It's hard out there for a pirate

US-based online ad firm Etology has decided to stop serving ads to BitTorrent sites, effective December 1st.

According to Ars Technica, the company attributed the decision to "legal implications involved with sponsoring torrent sites."

Etology served ads on a number of torrents, including Demonoid, Torrent-Finder, TorrentReactor, TorrentPond, and BTScene.

Sites that still serve BitTorrent owners include Adbrite, AuctionAds and CPX Interactive.

Earlier this month, sites like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T garnered press for slowing traffic to P2P sites without informing their users. Some even went so far as to cut off broadband for heavy downloaders.

On the other hand, a recent survey suggests free downloads may augment some music CD sales — not a wholly quixotic notion.