Andrew Wallenstein is senior editor at paidContent, where he writes about the digital entertainment business out of Los Angeles. He is also a frequent contributor to NPR?s ?All Things Considered.?

If there was ever any doubt that the war on piracy was going to escalate this year, just look at how a new study out last week from research firm MonitorMark was received.

Sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the study found that 21 billion of the 53 billion visits per year that come to sites identified as sources of copyright-infringing content were concentrated among just three companies: Rapidshare (Rapidshare), Megavideo and MegaUpload (Megaupload). Not long after the Motion Picture Association of America issued a press release hailing the study, Rapidshare threatened to sue MonitorMark for defamation, while MegaUpload dismissed it as ?overblown allegations.?

The dueling rhetoric underscores the sensitivity over a very distinct shift away from the Bittorrent sites where the rate of piracy has leveled off, to a new breed of file-hosting websites that are seeing explosive growth. That shift has necessitated a redrawing of content owners? battle plans. Here?s a look at the likeliest new fronts in the war on piracy in 2011.

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Daniel Reviewed by Daniel on . How the War on Piracy Will Change in 2011 http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/piracy-350.jpg Andrew Wallenstein is senior editor at paidContent, where he writes about the digital entertainment business out of Los Angeles. He is also a frequent contributor to NPR?s ?All Things Considered.? If there was ever any doubt that the war on piracy was going to escalate this year, just look at how a new study out last week from research firm MonitorMark was received. Sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the study found Rating: 5