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File-sharing hub ExtraTorrent is still offline

By | Published on Thursday 25 May 2017

ExtraTorrent

Last week another file-sharing hub went offline and, according to Torrentfreak, reports of a speedy revival appearing online almost immediately are somewhat misleading.

ExtraTorrent had, by all accounts, become the world’s second largest torrent site after the good old Pirate Bay, providing users with so called magnet links and torrent files that in turn provide access to digital content, much of it unlicensed.

The site went offline last week with little explanation. Unlike the other big file-sharing hub of recent years, KickassTorrents, which went offline as a result of action taken by the US government on copyright infringement grounds, it seems that the operator of ExtraTorrent shut down his site voluntarily. Though possibly under pressure from the authorities or fearing that said authorities were about to swoop.

As is often the case when key piracy operations go offline, a number of sites soon sprung up claiming to be clones of the now defunct ExtraTorrent site. At least one – Extratorrent.cd – claimed it was being run by former admins at ExtraTorrent who were attempting to restore the platform to its former glory.

But, as it also often the case, the ‘clones’ are actually pulling in their file-sharing links from elsewhere – principally The Pirate Bay – rather than having access to the old ExtraTorrent database. They are simply using the old ExtraTorrent name and logo.

Reports Torrentfreak: “Aside from its appearance, Extratorrent.cd has absolutely nothing to do with ET. The site is an imposter operated by the same people who also launched Kickass.cd when KAT went offline last summer. In fact, the content on both sites doesn’t come from the defunct sites they try to replace, but from The Pirate Bay. ExtraTorrent.cd is nothing more than a Pirate Bay mirror with an ExtraTorrent skin”.

Torrentfreak adds that some ex-admins of ExtraTorrent are considering trying to relaunch the piracy site in some form or another, but there would be various challenges to tackle before they could do that.



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