Kickasstorrents, one of the world's largest torrent search sites, has announced that it is now forcing SSL encryption for all visitors, meaning that it's now much, much harder for internet service providers, copyright lobby groups and any government agencies to snoop on the downloading habits of visitors.
There are other sites that offer this feature, but as TorrentFreak explains, this is the first time a torrent site has forced encryption thereby protecting its users at default, rather than just the inquisitive few that seek out the option. This could even lead to a bump in search rankings for certain topics, as Google pointed out earlier this month that it was now prioritising sites that used the encryption standard.
“We’re just thinking about those people who will feel safer when they know all the data transferred between them and KAT is completely encrypted. People requested it, so we respond,” said a Kickasstorrents spokesperson.
Of course SSL doesn't go the whole hog like Tor or a VPN would, hiding your identity, but it does prevent anyone overlooking what you've been up to from seeing specifically which pages were accessed. What isn't hidden is metadata like information, such as the time spent on the site and that the domain itself was accessed.
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KitGuru Says: Considering there are many people, believe it or not, who use torrent search sites to download legally distributed and promoted content, it will be good now that they won't so easily be stigmatised for it.