Interest in VPNs has quadrupled in recent weeks

With motioning and even legal action increasing by the day, file-sharing is becoming much more dangerous. Threats from anti-piracy groups have prompted many file-sharers to take measures to protect themselves, such as using VPNs. In fact, data from Google trends shows that interest in VPNs and similar anonymizing services has quadrupled over the past few weeks. 

This week news broke that the makers of Dallas Buyers Club have the court’s approval to go after 4,726 alleged movie pirates in Australia, opening the door to many more copyright lawsuits. Around the same time the country’s largest Internet providers submitted their online anti-piracy code, announcing that 200,000 piracy warnings will be sent out each year. Facing increased monitoring and potential legal action many file-sharers have taken counter measures, hiding their IP-addresses so their sharing activities can no longer be linked to their ISP account. Early March, the initial announcement of the warning letters already increased interest in VPNs and other anonymizing services, but this week’s surge broke new records. Data from Google trends reveals that interest in anonymizing services has soared, with searches for “VPN” quadrupling in recent weeks. This effect, shown in the graph below, is limited to Australia and likely a direct result of the recent anti-piracy threats.