At 8.40am on Monday 15 December, a new post surfaced on the Darkside Release Group. The post contained a torrent file containing an illicit copy of the Kiefer Sutherland horror film Mirrors (2008). Though the mainstream media ignored it, this was a landmark moment for millions of file sharers around the world, for this was the 1,000th movie uploaded by aXXo, the internet’s most popular and enduring pirate.

Uploaders generally have a shelf life of a few months before they get bored and lose interest in sharing – or get caught – but aXXo persisted since early 2005. “aXXo guarantees quality,” explains David Price, head of piracy intelligence at the internet consultancy Envisional.

A detailed article about aXXo can be found here.