TorrentFreak

Last updated

TorrentFreak
TorrentFreak logo.svg
TorrentFreak home page screenshot.png
Screenshot of the site
Type of site
 Blog
Available in English
OwnerLennart Renkema PhD [1]
Created byErnesto van der Sar
Andy Maxwell
Rickard Falkvinge
Ben Jones (modified WordPress)
EditorErnesto van der Sar
Revenue Advertisements
URL torrentfreak.com
Launched12 November 2005;19 years ago (2005-11-12)
Content license
CC BY-NC 3.0 (text only) [2]

TorrentFreak (TF) is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and trends on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, as well as on copyright infringement and digital rights.

Contents

The website was started in November 2005 by a Dutchman using the pseudonym "Ernesto van der Sar". [3] [4] He was joined by Andy "Enigmax" Maxwell and Ben Jones in 2007. [4] [5] Regular contributors include Rickard Falkvinge, founder of the Pirate Party. [6] The online publication eCommerceTimes, in 2009, described "Ernesto" as the pseudonym of Lennart Renkema, owner of TorrentFreak. [7] TorrentFreak's text is free content under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial version 3.0 license. [2]

Their lead researcher and community manager was the Pirate Party activist Andrew Norton, from 2007 to 2022.

TorrentFreak is incorporated in the Netherlands, with an office in Groningen and a mailing address in Manchester, United Kingdom. [5]

Specialist areas

According to Canadian law scholar Michael Geist, TorrentFreak "is widely used as a source of original reporting on digital issues". [8]

Frequent areas of reporting include:

As well as other news affecting copyright, privacy, file sharing and adjacent topics. [5]

Editorial stance

In a 2021 article, Andy Maxwell outlined TorrentFreak's editorial stance. He wrote: "As a publication entirely dedicated to reporting on copyright, piracy, torrent, and streaming sites (plus all things closely related), here at TorrentFreak we aim to tell all 'sides' of the story. We do not shy away from reports that show that piracy hurts sales and we have no problem publishing research projects that show completely the opposite. It's called balanced reporting and it hurts absolutely no one." [15]

History

On 17 August 2007, TorrentFreak reported that Comcast had begun throttling its upload bandwidth, specifically against BitTorrent users. This made seeding, which is an essential part of the BitTorrent protocol, effectively impossible. [16] It was later determined that Comcast was using Sandvine products, which implement network traffic shaping and policing, and include support for both blocking new and forcefully terminating established network connections. Comcast denied these claims whenever asked to comment. A guide for customer service representatives when asked about Comcast's BitTorrent throttling was leaked to The Consumerist on 26 October 2007. [17]

Between October 2008 and March 2011, TorrentFreak ran a short-lived video news service titled torrentfreak.tv, directed by Andrej Preston, founder of the torrent site Suprnova, and made available for streaming and download on Mininova. [18] [19]

On 21 August 2013, Comcast threatened TorrentFreak with legal action for reproducing publicly available court documents. [20] [21] The document linked a Comcast subscriber with the Prenda Law firm in a copyright infringement lawsuit. [22]

In August 2013, Sky Broadband blocked the site for UK customers after torrent site EZTV pointed its DNS servers to TorrentFreak's IP address. In July 2014, the site was also blocked by the Sky Broadband Shield parental filter system. [23] [24]

2020s

During the 2020s, TorrentFreak continued to focus on copyright, digital rights, and anti-piracy developments, covering topics such as court-ordered website blocking, IPTV enforcement, domain seizures, and new enforcement strategies by rights holders. [25]

In 2022, TorrentFreak highlighted the takedown of the e-book library Z-Library and the increasing global scope of ISP blocking orders in its annual “Most-Read News Articles of 2022”. [26]

In 2024, the site reported on film companies’ attempts to obtain a Reddit user’s torrenting history, illustrating the widening scope of discovery requests in U.S. piracy litigation. [27] It also covered the largest IPTV piracy trial in U.S. history, involving the Jetflicks and iStreamitAll services. [28]

In 2025, TorrentFreak reported on a $15 million judgment obtained by Netflix, Amazon, and several Hollywood studios against the operator of the pirate IPTV service Outer Limits. [29]

Throughout its history, TorrentFreak has documented copyright litigation, ISP enforcement policies, and digital rights cases, maintaining a reputation as a long-running independent publication focused on the intersection of technology and copyright law.

References

  1. ↑ Pouwelse, Johan; Renkema, Lennart (17 April 2009). "Piraten zijn digitale pioniers" [Pirates are digital pioneers]. NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 11 September 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Copyright". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 27 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. ↑ Injijian, Allen (14 May 2007). "Pwned: Final Project Interview #2: Ernesto of TorrentFreak.com". Archived from the original on 30 June 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  4. 1 2 Smith, Ethan; McBride, Sarah (4 August 2008). "Web Piracy: The Enemy Within?". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 "About TorrentFreak". Archived from the original on 27 June 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  6. ↑ Profile. Rick Falkvinge Archived 16 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine , torrentfreak.com.
  7. ↑ San Miguel, Renay (30 June 2009). "Pirate Bay Decides to Join the Navy". E-Commerce Times. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  8. ↑ Geist, Michael (20 April 2010). "The 2009 Copyright Consultation: Setting the Record Straight". Archived from the original on 27 June 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  9. ↑ "File-sharing site back up after copyright suspension". Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Lee, Dave (29 July 2014). "Police placing anti-piracy warning ads on illegal sites". Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  11. ↑ Johnson, Ted (15 November 2013). "U.S. Trade Representative Defends Pending Trade Pact After WikiLeaks Disclosure". Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  12. ↑ Cooke, Chris (1 September 2014). "MPAA research bigs up UK web-blocking". Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  13. ↑ Knowles, Jamillah (18 May 2012). "UK Pirate Party sees more than 1.8m visits in 24 hours after ISPs block The Pirate Bay website". Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  14. ↑ Henry, Alan (23 March 2014). "Five Best VPN Service Providers". Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  15. ↑ Maxwell, Andy (3 January 2021). "Police Have a 'Secret Weapon' to Stop Fans Streaming Pirate TV For Free". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  16. ↑ Lawler, Ryan (21 August 2007). "Comcast Takes on TorrentFreak". Light Reading. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  17. ↑ "Comcast's "We Don't Throttle BitTorrent" Internal Talking Points Memo". The Consumerist. 26 October 2007. Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  18. ↑ Ernesto (20 March 2011). "TorrentFreak TV Is Back!". Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  19. ↑ Roettgers, Janko (14 May 2011). "Suprnova.org: Former Pirate King Embraces Web Video". Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  20. ↑ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (21 August 2013). "Comcast Threatens to Sue TorrentFreak for Copyright Infringement". Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  21. ↑ "Comcast Threatens to Sue TorrentFreak for Copyright Infringement (updated)". TorrentFreak. 21 August 2013. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  22. ↑ "Comcast Business Record Affidavit". Docket Alarm, Inc. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  23. ↑ Shubber, Kadhim (9 August 2013). "News site TorrentFreak 'blocked' by Sky's piracy filter". Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  24. ↑ Brewster, Thomas (6 January 2014). "TorrentFreak News Site Blocked By Sky Porn Filter". Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  25. ↑ "TorrentFreak – News" . Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  26. ↑ "TorrentFreak's Most-Read News Articles of 2022" . Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  27. ↑ "Film Companies Seek 'Torrenting History' Related to Redditor" . Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  28. ↑ "Biggest IPTV Piracy Trial in U.S. History Underway and Already Controversial" . Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  29. ↑ "Netflix, Amazon & Hollywood Win $15 M Judgment Against U.S. Pirate IPTV Operator" . Retrieved 15 October 2025.
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