BTJunkie, one of the largest BitTorrent indexes, decided to shut down voluntarily amid fears of facing legal action after the MegaUpload fiasco.
A statement on the website reads, "This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we've decided to voluntarily shut down. We've been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it's time to move on. It's been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!"
Despite avoiding legal attention in it’s 7 years of operation, the site's founder told TorrentFreak that the legal action against file-sharing sites Megaupload and The Pirate Bay played an important role in its closure.
Meanwhile, the founders of The Pirate Bay were arrested for copyright infringement in 2009. This month, the supreme court of Sweden made the ruling final, and announced that the founders will not be able to appeal their months-long prison sentences or combined fines of 46 million kronor (around $6.83 million).
In response to Megaupload's shutdown, a raft of popular Web lockers have neutered the ability to share fileswith others. FileSonic, FileServe and Uploaded.to all cut off file-sharing in the days after Megaupload was seized.