
The popular file storage and sharing service Firedrive has been down for almost 7 days, according to reports. Many users and analysts have begun asking the unthinkable question: “Is Firedrive done?” It’s certainly possible given the dynamics of the situation and lack of communication from the company’s CEO Joseph Turner.
The facts surrounding the disappearance of Firedrive are being pieced together by top investigative journalists. Firedrive recently changed its name from PutLocker several months ago. The name change was a way for Firedrive to start out fresh and put the PutLocker name behind itself. PutLocker was notorious for allowing bootleg movies, digital media and other pirated content sit on its servers. This prompted the MPAA to name PutLocker as one of its biggest enemies which in return, PutLocker decided to rename and focus more on cloud file sharing.
Firedrive’s problems began around September 30th. NetworkWorld mentions that CEO Joseph Turner mentioned that mobile apps for Firedrive would be released soon but that has not come to fruition. In fact, there have been no Tweets from the Firedrive Twitter account since July 31st.
By all accounts, Firedrive seems to be dead. Emails to support are not being answered nor have any phone calls or media requests from other news agencies. TorrentFreak, is the top source for sites that host questionable content. The TorrentFreak blog says, “Since before the weekend, many (perhaps all) video files on Firedrive have been replaced with 13-15 second intros used by the major movie studios. TF tested a few random links we found using Google and found intros from Sony, Warner, Universal and Dreamworks, instead of the movies that claimed to be there.”
Although Firedrive has a functioning homepage, all of the functionality found in the applications behind the scenes seems non-functional. It is unclear how many users are signed up for FireDrive at this time.