If you listen very closely, you can just hear the agonized shrieks of torrent site users bemoaning the loss of their favorite movie-providing sites. The Motion Picture Association of America joined forces with Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN to shut down 12 torrent sites in the U.S. and 39 more abroad.

The Dutch-American team filed copyright violation complaints with the sites’ hosting providers, says Mashable.com. But you might not even know yet that your site of choice has been affected, as the names of those hit isn’t being released. That way, it’s less likely that the site will spring up somewhere else. For example: stealmovies.com could become stealmovies.info, making it easy for users to find again.

This global sting operation comes on the heels of last November’s move by the Department of Homeland Security to shutter more than 70 sites in one fell swoop.

A company spokesperson told Mashable recently, “Given the fact that the U.S. government is currently undertaking great efforts to fight copyright infringements on the internet, our having a voice in Washington could be beneficial for us as well as for the U.S. government.”

It seems the MPAA has found quite an effective partner for their effors: BREIN’s already got quit the reputation for being a disciplinarian in the Netherlands, as TorrentFreak says thay’ve temporarily disabled more than 1,000 sites there.

Now I’m never going to see Inception!

MPAA Shuts Down 50+ Torrent Sites in Global Piracy Sting [Mashable]

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