Microsoft has apparently started blocking all links from torrent search site The Pirate Bay from being sent through its instant messaging service Windows Live Messenger, according to TorrentFreak.

As many people know, The Pirate Bay is the most popular destination for people who’d like to share media files — many of them illegally. And while many ISPs around the world have started explicitly preventing people from accessing the site, its unclear if Microsoft is doing the same.

When someone sends a link from The Pirate Bay through the native MSN Live Messenger app, a message appears that reads: “The link you tried to send was blocked because it was reported as unsafe.” The same is also true of third-party messenger services like Pigdin, according to the TorrentFreak report. While some torrent flies can indeed infect a person’s computer with malicious viruses, its highly unlikely that users would have reported The Pirate Bay as “unsafe”. That said, I don’t think Microsoft would blatantly censor particular websites on one service without doing the same on others (Bing, Hotmail, etc.).



It’s been well over five years since I’ve tried to communicate with anyone through Live Messenger, choosing instead to use more popular messaging services like Skype, Google Chat, and (of course) AIM. However, if I was an active Live Messenger user, getting messages like this pop up would make me stop dead in my tracks.

We’re reaching out to Microsoft for comment about the behavior and will update the post with any new information.

via [ venturebeat ]

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