There online piracy has had a significant impact over the years, with many legacy websites offering copyrighted content without permission from the rights holders. Although some of these sites have been demolished, others have been “resurrected” and continued to exist in new forms. In this study, we will briefly explore the history and legal events that led to the closure of 5 of the most well-known pirate streaming sites of the story: Megaupload and Megavideo, The Pirate Bay, KickAssTorrents, Napster And Rojadirectaalso used in Italy.
Top 5 closed pirate sites
Megaupload and Megavideo
Megaupload and Megavideo they were among the most popular file hosting sites in the world. Megaupload allowed users to upload and share files, including copyrighted movies, music, and software. With over 150 million registered users, the site generated approximately 4% of all Internet traffic! Megavideo, a video streaming platform, was one of its best-known features. In 2012, the founder Kim Dotcom was arrested in New Zealand at the request of US authorities for copyright infringement. The US government accused Megaupload of causing losses of more than $500 million. In response to the arrests, the hacktivist group of Anonymous launched attacks against government websites, including those of theFBI and of Department of Justice. Despite attempts to reopen the site in 2017, to date Megaupload (and its “offshoots”, such as Megavideo) has never been reactivated.
The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay is an example of how piracy sites have resisted legal action. Founded in Sweden, TPB uses the BitTorrent protocol for file sharing. Although the site has been blocked in several countries, including Italy, The Pirate Bay has adopted several strategies to stay online, including the creation of new domains. In Italy, for example, the site was blocked in 2008, but TPB managed to circumvent it by changing its domain. Additionally, legal action was taken in 2010 to shut down access from the country, but despite the difficulties, the site is still active today. We decided to include it in our ranking due to its extreme resonance.
KickAss Torrent
KickAssTorrentsfounded in 2008, has been one of the most popular torrent sites in the world. In 2016, US authorities seized KAT’s domain, but some former staff members managed to launch a new site with the same name. KAT’s popularity was such that in 2014 it surpassed The Pirate Bay in terms of number of visits. Despite the closure, KAT has managed to maintain a loyal community that has continued to look for ways to access the site, as in the case of the katcr.co domain, created in 2016. However, since July 2020 and up to the time of writing this article , the site is offline.
Napster
Napsterone of the pioneers in the field of file sharing, was another site that suffered the legal consequences of its actions. Launched in 1999, it allowed users to share music files, but in 2000 the band Metallica filed a lawsuit against the site for copyright infringement. In the 2001a judge ordered the service closed. Despite his failure, the Napster brand was purchased in 2002 by Bertelsmann AG and turned into a paid music streaming service.
Rojadirecta
Rojadirectaa site that offered free streaming of sporting events, was blacked out in Italy in 2013 after legal action taken by Mediaset (which at the time was very active in the sector of broadcasting sporting and football events with the television platform Mediaset Premium). Despite the seizure of the site and the obligation to compensate Mediaset for the damage caused with a compensation exceeding 500,000 eurosRojadirecta managed to resist, finding new ways to circumvent the blocks imposed by Italian providers (and those of other countries). In the 2018 the platform has ceased its activities, at least from what can be seen from the sources we consulted.
