Arrest six admins connected with the site, once the 13th most visited in the entire country with some 155,000 daily visitors.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), police in Greece have closed down, pending trial, BitTorrent tracker site Gamato.info over accusations that it helped facilitate copyright infringement.
“Gamato.info was facilitating the illegal distribution of music, film, games and books,” said Jeremy Banks, director of anti-piracy at IFPI. “It is the perfect illustration of how such illegal operations are damaging a wide range of creative industries in Europe.”
What he doesn’t say is exactly how P2P is damaging European creative industries, nor does he even offer a shred of proof to support his claim. The truth is nobody knows.
The closure followed a series of raids in Athens, Salonika, Larissa and Aridaia that led to the arrest of six people though to be the site’s admins.
Officers acted after tip-offs from IFPI Greece, which represents the local recorded music industry and MPA, which represents the film industry internationally.
“The Hellenic Police swiftly recognized this was not a victimless crime and took action against those who sought to shamelessly profit off the back of others’ creative work,” added banks. “This skillfully executed action by a highly knowledgeable police force should act as a real deterrent to others in Greece considering engaging in online piracy.”
Again, his comments are laughable. He suggests that the site’s admins were making a profit, perhaps making the same argument used at trial against the long defunct BitTorrent tracker site OiNK. In that case they said donations paid by users to help cover server fees, maintenance costs, etc. were instead used to enrich the site admin Alan Ellis. I guess it thinks BitTorrent tracker sites run on hopes and dreams. Somebody has to pay the costs.
As for the closure acting as a deterrent, I’m sure users moved to an alternative long ago, at least perhaps as far back as January when it closed for a few weeks after a similar BitTorrent tracker site in the country was closed, and the site admins arrested.
Gamato was once estimated by alexa.com to be the 13th most visited website in Greece before its closure, and Statbrain.com calculated that some 155,000 users visited the site daily.
The game of whac-a-mole continues.
Stay tuned.
change the picture of the article because it isnt what you think it is. It shows the former prime minister (ΝΔ is the party) dressed as a cop killing the boy that was killed before 2 years at Exarchia.
done…