"The suspect allegedly uploaded roughly a thousand NHK recordings over some five years." -- TorrentFreak "CODA regards the arrest of this first uploader as a landmark case in addressing copyright infringement involving torrent sites." -- CODA
The Nyaa Takedown — Why This Japanese Arrest Actually Matters
Japanese police arrested a 56-year-old guy in Sagamihara for being the "first uploader" of an NHK drama on Nyaa. That is not the headline here -- what is interesting is how they caught him.
CODA used an "analytical tool" developed by the Japan Hacker Association that did not even touch the BitTorrent swarm. It worked at the index and tracker level. They are not saying exactly how it identified him, and that is the part that should worry anyone who uploads anything on any torrent site.
"The suspect allegedly uploaded roughly a thousand NHK recordings over some five years." -- TorrentFreak. He reportedly admitted the offense, saying he wanted people around the world to see NHK work.
Three other people got caught in a separate action -- not uploaders but regular downloaders whose clients were sharing back by default. That is the thing about BitTorrent: you download and you are seeding too.
Nyaa is still online. This was not a site takedown. But CODA now has a demonstrated method to trace back to the first uploader, and they have proven they will feed it to the police. If you are sharing anything on any tracker, this changes the calculus.