RARBG

RARBG is a website that provides torrent files and magnet links to facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. From 2014 onward, RARBG has repeatedly appeared in TorrentFreak's yearly list of most visited torrent websites.[1] It was ranked 4th as of April 2020.[2] The website does not allow users to upload their own torrents.[1]

RARBG
RARBG Homepage as of July 2019
Type of site
Torrent index, magnet links provider
Available inEnglish
Area servedWorldwide (except for blocked countries)
URLrarbg.to
RegistrationClosed
Launched2008 (2008)
Current statusOnline
Part of a series on
File sharing
Technologies
Video sharing sites
BitTorrent sites
Academic
File sharing networks
P2P clients
Streaming programs
Anonymous file sharing
Development and societal aspects
By country or region
Comparisons

History

RARBG was founded in 2008. Originally conceived as a Bulgarian BitTorrent tracker – BG stands for 'Bulgaria' in the name –, the website has been serving an international audience since then. According to TorrentFreak, RARBG specializes in English-language "high quality video releases, but lists other content as well, including games, software and music."[1]

The website has been described in 2019 as a "notorious market" by the US trade representative.[3] In 2020, the website was listed as a target of Bulgarian law enforcement.[4]

Blocking and censorship

RARBG is blocked in several countries around the world for legal reasons, generally due to its facilitation of copyright infringement.[1] In December 2008, the site remained closed for one week due to legal pressure from BREIN.[5] In 2017, RARBG was filtered out of Google search results following a controversy wherein links to torrent sites were highlighted in Google's "carousel" search results.[6][7] Due to a lawsuit brought forth against ISP Hurricane Electric by film studios demanding the personal information of pirates, Sophidea VPN, a VPN operated through Hurricane Electric, blocked access to several torrent sites as of December 2020, including RARBG.[8]

Country Date of block
Saudi Arabia 2 April 2014[9][10]
United Kingdom 27 November 2014[11]
Denmark 27 March 2015[12]
Turkey 12 August 2015[13]
Portugal 26 October 2015[14]
Italy 6 March 2017[15][16]
Australia 18 August 2017[17][18]
Indonesia 10 October 2017
Finland 8 June 2018[19]
United Arab Emirates 8 June 2018
Ireland 18 January 2018[20][21]
Belgium 3 January 2019
India 12 April 2019[22][23][24]
Greece 15 May 2019[25]
Iran Unknown

See also

References
  1. Staff. "RARBG". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  2. Van der Sar, Ernesto (5 April 2020). "Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2020 * Best of TorrentFreak". TorrentFreak.
  3. Van der Sar, Ernesto (26 April 2019). "US Govt Identifies Top Pirate Sites and Other 'Notorious Markets'". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. Van der Sar, Ernersto (3 April 2020). "Bulgaria Plans to Take Down Top Torrent Sites, with U.S. Assistance". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  5. Maxwell, Andy (8 December 2008). "BREIN Chases Another BitTorrent Tracker to Sweden". TorrentFreak.
  6. Liao, Shannon (11 July 2017). "Google search now casually highlights 'best torrent sites' [Updated]". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 11 September 2018.
  7. Dassanayake, Dion (30 July 2017). "PIRATE BAY CRACKDOWN - Google taking fight to 'best torrent sites' on the internet". Express. Express Newspapers. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017.
  8. Spadafora, Anthony (14 December 2020). "This VPN will now start blocking the Pirate Bay and more". Techradar. Future US. Archived from the original on 14 December 2020.
  9. Van der Sar, Ernesto (2 April 2014). "Saudi Arabia Government Blocks The Pirate Bay (and More)". TorrentFreak.
  10. Vatu, Gabriela (2 April 2014). "Saudi Arabia Blocks Access to The Pirate Bay". Softpedia News. Softpedia. Archived from the original on 5 April 2014.
  11. Van der Sar, Ernesto (27 November 2014). "UK Piracy Blocklist Expands With Demonoid, Isohunt, IPTorrents and More". TorrentFreak.
  12. Van der Sar, Ernesto (27 March 2015). "Popular Torrent and Streaming Sites Blocked in Denmark". TorrentFreak.
  13. https://internet2.btk.gov.tr/sitesorgu/
  14. Van der Sar, Ernesto (26 October 2015). "Portugal Blocks Popular Torrent and Streaming Sites". TorrentFreak.
  15. Van der Sar, Ernesto (6 March 2017). "Italy's Pirate Site Blocklist Expands with Flashx, RARBG and Others". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  16. Vatu, Gabriela (7 March 2017). "Italy Blocks RARBG, Flashx, Other Torrent Sites". Softpedia News. SoftNews NET SRL. Archived from the original on 10 March 2017.
  17. Van der Sar, Ernesto (18 August 2017). "Court Orders Aussie ISPs to Block Dozens of Pirate Sites". TorrentFreak.
  18. "Australia blocks another 59 popular pirate sites". BBC News. BBC. 18 August 2017. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017.
  19. Van der Sar, Ernestp (8 June 2018). "Court Orders Finnish ISPs to Block RARBG and YIFY". TorrentFreak.
  20. O'Faolain, Aodhan (15 January 2018). "Websites infringing TV and film copyright to be blocked". The Irish Times. Irish Times Trust. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018.
  21. O'Loughlin, Ann (15 January 2018). "Court grants blocking order against websites which allow users stream and download film and TV content". Irish Examiner. Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020.
  22. Maxwell, Maxwell (12 April 2019). "Pirate Bay, RARBG, 1337x & Torrentz2 to be Permanently Blocked in India". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  23. Sharma, Prathma (16 April 2019). "Delhi high court cracks down on piracy, bans 30 torrent websites". Mint. HT Media. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019.
  24. PTI (12 April 2019). "HC restrains 30 torrent sites from hosting copyrighted content, orders ISPs to block them". ET Telecom. The Times Group. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019.
  25. Van der Sar, Ernesto (5 April 2019). "Greek Pirate Site Blocks to Expand with RARBG, Torrentz2, and Others". TorrentFreak.
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