LOS ANGELES — BitTorrent site Cheggit.net has shut down.
TorrentFreak reported that after being off line for several days, one of the world’s largest torrent websites went dark close to a year after giants Empornium and PureTNA also closed shop.
The closure comes amidst industry speculation that the recent Megaupload raid and seizure may have prompted Cheggit’s decision.
But Cheggit’s admin denies the allegation and told TorrentFreak that the shut down had nothing to do with the FBI, MPAA or ICE, and isn’t a veiled attempt at “a ponzi scheme to relaunch Megaupload.”
Cheggit was the go-to site for millions of users abandoned after Empornium and PureTNA bit the dust.
The Cheggit mega-site was created in 2006 by ex-staff and users from Empornium who were disappointed with a controversial takeover by advertising company TargetPoint.
“Back in December ’11, when I embarked on a ‘bold new vision’ for the site, I thought we could change the site and make everything just work. But as time went on, it just wasn’t feasible to do that and be in compliance,” the Cheggit admin said.
Closing the site took several weeks and was a painful decision, according to the site’s operators who maintained that it's exiting with its users' benefits in mind.
“I wanted to give the community a chance to exchange info and keep hooked up if you wanted to. That’s right…regardless of what you might think, this was done for the community.
“Best decision? Who knows. But I do know that it isn’t the worst thing that could have happened. I’ve been at this far longer than I care to admit, and it would have sucked to just lop it off. As much as this may suck, it doesn’t suck near as much as just going away,” the admin said.