The iSONEWS explained

The iSONEWS
Commercial:No
Type:Internet forum, a former Database
Language:English
Registration:Required for posting
Author:orm[1]

The iSONEWS was a warez news website originally created by orm who later deferred management of the website to krazy8 and mandarin.[2] TheiSONews supplied release details and NFOs of warez games and programs, without actually supplying them, or supplying any information on where to find them.[3] [4] [5] Later it was also called a fan site that has become an unofficial hub of DivX news.[6]

Domain seizure

On February 28 2003, the United States Department of Justice seized the isonews domain name,[7] however its servers remained intact. A number of iSONEWS mirrors sprung up as a result, including,, and, an expression of retaliation from the iSONEWS community caused by the Department of Justice's actions. The closure of the isonews.com domain brought more attention to the site, and after the site was back up on mirror sites, the membership and the user activity on the forums increased.

Approximately one year following the seizure, visitors to iSONEWS.com were redirected to the United States Department of Justice cybercrime.gov[8] website. As of November 16, 2004, the original domain,, is owned by DomainSpa LLC and used to advertise video game sales and rentals.

David "krazy8" Rocci got a sentence of 5 months in federal prison and a $28,500 fine for selling modchips on isonews.com.[9] Krazy8 later indicated that modchips was the 'official' modus operandi, but every question I was ever asked related to ISONews and had nothing to do with modchips.[10]

Current status

From being a release site for the warez community, the site has evolved into a broader message board, concentrating mostly on PC gaming. The PC games forum on the site contains everything from rumors, latest news, hints, tips and tweaks to various games. As of June 2007, the releases are never updated, however the forums are still (barely) in use.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Early isonews about page . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/19990427163808/http://www.orm.nu/ . 1999-04-27 .
  2. Web site: History Of ISOnews . inphi . 2006-06-19 . The iSONEWS.
  3. Web site: Online Piracy: From Music to Film . 1999-07-29 . Steve . Wilson . . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304191119/http://partners.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/circuits/articles/29pira.html . 2016-03-04 . live.
  4. Web site: Hacking away at our ethics . John . Sutherland . 1999-06-17 . The Guardian.
  5. Web site: Invasion of Piracy . 1999-06-23 . Jonathan . Vankin . . ISO News includes a page of information about each release, listing quality of sound and picture, method of capture (i.e., screener or camera job) and basic production info about the film..
  6. Web site: The MP3 of movies? . 2000-05-31 . Damien . Cave . Salon.
  7. BBC News "US seizes bootleg games site"
  8. Web site: Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS). cybercrime.gov.
  9. Let your Xbox loose . David . Kushner . May 2004 . . 132.
  10. Web site: New Busts (June 2005) . 2005-07-05 . krazy8 . The iSONEWS.