back to article Google's Chrome cloaks Pirate Bay in red screen of malware death

Google is warning users to stay away from infamous unauthorised content distribution site The Pirate Bay, as it says the torrent attic is bad for PC health. Mountain View has generally shied away from flagging the torrent site as a malicious entity, other than a handful of times when it was caught serving malware through its …

  1. Steven Roper

    They need to be careful with this

    If Google starts using malware warnings to block access to piracy-related sites at the behest of the copyright mafia, regardless of whether such sites actually transmit malware or not, then they'll create a situation in which people start clicking past and ignoring these warnings in general, because the warnings then become a political tool and not a genuine threat indicator. The implications of encouraging this behaviour are obvious.

    1. streaky
      Pirate

      Re: They need to be careful with this

      The classic case of the boy (Google) who cried wolf (malware). If these warnings are going to be abused they'll be turned off never mind ignored.

      Plus FWIW Google admitting that a linking = complicit is a precedent they maybe want to think twice about setting..

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: They need to be careful with this

      Why I have a real problem (bugbear) with the abundance in the UK of nonsense signage - Speed Camera signs and white distance markers on roads where there are no such cameras, it instills in people to ignore other Important Road signs.

      Road signs should only ever be used to where they are true and neccessary, not as a method to bamboozle, 'may or might not be true'.

    3. StomperUK

      Re: They need to be careful with this

      "Copyright mafia" - by that do you mean those trying to legitimately protect the content they've created from freetards who think they should everything for nothing?

      1. Dave 125

        Re: They need to be careful with this

        "The content they've created" - is that the content they won't let you listen to before you buy it then refuse to give you a refund after you've bought it and found out that it only contains that one good track off the radio plus 55 minutes of identical filler shite?

        Personally this freetard torrents stuff to get round their crappy business model. If their business depends on selling crap and refusing to give refunds then I have NO qualms about torrenting it first. This freetard has avoided buying dozens of hours of filler shite, but on the other hand has also bought stuff I found I liked that I wouldn't have otherwise bought.

        1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

          any excuse

          "55 minutes of identical filler shite?" what decade are you in . Just play it on youtube if you want to test it, or spotify . or borrow it from the library , or make some kind of judgement based upon the musician and/or management to guess if itll be shite. Clue "simon cowell" = shite.

          Next you'll be giving us the "well CDs are cheaper in America" argument . So im ok to pirate them.

          Well thats the asking price ok.

          You dont see me going around stealing Bentleys because their prices are too high.

  2. P. Lee
    Pirate

    Visiting TPB from Android?

    Is that a thing?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    duh?

    Ever downloaded a torrent that required a 'password' to unzip... a 'special' player to decode or just one of those non-files that anti-pirates put up.

    If you are getting content from Pirate Bay you probably use an ad-blocker anyway and they have a trust system for torrent uploaders, so you don't download from some unknown who just joined to share "downloadthis.exe" ...

    ...and yes torrenting on android is a thing. uTorrent has a great client and where i live free wifi is abundant. I can start the download when i'm in the pub and watch it when i get home. (no internet of things involved).

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I (ahem), this guy I know, saw that last night

    Smeg

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I (ahem), this guy I know, saw that last night

      Smegging smeggers.

      I wouldnt be surprised if Rimmer is heading up this retarded initiative.

  5. Bob Vistakin
    Megaphone

    Extra Torrent

    Hadn't seen that one before, thanks. Works fine with the tor browser - no scary big red warnings and the nanny ISP is no wiser, as usual. Any other PB backups you can plug?

    1. Tom 38

      Re: Extra Torrent

      Best one is google: "foo bar filetype:torrent"

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Extra Torrent

      https://proxybay.tv/

      1. Obi

        Re: Extra Torrent

        Re https://proxybay.tv/... Thanks so much, I needed that.

  6. MrDamage Silver badge

    seriously?

    This behaviour is a bit rich, coming from the company whose ad network is renowned for serving up "Your pc is running slow, click here to fix it" adverts.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: seriously?

      Yes, but they pay Google.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: seriously?

      It's fine as long as all your personal data is fed back and collated through Google, Microsoft, Facebook official pipes, then there is no reason to worry your little heads.

  7. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    "The latter is typified by the recent wave of irritating Android infection pages that nab the agent device type to throw fake banners claiming handsets are infected, often coupled with triggers that make phones vibrate."

    Eh? Been there, got irritated by the dozens of popups etc... decided to rather use a linux VM than my phone.

    If it get infected, just discard said VM and create a new one. Easier than trying to get rid of malware on your phone.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      ASAC ... The reason your torrenting experience is crap is because you're in SA.

      Im there every two years (well Cape Town if thats considered to be genuine SA).

      The internet connectivity out there is universally shit.

      Even in the "nicer" areas.

      Actually, especially in the nicer areas because the locals wont allow new phone masts to be installed or the roads to be dug up. Cunts.

      Nothing to do but drink Spar Letta and eat nik naks out there.

      #constantiablackhole

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    How dare you download pirated content from pirate bay!

    You should be visiting YouTube for it instead.

  9. jake Silver badge

    A meta comment ...

    I don't actually use anything referenced in the article, but I will make a comment: TehIntraWebTubes has no place for third-party nannies. I don't need someone watching over my shoulder. I'm a big boy. I can sanitize my own choice of content, ta you very much.

    IOW, bog-off, gootards. Mind your own fucking business.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Will they flag Google Play also?

    With the recent story of 400 apps found on Google Play containing malware, it seems even Google's own sites aren't immune. What's their criteria for flagging Pirate Bay but not flagging Google Play?

    1. Gnosis_Carmot

      Re: Will they flag Google Play also?

      Simple - they don't own TPB.

      1. latheofheaven
        Happy

        Re: Will they flag Google Play also?

        Yet...

  11. j j

    can they not just flag and block the advertising site?

    why do they need to block TPB?

  12. mickc1306

    Works fine for me

    I just tested this, going to https://thepiratebay.org/ works without error, visiting https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/safebrowsing/diagnostic/#url=https://thepiratebay.org/ shows:

    Current status:

    Not dangerous

    Safe Browsing has not recently seen malicious content on thepiratebay.org.

    Testing details

    We last updated our information about thepiratebay.org on October 7, 2016.

  13. Kiwi
    Facepalm

    Ironically

    Ironically, there's an add on the El Reg page for the article with the link I have at the end of this post. The article in question is on a fake CNN-lookalike site that I saw last time I was installaing Linux on a mate's system (surfing el reg while their windoze drive is imaged, personal data copied for ease-of-access, the windows partition shrunk, then the last 2-10 minutes being the actual Linux installation - all while browsing and some document checking/editing - try doing that with Windows install media!). I normally don't see this stuff with adblock and noscript even though AB is neutered for El Reg.

    I'd not be surprised if there was something nasty in the linked page for those people silly enough to surf the web with windahs.. (Yes, spent the night trying to sort out the persons fucked up system before convincing him that even a "not fully compaitble" LibreOffice is much more functional than a "stuck on a machine fucked up by the latest Win10 fuckdate and not working" MS Office, bit pissed with wasting my friday night and much of my Saturday sleep-in time!)

    El Reg, you really need to have a word with your adbroker to make sure that such stuff doesn't get shown on your pages - scam sites using another firm's logos etc really can harm your reputation y'know.

    For those interested/sadistic enough, the link was https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=l&ai=CvhuMmS74V86SCo-j9AWJ8aKgB4PxzftGl5f3_eMDjIuFngsQASDWh_MTYKv0s4X8KKABl4PVuAPIAQLgAgCoAwHIA5kEqgTpAU_QDo55FkhBb-DasV4pFnxI6FWNbgujHUrdXltBtCGXCT3jUHYMYrywSiVmQPg5Dd_lvBfURur8q7ZzATopL0aZAlwLHJTqPLwizMFkp9xWmMBfobyCRMo0mecLPH1yTXCPCaHts_H6U16de17mjFcJYgbVln-LFNHTVN261zzzvlomwdBfGXTVGUyuWYHAIWpzYoKeIIChWfiP6CZMsExJhMSL77LMM3W76_mqa5K15LiVrc3WdXhwUV33MFNt5WuU2uzbvF8cm3DPFS-jePzXrlgxlYI-SOWu2vs4nWnn8vX5bheiqXEO4AQBoAYCgAfR_KpHqAeBxhuoB6a-G9gHAdIIBQiAYRAB&num=1&sig=AOD64_2ZUeAUULLNnbwyjte4JXvXoMuLYA&client=ca-pub-3230938694120234&nm=6&nx=152&ny=76&mb=2&adurl=http://expertservicestation.com/canuck2/%3Fkeyword%3D%26plament%3Dwww.theregister.co.uk%26creative%3D147305954563%26adgroupid%3D34797335444%26campaign%3D649738546%26tar%3D%252Fcomputers%2520%2526%2520electronics%26lpurl%3Dhttp://brobible.com/life/article/newlyweds-wreck-rented-ferrari/

    1. Kiwi
      Linux

      Re: Ironically - for those interested...

      then the last 2-10 minutes being the actual Linux installation

      Timed it for the fun of showing him how quick it was done. Started the stopwatch before walking to the machine and starting the installation. From then to the "restart now or continue testing" was 15:58.1 - just shy of 16 minutes, install onto a clean and already configured disk (so didn't have to do the new partitions etc, just point at the ones I wanted to use and tell Mint how to use them).

      Now copying data into his home dir and doing the last few bits of setting up programs like Email etc. (Hmm, I'm sure I recall doing this back in Mint 11 or Ubu 10 where it would look to the Windows partition for email stuff and do all that automagically?? Maybe been too long since I done it this way or maybe 10 blocks this somewhat?)

      He's still not believing me that there will be no reboot when the updates are completed, forced or otherwise, although at times there will be updates that ask for a reboot if and when you want, but you can leave them till you next shut down the machine (and no "configuring updates" when the machine restarts, ever!). He will love this when it really does hit him that all the other issues are gone forever (unless he boots windows again!)

      Oh well.. Back to whatever it was you were doing...

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    The curse of the Vulture

    This story proved so popular, the PB alt you linked to crashed shortly afterwards.

    Either that or Google got to them.

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