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December 11, 2009

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File sharing site resumes service

A LEADING BitTorrent Website in China offering free movie and music downloads resumed service yesterday afternoon, a day after it went offline amid fears authorities had closed it down in a crackdown on online piracy and pornography.

Operators put a notice on the Website VeryCD stating that Wednesday's breakdown was caused by technical failures. With 5 million downloads each year, VeryCD is the largest BitTorrent download Website in China. BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing agreement.

Users welcomed the Website's return. One named "toshiyalee" wrote that the one day seemed like a year.

The latest crackdown started on November 24 after Tian Jin, deputy director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, vowed to wipe out unlicensed video Websites.

Huang Yimeng, co-founder of VeryCD, told Beijing News that his firm was applying for a license from authorities, but he declined to comment on the future of the company.

Hundreds of similar sites have already been shut down by the administration, including download search engine BTChina.net.

BTChina.net has been inaccessible since the weekend. A notice on its Website said it had been closed because it did not have a license issued by the radio, film and television administration.

Web portal Netease.com found that 95.7 percent of about 14,000 Internet users who responded to a poll were opposed to the closure of BitTorrent Websites.

A commentator on It168.com wrote that they used Internet downloads because tickets at cinemas were too expensive and many foreign movies were not screened on the mainland.

However, a director of Voole.com, which offers paid videos online, said BTChina.net's closure encourages the development of copyrighted music and movie products.

Cao Yunxia, an official with the administration, said it will continue the crackdown while further regulating licensing.




 

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