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What.CD

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What.CD
BERJAYA
Type of site
BitTorrent tracker
Available inEnglish
DissolvedNovember 17, 2016; 9 years ago (2016-11-17)
URLwhat.cd (defunct)
CommercialNo
LaunchedOctober 27, 2007; 18 years ago (2007-10-27)
Current statusDefunct

What.CD was a private, invitation-only music BitTorrent tracker and community launched in 2007. The site was shut down on 17 November 2016, after French authorities seized the site's servers.

History

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What.CD was founded on the day of Oink's Pink Palace's closure in October 2007.[1] New users could only gain admission through a referral from an existing user, or through a difficult interview process.[2] In November 2007, many site users received a hoax email purporting to be from the Recording Industry Association of America threatening to press charges for illegal downloads.[3]

In 2008, the Canadian Recording Industry Association asked now-defunct Moxie Colo, then What.CD's host, to take down several tracker sites, including What.CD. The company refused, saying, "We will not be following the request and will be fighting for the rights of our clients as—to date—laws in Canada protect them."[4] In October, the site released "The What CD Volume 2", a compilation album of artists that contributed to the site. Earlier that year, the site released Volume One.[5]

In December 2008, What.CD and Open Your Eyes Records formed a partnership in which the record label would exclusively distribute new releases on the tracker.[6] [7]

In 2010, CNET reported that a teenage boy had gained access to playMPE.com, an industry website used by music labels to share music with radio stations, by posing as an Australian music critic. He subsequently uploaded a number of unreleased albums to What.CD.[8] In September 2010, What.CD debuted a new lightweight tracker called "Ocelot". The lightweight tracker used only 3GB of RAM to power over five million peers.[9] In December 2010, What.CD's collection reached one million torrents, a record for a private BitTorrent tracker.[10]

Throughout early 2014, the site was subject to a severe and prolonged DDoS attack, causing intermittent tracker downtime and limiting many of the site's services.[11]

Shutdown

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On 17 November 2016, French authorities seized 12 servers from the internet service provider OVH in the north of France.[12][13] What.CD announced its closure on its index page later that day, saying, "Due to some recent events, What.CD is shutting down. We are not likely to return any time soon in our current form. All site and user data has been destroyed. So long, and thanks for all the fish."[14][15]

On 18 November 2016, What.CD issued a statement about its shutdown, stating that its users and staff were safe, thanking all contributors and recommending that donations go to Internet Archive, Electronic Frontier Foundation, La Quadrature du Net and Initiative für Netzfreiheit.[16]

In October 2017, for What.CD's ten-year anniversary, former What.CD staff released a torrent containing the last backup of all non-user data from the site, saying that this message would "likely be the last".[17][18][non-primary source needed]

Leaks

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The Radiohead song "These Are My Twisted Words" was uploaded to the tracker on 12 August 2009. Fans speculated the song had been leaked by the band itself and contained hints to an upcoming EP entitled Wall of Ice. The song was released on 17 August 2009, on the band's website, similar to their release of In Rainbows.[19][20]

In 2009, Microsoft's forensic tool, Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE), was leaked on the site. Administrators later removed the software.[21] The What.CD staff said of the removal: "Suddenly, we were forced to take a real look at the program, its source, and the potential impact on the site and security of our users and staff. And when we did, we didn't like what came of it. So, a decision was made. The torrent was removed (and it is not to be uploaded here again)."[22]

On 28 November 2013, a What.CD user uploaded scans of three unpublished stories by American author J. D. Salinger, including The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls.[23][24] Similar to the response to the COFEE upload, an administrator removed the torrent.[24]

References

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  1. ↑ Jones, Ben (30 October 2007). "What Waffles? The Hydra Lives On". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  2. ↑ Sonnad, Nikhil (18 November 2016). "A eulogy for What.cd, the greatest music collection in the history of the world—until it vanished". Quartz. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  3. ↑ Maxwell, Andy (12 November 2007). "14 Year Old BitTorrent Hacker Threatens to Sue What.cd Users". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 12 March 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  4. ↑ Deleon, Nicholas (27 May 2008). "What.cd, other BitTorrent trackers ordered shut by Canadian Recording Industry Association". Crunchgear. Archived from the original on 16 February 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  5. ↑ Deleon, Nicholas (27 October 2008). "What.cd Volume 2: Showing the recording industry how to promote music in the BitTorrent era". Crunchgear. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  6. ↑ Van der Sar, Ernesto (30 December 2008). "Record Label Teams Up With What.cd BitTorrent Tracker". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  7. ↑ Masnick, Mike (31 December 2008). "A Record Label That Embraces BitTorrent". TechDirt. Archived from the original on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  8. ↑ Rosoff, Matt (23 April 2010). "Report: Music insider site source of leaked songs". CNET. Archived from the original on 4 May 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  9. ↑ Van der Sar, Ernesto (14 October 2010). "What.cd Debuts Lightweight Tracker For Its 5 Million Peers". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  10. ↑ Van der Sar, Ernesto (22 December 2010). "What.CD BitTorrent Tracker Breaks A Million Torrents". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  11. ↑ Van der Sar, Ernesto (6 January 2014). "DDoS Attacks Take Down What.cd, BTN and PTP BitTorrent Trackers". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  12. ↑ Bancal, Damien (17 November 2016). "Opération What.CD : 12 serveurs saisis chez OVH et Free" [Operation What.CD: 12 Servers Seized at OVH and Free]. ZATAZ (in French). Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  13. ↑ Welch, Chris (17 November 2016). "Music torrent site What.cd has been shut down". The Verge. Archived from the original on 18 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  14. ↑ DaSilva, Eden (15 July 2026). "The Lost Joy of Music Piracy". Pigeons and Planes. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  15. ↑ van der Sar, Ernesto. "What.cd Shuts Down Following Reported Raids in France". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  16. ↑ @whatcd (18 November 2016). "Goodbye <3 [...]" (Tweet). Retrieved 19 November 2016 – via Twitter.
  17. ↑ What.CD (27 October 2017). "10-year anniversary mixtape". @whatcd. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  18. ↑ What.CD (27 October 2017). "What.CD". @whatcd. Archived from the original on 6 February 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  19. ↑ Michaels, Sean (14 August 2009). "Was the new Radiohead song leaked by the band?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  20. ↑ Dombal, Ryan (14 August 2009). "Radiohead Rumor Mill Steaming Ahead, Threatening to Devour Entire Internet". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 17 August 2009. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  21. ↑ Masnick, Mike (9 November 2009). "Microsoft's COFEE Computer Forensic Tools Leaked". TechDirt. Archived from the original on 31 December 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  22. ↑ Benjamen, Yobie (10 November 2009). "Microsoft's COFEE spilled on the Internet by Torrent pirates". SFGate. Archived from the original on 15 September 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  23. ↑ Maxwell, Andy (28 November 2013). "Unpublished Salinger Books Leaked to Private File-Sharing Site". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 28 November 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  24. 1 2 Kennedy, Maev (23 December 2013). "JD Salinger's unpublished stories leaked online". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
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