TorrentFreak

Latest Posts

• BitTorrent Traffic Booms Due to “Licensing Challenges”

  In the U.S., BitTorrent’s share of total Internet traffic is falling sharply and the aggregate share of all P2P sharing applications is now at an all-time low of 12.7 percent. In other parts of the world, however, this trend is noticeably absent. In Europe and the Asia-Pacific region BitTorrent continues to surge. In part this difference can be explained by the lack of legal alternatives.

• TorrentFreak Censored by Orange’s Child Protection Filter

  The Internet is a scary place for kids, but luckily there’s censorship. In the UK mobile networks have so-called “child protection filters” to deal with shady content, and in many cases these are turned on by default. The filters block all sorts of nasty and offensive content, including TorrentFreak. While we’re not banned by all [...]

• Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom Refuses to Give Up Passwords

  Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom is demanding access to 135 computers and hard drives that were seized from his home in January, so the data can be used for his defense. Until then, he refuses to give up passwords to encrypted data stored on the machines. Dotcom’s legal team is challenging the legality of the search warrants at the High Court in Auckland and is accusing the US Government of an unfair fight.

• Pirate Bay Simplifies Circumvention of ISP Blockades

  In their ongoing effort to circumvent the court mandated blockades in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, The Pirate Bay has added a new website. The site in question is operating from a new IP-address which makes it available directly to blocked subscribers. In addition, the new site is optimized to work with proxies in case the IP-address is blocked in the future.

• “How We Stopped SOPA”

  After the historic protests in January SOPA and PIPA were ‘shelved’. In a keynote speech at Freedom 2 Connect, Demand Progress founder Aaron Swartz looks back at what happened. Swartz explains how SOPA was effectively stopped, and why this was so crucially important. The battle over the Internet…

• Undercover MPAA Agents Expose Alleged Movie Pirates

  A British couple are facing imprisonment after an MPAA sting operation revealed they were the owners of streaming links site SurfTheChannel. Aside from the use of an undercover agent who gained access to the defendants’ house under false pretenses, the case also involves an unprecedented involvement of the US authorities with a UK court case, in which a defendant in the US was offered a deal after agreeing to cooperate and testify in a trial overseas.

• Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent

  The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent, ‘John Carter’ tops the chart this week, followed by ‘Journey 2: The Mysterious Island’. ‘The Avengers’ completes the top three.

• Who’s Pirating Game of Thrones, And Why?

  With over 3 million downloads per episode, the HBO hit series Game of Thrones is without doubt the most pirated TV-show of the season. Data gathered by TorrentFreak shows that most of the pirates come from Australia, while London tops the list of pirate cities. But why have these people turned to BitTorrent?

• MPAA: Piracy is NOT Theft After All

  For decades the entertainment industry used the word “theft” to refer to piracy. Most famous is probably the “You Wouldn’t Steal a Car” ad. But virtually all press releases of outfits such as the MPAA refer to stealing or theft. All of a sudden, however, MPAA boss Chris Dodd is whistling a different tune. After [...]

NewsBits

The latest news from around the web, not covered on the frontpage

• TorrentFreak Censored by Orange’s Child Protection Filter

  The Internet is a scary place for kids, but luckily there’s censorship. In the UK mobile...

• “How We Stopped SOPA”

  After the historic protests in January SOPA and PIPA were ‘shelved’. In a keynote speech at...

• Supreme Court Refuses $675,000 File-Sharing Case

  The case of the RIAA vs. Joel Tenenbaum – aka the case that will not die...

• MPAA: Piracy is NOT Theft After All

  For decades the entertainment industry used the word “theft” to refer to piracy. Most famous is...

• Idiotic Copyright Comparisons in Canadian Parliament

  Politicians are always going the extra mile for their supporters, and nothing spells that out more...

MostDiscussed

Below are TorrentFreak's most discussed articles of the past month. Join the discussion if you like.

• Pirate Bay Under DDoS Attack From Unknown Enemy

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• Microsoft Funded Startup Aims to Kill BitTorrent Traffic

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• Who’s Pirating Game of Thrones, And Why?

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• The Pirate Bay Suffers (Local) Downtime

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• The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

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PopularArticles

A selection of some TorrentFreak's classics dug up from our archives.

• Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2012

  Continuing a long-standing New Year's tradition, we present an up-to-date list of the world's most visited...

• Which VPN Providers Really Take Anonymity Seriously?

  Last month it became apparent that not all VPN providers live up to their marketing after...

• What’s The Best VPN / Proxy for BitTorrent?

  Privacy is important on the Internet, and BitTorrent users are certainly not excluded. Already, hundreds of...

• BTGuard Review: How Does it Work?

  With the entertainment industries lobbying for increased powers to spy on BitTorrent users, many downloaders are...

• Optimize Your BitTorrent Download Speed

  BitTorrent can be fun, as long as you get decent speeds. Not satisfied with your current...