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BTjunkie closes its doors 'voluntarily'

BTjunkie has now joined the ranks of the fallen torrent search websites.
Written by Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer

BTjunkie, a popular search engine for .torrent files, has been 'voluntarily' shut down by its founder after 7 years in operation.

The service had managed to avoid legal action up to this point -- but how long this would have lasted we will never know. The Megaupload saga and continual clampdowns by U.S. authorities forcing sites to close on the grounds of copyright infringement or illegal streaming was the catalyst for the closure, and there's no knowing which file-sharing or storage service will be next.

However, it's unlikely that BTjunkie will be the last website to close its doors before federal police come knocking.

According to TorrentFreak, BTjunkie's founder said that the legal actions against other file-sharing sites such as MegaUpload and The Pirate Bay influenced the decision to close, before it to ended up before the court. However, BTjunkie's owner still believes there could be a future for other BitTorrent sites.

"I really do hope so, the war is far from over for sure," he said.

In a message of farewell, BTjunkie writes:

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!

BTjunkie ranks the 390th most popular website in the world. For comparative reasons, the Pirate Bay currently holds the 70th place. It is not known whether the operators of BTjunkie are going ahead with complete closure of the search facility, or whether it will take the route of sites such as the Pirate Bay and provide a decentralized service using magnet link technology.

After viewing the farewell message, however, it seems likely that BTjunkies will have to shift to another indexing site for their fix.

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Image credit: BTjunkie

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