Top torrent and piracy websites in the world

The United States government has released its “2014 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets” report, which includes the “Notorious Markets List”.

The Notorious Markets List highlights online and physical marketplaces that engage in and facilitate copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which compiled the list, said it is based on publicly-available information.

The USTR said it selected “markets” because they exemplify global concerns about counterfeiting and piracy, and because the scale of activity can cause economic harm to U.S. IPR holders.

Success in fighting The Pirate Bay

The USTR report said that previously-listed or nominated sites – including The Pirate Bay – have been the subject of significant domestic and international law enforcement efforts.

“Notable enforcement efforts occurred in Sweden, against ThePirateBay.se, and in Germany, against the nominated but not listed site Boerse.bz,” the report states.

Notorious online markets list

The USTR’s 2014 List reflects nominations of sites that reportedly engage in copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting.

It also includes registrars that reportedly facilitate the distribution of pirated and counterfeit products, including medicines.

• 4shared.com – With millions of unique visitors each day, this popular site, reportedly based in the British Virgin Islands, facilitates streaming and downloads of pirated videos, music, books and games.
• Baixeturbo.org – The site reportedly specializes in infringing music but also offers unauthorized copies of films and television programmes.
• Bajui.com – While not popular on a global scale, for over five years Bajui, hosted in Canada, has reportedly been the source of allegedly infringing music made available to Spanish-speaking users through direct downloads.
• Catshare.net – This Polish site reportedly offers unauthorized alternatives to multiplayer platforms, the gaming industry’s latest business model.
• Cuevana.tv (Storm) – This Argentine site’s operators have developed a new streaming application called “Cuevana Storm” that uses BitTorrent technology to allow users to stream allegedly infringing video content.
• Darkwarez.pl – Darkwarez reportedly continues to make available thousands of links to allegedly infringing video game content.
• Ex.ua and Extratorrent.cc – Extratorrent allegedly has extremely high rates of piracy with over 1.4 million unauthorized files, tens of millions of users, and almost ten billion visits in a single month.
• Free-TV-video-online.me – This site, reportedly hosted in Canada, provides links to unauthorized copies of first-run movies and television programmes.
• Gigabytesistemas.com, E-nuc.com and Hardstore.com – These sites, hosted in Spain and the Republic of San Marino, are reportedly examples of those that facilitate the unauthorized use of copyright-protected games by selling “mod chips” or game copier hardware.
• KickassTorrents – This BitTorrent indexing site continues to be one of the most popular, regardless of the name under which it currently operates.
• Molten-wow.com – This site reportedly provides over 20,000 users with unauthorized access to a popular multiplayer online role-playing game in exchange for financial donations.
• Movshare Group/Private Layer – This group of affiliated and extremely popular sites reportedly uses multiple technologies to make available countless unauthorized copies of movies, games, music, audiobooks, software, and sporting event broadcasts.
• Rutracker.org and Rapidgator.net – The operators of these sites that reportedly facilitate piracy have allegedly based their operations in Russia to evade enforcement.
• Tucows.com – Based in Canada, Tucows is reportedly an example of a registrar that fails to take action when notified of its clients’ infringing activity.
• Ulozto.cz – This cyberlocker allegedly hosts and distributes more than 50 million files, many of which reportedly infringe copyrights in music and film.
• Uploaded.net – This cyberlocker provides access to a broad range of unauthorized copies of copyright-protected materials, and reportedly generates over $6 million per year in advertising and subscription revenues.
• vK.com – Although its ownership has changed, vK.com has continued to operate as an extremely popular social networking site in Russia and neighboring countries.
• Yts.re – With millions of unique visitors each month and a rising global Alexa ranking in the low 700s, Yts.re is a popular site for allegedly pirated movies.
• Yyets.com – Described by some commentators as the most popular dedicated website for copyright infringing materials in China.
• Zing.vn – Vietnam-based Zing.vn, primarily a social media site, reportedly continues to facilitate access to unauthorized music files
• Zippyshare.com – This site is well-known for downloads and distribution of allegedly infringing music.

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