The number of BitTorrent lawsuits is skyrocketing

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The number of lawsuits filed against BitTorrent users in the United States is beginning to increase rapidly.

TorrentFreak reports that more than 1,000 suits were filed against individual pirates in the US during 2017. That was an average of 85 a month.

However, during January, copyright holders have filed 286 suits, which is triple 2017’s monthly average.

The data from Lex Machina suggests a significant uptick in legal action being brought against BitTorrent users.

However, the numbers also reveal it’s a couple of companies in particular ramping up the the number of lawsuits.

Porn problem

Adult entertainment company Malibu Media who accounted for about half of last year’s tally (550 out of 1,019) is active again with 138 of the 286 suits filed so far.

In second place is another adult content provider, Strike 3 Holdings, which has set out 133 cases against BitTorrent users.

So it’s porn companies, not traditional Hollywood studios, are heading up the fight against illegal Bit Torrent use.

We’re not really sure why anyone would resort to illegally downloading pornography, considering the abundance there’s more free stuff on the internet than its possible to watch in approximately 10,000 lifetimes.

Effectively, it seems, if you’re not using BitTorrent to acquire adult content, you’re far less likely to be tripped up by a copyright infringement lawsuit.

As a general trend, legal action appears to be shifting from downloads towards illegal streaming through platforms like Kodi.