A US District Judge has terminated a case against TorrentSpy.com in view of evidence tampering, reports say. Representatives from the MPAA sued TorrentSpy in 2006, claiming that the BitTorrent tracker provided illegal access to copyrighted video. Although TorrentSpy countersued, arguing that the MPAA hacked into its computers and e-mail accounts, the company was later ordered to record its data traffic, which could have been used as evidence. Lawyers protested, calling the request "unprecedented and damaging to online free speech and privacy and to free market values that support technological development."

The MPAA accused TorrentSpy, however, of then deliberately manipulating website contents, deleting directories and forum postings that referred to piracy. The company was fined $30,000, and it decided to block access to US IP addresses.

Judge Florence-Marie Cooper has now ruled in agreement with the MPAA, describing the deleted material as "not deleted or modified negligently, but intentionally in direct response to the institution of this [MPAA] lawsuit." It is not known if TorrentSpy will face future sanctions, but it now has few if any legal recourses. [via PC Magazine]