Download site Suprnova closes amid Hollywood crackdown

LONDON - SuprNova.org, one of the internet's most popular sites for finding links to download pirated movies, has been taken offline by its creator amid a legal crackdown by Hollywood's copyright cops.

Slovenia-based SuprNova offered thousands of special files that enabled users to download movies, TV shows, music and other content using the BitTorrent file-transfer network.

Earlier this month, the Motion Picture Association of America launched a barrage of lawsuits against people that operate the so-called "torrent" files, as well as servers on the eDonkey and Direct Connect networks.

SuprNova's creator, who goes by the name Sloncek, took the site down over the weekend, citing the increased legal pressure on those hosting torrent files. In addition to MPAA's civil lawsuits in the United States and Britain, criminal charges were filed in France, the Netherlands and Finland.

"SuprNova.org was more like a hobby that took most of my free time away. And now with current situation, there's too much pressure and I don't have the time for it," Sloncek told the file-sharing website Slyck. He did not respond to an emailed interview request from Reuters.

In a message on SuprNova, Sloncek said: "We are sorry to inform you all, that SuprNova is closing down for good in the way that we all know it. We do not know if SuprNova is going to return, but it is certainly not going to be hosting any more torrent links."

BitTorrent has quietly grown into a file-sharing behemoth, devouring up to one-third of the internet's bandwidth by one research firm's account. Bram Cohen, the programmer that created BitTorrent, has warned against using the software for illicit purposes.

BitTorrent's "file-swarming" software breaks a digital file into many pieces, shares the pieces among all users who have downloaded the torrent file, then stitches them back together. It is also used for many non-illicit purposes, such as sharing non-copyrighted music and distributing video game demos.

The shutdown of the premier source for movies and TV downloads through BitTorrent was welcomed by MPAA anti-piracy chief John Malcolm, who has railed against "parasites leeching off the creative activity of others."

"I'm pleased. It was the most popular torrent site," he said. "They took that action voluntarily, so obviously they were concerned about their conduct. It was something we were studying, so I can understand why they were concerned."

Hollywood is desperate to avoid the fate of its corporate cousins in the music industry, who have yet to recover from the illicit MP3 downloading boom that began with Napster. The large size of video content has prevented movie and TV downloads from catching on as quickly, but higher bandwidth and improving compression technology means that it may not be safe for long.

"We are a little bit ahead of the curve in the sense that the movie industry is still making money. Downloading and uploading video has not become, thankfully, mainstream activity the way that downloading and uploading music became," Malcolm said. "We've also gotten out ahead because our industry has not been decimated -- yet."

- REUTERS