diff --git a/bin/down.sh b/bin/down.sh
index 38134ba31..88d82bbad 100755
--- a/bin/down.sh
+++ b/bin/down.sh
@@ -1,16 +1,20 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env sh
-cd "`dirname $0`"
-. ./checkDataFolder.sh
-. ./checkConfFile.sh
+# List the passive senior peers known by the local peer or by the peer at the given address
+# $1 : (optional) the peer address as host:port
 
-port=$(grep ^port= "$YACY_DATA_PATH/SETTINGS/yacy.conf" |cut -d= -f2)
+cd "`dirname $0`"
 
-if which curl > /dev/null; then
-  curl -s "http://localhost:$port/Network.xml?page=2&ip=" | awk '/<address>/{ gsub("<address>","" );gsub("<\/address>","" ); print $0 }' | awk '{print $1}'
-elif which wget > /dev/null; then
-  wget -q -O - "http://localhost:$port/Network.xml?page=2&ip=" | awk '/<address>/{ gsub("<address>","" );gsub("<\/address>","" ); print $0 }' | awk '{print $1}'
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+	# Request the local peer
+	./apicall.sh "/Network.xml?page=2" | awk '/<address>/{ gsub("<address>","" );gsub("<\/address>","" ); print $0 }' | awk '{print $1}'
 else
-  echo "Please install curl or wget" > /dev/stderr
-  exit 1
-fi
-
+	# Request the given peer
+	if which curl > /dev/null; then
+  		curl -sSf "http://$1/Network.xml?page=2" | awk '/<address>/{ gsub("<address>","" );gsub("<\/address>","" ); print $0 }' | awk '{print $1}'
+	elif which wget > /dev/null; then
+  		wget -nv -t 1 --timeout=120 "http://$1/Network.xml?page=2" -O - | awk '/<address>/{ gsub("<address>","" );gsub("<\/address>","" ); print $0 }' | awk '{print $1}'
+	else
+  		echo "Please install curl or wget" > /dev/stderr
+  		exit 1
+	fi
+fi
\ No newline at end of file