World's largest BitTorrent tracker ditches the .com domain

Demonoid, one of the top BitTorrent sites on the internet is completely leaving their .COM domain behind in favor of a .ME domain.

The change is occurring immediately and was announced with little fanfare on the mainpage of Demonoid’s website:

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We are in the process of migrating the site to our new address, Demonoid.ME

Please update your torrents to the new tracker address, inferno.demonoid.me
Additionally, you can re download them and get them with the new address automatically Also, don't forget to update your bookmarks and RSS feeds

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This move by Demonoid is one of the first in what is likely to be a mass exodus from .COM domains by sites that could, in any way, be associated with copyright infringing activities. .COM is a generic top-level domain operated by Verisign, an American corporation, while .ME is a top-level domain operated by the nation of Montenegro. A .ME domain would place the site out of the jurisdiction of US Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, government agencies which recently seized over 80 domains.

Most of the sites involved in the raids were suspected of selling counterfeit merchandise, however Torrent-Finder.com was also taken over after appearing on industry “hit-lists” as one of the top “notorious markets” for copyright infringing material. Demonoid also appears on such lists, submitted to the Office of the US Trade Representative by the RIAA and MPAA.

While Montenegro Copyright Law appears to be similar to what the United States currently has in place, they do not have an organized system or adequate resources in place to actually enforce it.

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Until decentralized, open DNS systems like Dot-P2P are actually fully up and running, a domain residing outside of the United States is going to be the best bet for sites like Demonoid to avoid US government interference in their operations.

It’s unfortunate that site operators must go through such measures, especially since the DHS and ICE are not following any clear-cut laws or system of due process when going in and taking control of domains. A witch-hunt is clearly underway.

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