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Pirate Bay is Mining Cryptocurrency Again, No Opt Out (torrentfreak.com)

Posted by msmash on from the watch-out dept.

The Pirate Bay is mining cryptocurrency again, causing a spike in CPU usage among many visitors. From a report: For now, the notorious torrent site provides no option to disable it. The new mining expedition is not without risk. CDN provider Cloudflare previously suspended the account of a site that used a similar miner, which means that The Pirate Bay could be next. Last month The Pirate Bay caused some uproar by adding a Javascript-based cryptocurrency miner to its website. The miner utilizes CPU power from visitors to generate Monero coins for the site, providing an extra source of revenue. [...] The Pirate Bay currently has no opt-out option, nor has it informed users about the latest mining efforts. This could lead to another problem since Coinhive said it would crack down on customers who failed to keep users in the loop.

22 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. I'm surprised by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would have thought the people who knew about torrents were among the same people who use adblockers and NoScript.

    1. Re:I'm surprised by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I would have thought the people who knew about torrents were among the same people who use adblockers and NoScript.

      People that use adblockers and NoScript want privacy.
      People that use torrents want free stuff.
      There is some overlap, but they are mostly different groups.

    2. Re: I'm surprised by sirber · · Score: 2

      You can disable javascript per site with chrome, no addon required.

      --
      Be or ben't
    3. Re:I'm surprised by qortra · · Score: 3, Insightful

      People that use torrents want free stuff.

      You make it sound so tawdry, perhaps because you failed to identify the most important distinction: free as in beer, or as in speech? Many of the people who want "free stuff" are more than happy to buy their media, but only without DRM. People who don't want DRM and do want privacy actually overlap quite nicely.

    4. Re:I'm surprised by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > Many of the people who want "free stuff" are more than happy to buy their media, but only without DRM.

      Don't assume that just because you're some high-thinking technological idealist that everyone else is too. People torrent Game of Thrones because they don't have an HBO GO login to bum off of someone else, not because they're making some statement about DRM.

  2. Shocked, simply shocked by geschbacher79 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How could a website dedicated to helping facilitate the widespread distribution of pirated materials engage in anything unethical? It's almost like they don't give a crap about anything except making money off the backs of other's work.

    1. Re:Shocked, simply shocked by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

      "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:Shocked, simply shocked by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"

      Your winnings sir....

    3. Re:Shocked, simply shocked by sexconker · · Score: 3, Informative

      Next you'll tell me that Warez producers incorporate exploit code into the products they crack.

      They don't. Proper scene releases are clean.

    4. Re:Shocked, simply shocked by sexconker · · Score: 2

      He said "warez producers". The vast, vast majority of people making WaReZ are part of a scene, and they do it right.
      Miscreants who take the releases, inject malware, and redistribute them are not the WaReZ producers, are not part of the scene, won't have their .nfo indexed, will have any "release" they try to pass off nuked, etc.

  3. Duh by barrywalker · · Score: 4, Informative

    Turn Javascript off, dummies.

  4. NoScript by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Informative

    I assume one could "opt out" using NoScript.

    It's annoying to be put in that position... but it's not as if it's particularly novel for end users to be forced into taking action to stop web sites from doing things we don't want them doing.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:NoScript by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      There is also a opt out by simply not going to the site. I have yet to see anything that pirate bay has to offer that a carefully worded google search won't fine.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  5. Who cares? It's better than advertising. by ErikTheRed · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Seriously. Most of us have cores sitting idle. Instead of being abused / tracked / annoyed / occasionally infected by advertising, why not let sites do a small amount of mining while we visit?

    --

    Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
    1. Re:Who cares? It's better than advertising. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's the most wasteful way of donating ever. You're throwing dollar bills out the window (electricity) to donate pennies.

    2. Re:Who cares? It's better than advertising. by viperidaenz · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Pirate Bay doesn't require Javascript to function. Turn it off and the ads are less intrusive too.

    3. Re:Who cares? It's better than advertising. by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Seriously. Most of us have cores sitting idle. Instead of being abused / tracked / annoyed / occasionally infected by advertising, why not let sites do a small amount of mining while we visit?

      What's the real difference? How do you know the miner script isn't doing tracking / infesting your PC with malware? The javascript behind it is exactly the same - whether it's annoying displaying an ad, or mining.

      If you say it's because it's first party, remember advertising started out that way too - every site handled their own advertising. Then came along ad networks which made it easier for website creators to have ads. It's only a matter of time before mining becomes a network and all you have to do is join a mining network. Said mining network can also track you across the web like ads do, as well as potentially be infected with dodgy scripts that install all sorts of weird crap, like ads do.

    4. Re:Who cares? It's better than advertising. by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      Fuck off with your false dichotomy.

      /sarcasm Would you like to be raped or murdered?

      NO! **Both** suck.

      Just because some of _my_ CPU cores are idle doesn't give you any right to use it.

  6. not even the worst thing... by citylivin · · Score: 2

    If you have been there recently, every second link you click has code injected to open a BUY VPN NOW! page. even magent links do this so i have to close the popup tab and click again.

    still a valuable resource. Lots of torrent websites shut down recently. no script makes quick work of these sorts of things so no biggy for me, but i no longer recommend the site to normal users.

    --
    As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
  7. Get in, get out, no problem by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

    Just get what you need and remember to get out. Annoying, but not really a problem worth going on about.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  8. Re:Why is this bad? by fisted · · Score: 2

    I don't really see how maxing out your CPU (which in turn generates heat and as a consequence, noise, as well as raising your electricity bill) beats crappy ads and pop-ups...

    --
    CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
  9. Re:Who cares? by KiloByte · · Score: 2

    I expect we'll have miner-blocker add-ons by the end of the year.

    You mean...?

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.