Following the shutdown of Kickass Torrents many torrent fans have feared that The Pirate Bay, the next big source for torrent files such as pirated films and video games, may be shut down next. While the site is still active now it is possibly going to be shut down soon due to newer restrictions in the U.S. and in Sweden.
According to TorrentFreak, anti-piracy groups such as The Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture have launches campaigns to both presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the hopes that either would consider making stricter laws in the US concerning illegal file sharing and piracy.
Both groups are notably powerful as the Copyright Alliance is comprised of the MPAA, Getty Images, Viacom and the RIAA among many others. CreativeFuture is comprised of over 450 companies including many in the book, film, television and music industries.
Mobile N Apps also points out that while the U.S. is looking forward to stricter copyright protection laws Sweden, which has been the home of torrenting sites in the past, may begin penalizing file sharers to the point where sites like The Pirate Bay will close because they'll have nothing left for users to share and download.
According to the report, an organization known as Distribution Check and a German outfit known as Expicio are aiming to monitor file sharers but will only penalize those who share copyright material like movies. According to the report, those caught violating piracy laws will pay a fee of $233 (2,000 Sweden kronor) per film.
While the fee is arguably smaller than what would be fined in court it may be enough to discourage people in the country from sharing copyrighted material on The Pirate Bay. This will eventually lead to the site emptying out its content until copyrighted films are no longer available. This law may then extend to books, music and more.
