Chrome Blocks Major Torrent Sites Over “Harmful Programs”

[Batu69]

Starting today Google Chrome is blocking direct access to several large torrent sites including KickassTorrents, Torrentz, ExtraTorent and RARBG. According to Google the sites contain "harmful programs" but the site owners are clueless as to what they've done wrong.

There’s a slight panic breaking out among Google Chrome users. Over the past few hours the browser has started to block access to several of the most popular torrent sites including KickassTorrents, Torrentz, ExtraTorrent and RARBG.

Instead of a page filled with the latest torrents, visitors are presented with an ominous red warning banner.

“The site ahead contains harmful programs,” Google Chrome informs its users.

“Attackers on kat.cr might attempt to trick you into installing programs that harm your browsing experience (for example, by changing your homepage or showing extra ads on sites you visit),” the warning adds.

Google doesn’t specify what the issue is with the sites in question. The “Safe Browsing” diagnostics pages only list the sites as “suspicious” and note that “third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites.” in some cases.

The owners of the sites in question are clueless about the source of the problem. RARBG’s operator informs TF that there is no additional information available in Google’s Webmaster tools either.

“I hope Google comes to its senses and actually allows webmasters to see what the issue is in their webmasters tools,” RARBG’s operator informs us.

ExtraTorrent is not aware of any issues either and notes that the malware Google reportedly found are false positives.

“There is no malicious software and you are still able to load ExtraTorrent in Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Chromium and other browsers,” the ExtraTorrent team says.

“We’ll contact Google to resolve the issue shortly,” they add.

Interestingly, several proxy sites, such as torrentz-proxy.com, still work fine and don’t show the warning screen in Google Chrome.

Since Google doesn’t mention “malicious software” as the reason for the warning, it was most likely triggered by the “unsafe” ads many torrent sites run. These are typically linked to toolbar software or other unwanted programs.

We reached out to Google to find out more about the sudden torrent site blocks, but we have yet to receive a response.

Chrome users who want to bypass the warning can do so by clicking the details link, or disable Chrome’s malware warnings altogether.

Source

[sternog]

Not using this browser which tries to stop piracy by using any possible means. Really Google is going downhill.

[Skunk1966]

start using Slimjet; no problems there

[TheRuan]

If u click on details there is an option to bypass the warning and enter the page.

Funny fact: kickasstorrents.to which was sometime ago a fake redirection to kickass.to and is now redirecting to another stuff ISN'T being blocked.

[ugurano]

use opera, or firefox, and have this no problemo

[steven36]

Not using this browser which tries to stop piracy by using any possible means. Really Google is going downhill.

Google has always been :shit: . They use to be CustomizeGoogle addon that started way back in 2007 that removed the spyware crap from the search engine before there was such thing as Chrome .Now days we have new addons to do it mostly that only work for Firefox :P

Google Chrome is nothing but one big piece of Adware that tires to dictate what addons you can use and what sites you can visit but I would expect no less from a browser owned by and advertisement company and that's what people get for using products by Google inc, :lol:

Ive never used Google Chrome other than for like testing in the browser for short periods of time . Ive never been one to do what the masses do noway .

start using Slimjet; no problems there

This what i use if i have trouble rendering something in Gecko based browsers I dont use Google .

[sternog]

https://prism-break.org/en/categories/windows/

You will see FF here as browser recommendation to opt out of PRISM monitoring by the NSA. And FF is what I`m using most of time.

[steven36]

I use Cyberfox mostly witch is just Firefox with a few more security enhancements .

But I also have Slimjet , Firefox and Palemoon I use from time to time . But never Google .

Some of the extra security enhancements in Cyberfox

The extra security enhancements in SlimJet

[CODYQX4]

If you turn off their Safe Browsing feature, you won't have to deal with this. You can then use an extension like uBlock with Malware Domains.

[sternog]

There is actually no need to use Chrome at all. None of companies operating in the USA can be trusted and their products. Snowden already warned about this. I prefer to use M$ Windows over Linux, yet reducing risks makes sense.

[steven36]

If you turn off their Safe Browsing feature, you won't have to deal with this. You can then use an extension like uBlock with Malware Domains.

Yes good thing about UBlock you can tell it witch sites are safe but this is a very old trick by Google they even used it on Firefox before with these settings

Google has been doing it for years in both browsers on sites i get my downloads from.

Goggle inc is not a very piracy friendly related company. Always messing up my IDM addon in Chrome , banning YouTube addons out of there store and torrent related ones .And always blocking websites with goodies for years as well .

You enjoy doing what the masses do.. Ill enjoy hassle free browsing .

[dcs18]

Chrome feels like an Amputee in the a$$-kicking competition — Chrome and Internet Explorer will never rule because of their add-on unfriendly policy.

The only reason for the proliferation of Chrome is that Google have been bundling it with a number of popular freewares — notably CCleaner.

[steven36]

Yep they also bundle it in Avast as well . But also its required on some government ran sites . This how I know there involved with the government because were some of my family works they must use chrome to use certain sites. They have access the site thorough chrome so the business they work for gets paid by the government . Wont work in any other browser .

See in the USA all food stores , banks , hospital and other things gets paid by the Government so many places are forced to receive payments and do records though Chrome on the Government ran sites most business only have IE and Chrome this why such a high marketshare .

[steven36]

There is actually no need to use Chrome at all. None of companies operating in the USA can be trusted and their products. Snowden already warned about this. I prefer to use M$ Windows over Linux, yet reducing risks makes sense.

This is what Google policy is on the Government on take downs.

Google’s compliance rate for requests from government agencies or law enforcement: 100%

http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/government/countries/?hl=en'>http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/government/countries/?hl=en

Government request had been on the rise for years

We regularly receive requests from courts and government agencies around the world to remove information from Google products. Sometimes we receive court orders that don’t compel Google to take any action. Instead, they are submitted by an individual as support for a removal request. We closely review these requests to determine if content should be removed because it violates a law or our product policies. In this report, we disclose the number of requests we receive in six-month periods.

http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/government/

I think the Government must have told Google to stop posing transparency report because i see no record of it since 2013 it means for the last 2 years they been doing what the government ask without making a record of it?

Requests from governments worldwide for user information have more than doubled since three years ago. Worse still, says Google, is what the US won't let us tell you.

The US government is on a data-gathering spree at Google, new data from the search giant reveals.

Between January and June 2013, the US government issued nearly 11,000 requests to Google asking for user information, or about 42 percent of the global total. India was second with nearly 2,700 government requests.

The collective requests from governments around the world during that six-month period have more than doubled in the three-and-a-half years since Google's first government transparency report, which covered the second half of 2009. "And these numbers," Google said in a blog post Thursday, "only include the requests we're allowed to publish."

It's the things that Google can't share about those data requests that really has the company hot and bothered.

http://www.cnet.com/news/google-were-bombarded-by-govt-requests-on-user-data/