isoHunt is a popular BitTorrent website which offers a large database for torrents. Unfortunately, it seems pressure is causing sites like isoHunt to start blacklisting IPs originating in certain geographical location.
Note: This is an article I wrote that was published elsewhere first. It has been republished here for archival purposes
TorrentSpy made a similar move in an effort to “protect US citizens privacy.” While isoHunt has followed a similar action, it seems that the staff of isoHunt felt the need to clarify their geo-blacklisting.
The initial report late last month came from an announcement from the isoHunt staff. “As of earlier today, we have disabled access from users in the US to our trackers, until further notice. This goes for ALL trackers (torrentbox, podtropolis) we run. This is due to the US’s hostility towards P2P technologies, and we feel with our current lawsuit brought by the MPAA, we can no longer ensure your security and privacy in the US.” SecretSquirrel of ISOHunt wrote, “So, if you’re outside the US, you may notice less peers. We encourage you to add other public, unhampered trackers to torrents you post, in addition to Torrentbox and Podtropolis’s trackers.”
The message sent shock waves through the public BitTorrent community. Some suggested that this would only result in slower torrent swarm speeds. Others focused on the concept that the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) have found a new weapon in their war against P2P technology. ISOHunt added, “This is only regarding trackers owned by ISOHunt.com not 3rd party trackers.”
Reports on this move have, according to isoHunt, been distorted from their true intention and function. The ISOHunt staff felt that clarification was needed on the status of the US IP blacklisting move.
“Apparently some P2P news sites are falsely reporting that we are blocking US visitors from using the isoHunt website itself. Let me say this is not the case.” Spike writes in an update to the posting, “As reported above we are blocking US visitors only to the BitTorrent trackers we run. This will not affect torrents obtained from isoHunt unless these torrents only use said trackers that are isoHunt operated.”
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
