases. The legal action and shutting down of Megaupload by the FBI and the action against Pirate Bay, influenced BTJunkie to shut down before they were taken to court.

BTJunkie's goodbye message

The service hadn't gotten into legal hot water, yet, but with the crackdowns on Megaupload and Pirate Bay, chances were good that BTJunkie would have been next. Furthermore, they were reported to the U.S Trade Representative (USTR), last November. RIAA and MPAA listed BTJunkie as a 'rogue' site facilitating mass copyright infringement. U.S officials are looking for any sites that infringe upon copyrights and stream illegally which means BTJunkie would just have had to take a number and stand in line for legal trouble. Other file sharing and streaming sites might shut down before the officials take them down as well. BTJunkie say, though, that this isn't necessarily the end of the road for them. Speaking on the site's future, its founder said, "I really do hope so, the war is far from over for sure."

It is currently not known whether BTJunkie will completely shut shop or if they go the Pirate Bay way, where they provide service using magnetic link technology. BTJunkie is currently on Google's list of censored links, along with the Pirate Bay, uTorrent and RapidShare, because of its association with piracy. What do you think of BTJunkie's shut down?