WITH anti-piracy groups putting pressure on internet service providers to block torrent websites, one of the world’s most popular platforms is getting creative.Kickass Torrents is making a mockery of censorship efforts by moving its operation onto the dark web, where it will be hidden in the tor network.
Attracting millions of pirates per day, Kickass Torrents is the most visited piracy site on the internet, which means it is a target for copyright holders looking to get it removed offline.
The UK and Finland already implement blocking of torrent websites at an ISP level, and Australia is looking to follow suit.
While the technique does successfully block websites, the problem is they often return by implementing a reverse proxy, which mirrors the original sites on a new domain name and makes them accessible again.
Alternatively, the piracy site can follow the lead of other sites and move its operation to the dark web, where they can’t be easily blocked by ISPs.
Kickass Torrents’ Mr White said the site was moved to the dark web after a number of requests from users, who have been quick to praise the piracy outlet.“This is fantastic news. I had quite some difficulties trying to log in.
Now no more,” wrote one user, “Welcome to Tor KAT family, nothing beats sailing on the dark net,” added another.
Kickass Torrents is not the first piracy site to exist on the dark net with The Pirate Bay making the move several years earlier.
Additionally, there are also a number of smaller, lesser known torrent sites on the web.