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Torrent Sites Earned $70M After Dropping Malware On Visitors (softpedia.com)
jones_supa writes: One in three torrent sites is spreading malware, claims a recent joint report (PDF) from Digital Citizens Alliance and RiskIQ, which compiled data from over 800 sites. Most of the time, the sites expose visitors to drive-by attacks that silently download malicious files on computers without any user interaction. These types of attacks are usually carried out through malvertising campaigns. It turns out that this is actually a good business for the operators of the pirate sites: depending on traffic, they can make between $200 and $5,000 per day. In total it is estimated that this type of covert agreement between malware distributors and pirate site operators has pocketed the latter about $70 million per year.
The websites send files to auto-download and it fills up my download folder a bit.
If you're computer-saavy enough to use torrents, you should be smart enough to disable the "automatically run downloaded files" feature of your browser.
Actually, one thing that really bugs me is those damn websites that force a file download when I try to view a PDF file inside my browser.
"How Content Theft Sites and Malware Are Exploited By Cybercriminals to Hack Into Internet Users' Computers and Personal Data"
And you've blown any credibility you may have had.
Shocking Company funded by movie companies gives reason not to use torrents.
Again it falls under - if you're not paying for it, then you're the product. From facebook to bit torrent, this is a guiding force of the internet.
Just remember that $70M is calculated the same was the DEA calculates drug bust values and the RIAA/MPAA calculate piracy losses.
I would download something from the Pirate Bay any day over a site like CNET's download.com. At least with Pirate Bay, there is a CHANCE a program doesn't come with malware.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
For the most part, people who download torrents understand the risks and are voluntarily subjecting themselves to the risks of a quasi-legal enterprise. People are less apt to complain about the consequences of choices they have made, and less likely to protest that people who don't understand the realities of downloading are getting taken for a ride.
On the other hand, the music industry is a big, legal business which screws everyone involved with it but at the same time, protests that it has the moral high ground simply because the law says it gets its privileges.
The reality is that they're both problematic, but the download sites are less inclined to pretend that they aren't an inhabitant of the Wild West of the Internet.