SnowTigers , down for good ?

[predateur]

Hi,
anyone know what is wrong with SnowTigers? (the 1969th site more visited on the web lol)

[MATEE100]

Not refreshed maybe? It's not down,just loading slow.

[The_Martinator]

Wait for cine to answer. It is possible that you got banned, though.

[narad]

:cry:

[master02]

Exclusif : La gendarmerie nationale vient de mettre fin au plus important site semi-privé SnowTigers. 21 serveurs saisis, 10 personnes arrêtées.

Nous vous relations, mercredi, d'une rumeur persistante remontée aux oreilles de la rédaction de ZATAZ.COM. La police aurait mis la main sur des administrateurs du site Snowtigers. Quelques internautes ont bien évidement mis rapidement en doute le sujet, alors qu'en 14 ans d'existence, ZATAZ.COM a prouvé plus d'une fois la qualité de ses sources et de ses actualités. Le temps de vérifier, regrouper, ... Voici ce qu'il en est :

Nous avons eu confirmation par l'ALPA, l'Association de Lutte contre le Piratage Audiovisuel, de la fin de Snowtigers. Dix personnes en charge de cet important forums de diffusion de contrefaçons ont été arrêtés.

Une opération mise en place par la Gendarmerie Nationale. "Nous avons travaillé très étroitement avec les militaires" confirme Frédéric Delacroix, président de l'ALPA, à la rédaction de ZATAZ.COM.

Dix personnes arrêtées, 21 serveurs saisis. "Une organisation clairement criminelle", souligne l'ALPA. Le site aurait des contacts un peu partout dans le monde, dont de nombreux groupes warez.

"Le site a engrangé plusieurs centaines de milliers d'euros" indique Frédéric Delacroix. Avec plus de 250.000 membres, le portail générait un énorme trafic de films, logiciels, musiques piratés.

L'enquête continue "Toutes les personnes qui ont versé de l'argent peuvent dorénavant être inquiétés, confirme l'ALPA, ainsi que les très gros utilisateurs."

Parmi les personnes arrêtées, des cibles basées en Région Parisienne ou encore Toulouse.

[drew]

Exclusive: The national police has put an end to the largest semi-private site SnowTigers. 21 servers seized, 10 arrested persons.

We'll Relations, Wednesday, persistent rumors of a rebound in the ears of writing ZATAZ.COM. The police allegedly put his hand on site administrators Snowtigers. Some Internet users have obviously made quickly questioned the subject, while in 14 years of existence, ZATAZ.COM proved once more the quality of its sources and its news. The time to verify, aggregate, ... Here it is:

We had confirmation by the ALPA, the Association for the Fight against audiovisual piracy, the end of Snowtigers. Ten people in charge of this important forum for the dissemination of counterfeits have been arrested.

An operation set up by the Gendarmerie Nationale. "We worked very closely with the military," said Frédéric Delacroix, president of ALPA, in drafting ZATAZ.COM.

Ten people arrested, 21 servers seized. "A clear criminal organization," says ALPA. The site would have contacts all over the world, including many warez groups.

"The site has garnered several hundred thousand dollars" says Frédéric Delacroix. With over 250,000 members, the portal generates an enormous traffic of films, software, pirated music.

The investigation continues "All persons who have paid money can now be questioned, confirmed the ALPA and the very large users."

Among those arrested, targets based in the Paris area or Toulouse.

[shipwreck]

France, like most European Union member countries, is simply not a safe place to host a torrent site. But France in particular seems to be rather zealous when it comes to "battling piracy", as could be seen in recent attempts to change the copyright laws both on the national and European level.

This applies to the popular OVH network also, of course, where quite a few sites have been busted in recent times.

[sez]

Did i read they'd be going after anyone who gave money to the site too i.e donors?
This is really fucked,did they just pass that anti piracy law the other day?

[shipwreck]

It's always the money that leads to the downfall.

[predateur]

Thx for the info guy's, damn it was good source for french stuff if not the best :/


Wait for cine to answer. It is possible that you got banned, though.

why should i get banned? and why you say that ... grow up ..

[Tinfish]

would love to see proof of the "several hundred thousand dollars" they supposedly have.

Common line these days isnt it.. said the same about TPB and everyone else they ever arrested for running a tracker :)

[shipwreck]

Of course they have blown that out of proportion to 'sell' their story to the media. But money is the weak spot, always has been.

[Yoann64]

21 servers seized
hmmm !! Snowtigers is a french tracker, i'm not sure but i think that they 're not hosted in france ...!

[shipwreck]

Even if they are hosted in Canada (or elsewhere 'safe'), the police just have to follow the money trail. And that's the point, this apparently was a police raid, which is something completely different than a anti-piracy group trying to shut down a site.

[$SnoopDo2G$]

Canada ?....
funny how they talkin' a lot of crap... without having real facts..
we'll see, but i think they just do a maintenance... :P

[cinephilia]

would love to see proof of the "several hundred thousand dollars" they supposedly have.


Of course they have blown that out of proportion to 'sell' their story to the media.
the worst is that they didn't.
Snowtigers has always had a special position in "french piracy", it was the graal of french private trackers and the only torrentsite known by everyone (even non-bt users).
no forums, no torrent comments, no invites, no pm system, no userlist, no irc chan - just your profile and the browse page... and yet, a shitload of members have donated during years to get the VIP status and the right to upload (!)
i can't count how many times i saw french boards members bragging about being VIP at Snowtigers. accounts were sold more than 80 euros on ebay (and even more); you can also check how this site was popular by simply typing 'snowtigers' in google.fr (you'll find 10 pages of begging for snowtigers accounts).

in short, snowtigers has never been a private tracker that cared about sharing, their only goal was to make money and they did it very-well though.

[shipwreck]

So if I understand you correctly, they actually did make hundreds of thousands of dollars? Then it's no surprise that they'd be targeted by the authorities sooner or later.

[cinephilia]

well, maybe not hundreds of thousands of dollars but they easily made dozens of thousands of dollars during all those years.
for example, they used to remove hundreds of accounts every month (and not only poor ratios) and open signups 30s-1min several times a week in order to get new potential donators (the fanatics refreshing the page until signups are open).

[merwais]

One Down. SnowTigers = oInk !

SnowTigers Gone for ever.

RIP SnowTigers

[RexNex]

They are in fact hosted in canada

[The_Martinator]

See, I told you cine knows everything. :P

I was never a member, but it's always sad when a tracker goes down. :(

:angel1: RIP ST

[manbearpig]

According to TorrentFreak The Military was involved in bringing down this tracker...

[shipwreck]

Link to the article:

http://torrentfreak.com/military-intelligence-used-to-shutdown-250k-user-bittorrent-site-090606/


I think this is very disturbing, considering the fact that in most European countries, in fact in most democratic countries, the military can not be used against the citizens, unless in a state of emergency, which clearly is not the case here. Using military intelligence to aid private anti-piracy groups (and the police) to shut down a freaking torrent tracker is way over the top, and just shows how hysterical the whole situation in France has gotten these days.

This would be a major scandal in most countries, I'm really surprised that there hasn't been an outcry yet, knowing that the French usually are very quick to demonstrate...

[lysine]

how do you know the circumstances surrounding this? all you're going on is a quote on torrentfreak, which is unattributed and unsourced.

what if some of the staff were in the military? don't be so quick to jump to conclusions, based on a blog post.

[shipwreck]

The Torrentfreak article is based on the french article posted earlier in this thread. But the mere fact that the anti-piracy group can publically boast about military involvement just shows how successful the lobbying of those groups has been at recent times, and how much they have politics by the balls. It's disturbing, no matter how you look at it.

[Enlightened]

well, there is still Thorland.. the french tracker, ..........LOL, not sure how much longer. they are going to stick around, if the French Authorities, are so zealous on their crackdown on Piracy.

[Yoann64]

well, there is still Thorland.. the french tracker
Thor's land (or Ethor) is not really french ...but from Quebec (Canada).

[MATEE100]

So Snowtigers is finally down.Any chance to return?

[Yoann64]

So Snowtigers is finally down.Any chance to return?It seems, chance=0% ...

For those who hope to see being reborn SnowTigers, I have a bad news, It will not be reborn.

[sez]

In whose house were the servers hosted?
I think tracker sysops need to start being serious about security,its never wise to host tracker servers in your home country,especially when an anti piracy law has been passed.

[shipwreck]

The 'important' servers were apparently hosted in Canada, so they did choose a different country than their own. But like I wrote earlier, that is of no use when the police (which is completely different than a (private) anti-piracy group) follows the money trail, at least for the siteops themselves.

[Enlightened]

They would have to emulate what swedvdr does..LOL, anyway, there are Not many French Trackers that are even close to the size.content and the speed of snowtigers, I really "Miss" it.......sigh......:(:yup::frusty:

[cinephilia]

anyway, there are Not many French Trackers that are even close to the size.content and the speed of snowtigers, I really "Miss" it.......sigh......:(:yup::frusty:
Guiks Tracker has less members but speeds and even content (30,087 torrents) are far better.
closed atm though.

[Yoann64]

anyway, there are Not many French Trackers that are even close to the size.content and the speed of snowtigers, I really "Miss" it.......sigh......:(:yup::frusty:
Guiks Tracker has less members but speeds and even content (30,087 torrents) are far better.
closed atm though.
and Reload-Paradise => 32,213 Torrents

[Jezebel]

Down for good I'm afraid. :mellow:

[0Ri0N]

Hi! Any news about SnowTiger? I miss the tracker. :(

[cinephilia]

did you read the previous posts ?
snowtigers has been shut down by french authorities 2 months ago: the site is dead.

[0Ri0N]

Thank You! What a shame :( Is there any good alternative to SnowTigers?

[Yoann64]

Thank You! What a shame :( Is there any good alternative to SnowTigers?
French stuff ? Ethor, Guiks, Reload-Paradise, HDparadise and HDFrench