Chrome and Firefox are actively blocking direct access to the The Pirate Bay's download pages. According to Google's Safe Browsing diagnostics service TPB contains "harmful programs," most likely triggered by malicious advertisements running on the site. Comodo DNS also showed a "hacking" warning but this disappeared after a few hours.

Starting a few hours ago Chrome and Firefox users are unable to access The Pirate Bay’s torrent download pages without running into a roadblock.

Instead of a page filled with the latest torrents, visitors now see an ominous red warning banner when they try to grab a torrent.

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

“Attackers on thepiratebay.org 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.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser displays a similar message.

While Pirate Bay’s homepage and search is still freely available, torrent detail pages now show the following banner.

Chrome’s Pirate Bay block



Both Chrome and Firefox rely on Google’s Safe Browsing report which currently lists TPB as a partially dangerous site.

In addition to the two browsers, people who use Comodo’s Secure DNS also experienced problems reaching the site.

Comodo’s secure DNS has a built-in malware domain filtering feature and earlier today it flagged the Pirate Bay as a “hacking” site, as the banner below shows. Shortly before publishing this warning disappeared.

Pirate Bay hacking?



Comodo DNS still blocks access to ExtraTorrent, the second largest torrent site trailing just behind The Pirate Bay.

The secure DNS provider accuses ExtraTorrent of spreading “malicious” content. Interestingly, Google’s Safe Browsing doesn’t report any issues with ExtraTorrent’s domain name, so another source may play a role here.

This isn’t the first time that Comodo has blocked torrent sites and usually the warnings disappear again after a few hours or days. Until then, users can add the domains to a whitelist to regain access. Of course, they should do so at their own risk.

Chrome and Firefox users should be familiar with these intermittent warning notices as well, and can take steps (Chrome, FF) to bypass the blocks if they are in a gutsy mood.