The Pirate Bay (TPB), Other Kickass Torrents (KAT), Torrentz and Torrenting Alternatives Will Be Blocked Soon on Chrome, Firefox and Safari? (Photo : Yibada/Tarun Mazumdar)
Torrent fans could soon find the likes of The Pirate Bay, ExtraTorrent.cc and other so-called Kickass Torrents, Torrentz.eu and torrenting alternatives blocked by their favorite web browsing tools. This is no thanks to the recently updated Google Safe Browsing service that is found on Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari.
The bumped up browser security feature, according to TorrentFreak, now comes with a Repeat Offender policy that automatically identifies websites supposedly loaded with harmful programs, which could be virus or malware infection. When activated, the new Safe Browsing protocol will ban offending sites for 30 days - meaning users will be unable to access the sites deemed by Google as unsafe for browsing.
Seen to be impacted by the new feature are torrenting sites like The Pirate Bay and ExtraTorrent, which in the past have been blocked by Google's Safe Browsing tool for running site advertisements that contain infectious elements. While TPB and other similar sites have made clear that malwares on their sites were due to third-party ad agencies, the tool is unlikely to make distinctions and will implement browsing blockades the moment it detects security risks.
As indicated by Google, the Repeat Offender element of its Safe Browsing tool is chiefly to crackdown on sites that likely to go around the security feature - like flipping on and off the malicious content when temporary ban is enforced. When found that these sites allow or tolerate harmful activities, "Safe Browsing will begin to classify these types of sites as Repeat Offenders," TorrentFreak reported Google as saying.
When red flagged, TPB for instance will not load on Chrome, Firefox and Safari for 30 days or as stated in the same report, the browser ban "can become more permanent in the future." Of note is that this 2016 alone, The Pirate Bay was banned twice, which somehow indicates that the King of Torrents runs the risk of being labeled as Repeat Offender.
TPB operators, however, are far from worried. Clarifying that in the previous occasions of browser bans third-party advertisers were to blame, TPB told TorrentFreak. "So maybe in the long run those agencies with a tendency to serve malicious ads will better screen their clients," TPB said, adding that advertisers will likely be more vigilant in light of Google's stricter security browsing features.
And in case The Pirate Bay, ExtraTorrent, RARBG, 1337x and other KAT and Torrentz alternatives are banned by the Google Safe Browsing tool on Chrome, Firefox and Safari an easy fix is readily available. To end the 30-day ban, users can just deactivate the malware checking tool on their browsers and blocked sites will load again. But opting for this means flirting with risks, TorrentFreak said.
