The MPA is planning a new line of attack on file sharing sites such as Kickass Torrents, Torrentz and The Pirate Bay. The association is planning "awareness and outreach campaigns" to warn users of infected malware files underhandedly linked on top torrent sites.

The MPA is the European branch of the U.S. major movie studio consortium, known as the MPAA, and represents six major movie studios: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Paramount Pictures Corporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal City Studios LLC; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

We recently reported that the MPA had sent an email to many of the top torrent sites, including Kickass Torrents, Torrentz and The Pirate Bay, demanding that they shut down what it alleged to be illegal activities based on copyright infringement claims connected to material produced by the studios and being downloaded from files hosted on the file sharing sites, along with promotional material such as movie posters. None of the major sites blinked and all remained up and running, ignoring the MPA demand.

Now, the MPA has opened another line of fire, this time aimed at users of the sites and targeting "awareness" of threats to users contained in files downloaded from many top file sharing websites. The MPA released a study that found that a large percentage of file sharing websites rely on advertising as a source of revenue. The study found that many of the ads displayed on the sites were deceiving in that they directed the user to hit a "download" button which, instead of containing the desired file, instead installed an executable file on the user's computer, often one infected with malware, according to the study.

The study concludes that warning and informing users of these potential threats might be an effective way to combat usage of the sites and therefore reduce illegal downloading activity: "Given the likelihood that end users will encounter potentially harmful software from these types of adverts across all types of sites, awareness and outreach campaigns around this issue could be reinforced to help to discourage use of unauthorized sites."

With most seasoned users already aware of the pitfalls of hitting these misleading "download" buttons, it seems the MPA is targeting the more casual and inexperienced file sharers, who ultimately may only wind up being further educated as to what to avoid rather than dissuaded from participating in the activity, and actually feel more comfortable engaging in it going forward.

The MPA may realize the futility of that approach because it has another idea up its sleeve: target advertisers and payment processors who work with the websites and create important revenue streams. 

The report recommends the MPA contact advertisers that "may not be aware that their adverts are appearing on these sites and should be considered for an approach in order to once again frustrate the ability of an unauthorized site to generate ad revenue." It also suggests going after payment processors who work with the sites to accept donations via both Bitcoin and standard currency and pressuring them not to process those transactions.

While this approach could be effective in some specific cases, realistically, there will always be plenty of companies happy to ignore the requests, warnings and pressure in the same way the file sharing sites themselves have remained in operation despite the numerous and ongoing direct attacks against them.

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