Last week, reports recirculated that Empornium.us has been purchased by the online advertising company TargetPoint. While numerous articles purport that TargetPoint has purchased Empornium, evidence of this is virtually non-existent. Caught up in the rumor mill is ThePirateBay and MiniNova, two large BitTorrent indexing/tracking sites accused of selling a percentage of their ownership to TargetPoint.

On July 6, fans of the BitTorrent tracker/indexing site Empornium were greeted with a disturbing forum message. According to the forum post, Empornium was purchased by the Israeli advertising firm TargetPoint.

“A company, TargetPoint, has taken control of the site. They are charging new members to join, and it is thought by the general populace of the forum that they may, eventually, charge current members to retain their membership as well.”

The claim has erupted into a whirlwind of controversy that engulfed ThePirateBay.org and MiniNova.org. Reports circulated that TargetPoint also has a significant financial claim (37% ownership) of ThePirateBay.org and a “special relationship” with MiniNova.org. These reports were propagated by TorrentFreak and MegaNova articles.

It appears the allegations of TargetPoint’s interest in MegaNova, ThePirateBay, and MiniNova stem from a media broker named Daniel Oded. A representative of Random Media, Mr. Oded’s job is to mediate and help negotiate online sales. Mr. Oded is reported to be an employee of TargetPoint; however this is not the case. Mr. Oded provided free-lance assistance to TargetPoint approximately one year ago, for tenure of three months.

Mr. Oded flatly refuted the claim that he is in any way the new owner of Empornium. Additionally, he states his involvement has been exemplified to an inaccurate degree.

“I negotiated the deal between the owners of Empornium and the new owners, but I do not own the site.” Daniel Oded told Slyck.com.

Mr. Oded told Slyck.com that his mere negotiation of the sale has been interpreted as his own personal ownership. The identity of the new co-owners of Empornium is confidential, and Mr. Oded was not permitted to reveal this information to Slyck.com. Mr. Oded noted however, some members of the original ownership are still onboard. He emphasized the site was never intended to become a pay site; however financial difficulties stemming from escalating server costs and maintenance forced the change. The site will be free when registration is open, however when registration is closed a "donation" will be required to participate.