ShareReactor

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ShareReactor was a popular index site for files on the eDonkey network. ShareReactor did not host any files; instead, the links it contained were accessible through an eDonkey network client. It was taken down by Swiss Police on March 10, 2004 due to the suspicion of breach of copyright and trademark laws. The site came back online, under new ownership, on September 4, 2006. The main page was recovered 100%, and the forums were restored from a backup from December 29, 2002. The website is currently down again, most likely permanently as for hosting eD2k links.

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[edit] Origin

The site was founded by Geraldine Arlington ("Gowenna") on August 5, 2001 and was initially located at http://gowenna.da.ru which was only a shadow domain. The site was renamed ShareReactor in November, 2001 on a decision of the founder to name it something that reflected the group effort. In January 2002 Gowenna died in a car accident. The site administration was continued by Christian Riesen (aka Simon Moon) who until then only did technical backgrounds and was also the host. Master of Files is arguably the most well-known of the early releasers among the users and was especially active in moderating the forums. When he left the site in late 2002, along with a few other releasers, many thought the site would decline soon after. Many of the most active releasers stayed on and new ones helped keep the site popular until its shutdown in early 2004.

[edit] Takedown

It was taken down by Swiss Police on March 10, 2004 due to the suspicion of breach of copyright and trademark laws. The investigation was reportedly initiated by complaints from Swiss anti-piracy organisation at the request of several large corporations, one of them presumably being Columbia Tristar Inc. The fact that the police didn't look at seized servers for more than two and a half months suggests that the SAFE's goal wasn't the prosecution, but taking ShareReactor down.

[edit] Reopening and Closure

ShareReactor came back online after nearly 2 years and 6 months of being offline. The return date was September 4, 2006. Prior to their reopening, a global e-mail was sent to all the users of ShareReactor stating that the site was back online. ShareReactor was back although things were different: the site now was under new ownership, had a new design, and featured better readings on sources in the eDonkey network. The biggest difference was the main administrator, Simon Moon, who ran the site from 2002 until it went offline in 2004 because of the investigation, had pulled out and had nothing whatsoever to do with the page. The mainpage of ShareReactor was 100% recovered (from the day it went offline), whereas the forums were from a backup made on December 29, 2002.

However, in late October, 2006, ShareReactor was suddenly put up for auction. It was claimed by one of the people who worked on ShareReactor that the domain was not in fact sold to a new owner before the reopening. Instead, the original owner had the intent of selling the domain later, by first reviving its popularity in order to increase sales revenue. Presumably because of this angry speculation on ShareReactor's front page, the auction was increasingly looked upon with suspicion, and the owner could not sell it. The domain was "parked" with ads meant to draw revenue to collect data for a later auction [1].

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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