Articles about BitTorrent

The Star Wars franchise is a runaway train-like phenomenon, lasting decades and being enjoyed by several generations. When the newest such film, The Force Awakens, was announced there was a fury of media coverage and marketing cross-promotions. Quite frankly, I found myself sick of the Star Wars franchise after a while, although I did eventually see the film -- it was pretty good.

Yesterday, a rip of the Retail Blu-ray version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens apparently made its way to the seedy underbelly of the Internet. Even though the disc is not available for purchase until April 5th, pirates can start watching immediately. This is rather sad, as honest fans of the franchise must wait to spend their money, while dastardly thieves can watch now for free.

Continue reading →

Ransomware is a growing problem, with businesses and individuals increasingly having their data encrypted and held to ransom. As with so many forms of malware, it has been PC users that have borne the brunt of attacks, but over the weekend it was Mac owners that were targeted by the KeRanger ransomware.

The malicious software first appeared on Friday and is said to be the first fully-functional example of ransomware aimed at Apple devices. KeRanger was found to be installed alongside the Transmission BitTorrent client, and while Apple has used its Gatekeeper security system to prevent further infections, if you have installed Transmission 2.90 there are steps you need to take to clean up your system.

Continue reading →

In the UK, ISPs are required to block access to a number of big-name torrent sites -- the thinking being that sites such as The Pirate Bay are used primarily for (gasp!) downloading pirated material. Despite the government's desire to control what people can access online, good old HTTPS means that people are able to very easily bypass any blocks that may be put in place.

There are all manner of proxy services and mirror sites that provide access to otherwise-blocked content, but these are really not needed. With the likes of The Pirate Bay and Kickass Torrents offering secure, encrypted connection, accessing the goodies they contain could involve little more than sticking an extra 's' in the URL.

Continue reading →

Legalities aside, there is one problem with content made available through the likes of the Pirate Bay. Whether you use traditional torrents or magnet links, you'll (usually) need to wait for a download to complete before you can enjoy the movie, show, or album of your choice. But not anymore.

A new beta feature for the world-famous torrent site makes it possible to stream videos without the need to download them first. By integrating the Torrents-Time plugin, the Pirate Bay now includes a Stream It option for all video torrents.

Continue reading →

There has been something of a clamp down on torrent sites around the world in recent years, but that doesn’t mean they're going away. It may be slightly harder to get a torrent fix these days, but where there's a will there's a way. One of the biggest names still on the scene is KickassTorrents, and it has now ventured into new territory by starting a release group of its own.

Over the last few days, the group -- under the handle KATRG -- has been pushing out numerous Blu-ray rips and screeners. There's no sign of Star Wars: The Force Awakens just yet (although it's surely not long before it makes an appearance), but there are some big releases out there including The Hateful Eight, The Peanuts Movie, and The Revenant.

Continue reading →

When you think of peer-to-peer file sharing you probably bring to mind services like Kazaa and Limewire that were among the early sites allowing users to share media, or of more recent operations like Pirate Bay.

But while it's easy to think of P2P in terms of individuals downloading music or movies, a new report from security rating company BitSight reveals that it’s a problem for businesses too.

Continue reading →

The likes of Adam Ant and Billy Bragg are among the names backing the Free At What Cost? project. Launched by British composer Hélène Muddiman, the idea behind the campaign is to ensure that artists and content creators get a fair deal by charging for online views and listens.

The basic idea is to protect content against free viewing in an extension of the idea of simple DRM. While the logistics are still to be fully detailed, one of the proposals is to use a Bitcoin-like payment system to enables people to pay artists directly for access to their content.

Continue reading →

Governments around the world continue to block access to torrent sites, and people keep finding ways around any roadblocks that might be put in place. Proxies and mirrors have been used to get around restrictions, and now the Norwegian Pirate Party has set up its own free DNS service to provide access to the Pirate Bay.

The Pirate Party is an advocate of free, unrestricted access to the internet, and its latest move is a reaction to the government of Norway blocking access to the the Pirate Bay. The uncensored DNS servers are free for anyone to use, and demonstrate just how easy it is to bypass restrictions that governments seem to believe are the answer to the problem of piracy.

Continue reading →

Since the launch of Windows 10, there have been all manner of privacy concerns -- some grounded in fact, others less so. Whatever your view of the latest version of Windows, it's impossible to deny that this has proved one of the more controversial releases to come from the Microsoft stable.

Getting in on the paranoia now are torrent sites, with some coming out and saying they have implemented a ban on the use of Windows 10 to connect to their trackers. Seemingly in response to the news that Windows 10 could disable counterfeit games, torrent sites including iTS have already put measures in place to block Windows 10 users from accessing them, while the likes of FSC and BB are considering taking similar action. Over-reaction?

Continue reading →

Few people like to be told what to do, and this is certainly the case online. If you're told that you're not allowed to visit a certain website, it is only human that you question why -- it may well increase your desire to visit said site. Around the world, governments have taken it upon themselves to try to police the internet. It's something many would describe as an exercise in futility, and it seems they are correct.

The implementation of restrictions on access to certain websites can be seen in many countries, but it is something that the UK government has shown itself to be particularly keen on. So how successful have initiatives to block access to the likes of the Pirate Bay, KickAssTorrents et al actually been? Not very. One site that helps users to get around web restrictions is proving more popular than both Skype and Spotify.

Continue reading →

Chrome users who download torrents may be thinking about switching to a different browser. Google's web browser is now blocking access to a number of big name torrent sites. This is not a case of Google taking the moral high ground about the rights and wrongs of torrenting, but part of the search giant's security program to protect users from "harmful programs".

Starting yesterday, downloaders found that access was blocked to ExtraTorrent and KickassTorrents, although the block was later lifted. The block remains in place for other torrent sites including kat.cr. Upon attempting to visit an affected site, would-be torrenters are greeted by a red, full-screen security warning that advises of the potential danger of the site in question.

Continue reading →

Online piracy is usually associated with music, movies, and software. But the ever-growing popularity of ereaders such as the Amazon Kindle has also led to a burgeoning ebook piracy scene. The UK has been trying to clamp down on piracy recently, and the latest target is a raft of sites offering illegal downloads of ebooks.

We've already seen the government would like to restrict access to some online content such as porn, and torrent sites have been blocked at ISP level. Now a High Court ruling means that a number of big ISPs are to be forced to block access to major ebook sites.

Continue reading →

We've grown used to sites like The Pirate Bay making pretty regular moves. It's kind of unavoidable in this business where organizations such as the MPAA exist. While we don't condone piracy, we also don't condone censorship, and there's plenty of studies that show that illegally downloaded content doesn't put much, if any, dent in the copyright holder's bank account.

Today the latest news surfaces -- Kickass Torrents, the top source on the web, is on the move after a brief visit to the Isle of Man. The place proved unfriendly to the organization, shutting it down rather quickly. Next stop? Costa Rica sounds like a nice tropical local, doesn't it?

Continue reading →

Using proxies to access blocked or region-locked content is nothing new. It's a technique that's often associated with piracy, such as using tools to bypass restrictions placed on torrent sites, but it's far from being the only use. Step outside of the US and it's surprising how many well-known services are no longer available.

HBO Now is an example of a service that is not supposed to be available outside of the US, but with the right tool it is. And this is not a case of people freeloading -- people are willing to pay to view the likes of Game of Thrones. Despite coughing up the cash, non-US HBO Now users are being threatened with having their viewing curtailed.

Continue reading →

Hours before HBO could officially premiere the returning episodes of the all-new 'Game of Thrones' season last week, screener copies of the first four episodes leaked to the interweb. Pirates from all across the globe took notice and yet again the American fantasy television series ended up getting illegally downloaded over a million times in less than a day.

HBO has in the past condemned such practice, but it looks much more furious this time. The American premium cable and satellite television network has started to send out thousands of warnings to subscribers who had illegally obtained copies of 'Game of Thrones', and is asking their respective carriers to take severe actions.

Continue reading →