TorrentFreak

Due to court imposed blockades millions of Pirate Bay users rely on proxy websites to access their favorite BitTorrent site. Approximately 5% of all Pirate Bay users now visit the site through a proxy address, and thanks to “The Pirate Patch” app they can now do so using the familiar thepiratebay.se and .org domains.

The MPAA and RIAA have submitted their policy recommendations to Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel. In a joint submission the groups explain that despite the broad availability of legal content, online piracy is still rampant. The groups say that services including The Pirate Bay, Rapidgator, Turbobit, DepositFiles and PutLocker are piracy havens, and they urge the U.S. Government to help them quash these sites.

Finnish band Älymystö are furious at local anti-piracy groups after their action forced The Pirate Bay to become blocked by several of the country’s largest Internet providers. The band, which has been around for more than a decade, views BitTorrent sites as a valuable form of promotion. To counter the blockades, Älymystö are now showing their fans how easy it is to circumvent the censorship attempt.

Due to court imposed blockades hundreds of thousands of Pirate Bay users rely on proxy websites to access their favorite BitTorrent site. However, starting three days ago several of the most popular proxies turned evil, only allowing users to download torrents if they agreed to install crapware. The Pirate Bay team is not happy with this move and has threatened to retaliate.

Less than 24-hours after the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics over a hundred thousand people downloaded a copy via BitTorrent. Celebrating the Olympic fever, The Pirate Bay decided to rename itself to The Olympic Bay, linking to freshly uploaded London 2012 torrents. In addition, they decided to stream the “this is for everyone” tagline [...]

After the Hollywood-funded anti-piracy group BREIN claimed victory against The Pirate Bay, Dutch Internet provider XS4All has spoiled the fun with a surprise announcement. The ISP claims that BitTorrent traffic increased after the Pirate Bay blockade was introduced, and adds that the entertainment industry’s witch hunt is alienating consumers. “Build a legal version of the Pirate Bay,” is their advice.

During the past several weeks, with blockades of The Pirate Bay biting in both the Netherlands and the UK, sites which facilitate access to the world’s most famous torrent site have been popping up in their dozens. However, not all of these sites have users’ best interests at heart. Several, flying in the face of the very fiber of The Pirate Bay, have had the temerity to do the unthinkable – charge for free downloads.