After the arrest of the rumored Kickass Torrents owner Artem Vaulin and the website's eventual shut down in August, torrent users are reportedly struggling to find an alternative venue for accessing files online.
According to Game N Guide, avid torrent users are deeply affected by the closure of Kickass Torrents due to copyright infringement violations. While there are alternative sites like TPBClean and Torrentz.ht that are still operating, reports claimed that these sites do not have the same features and capacity that Kickass Torrents used to offer.
The Pirate Bay could be considered as a better alternative for Kickass Torrents, but the Swedish torrent site had been blocked by Google early this month. This prevented Google Chrome and Firefox from accessing the site. It came with the warning that the attackers within the website could possibly trick torrent users into installing dangerous software or revealing their personal details.
However, the ban for The Pirate Bay is lifted as of the moment. According to the current status posted on the transparency report, The Pirate Bay is not a dangerous site. "Safe Browsing has not recently seen malicious content on thepiratebay.org," the transparency report stated.
However, the fate of The Pirate Bay remains uncertain since governments worldwide continue their fight against online piracy. This will prompt torrent users to continue searching for other sites to supply their downloading needs.
Meanwhile, a report from University Herald claimed that college students suffer the most from the closure of stable torrent sites like Kickass Torrents. According to the report, students use such sites to download their textbooks online. While this practice could be considered illegal, students do this in order to save money from the growing cost of education.
Since downloading from torrent sites is still a challenge at the moment, students are advised to find other alternatives in accessing the required textbooks that they need in class such as buying a cheaper edition from bookstores and borrowing from the library.
