Torrents alternatives after fall of Kickass Torrents, Torrenthound and Torrentz: Kickass.mx shut down (Photo : Getty Images/ David Paul Morris)
Peter Sunde, the co-founder of The Pirate Bay (TPB) has said that the "piracy" sphere requires more creativity for sustainability. Following KickassTorrents (KAT) shutdown, Sunde argues that the current environment depends too heavily on a few large sites, and therefore, decentralization is crucial in solving this susceptibility.
The alleged owner of KAT was arrested in Poland last week, where he faces an expatriation request from the United States. The information not only came as a shock to many KAT users, but also had a great effect on the torrent community at large, especially in the short term, according to Torrent Freak.
Sunde was among the guests that discussed the events and consequences of the shutdown on a special episode of Steal This Show, according to the same publication. TPB co-founder finds it very odd that the United States can influence arrests deep into Europe.
"For me, it's weird that Poland is arresting someone on the orders of the United States where the person has not been," Sunde said. He is uncomfortable with a country possessing that much power irrespective of whether it is the US or Russia. According to the TPB co-founder, one state should not just arrest people from anywhere in the world because they do something on the Internet.
TPB founders, including Sunde, had criminal charges in Sweden some years back, wherein they all served jail time. While Sunde believes that their case was also influenced by the US, prosecution was conducted in their home country instead.
On the other hand, Sunde is convinced that the shutdown of KAT shows how susceptible the torrent ecosystem is. Most users depend on a small group of torrent sites, which are all major targets of law enforcement.
According to TPB co-founder, a more distributed system is inevitable. Sunde proposed a large hybrid of many smaller sites as opposed to one big target like KAT or The Pirate Bay.
Many new technologies can make torrent sites more decentralized, including Zeronet and IPFS. However, Sunde pointed out that the large torrent websites like TPB do not really see the need to innovate.
Here is footage for more information on KickassTorrents:
