Another filesharing service has bitten the dust, as the FBI has shut down the American site Sharebeast.
The service, along with sister site albumjams.com, had been described by the Recording Industry Association of America as the largest U.S.-based illegal filesharing site. Now, however, visiting Sharebeast's homepage reveals an anti-piracy warning and the explanation that the domain has been seized by the FBI.
The RIAA had apparently identified and reported more than 100,000 infringing files hosted by Sharebeast. The RIAA's boss Cary Sherman said in a statement:
This is a huge win for the music community and legitimate music services. Sharebeast operated with flagrant disregard for the rights of artists and labels while undermining the legal marketplace.
Millions of users accessed songs from Sharebeast each month without one penny of compensation going to countless artists, songwriters, labels and others who created the music. We are grateful to the FBI and the Department of Justice for its strong stand against Sharebeast and for recognizing that these types of illicit sites wreak major damage on the music community and hinder fans' legitimate listening options."
Sharebeast is the latest in a string of file-sharing services to shut down in recent years. In the spring, proto-streaming service Grooveshark called it quits amidst massive lawsuits. Also, Megaupload had to rebrand and relaunch a few years back, and the Pirate Bay has been temporarily shuttered due to raids.
The service, along with sister site albumjams.com, had been described by the Recording Industry Association of America as the largest U.S.-based illegal filesharing site. Now, however, visiting Sharebeast's homepage reveals an anti-piracy warning and the explanation that the domain has been seized by the FBI.
The RIAA had apparently identified and reported more than 100,000 infringing files hosted by Sharebeast. The RIAA's boss Cary Sherman said in a statement:
This is a huge win for the music community and legitimate music services. Sharebeast operated with flagrant disregard for the rights of artists and labels while undermining the legal marketplace.
Millions of users accessed songs from Sharebeast each month without one penny of compensation going to countless artists, songwriters, labels and others who created the music. We are grateful to the FBI and the Department of Justice for its strong stand against Sharebeast and for recognizing that these types of illicit sites wreak major damage on the music community and hinder fans' legitimate listening options."
Sharebeast is the latest in a string of file-sharing services to shut down in recent years. In the spring, proto-streaming service Grooveshark called it quits amidst massive lawsuits. Also, Megaupload had to rebrand and relaunch a few years back, and the Pirate Bay has been temporarily shuttered due to raids.
