U.S. authorities have seized three major Bulgarian-operated piracy websites in a sweeping international crackdown, shuttering platforms that had served millions of users with illegal content for over two decades.
The domains zamunda.net, arenabg.com, and zelka.org — all registered in the United States but operated from Bulgaria — were taken offline this week following court-ordered seizure warrants. Visitors to these sites are now greeted with a stark message: “This domain has been seized by Homeland Security Investigations as part of an international law enforcement operation in accordance with a court order issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.”
Massive Scale of Piracy Operation
The scale of the operation was staggering. These platforms collectively attracted tens of millions of visits annually and offered thousands of copyrighted movies, television shows, video games, software, and e-books without authorization from rights holders. One of the domains even ranked among Bulgaria’s top 10 most visited websites.
How significant were these platforms? According to investigators, Zamunda.net and ArenaBG.com stood as the largest torrent trackers in Bulgaria and surrounding regions, with a history dating back more than 20 years. Both sites had previously earned spots on U.S. blacklists of notorious piracy sites.
The illegal distribution network generated substantial revenue through advertising while enabling millions of unauthorized downloads with a retail value estimated in the millions of dollars.
International Cooperation
This wasn’t just an American operation. The coordinated effort involved an impressive coalition of law enforcement agencies spanning multiple countries. On the U.S. side, the Department of Justice, Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi all played crucial roles.
Bulgarian authorities brought significant firepower as well, with the National Investigative Service, General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP), State Agency for National Security (DANS), and the Prosecutor’s Office joining forces. Europol and the International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (ICHIP) program rounded out the international collaboration.
Bulgarian police conducted physical searches alongside U.S. agencies, aiming not just to temporarily disrupt the platforms but to permanently shut down the piracy network.
Legal Precedents
The takedown follows a growing trend of legal actions against digital piracy in Bulgaria. In 2023, the Sofia City Court ordered three internet service providers to block Zamunda.net and The Pirate Bay, including their proxy services. That ruling established important precedent regarding intermediary liability for copyright protection in the country.
This isn’t the first major Bulgarian piracy platform to fall. RARBG, another prominent BitTorrent tracker founded in Bulgaria in 2008, shut down in May 2023, citing economic pressures from inflation, COVID-19 effects, and the Ukraine invasion, according to Wikipedia. That site had also been listed as a notorious market and blocked in multiple countries before its closure.
The announcement of this week’s seizures came jointly from Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva, U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Wright, underscoring the high-level coordination behind the operation.
For the millions of users who frequented these sites, the sudden disappearance marks the end of an era in digital piracy. But for content creators and distributors who have long fought against unauthorized distribution of their work, it represents a significant, if temporary, victory in the ongoing battle against online copyright infringement.
