Torrent News: Russia expands efforts to block pirate sites with Kaspersky

Governments and private companies are consistently at odds with so-called pirate sites where copyrighted media contents and paid software could be downloaded for free through torrent files. Recently, the Russian government scored a win over this campaign with the help of major security software company Kaspersky.

Kaspersky blocks torrent sites per government’s orders

The Russia-based software company offers VPN services within the country. However, it is the latest tech company in Russia to comply with digital regulations aiming to block access to pirate sites.

The country maintains a Federal State Information System that is practically a list of domains that Internet service providers are ordered to block. However, citizens can mitigate this by using an array of VPN services that are still operating in Russia and has reportedly decided to either ignore or reject such policies. But digital rights group Roskomsvoboda recently confirmed that Kaspersky is not one of those companies. So to those who use its VPN services, they can no longer access pirate or torrent sites that are blacklisted by the Russian government.

Meanwhile, TorrentFreak also reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media or Roskomnadzor has identified nine VPN services that could ultimately be banned from operating in Russia for not following the regulations. However, Roskomnadzor later had more lenient tone saying they are not looking to ban any VPN services immediately and that they might impose fines instead.

‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ torrent file leaked online

Despite aggressive measures by governments, ISPs, and major film studios, the torrent community seems always to find a way to outsmart them. This results in leaking big Hollywood movies days ahead of its official theater release and the latest victim appears to be Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home.”

A popular torrent site was reportedly able to release a full copy of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” online even before it became available in movie theaters on July 2. The movie’s plot, which marks the start of Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4, has also been leaked through 4Chan and Reddit. Fans can also find in other online channels that crucial end-credit scenes were uploaded.