TorrentReactor Buys Town, Gives It Free Internet

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TorrentReactor has "purchased" a Russian village.

TorrentReactor.net, supposedly one of the biggest torrent sites on the Internet, has apparently purchased a small village in Russia for $148,000 and re-named it as TorrentReactor. The site administrators claim that the purchase wasn't a promotional stunt, but rather a way to reach out and provide help "to at least one single village."

TorrentReactor said that it was met with some resistance from the Tomsk region authorities at first, however the matters were cleared when money came into play. Most of the "donation" will be split amongst the people while the remaining funds will be used to repair roads, purchase agricultural equipment and machinery, re-equip the local school and more.

Previously there were only three PCs in the village--two in the school library and one in the administration office, one of which had an Internet connection using a dial-up modem. In addition to the $148K payment, the site administrators said that TorrentReactor would pay for the installation of a broadband connection, estimated to cost $30,000 as there are no local networks nearby.

Kevin Parrish

Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then, he’s loved all things PC-related and cool gadgets ranging from the New Nintendo 3DS to Android tablets. He is currently a contributor at Digital Trends, writing about everything from computers to how-to content on Windows and Macs to reviews of the latest laptops from HP, Dell, Lenovo, and more. 

51 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mojito_619
    My gut feeling says that there's a second motive. But my gut is also currently handling a lot of pizza, so meh.
    Reply
  • decepticon
    +1 pirates! Arrrrrrr!
    Reply
  • Motopsychojdn
    In Soviet Russia, the Village buys you.................
    Reply
  • tapnick
    IMO this is WIN
    Reply
  • jenkem
    this makes the beginning of fight club when he talks about how corporations will own the universe seem way more plausible
    Reply
  • flaminggerbil
    That's a really nice thing to do, even if it does sound like a stunt of some sort (no matter what they say).
    Reply
  • endif
    Sweet now when they get sued for any form of piracy they probably worked it into the contract so that this town is held responsible.
    Reply
  • joe gamer
    This is a hoax/publicity stunt, nothing to see here move along, refresh your torrentfreak tab for an update.
    Reply
  • hahahahahahahaha

    plonk a server in a town you own, imagine a town where the RIAA and MPIAA has no juristiction....
    Reply
  • tharkis842
    Wow, if this is true, thats one hell of a nice thing to do for a small town in Russia. Tho i have to admit, makes me curious if this was really out of the goodness of their hearts. Either way, that's pretty awesome.
    Reply