Two major KickAss Torrents alternatives mysteriously go offline in France; The Pirate Bay, Extratorrent risk piracy crackdown soon

KickAss torrent shut down was a major setback for torrent users and people who use such platforms to share and download files for free. Now with the close down of two major torrent sites in France, it is rumored that a number of other sites may also face piracy crackdown soon.

Soon after KickAss torrent shut down, other alternative torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay, Extratorrent and 1337x became quickly popular among users for torrent downloads. However, such KickAss torrents alternatives may be forcefully closed down soon, a report published by Yibada suggests.

The publication based its report on recent torrent site shut down activity conducted by French authorities. The team there have been conducting piracy crackdown and the two major torrent sites - DL-Protect and Zone-Telechargement - became its latest victims.

According to TorrentFreak, DL-Protect and Zone-Telechargement are two of the most visited websites in France. The latter site went offline mysterious on November 29, Tuesday, following raids conducted by the French police authorities and French Gendarmerie. However, it returned back a few hours later, but the connection was largely broken or discontinuous.

On the other hand, DL-Protect also went offline without any prior notice. This website if one of the most popular sites in France for direct downloads and is almost similar to another KickAss torrent alternative, Megaupload.

The French authorities figured out that both these websites were being run by same group of people. It is estimated that both these websites earned almost 10 million euros in the last few years, resulting in significant loss to the copyright holders.

According to reports, more than seven people have been detained in this regard. The French authorities are expected to make more arrests in the days to come.

Considering the situation in France and the global efforts being taken to take down torrent sites, it is believed that popular KickAss torrents alternatives such as The Pirate Bay, 1337x and Extratorrent may also go mysteriously offline.

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