For many, torrents are an absolutely phenomenal way to quickly acquire freeware based applications from smalltime apps to full-blown operating systems and live CDs.  On the other hand though, torrents can be equally as great to acquire pirated software and multimedia.  Unfortunately for the latter group, anti-P2P organizations are really starting to lay the hammer down by potentially shutting down some of the big players in the industry.  The Dutch webhosting company LeaseWeb which is supposedly the ’safe haven’ of pirate torrent sites is receiving pressure from anti-piracy organizations to shut down the various torrent sites they are hosting, some of which are considered ‘big players’.  The question is, how will shutting down these sites impact piracy as a whole?

Dozens of torrent sites, including well-known platforms like BTMON.com, BTJunkie.org and myBittorrent.com, could be forced to shut down by the end of this week, leaving the file-sharing world in turmoil. The expected mass exodus is due to a broad change of policy at the Dutch web hoster LeaseWeb, which used to be a reliable partner for many torrent sites but has recently come under pressure by rights holders.

The Netherlands isn’t the only region feeling the heat; rights holders are increasing the pressure on torrent sites around the world. P2P communities in recent weeks have been forced offline in Iceland, Canada, the UK and Hungary, leaving some P2P users to wonder if there are any safe places left for file-trading platforms.