The MPAA dealt a couple of major blows to the world of online piracy this week. Not only did the association take down YIFY, one of the most popular providers of quality movie rips in the world, it also took down Demonii, which is the single largest standalone BitTorrent tracker out there. This is because, unknown to pretty much everyone, Demonii as actually run by the operator of YIFY, which means it was also affected by the multi-million dollar lawsuit that the New Zealand-based operator has been overwhelmed by.
A few hours ago the MPAA took credit for shutting down one of the biggest piracy icons in recent history. The YIFY release group and the YTS website shut down facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit, which the New Zealand-based operator couldn’t fight. The downfall is a loss to many YIFY fans. However, the BitTorrent ecosystem at large will also be severely affected as it also signals the end for Demonii, the largest standalone BitTorrent tracker. What only a few people know is that in recent years Demonii was run by YIFY’s operator. As a result of the legal troubles with the movie studios, Demonii will soon go offline as well, bringing down another key player. With over 40 million people connected at any given time during the day, Demonii is currently the largest torrent tracker. At the time of writing Demonii still serves torrents to 41,622,554 peers, which translates to well over a billion connections per day. Impressive numbers that will soon become history.