Popular Danish torrent tracker Asgaard saw a surge in new users over the past weeks after rival trackers were shut down. While the operators were initially excited to see the community grow, recent news about the prosecution of their former competitors changed things. With legal pressure mounting, the tracker's staff are no longer willing to take the risk and the site will shut down at the end of the year. In recent months Denmark has lost two of its most popular pirate sites following police investigations. Both Danishbit and Nordicbits went offline after the alleged operators were caught. This was a big hit to Danish torrent users, who generally prefer private torrent trackers over public indexers such as The Pirate Bay. As is often the case with shutdowns, other sites have stepped in to take up the slack. For example, following the closure of Danishbits, both ShareUniversity and Asgaard opened their doors to members who were looking for a new home. While the people running these sites were initially thrilled, their perspective changed last week when police confirmed their involvement and the arrest of the Danishbits operator. Making matters worse, law enforcement didn’t rule out that users could be identified as well. Meanwhile, anti-piracy group Rights Alliance increased the pressure on the remaining trackers. The group informed TorrentFreak that they are aware of the growth of these sites and urged them to give up their illegal activities. If not, they would get the same treatment as DanishBits and NordicBits. This warning wasn’t in vain. Over the past week, the staff of Asgaard considered their options and ultimately decided to throw in the towel. “We are in a situation where our cozy project has suddenly developed into a LARGE Nordic company. With that in mind, it also made us realize that several of the driving forces behind the site have to take a serious look at their involvement with the project,” staff wrote this week. The warning from Rights Alliance played an important role in the site’s decision. That, combined with a potential for criminal prosecution of the people involved, proved to be too much pressure. “The top of the volcano erupts, as the Rights Alliance very descriptively says that they already have an eye on ASGAARD and can see the traffic that has been coming in. In addition, there is the scare campaign about the treatment that awaits us if we choose to continue the project.” Instead of looking over their shoulders for the years to come, sacrificing sleep and potentially their futures, shutting down is seen as the best option. “The thought of having to risk the doorbell ringing one day for a visit from the police overshadows the coziness of running this project. We will not expose you to that. Or ourselves. We have therefore chosen to close the ASGAARD project,” Asgaard’s staff concludes. At the time of writing the site is still online but it will effectively close on December 31. While others may be interested in taking over the site, the Asgaard team prefers a hard stop and will let the domain name go as well. The tracker operators, who relied on user donations, thank all members for their support and understanding and say they will refund all members who contributed to the site after December 2.

Romanian Metal Torrents (Metal.iPlay.ro) News Happy hollidays! It's that time of the year again! Stay safe and have a Happy Metal Holidays! Freeleech is on till 7th January! Enjoy, R\m/T Staff

Hey Pervs, We proudly present the freeleech picks for December 2020! Hopefully this adds something nice to your holiday season! Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday!! To view a collage of this month's picks, please Click Here. If you wish to view the previous picks, go to the collage section at the top of the page, and filter for Staff Picks. If you wish to discuss this month's picks, please do so in this thread.

welcome to IH @dptfzica3 enjoy your stay

welcome to IH @XbrvhrtX enjoy your stay

ATTENTION EMPervs...!!! * Festivus is near...!!! CUM celebrate a week of Festivus with the rest of us...!!! 7-days (1 week) of Site-Wide-Free-Leech...!!! Friday December 25 - Friday January 1st starting at UTC (25-12-2020 00:00:00) and ending on (01-01-2021 00:00:00)... HAPPY FESTIVUS EMPornium...!!!

...::: UFC Fight Night 183 - Thompson vs. Neal - COMPETITION :::... LAST COMPETITION OF 2020, I REPEAT, LAST COMPETITION!!! IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT'S TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME, FOR THE UFC FIGHT NIGHT 183 - THOMPSON VS. NEAL COMPETITION!!!! EVERYTHING GOOD COMES TO AN END... AND WITH THIS COMPETITION THIS YEARS COMPETITION LEAGUE IS OVER!!! MAKE SURE YOU ENTER YOUR FIGHT PICKS TO EARN GB'S AND IMPROVE YOUR YEARLY POSITION IN THE 2020 COMPETITION LEAGUE CLICK BANNER ABOVE OR LINKS BELOW TO GO TO THE COMPETITION!!! EVERYBODY WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE

welcome to IH @Dron enjoy your stay

welcome to IH @waffle enjoy your stay

Tracker currently is experiencing load issues, and should return to normal shortly. MRD (rss, redirector, tiny url, etc) is currently experiencing issues, and a fix will be released shortly. Main website may be intermittently unavailable and we are working to alleviate the issues

HDBits-16 days of Christmas Merry christmas! Gifts for everyone! From Thursday, 17th of December (UTC) to Friday, 1st of January (UTC) you can open one gift each day and recieve generous rewards in form of upload credit, bonus points and even a rare reward: few hours of personal freeleech!

welcome to IH @hfuwqbvty981yb enjoy your stay

welcome to IH @thecloud enjoy your stay

welcome to IH @Luke Jaywalker enjoy your stay

welcome to IH @nk0911 enjoy your stay

welcome to IH @Charcoalbuddy enjoy your stay

Introducing Request Section Dear Peers, Thanks For Joining. We hope you're having a Good time staying here. This Message has been sent to Notify you about our Request Section. If any of you need any Content, Go To our Request Section and put a Request for your Desired Content. We will do our best to Upload and provide you that Content ASAP. N.B: Ignore "Reward (How many Bonus Points would you like to reward? Minimum 100 BP)" This Line. -Regards Team PeerConnectors.

DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is back in discussion. This time because of US Senator Thom Tillis. He has proposed a bill that could potentially lead to influencers and content creators serving jail time over copyright offenses. According to EDM, this year has been a bad year for Twitch in relation to the DMCA, and music companies have continued to crack down on music used on the platform. However, now Tillis, a Republican Senator for North Carolina, has suggested a new punishment for anyone invading copyright online. The proposal would mean potential jail time for anyone using copyrighted music on Twitch streams, YouTube videos, or Instagram stories. In the US, music copyright has been a misdemeanor offense, which means lawsuits and fines can be issued, but the risk of jail time in the average case may be low. EDM also states that included in the bill is the controversial CASE Act, which would create a small claims court within the US Copyright Office to handle copyright disputes. Critics argue the bill would give major companies the wherewithal to seek damages from ordinary Internet users. But Tillis's bill would make streaming copyrighted music a felony crime, which would result in jail time in cases where that applies. The potential bill would have a lot of bad consequences for the content and gaming world. The Act, if passed, will provide the Department of Justice with the authority to bring felony charges against a digital transmission service that: Is primarily designed or provided for the purpose of streaming copyrighted works without the authority of the copyright owner or the law; or has no commercially significant purpose or use other than to stream copyrighted works without the authority of the copyright owner or the law; or is intentionally marketed by or at the direction of that person to promote its use in streaming copyrighted works without the authority of the copyright owner or the law. The Act, however will not affect normal practices by online service providers, good faith business disputes, noncommercial activities, or in any way impact individuals who access pirated streams or unwittingly stream unauthorized copies of copyrighted works, reports IPWatchdog. In November, MEAWW had reported Faze Clan's Cizzorz has been banned from the streaming platform Twitch. Twitch streamers have seen more bans based on DMCA violations and fans wondered if Cizzorz is the latest addition to that list. On November 10, he took it to Twitter to let his followers know about the ban as well, posting “Banned on Twitch” when his fans started speculating the possible reason behind the ban. Not just him, Brazillian football star Neymar Jr has also been banned from Twitch due to unknown reasons. He joined the streaming platform a little over a month ago. Even, Rocket League pro player and streamer Mariano “SquishyMuffinz” Arruda was banned from Twitch for violating DMCA where he had some old clips which contained licensed music. According to the DMCA rule, licensed music can only be played in a stream if there is explicit permission from the record companies. The latest proposal by Tillis sparked a lot of discussion on Twitter and #stopDMCA started trending. One user said, “The fact that this title isn't even exaggerated makes more worried. This is absolutely stupid decision and the Fact that @ThomTillis thinks this will pass as a good proposal is even more stupid.” Another said, “#stopDMCA This is absolutely absurd. Not much more else needs to be said on the matter. @ThomTillis You REALLY need to get your priorities straight over there and do something more productive.” A user commented, “As a person who is a furry streamer, I am very anxious about this sh*t! I do not wanna go to jail and I don’t want any of my friends that I met around the Twitch Community to go to jail. Stop threatening us, please I am begging you @ThomTillis #stopDMCA.” One concurred, “Congrats on being the new villain of 2020 Thom, and we thought net neutrality was a crime.” One opined, “Assult, manslaughter, and homicide are different things for a reason. Accidental use of music should not be as serious as the intentional, continual use of music. Neither should the use, intentional or unintentional, of mere seconds of music.”

A new European Citizen Initiative titled "Freedom to Share" aims to legalize file-sharing. The group, which is backed by Wikimedia Italy as well as Pirate parties in several countries, plans to gather a million signatures at which point the EU is obliged to organize a public hearing to seriously consider the proposal. This could theoretically lead to new legislation. Millions of people around the world use torrent sites and forms of file-sharing to share copyrighted material on a regular basis. In most countries, this is against the law. This restrictive stance toward ‘sharing’ is problematic according to a group of activists, who have launched the “Freedom to Share” initiative. One Million Signatures The campaign is a European Citizens’ Initiative. This is a form of direct democracy that allows the public to take part in the development of EU law and policies. With enough support across various EU member states and at least one million signatures, the EU Commission will have to officially consider the proposal. This is certainly not the first time that activists have called for the legalization of file-sharing. However, this campaign has substantial backing. It has support from the Italian Wikimedia Foundation, for example, and various Pirate parties are taking part as well. Current EU law restricts the freedom of access to science and culture, according to the organizers. It is overly restrictive as the interests of major rightsholders are often put before those of regular people. Right to Share “We see the legalization of file-sharing as part of the ‘right to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits’ described in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Freedom to Share informs TorrentFreak. “We also think that this approach would make some invasive laws obsolete. Examples of such laws span from the infamous ‘upload filters’ described in Article 17 of the EU Copyright Directive, that monitor uploads for copyright infringements, to regulations in some countries that limit open WiFi hotspots on the same ground.” The Italian attorney Marco Ciurcina acts as a spokesperson for the initiative. He believes that current laws hinder freedom of access to science and culture. Sharing files should not be illegal anywhere, whether that’s via P2P networks such as BitTorrent, email, or other sharing tools. “The question is: is it fair for copyright, related rights, and sui generis database rights to prevent the sharing of works and other material?” Ciurcina asks. What About Creators? The Freedom To Share initiative answers this question with a resounding NO. However, fearing that revenues will plunge, some major copyright holders will see things differently. The group doesn’t believe that artists will be harmed by sharing though, quite the opposite. “We believe modern technology is an opportunity for authors, not a problem. We also believe that it’s harmful for authors to depend on and support the very unfair and unpopular status quo of copyright laws. Some authors might be appreciated and known by people much more thanks to file-sharing.” The proposal doesn’t come with any solutions for how creators should be compensated. However, file-sharers can and will still consume legally. Research has shown, for example, that ‘pirates’ spend more on legal entertainment than those who don’t share. In addition, Freedom to Share suggests that there could be other options to bring in additional revenue. For example, through taxes, or through collecting societies that are dedicated to file-sharing. The first priority, however, is to bring the legalization proposal into the EU spotlight. Freedom to Share hopes that it will be able to gather enough signatures in the coming weeks. And to reach that goal, it encourages all file-sharers to sign and share their initiative.

welcome to IH @Anoop enjoy your stay

welcome to IH @Zodihack enjoy your stay

welcome to IH @kartridge enjoy your stay

Thank all of you Well it's Christmas. We have domain and ssl certificates to pay. Any help is appreciated. No worries. I have it pretty well covered. Let's remember to please thank our donators. B*** the THC staff

Dear All. Due to the recent turmoil in the torrent environment, there have been many thoughts associated with our service. We are in a situation where our cozy project has suddenly developed into a LARGE Nordic company. With that in mind, it has also spawned a reflection that has meant that several of the driving forces behind the site have had to look seriously into the involvement they have with the project. The top of the volcano erupts, as the Rights Alliance very descriptively says that they already have an eye on ASGAARD and can see the traffic that is flowing since. In addition, there is the scare campaign surrounding the treatment that awaits us if we choose to continue the project. This is going to have an impact on a lot of things. Among these things are our users. Our Staff. And of course - ourselves. There will soon be a point where we have to look 2 steps forward every single time we choose a direction. We must assess every little step we take - assessed on the basis of safety and consistency. The thought of having to risk the doorbell ringing one day and the Bagmandspolitiet coming to visit overshadows the coziness of having the project running. We will not expose you to that. Or ourselves. We have therefore chosen to close project ASGAARD. We have chosen a controlled closure - and have set a deadline called - 31 December 2020. The servers running this project go offline here. And the rainbow disappears. There will no longer be access to us. All donations made and invoiced after December 2 will be refunded. All Bitcoin donations made after December 2 cannot be tracked. Here you must send a STAFF MESSAGE with info about your transaction - then we will find and repay the amount. Due to the scale of the case - it will not be possible to take over the ASGAARD name. We close all registrations made on the domain (asgrd.org), for that way around limiting the risk of further prosecution. Thank you for your great support. Your time among us. And for your understanding. Thanks for now. The owners behind ASGAARD.

Happy greetings from staff. Now this year was soon over, and we have experienced: Two Nordic trackers went down. We welcomed the Danes to us. Some servers have been moved, hard drives crashed,. But overall, everything has gone smoothly. We have taken a step further in terms of safety. Better DDOS protection, more secure login sessions, WAF, etc. Beat pear record. We have lived with the corana. Definitely a year to remember. We hope you follow the restrictions and above all to be afraid of you. Hope that your Christmas will be as you have imagined under the conditions that exist. Enjoy all the good things on the Christmas table and we will hear from Kalle Anka and his friends. As usual, we offer Freeleech until New Year. 2021-01-01 00:00 Do not forget that everything should be seeded in 48hr or 1: 1 (Worth noting) We in staff want to wish you a very Merry Christmas.