Internet Obituaries
Napster.com
Napster.com, one of the most prevalent web pages for the sharing and
distribution of music by users, shut down after a lengthy legal battle with music
creators and copyright holders in July 2001. It is lived on by a former shell of
itself after trading hands with numerous other companies, finally resting with
Rhapsody (Best Buy).
Torrent-Finder.com
Torrent-Finder.com, a site that hosted no copyright material,
was seized on November 2010, by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. The loss came just two months after COICA, a bill to
broaden laws on internet piracy, was proposed. The bill was shot
down by opposition. Torrent-Finder is remembered by many other
sites exactly like it.
MegaUpload.com
MegaUpload.com was seized January 19th, 2012. The owner
and 3 other executives were arrested in New Zealand, and their
assets frozen. MegaUpload was a site used to upload files and
provide the user with a link he could share with others so they may
receive whatever was uploaded. The seizure happened 3 days after
SOPA, another anti-piracy bill, was suspended from debate.
MegaUpload is remembered by dozens of other sites exactly like it.
Dajaz1.com
Dajaz1 is a hip-hop blog that hosts music from different artists for open discussion,
often pre-released tracks. It was seized November 2010, in the same operation TorrentFinder.com was taken. Its owner put up a valiant fight saying all the copyrighted material was
given by authorized sources, be it the actual artists or copyright holders.
UPDATE (November 2011): Dajaz1.com has miraculously risen from the grave.
The ICE admitted after holding the domain for over a year, without providing a
court date to appeal, that it was mistaken in taking the site down. Dajaz1 has
made a full recovery from its mistaken death.