With millions of views per month, DanishBits (DB) was one of the most popular private torrent trackers on the web.

As its name suggests, the site operated from Denmark and it mostly served visitors from the Scandinavian country, where it was more popular than public torrent sites.

A few days ago this reign came to an end. All of a sudden the site became unreachable and, according to several people close to the fire, this is the result of an investigation into the site’s operators.

Owner Arrested?

One staff member informed TorrentFreak that one of the owners was arrested earlier this month. While this has yet to be confirmed by the authorities, a message posted on Pastebin, confirms the trouble.

“Dear users, with pain in our heart we must inform you that DB as you all know it, and which you all have loved, unfortunately seems to have reached the end of the road,” the note reads, translated from Danish

“We have been informed that important people behind DB have unfortunately been caught by the long arm of the law. These people were in charge of running the site and the current downtime is simply due to the fact that they are not present to solve them.”

The statement leaves some wiggle room, as there is no official confirmation of any arrest. We have reached out to a source close to law enforcement who confirmed that something is indeed going on, but no information can be shared at this moment.

Servers Were Encrypted

The DanishBits staffer informed us that the privacy of users was secured. No data was leaked as the servers are still online and encrypted. However, the man who was supposedly arrested was the only person with full access and the rest of the staff can’t control the servers.

This statement is backed up by the note that was posted in public which mentions that “all servers run full encryption and it’s practically impossible to access data, even if the servers behind the page should be seized.”

Technically, the site’s owner could still access the server and hand over information voluntarily, but that’s all speculation at this point.

For now, it seems unlikely that DanishBits will return. Without access to the database, the site will have to start from scratch which is a monumental task. While some staffers still have a glimmer of “hope,” that may mostly be wishful thinking.

Other Trackers Take Over

The message they shared in public reads like a farewell note too. The staffers thank all people who have supported the site over the years and apologize for initially remaining quiet during the downtime. Several comeback options were considered, but none were viable.

“We wanted to exhaust all our options before we announced this out, it is of course not our wish that the site should go this way,” they write, encouraging competing trackers to open their doors to new users.

“All staffers would also like to send a request to the remaining Danish trackers (ShareUniversity and Asgrd) to open up signup so that users on DB can find a new place and download their daily content.”

This message was heard, it seems, as both trackers are open for registration at the time of writing.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Rojadirecta is one of the oldest and most popular linking sites for sports streaming events.

The site, operated by the company Puerto 80 Projects, has been around for over a decade amassing a sizable audience. At the same time, however, it hasn’t been able to avoid legal trouble.

Copyright holders have repeatedly accused Rojadirecta of facilitating piracy by linking to unauthorized broadcasts. This has landed the site in court on more than one occasion. While most sites don’t put up a fight, Rojadirecta does.

This fighting spirit has paid off in the past. Among other victories, Rojadirecta managed to get its domain name back from the US Government after it was seized by the Department of Justice . In recent years, however, there have been setbacks too.

Site-Blocking Injunction

Last year, Danish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance , together with Spanish football league ‘La Liga,‘ obtained a site-blocking injunction against Rojadirecta . While the site wasn’t sued directly, it did intervene in the case, which initially failed. The court ordered ISP Telenor to block access to the sports streaming site.

Rojadirecta didn’t give up though and appealed the decision. Among other things, the company pointed out that the site contains links to legally available streams. It also showed that users must tick a box to indicate that submitted streams are not infringing any copyrights.

Despite this defense, the Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s ruling. According to the appeal decision, it is likely that Rojadirecta violates the rights of the Spanish football league. As such, an injunction requiring Telenor to block the site is warranted.

Blocking Permissible Under EU Law

In its order, the Court cites jurisprudence from the European Court of Justice, including the Filmspeler case, which found that links to pirated content are seen as a ‘communication to the public.’

La Liga is pleased with the outcome. Melcior Soler, the league’s Audiovisual Director, says that the organization will continue to crack down on piracy around the world.

“This achievement encourages us to continue and reaffirms our position that piracy is a scourge not only for LaLiga but for all of football. LaLiga will keep investing in technology to fight piracy and defending the audiovisual rights of LaLiga and its clubs,” Soler says.

Other ISPs Will Follow The Blocking Order

In Denmark, ISPs have signed a voluntary agreement to follow blocking injunctions against competing ISPs . This means that, in addition to Telenor, other large providers will block Rojadirecta as well.

The Danish Rights Alliance sees the appeal decision as an important victory. According to director Maria Fredenslund, it enables rightsholders of live sports and TV content to request blocking injunctions as well.

“Practically, this means that there is now access to block services that offer illegal tv and live sports. This is a hugely important development, especially for broadcasters who at great expense pay for exclusive rights to sports content,” she says.

Fredenslund tells TorrentFreak that blockades against other websites offering live content are being considered, but there are no concrete plans yet.

Rojadirecta is disappointed with the outcome. However, it’s not a major setback for the site. The site’s Danish audience is relatively small and the site will continue to operate in countries where it remains freely accessible.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.