Amidst the ongoing legal barriers and the outages, The Pirate Bay, the renowned torrent site, is up and still running. (Photo : Twitter/The Pirate Bay)
Rumors fired up anew that The Pirate Bay shutdown is imminent as the King of Torrents was reportedly blocked by web browsers Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox with internet security provider Comodo joining the blockade. But TPB remains accessible to torrent fans searching for the best alternatives to KickassTorrents and Torrentz, thus shooting down speculations of its imminent demise.
TorrentFreak first reported that the download page of TPB appeared to have been blocked by Chrome and Firefox. Users on Chrome were greeted by a banner warning of possible "harmful programs" contained by The Pirate Bay pages.
The same situation was found in Firefox as downloaders were advised that TPB is suspected of hosting unwanted applications or the likelihood of contracting virus or malware infection should users wish to proceed.
Likewise, anti-virus maker and web security provider Comodo has listed TPB as an "unsafe website" and warned users of the likelihood of hacking. The same browsing risk label was first given to ExtraTorrent, which currently is the second biggest free download destination.
However, the problem is not as serious as it appeared. The danger warnings, in fact, will not force users out TPB. As mentioned above, torrent fans have the option to proceed by simply disregarding the red banners but at their own risk.
And the risk, if any, seems minimal and not at all the fault by The Pirate bay, according to Venture Beat. "These types of warnings typically occur when an ad network is compromised and starts serving malicious ads. Because sites often use multiple advertising networks, some specific to certain regions, not all users are always affected," the report added.
In the Chrome blocking, for example, only one TPB page was identified as possible malware-risk. The rest, meaning the millions of digital downloads offered by the site, are safe to navigate with.
By now, Venture Beat is assuming that The Pirate Bay has already pinpointed erring add network and had it deleted. In short, the problem has been resolved already and that would mean two things.
First, that The Pirate Bay remains not only the best but also safest alternative to KickassTorrents and Torrentz.eu. And that TPB shutting down soon will remain just a wild rumor.
