Canada: Internet Piracy Haven

Internet piracy is rampant in China, right? And Russia is known to be a hotbed of infringing activities as well. It may come as a surprise to some that the current No. 1 site for BitTorrent file-sharing -- often of the copyright-infringing kind -- is Canada-based Isohunt. In fact, the Obama administration put Canada on its blacklist of shame, a "priority watch list" of intellectual property laggards. With all of the legal pressures against the first- and second-ranked BitTorrent sites, "Canada has earned a dubious distinction as a world hub for illegitimate file-sharing websites and a leader in Internet piracy," according to Globeandmail.com's Barry McKenna. Further, Canada is in the "embarrassing position of harbouring 5 of the top 8 remaining unauthorized BitTorrent sites including the new number 1 ranked site, Isohunt," wrote technology attorney Barry Sookman. Isohunt was founded in Vancouver by Gary Fung. Isohunt is not just popular in terms of BitTorrent sites, with as many as 100 million unique visitors going to the site every year; Isohunt also ranks among the 200 most popular Web sites of any kind on the planet. Earlier this year, the Obama administration put Canada on its blacklist of shame -- a "priority watch list" of intellectual property laggards including the likes of China, Russia and Venezuela.

Source: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68969.html