# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=95872
title: Torrent Site Uses Google To Resurrect Taken Down Content
uri: Torrent-Site-Uses-Google-To-Resurrect-Taken-Down-Content
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/AoFUVS_9UGY/
content:
<p>Founded in 2003, UK-based FileSoup was one of the original torrent sites but in 2009 two former administrators of the site were <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/oldest-bittorrent-site-targeted-by-police-owner-arrested-090804/">arrested</a> following a FACT investigation. </p>
<p>Two years later, however, the case <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/court-drops-filesoup-bittorrent-case-administrators-walk-free-110224/">collapsed</a> and the men were free to go. Now, more than three years on, the <a href="http://filesoup.com">FileSoup domain</a> has been resurrected.</p>
<p><strong>It&#8217;s a search engine / proxy, but not as we know it</strong></p>
<p>The new site has no connections to the original owner, but there are several unique aspects to the relaunch of FileSoup that make for an interesting project.</p>
<p>On a basic level FileSoup acts as a meta-search engine variant. It covers four major torrent sites &#8211; The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents, Torrentz and ExtraTorrent &#8211; each selectable via a drop-down box. It also acts as a reverse proxy for these sites to unblock them in countries where they are inaccessible, the UK for example.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/13c5883e.filesoup1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/filesoup1.png" alt="filesoup"></center></p>
<p><strong>Improving on search results</strong></p>
<p>But FileSoup is no ordinary proxy. Instead of simply mirroring the content it finds on sites such as KickassTorrents, it actually attempts to improve on the results by caching third party site indexes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s say Kickass.to receives a [DMCA] notice and deletes the content. We are not simply proxying but also caching the site. This means we can provide the page content even if Kickass.to has deleted the URL due to a DMCA complaint,&#8221; FileSoup informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>So in theory (and given time to cache &#8211; the site is still getting off the ground), FileSoup should be able to provide access to content previously taken down from other sites it proxies. To see whether it&#8217;s anywhere near to that goal, we conducted a search for one of the most talked-about franchises of the year &#8211; Expendables.</p>
<p>The images below show the results from FileSoup and KickassTorrents for exactly the same search. FileSoup returned 139 results while KickAss returned 115. Also notable (aside from the inserted malware ads on top of the search results) is the prominence of highly-seeded Expendables 3 results in the top placed positions on FileSoup.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/b4424d93.file-v-kick.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/file-v-kick.png" alt="file-v-kick"></center></p>
<p><center><img src="media/ae6b8cf6.kick-v-file.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kick-v-file.png" alt="kick-v-file"></center></p>
<p>Other searches produced varied results but since FileSoup is just getting off the ground it will need more time to cache significant amounts of taken-down content. But what happens when FileSoup itself is subjected to takedown notices of its own?</p>
<p>&#8220;When FileSoup receives a DMCA abuse notice we create a new URL address for the same content. After that this URL lives till the next DMCA abuse notice,&#8221; the team explain.</p>
<p><strong>The Necromancer &#8211; using Google DMCA notices bypass Google&#8217;s takedowns</strong></p>
<p>The operators of FileSoup also addressed indirect search engine takedowns. Every week rightsholders force Google to remove torrent listings from its search results. For this problem FileSoup says it has a solution, and a controversial one it is too. </p>
<p>The team behind the site say they have developed a web crawler designed to pull the details of content subjected to DMCA notices from two sources &#8211; Google&#8217;s Transparency Report and the Chilling Effects Clearing House. From here the links are brought back to life.</p>
<p>&#8220;We created a technology that crawls DMCA notices and resurrects the torrent webpage under a different URL so it can appear in search results again. It was rather complicated to sharpen it, but eventually it works pretty well. We will use it on FileSoup.com for all the websites we proxy,&#8221; FileSoup explain.</p>
<p>&#8220;It will lead to a situation when KickaAss.FileSoup.com (for example) will have more pages indexed in Google than the original Kickass.to because we will revive pages banned by DMCA within Google search results. We call this technology the Necromancer.&#8221;</p>
<p>The idea of manipulating publicly available sources of copyright notices to reactivate access to infringing content is not new but this is the first time that a site has publicly admitted to putting theory into practice. Whether FileSoup will be able to pull this off remains to be seen, but if it does it could signal the biggest game of whac-a-mole yet.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=95921
title: Dotcom Tries To Reclaim Millions Seized in Hong Kong
uri: Dotcom-Tries-To-Reclaim-Millions-Seized-in-Hong-Kong
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/sDm1AWItTSI/
content:
<p><img src="media/5fd37436.megaupload.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload.jpg" width="180" height="154" class="alignright">For many months the New Zealand courts have been dealing with the thorny issue of Kim Dotcom. The entrepreneur&#8217;s case has traversed the legal system, with claim and counterclaim, decision followed by appeal.</p>
<p>The key topic of Dotcom&#8217;s possible extradition to the United States aside, much of the courtroom action has centered around the Megaupload founder&#8217;s assets. On the one hand Dotcom has been trying to reclaim his property, and on the other United States-based entertainment companies have been trying to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dotcom-loses-bid-to-keep-assets-secret-from-hollywood-140829/">lock it down</a> in preparation for any future damages payout.</p>
<p>But as the fight simmers in New Zealand and largely stalls in the U.S., Dotcom&#8217;s legal representatives are fighting to reestablish control of his wealth in a third territory.</p>
<p>Over in Hong Kong, lawyers for Dotcom are attempting to take back HK$330 million (US$42.55m) in assets that were seized by local authorities when Megaupload was shut down in January 2012.</p>
<p>While Dotcom&#8217;s servers were being sealed off in the United States and his mansion raided in New Zealand, the Megaupload chief&#8217;s Hong Kong offices were being raided by 100 customs officers following allegations of copyright infringement and money laundering.</p>
<p>The seized assets are being held under a restraining order but Dotcom&#8217;s legal team are arguing that it should be set aside. In April 2014, Megaupload initiated <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-sues-hong-kong-over-unlawful-shutdown-140423/">legal action</a> against the government and now its legal team is accusing the secretary for justice of failing to provide a &#8220;full and frank disclosure&#8221; of the facts when the application for seizure was made.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are applying for [the order] to be set aside because the court has misrepresented the true position,&#8221; Dotcom lawyer Gerard McCoy SC told <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1627000/court-didnt-get-full-picture-megaupload-founder-kim-dotcoms-case-his">SCMP</a> yesterday.</p>
<p>In a feature that has become a hallmark of the pre-shutdown activity surrounding Megaupload, the Hong Kong restraining order was made ex parte, meaning that the defendants in the case were not allowed to put their side of the story. Dotcom&#8217;s lawyers say that in such circumstances the prosecution is under obligation to exercise additional caution</p>
<p>&#8220;Did the secretary for justice put his cards on the table face up? This application is a clear example of the duty either being ignored or simply misunderstood,&#8221; McCoy said.</p>
<p>According to the lawyer the prosecution deliberately withheld crucial information from the court when applying for the restraining order, not least the fact that Megaupload could not be served with a criminal complaint in the United States as it did not have a US mailing address.</p>
<p>&#8220;None of this was ever brought to the attention of the judge. It was all put to one side and never raised,&#8221; McCoy said.</p>
<p>In an interview with TorrentFreak in December 2011 before the raid, Dotcom <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/from-rogue-to-vogue-megaupload-and-kim-dotcom-111218/">spoke</a> warmly of Hong Kong. &#8220;I should write a book about doing business in Hong Kong, that’s how good it is,&#8221; he said. &#8220;People there leave you alone and they are happy for your success.&#8221;</p>
<p>But according to McCoy, one month later the fate of Dotcom, his co-defendants, and his Megaupload empire was sealed in a matter of minutes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In about six or seven minutes, the applicant has dealt with the position of nine defendants and managed to freeze a massive amount of money. There is not one word about Megaupload, not a jot, not a tittle,&#8221; he told the court.</p>
<p>If the case goes in Dotcom&#8217;s favor there could be big implications for the entrepreneur. Not only could he regain tens of millions of dollars in wealth, but he could also be in a position to file a multi-billion dollar civil claim for damages. Before its shutdown, Megaupload was valued at a cool two billion dollars.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=95949
title: Joker is Cool But Not the New Popcorn Time
uri: Joker-is-Cool-But-Not-the-New-Popcorn-Time
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/L693GMaxJ9Q/
content:
<p>While BitTorrent&#8217;s underlying technology has remained mostly unchanged over the past decade, innovators have found new ways to make it more presentable. Torrent clients have developed greatly and private tracker systems such as What.cd&#8217;s Gazelle have shown that content can be enhanced with superior cataloging and indexing tools.</p>
<p>This is where Popcorn Time excelled <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/open-source-torrent-streaming-a-netflix-for-pirates-140308/">when it debuted</a> earlier this year. While it was the same old torrent content underneath, the presentation was streets ahead of anything seen before. With appetites whetted, enthused BitTorrent fans have been waiting for the next big thing ever since.</p>
<p>Recently news circulated of a new service which in several headlines yesterday was heralded as the new Popcorn Time. <a href="http://joker.org/">Joker.org</a> is a web-based video service with super-clean presentation. It&#8217;s premise is straightforward &#8211; paste in a magnet link or upload a torrent file from your computer then sit back and enjoy the show.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7d7dc94c.joker-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/joker-1.png" alt="joker-1"></center></p>
<p>Not only does Joker work, it does so with elegance. The interface is uncluttered and intuitive and the in-browser window can be expanded to full screen. Joker also provides options for automatically downloading subtitles or uploading your own, plus options for skipping around the video at will.</p>
<p>While these features are enough to please many visitors to the site, the big questions relate to what is going on under the hood.</p>
<p>Popcorn Time, if we&#8217;re forced to conduct a comparison, pulls its content from BitTorrent swarms in a way that any torrent client does. This means that the user&#8217;s IP address is visible both to the tracker and all related peers. So, has Joker successfully incorporated a torrent client into a web browser to enable live video streaming?</p>
<p>Last evening TF put that question to the people behind Joker who said they would answer &#8220;soon&#8221;. Hours later though and we&#8217;re still waiting so we&#8217;ll venture that the short answer is &#8220;no&#8221;.</p>
<p><strong>Decentralized or centralized? That is the question..</strong></p>
<p>The most obvious clues become evident when comparing the performance of popular and less popular torrents after they&#8217;ve been added to the Joker interface. The best seeded torrents not only tend to start immediately but also allow the user to quickly skip to later or earlier parts of the video. This suggests that the video content has been cached already and isn&#8217;t being pulled live and direct from peers in a torrent swarm.</p>
<p>Secondly, torrents with less seeds do not start instantly. We selected a relatively poorly seeded torrent of TPB AFK and had to wait for the Joker progress bar to wind its way to 100% before we could view the video. That took several minutes but then played super-smoothly, another indication that content is probably being cached.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/77d18868.joker-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/joker-2.png" alt="joker-2"></center></p>
<p>To be absolutely sure we&#8217;d already hooked up <a href="https://www.wireshark.org/">Wireshark</a> to our test PC in advance of initiating the TPB AFK download. If we were pulling content from a swarm we might expect to see the IP addresses of our fellow peers sending us data. However, in their place were recurring IP addresses from blocks operated by the same UK ISP hosting the Joker website.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
<p>Joker is a nice website that does what it promises extremely well and to be fair to its creators they weren&#8217;t the ones making the Popcorn Time analogies. However, as a free service Joker faces a dilemma.</p>
<p>By caching video itself the site is bound by the usual bandwidth costs associated with functionally similar sites such as YouTube. While Joker provides greater flexibility (users can order it to fetch whichever content they like) it still has to pump video directly to users after grabbing it from torrent swarms. This costs money and at some point someone is going to have to pay.</p>
<p>In contrast, other than running the software download portal and operating the APIs, Popcorn Time has no direct video-related bandwidth costs since the user&#8217;s connection is being utilized for transfers. The downside is that users&#8217; IP addresses are visible to the outside world, a problem Joker users do not have.</p>
<p>Finally and to address the excited headlines, comparing Joker to Popcorn Time is premature. The site carries no colorful and easy to access indexes of movies which definitely makes it a lot less attractive to newcomers. That being said, this lack of content curation enhances Joker&#8217;s legal footing.</p>
<p>Overall, demand is reportedly high. The developers told TF last evening that they were &#8220;overloaded&#8221; and were working hard to fix issues. Currently the service appears stable. Only time will tell how that situation develops.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=95999
title: Gottfrid Svartholm Found Guilty in Hacking Trial
uri: Gottfrid-Svartholm-Found-Guilty-in-Hacking-Trial
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HkIFDxhOg68/
content:
<p><img src="media/2c059aef.gottfrid1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gottfrid1.jpg" width="200" height="248" class="alignright">After being arrested in his Cambodian apartment in September 2012 it took two years before Gottfrid Svartholm went on trial in Denmark.</p>
<p>The Swede and his 21-year-old co-defendant stood accused of hacking computer mainframes operated by US IT giant CSC. It developed into the largest case of its kind ever seen in the Scandinavian country.</p>
<p>The case broadly took shape along two lines. The prosecution insisted that Gottfrid and his Danish accomplice, both experts in computer security, had launched hacker attacks against CSC back in April 2012 and maintained access to those systems until August that same year.</p>
<p>The defense claimed it was a case of mistaken identity and that others had carried out the crimes, remotely accessing Gottfrid&#8217;s computer after comprising its security.</p>
<p>Evidence was produced by the prosecution which showed discussion taking place between hackers with the names “Advanced Persistent Terrorist Threat” and “My Evil Twin”. The topic in hand was the security and setup of CSC&#8217;s databases and systems. These people were Gottfrid and his IT consultant co-defendant, the prosecution said.</p>
<p>From the beginning, Gottfrid&#8217;s position was that his computer, from where the attacks had taken place, had been compromised. This <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/jacob-appelbaum-gives-testimony-in-gottfrid-svartholm-trial-140914/">version of events</a> was supported by respected security expert Jacob Appelbaum who gave evidence for the defense not only in this case, but also in Gottfrid’s Swedish trial, a case in which he was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hacker-jacob-appelbaum-to-testify-at-pirate-bay-founder-appeal-130827/">partly acquitted</a>.</p>
<p>Speaking with Denmark&#8217;s TV2 earlier today, Gottfrid&#8217;s lawyer Luise Høj said that her client should be found not guilty since it had been established that third parties had carried out the crimes.</p>
<p>&#8220;My recommendation has always been that the investigation has focused on finding clues that point to my client, even though the tracks have also pointed in another direction,&#8221; Høj said.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have recommended that the court dismiss the case based on the remote access argument. It is clear that my client&#8217;s computer has been the subject of remote control, and therefore he is not responsible.&#8221;</p>
<p>But it wasn&#8217;t to be. This morning the Court of Frederiksberg found both Gottfrid and his accomplice guilty of hacking-related offenses concerning CSC. Confidential information including police drivers&#8217; license records, social security information plus criminal records were accessed unlawfully during 2012.</p>
<p>Dismissing the remote control defense, Judge Ulla Otken said the hacking of CSC had been both &#8220;systematic and comprehensive.&#8221;</p>
<p>All three judges and four of six jurors returned guilty verdicts. Two jurors voted to acquit after concluding that the remote access defense could not be ruled out.</p>
<p>Following his extradition from Sweden, Gottfrid has spent 11 months behind bars in Denmark. His Danish accomplice, who refused to give evidence to the police and maintained silence right up until his trial in September, has spent 17 months in jail.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Gottfrid was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. His accomplice was sentenced to six months but walked free having already served the time in pre-trial custody.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=95980
title: Google Glass Now Banned in US Movie Theaters Over Piracy Fears
uri: Google-Glass-Now-Banned-in-US-Movie-Theaters-Over-Piracy-Fears
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fpeHB6pQXww/
content:
<p><img src="media/a57fc25a.glass.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/glass.jpg" width="180" height="128" class="alignright">Google Glass poses a significant threat to the movie industry, Hollywood believes. The advent of the wearable technology has sparked fears that it could be used for piracy.</p>
<p>This January the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/fbi-drags-google-glass-man-from-theater-on-piracy-fears-140121/">FBI dragged a man</a> from a movie theater in Columbus, Ohio, after theater staff presumed his wearing of Google Glass was a sign that he was engaged in camcorder piracy.</p>
<p>At the time the MPAA shrugged off the incident as an unfortunate mistake, claiming that it had seen &#8220;no proof that it is currently a significant threat that could result in content theft.” This has now changed.  </p>
<p>Starting today Google Glass is no longer welcome in movie theaters. The new ban applies to all US movie theaters and doesn&#8217;t include an exception for prescription glasses. </p>
<p>The MPAA and the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) stress that they welcome technological innovations and recognize the importance of wearables for consumers. However, the piracy enabling capabilities of these devices can&#8217;t be ignored.</p>
<p>&#8220;As part of our continued efforts to ensure movies are not recorded in theaters, however, we maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward using any recording device while movies are being shown,&#8221; MPAA and NATO state.</p>
<p>&#8220;As has been our long-standing policy, all phones must be silenced and other recording devices, including wearable devices, must be turned off and put away at show time. Individuals who fail or refuse to put the recording devices away may be asked to leave,&#8221; they add. </p>
<p>Cautioning potential pirates, the movie groups emphasize that theater employees will take immediate action when they spot someone with wearable recording devices. Even when in doubt, the local police will be swiftly notified.</p>
<p>&#8220;If theater managers have indications that illegal recording activity is taking place, they will alert law enforcement authorities when appropriate, who will determine what further action should be taken.&#8221;</p>
<p>The wearable ban is now part of the MPAA&#8217;s strict set of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-wants-advanced-anti-piracy-measures-at-movie-theaters-131114/">anti-piracy practices</a>. These instruct movie theater owners to be on the lookout for suspicious individuals who may have bad intentions.</p>
<p>Aside from the wearables threat, the best practices note that all possible hidden camera locations in the theater should be considered, including cup holders. In addition, employees should be alert for possible concealed recording equipment, as often seen in the movies.</p>
<p>“Movie thieves are very ingenious when it comes to concealing cameras. It may be as simple as placing a coat or hat over the camera, or as innovative as a specially designed concealment device,&#8221; it warns. </p>
<p>To increase vigilance among movie theater employees, <a href="http://www.fightfilmtheft.org/theater-employees.html">a $500 bounty</a> is being placed on the heads of those who illegally camcord a movie.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96023
title: Pirate Site Operator Slapped With $10 Million in Damages
uri: Pirate-Site-Operator-Slapped-With-10-Million-in-Damages
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/em4XQkQDYiI/
content:
<p><a href="media/65280bc5.piracy-crime.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-crime.jpg"><img src="media/4f6f21d0.piracy-crime.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-crime.jpg" alt="piracy-crime" width="222" height="140" class="alignright size-full wp-image-80208"></a>In August we reported how ABS-CBN was going after several website owners who link to pirated streams of its programming.</p>
<p>The Philippines-based company filed a lawsuit at a federal court in Oregon looking for <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-court-wants-search-engines-remove-pirate-sites-140818/">millions of dollars</a> in damages from two local residents, husband and wife.</p>
<p>The five sites they operated, including <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/Pinoymoviefan.com#trafficstats">Pinoymoviefan.com</a> and <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/watchfilipinotv.com#trafficstats">Watchfilipinotv.com</a>, barely had any visitors. According to the main suspect, Jeff Ashby, he created them for his wife so she could enjoy entertainment from her home country. </p>
<p>‘I created these websites for my wife who is from the Philippines, so she and others who are far from the Philippines could enjoy materials from their culture that are otherwise unavailable to them, Jeff Ashby <a href="media/687e22c1.gov.uscourts.ord.118169.21.0.pdf" data-original-source="http://ia802306.us.archive.org/23/items/gov.uscourts.ord.118169/gov.uscourts.ord.118169.21.0.pdf">wrote</a> to the court.</p>
<p>The sites in question didn&#8217;t store copies of the infringing media but merely provided links to other websites, and Ashby shut them down voluntarily as soon as he heard about the lawsuit.  </p>
<p>Nevertheless, ABS-CBN branded Ashby a hardcore criminal. In one of their own news report they managed to get the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/la-police-online-piracy-funds-drug-dealers-and-terrorists-140827/">L.A. police to agree with them</a>.</p>
<p>“[Piracy is] supporting their ability to buy drugs and guns and engage in violence. And then, the support of global terrorism, which is a threat to everybody,” LA County Assistant Sheriff Todd Rogers told an ABS-CBN news outlet.</p>
<p>Now, just a few weeks later the case is over. The Oregon District Court &#8216;ruled&#8217; in favor of ABS-CBN and ordered Jeff Ashby to pay a mind-blowing $10 million in damages.</p>
<p>The company nevertheless praises the &#8216;unprecedented&#8217; victory in its own news coverage and warns that they will continue to pursue action against pirate sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;Jeff Ashby is the first of many pirates that we are pursuing,&#8221; says Elisha Lawrence, ABS-CBN&#8217;s Associate Vice President of Global Anti-Piracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have begun a relentless campaign to enforce against all pirate websites due to the numerous reports that these sites contain dangerous malware which cause substantial harm including identify theft of financial information and phishing attacks.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the $10 million may do well for <a href="http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/10/28/14/abs-cbn-wins-10-m-internet-piracy-case">PR purposes</a>, the media conglomerate fails to mention that this isn&#8217;t a regular verdict. Instead, it&#8217;s a consent judgment (<a href="media/b1e1b558.judgement.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/judgement.pdf">pdf</a>) between ABS-CBN and Ashby which the court signed off on. </p>
<p>In other words, the $10 million in damages reported in public is a figure both parties agreed on, without putting up a fight. Needless to say, it&#8217;s likely that a separate deal was made behind the scenes. </p>
<p>In fact, a month before the consent judgment the court had already been informed that both parties had <a href="media/da6054d5.bxmH7Om.png" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/bxmH7Om.png">settled the case</a>.</p>
<p>Most telling, perhaps, is the response of Jeff Ashby after he was &#8216;hit&#8217; by the $10 million judgment. Instead of characterizing the damages as unfair and overblown, he now warns others not to mess with ABS-CBN.</p>
<p>&#8220;I wish to warn anyone who may be copying and/or publishing content owned by ABS-CBN without their permission, to stop immediately. Continuing without authorization can and will lead to very serious consequences,&#8221; Ashby comments.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96037
title: Manhunt Underway For “Possibly Armed” Kinox Pirate Site Operators
uri: Manhunt-Underway-For-Possibly-Armed-Kinox-BitShare-and-FreakSha
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2PphufUiFM4/
content:
<p><img src="media/f2777976.policedownload-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/policedownload-150x150.jpg" width="150" height="150" class="alignright">Just a few days ago <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/big-pirate-sites-raided-admins-on-the-run-141027/">news broke</a> that police in Germany had carried out raids in several areas of the country.</p>
<p>They were looking for four suspects believed to be the key individuals behind a range of sites including Kino.to replacement Kinox.to, a pair of file-hosting sites, plus two linking forums. Even streaming giant Movie4K was thrown into the mix. </p>
<p>While two people were arrested in Neuss and Dusseldorf, two brothers from a village near to the northern city of Lübeck evaded police and are said to be on the run. It is those two men who are now grabbing the headlines.</p>
<p>Police have just taken the somewhat unusual step of announcing a public manhunt for the brothers, publishing mugshots and their full names alongside details of their alleged crimes. This is something only usually carried out in exceptional and serious cases.</p>
<p><a href="media/0bbc7379.kinox-susp1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kinox-susp1.jpg"><img src="media/a65deee5.kinox-susp1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kinox-susp1.jpg" alt="kinox-susp1" width="140" height="187" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96046"></a>Pictured right is Kastriot Selimi. Born in 1989, the 25-year-old was born in Kosovo and later became a German citizen.</p>
<p>According to police he is one of the founders of the &#8220;criminal organization&#8221; behind Kinox, FreakShare and BitShare <em>(In respect of BitShare, please see update at bottom of article)</em>.</p>
<p>Kastriot also has alleged connections to a range of other sites including stream4k.to, shared.sx, mygully.com and boerse.sx.</p>
<p>Kastriot Selimi&#8217;s alleged crimes include predatory blackmail, armed robbery, extortion, arson, copyright infringement and tax evasion. Police warn that he should be considered violent and could be armed.</p>
<p><a href="media/b3d4ad15.kinox-susp2.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kinox-susp2.jpg"><img src="media/6a984c6e.kinox-susp2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kinox-susp2.jpg" alt="kinox-susp2" width="140" height="187" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96047"></a>Pictured right is Kreshnik Selimi. Born in 1992, the 21-year-old was born in Sweden and later became a German citizen. He is the younger brother of Kastriot.</p>
<p>Kreshnik is accused of founding and operating the same sites as his sibling and is covered by the same international arrest warrant. He is being classified as violent and police are warning the public that he too could be armed.</p>
<p>Kreshnik Selimi’s alleged crimes include predatory blackmail, armed robbery, extortion, arson, copyright infringement and tax evasion.</p>
<p>According to information received by German publication Spiegel, the arson and extortion charges relate to alleged crimes carried out by the brothers against one of their former or even current business partners.</p>
<p>A spokesperson for the prosecutor&#8217;s office earlier revealed that the brothers had “made great efforts” to get rid of their competitors in the piracy market. “Sometimes even a car burst into flames,” he said.</p>
<p>According to the Attorney General&#8217;s office the brothers have evaded 1.3 million euros in taxes, which suggests that overall revenues were in excess of 6.5 million euros. Even if that amount is overblown, it seems likely that the pair have considerable resources at their disposal.</p>
<p>The brothers&#8217; whereabouts aside, the big mystery is why the sites named above are still in operation. All remain online, despite their alleged operators being subjected to an international manhunt.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> The CEO of BitShare has contacted TorrentFreak stating that his site is being wrongly linked to this investigation and its reputation damaged with zero evidence being produced against it.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our company has not even been contacted by ANYONE and still they are accusing us of being connected to these two guys or other websites,&#8221; he explained.</p>
<p>TF has asked the BitShare CEO for a full statement which we will publish in due course.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=95927
title: Disney Patents a Piracy Free Search Engine
uri: Disney-Patents-a-Piracy-Free-Search-Engine
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/9Cq-YsfxBWs/
content:
<p><a href="media/c11b076f.disney-pirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/disney-pirate.jpg"><img src="media/c11b076f.disney-pirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/disney-pirate.jpg" alt="disney-pirate" width="275" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95935"></a>Disney and other rightsholders are not happy with today&#8217;s search engines after repeatedly asking Google and Co. to promote legal content and remove pirate sites from search results. </p>
<p>While Google implemented <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-will-downrank-pirate-sites-starting-next-week-141018/">several changes</a> to satisfy these requests, Disney has also taken matters into its own hands. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/244862836/Disney-Search-Engine-Patent">new patent</a> awarded to Disney Enterprises this week describes a search engine through which pirated content is hard to find. </p>
<p>Titled “Online content ranking system based on authenticity metric values for web elements,” one of the patent’s main goals is to prevent pirated movies and other illicit content from ranking well in the search results. </p>
<p>According to Disney their patent makes it possible to &#8220;enable the filtering of undesirable search results, such as results referencing piracy websites.&#8221;</p>
<p>Disney believes that current search engines are using the wrong approach as they rely on a website&#8217;s &#8220;popularity.&#8221; This allows site owners to game the system in order to rank higher. </p>
<p>&#8220;For example, a manipulated page for unauthorized sales of drugs, movies, etc. might be able to obtain a high popularity rating, but what the typical user will want to see is a more authentic page,&#8221; they explain. </p>
<p>While this is a rather simplified description of the complex algorithms most search engines use, Disney believes it can do a better job. </p>
<p>In their patent they describe a system that re-ranks search results based on an &#8220;authenticity index&#8221;. This works twofold, by promoting sites that are more &#8220;authoritative&#8221; and filtering out undesirable content.</p>
<p><a href="media/5644aab9.disneypirate.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/disneypirate.png"><img src="media/5644aab9.disneypirate.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/disneypirate.png" alt="disneypirate" width="275" height="391" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95934"></a></p>
<p>&#8220;In particular, embodiments enable more authoritative search results &#8230; to be ranked higher and be more visible to a user. Embodiments furthermore enable the filtering of undesirable search results, such as results referencing piracy websites, child pornography websites, and/or the like,&#8221; Disney writes.</p>
<p>While Disney&#8217;s idea of a search engine may sound appealing to some, deciding what counts as &#8220;authoritative&#8221; is still rather subjective. Google, for example, uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank">PageRank</a> which is in part based on the number of quality links to websites. </p>
<p>Disney, however, suggests giving &#8220;official&#8221; sites priority when certain terms relate to a property of a company. These &#8220;authority&#8221; weights can include  trademarks, copyrighted material, and domain name information. </p>
<p>This doesn&#8217;t only affect pirated content, Disney explains, it also means that a Wikipedia entry or IMDb listing for &#8220;Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs&#8221; will rank lower than the official Disney page of the film. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Disney.go.com web page may be associated with an authenticity weight that is greater than the authenticity weight associated with the encyclopedia web page because Disney.go.com is the official domain for The Walt Disney Company. As such, with respect to the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs™ film, the Disney.go.com web page may be considered more authoritative (and thus more authentic) than the encyclopedia web page,&#8221; Disney writes.</p>
<p>In other words, official sites should be the top result for &#8220;brand&#8221; related searches, even if people are looking for background info or more balanced (re)views. For pirate sites there&#8217;s no place at all in the top results, even though Disney&#8217;s definition of a pirate site may also be rather subjective.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear whether Disney has any plans to implement the patent in the wild. The company currently has a <a href="http://search.disney.com/">search engine</a> but this only includes links to its own properties.</p>
<p><center>Disney search</center><center><a href="media/9a3fd4e6.disneysearchengine.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/disneysearchengine.jpg"><img src="media/9a3fd4e6.disneysearchengine.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/disneysearchengine.jpg" alt="disneysearchengine" width="600" height="499" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-95945"></a></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96127
title: XBMC/Kodi Targets Piracy-Promoting eBay Sellers
uri: XBMC-Kodi-Targets-Piracy-Promoting-eBay-Sellers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3UTsErr_16U/
content:
<p><a href="media/2ce8b497.xbmc-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/xbmc-logo.jpg"><img src="media/2ce8b497.xbmc-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/xbmc-logo.jpg" alt="xbmc-logo" width="202" height="60" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96134"></a>Anyone typing the simple phrase &#8220;free movies&#8221; into eBay will be overloaded with many thousands of results. A large proportion offer hardware that has been customized to receive unauthorized online video.</p>
<p>The software these devices run is very often XBMC, or Kodi as its now known. The software in its basic form is an entirely legal media player, around since the days of the original Xbox (<strong>XB</strong>ox <strong>M</strong>edia <strong>C</strong>enter).</p>
<p>However, XBMC/Kodi is compatible with third-party addons that can turn the player into a piracy powerhouse providing free access to movies, TV shows and live sports. With the advent of XBMC/Kodi for Android, eBay is now flooded with ready-built and configured &#8216;pirate&#8217; boxes that anyone can operate.</p>
<p><center><br>
<h5>A typical &#8216;pirate&#8217; XBMC Android Box Listing</h5>
<p><img src="media/3e73f85a.xbmc-ad.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/xbmc-ad.jpg" alt="ad-listing"></center></p>
<p>This week TF received information that eBay has been taking down listings for these devices, apparently at the behest of the XBMC Foundation, the organization behind the XBMC/Kodi software.</p>
<p>&#8220;The rights owner or an agent authorized to act on behalf of the rights owner, XBMC Foundation, notified eBay that this listing violates intellectual property rights. When eBay receives a report of this type of violation, we remove the listing to comply with the law,&#8221; eBay told a disappointed seller.</p>
<p>When emailed about the takedown, XBMC Foundation responded: &#8220;Your listing was removed because it violates our brand policy by altering the XBMC(tm) / Kodi &#8482; installation by including extra add-ons which are against our general brand policy or piracy general piracy policy.&#8221;</p>
<p>To discover more about these developments, TorrentFreak spoke with Kodi Project Manager Nathan Betzen.</p>
<p>&#8220;First, let me say that we have no copyright claims or interests in addons developed by third parties. The form provided by eBay is unfortunately over broad and says quite a bit more than we want it to say, but we work with the tools we&#8217;re given,&#8221; Betzen told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;The requested takedowns are based entirely on trademark issues. All of the listings targeted so far have explicitly connected XBMC/Kodi with addons that enable piracy, resulting in eBay listings with phrases like, &#8216;XBMC lets you watch all the free movies you want!&#8217;&#8221;</p>
<p>Betzen informs TF that the Foundation not only controls the XBMC trademark in the US (and wherever else common law trademarks are recognized), but is also in the process of registering the name &#8216;Kodi&#8217; with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Once obtained, that trademark will be extended internationally using the Madrid Trademark Protocol.</p>
<p><a href="media/71a8b4b7.ebay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ebay.jpg"><img src="media/71a8b4b7.ebay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ebay.jpg" alt="ebay" width="180" height="103" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96139"></a>&#8220;We believe that these [eBay] sales are causing confusion for our users about what XBMC/Kodi does as a vanilla program. The clearest evidence of this may be found among several of the sellers themselves who are surprised and unaware of the fact that XBMC has absolutely nothing to do with the development of the piracy-related addons included in their sales pitch,&#8221; Betzen says. </p>
<p>&#8220;Upon being contacted by the sellers, we only request that they not associate the XBMC/Kodi name with the act of piracy described in their listings. This is possible by rebranding the software, which is permissible under the GPL.&#8221;</p>
<p>Betzen notes that simply refraining from mentioning piracy features is also enough to avoid an eBay takedown.</p>
<p>&#8220;Either way, they are welcome to post the sale again the moment they follow either of these paths or otherwise creatively solve the issue of associating the name XBMC/Kodi with piracy,&#8221; Betzen says. </p>
<p>Despite the takedowns, the XBMC Foundation told TF it takes no stance on piracy. Users are free to use their software how they like within the constraints of the GPL v2. However, that freedom ends when people indicate to the public that the Foundation is taking sides in the piracy debate when its goal is to remain out of the argument entirely.</p>
<p>&#8220;To put it simply: We are happy to remain software developers. And we are happy to let other groups stand for and against piracy,&#8221; Betzen concludes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96167
title: Joker Goes Offline After Pressure From Copyright Holders
uri: Joker-Goes-Offline-After-Pressure-From-Copyright-Holders
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jjzWtugfafY/
content:
<p>While most people use standalone torrent clients to download files, there are also several services that allow people to stream videos in a web-browser via the popular file-sharing protocol.</p>
<p>One of the best implementations of BitTorrent &#8216;powered&#8217; streaming is <a href="http://joker.org">Joker.org</a>. Although the actual streaming is <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/joker-is-cool-but-not-the-new-popcorn-time-141029/">not fully</a> peer-to-peer, as the transfers first go through central servers, its ease of use is certainly appealing.</p>
<p>This week hundreds of news sites wrote about the service which became overloaded with new users as a result. A success story, but one with a downside, as copyright holders were immediately on high alert.</p>
<p>Just a few days after the service first gathered serious online momentum, it is already gone. The Joker.org website currently shows a placeholder mentioning that it&#8217;s looking for a new home.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted the Joker team who explained to us that the service was shut down by hosting company Redstation following &#8220;pressure&#8221; from various copyright holder representatives.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/48a3a44a.jokerorg.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jokerorg.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96171" src="media/48a3a44a.jokerorg.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jokerorg.jpg" alt="jokerorg" width="600" height="424"></a></center></p>
<p>One of the notices <a href="http://www.redstation.com/">Redstation</a> received was sent by Entura International on behalf of Sony Pictures Entertainment. This notice alleged that Joker facilitates copyright infringement at 3 levels.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>1. The initial download of content via BitTorrent without permission. At no point has Rights Holder authorized transmission of its content via this medium.<br>
2. The storage and/or caching of BitTorrent chunks of the content.<br>
3. The conversion and re-transmission of stored/cached content in streaming video format to users via web browser.</em></p>
<p>Entura International asked the hosting provider to stop the alleged unlawful activities by suspending Joker&#8217;s account or null-routing the associated IP-address. Redstation chose the latter option and the Joker service has been unavailable since.</p>
<p>Joker is disappointed at being labeled a &#8220;pirate site&#8221;. The developers believe they offer a neutral and useful service that is piracy agnostic. Potential infringing data is stored only temporarily, without their knowledge.</p>
<p>&#8220;Which is the worst? Google, where you can find thousands of torrents with a single &#8220;X .torrent&#8221; search, torrent sites, where you can get access to millions of .torrent files, or joker.org?&#8221; the Joker team asks.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Using torrents is not illegal, we are just a service that converts video torrent files to streamable mp4s. We don&#8217;t link or enable search for any content,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>Despite the current problems Joker doesn&#8217;t intend to throw in the towel. They are currently looking for a new hosting solution for their service and will return.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hell yeah we will come back,&#8221; the Joker team concludes.</p>
<p>Before they return Joker intends to improve their services and address potential issues, to prevent the risk of another shutdown. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96064
title: MPAA Lobbies Lawmakers on Internet Tax and Net Neutrality
uri: MPAA-Lobbies-Lawmakers-on-Internet-Tax-and-Net-Neutrality
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TQOQPp167I8/
content:
<p><a href="media/3b0329c8.mpaa-logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo.png"><img src="media/fdb36aee.mpaa-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo.png" alt="mpaa-logo" width="259" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-89856"></a>In its quest to stamp out piracy, the MPAA continues to pump money into its lobbying activities hoping to sway lawmakers in its direction. </p>
<p>While the lobbying talks take place behind closed doors, quarterly lobbying reports provide some insight into the items on the agenda.</p>
<p>The MPAA&#8217;s most recent lobbying disclosure form (<a href="media/7cf4d669.LD-2-Disclosure-Form.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/LD-2-Disclosure-Form.pdf">pdf</a>) has added several new topics that weren&#8217;t on the agenda last quarter. Among other issues, the movie group lobbied the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives on Internet tax, net neutrality and online service provider liability.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted the MPAA hoping to get some additional information on Hollywood&#8217;s stance on these topics, but a week has passed and we have yet to receive a reply. </p>
<p>The only thing we know for sure is what Hollywood is lobbying on, but it doesn&#8217;t take much imagination to take an educated guess on the why part.</p>
<p>Net neutrality for example. While the MPAA hasn&#8217;t got involved publicly in the recent net neutrality discussions, it clearly has something to tell to lawmakers. The Hollywood group most likely wants to assure that its anti-piracy efforts aren&#8217;t hindered by future legislation.</p>
<p>Previously the MPAA <a href="http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=6519529325">has warned</a> that net neutrality could make it hard to use deep packet inspection, filtering and fingerprinting techniques to prevent piracy. This concern was partially addressed by FCC&#8217;s proposal which doesn&#8217;t include &#8220;<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/net-neutrality-wont-prevent-bittorrent-blocking-10-01-29/">unlawful traffic</a>&#8221; under the net neutrality proposals.</p>
<p><center><strong>Part of MPAA lobbying disclosure filing</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/78dd041e.mpaa-lobby.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-lobby.png"><img src="media/78dd041e.mpaa-lobby.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-lobby.png" alt="mpaa-lobby" width="535" height="370" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96069"></a></center></p>
<p>The Internet tax mention is perhaps most the controversial topic. There were massive protests in Hungary this week after the Government announced it would charge a tax of 62 cents per gigabyte on all Internet traffic. For now the Hungarian plan has been <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/31/us-hungary-internet-tax-idUSKBN0IK0MM20141031?feedType=RSSfeedName=worldNews">shelved</a>, but an Internet tax remains an option for the future.</p>
<p>In the U.S. there has been a ban on Internet Tax for more than a decade, but that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Tax_Freedom_Act">expires this year</a>. There&#8217;s currently a bill pending in the Senate that extends the ban, but this has <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/3086">yet to be approved</a>. It seems likely that the MPAA has weighed in on this proposal. </p>
<p>Finally, the MPAA also lobbied on liability of online service providers. This presumably relates to the possible revision of the DMCA, where Hollywood wants to ensure that online services can&#8217;t leave widespread piracy unaddressed.  </p>
<p>Ideally, the movie studios would like to make it harder for sites and services to hide behind the DMCA, as the MPAA also made clear in its lawsuits against isoHunt and Hotfile.</p>
<p>While we may never know what the MPAA&#8217;s exact positions are on these topics, we do know that they are trying to steer lawmakers in their direction. Perhaps future legislative proposals and discussions may reveal more details.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96059
title: Scientist Deliberately Pirates Art on a Nanoscopic Scale
uri: Scientist-Deliberately-Pirates-Art-on-a-Nanoscopic-Scale
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/kEemGwySFMQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/73de3bfb.nano-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nano-small.jpg"><img src="media/73de3bfb.nano-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nano-small.jpg" alt="nano-small" width="180" height="140" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96088"></a>In the modern age almost anything can be copied. Digital technology allows for the reproduction of audio, still and moving images, and even physical items are easily cloned using 3D printing techniques.</p>
<p>This ease of copying has provoked legal aggression and endless debate as to the purpose of copyright law and its role in protecting the interests of artists. In particular, entertainment industry companies often declare that no matter what its nature, infringement negatively affects those creators. But is that always the case?</p>
<p>A new project developed by <a href="http://www.roberthovden.com/">Dr Robert Hovden</a> at Cornell University aims to provoke discussion on that very topic by pushing replication of content &#8211; and indeed the law &#8211; to their absolute limits.</p>
<p>A self-confessed gradeschool downloader and former undergraduate at Jet Propulsion Labs, NASA, Hovden went on to study nanoscience at Cornell. His passion for studying the world at the tiniest possible levels has given birth to &#8220;When Art Exceeds Perception&#8221;.</p>
<p>The project, which will be exhibiting at Cornell University this November and December, explores the implications of copyright infringement, replication and plagiarism when the &#8216;pirated&#8217; works are so tiny they cannot be perceived by human senses.</p>
<p>To this end, Hovden has &#8216;pirated&#8217; four famous works of art by scribing them into the surface of a silicon crystal using a focused ion beam. The features in the artwork replicas are five hundred times smaller than the eye can perceive and five times smaller than the wavelength of light.</p>
<p><center><br>
<h5>The Focused Ion Beam device used to &#8216;pirate&#8217; the artwork</h5>
<p><img src="media/60678303.Focused-Ion-Beam.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Focused-Ion-Beam.jpg" alt="Ion beam"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;To take a piece of art, copy it, and share it with the world without the original artists’ permission is traditionally viewed as wrong and, in most cases, violates copyright laws,&#8221; Hovden says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Such laws are intended to protect an artist’s financial interests and<br>
provide incentive to create. However, in a digital era where information is encrypted and stored in the atomic bits of nanoscale devices, answers to philosophical, moral, and legal questions surrounding copyright become muddled.&#8221;</p>
<p>This leads to Hovden&#8217;s big question: When a copyright work is copied, framed and presented for public consumption on a nanoscale as it will during November and December at Cornell, has something been taken from the original artist?</p>
<p>&#8220;Thus far, people have discussed this project from a science or art perspective, but I believe that the readers of TorrentFreak are best equipped to understand this work. The exhibition is highly conceptual &#8211; completely beyond perception &#8211; and critical of current views on replication,&#8221; Hovden told TF.</p>
<p>Project creative assistant Michael Blaney informs us that the artworks involved are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images">The Treachery of Images</a> by René Magritte, <a href="http://www.art.com/products/p10291748-sa-i812320/henri-matisse-le-platane-c-1951.htm">Le Platane</a> by Henri Matisse, M.C. Escher&#8217;s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_Division_of_the_Plane">Regular Division Of The Plane With Birds</a> and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/newsgrist/122014752/in/set-72157617779225924">Laylah K. by Joy Garnett</a>.</p>
<p><center><br>
<h5>Laylah K. by Joy Garnett, original and nanoscale</h5>
<p><img src="media/b3c5782d.garnett.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/garnett.jpg" alt="nanoartwork"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;The replicated pieces chosen are from recent, famous artists where copyright is relevant to the discussion,&#8221; Hovden says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Joy Garnett is a fantastic creator and one of a few fine artists who release work under a Creative Commons license. She sometimes paints from the photographs of others to make something uniquely new &#8211; a benefit of a free culture society. The nanoscale replica of Garnett&#8217;s work is the only one which I retained a low resolution micrograph image of. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Escher is a lovely tessellation with symmetries that can be found in the crystalline silicon substrate on which it was etched and Magritte&#8217;s &#8216;The Treachery of Images&#8217; was chosen for a technological modernization and extension of his original concept. The Matisse is a best-selling serigraph at MOMA.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><br>
<h5>The works of art, on a nanoscale</h5>
<p><img src="media/0814accc.nano-images.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nano-images.jpg" alt="nanoartwork"></center></p>
<p>The concept of infringement at an imperceptible level is an intriguing one. Are artists affected by &#8216;pirate&#8217; music that&#8217;s too quiet to be heard or by entire movies played in a fraction of a second, for example?</p>
<p>&#8220;I think your idea of an audio performance of &#8216;pirate&#8217; music is in the same vein as this exhibition, but raises some new concepts,&#8221; Hovden told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;The audio is quiet, with a signal to noise ratio that changes with distance. Maybe a microphone could record the sounds we can&#8217;t hear at close distances but the sound quality will drop with distance (actually, rapidly with the square of the distance). There will be a point where even a microphone cannot &#8216;hear&#8217; the sound and the information is lost.</p>
<p>&#8220;So, does the extent of a public performance change? If a thousand people are present, but none &#8211; or only a couple &#8211; can hear it, is it a public performance? Also, you could play with the idea of translating the music to frequencies higher than the human ear can hear. It is loud, but not perceived &#8211; maybe by an animal.&#8221;</p>
<p>And the complexities and fascination of Hovden&#8217;s project only intensifies when one realizes that we&#8217;re all engaged in pirating on a nanoscale, quite possibly at this very moment.</p>
<p>&#8220;With the modern computer, most of us are continually replicating information &#8211; often without permission &#8211; in the nanoscale bits of our hard drives and memory. Not only small, the information is encoded in complex arrays.</p>
<p>&#8220;Here, I wanted to make something that is a direct representation of the original artwork &#8211; just like the low-amplitude &#8216;pirate&#8217; music performance. The verdict is still out on how this type of work will be received (tolerated),&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Those interested in experiencing When Art Exceeds Perception can do so at the <a href="http://www.human.cornell.edu/administration/facilities/spaces/Galleries/jillstuart.cfm">Jill Stuart Gallery</a> at Cornell University during November and December.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96087
title: Google Takedown Requests Surge After New Anti-Piracy Measures
uri: Google-Takedown-Requests-Surge-After-New-Anti-Piracy-Measures
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/va428JvlVkc/
content:
<p><a href="media/7c6b9504.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg"><img src="media/3a6fa524.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg" alt="google-bay" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21875"></a>Last week Google implemented a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-will-downrank-pirate-sites-starting-next-week-141018/">new search algorithm</a>. The new measure keeps websites for which it receives a high number of takedown requests out of the top results for certain keywords. </p>
<p>The change has <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">hit pirate sites hard</a>. Some sites have lost more than half of all their search engine traffic, which translates to millions of visitors per week.  </p>
<p>The key element of the new alghorithm are the DMCA notices. The more a website gets, the less likely it is that the site appears in the top results for  various download and streaming related searches. </p>
<p>This has created a new incentive for copyright holders to send more takedown notices, to ensure that no pirate site can fly under the radar. Various rightsholders appear to realize this as the number of DMCA notices Google receives has skyrocketed.</p>
<p>Over the past week the search engine was asked to remove 11,668,660 allegedly infringing URLs. That is nearly double the amount it received earlier this month, and the largest week to week increase ever.</p>
<p><center><strong>Takedown requests increase 100% in weeks</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/94bfbac8.google-skyrocket.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-skyrocket.png"><img src="media/94bfbac8.google-skyrocket.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-skyrocket.png" alt="google-skyrocket" width="480" height="247" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96093"></a></center></p>
<p>Looking at the sites that are targeted we see that most notices indeed refer to relatively new sites. <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/domains/?r=last-week">The top 5</a> domains last week were conexaomp3.com, vmusice.net, tpbt.org, proxymirror.co and helpamillionpeople.com. </p>
<p>These sites went unnoticed before but all had more than 300,000 URLs removed last week. On the surface <a href="http://helpamillionpeople.com/">helpamillionpeople.com</a> appears to be an odd target, but the site in question runs a Pirate Bay proxy through a <a href="http://piratebay.helpamillionpeople.com/">subdomain</a>.</p>
<p>The big question now is whether this new takedown surge will pay off.</p>
<p>Of course, copyright holders aren&#8217;t under the illusion that Google can eradicate piracy, or even stop those who regularly download or stream content without permission. Their goal is to make pirated content invisible in search results so less people will be drawn to it. </p>
<p>Whether this will decrease piracy rates in the long run is unknown, but judging from the early results it does indeed make it less likely for people to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/whats-that-torrent-thing-google-keeps-suggesting-101113/">stumble upon pirate sites</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96197
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 11/03/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-11-03-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/A8Kunqil6Hg/
content:
<p><a href="media/1d95a5fe.apes1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/apes1.jpg"><img src="media/1d95a5fe.apes1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/apes1.jpg" alt="apes" width="300" height="193" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96199"></a>This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-141027/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dawn_of_the_planet_of_the_apes/">Dawn of the Planet of the Apes</a> (Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2103281/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sHMCRaS3ao">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets_be_cops/">Let&#8217;s Be Cops</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1924435/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKIAZjs__Xc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hercules_the_thracian_wars/">Hercules</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1267297/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uro03xQwrA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_expendables_3/">The Expendables 3</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2333784/?">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xD0junWlFc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles_2013/">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291150/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZZ0PnDZdZk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/step_up_all_in/">Step Up All In</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2626350/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WfQemqSsFY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/guardians_of_the_galaxy/">Guardians of the Galaxy</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2015381/">8.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9vypfwbvk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_train_your_dragon_2/">How to Train Your Dragon 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646971/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9a4PvzlqoQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/boyhood/">Boyhood</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1065073/">8.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0oX0xiwOv8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_most_wanted_man/">A Most Wanted Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1972571/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUyYBrlF_W8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96204
title: Copyright Monopoly Enforcement Gets To Trump Human Rights, Yet Again
uri: Copyright-Monopoly-Enforcement-Gets-To-Trump-Human-Rights-Yet-Again
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/F7PH4Sjxcp8/
content:
<p><a href="media/b997f7ba.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg"><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211"></a>On December 14, 2005, the European Parliament approved legislation that was more Stasiesque than anything previously imagined. </p>
<p>Citizens would have every piece of communications logged for a minimum for six months, including from where it was made, so that this could be used against the citizens if need be. Who people talked to, how, from where, and when. In effect, since your mobile phone communicated more or less all the time, every footstep you took through a European city was not only monitored, but <a href="http://vimeo.com/43765286">recorded</a> for the specific purpose of using it against you.</p>
<p>The legislation &#8211; the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Retention_Directive">Data Retention Directive</a> &#8211; caused an outrage, and rightly so. But the gears of justice turn slowly. On April 8, 2014 &#8211; almost ten years later &#8211; the European Court of Justice &#8211; the highest court in Europe &#8211; <a href="media/f2b83800.cp140054en.pdf" data-original-source="http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2014-04/cp140054en.pdf">ruled</a> that the legislation violated a number of fundamental citizen rights, including the presumption of innocence, protection of personal data, and the right to privacy. It didn&#8217;t just declare the horrible law invalid from that point on &#8211; the European Court of Justice ruled that the law had never even existed.</p>
<p>It should come as no surprise that the copyright industry was one of the primary pushers for this legislation. In combination with the typical over-implementation of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enforcement_Directive">IPRED</a> directive, which would give the copyright industry police-like powers to demand logs from Internet Service Providers. They would use this power to find people who had violated their distribution monopolies in sharing knowledge and culture among each other. This two-pronged approach would allow the copyright industry to act as a private police force: force ISPs to save logs of all correspondence, and get the legal right to demand it (a right even the Police didn&#8217;t have for crimes at that petty level).</p>
<p>The copyright industry has never cared for human rights. Every single debate you go to, they talk about &#8220;balancing&#8221; fundamental rights against their right to profit. It is not just audacious, it is revolting. First, there is no right to profit for a commercial enterprise, and second, the reason we call the fundamental rights &#8220;fundamental&#8221; in the first place is that nothing gets to be &#8220;balanced&#8221; against them.</p>
<p>These are rights on the same level as the right to life. Yes, they&#8217;re that fundamental. And the copyright industry cares that little.</p>
<p>This week, about ten years late, Australia <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5375">introduced</a> Data Retention of the same model. Or at least that&#8217;s what most people think. The bill has been introduced, and yet it hasn&#8217;t, because nobody is allowed to read the details of what data is actually required to be retained in the bill yet. (Raise your hand if you&#8217;ve heard this kind of story before &#8211; an administration playing hide-and-seek with legislative details.)</p>
<p>And just as unsurprisingly, the first thing that pops up <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/au/mandatory-data-retention-to-be-used-to-fight-piracy-7000035224/">as purpose</a> for this violatory legislation is copyright monopoly enforcement.</p>
<p>Violating fundamental human rights wholesale for entire countries at a time, with the idea of enforcing an entertainment distribution monopoly for a cartoon industry. It&#8217;s so disproportionate it wouldn&#8217;t even be funny in a cartoon; it&#8217;s so out of touch with reality that we&#8217;ve even left the Onionesque.</p>
<p><center>
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<div style="float:right;height:130px;width:39px;margin-left:20px;margin-right:10px"><img src="media/98818a80.Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" data-original-source="http://falkvinge.net/wp-content/themes/WpNewspaper/images/falkvinge/Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" style="border:none;-moz-box-shadow:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none" class="quimby_search_image"></div>
<p><span style="color:#3F3F3F;font-size:125%">About The</span> <span style="color:#FF3C78;font-size:125%">Author</span></p>
</h3>
<p style="font-family:PTSansRegular,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-weight:400;line-height:150%;margin-bottom:14px"><small>Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at <a href="http://falkvinge.net">falkvinge.net</a> focuses on information policy.</small></p>
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<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96223
title: MP3Juices Recovers From UK Police Shutdown With New Domain
uri: MP3Juices-Recovers-From-UK-Police-Shutdown-With-New-Domain
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lcK22rSrzfM/
content:
<p><a href="media/d09d2ef8.mp3juices.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mp3juices.png"><img src="media/e87e37da.mp3juices.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mp3juices.png" alt="mp3juices" width="275" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93806"></a>Over the past few months City of London&#8217;s PIPCU anti-piracy unit has been working together with copyright holders to topple sites that provide or link to pirated content.</p>
<p>One of the most-used tactics is to contact domain name registrars, asking them to suspend allegedly infringing domain names. This has resulted in the &#8220;shutdown&#8221; of a few pirate sites, with the MP3 search engine MP3Juices one of the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-shut-down-mp3-search-engine-mp3juices-140911/">most recent targets</a>. </p>
<p>With millions of visitors each month MP3Juices was one of the largest sites of its kind, but that changed in September when the site lost its domain name. After the suspension weeks went by without a sign of life from the operators, until this weekend. </p>
<p>Yesterday MP3Juices returned using a new .to domain name. The surprise comeback was announced through the site&#8217;s official Facebook page. &#8220;We are back:) www.mp3juices.to. Have fun, post any errors/problems below,&#8221; the status update reads.</p>
<p>The unexpected resurrection was welcomed by many of the site&#8217;s followers, who were delighted to see their favorite MP3 search engine back in action. </p>
<p><center><strong>MP3Juices is back</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/8e077f95.facebook-comments.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facebook-comments.png"><img src="media/8e077f95.facebook-comments.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facebook-comments.png" alt="facebook-comments" width="490" height="347" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96227"></a></center></p>
<p>At the moment it&#8217;s unclear why it took more than a month for the site to move to a new domain. TorrentFreak asked the MP3Juices team for a comment on the comeback and their future plans, but they have yet to respond. </p>
<p>While PIPCU&#8217;s domain name suspension was bypassed by MP3Juices, it certainly wasn&#8217;t without damage. The site has lost most of its users, with many going to MP3Juices.cc, a site that launched last month.</p>
<p>The MP3Juices.cc team informed TF that they created their site for those who miss the old site. It offers a search engine similar to the original service, and has grown to 150,000 daily visitors in just a few weeks.</p>
<p>So the end result of PIPCU&#8217;s actions is that they damaged one site, but inspired the launch of another. Whether the actions of the police have actually resulted in less copyright infringement is doubtful, as availability of pirated content has increased.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96207
title: UK Museums and Libraries Protest Outdated Copyright Laws
uri: UK-Museums-and-Libraries-Protest-Outdated-Copyright-Laws
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/a3d92yRZkfk/
content:
<p><a href="media/b997f7ba.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg"><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211"></a>Currently, the duration of copyright protection for published works in the UK is life of the author plus 70 years, but for unpublished works the situation is different. ­­ </p>
<p>As per the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988, unpublished works from authors who died before 1969 are protected until 2039, regardless of the age of the work. This is unlike other countries in Europe where institutions are allowed to use such important historical material freely and lawfully.</p>
<p>The fact that very old unpublished works from authors who died long ago are still in copyright and will remain so till 2039 is especially frustrating to libraries and museums who want to display essential historical documents. </p>
<p>To address this issue, the Chartered Institute of Library &#038; Information Professionals (CLIP) <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/cilip/news/campaign-free-our-history-reform-copyright">has launched a campaign</a> to free the country’s history from the clutches of what they are calling as “out­dated” and “inconsistent” copyright laws.</p>
<p>The campaign, which is being supported by several leading museums, libraries, and cultural organisations including Imperial War Museums, National Library of Scotland, Collections Trust, aims to push the UK government to reduce the current copyright term.</p>
<p>“The copyright laws mean we’re not presenting a true representation of our cultural heritage,&#8221; says Naomi Korn, IP consultant at the Chair, Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance. </p>
<p>“Cultural heritage organizations either have to be willing to incur the risks or the costs of presenting the copyrighted works. That’s the choice to make it available. That’s wrong.&#8221;</p>
<p>As part of the effort, CLIP is asking libraries, museums, archives, as well as cultural institutions to display a blank case in which they would like to show an unpublished document, but can’t due to copyright laws. The document below, for example, is currently on  display at the National Library of Scotland.</p>
<p><center><strong>Blank page due to &#8220;outdated&#8221; copyright law</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/9bee2ed0.blank1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blank1.jpg"><img src="media/9bee2ed0.blank1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blank1.jpg" alt="blank" width="800" height="1067" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96209"></a></center></p>
<p>The campaign is also protesting the issue of copyright to Orphan Works, where one or more rightsholders are unknown or cannot be located. Under current UK copyright laws, reproducing these works as well as displaying the original would require permission from the rights holder, even if they are untraceable.</p>
<p>The cultural institutions hope that the public will join the campaign by signing the <a href="https://www.change.org/p/lucy-neville-rolfe-free-our-history-reduce-the-term-of-copyright-protection-in-unpublished-texts-to-the-author-s-lifetime-plus-70-years">petition on Change.org</a> and using the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23catch2039&#038;src=typd">#catch2039</a> on Twitter to spread the word.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96103
title: BitShare Hits Back at Police ‘Kinox’ Allegations
uri: BitShare-Hits-Back-at-Police-Kinox-Allegations
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/d41N5uVXpso/
content:
<p><a href="media/fb038ff8.bitshare.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bitshare.png"><img src="media/fb038ff8.bitshare.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bitshare.png" alt="bitshare" width="170" height="75" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96112"></a>Last week a quite <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/big-pirate-sites-raided-admins-on-the-run-141027/">extraordinary drama</a> unfolded in Germany. Local police announced that they had carried out raids in several areas of the country with the aim of netting the operators of movie site Kinox.to.</p>
<p>Police did make two arrests but their main targets, two brothers said to be the founders of Kinox, remain at large. Subsequently police upped the ante by taking the unusual step of naming the pair and launching an <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/manhunt-underway-for-possibly-armed-kinox-bitshare-and-freakshare-operators-141031/">international manhunt</a>. </p>
<p>Ever since news broke that the pair were being pursued, police, the attorney general, and local piracy outfit GVU have linked the brothers to a string of other file-sharing related sites. Among them are streaming portal Movie4K and file-hosting sites BitShare and FreakShare.</p>
<p>All sites mentioned by the police remain operational. However, the anti-piracy group responsible for the investigations now wants something done about that.</p>
<p>GVU director Dr. Matthias Leonardy claims that BitShare receives 1.5 million users per day and FreakShare 750,000. Continuing with his fiery rhetoric, Leonardy says the sites operate from datacenters in the United States so GVU now requires international assistance to shut them down.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is by far the most serious case of organized economic crime with structurally infringing online services in Germany. The current case clearly shows that the illegal exploitation of creative content on the net is now firmly in the hands of criminals,&#8221; Leonardy says.</p>
<p>But while GVU and the police appear acutely interested in these sites, when TorrentFreak spoke to BitShare just before the weekend, we were given a different picture. Mark Girak, the site&#8217;s CEO, who was clearly annoyed at being associated with the mounting chaos. He agreed to answer some questions to put his side of the story.</p>
<p>Firstly, we asked Girak if anti-piracy outfit GVU or the police had ever been in contact with BitShare over the Kinox situation.</p>
<p>&#8220;GVU never contacted us, nor did the police or any other company,&#8221; Girak said. &#8220;They are just putting our name everywhere and trying to make life hard for us. They are completely ignoring our brand and our company.&#8221;</p>
<p>We then asked Girak if BitShare had any historical links with Kinox or its operators, and if so, to explain their nature.</p>
<p>&#8220;We never had any contact with Kinox guys, they were once affiliates of us, but since two years they have not been using our website at all,&#8221; Girak said. &#8220;Our site is most probably being linked to that website because we offer a streaming feature for some of our users.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, we asked Girak if BitShare has any pending legal problems in respect of Kinox or any other copyright matter. The answer was a clear &#8220;no&#8221;.</p>
<p>And Girak isn&#8217;t the only one with doubts over the way the case is being presented by the authorities in Germany. The alleged &#8216;Kinox Brothers&#8217;, Kastriot and Kreshnik Selimi, are being portrayed as violent and rich individuals at every opportunity, but speaking to local media their lawyer <a href="https://tarnkappe.info/kinox-anwalt-der-gesuchten-haelt-vorgehen-fuer-uebertrieben/">questioned</a> the allegations.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is no evidence that the pair are dangerous,&#8221; said Stefan Tripmaker.</p>
<p>&#8220;The family lives modestly and both brothers were still living in the rooms they had as children [at their parents' house]. It is a mystery to me where the money could be.&#8221;</p>
<p>So all eyes now turn to the United States {if GVU is correct} to see whether something will be done there. In the meantime the controversy &#8211; and apparent mystery &#8211; continues.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96267
title: Updated: Pirate Bay Founder Fredrik Neij Arrested in Asia
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-Fredrik-Neij-Arrested-in-Asia
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yzNOAUGaKlw/
content:
<p><a href="media/d1aba6c8.small-fredrik.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/small-fredrik.jpg"><img src="media/d1aba6c8.small-fredrik.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/small-fredrik.jpg" alt="small-fredrik" width="180" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96274"></a>Following the criminal convictions of Pirate Bay founders Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, each went their separate ways.</p>
<p>With Sunde in Europe and Svartholm then living in Cambodia, Neij moved to Asia to be with his Lao wife and their children.</p>
<p>As documented in the movie TPB:AFK, Neij and his family settled in Laos after getting married in a local ceremony. The country is one of the world’s few remaining communist states and is one of east Asia’s poorest countries with poor communications infrastructure and lacking healthcare system.</p>
<p>As a result, on several occasions the family has crossed the border into Thailand. That has proven problematic in the past, especially when the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-appeals-passport-revocation-120817/">revoked Neij&#8217;s passport</a> in 2012. Yesterday, however, things took a turn for the worse when police at the border in Nong Khai, a city in North-East Thailand, arrested Neij as he tried to drive across the border.</p>
<p>Early this morning Nong Khai Immigration police held a press conference to announce Neji&#8217;s arrest, parading him in front of the media flanked by several officers.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/b5413046.fredrik-arrest.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fredrik-arrest.jpg" alt="fredrik-arrest"></center></p>
<p>Thai border police had executed an Interpol arrest warrant similar to the one issued against Peter Sunde before his arrest in Sweden. According to Thai authorities, Neij and his wife had crossed the border an estimated 27 times before finally being caught.</p>
<p>If their press conference is anything to go by, Thai authorities appear to be making a big thing of Neij&#8217;s arrest. While trumpeting the alleged damages the Pirate Bay founders have caused the entertainment industries, Thai authorities used the arrest as a photo opportunity, posing for the camera and in some cases even smiling aside a bewildered-looking Neij.</p>
<p>According to local media, Neij will now be taken to the Bangkok immigration office pending deportation to Sweden. The 36-year-old&#8217;s arrest completes the full set, with all Pirate Bay founders now in custody.</p>
<p>Gottfrid Svartholm, whose story is particularly well known, had moved to Cambodia. He was extradited back to Sweden in 2012 to face not only his original sentence, but two major hacking trials, one on home soil and the other in Denmark. He was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/gottfrid-svartholm-found-guilty-in-hacking-trial-141030/">found guilty</a> in the latter last week and is now serving a three-and-a-half year sentence.</p>
<p>Peter Sunde is also in custody, having <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-peter-sunde-arrested-sweden-140531/">been captured</a> on May 31, 2014 on a farm in Skåne, Sweden. The former Pirate Bay spokesman&#8217;s time in prison has also been <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/humanity-peter-sunde-attends-funeral-without-handcuffs-140920/">eventful</a>, but is very close to coming to an end.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Local Thai media reports that &#8220;U.S. movie companies&#8221; hired a lawfirm to track down Neij. It&#8217;s also been revealed that in addition to having a house on the island of Phuket, Neij had five million baht ($153,000) in a local bank account.</p>
<p><strong>Update 2:</strong> Video just in:</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/LA-vYl4wcBo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p><strong>Update: 3:</strong> A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc#t=24">video</a> has appeared on The Pirate Bay which appears to instruct people not to talk to the police.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/41be4aba.donttalk.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/donttalk.jpg" alt="donttalk"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96232
title: Make Thousands of Dollars From Piracy, The Timothy Sykes Way
uri: Make-Thousands-of-Dollars-From-Piracy-The-Timothy-Sykes-Way
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4Lz9qXMkW6Q/
content:
<p>Turning lead into gold used to be the business of the alchemist, but today the Internet is awash with &#8216;proven&#8217; techniques allowing anyone to go from rags to riches, if only they have the right knowledge.</p>
<p>One person prepared to share his skills with the world is Timothy Sykes. In 1999, while still in school, Sykes reportedly took just over $12,000 in Bar Mitzvah money and began trading penny stocks, transforming his investment into $1.65m <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-kuhn/from-bar-mitzvah-thousand_b_100061.html">before he hit 21</a>.</p>
<p>With dozens of articles documenting his fame and fortune, in 2011 Sykes launched his own website, <a href="http://www.timothysykes.com/">TimothySykes.com</a>. It is here that others wishing to emulate his success are brought onboard with tempting offers such as the one below.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c82dff0e.sykes1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sykes1.png" alt="sykes1"></center></p>
<p>Of course, the kind of knowledge that enables people to get rich super quick doesn&#8217;t come cheap. A few initial &#8216;lessons&#8217; aside, Sykes sells DVD titles such as &#8220;TIMfundamentals&#8221; for <a href="http://www.timothysykes.com/timfundamentals/">$397+ shipping</a>. TIMTactics weighs in at a few bucks shy of $500, as do others. Sykes promises that by following his techniques the money invested can be recouped with single good trade, but there are people out there who prefer to make money without the initial outlay.</p>
<p>These people find happiness on The Pirate Bay where all Sykes&#8217; content can be found just by searching for his name. But the money man is unhappy with people getting rich without the appropriate investment so he&#8217;s cooked up a new money-making scheme of his own in response.</p>
<p>In a series of lawsuits filed at the Illinois Northern District Court, Sykes&#8217; Millionaire Media, LLC is now suing eleven BitTorrent users who allegedly downloaded and shared his works without permission. Currently, all targets appear to be Comcast users.</p>
<p>One of the lawsuits reveals that an individual was tracked by German anti-piracy company Excipio. He or she is accused of copyright infringement in the most aggressive terms.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant is an egregious online infringer of Plaintiff’s copyrights. Indeed,<br>
Defendant’s IP address&#8230;.was used without authorization to illegally distribute seven different copyrighted works owned by Plaintiff&#8230;,&#8221; the court filing reads.</p>
<p>The seven files &#8211; PennyStocking, PennyStocking Part Deux, ShortStocking, TIMFundamentals, TIMFundamentals Part Deux, TIMRaw and TIMTactics &#8211; were all wrapped up a single torrent. The court papers don&#8217;t provide evidence of distribution of all of those titles but note that the defendant distributed a small &#8220;bit&#8221; of the whole package in &#8220;multiple infringing transactions.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Through each transaction, Defendant distributed a &#8216;bit&#8217; of the Infringing File. The PCAP shows Defendant’s IP address, and the &#8216;bit&#8217; that was distributed. Excipio verified that the &#8216;bit&#8217; that was distributed belongs to the Infringing File by calculating its hash value,&#8221; the papers read.</p>
<p>Interestingly the hash of the file &#8211; 4f7fa6edd6bb1e13b5af478fbae4daafab968f51 &#8211; reveals an error in the evidence presented to the court.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Infringing File is a zip file that contains a variety of both text and video files owned by Plaintiff,&#8221; adding &#8220;Excipio further downloaded a full copy of the Infringing File, unzipped it, and reviewed each of the seven works contained in it.&#8221;</p>
<p>However, a cursory view of the hash in question reveals there are no ZIP files whatsoever inside the torrent, just plain video, audio and documents.</p>
<p>Technicalities aside, it seems fairly clear what will happen next. Sykes&#8217; chosen lawfirm &#8211; Schulz Law &#8211; are well known in copyright trolling circles. In fact, lawyer Mary Schulz was <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/09/porn-troll-malibu-media-sanctioned-for-trying-to-embarrass-defendants/">sanctioned by the court</a> in a Malibu Media case, something she is now required to report to courts in which she is admitted to practice.</p>
<p>For each infringed work, Sykes&#8217; Millionaire Media, LLC demand statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. While the company &#8220;demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable&#8221; it seems likely that they&#8217;ll actually be looking for settlements from the 11 individuals they&#8217;ve targeted so far.</p>
<p>Another way to turn a small investment into big money, then.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IQZbqOnZ_Bo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96327
title: German Police Raid 121 Homes in Massive Pirate Site Crackdown
uri: German-Police-Raid-121-Homes-in-Massive-Pirate-Site-Crackdown
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Fvt83hbu1Uw/
content:
<p><a href="media/2f8a1e76.boerse.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/boerse.png"><img src="media/2f8a1e76.boerse.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/boerse.png" alt="boerse" width="300" height="113" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96328"></a>Last week <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/big-pirate-sites-raided-admins-on-the-run-141027/">news broke</a> that police in Germany had carried out raids looking for the operators of Kinox.to, a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/manhunt-underway-for-possibly-armed-kinox-bitshare-and-freakshare-operators-141031/">manhunt</a> that&#8217;s still ongoing.</p>
<p>The police actions are part of a large investigation into the local piracy scene in Germany which are today followed by one of the largest anti-piracy raids in history, involving the link forum Boerse.bz.</p>
<p>Police headquartered in Cologne have just <a href="http://www.presseportal.de/polizeipresse/pm/12415/2871495/pol-k-141104-3-k-bundesweite-durchsuchuGesellschaft%20zur%20Verfolgung%20von%20Urheberrechtsverletzungen%20e.V.%20ngsmassnahmen-gegen-raubkopierer">announced</a> that they carried out raids on 121 homes across the country. The police are gathering evidence on the operators of the popular linking forum and many of the raided homes are connected to active contributers to the site.</p>
<p>The police raids involved around 400 police officers who seized numerous computers, hard drives and other storage media. No arrests have been made thus far but some suspects have reportedly been willing to cooperate.</p>
<p>According to the authorities the suspects have shared a considerable number of movies, music albums, software and e-books via various cyberlockers and Boerse.bz over a long period of time. </p>
<p>These files were shared among an estimated 2.7 million Boerse.bz users and the uploaders reportedly earned referral commissions of up to several thousand euros per month through various cyberlockers. </p>
<p>The raids are the result of a criminal complaint filed by German anti-piracy outfit GVU. <a href="http://www.gvu.de/25_234_Bundesweite_Razzia_gegen_Verantwortliche_von_Boerse_bz_GVU_stellte_Strafantrag.htm">According to GVU</a>, Boerse.bz is offering more than 100,000 files without permission from rightsholders, including  61,776 movies and 13,560 TV-shows.</p>
<p>Most of the evidence the police acted on was provided to the police by GVU, who say that Boerse.bz is a highly structured operation with a clear division of labor.</p>
<p>Despite the massive police force that was used in today&#8217;s raids and those of last week, both Kinox.to and Boerse.bz remain online. The alleged operators of the sites are still on the run.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96302
title: Dutch Parliament Wants Popup Warnings on Pirate Sites
uri: Dutch-Parliament-Wants-Popup-Warnings-on-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QrTnMYNqnew/
content:
<p><a href="media/a4214713.danger.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/danger.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-51238" src="media/2162d4ce.danger.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/danger.jpg" alt="danger" width="225" height="191"></a>In common with many other countries around the world, downloading music and movies is hugely popular in the Netherlands. Up to a third of the population is estimated to download copyrighted content without paying for it.</p>
<p>Until a few months ago the Netherlands was a relative safe haven for these &#8220;pirates&#8221; as downloading and copying movies and music for personal use was not punishable by law. </p>
<p>In exchange for this &#8220;legalization&#8221; rightsholders were compensated through a “piracy levy” on writable media and hard drives. However, this changed after a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-netherlands-must-outlaw-downloading-eu-court-rules-140410/">recent verdict</a> of the European Court of Justice.</p>
<p>Since then, not much has changed. Copyright holders haven&#8217;t indicated that they want to target individual downloaders, and the authorities haven&#8217;t either.</p>
<p>However, a new proposal put forward in the Dutch Parliament could change this inaction, with the suggestion that potential pirates should be warned via popup browser notifications. The idea comes from the VVD and PvdA, which holds a majority in the current Parliament.</p>
<p>While the exact details still have to be worked out, the parties want visitors of torrent sites and other download portals to receive a popup warning telling them that they are breaking the law.</p>
<p>Jeroen van Wijngaarden, Member of Parliament for the VVD, <a href="http://nos.nl/artikel/717644-popup-op-illegale-downloadsites.html">told NOS</a> that the warnings should also refer people to legal content. &#8220;It should also state that there&#8217;s a legal alternative, to which the user should then be referred,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Van Wijngaarden explains that these popups, which will presumably have to be implemented by local Internet providers, will increase the chance that people choose legal alternatives over pirate sites.</p>
<p>The plan will be discussed in the Dutch Parliament tomorrow where there is bound to be strong opposition. Kees Verhoeven, Member of Parliament for D66, characterizes the popup proposal as &#8220;stupid&#8221; as it would require ISPs to become the Internet police.</p>
<p>Instead of popups, the entertainment industries should fight piracy by increasing the availability of legal content, he believes.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a stupid plan and shows a lack of knowledge of how people use the Internet and how they download. You don&#8217;t reduce illegal downloads with pop-ups, but with more legal supply,&#8221; Verhoeven says.</p>
<p>Local Internet providers have yet to respond to the proposal, but considering the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/brein-takes-pirate-bay-blocking-case-supreme-court-140623/">fierce opposition</a> against the Pirate Bay blockade, it&#8217;s expected that they won&#8217;t be too keen on monitoring users&#8217; &#8220;pirate site&#8221; visits.</p>
<p><sup>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/huskyte/7512877940/">Michael Theis</a></em></p>
<p></sup></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96265
title: Android Pirate Pleads Guilty to Criminal Copyright Infringement
uri: Android-Pirate-Pleads-Guilty-to-Criminal-Copyright-Infringement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-SxVG6qi4C8/
content:
<p><img src="media/66fcfffc.usdoj.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/usdoj.jpg" width="190" height="190" class="alignright">Assisted by police in the Netherlands and France, in the summer of 2012 the FBI took down three unauthorized Android app stores. Appbucket, Applanet and SnappzMarket all had their domains seized. The event was the first of its kind in the Android piracy scene.</p>
<p>During the two years that followed the United States Department of Justice has slowly released more information on the operation, subsequent arrests, charges and pleas.</p>
<p>Yesterday, Scott Walton of Cleveland, Ohio, became the latest to plead. The 28-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement before U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. of the Northern District of Georgia.</p>
<p><img src="media/21abd508.snappz.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/snappz.jpg" width="180" height="158" class="alignright">Walton was arrested in July alongside Joshua Ryan Taylor, 24, of Kentwood, Michigan. Both stand accused of being members of the SnappzMarket release group. </p>
<p>Another member of the group, Kody Jon Peterson of Clermont, Florida, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/android-pirate-agrees-to-work-undercover-for-the-feds-140416/">pleaded guilty in April</a> to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. Peterson gave up his right to be tried by a jury and any right to an appeal. He also agreed to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation.</p>
<p>In common with Peterson, Walton admitted being involved in the illegal copying and distribution of more than a million pirated Android apps with a retail value of $1.7 million. He will be sentenced at a later date.</p>
<p>Members of Appbucket have also been facing the legal system.</p>
<p><img src="media/7b177fbd.appbucket.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/appbucket.jpg" width="200" height="167" class="alignright">During March and April 2014, Thomas Allen Dye, 21, of Jacksonville, Florida; Nicholas Anthony Narbone, 26, of Orlando, Florida, and Thomas Pace, 38, of Oregon City, Oregon all <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/android-app-pirates-plead-guilty-criminal-copyright-infringement-140325/">pleaded guilty</a> to conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement after distributing Android apps with a value of $700,000.</p>
<p>Another indictment returned June 17 in Georgia charged James Blocker, 36, of Rowlett, Texas, with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.</p>
<p>A further indictment in the same month charged Aaron Blake Buckley, 20, of Moss Point, Mississippi; David Lee, 29, of Chino Hills, California; and Gary Edwin Sharp II (also of Appbucket) with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement for their part in Applanet.</p>
<p>Lee was also charged with one count of aiding and abetting criminal copyright infringement and Buckley with one count of criminal copyright infringement.</p>
<p>The USDOJ claims that along with other members of Applanet they are responsible for the illegal distribution of four million pirate Android apps with a value of $17m.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96250
title: VKontakte Asks U.S. To Remove “Pirate Site” Stamp
uri: VKontakte-Asks-U-S-To-Remove-Pirate-Site-Stamp
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tHA3eG-bVdQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/3e3f1f7f.vk.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/vk.jpg"><img src="media/2dca634d.vk.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vk.jpg" alt="vk" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72276"></a>The Russian social network <a href="https://vk.com/">VKontakte</a> (VK) has long been criticized for its passive approach to piracy. The site has millions of users, some of whom use it to share copyrighted content. </p>
<p>As a result the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has labeled the site a “notorious market” on several occasions, and last week the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-top-pirate-sites-u-s-government-141027/">MPAA</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-pirate-bay-attacks-fundamental-human-rights-141028/">RIAA</a> advised the Government to maintain this listing in its upcoming report. </p>
<p>The movie studios and record labels claim that VK is still not doing enough to address the piracy issue. However, in a letter (<a href="media/874ccda0.comments_VK_com.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/comments_VK_com.pdf">pdf</a>) to the USTR, VK director Dmitry Sergeev disagrees. </p>
<p>VK&#8217;s director admits that the social network has a history of being used for piracy, especially audio. However, in recent years the company has put a lot of effort into its anti-piracy measures, often in cooperation with rightsholders.</p>
<p>&#8220;Over the last years, especially in 2013 and 2014, VK took numerous steps to address copyright holders&#8217; concerns. These steps were part of the VK long-term plan of improvement and cooperation with the rightsholders and copyright industry associations,&#8221; Sergeev notes.</p>
<p>Sergeev says that his company can&#8217;t control all information that&#8217;s uploaded to the site. Scanning all uploaded files for possible copyright infringement is therefore not a realistic option.  </p>
<p>&#8220;VK does not have the technical capability to pre-moderate, filter, or otherwise prevent the uploading of works due to the enormous volume of information being uploaded by users on a daily basis and the fact that VK does not have reliable information confirming violation of copyright in advance,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>However, VK has clear terms of service that forbid sharing of unauthorized material. In addition, users have to agree that they are authorized to share a file every time they upload something.  </p>
<p>The company also processes DMCA-style takedown notices. This means that copyright holders can make files inaccessible if they spot infringing content. This is similar to how other large Internet services work and more than 450,000 notices have been submitted so far.</p>
<p>While the MPAA and RIAA label VK as a piracy haven, VK emphasizes that plenty of content is shared legally. Many starting artists in Russia use it as the most important platform to promote their work, and many established musicians are happy to share their work as well. </p>
<p>&#8220;A very large amount of VK&#8217;s content is uploaded absolutely legitimately. For instance, lots of famous musicians, singers, authors and other IP owners enthusiastically use VK.com for their own purposes of promotion,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>VK&#8217;s director lists several examples of popular artists that have official profiles, including Tiësto, Armin Van Buren, Shakira, Moby, Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys.</p>
<p>And there&#8217;s more. VK says it has reached agreements with various copyright holders to share revenue and it&#8217;s currently negotiating licensing deals with Sony/ ATV, Warner Chappell and Music Publishing Group and others. </p>
<p>In addition, the company also implemented a fingerprinting technology that automatically prevents uploads of infringing audio files for which it already received a takedown notice. This measure aims to prevent the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-50-million-140620/">takedown &#8220;groundhog day&#8221;</a> the RIAA complained about.</p>
<p>Considering its long list of anti-piracy initiatives VK asks the United States Trade Representative not to include the site in the upcoming 2014 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets. Whether this will be the case or not, will become clear in a few weeks.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96349
title: Swedish Police in Bangkok to Detain Pirate Bay Founder
uri: Swedish-Police-in-Bangkok-to-Detain-Pirate-Bay-Founder
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0XYe8QFdJlg/
content:
<p><img src="media/d1aba6c8.small-fredrik.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/small-fredrik.jpg" width="180" height="135" class="alignright">After the final guilty verdicts were handed down in the historic Pirate Bay trial, Fredrik Neij decided that life in a Swedish prison wasn&#8217;t for him.</p>
<p>Instead, Neij flew to the Asian country of Laos where he has been enjoying family life with this wife and three children. He made no secret of his whereabouts, with Facebook updates appearing to show a relaxed man enjoying life in the capital Vientiane, a city situated on the Mekong near the border with Thailand.</p>
<p>Vientiane&#8217;s location appears to have played a big part in both Neij&#8217;s life and his eventual downfall. Laos is somewhat lacking in facilities so being right on the border with Thailand was convenient when Neij&#8217;s family required things such as healthcare. </p>
<p>However, according to Thai authorities he crossed that border 27 times in recent years and Monday was to be his unlucky day. Neij was already the subject of Swedish and Interpol warrants so when he was spotted wearing the same shirt as he was wearing in his &#8216;wanted&#8217; photo, Thai border police <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-fredrik-neij-arrested-in-asia-141104/">arrested him</a>.</p>
<p>After being held in custody during Monday and Tuesday, Neij is now on his way to Bangkok pending his almost certain return to Sweden. While it is being reported that Neij will be extradited, Sweden and Thailand have signed no extradition treaty. That being said, removing him is not expected to be an issue.</p>
<p>Local media is reporting that Thai authorities have revoked Neij&#8217;s visa, meaning that he can now be deported. Most people being removed from the country are taken to Bangkok and Neij is now confirmed as being en route to the Thai capital.</p>
<p>&#8220;Three Thai policemen will escort him on the flight to Bangkok and Swedish police will help us whisk him to the immigration bureau before he is handed over to Swedish authorities,&#8221; Police Colonel Panlop Suriyakul na Ayutthaya told AFP.</p>
<p>That Swedish authorities are in Thailand ready for Neij was confirmed by his lawyer Jonas Nilsson.</p>
<p>&#8220;As I understood it, staff from the Swedish embassy are on their way to where he is. [Fredrik has] also been informed that he will be transported to Sweden,&#8221; Neij’s lawyer, Jonas Nilsson told <a href="https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&#038;artikel=6008879">SR</a>.</p>
<p>The deportation procedure is relatively straightforward and an initial investigation could be completed within 48 hours but extended for seven days and beyond if necessary. [Update: Thai authorities say Neij will be sent to Sweden "within the next month"]</p>
<p>If earlier plans for Neij&#8217;s incarceration in Sweden play out, on his return he will be processed and taken to Kirseberg prison in Malmö. The prison first came into operation during 1914 and has a capacity of 131 inmates and around 170 staff. According to the decision of the court, Neij is set to spend a total of 10 months inside.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/f3f280e6.Kirseberg.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Kirseberg.jpg" alt="neij-prison"></center></p>
<p>In addition to his prison sentence, Neij is required to pay his share of roughly $6.78m in damages owed to copyright holders.</p>
<p>Previous investigations by Swedish authorities turned up no assets in his name but yesterday Thai authorities revealed that the Swede has a house on the island of Phuket and five million baht ($153,000) in a local bank account. Whether this is within reach of copyright holders remains to be seen.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> New video of Fredrik just in courtesy of Expressen.se.</p>
<p><center><iframe src="http://www.expressen.se/tv/nyheter/fredrik-neij-fors-till-sin-cell/?embed=true&#038;external=true" width="640" height="393" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96398
title: Domain Registrars Face Piracy Liability After Court Ruling
uri: Domain-Registrars-Face-Piracy-Liability-After-Court-Ruling
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/x902YN5nAe4/
content:
<p><img src="media/3f83f375.universalsmall.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/universalsmall.jpg" width="180" height="102" class="alignright">Who should be held liable when a torrent site or other file-sharing service fails to take down infringing content following a DMCA-style takedown request?</p>
<p>In most cases the buck stops with the service itself, but some rightsholders would like to extend that liability beyond the sites themselves and onto hosts and other providers of critical infrastructure.</p>
<p>One such experiment was undertaken by Universal Music. In 2013, the German division of the label sent a takedown notice complaining about content indexed by H33T, previously one of the Internet’s largest torrent trackers. This ultimately led to the site being taken completely offline.</p>
<p>The problem began when H33T failed to respond to a Universal Music takedown notice demanding the removal of a link to the Robin Thicke album Blurred Lines. Faced with inaction, Universal obtained an injunction against Key-Systems, H33T.com&#8217;s domain registrar. </p>
<p>By order of the court Key-Systems had to end the infringement of Universal&#8217;s rights so it took the drastic decision to delete H33T.com’s DNS entries. That not only stopped further infringement but also disappeared the site from the Internet.</p>
<p>The case later ended up at the Regional Court of Saarbrücken and earlier this year a fairly dramatic ruling was handed down. In its judgment the Court found that a domain registrar, in this case Key-Systems, can be held liable for the infringing actions of a site if it is “obvious” that it is committing offenses under copyright law.</p>
<p>Lawyer Mirko Bruess from Rasch Legal, the firm representing Universal, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/registrar-liability-in-torrent-case-is-common-sense-universal-lawyers-say-140208/">told TF</a> that the decision made perfect legal sense, but Key-Systems weren&#8217;t done.</p>
<p>“Let’s just say that this was not the final word in the matter,&#8221; their lawyer Volker Greimann <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/domain-registrar-liable-torrent-site-infringement-court-rules-140206/">said</a>.</p>
<p>Key-Systems took its case to appeal but has not been successful. The Higher Regional Court of Saarbrücken has just rejected the complaint and confirmed the decision of the lower court.</p>
<p>&#8220;The judges state that once notified of an obvious infringement, the registrar has to take action to stop the infringement,&#8221; Bruess <a href="http://www.raschlegal.de/news/olg-saarbruecken-bestaetigt-haftung-des-registrars-der-domain-h33tcom/">told</a> TF this morning.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Key-Systems] argued the infringement was not &#8216;obvious&#8217; because they were not in a position to make sure that the torrent on h33t.com was actually infringing and that our client owned the rights. The Court disagreed and states that the registrar had to assume that the claims made by our client were correct after contacting the domain owner (their customer) and not getting any response.&#8221;</p>
<p>Also of interest was the position the Court took in respect of the power Key-Systems had over its torrent site customer and the terms of service previously established between them.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Court also finds that the registrar was legally and technically in a position to stop the infringement. The domain owner was in a clear breach of the registrar’s TOS by running a torrent-site and not reacting to takedown notices. This gave the registrar the opportunity and the obligation to terminate the service by deleting the name from the DNS,&#8221; Bruess adds.</p>
<p>Finally, the Court took the view that under the circumstances taking down the entire H33T site following the complaint was not an excessive response.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Court argues that the termination of the (complete) site was not disproportionate, because it was in the hands of the domain owner to keep this from happening by reacting to the registrar&#8217;s notice and taking down the infringing content,&#8221; Bruess notes.</p>
<p>Key-Systems did not immediately respond to TorrentFreak&#8217;s request for comment, but Universal Music&#8217;s lawyer was clear on the ruling and its implications.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Court’s decision gives rights owners another option in the ongoing fight against the illegal exploitation of their content. We will have this in mind when looking at other domains that use our clients’ content without licensing,&#8221; Bruess concludes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96389
title: Popcorn Time Now “Impossible” to Shut Down
uri: Popcorn-Time-Now-Impossible-to-Shut-Down
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tkfzO9wXQmY/
content:
<p><a href="media/373f7cd8.popcorn.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn.png"><img src="media/b134dbd9.popcorn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn.png" alt="popcorn" width="203" height="102" class="alignright size-full wp-image-89282"></a>Last month one of the most popular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time">Popcorn Time</a> forks ran into trouble. Out of the blue Time4popcorn.eu had its domain name <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-domain-name-suspension-breaks-app-141009/">suspended</a> by the EURid registry.</p>
<p>The developers were informed that the suspension was the result of an <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-legal-investigation-switches-domain-141014/">ongoing legal investigation</a> into the BitTorrent streaming app, presumably after copyright holders complained.</p>
<p>Aside from losing its domain name and losing nearly all traffic, the domain troubles also affected existing users. Since the Popcorn Time fork required the domain to load the user interface, the application stopped working. </p>
<p>The problems with EURid showed that the domain name was a weak link. The fork quickly moved to a .se domain and over the past several weeks the developers have been working hard to resolve the vulnerability. With the latest <a href="http://popcorn-time.se/">5.0 beta release</a> today they should be able to withstand a domain suspension.</p>
<p>&#8220;EURid tried to take us down and instead of doing so, they just opened our eyes and made us better and wiser,&#8221; the developers inform TF. &#8220;Thank you EURid for making Popcorn Time unstoppable.&#8221;</p>
<p>As of now Popcorn Time still appears to rely on some central servers, which may not be truly &#8220;unstoppable&#8221;. In the future, however, the fork hopes to distribute all data via P2P transfers.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve built the 5.0 beta so that no one will be able to take it down. Popcorn Time from now on will keep on working as usual even if our domain gets removed, and in the future even the necessary data for Popcorn Time will be transferred purely via Peer2Peer.&#8221; </p>
<p>Besides the improved redundancy, the latest beta also includes several other new features. The app has revamped its user interface and added touch screen support, for example. The developers have further added an anime section, a feature many users requested.  </p>
<p>Finally, the Popcorn Time fork says it will soon enable the option to continue seeding after a video stops streaming. This means that its users have the option share data for a longer period, so they&#8217;re not simply leeching from BitTorrent swarms. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96400
title: Court Orders Cloudflare to Expose Pirate Site Operators
uri: Court-Orders-Cloudflare-to-Expose-Pirate-Site-Operators
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HeyPP1hCXF4/
content:
<p><a href="media/4a535cc9.cloudflare.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare.png"><img src="media/4a535cc9.cloudflare.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare.png" alt="cloudflare" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96401"></a>As one of the leading providers of DDoS protection and an easy to use CDN service, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CloudFlare">Cloudflare</a> is used by thousands of popular sites across the globe. </p>
<p>This includes many &#8220;pirate&#8221; sites who rely on the U.S. based company to server loads down.</p>
<p>While Cloudflare may help to keep servers up and running, the U.S. connection also poses a risk of exposure for the owners. Through a so-called <a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/topics/25">DMCA-subpoena</a>, copyright holders only have to ask a court clerk for a signature to be able to demand all personal information of alleged copyright infringers.  </p>
<p>This is exactly what Japanese adult magazine publisher KK Magazine has done. After sending three takedown requests to Cloudflare asking them to take down content on the allegedly infringing Javrip.org and Jpav.tv sites, the company obtained a subpoena.</p>
<p>Without oversight from a judge the clerk signed a subpoena ordering Cloudflare to hand over the personal details of the clients connected to these domains including their names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, IP-addresses, account numbers, credit card numbers and any other identifying information.</p>
<p><center><strong>Subpoena to Cloudflare</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/40f84f95.clouddmca.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/clouddmca.jpg"><img src="media/40f84f95.clouddmca.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/clouddmca.jpg" alt="clouddmca" width="600" height="330" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96405"></a></center></p>
<p>The magazine publisher&#8217;s subpoena doesn&#8217;t come out of the blue for Cloudflare. Two weeks ago the Japanese company sent a third takedown notice warning Cloudflare that it may lose its safe harbor protections and become liable for the infringements of its client.</p>
<p>&#8220;You/your customer has actively and repeatedly collected, organized and introduced new direct download links containing the infringing videos corresponding to the foregoing Infringing Works. Such actions shall disqualify you from any safe harbors for which you may be eligible under [the DMCA],&#8221; KK Magazine wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;Regardless of the nature of the services you may provide, a service provider which fails to implement a repeat infringer policy is ineligible for any safe harbors under [the DMCA]. Based on the infringement activities provided herein, MAGAZINE intends to take necessary legal action.&#8221; </p>
<p>Whether Cloudflare has complied with the subpoena is unknown at this point but the company has until next week to respond. </p>
<p>For now both allegedly infringing sites remain up and running through Cloudflare&#8217;s servers. However, a notice on the Jpav.tv website suggests that some content was made inaccessible. </p>
<p>&#8220;Hello friends ! We re-uploading files was removed. You try download again. thanks!&#8221; a broken English notice on the site reads. </p>
<p><center><strong>Try again&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/2e4e38d7.tryagain.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tryagain.png"><img src="media/2e4e38d7.tryagain.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tryagain.png" alt="tryagain" width="621" height="225" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96412"></a></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96498
title: Movie Chief: Obama is Scared to Push Google, ISPs on Piracy
uri: Movie-Chief-Obama-is-Scared-to-Push-Google-ISPs-on-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Fi7QCtgrT9E/
content:
<p><a href="media/54aca763.obama1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/obama1.jpg"><img src="media/c88a090e.obama1-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/obama1-150x150.jpg" alt="obama" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-96514"></a>Late July a near perfect copy of The Expendables 3 leaked out onto file-sharing networks a full three weeks before the title was due to appear in theaters.</p>
<p>Within hours <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/expendables-3-leaks-online-100k-copies-down-in-hours-140725/">100,000 copies</a> had been downloaded, a figure that developed into millions in the weeks that followed. According to Nu Image, the company behind Expendables 3, more than 10 million people grabbed an illegal copy of the movie before its official August release.</p>
<p>Now, according to Nu Image CEO and founder Avi Lerner, that leak and subsequent box office flop has translated into serious financial implications for the company.</p>
<p>“Everyone wants to hide what happened on Expendables 3, especially the domestic distributors. ‘Don’t talk about it!’ But I’ll tell you there is about $250 million in box office we lost,” Lerner <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/afm-avi-lerner-warns-piracy-747301">says</a>.</p>
<p>Describing piracy as the &#8220;worst situation that ever happened” to the industry, Lerner told HR that something big needs to be done or there won&#8217;t be anything left to save.</p>
<p>“The whole film business is going to be the same as the music business. Within five years, we’re not going to have a business,” he said.</p>
<p>Of course, Hollywood tried to &#8220;get something done&#8221; in 2012 by lobbying intensively for the now-defunct SOPA anti-piracy legislation. But by asking for too much, too quickly, the possibility of knock-on consequences almost universally spooked the tech sector. The result was a huge backlash and the ruination of any chance of passing not only SOPA, but any other similar variant in the near future.</p>
<p>Still, Lerner feels that the buck needs to stop somewhere, and in this case it should be right at the top. Barack Obama isn&#8217;t doing enough, the Nu Image CEO says, and that stems from the President&#8217;s fear of upsetting the Internet.</p>
<p>“It’s sad because if we had a good president that cared about the film industry he would pass a very simple law, an anti-piracy law, but they don’t want to stop it because they are scared of Google, and he’s scared of all the ISPs,” Lerner says.</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s power and money not only scares off the President but Congress too, Lerner adds. Furthermore, plenty of that revenue is coming piracy-related sources, so the company has no incentive stop it.</p>
<p>“Google has no interest to stop [piracy] because the more people download the movie the more traffic they get. And without traffic they don’t get revenue from advertising. So they’re happy there’s piracy in the world,” Lerner insists.</p>
<p>Of course, Google has made some recent anti-piracy overtures with a fairly drastic modification of its search engine algorithms, changes that have <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">hit torrent sites</a> particularly hard. But while Google might have the power and the money, it is not the gatekeeper of the Internet and leaks of movies like The Expendables 3 will happen regularly, with or without the gaming of search engine results in Hollywood&#8217;s favor.</p>
<p>In the meantime Google will keep getting blamed for other people&#8217;s problems, and not even the White House will be able to do anything about that.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96433
title: BitTorrent Wins $2.2 Million Damages From “Scammer”
uri: BitTorrent-Wins-2-2-Million-Damages-From-Scammer
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/G3wjKexAEKA/
content:
<p><a href="media/f76b5139.bittorrent-logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-logo.png"><img src="media/3ad9e9e1.bittorrent-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-logo.png" alt="bittorrent-logo" width="266" height="99" class="alignright size-full wp-image-88887"></a>With 170 million active users BitTorrent Inc. owns one of the most recognizable brands on the Internet. </p>
<p>Needless to say there is plenty of interest in the BitTorrent brand, and in some cases this demand is being exploited by third-party companies. Some of these companies use the BitTorrent name to trick people into downloading their software or buying their services.</p>
<p>Two years ago BitTorrent <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-takes-legal-action-against-download-scammers-120518/">filed a lawsuit</a> against one of these alleged &#8220;scammers,&#8221; the German-based company Bittorrent Marketing GMBH. </p>
<p>The German namesake owns the German and European trademarks for BitTorrent and previously registered several related domain names such as Bit-Torent.com, Bit-Torrent.com and Bitorrent.net. Some of these domains have been used to point people to paid products.</p>
<p>“BitTorrent filed this action to put an end to Defendant’s use of BitTorrent’s trademarks to promote what Defendant touts as an ‘advertising affiliate program’ used to ‘post ads and earn commissions..,” the company explained to the court.</p>
<p>In addition, it accused the company of other cybersquatting activities including the interception of confidential email. As the German company failed to respond, BitTorrent Inc. asked the court for a default judgment, which was granted this week.  </p>
<p>United States District Judge Beth Freeman ruled that Bittorrent Marketing GMBH is guilty of trademark infringement and awarded $2,230,000 in damages to BitTorrent Inc. In addition, the German company has to sign the 54 disputed domain names over to the California company.</p>
<p><center><strong>The order</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/50306ed5.judgement.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/judgement.png"><img src="media/50306ed5.judgement.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/judgement.png" alt="judgement" width="600" height="332" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96438"></a></center></p>
<p>In her order the Judge notes that the use of the trademarks in the United States was &#8220;likely to cause confusion,&#8221; and considered to be infringing. The court acknowledges that Bittorrent Marketing GMBH offered download products, but concludes that it aimed to deceive BitTorrent users and ransom the domain names.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even when Defendant offered digital download products and services on the Infringing Domain Names, such offers were deceptive because paying customers would not actually receive the purchased services,&#8221; Judge Freeman writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Such conduct evinces an intent to intentionally diminish the value of Plaintiff’s trademark through customer confusion and frustration and, in turn, force Plaintiff to eliminate such blemishes on its trademark by acquiring the Infringing Domain Names from Defendant,&#8221; Freeman adds.</p>
<p>The court order further mentions that the owner of Bittorrent Marketing GMBH repeatedly registered domain names &#8220;in an effort to extort money&#8221; from BitTorrent Inc.</p>
<p>The damages award is lower than the $100,000 per domain BitTorrent Inc. asked for as Judge Freeman tailored them to an amount she “considers just.” The Judge awarded $35,000 for 38 domain names that incorporate misspellings, $50,000 for 14 domains with the correct &#8220;bittorrent spelling&#8221; and $100,000 for two domains where it advertised download services.</p>
<p>In addition the German company is barred from using the BitTorrent trademark to advertise its services. The 54 domain names that were at the basis of the dispute will be signed over to BitTorrent Inc within two weeks.</p>
<p>Bittorrent Marketing GMBH&#8217;s owner Harald Hochmann has published several statements on <a href="http://bittorrent.eu/">Bittorrent.eu</a> telling his side of the story. Talking to TorrentFreak, Hochmann denies many of the allegations.</p>
<p>&#8220;The key point is, and that is 100% true, that I have NEVER asked BitTorrent Inc. for millions as BitTorrent Inc&#8217;s  former CFO and General Counsel Mitchell Edwards declared under oath,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>In addition, Hochmann points out various other flaws and inaccuracies in the order. However, since the company initially failed to reply the company&#8217;s response in the U.S. case came too late. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96522
title: Google Pressured to Push Proper Porn Over Piracy
uri: Google-Pressured-to-Push-Proper-Porn-Over-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OiZrWtplBR8/
content:
<p><a href="media/59260ee0.sadpirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sadpirate.jpg"><img src="media/2cf3a444.sadpirate-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadpirate-150x150.jpg" alt="sadpirate" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-47490"></a>Every adult knows. Give a child a treat and before you know it all others in the vicinity are queuing up crying for the same. And if you don&#8217;t play fair with the goodies, feet are stamped until you do.</p>
<p>Google has been handing out treats too lately, and like parents everywhere it&#8217;s now realizing that when you do something for one and not another, you get accused of discrimination.</p>
<p>As usual the problems center around piracy. During October and after years of applying metaphorical Band Aids, Google <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-will-downrank-pirate-sites-starting-next-week-141018/">flicked its algorithmic wrist</a>, pirate sites were demoted, legal content was promoted, and the creative industries rejoiced. Well some did at least.</p>
<p>Less than a month has passed and now Google is suffering fresh wailing in its other ear, this time from the porn industry. Entirely predictably the skin-flick pushers say they too want a piece of the piracy put-down pie.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29951554">BBC</a>, &#8220;prominent figures&#8221; in the porn industry are now demanding that Google does for them what the search engine just did for the audio-visual sector.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our whole industry has been turned upside down due to the stealing of adult content,&#8221; studio owner and actress Tasha Reign told the corporation.</p>
<p>But if Google&#8217;s movie and TV show issues are complex, that&#8217;s nothing when compared to getting friendly with the porn industry. Firstly, Google has begun placing ads at the top of search results when people search for TV shows such as Game of Thrones. Friendly links therein direct users to legal sources.</p>
<p>That is not going to happen with porn &#8211; Google forbids it. In fact, AdWords <a href="https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/6023699?hl=en">doesn&#8217;t even allow</a> promotions for dating or international bride services. Good luck with Gangbangs of New York and Saturday Night Beaver.</p>
<p>Secondly, the porn industry is virtually impossible to navigate. While the MPAA and IFPI might have the luxury of speaking for the major studios and 90%+ of the recorded music sector, no such coordination exists in the porn industry. Reaching consensus on what precisely should be done could prove impossible.</p>
<p>Then comes the issue of demoting sites. The &#8216;pirate&#8217; enemy cited most often by the adult industry are so-called tube sites but that raises even more complex issues, not least since some of the biggest companies in porn <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/why-are-porn-perfomers-scared-to-talk-about-internet-piracy-140413/">own several</a> of the largest tube sites.</p>
<p>Throw in the fact that many tube sites carry both licensed and unlicensed content and any demotion could hit legitimate creators&#8217; distribution strategies of using thousands of adult movie clips to drive traffic to external sites.</p>
<p>But whatever the complexities are, they are all completely moot. When approached by the BBC on the topic, Google declined to comment &#8211; period. The search engine wouldn&#8217;t be drawn &#8220;on any aspect&#8221; of the discussion, a sign that in this case the porn industry isn&#8217;t going to get what it wants.</p>
<p>&#8220;By working with adult companies, Google could ensure the content that is seen contains age restrictions, unlike pirated content,&#8221; protests Tasha Reign.</p>
<p>Tumbleweed, stage left&#8230;..</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96446
title: Night Time Eiffel Tower Photos Are a Copyright Violation
uri: Night-Time-Eiffel-Tower-Photos-Are-a-Copyright-Violation
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1uUzrYVKOqg/
content:
<p><a href="media/615986cc.Eiffel_tower_at_dawn_horizontal.jpg" data-original-source="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Eiffel_tower_at_dawn_horizontal.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-96453" src="media/7668a870.eiffel-300x200.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eiffel-300x200.jpg" alt="eiffel" width="300" height="200"></a>Most people know that they are not allowed to share copies of their favorite band or film without permission. However, in some areas even your own creations may be illegal to share.</p>
<p>In several countries architectural structures are protected by copyright. That means you have to ask permission from the copyright holder to use your own picture in public.</p>
<p>This is also true for the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The famous landmark was built in 1889 which means that it falls within the public domain. However, the light show was added later and this is still protected by copyright.</p>
<p>It may sound absurd, but taking a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night and sharing that online may be copyright infringement. The stance is confirmed by the Société d&#8217;Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, who note the following on <a href="http://www.toureiffel.paris/en/the-eiffel-tower-image-and-brand/image-rights-the-eiffel-tower-brand.html">their website</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Daytime views from the Eiffel Tower are rights-free. However, its various illuminations are subject to author’s rights as well as brand rights. Usage of these images is subject to prior request from the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel.&#8221;</p>
<p>The issue above was brought to the forefront by the <a href="http://euobserver.com/justice/126375">EU Observer</a>, who note that taking pictures of public buildings may lead to copyright violations in France, Belgium and Italy.</p>
<p>Dimitar Dimitrov, policy expert for Wikipedia&#8217;s European Wikimedia chapters in Brussels, told the EU Observer that nightly pictures of the Eiffel Tower may indeed be infringing. </p>
<p>“The lightshow is protected by copyright,” Dimitrov notes.</p>
<p>Similar legislation also prevents the public from using photographs of some famous landmarks in Belgium, including the Atomium. This is also why the Atomium&#8217;s Wikipedia entry has censored versions <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomium">or models</a> of the building on its website, instead of the real deal.</p>
<p><center><strong>Censored Wikipedia entry (<a href="http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomium">Norwegian</a>)</strong></center><center><a href="media/fb931c7b.atomium.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/atomium.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96464" src="media/9feb8f68.atomium.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/atomium.jpg" alt="atomium" width="600" height="337"></a></center></p>
<p>In most other countries in Europe there is no ban on photos of architectural projects, thanks to a clause in the <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32001L0029:EN:HTML">EU&#8217;s Information Society Directive</a>. However, in Belgium, France and Italy this hasn&#8217;t been transposed into law.</p>
<p>According to Dimitrov this effectively means that people are not allowed to publicly use photos of the Atomium, Eiffel Tower at night, or any other copyrighted architecture. Not even on social media.</p>
<p>“If you take an image of the Atomium and put it on Facebook, that is copyright infringement,” Dimitrov says.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=eiffel+tower+night&#038;tbm=isch&#038;tbo=u&#038;source=univ&#038;sa=X">Good luck enforcing that&#8230;</a></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><sup><a href="media/615986cc.Eiffel_tower_at_dawn_horizontal.jpg" data-original-source="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Eiffel_tower_at_dawn_horizontal.jpg">Photo credit</a></sup></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96487
title: AVG Monitors Torrenting Habits to Advise Heavy Downloaders
uri: AVG-Monitors-Torrenting-Habits-to-Advise-Heavy-Downloaders
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VVJDATyE0ho/
content:
<p><a href="media/45979a9b.avglogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/avglogo.png"><img src="media/45979a9b.avglogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/avglogo.png" alt="avglogo" width="250" height="115" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96490"></a>In recent years anti-piracy vendors have shown a keen interest in file-sharing and online piracy issues.</p>
<p>Symantec, for example, has developed a technology that allows it to spot <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/symantec-patent-helps-bittorrent-users-to-spot-malware-and-fakes-140115/">fake torrents and malware</a> before they&#8217;re downloaded.</p>
<p>On the other hand, rival McAfee have taken an anti-piracy approach by <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mcafee-patents-technology-to-detect-and-block-pirated-content-130424/">inventing a system</a> that can detect and block pirated material from any website and present users with authorized and legal alternatives instead.</p>
<p>This week we learned that <a href="http://www.avg.com/eu-en/homepage">AVG</a>, another major player in the anti-virus business, is keeping an eye on BitTorrent traffic as well. Not to detect intruders or stop piracy, but to give users some friendly advice.</p>
<p>BitTorrent traffic can chew up a lot of bandwidth and cripple one&#8217;s local network, especially with badly configured clients. This can slow down web browsing to a crawl, something AVG is alerting its users to.  </p>
<p>The following alert pops up for some BitTorrent users. In this case related to traffic generated by uTorrent, but it may appear for other clients as well. </p>
<p><center><strong>Hey torrenter&#8230;</strong></center><center><a href="media/57abb517.avgtorrent.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/avgtorrent.jpg"><img src="media/57abb517.avgtorrent.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/avgtorrent.jpg" alt="avgtorrent" width="518" height="123" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96489"></a></center></p>
<p>While not everyone may like the fact that their anti-virus software has begun commenting on their torrenting habits, the advice may be useful to some. As far as we know AVG is not looking at what people download, just the network load generated by the application. </p>
<p>Those who want to get rid of the notifications can tick the &#8216;AVG Advisor Notification&#8217; box in the software settings.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96456
title: Unknown Sites Dominate Google ‘Pirate’ Search Results
uri: Unknown-Sites-Dominate-Google-Pirate-Search-Results
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/PMyFcbrSpv0/
content:
<p><img src="media/3a6fa524.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg" width="200" height="177" class="alignright">For years the world&#8217;s largest entertainment industry companies have been putting Google under intense pressure to do something about the prominence of &#8216;infringing&#8217; listings in its search results.</p>
<p>Periodically the search giant has announced a tweak here and there, but in mid October Google said it was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-will-downrank-pirate-sites-starting-next-week-141018/">about to implement</a> the most important change yet.</p>
<p>The effects were quickly noticeable. Within days the world&#8217;s largest torrent sites took <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">an immediate hit</a> in search engine traffic. So was this the holy grail the studios and record labels had been looking for?</p>
<p>Each week TF publishes a list of the top 10 pirate movie downloads and in our <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-141103/">latest edition</a> Dawn of the Planet of the Apes topped the charts. So, with the big sites mainly disappeared from the first pages of results, would the movie still be easy to find using &#8220;dawn of the planet of the apes torrent&#8221; as a search?</p>
<p>Simple answer &#8211; yes. Not only that, sites the majority of people have never heard of are now reaping the rewards of Google&#8217;s downgrades.</p>
<p><strong>Rags to riches</strong></p>
<p>The first result in Google comes from the suspicious sounding &#8220;yify-movies-official.com&#8221; which is definitely not an official YIFY site. However, not only does it comes up with the goods as promised, check out the effect Google&#8217;s downranking has had on its popularity according to Alexa. It&#8217;s a new site that started quickly, but the short growth plateau in mid October was soon overcome.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/4d2cfdba.yify-movies.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/yify-movies.png" alt="Yify-movies"></center></p>
<p>The next result pointed to TorrentsMovies.net, a site that boosted 20,000 places from nowhere following Google&#8217;s mid October tweaks. However, the site&#8217;s progress is dwarfed by that of the largely unknown KickassTorrents.link site.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/376dcb90.kickass-link.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kickass-link.png" alt="kickass-link"></center></p>
<p><strong>But it&#8217;s not all fun and games</strong></p>
<p>While torrents can still be easily found for this movie after the October downranking, there are some big negatives for anyone who relied on Google to provide them with the best possible results.</p>
<p>First of all, since Google is essentially gaming the system, it&#8217;s no longer possible to rely on the search engine to produce the best links on the most popular sites. It doesn&#8217;t matter if Pirate Bay or KickassTorrents links are the most trafficked torrents, sites with unusual names that few people know are now at the top of results. This has undermined a valuable commodity&#8230;.</p>
<p><strong>Trust</strong></p>
<p>While the sites mentioned above are offering torrents and clearly benefiting traffic-wise, we have deliberately left out several sites from our report. Thanks to their lack of DMCA breaches some sites are much closer to the top than they should be when Google is presented with movie + torrent searches. Sadly these sites have something evil in mind &#8211; malware.</p>
<p>Hollywood might publicly warn that some file-sharing sites are havens for viruses and spyware, but Google&#8217;s actions have dredged up the real filth from the bottom and that will mean a lot of people paying the price. Having these sites downranked is not on the agenda.</p>
<p><strong>Overall</strong></p>
<p>All things considered, Google&#8217;s efforts have given its search results a very unfamiliar look which is bound to undermine trust and confidence. The big question is whether it has made unauthorized content harder to find. The answer thus far is a definite &#8216;yes&#8217; although better results are obtainable by tailoring searches.</p>
<p>However, a much easier option is to switch over to Bing, which not only automatically and conveniently adds &#8220;torrent&#8221; to the end of a search for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but also presents the world&#8217;s biggest torrent sites on the first page.</p>
<p>When that fails users can simply visit the sites themselves, which the majority have been doing anyway.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=95925
title: Comcast Sent 1,000,000 Copyright Alerts to ‘Pirating’ Subscribers
uri: Comcast-Sent-1-000-000-Copyright-Alerts-to-Pirating-Subscribers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/l2kERhc0wws/
content:
<p><a href="media/de4f8fe0.comcast-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/comcast-logo.png"><img src="media/de4f8fe0.comcast-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/comcast-logo.png" alt="comcast-logo" width="275" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96005"></a>February last year the MPAA, RIAA and five major Internet providers in the United States launched their “six strikes” anti-piracy plan.</p>
<p>The main goal of this Copyright Alert System is to educate the public. Through various notifications subscribers are informed if their connections are being used to share copyrighted material without permission, and told where they can find legal alternatives.</p>
<p>Thus far the Center for Copyright Information (<a href="http://www.copyrightinformation.org/">CCI</a>), which oversees the program, has only released details of the number of warnings that were sent out during the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-results-show-high-number-of-persistent-pirates-140528/">first 10 months</a>. During this period 1.3 million anti-piracy alerts were sent out.</p>
<p>This year the number of notices are expected to double, but no exact details have yet been released. However, based on information received last week we can now report that <a href="http://www.comcast.com/">Comcast</a> sent out its one millionth warning recently.</p>
<p>A million warnings translates to a little under 2,000 notices per day, a similar rate to the one we reported earlier this year. The ISPs and copyright holders previously agreed to cap the Copyright Alert volume, which may hover around this number. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak asked Comcast to verify our findings, but the Internet provider would neither confirm nor deny that it has sent out 1,000,000 alerts. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have no official data to disclose at this time,&#8221; a Comcast spokesperson wrote in a brief emailed reply.</p>
<p><center><strong>Part of Comcast&#8217;s initial Copyright Alert</strong><a href="media/924e8afe.comcast-copyright-alert.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/comcast-copyright-alert.png"><img src="media/924e8afe.comcast-copyright-alert.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/comcast-copyright-alert.png" alt="comcast-copyright-alert" width="515" height="456" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-83517"></a></center></p>
<p>So what&#8217;s in store for those who receive an alert? ISPs and copyright holders have stressed that the focus of the Copyright Alerts lie in education, but repeat infringers face a temporary disconnection from the Internet or other mitigation measures. </p>
<p>For example, Comcast has chosen a browser “hijack” which makes it impossible for customers to browse the Internet, but without interrupting VOIP and other essential services.</p>
<p>“If a consumer fails to respond to several Copyright Alerts, Comcast will place a persistent alert in any web browser under that account until the account holder contacts Comcast’s Customer Security Assurance professionals to discuss and help resolve the matter,” Comcast <a href="http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/mitigation-measures">writes</a>.</p>
<p>How quickly customers will be able to resolve the matter and what they will have to do is unknown, but Comcast stresses that no accounts will be terminated under the Copyright Alert program.</p>
<p>“We will never use account termination as a mitigation measure under the CAS. We have designed the pop-up browser alerts not to interfere with any essential services obtained over the Internet.”</p>
<p>Thus far there&#8217;s no evidence that Copyright Alerts have had a significant impact on piracy rates. However, the voluntary agreement model is being widely embraced and similar schemes are in the making in both the UK and Australia.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96554
title: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released From Prison
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-Peter-Sunde-Released-From-Prison
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/I3AO7oOBhoQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/faf17427.peter-sunde2.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/peter-sunde2.jpg"><img src="media/1ceafd41.peter-sunde2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/peter-sunde2.jpg" alt="peter-sunde" width="225" height="225" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85601"></a>After being on the run for two years Peter Sunde, aka brokep, was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-peter-sunde-arrested-sweden-140531/">arrested</a> during a family visit in southern Sweden late May. </p>
<p>Despite being accused of non-violent crimes, Peter was transferred to a high-security unit. His time in prison was tough. </p>
<p>There was no concern for his vegan diet and he was struggling with depression. As a result Peter lost more than 15 kilograms.</p>
<p>“The worst thing is the boredom”, Peter <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/visited-pirate-bays-peter-sunde-prison-heres-say-140816/">said in August</a>, summing up his daily routine. “I have soy yoghurt and muesli for breakfast, which I was recently allowed to buy from my own money, as the prison doesn’t offer any vegan food.”</p>
<p>Today Peter&#8217;s struggle in prison comes to an end. After more than five months he is now a free man again. A few hours ago he left prison to be reunited with his loved ones, and in a way, with himself.</p>
<p>&#8220;My body just got re-united with my soul and mind, the parts of me that matters and that never can be held hostage. #freebrokep #brokepfree,&#8221; he Tweets.</p>
<p><center><strong>#brokepfree</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/8e790732.sunde-free.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sunde-free.png"><img src="media/8e790732.sunde-free.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sunde-free.png" alt="sunde-free" width="582" height="222" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96558"></a></center></p>
<p>Although there is no denying that Peter was physically and mentally impacted by his stay in prison, he is now truly free. No longer a fugitive, the former Pirate Bay spokesperson can travel the world again. </p>
<p>“Things will get easier once I get out,&#8221; Peter said previously. &#8220;I’ve been a fugitive for two years and could hardly go to conferences or would have to show up unannounced.”</p>
<p>Now that his sentence has come to an end, Peter will probably take some time to gain strength and spend time with friends and family. </p>
<p>After that, he will continue to work on his many Internet related projects including the micro-donation service Flattr and the encrypted chat application Heml.is. As always, activism remains a high priority too.</p>
<p>“I’m brimming with ideas and that one of my main goals will be to develop ethical ways of funding activism,&#8221; he said in August. &#8220;You often need money to change things. But most ways of acquiring it require you to compromise on your ideals. We can do better than that.”</p>
<p>Welcome back Peter!</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><sup>Credit: <a href="media/1388540e.FileClouds_5.jpg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clouds_(5).jpg">clouds photo</a></sup></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96544
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 11/10/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-11-10-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xgqm3cRKy-k/
content:
<p><a href="media/e2b1d50b.dracula-untold.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dracula-untold.jpg"><img src="media/e2b1d50b.dracula-untold.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dracula-untold.jpg" alt="dracula-untold" width="300" height="191" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96546"></a>This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Dracula Untold is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-141103/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_untold/">Dracula Untold</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829150/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp2abe1QzlA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dawn_of_the_planet_of_the_apes/">Dawn of the Planet of the Apes</a> (Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2103281/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sHMCRaS3ao">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/if_i_stay/">If I Stay</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1355630/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMp896hfp74">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets_be_cops/">Let&#8217;s Be Cops</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1924435/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKIAZjs__Xc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/into_the_storm_2014/">Into The Storm</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2106361/">6.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss7OcumluzU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hercules_the_thracian_wars/">Hercules</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1267297/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uro03xQwrA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/step_up_all_in/">Step Up All In</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2626350/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WfQemqSsFY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_most_wanted_man/">A Most Wanted Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1972571/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUyYBrlF_W8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/guardians_of_the_galaxy/">Guardians of the Galaxy</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2015381/">8.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9vypfwbvk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_train_your_dragon_2/">How to Train Your Dragon 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646971/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9a4PvzlqoQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96583
title: Vuze Debuts Chromecast-Compatible Android Torrent Client
uri: Vuze-Debuts-Chromecast-Compatible-Android-Torrent-Client
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vnRUUh9_pjY/
content:
<p><a href="media/9a54aecc.chromecast.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chromecast.jpg"><img src="media/9a54aecc.chromecast.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chromecast.jpg" alt="chromecast" width="180" height="116" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96591"></a>Years ago, obtaining content and then deciding it might be better viewed on another device presented obstacles for the average torrent downloader.</p>
<p>The first option, of watching the content on the machine it had been downloaded to, was clearly the easiest. Those (often Xvid) files could also be copied to CD or DVD for transferring to another machine, such as a laptop for example.</p>
<p>Those wanting to shift that content to a larger screen either needed to download DVD compatible files in the first place, or expend time and processing power to encode video into DVD format. Neither was ideal &#8211; one took too long to transfer while the other took too long to encode.</p>
<p>These days things are much more streamlined and thanks to Google&#8217;s innovative Chromecast device, shifting content from small to big screen is easier than ever before. The cost-friendly stick can be plugged into any TV HDMI port and have content streamed or &#8216;cast&#8217; to it from compatible hardware and software.</p>
<p>The latest company to support Chromecast is torrent client developer <a href="http://vuze.com">Azureus Software</a>, the company behind the popular Vuze client. In addition to powerful Windows, OSX and Linux desktop versions, Azureus also offers Vuze Torrent Downloader, a lightweight client for the Android platform.</p>
<p><a href="media/f3231612.vuzefrog.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/vuzefrog.jpg"><img src="media/4a569283.vuzefrog-150x108.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vuzefrog-150x108.jpg" alt="vuzefrog" width="150" height="108" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-58590"></a>Available for free from the Play Store, Vuze Torrent Downloader has all the features the mobile downloader needs, such as magnet link support and torrent searching from within the app. The new 1.6 version adds full Chromecast support, enabling content to be downloaded on tablets and phones and then streamed or &#8220;cast&#8221; to a TV or large screen.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re excited to piggyback on the rapid growth of Google&#8217;s Chromecast product and contribute to the expanding ecosystem of devices and content available today,&#8221; explains Vuze General Manager Claude Tolbert.</p>
<p>&#8220;The new Vuze app makes it to simple to tap, share and stream torrent files on a larger screen along with better sound systems in a comfortable and convenient setting.&#8221; </p>
<p>As expected, torrents streamed to Chromecast from within Vuze can be controlled from the application&#8217;s interface using familiar pause, resume and skip functions.</p>
<p>Finally, Tolbert notes that Google has reported more than 400 million &#8220;cast&#8221; clicks since it launched Chromecast in 2013, an indication of the platform&#8217;s popularity in today&#8217;s multi-device world.</p>
<p>&#8220;People have adopted streaming as a form of new technology. By integrating Chromecast functionality into Vuze Torrent Downloader we&#8217;re able to help bridge what people want with relevant functionality in our Vuze app. It just makes sense,&#8221; Tolbert concludes.</p>
<p>Vuze Torrent Downloader can be obtained <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vuze.torrent.downloader">here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96552
title: ISP Wants to Understand Technology Used to Track Pirates
uri: ISP-Wants-to-Understand-Technology-Used-to-Track-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UkQ-P9yhErA/
content:
<p><img src="media/d45c68ed.dallas.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas.jpg" width="180" height="180" class="alignright">Following a leak of the movie Dallas Buyers Club onto the Internet in January 2013, owner Voltage Pictures took the opportunity to extract cash payments from hundreds of US citizens said to have downloaded the movie.</p>
<p>The practice is lucrative, so much so that the company is now testing the Australian market. Among others, Dallas Buyers Club LLC (DBCLLC) are targeting subscribers of iiNet, a local ISP with a reputation for defending its customers.</p>
<p>(DBCLLC) recently applied to the Federal Court to have iiNet and others reveal the identities of people they say have downloaded and/or shared their movie without permission, but to date iiNet (which also owns fellow targeted ISPs Internode and Adam) is <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/australians-face-fines-for-downloading-pirate-movies-141022/">opposing the application</a> for discovery.</p>
<p>Earlier today the parties were in Federal Court in Sydney before Justice Nye Perram. DBCLLC wants iiNet to hand over its subscribers&#8217; identities, but the ISP suspects that instead of giving targets their day in court the movie company simply wants to scare settlements out of them.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/au/iinet-seeks-info-on-dallas-buyers-club-piracy-investigation-7000035586/">ZDNet</a>, Barrister Richard Lancaster, SC representing iiNet, told Justice Perram that the ISP needs to know more about the anti-piracy tracking system that was used to track the alleged copyright infringers.</p>
<p>DBCLLC hired Stuttgart, Germany based outfit MaverickEye UG, an outfit that claims to provide &#8220;world-class surveillance&#8221; of intellectual property on the leading P2P networks including BitTorrent. The company also claims experience with other law firms operating similar pay-up-or-else business models.</p>
<p>&#8220;Maverickeye UG work very closely with several law firms focused on the protection of intellectual property and specialized in filing legal claims against people who infringe on your intellectual property,&#8221; the company <a href="http://www.maverickeye.de/services/">says</a> on its website.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s now also becoming clearer why DBCLLC selected iiNet as a target. In its prolonged legal battle with movie company Village Roadshow which concluded two years ago, iiNet said it would&#8217;ve handed over subscriber information had there been a successful application to the High Court. DBCLLC lawyer Ian Pike told the Court today that he will indeed be relying on those statements.</p>
<p>Next Monday will see another hearing, this time on the issue of security and costs. To ensure that it&#8217;s not left with a huge legal bill, iiNet has requested that DBCLLC deposit AUS$100,00 (US$86,700) into a holding account in the event the movie company loses in its bid to obtain the ISP&#8217;s customers&#8217; details. That amount is already in dispute with DBCLLC <a href="http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2014/11/10/technology/iinet-and-dallas-buyers-club-set-february-courtroom-showdown">reportedly</a> prepared to put forward just AUS$30,000 (US$26,000).</p>
<p>During December another hearing will determine whether iiNet will be able to call Maverick Eye&#8217;s Daniel Macek as a witness to determine whether the company&#8217;s anti-piracy tracking system is up to the job of identifying an infringer.</p>
<p>Then, during February 5 and 6, 2015, the full case will be heard. A win for iiNet could mean a significant setback for DBCLLC, while a victory could signal a green light to other companies plotting similar action. In the United States, DBCLLC demands payment of up to US$7,000 (AUS$8,000) from each person it targets.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96601
title: Online Music Pirates Hit With Lengthy Jail Sentences
uri: Online-Music-Pirates-Hit-With-Lengthy-Jail-Sentences
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GMaPoDVe9-Q/
content:
<p><img src="media/4ee85ff3.d-jesus.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/d-jesus.jpg" width="150" height="150" class="alignright">Early October it was revealed that the BPI was following the lead of the Federation Against Copyright Theft by pursuing alleged Internet pirates in their own privately prosecuted case.</p>
<p>Their targets were former members of the now-defunct file-sharing links forum Dancing Jesus. The site was taken offline in 2011 following an investigation carried out by the BPI and IFPI, with assistance from the US Department of Homeland Security.</p>
<p>Two men were arrested by City of London Police, one the owner of the site and the other one of the forum’s top uploaders. Homeland Security played its part by seizing a Dancing Jesus server hosted in the United States.</p>
<p>After dragging on for years, in January 2014 site owner and admin Kane Robinson of South Shields pleaded guilty to illegally distributing music. Richard Graham, one of the site’s top uploaders, went on trial early October 6 at Newcastle Crown Court. After the hearing began the Leicestershire man changed his plea to guilty.</p>
<p>In a decision that must have stunned both Robinson and Graham, yesterday Judge Deborah Sherwin handed the down the harshest sentences ever in a case involving UK-based music file-sharers.</p>
<p>For his part in offering a site with a reported 22,500 links to 250,000 titles, Robinson was given a jail sentence of 32 months, reduced from 4 years in recognition of his earlier guilty plea.</p>
<p>After reportedly making available more than 8,000 tracks, of which around two-thirds were pre-release according to the BPI, Graham was handed a total of 21 months.</p>
<p>Following his guilty plea, TF had the opportunity to speak with 22-year-old Graham but for legal reasons haven&#8217;t been able to disclose any information until now. He told us that he hoped that his young age at the time would help his case and that the site was filled with music lovers and was never a commercial concern.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the time they accused me of this, I was at school taking my exams, for which I gained excellent grades. Since I was arrested in 2010, I have gone to university and completed a degree, in fact finishing it before I was even told I would be prosecuted,&#8221; Graham told us earlier this month.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am still amazed by the fact that so much time and money was expended [prosecuting] a small website of music lovers who spent way more on music, gigs etc than the average person. I myself spent thousands,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s also clear that no money was made from any activity, which also makes me wonder. People make thousands a week from piracy, why don&#8217;t they go for them? I believe they were just looking for an easy win after all their high-profile losses, and unfortunately they chose me.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the flip side David Wood, Director of BPI’s Copyright Protection Unit, said the sentences handed down should serve as a warning to those running &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites which give consumers a &#8220;sub-standard experience&#8221; and give nothing back to artists.</p>
<p>“Today’s sentencing sends a clear message to the operators and users of illegal music sites that online piracy is a criminal activity that will not be tolerated by law enforcement in the UK or overseas.  Piracy – particularly pre-release – can make or break an artist’s career, and can determine whether a record label is able to invest in that crucial second or third album,&#8221; Wood said.</p>
<p>David Cook, a cyber crime specialist solicitor who was instructed to provide expert opinion to the defense in the case, told TorrentFreak this morning that the harsh sentence may be linked to the way rightsholders present their cases.</p>
<p>&#8220;When it comes to the sentencing in the criminal courts for intellectual property matters, rights holder groups proffer figures relating to the losses due to &#8216;IP crime&#8217; and the damage that such offenses cause the industry.  Of course, these statistics appear to be entirely self-serving, given the role of the rights holder group and their duty only to their members,&#8221; Cook explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;The gathering and presentation of statistics by these organizations is not open to scrutiny.  The survey methodology used is not particularly transparent.  Interviewer effects, the nature of questions posed and/or survey sampling bias may be significant.  In terms of the values ascribed to the losses to the industry, the figures often seem ludicrously high and may be based more on apocryphal assumptions and calculations always based on &#8216;the worst case scenario&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
<p>Cook, whose previous case history includes defenses in the OiNK, FileSoup, SceneTorrents and Richard O&#8217;Dwyer cases, says that he finds the apparently harsh sentences &#8220;troubling&#8221; and &#8220;perhaps due to the extraordinary estimates of loss to the music industry forwarded by the prosecution.&#8221;</p>
<p>It is not yet clear whether or not there will be an appeal.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96650
title: Rob Zombie: Music Piracy Has Re-Energized Me
uri: Rob-Zombie-Music-Piracy-Has-Re-Energized-Me
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BRjtdwT37Ag/
content:
<p><a href="media/2b3a456b.zombie.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/zombie.jpg"><img src="media/2b3a456b.zombie.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/zombie.jpg" alt="zombie" width="192" height="147" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96663"></a>Opinions on the state of the recording business are everywhere, from the ongoing row over Taylor Swift <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/11/spotify-ceo-taylor-swift-albums-daniel-ek">jilting Spotify</a> to the endless debates over illegal downloading.</p>
<p>Most industry commentary on the latter is provided by the suits, whose corporate line dictates that unauthorized sharing costs money and jobs, and could ultimately mean the end of the industry.</p>
<p>Just lately their emphasis has been placed on personalizing the debate, with the aim of making the public have more empathy with hard-working artists. The line goes that if these people aren&#8217;t given a financial incentive to create, eventually it will be the art that suffers through lack of investment and development.</p>
<p>Then along comes Rob Zombie and turns the argument on its head.</p>
<p>In an interview with <a href="http://loudwire.com/rob-zombie-filmmaking-upcoming-album-alice-cooper-more/">LoudWire</a> covering filmmaking, his upcoming album, and even Alice Cooper, Zombie says that while everyone in the industry is complaining about illegal downloading, it simply isn&#8217;t an issue for him.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don’t care about any of that stuff. In fact, in a funny sort of way the fact that nobody buys records doesn’t bother me. In fact, I feel like it’s freed me,&#8221; Zombie said.</p>
<p>&#8220;I never did anything to sell records, per se, but when you take that pressure away 100 percent, I swear to God you get more creative because it doesn’t matter anymore.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the idea of not having to create art within a profitable formula is an interesting one, it&#8217;s not one that the majority of artists have the luxury of. However, Zombie says that not only does he enjoy operating outside the box, he&#8217;s happy to let people have his music without paying for it. </p>
<p>&#8220;That’s really been the case, I’m happy to give it away for free. I don’t care. I just want to make it, play it, get crazy with it. I hear a lot of musicians crying about it but for me, it’s re-energized us,&#8221; the musician concludes.</p>
<p>While Zombie in 2014 speaks of how piracy has benefited him, five years ago he had less flattering comments on the practice.</p>
<p>&#8220;The pirating thing is bad. The people it hurts the most are the ones you least think it hurts,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It’s not the big Britney Spears albums that are being pirated; it’s the indie bands that don’t have two cents to their name.”</p>
<p>And so the see-saw continues&#8230;.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96605
title: Copyright Holders Want Pirate Bay Blocked in Sweden
uri: Copyright-Holders-Want-Pirate-Bay-Blocked-in-Sweden
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-2Ce2buzo8s/
content:
<p><a href="media/850a0ead.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg"><img src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" alt="tpb-logo" width="222" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-67837"></a>The Pirate Bay is without doubt one of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_blocking_access_to_The_Pirate_Bay">most censored websites</a> on the Internet. </p>
<p>Courts all around the world have ordered Internet providers to block subscriber access to the torrent site, and this list continues to expand.</p>
<p>Now the music and movie industries plan to bring the blockades to Sweden, Pirate Bay&#8217;s home country. To that end, record labels Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music teamed up with Nordisk Film and the Swedish Film Industry to file a lawsuit against one of the country&#8217;s largest ISPs, <a href="http://www.bredbandsbolaget.se/">B2 Broadband</a>. </p>
<p>The copyright holders demand that the Internet provider blocks access to The Pirate Bay as well as streaming site Swefilmer, <a href="http://www.dagensmedia.se/nyheter/dig/article3862641.ece">Dagens Media</a> reports.</p>
<p>According to the lawsuit, the companies previously asked the ISP to take action against the piracy that occurs on its networks, but without result. B2 doesn&#8217;t believe that it&#8217;s responsible for the actions of its users and turned down the request.</p>
<p>The copyright holders disagree. In their complaint they write that the ISP is responsible for the pirating activities of its users on both The Pirate Bay and Swefilmer.</p>
<p>&#8220;In each case, the objective conditions are met for B2 Broadband to be deemed guilty of being complicit in the copyright infringement that&#8217;s committed,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>Attorney Henrik Bengtsson is convinced that the music and movie companies have a good chance of winning the case, as similar blockades are already in place in Denmark, the UK and elsewhere.</p>
<p>If they indeed win the case, Bengtsson believes that they may demand similar blockades from other large ISPs in the country. </p>
<p>Rick Falkvinge, founder of the first Pirate Party in Sweden, is not happy with the attempt to make B2 responsible for the traffic it transmits. </p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s neither the first time nor the last that this parasitic industry has found it easier to attack the messengers. This is why we have messenger immunity, why the mailman is never responsible for the contents of a message and the phone company not liable for what&#8217;s said in a phonecall&#8221; Falkvinge tells TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Internet must catch up to modern civil liberties standards,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>Thus far the copyright holders have not commented publicly on the lawsuit to avoid a media spectacle. &#8220;We have deliberately chosen not to push this. Neither party wants to make this media process,&#8221; Bengtsson says.</p>
<p>If the court sides with the copyright holders it will be the first time that a Swedish ISP has been required to block a website on copyright grounds. </p>
<p>Whether such a blockade will be very successful remains to be seen though, as there are plenty of alternatives and circumvention tools available. This includes <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">VPN services</a>, the many proxies that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-traffic-doubles-despite-isp-blockades-140717/">make up 9%</a> of The Pirate Bay&#8217;s total traffic, and TPB&#8217;s own <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-releases-pirate-browser-to-thwart-censorship-130810/">PirateBrowser</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the Dutch Pirate Bay blockade <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isps-no-longer-have-to-block-the-pirate-bay-dutch-court-rules-140128/">was lifted</a> because the court deemed it disproportionate and ineffective.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96679
title: Internet Pirates Always a Step Ahead , Aussies Say
uri: Internet-Pirates-Always-a-Step-Ahead-Aussies-Say
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4sZ99YAjCF4/
content:
<p><a href="media/a2a72322.aus-feat.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/aus-feat.jpg"><img src="media/577a7521.aus-feat-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aus-feat-150x150.jpg" alt="aus-feat" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-91586"></a>As the debate over Internet piracy sizzles Down Under, groups on all sides continue to put forward arguments on how to solve this polarizing issue. </p>
<p>The entertainment industries are clear. The current legal framework in Australia is inadequate in today&#8217;s market and tough new legislation is required to deter pirates and hold service providers more responsible for the actions of their users.</p>
<p>ISPs, on the other hand, are generally concerned at the prospect of greater copyright liability, with many viewing content availability at a fair price as the sustainable way to solve the piracy problem.</p>
<p>In order to better understand the opinions of the consumer, Aussie telecoms association the <a href="http://www.commsalliance.com.au">Communications Alliance</a> has conducted a new study, the results of which were published this morning.</p>
<p>The survey, carried out among a sample 1,500 Australians, reveals a public split roughly 50/50 on whether piracy is &#8220;a problem&#8221; but one that also believes that it will eventually end up paying the bill for solving it.</p>
<p>A recurring theme for the prevalence of piracy in Australia is availability of content at a fair price, and the results of the survey appear to back up that belief. A total 60% of respondents said that improved entertainment product release strategies would lead to less piracy while 66% noted that cheaper, fairer pricing could achieve the same.</p>
<p>Just 19% felt that Government regulation resulting in stiff penalties for file-sharers would do the trick, and when it comes to pushing anti-piracy responsibilities onto service providers, almost three-quarters felt the approach would be ineffective.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly the issue of cost is important for consumers, with 69% holding the opinion that &#8220;identifying, monitoring and punishing&#8221; &#8216;pirate&#8217; subscribers would eventually lead to more expensive Internet bills for everyone. When questioned, 60% of respondents felt that the bill for dealing with piracy should be paid by the rightsholders.</p>
<p>Privacy was also an issue for 65% of respondents who said that monitoring Internet users&#8217; downloading habits would have &#8220;serious privacy implications.&#8221; However, the most popular reason for not shifting responsibility to ISPs is the fact that pirates are always a step ahead, with 72% believing that given rapidly changing technology, a way around any technical measures will always be found.</p>
<p>“This research comes as the Government considers responses to its discussion paper on online copyright policy options. It paints a picture not of a nation of rampant pirates, but rather a majority of people who agree that action taken should include steps to reduce the market distortions that contribute to piracy,&#8221; commented Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton.</p>
<p>While the entertainment companies have their tough demands and the ISPs have their objections, it seems likely that a solution will be found in the middle ground. Better pricing and availability will have an effect on the market while educational campaigns will help to sway some of those sitting on the fence. A total 59% of respondents favored the latter approach. </p>
<p>Whether ISPs will have to play a more active role remains to be seen, but given developments in the UK and United States, a notice-and-notice scheme to warn and educate consumers seems particularly likely.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96637
title: ISP Protects Subscribers From Piracy “Fishing Expedition”
uri: ISP-Protects-Subscribers-From-Piracy-Fishing-Expedition
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KVnc9bWbTno/
content:
<p><a href="media/59c711ef.rightscorp-real.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp-real.jpg"><img src="media/05460420.rightscorp-real.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp-real.jpg" alt="rightscorp-real" width="222" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84007"></a>Working for prominent clients such as Warner Bros. and BMG, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/tag/rightscorp/">Rightscorp</a> began sending <a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/topics/25">DMCA subpoenas</a> to dozens of smaller local ISPs in the United States this year.</p>
<p>Unlike regular subpoenas these are not reviewed by a judge and only require a signature from the court clerk. This practice raises questions because federal courts have long decided that DMCA subpoenas are not applicable to file-sharing cases.</p>
<p>Perhaps unaware of the legal precedent most ISPs have complied with the requests, but the tide is slowly changing. Earlier this year Texas provider Grande Communications <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-internet-provider-refuses-to-expose-30000-alleged-pirates-140909/">protested</a> a broad subpoena and now Atlanta-based ISP CBeyond has followed that lead.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cbeyond">CBeyond</a>, owned by Birch Communication, is refusing to hand over its customer data. The ISP has filed a motion to quash the subpoena at a federal court in Georgia arguing that Rightscorp is on a piracy fishing expedition.</p>
<p>&#8220;Rightscorp served an invasive and overly broad Subpoena on CBeyond seeking personal identifying information of more than a thousand of CBeyond’s subscribers,&#8221; CBeyond <a href="media/1eaedbf6.cbey.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cbey.pdf">writes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;This Court should not allow Rightscorp to use the federal court system as a vehicle to embark on a fishing expedition, and instead should quash Rightscorp’s Subpoena,&#8221; the company adds.</p>
<p>Among other things the ISP points out that Rightscorp ignores federal precedent which states that DMCA-subpoenas are not applicable to P2P-filesharing cases, as the Internet provider itself doesn&#8217;t store any content.</p>
<p>This matter was previously decided in a case between <a href="http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/RIAA_v._Verizon">Verizon and the RIAA</a> more than a decade ago, and has been upheld in subsequent cases. The fact that Rightscorp ignores these cases warrants sanctions, according to CBeyond. </p>
<p>The Atlanta ISP further accuses Rightscorp of trying to exploit the lack of knowledge of smaller ISPs, pointing out that they have already obtained the personal details of many U.S. subscribers through these &#8220;fishing expeditions.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;This year alone, Rightscorp has filed approximately 100 miscellaneous actions like this one, trying to force regional ISPs to disclose personal identifying information from their subscribers,&#8221; CBeyond writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Rightscorp’s strategy is to gamble on regional ISPs being unaware that Section 512(h) does not support these subpoenas on a pass-through ISP, and to hope that regional ISPs will avoid involving counsel and incurring legal expenses to fight Rightscorp’s subpoenas,&#8221; they add.  </p>
<p>The motion to quash from CBeyond is similar to that of Grande Communications earlier this year. However, where Rightscorp was quick to pull their subpoena in the Texas case, the anti-piracy company now intends to file a reply. </p>
<p>Rightscorp CEO Christopher Sabec previously told TF that the court made the wrong decision in the RIAA case and that they were willing to fight this in court.</p>
<p>“The issue has actually not been addressed by the vast majority of Circuit Courts. We believe that the decision you cite will be overturned when the issue reaches the Supreme Court,” Sabec told us.</p>
<p>Whether that&#8217;s the case has yet to be seen&#8230;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96689
title: Spotify Reminded of uTorrent Past After Branding Grooveshark ‘Pirates’
uri: Spotify-Reminded-of-uTorrent-Past-After-Branding-Grooveshark-Pirate
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gP7yl82ijso/
content:
<p><a href="media/f6de83fa.spotify.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/spotify.jpg"><img src="media/25b9f75a.spotify-150x125.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spotify-150x125.jpg" alt="spotify" width="150" height="125" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-36278"></a>At this point it&#8217;s unlikely that readers will be unaware that Taylor Swift has removed her music from Spotify, complaining that the service fails to &#8220;fairly compensate&#8221; artists, writers and producers.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were both young when we first saw you, but now there&#8217;s more than 40 million of us who want you to stay, stay, stay,&#8221; Spotify said in a response. &#8220;It&#8217;s a love story, baby. Just say yes.&#8221;</p>
<p>Swift did not, despite claims from Spotify CEO Daniel Ek that the artist was on track to pull in $6 million from Spotify this year if she&#8217;d left her content online. Presumably she&#8217;ll still get few million dollars from the streaming service, but in a statement yesterday Ek said that reduced availability for fans will mean more turn to illegal services such as the world most notorious torrent site.</p>
<p>&#8220;And sure enough, if you looked at the top spot on The Pirate Bay last week, there was 1989,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>While that revelation wasn&#8217;t too much of a surprise, nor the highlighting of YouTube as a potential magnet for fans who don&#8217;t want to pay, the decision by Ek to flag up a competitor as a pirate holdout has poured yet more fuel onto the Swift fire.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Swift's] songs are all over services and sites like YouTube and Soundcloud, where people can listen all they want for free,&#8221; said Ek. &#8220;To say nothing of the fans who will just turn back to pirate services like Grooveshark.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="media/557517b3.grooveshark1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/grooveshark1.jpg"><img src="media/1552621a.grooveshark1-150x104.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grooveshark1-150x104.jpg" alt="grooveshark" width="150" height="104" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-42451"></a>The gibe drew an instant <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/11/grooveshark-hits-back-at-spotify-ceo-daniel-ek-for-referring-to-the-site-as-a-pirate-service/">rebuttal</a> from James A. Pearson, EVP Corporate Communications at Grooveshark.</p>
<p>&#8220;We would normally never comment on a competitive service and their dust-up with one of the world’s most popular artists. But as Spotify’s CEO — who it’s worth mentioning is the recent CEO of uTorrent — an app used by over 100M people, which had similar perception issues — called Grooveshark ‘a pirate service’ in his blog response to Taylor Swift today, we had to comment on that element,&#8221; Pearson said.</p>
<p>On the history, Pearson is correct. In the early days of uTorrent Ek worked with uTorrent creator Ludvig &#8216;Ludde&#8217; Strigeus before the pair sold up to BitTorrent Inc. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-buys-%C2%B5torrent/">in late 2006</a> and disappeared into the moonlight to create Spotify. Strigeus is a Spotify developer to this very day.</p>
<p>Of course, mentioning uTorrent in retaliation to &#8220;pirate service&#8221; remarks doesn&#8217;t really help calm things down and only drags other third parties into the controversy. However, when looking at the spat from Ek&#8217;s perspective it&#8217;s not difficult to see why he&#8217;s irritated by Grooveshark.</p>
<p>Search Spotify today for Taylor Swift&#8217;s 1989 and the only results returned are for cover versions by former cruise ship musician Robert W. Weber, aka Molotov Cocktail Piano. Search Grooveshark for the same and it&#8217;s an entirely different story.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/587cebce.taylor-swift.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/taylor-swift.png" alt="Swift"></center></p>
<p>The odd situation here is that while Swift put her own music on Spotify and will get millions back this year as a result, she has now stopped that revenue stream by removing it entirely. On the other hand she didn&#8217;t put her music on Grooveshark but it&#8217;s there for anyone to stream, until she has someone pull it down with a DMCA complaint of course.</p>
<p>Why the Spotify retraction came before the Grooveshark deletion is anyone&#8217;s guess. In a 2013 <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/grooveshark-is-coming-back-2013-9?IR=T">interview</a>, Grooveshark CEO Sam Tarantino reported that in 2009-2011 his service had 35 million users. Today Spotify has an estimated 50 million so calling the services &#8216;competitors&#8217; is probably fairly accurate, despite the differences in their business models.</p>
<p>Spotify say they have paid $2 billion to artists while Grooveshark claims that licensing deals in place with thousands of artists has resulted in &#8220;million&#8221; in payments. However, up to now neither the company nor Swift have mentioned a specific licensing deal for the singer&#8217;s music. Until they do, Daniel Ek is unlikely to withdraw his statement.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96708
title: Dallas Buyers Club Pirate Agrees to Pay $14,000, But Why?
uri: Dallas-Buyers-Club-Pirate-Agrees-to-Pay-14-000-But-Why
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wJSIIcxUBC8/
content:
<p><a href="media/2381f8ad.dallas1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas1.jpg"><img src="media/2381f8ad.dallas1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas1.jpg" alt="dallas" width="275" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96710"></a>Movie studio Voltage Pictures is no stranger to suing BitTorrent users.</p>
<p>The company has pioneered mass-BitTorrent lawsuits in the United States and is estimated to have made a lot of money doing so.</p>
<p>Earlier this year Voltage and Dallas Buyers Club LLC <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/downloaded-dallas-buyers-club-the-piracy-lawsuits-are-coming-140207/">initiated lawsuits</a> against alleged file-sharers of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Buyers_Club">Oscar-winning movie</a>. Several hundred alleged downloaders have been targeted since.</p>
<p>Most of these cases end up being settled for an undisclosed amount. This is usually a figure <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dallas-buyers-club-demands-thousands-dollars-bittorrent-pirates-140618/">around $3,500</a>, which is what the company offers in their settlement proposals. However, this week we stumbled upon something bigger.</p>
<p>A few days ago a federal court in Oregon handed down a hefty judgment against a person who shared a copy of Dallas Buyers Club via BitTorrent. The order is a so-called <a href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/consent+judgment">consent judgment</a>, the terms of which are agreed by both parties, for the sum of $14,000. </p>
<p>&#8220;A Money Judgment in favor of plaintiff Voltage Pictures, LLC and Dallas Buyers Club, LLC and against defendant DOE-67.166.84.226 is awarded the sum of $14,000.00. This figure includes costs, fees and damages,&#8221; the order (<a href="media/7bd323b6.14k.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/14k.pdf">pdf</a>) reads.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/951c01d2.dallasconsent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallasconsent.png"><img src="media/951c01d2.dallasconsent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallasconsent.png" alt="dallasconsent" width="600" height="166" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96712"></a></center> </p>
<p>The amount is unusually high for a consent judgment especially since the defendant, who remains anonymous, hired a proper attorney. If others get the option to settle for $3,500 or less, why would this person agree to pay four times as much?</p>
<p>It&#8217;s safe to assume that the defendant in this case never got the option for a cheaper settlement and a good look at the original complaint may explain why. As it turns out, the movie makers collected a whole lot more dirt on the defendant. </p>
<p>In an attempt to beef up their case, the movie studio compiled a list of 118 titles (<a href="media/7bd323b6.14k.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/14k.pdf">pdf</a>) that were shared by the defendant&#8217;s IP-address. This includes several TV-show episodes including Game of Thrones, as well as popular movies, software and music titles. </p>
<p>&#8220;As can be seen from Exhibit 1, defendant is a prolific proponent of the BitTorrent distribution system advancing the BitTorrent economy of piracy,&#8221; they wrote in their complaint.</p>
<p><center><strong>First page of exhibit 1</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/29232b65.collateral.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/collateral.jpg"><img src="media/29232b65.collateral.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/collateral.jpg" alt="collateral" width="600" height="384" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96715"></a></center></p>
<p>While it remains speculation, it&#8217;s likely that the Dallas Buyers Club makers used these collateral downloads to add extra pressure. In any case, it certainly didn&#8217;t hurt their negotiating position.</p>
<p>This is not the only consent judgment won by Dallas Buyers Club recently. In a similar case in Oregon the company obtained $7,500 from another avid BitTorrent user who shared more than hundred other titles as well.</p>
<p>Apparently, Voltage and Dallas Buyers Club LCC have found a rather effective way to increase settlement fees. TF asked Dallas Buyers Club&#8217;s attorney for a comment on the varying amounts, but we have yet to hear back. </p>
<p>In any case, pirates are warned: Anything you download or share may be used against you in a court of law.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96703
title: Columbia Pictures Wants Anti-Piracy Policies Kept Secret, Indefinitely
uri: Columbia-Pictures-Wants-Anti-Piracy-Policies-Kept-Secret-Indefinitely
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-xzEeJQKtnM/
content:
<p><a href="media/0ad772c2.columbia.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/columbia.jpg"><img src="media/0ad772c2.columbia.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/columbia.jpg" alt="columbia" width="275" height="234" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96747"></a>It’s been almost a year since Hotfile was defeated by the MPAA, but the case hasn’t yet gone away completely.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/eff-wants-records-of-warner-bros-dmca-abuse-unsealed-140303/">asked</a> the court to unseal documents regarding the workings of Warner Bros.&#8217; anti-piracy tools. </p>
<p>These documents are part of the counterclaim Hotfile filed, where it accused Warner of repeatedly abusing the DMCA takedown process. In particular, the EFF wants the public to know what mistakes were made and how these came to be.</p>
<p>In September the Court ruled that the sealed documents should indeed be <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-warner-bros-to-reveal-flawed-anti-piracy-technology-140927/">made public</a>, and the first information was released soon after. Among other things the unsealed records showed that Warner Bros. uses &#8220;<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-robots-141007/">sophisticated robots</a>&#8221; to track down infringing content. </p>
<p>This week the MPAA submitted its proposed schedule (<a href="media/d0d7327c.sched.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sched.pdf">pdf</a>) for the release of the other documents. With regards to Warner&#8217;s anti-piracy system they propose a wait of at least 18 months before more information is unsealed. By then Warner will have changed its systems significantly so that the information can no longer be used by pirates to circumvent detection. </p>
<p>In the case of Columbia Pictures, however, things are more complicated. The sealed information of the Sony Pictures owned studio would still be beneficial to pirates for decades to come, the court is told.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants have cited two specific pieces of information regarding Columbia’s enforcement policies that, if revealed to the public, could compromise Columbia’s ability to protect its copyrighted works,&#8221; the MPAA&#8217;s lawyers write. </p>
<p>In a sworn declaration Sony Pictures&#8217; Vice President Content Protection, Sean Jaquez, explains that the redacted documents describe broad policy decisions regarding online copyright enforcement that are unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. </p>
<p>&#8220;Columbia intends to continue to implement these confidential copyright enforcement policies indefinitely,&#8221; Jaquez writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;These confidential enforcement policies will not become less sensitive over time because they reflect broad policy judgments, rather than specific implementation features of Columbia&#8217;s anti-piracy enforcement system that are likely to change as technology evolves or time passes,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>To keep these secrets out of the public eye, the MPAA asks the court to keep the records relating to Columbia Pictures under seal indefinitely. If that&#8217;s too much, the information should remain secret for at least ten years.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s now up to Judge Williams to decide whether the proposed timeframes are reasonable and whether Columbia can keep its anti-piracy secrets locked up forever. </p>
<p>To be continued. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96743
title: Dotcom Loses Lawyers – Then They Erase All History of Him
uri: Dotcom-Loses-Lawyers-Then-They-Erase-All-History-of-Him
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/od1Bj6U7I18/
content:
<p><a href="media/739b10b5.myster.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/myster.jpg"><img src="media/76e9fbdf.myster.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/myster.jpg" alt="myster" width="200" height="202" class="alignright size-full wp-image-26852"></a>All major Internet entrepreneurs with complex lives need legal advice. That is especially true for Kim Dotcom, who needs clerks just to keep up with the mountains of paperwork generated by his myriad legal issues.</p>
<p>Currently the Megaupload founder is dealing with legal action in three major jurisdictions &#8211; the United States, Hong Kong and New Zealand. In the former matters are handled by lawyer Ira Rothken, a veteran of copyright cases who also runs Dotcom&#8217;s worldwide legal operations. In the latter, however, Dotcom now has new issues to overcome.</p>
<p>The first signs of developments in New Zealand came on November 6 when Rothken tweeted, &#8220;We are looking for awesome lawyers in NZ and US to assist our global legal team in the @KimDotcom related cases.&#8221; Rothken also linked interested parties to a new site titled <a href="http://megascholar.com/news/">MegaScholar</a>.</p>
<p>Now, almost a week later, it&#8217;s been revealed that high-profile Queen&#8217;s Counsel Paul Davison, QC, and Simpson Grierson, one of New Zealand&#8217;s biggest lawfirms, are stepping down from Dotcom&#8217;s legal team.</p>
<p>&#8220;Paul Davison &#038; Simpson Grierson of NZ are stepping down from @KimDotcom legal team. They did world-class legal work &#038; were great colleagues,&#8221; Rothken <a href="https://twitter.com/rothken/status/532412586860359680">tweeted</a>.</p>
<p>Davison has been representing Dotcom in his U.S. extradition case and various Simpson Grierson partners including William Akel and Tracey Walker have represented the entrepreneur in civil actions brought by the Hollywood studios.</p>
<p>While Rothken has made it clear that he was pleased with the work of the outgoing legal team, there is a rather unusual element to the story. When we searched the Simpson Grierson website for the history of the Dotcom case, it appears that the company has <a href="http://www.simpsongrierson.com/kim-dotcom-litigation/">erased it</a>, an unusual move for such a high-profile action.</p>
<p>And it doesn&#8217;t stop there. Senior litigation partner William Akel <a href="http://www.simpsongrierson.com/partners/william-akel/">has removed</a> all reference to Dotcom from his case history. The image below shows his profile, before and after, with Dotcom&#8217;s case now erased.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7b1a4a31.after-akel.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/after-akel.png" alt="after-akel"></center></p>
<p>Partner <a href=" http://www.simpsongrierson.com/partners/greg-towers/">Greg Towers</a> has gone one step further. Not only has he deleted all mention of Dotcom from his profile but has also erased references to the work he did with Mega, the cloud-hosting service founded by Dotcom.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c20be70b.after-towers.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/after-towers.png" alt="after-towers"></center></p>
<p>But perhaps most telling is the way Chairman Kevin Jaffe has attempted to distance his company from Kim Dotcom.</p>
<p>Announcing the first edition of &#8216;Aluminate&#8217; &#8211; the Simpson Grierson alumni newsletter, Jaffe singled out Dotcom&#8217;s case as one of just two big company projects worthy of a mention. As can be seen below, a year on and history has just been rewritten.<em>(Original: <a href="http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=http%3a%2f%2fwww.simpsongrierson.com%2fchairmans-message%2f&#038;d=4666311541326404&#038;mkt=en-GB&#038;setlang=en-GB&#038;w=uCWDyG3cfntJ_gVETUydO3STBD6C3n9U">Bing cache</a>, rewrite <a href="http://www.simpsongrierson.com/chairmans-message/">here</a>)</em></p>
<p><img src="media/b07502cc.after-chairman.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/after-chairman.png" alt="after-chairman"></p>
<p>Of course, as is professional in these circumstances, no one is saying anything on the record about why Simpson Grierson has parted with Dotcom. However, with Dotcom&#8217;s extradition battle only a few months away, the timing could hardly have been worse for the Megaupload founder.</p>
<p>Dotcom and Rothken are now racing against the clock to bring new lawyers on board which, incidentally, is also something Simpson Grierson have just done with <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/63087099/Former-MP-Tony-Ryall-joins-Simpson-Grierson">the appointment</a> of former New Zealand Minister of Justice, Tony Ryall.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96580
title: Hollywood Demands Tougher Penalties for Aussie Pirates
uri: Hollywood-Demands-Tougher-Penalties-for-Aussie-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/CslIZsC0FJw/
content:
<p><a href="media/dbb74c88.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg"><img src="media/dbb74c88.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg" alt="aus" width="250" height="159" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96798"></a>The MPAA has published its latest submission to the U.S. Government. It provides an overview of countries the studios believe could better protect the interests of the copyright industry.</p>
<p>The movie group lists more than two dozen countries and describes which &#8220;trade barriers&#8221; they present. </p>
<p>In recent years the Obama administration has helped Hollywood to counter online piracy and with a letter, signed by MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd, the movie organization urges the Government not to drop the ball.</p>
<p>&#8220;The US government must not falter from being a champion of protecting intellectual property rights, particularly in the online market,&#8221; Dodd told the United States Trade Representative.</p>
<p>According to the MPAA there are more than two dozen countries that require special attention. This includes Australia, which has one of the highest online piracy rates in the world </p>
<p>&#8220;Australia has consistently ranked amongst the highest incidence of per capita P2P infringement of MPAA member company films in the region,&#8221; the MPAA chief writes.</p>
<p>One of the main grievances against Australia is the lack of thorough copyright laws. On this front the movie studios put forward a specific recommendation to draft legislation to deter &#8216;camming&#8217; in movie theaters.</p>
<p>&#8220;Australia should adopt anti-camcording legislation. While illegal copying is a violation of the Copyright Act, more meaningful deterrent penalties are required,&#8221; the MPAA notes.</p>
<p>In recent years there have been several arrests of people linked to scene release groups who illegally recorded movies in theaters. However, instead of several years in jail they usually get off with a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpa-disappointed-movie-cammer-walks-free-from-court-090405/">slap on the wrist</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;For instance, in August 2012, a cammer was convicted for illicitly recording 14 audio captures, many of which were internationally distributed through his affiliation with a notorious release group; his fine was a non-deterrent AUD 2,000,&#8221; the MPAA writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;These lax penalties fail to recognize the devastating impact that this crime has on the film industry,&#8221; they add. </p>
<p>The MPAA hopes that the U.S. Government can help to change this legal climate Down Under. The most recent <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-paper-reveals-aussie-anti-piracy-crackdown-musings-140725/">anti-piracy plans</a> of the Aussie Government are a step in the right direction according to the Hollywood group. </p>
<p>This is not the first time that the MPAA has become involved in Australian affairs. Previously a <a href="https://wikileaks.org/cable/2008/11/08CANBERRA1197.html">Wikileaks cable</a> revealed that the American movie group was also the main force behind the lawsuit against iiNet. </p>
<p>In addition to Australia, the MPAA also points out various copyright challenges in the UK, Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden. The latter country is seen as a &#8220;safe haven&#8221; for pirates and lacks effective enforcement, as The Pirate Bay remains online despite the convictions of its founders.</p>
<p>&#8220;The law [in Sweden] must also change in order to effectively curb organized commercial piracy, as evidenced by the difficulties thwarting The Pirate Bay – an operation the court system has already deemed illegal,&#8221; MPAA writes.</p>
<p>MPAA&#8217;s full list of comments and recommendations <a href="https://pdf.yt/d/SVH-edXfPxCffQOS">is available here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96819
title: Anti-Piracy Boss Spent $50K in Brothels to ‘Protect Copyright’
uri: Anti-Piracy-Boss-Spent-50K-in-Brothels-to-Protect-Copyright
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/9aJShxBD_hw/
content:
<p><img src="media/a3e03950.sgae.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sgae.jpg" width="190" height="79" class="alignright">Most commonly known as SGAE, the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores) is Spain&#8217;s main collecting society for songwriters, composers and music publishers.</p>
<p>The group, which also acts as the leading music anti-piracy outfit in the country, has campaigned endlessly for tougher penalties for both file-sharing site operators and the unauthorized downloader at home.</p>
<p>SGAE&#8217;s position is to protect the rights of artists, but in 2011 a dark cloud fell over the organization. More than 50 police, tax officials and staff from Spain’s Audit Office <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/music-rights-group-raided-by-police-bosses-arrested-for-fraud-110702/">raided</a> SGAE’s headquarters in Madrid following allegations of fraud and misappropriation of funds.</p>
<p>One of those investigated was Pedro Farré, SGAE&#8217;s former head of corporate relations and the boss of its anti-piracy office. This week he was sentenced to 30 months in jail and the back story is quite extraordinary.</p>
<p>Farré&#8217;s problems stemmed from his penchant for spending time in the company of prostitutes. While some might argue that&#8217;s a personal matter that should remain private, it became a public interest story when Farré chose to mix his pleasures with the business of protecting copyrights.</p>
<p>To carry out his work the anti-piracy chief had been given a credit card by SGAE to cover legitimate business expenses. However, Farré ran up bills on the VISA card in numerous visits to brothels where he used it to withdraw cash from the premises which he spent on champagne and prostitutes.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.publico.es/politica/555795/la-audiencia-nacional-condena-a-un-exdirectivo-de-la-sgae-por-gastar-40-000-euros-de-la-visa-en-prostitutas">Publico.es</a>, evidence at trial revealed that on at least once occasion Farré had taken a booth at a brothel &#8220;..at five in the afternoon and left at six o&#8217;clock the next day, consuming drinks, champagne, and frequently changing girls.&#8221;</p>
<p>All told, Farré ran up bills of almost 40,000 euros ($50,000) on the SGAE card, falsifying receipts as he went. He claimed that money had been spent on meals with guests, entertaining the police commissioner, financing meetings with journalists and holding a university seminar.</p>
<p>The judge did not buy Farré&#8217;s version of events and said it was &#8220;pure absurdity&#8221; that academics and those involved in protecting copyrights would go to a brothel to discuss the topic. Farré&#8217;s claims that he went to the brothels to check their music rights compliance was rejected as &#8220;pure nonsense&#8221;.</p>
<p>Former SGAE CFO Ricardo Azcoaga, who was also arrested in 2011, was jailed for 12 months after concealing Farré&#8217;s expenditure.</p>
<p>The sentences can be appealed.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96890
title: Anti-Piracy Firm Rightscorp On The Brink of Bankruptcy?
uri: Anti-Piracy-Firm-Rightscorp-On-The-Brink-of-Bankruptcy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hMCWf9KTpU8/
content:
<p><a href="media/59c711ef.rightscorp-real.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp-real.jpg"><img src="media/05460420.rightscorp-real.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp-real.jpg" alt="rightscorp-real" width="222" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84007"></a>For years the entertainment industries have been complaining that online piracy hurts their revenues.</p>
<p>This problem has motivated people to start anti-piracy companies such as <a href="http://www.rightscorp.com/">Rightscorp</a>, a company that uses standard DMCA takedown requests to send settlement offers to alleged copyright infringers.</p>
<p>Rightscorp had big plans and went public last year on the NASDAQ exchange, aiming to help the biggest entertainment companies turn piracy into profit. Thus far, however, the results have been rather disappointing. </p>
<p>Despite teaming up with prominent names such as <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-were-fining-file-sharers-who-use-non-six-strike-isps-130607/">Warner Bros.</a> and BMG, the company hasn&#8217;t been able to turn a profit. </p>
<p>In their <a href="http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/filingFrameset.asp?FileName=0001493152-14-003706%2Etxt&#038;FilePath=%5C2014%5C11%5C14%5C&#038;CoName=RIGHTSCORP%2C+INC%2E&#038;FormType=10-Q&#038;RcvdDate=11%2F14%2F2014&#038;pdf=">latest SEC filing</a> published earlier today the company reports a total loss of $2.2 million for the current year. This brings the total loss since its founding in 2011 to more than $6.5 million.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The Company had a cumulative net loss from inception to September 30, 2014 of $6,540,194. The Company has not yet established an ongoing source of revenues sufficient to cover its operating costs and to allow it to continue as a going concern,&#8221; the SEC filing reads. </p>
<p>For Rightscorp to remain in business it desperately needs extra investment. The current revenue stream of $250,000 per quarter from piracy settlements doesn&#8217;t come close to covering operating costs.</p>
<p>In a word of caution to investors, Rightscorp warns that without extra funding the company may have to cease its operations.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the Company is unable to obtain adequate capital it could be forced to cease operations. Accordingly, these factors raise substantial doubt as to the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern,&#8221; the filing reads.</p>
<p>Investors appear to have foreseen Rightcorp&#8217;s troubles as the companies stock price continues to nosedive, straight to the bottom. This week it reached a new low of 13 cents per share. </p>
<p><center><a href="media/5a0701fe.riht1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/riht1.png"><img src="media/5a0701fe.riht1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/riht1.png" alt="riht" width="600" height="302" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96895"></a></center></p>
<p>One of Rightscorp&#8217;s problems is that they can only reach a fraction of U.S. Internet subscribers. Most large ISPs, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-kills-business-model-of-piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-131206/">including Comcast</a>, have thus far refused to forward their settlement demands.</p>
<p>Several smaller providers are not eager to forward the &#8220;settlement&#8221; DMCA notices either. In an attempt to force them to do so the company recently obtained several DMCA subpoenas against local ISPs, but these are also being <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isp-protects-subscribers-from-piracy-fishing-expedition-141111/">protested</a>.</p>
<p>Whether Rightscorp will be able to survive these setbacks has yet to be seen. One thing&#8217;s for sure though, profiting from piracy is not as easy as they had hoped.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96772
title: Liam Neeson Downloaders Face Anti-Piracy Shakedown
uri: Liam-Neeson-Downloaders-Face-Anti-Piracy-Shakedown
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1Lx8XONGGMA/
content:
<p>File-sharers in the United States, Germany and the UK are particularly familiar with the tactics of so-called copyright trolls. In recent years the lucrative nature of the business has attracted many companies, all out to turn piracy into profit.</p>
<p>Most countries have managed to avoid the attentions of these outfits, Sweden, the spiritual home of The Pirate Bay, included. However, in a surprise move the Scandinavian country has now appeared on the file-sharing lawsuit radar.</p>
<p>Along with Universal Pictures and Studio Canal, Check Entertainment is one of the companies behind the 2014 Liam Neeson movie, Non-Stop. According to latest figures from Box Office Mojo it has done very well, bringing in excess of $222 million on a $50 million budget.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, according to <a href="http://www.dagensmedia.se/nyheter/dig/article3863847.ece">Dagens Media</a>, Check Entertainment has hired lawfirm Nordic Law to go to court in Sweden to obtain the identities of individuals said to have downloaded and shared the action thriller.</p>
<p>The U.S.-based company has targeted subscribers of five local Internet service providers &#8211; Com Hem, Bredbandsbolaget, Banhof, Telia Sonera and Telenor &#8211; with the aim of forcing them to turn over the names and addresses of 12 of their Internet subscribers. Data on the alleged file-sharers was captured by German anti-piracy outfit Excipio.</p>
<p>At this point Check Entertainment says it wants to &#8220;investigate and prosecute&#8221; the subscribers for alleged copyright infringement but if cases in the rest of the world are any yardstick the aim will be a cash settlement, not a full court case.</p>
<p>Interestingly, one ISP from the five has indicated that its customers do not have to be concerned about possible lawsuits or shakedowns.</p>
<p>Service provider Banhof, a company long associated with subscriber privacy, says it is currently the only ISP in the Swedish market that does not store data on its customers&#8217; Internet activities.</p>
<p>The development dates back to April when the EU Court of Justice <a href="media/f2b83800.cp140054en.pdf" data-original-source="http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2014-04/cp140054en.pdf">declared</a> the Data Retention Directive to be invalid. In response, many Swedish ISPs stopped storing data but since then most have reversed their decision to comply with apparent obligations under the Swedish Electronic Communications Act. Banhof did not, however.</p>
<p>This means that even if the ISP is ordered by the court to reveal which subscribers were behind a particular IP address at a certain time, it has no data so simply cannot comply.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have no such data. We turned off data storage on the same day that the EU judgment was handed down,&#8221; Banhof CEO Jon Karlung told Dagens Media.</p>
<p>While Sweden has a long tradition of file-sharing and the state regularly prosecutes large scale file-sharers, actions against regular sharers of a single title are extremely rare, &#8216;trolling&#8217; even more so.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s pretty rare,&#8221; Karlung says.  &#8220;It has been quite a long time since it happened last.&#8221;</p>
<p>The big question now is whether the courts will be sympathetic to Check Entertainment&#8217;s complaint.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have submitted [our case] to the district court and now we want to see what the service providers say in response,&#8221; Nordic Law&#8217;s Patrick Andersson concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96793
title: Hey UK: Jailing File-Sharers for Years is Shameful
uri: Hey-UK-Jailing-File-Sharers-for-Years-is-Shameful
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/btLdzEw47jk/
content:
<p><a href="media/339209a8.jail.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/jail.jpg"><img src="media/9c39c603.jail.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jail.jpg" alt="jail" width="222" height="148" class="alignright size-full wp-image-70302"></a>Monday this week, Kane Robinson and Richard Graham, an admin and uploader of now-defunct file-sharing forum Dancing Jesus, had their lives turned upside down when they were handed <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/online-music-pirates-hit-with-lengthy-jail-sentences-141111/">jail sentences</a> of 32 and 21 months respectively.</p>
<p>The pair had got involved in Dancing Jesus years ago, when they were teenagers. The site dealt in leaked music, no one disputes that, but if you knew of Dancing Jesus before the site got raided you were in the minority. It was a niche site, to say the least.</p>
<p>Still, the UK record labels claimed the duo had cost them around £240m ($378m) in losses. It appears the court believed them and as a result the pair are locked away at this very moment for a very long time indeed.</p>
<p>Sadly that estimate can only be a dramatic exaggeration. If we are to believe claims from the other side of the Atlantic, the behemoth that was Megaupload &#8211; the subject of the world&#8217;s largest copyright case &#8211; &#8216;only&#8217; managed to cost the entertainment industry an alleged $500m, and that&#8217;s the estimate of a notoriously aggressive US Government. </p>
<p>Also, Megaupload hosted 12 billion unique files and had 100 million users. Dancing Jesus had 12,000 registered users and carried 22,500 allegedly infringing links. Robinson and Kane made no money from their activities, that much was accepted in court. Megaupload made an alleged $175m.</p>
<p>The sums don&#8217;t add up, anyone can see that, but at this point, today, none of that means much to the pair staring at four gray walls with devastated families at home and ruined lives behind them.</p>
<p>Ok, they knew what they were doing and many will argue that there needs to be some kind of punishment for distributing content to the public without permission, but this week&#8217;s sentences go way too far by most sensible standards.</p>
<p>Before his incarceration, Graham told TF that he&#8217;d been taking school exams when the music industry first homed in on him, and since being arrested he&#8217;d gone on to university and obtained a degree.</p>
<p>And leading up to Dancing Jesus, Kane Robinson was headhunted to run the official Arctic Monkeys website by the band&#8217;s manager.</p>
<p>&#8220;Kane&#8217;s fansite (which ironically shared their tracks for free and gained the band a lot of exposure) was receiving a lot more traffic than theirs. He ran that for several months,&#8221; Kane brother Kyle informs TF.</p>
<p>After the closure of Dancing Jesus, both men had put file-sharing behind them and were working in legitimate jobs. Dangerous? No. Violent? No. Dancing Jesus years behind them? No doubt. Compassion then? Not a chance.</p>
<p>To underline the harshness of this week&#8217;s sentences we could compare them with cases recently before the UK courts.</p>
<p>Consider the pilot who admitted to <em>flying a plane</em> whilst three times over the drink limit yet faces a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-30039232">maximum two years in jail</a>? Or what about the sex offender caught file-sharing Category A-rated child abuse images on file-sharing networks? He got a <a href="http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/66_year_old_leonard_elsby_from_ipswich_spared_jail_after_being_found_with_16_indecent_movies_of_children_1_3847344">15 month suspended sentence</a> just days after Robinson and Graham were given 32 and 21 months each.</p>
<p>Instead, however, let&#8217;s take a look at a file-sharing case that concluded last week in Finland. It involved a 40-year-old man also accused of making copyrighted content available to the public &#8211; 964 video files, 49,951 music tracks and 573 other sundry files to be precise.</p>
<p>Last week the court found the man <a href="http://online.vasabladet.fi/Artikel/Visa/44057">guilty</a> of copyright infringement, fined him 1,000 euros with 2,000 euros in legal costs. He was also ordered to pay damages to local music rights group Teosto to the tune of 1,500 euros plus 3,000 euros to IFPI. Jail wasn&#8217;t on the agenda.</p>
<p>Whether this is a fair punishment for the offenses in hand is for others to decide. However, it seems unlikely that those with the ability to look beyond this week&#8217;s &#8220;£240 million losses&#8221; headlines will feel that it&#8217;s proportionate for two non-violent men to spend the next few Christmas Days behind bars.</p>
<p>That said, in today&#8217;s legal climate it&#8217;s unrealistic to expect UK-based file-sharing site operators to simply walk away from a court without some kind of punishment, even if they did only operate a linking forum. But even then, several years in jail makes little to no sense for non-commercial operators, especially when supposed financial losses are either plucked from thin air or a product of highly speculative accounting.</p>
<p>The lesson here is simple. The ground rules, at least in the UK, have changed. The last three big cases in the UK (<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/surfthechannel-owner-sentenced-to-four-years-in-jail-120814/">SurftheChannel</a>, Fast and Furious <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/fast-furious-6-pirate-sentenced-33-months-prison-140821/">&#8216;cammer&#8217;</a>, Dancing Jesus) were all private prosecutions by the entertainment industries and have all ended in prison time for the defendants. There is no reason to think things are about to change.</p>
<p>In the meantime, people like Kane&#8217;s family are left trying to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justiceforKaneRobinson">rally support on Facebook</a> in an attempt to scrape together <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/Justice4Kane">£5,000 in a GoFundMe fundraiser</a> to finance an appeal aimed at achieving a more realistic sentence.</p>
<p>In conclusion it now appears that anyone other than low-level UK file-sharers need to consider whether their &#8220;fun&#8221; hobby is really worth losing years of their freedom over. And of course, shameful as it might be, that&#8217;s the message the industry wanted to send all along.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96794
title: Mega Terminates Kim Dotcom’s Account For Repeat Infringements
uri: Mega-Terminates-Kim-Dotcom-s-Account-For-Repeat-Infringements
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rPQ28BVpLCw/
content:
<p><a href="media/57d13949.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg"><img src="media/5b2669f1.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg" alt="dotcom-laptop" width="233" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-76556"></a>New Zealand-based entrepeneur Kim Dotcom has dealt with numerous copyright infringement allegations in recent years. </p>
<p>The United States launched a criminal case against Dotcom and wants him extradited, while the major movie and music companies filed their own suits against Megaupload&#8217;s former boss.</p>
<p>This week he can add another allegation to this growing list, a rather unusual one too as it comes from cloud hosting service <a href="https://mega.co.nz/">Mega</a>, a company he founded.</p>
<p>Dotcom has been using Mega to share his first music album “Good Times” with everyone who wants to give it a spin. While he holds all the rights, several prominent music labels <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-take-down-kim-dotcoms-official-album-from-mega-140903/">kept informing</a> Mega that the album was &#8220;infringing.&#8221;</p>
<p>A few weeks ago we learned that the takedown requests were all inaccurate, and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-take-kim-dotcoms-album-140923/">triggered by a prankster</a>. However, that apparently didn&#8217;t stop them from coming in and as a result Dotcom has now had his Mega account terminated for repeatedly violating the terms of service. </p>
<p>Those who try to grab a copy of the album via the official <a href="https://mega.co.nz/#!fNFSiJxa!ePxcgzjVYy6fxt0ep15iUyhnOgedIOcXQUs7U5myurE">download link</a> on Kim.com see the following message:</p>
<p>&#8220;The file you are trying to download is no longer available. The associated user account has been terminated due to multiple violations of our Terms of Service.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><a href="media/8e9f1432.megatosviol.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/megatosviol.png"><img src="media/cb09a7b6.megatosviol.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megatosviol.png" alt="megatosviol" width="527" height="223" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96839"></a></center> </p>
<p>The account termination probably won&#8217;t last as it was triggered by false takedowns. However, it shows how easy it is to abuse the takedown process to shut down people&#8217;s accounts, at least temporarily. </p>
<p>Previously Mega told TF that they take every takedown notice seriously, but that they also plan to set up a system where repeated false takedowns can be flagged to prevent this type of abuse in the future. </p>
<p>“We are improving our systems to monitor the takedown process and will eventually be able to identify repeated incorrect notices,” a Mega spokesperson said.</p>
<p>For now, we hope that Dotcom has his files backed up in a safe place. </p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Kim Dotcom told us that the following takedown notices were received for his album.The account has now been reinstated.</p>
<p><em>Aug 18 &#8211; IFPI &#8211; allegedly &#8220;The Golden Echo&#8221; by &#8220;Kimbra&#8221;<br>
Sep 1 &#8211; IFPI &#8211; unspecified, could be any of &#8220;DAVID BISBAL, ARIANA GRANDE, EMINEM, ALEJANDRO SANZ, VA, U2, CESAR MENOTTI E FABIANO, CARTEL DE SANTA, CRAIG DAVID, GREEN DAY, DUNCAN DHU, PLAYA LIMBO, RICARDO ARJONA&#8221;<br>
Sep 15 &#8211; Begian Anti-piracy Federation &#8211; allegedly &#8220;X&#8221; by &#8220;Ed Sheeran&#8221;<br>
Oct 11 &#8211; MarkMonitor on behalf of the Entertainment Software Association &#8211; allegedly &#8220;ALIENS&#8221;<br>
Oct 12 &#8211; NBC Universal &#8211; allegedly &#8220;Anarchy&#8221; by &#8220;The Purge&#8221;<br>
Oct 22 &#8211; MarkMonitor on behalf of HBO &#8211; allegedly &#8220;Boardwalk Empire&#8221;<br>
Oct 23 &#8211; MarkMonitor on behalf of CBS &#8211; unspecified, could be any of &#8220;NCIS: NEW ORLEANS, NCIS, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, EXTANT (2014), PENNY DREADFUL, HAWAII FIVE-0 (2010)&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96804
title: The Pirate Beacon Pimps TPB With Movie Trailers and Info
uri: The-Pirate-Beacon-Pimps-TPB-With-Movie-Trailers-and-Info
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vb9PLtFoFJQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/fd06f581.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg"><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="pirate bay" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470"></a>Many Pirate Bay users are avid movie fans, who use their favorite torrent site to discover and download fresh content.</p>
<p>Since not all titles immediately ring a bell, they often use third-party sites and services such as IMDb to find more info. In fact, <a href="media/2746ff17.j5hmCma.png" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/j5hmCma.png">nearly 2%</a> of all IMDb visitors browsed The Pirate Bay before coming to the site, and <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/thepiratebay.se#trafficstats">vice versa</a>. </p>
<p>To save these users a few clicks there is now a new browser extension that pulls up movie information automatically. The Pirate Beacon, as it&#8217;s called, shows users descriptions, IMDb ratings and trailers when users hover over Pirate Bay link.</p>
<p>We reached out to Jordan, the developer of Pirate Beacon, who tells us that the idea actually came from a friend who made a mockup of the discovery tool last year. After working on it for a while the project was shelved, but last Saturday he picked it up again. </p>
<p>A few hours of coding later <a href="http://jpatterson.me/the-pirate-beacon/">The Pirate Beacon</a> was online. </p>
<p>The extension uses IMDb links to gather movie info, so it&#8217;s only available for torrents that have this listed. The trailers are then pulled from trailersapi.com and when this fails a movie poster is displayed instead.</p>
<p>&#8220;It works pretty good for newer movies but doesn&#8217;t do so well for older ones. So if I can’t find a trailer, I fall back to the IMDb posters api to grab a movie poster for it,&#8221; Jordan says.</p>
<p><center><br></br></center><center><a href="media/47171755.tpb-afk-beacon.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-afk-beacon.jpg"><a href="media/d9dfce99.tpb-afk-beacon.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-afk-beacon.jpg"><img src="media/47171755.tpb-afk-beacon.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-afk-beacon.jpg" alt="tpb-afk-beacon" width="798" height="483" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96811"></a></center></p>
<p>Jordan explains that the addon will help people to gather info about movies without having to leave the site, which can be quite cumbersome at times.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think it is most useful for discovery purposes. If you&#8217;ve ever spent any time browsing TPB you will know that it&#8217;s somewhat annoying to see a movie that you&#8217;ve not heard of then have to go find it. This just takes that annoyance away,&#8221; Jordan.</p>
<p>The idea appeals to a lot of fellow Pirate Bay users as it has immediately started to gain traction. After an initial Chrome release it&#8217;s now available for Firefox too. Additionally, support for many TPB proxies has been added as well.</p>
<p>Jordan says he will continue to work on the project. Support for the Opera browser is one of the next items on the todo list, and he also wants to add support for more torrent sites, starting with KickassTorrents.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am planning to expand it to other torrent sites as well. People have been requesting it to work with some other sites. It&#8217;s now available on Firefox and Chrome and soon to be available on Opera,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>The Pirate Beacon&#8217;s source code is available <a href="https://github.com/jpatters/tp-beacon">on GitHub</a> and the Chrome and Firefox extensions are up on the <a href="http://jpatterson.me/the-pirate-beacon/">official site</a>.</p>
<p>The MPAA, meanwhile, is trying to steer people away from The Pirate Bay. The movie group launched <a href="http://www.mpaa.org/wheretowatch/#.VGNTVvnF98E">its own search engine</a> earlier this week.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96940
title: Dotcom Faces Jail Following Application to Revoke Bail
uri: Dotcom-Faces-Jail-Following-Application-to-Revoke-Bail
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VnsY4uswd-Q/
content:
<p><a href="media/57d13949.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg"><img src="media/5b2669f1.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg" alt="dotcom-laptop" width="233" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-76556"></a>After putting up a grand fight for what will soon be three years, the last couple of weeks have certainly thrown Kim Dotcom an unusual number of serious curve balls.</p>
<p>Last week it was revealed that his New Zealand legal team had <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dotcom-loses-lawyers-then-they-erase-all-history-of-him-141113/">backed out</a> of their arrangement to defend the Megaupload founder. </p>
<p>High-profile Queen’s Counsel Paul Davison, QC, and Simpson Grierson, one of New Zealand’s biggest lawfirms, decided to pull out, a decision that could prove pivotal in the entrepreneur getting a fair trial.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also transpires that lawyer Fletcher Pilditch, who was defending Dotcom colleague Finn Batato, has also withdrawn his services from the case.</p>
<p>And back in the Auckland District Court today, things got even worse.</p>
<p>A full report on developments isn&#8217;t possible due to a news blackout, but Crown Prosecutor Christine Gordon told the Court that an application had been made to have Dotcom&#8217;s bail revoked after an apparent breach of conditions.</p>
<p>That application, the details of which are shrouded in secrecy, will be heard next Monday. Should it be granted, Dotcom could soon be back behind bars in New Zealand.</p>
<p>In the meantime, apparently considering him a flight risk, Judge Nevin Dawson has taken the decision to clamp down on Dotcom&#8217;s movements ahead of next week&#8217;s hearing.</p>
<p>In addition to banning him from using his helicopter, Dotcom is forbidden from using boats and undertaking any travel whatsoever by sea. He must stay within 80km (50 miles) of his home and report to police every single day, rather than his previous weekly check-ins.</p>
<p>The development is yet another obstacle for Dotcom ahead of his looming 2015 extradition battle. The withdrawal of Paul Davison QC and Simson Grier was revealed today to be the decision of the lawyers, not Dotcom, with the former informing the Court that there was no intention to disrupt the case.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, that is the immediate effect. While Dotcom and legal team chief Ira Rothken say they are in talks with other lawfirms. the scale of the case means this is no ordinary problem and one that might even prove impossible to overcome.</p>
<p>&#8220;Suffice to say that even over the last few days, we have spoken to some of the other top firms in New Zealand,&#8221; Rothken <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/259514/travel-conditions-imposed-on-dotcom">said</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve also spoken to some QCs. It&#8217;s a very difficult situation in the sense that these firms will have to look through about 100 meters of legacy files.&#8221;</p>
<p>One interested firm said it would need 120 days just to look over the case to see they can help, a serious problem when the extradition hearing is scheduled for February and has taken 18 months to prepare.</p>
<p>Today the Crown said it was prepared to give Dotcom an extra month by postponing the hearing until March, but that was overruled by the Judge who said that it would now take place in early June.</p>
<p>This morning Dotcom said he will not be giving up.</p>
<p>&#8220;This year was a total disaster. I have taken many punches. But I won&#8217;t break. I will keep going through this hell for my kids. Count on it,&#8221; Dotcom <a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/534174350874640384">said</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96924
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 11/17/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-11-17-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pYMGUDxRWhw/
content:
<p><a href="media/f469debe.guardians.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/guardians.jpg"><img src="media/f469debe.guardians.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/guardians.jpg" alt="guardians" width="300" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96926"></a>This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Guardians of the Galaxy is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-141110/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/guardians_of_the_galaxy/">Guardians of the Galaxy</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2015381/">8.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9vypfwbvk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dawn_of_the_planet_of_the_apes/">Dawn of the Planet of the Apes</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2103281/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sHMCRaS3ao">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_untold/">Dracula Untold</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829150/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp2abe1QzlA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/if_i_stay/">If I Stay</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1355630/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMp896hfp74">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_november_man/">The November Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2402157/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m8V7G7e7gw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets_be_cops/">Let&#8217;s Be Cops</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1924435/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKIAZjs__Xc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hercules_the_thracian_wars/">Hercules</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1267297/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uro03xQwrA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/into_the_storm_2014/">Into The Storm</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2106361/">6.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss7OcumluzU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_train_your_dragon_2/">How to Train Your Dragon 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646971/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9a4PvzlqoQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/free_fall_2014/">Free Fall</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3259178/">4.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzWXyV_kygM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96930
title: The Copyright Monopoly Wars Are About To Repeat, But Much Worse
uri: The-Copyright-Monopoly-Wars-Are-About-To-Repeat-But-Much-Worse
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NkczZREhJyc/
content:
<p><a href="media/b997f7ba.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg"><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211"></a>People sometimes ask me when I started questioning if the copyright monopoly laws were just, proper, or indeed sane. I respond truthfully that it was about 1985, when we were sharing music on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette">cassette tapes</a> and the copyright industry called us thieves, murderers, rapists, arsonists, and genocidals for manufacturing our own copies without their permission. </p>
<p>Politicians didn&#8217;t care about the issue, but handwaved away the copyright industry by giving them private taxation rights on cassette tapes, a taxation right that would later infest anything with digital storage capacity, ranging from games consoles to digital cameras.</p>
<p>In 1990, I bought my first modem, connecting to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet">FidoNet</a>, an amateur precursor to the Internet that had similar addressing and routing. We were basically doing what the Internet is used for today: chatting, discussing, sharing music and other files, buying and selling stuff, and yes, dating and flirting. Today, we do basically the same things in prettier colors, faster, and more realtime, on considerably smaller devices. But the social mechanisms are the same.</p>
<p>The politicians were absolutely clueless.</p>
<p>The first signal that something was seriously wrong in the heads of politicans was when they created a DMCA-like law in Sweden in 1990, one that made a server owner legally liable for forum posts made by somebody else on that server, if the server operator didn&#8217;t delete the forum post on notice. For the first time in modern history, a messenger had been made formally responsible for somebody else&#8217;s uttered opinion. People who were taking part in creating the Internet at the time went to Parliament to try to explain the technology and the social contract of responsibilities, and walked away utterly disappointed and desperate. The politicians were even more clueless than imagined.</p>
<p>It hasn&#8217;t gotten better since. Cory Doctorow&#8217;s observation in his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEvRyemKSg">brilliant speech</a> about the coming war on general computing was right: Politicians are clueless about the Internet because they <em>don&#8217;t care</em> about the Internet. They care about energy, healthcare, defense, education, and taxes, because they only understand the problems that defined the structures of the two previous generations &#8211; the structures now in power have simply retained their original definition, and those are the structures that put today&#8217;s politicians in power. Those structures are incapable of adapting to irrelevance.</p>
<p>Enter bitcoin.</p>
<p>The unlicensed manufacturing of movie and music copies were and are such small time potatoes the politicians just didn&#8217;t and don&#8217;t have time for it, because energy healthcare defense. Creating draconian laws that threaten the Internet wasn&#8217;t an &#8220;I think this is a good idea&#8221; behavior. It has been a &#8220;copyright industry, get out of my face&#8221; behavior. The copryight industry understands this perfectly, of course, and throws tantrums about every five years to get more police-like powers, taxpayer money, and rent from the public coffers. Only when the population has been <em>more</em> in the face of politicians than the copyright industry &#8211; think SOPA, ACTA &#8211; have the politicians backpedaled, usually with a confused look on their faces, and then absentmindedly happened to do the right thing before going back to energy healthcare defense.</p>
<p>However, cryptocurrency like bitcoin &#8211; essentially the same social mechanisms, same social protocols, same distributed principles as BitTorrent&#8217;s sharing culture and knowledge outside of the copyright industry&#8217;s monopolies &#8211; is <em>not</em> something that passes unnoticed. Like BitTorrent showed the obsolescence of the copyright monopoly, bitcoin demonstrates the obsolescence of central banks and today&#8217;s entire financial sector. Like BitTorrent didn&#8217;t go head-to-head with the copyright monopoly but just circumvented it as irrelevant, bitcoin circumvents every single financial regulation as irrelevant. And like BitTorrent saw uptake in the millions, so does bitcoin.</p>
<p>Cryptocurrency is politically where culture-sharing was in about 1985.</p>
<p>Politicians didn&#8217;t care about the copyright monopoly. They didn&#8217;t. Don&#8217;t. No, they don&#8217;t, not in the slightest. That&#8217;s why the copyright industry has been given everything they point at. Now for today&#8217;s million dollar question: do you think politicians care about the authority of the central bank and the core controllability of funds, finances, and taxation?</p>
<p><strong>YES. VERY MUCH.</strong></p>
<p>This is going to get seriously ugly. But this time, we have a blueprint from the copyright monopoly wars. Cory Doctorow was right when he said this isn&#8217;t the war, this is just the first skirmish over control of society as a whole. The Internet generation is claiming that control, and the old industrial generation is pushing back. Hard.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve already seen the magic trigger words usually applied to culture-sharing being tried on bitcoin. Like this infamous quote:</p>
<p>&#8220;Bitcoin is used to buy illegal drugs!&#8221;</p>
<p>Since this is laughably used in defense of the US Dollar, that argument cannot go uncountered by the trivial observation that &#8220;So&#8230; you&#8217;re claiming that the US Dollar <em>isn&#8217;t?&#8221;.</em> But we&#8217;re already seeing the arguments that were used in the copyright monopoly battle getting rehashed against the next generation of peer-to-peer technology. The exact same trigger words: organized crime, file sharing, child porn, drug trade. The trigger words that mirror the way &#8220;communism&#8221; was used in the US in the 1950. And &#8220;jazz music&#8221; before then, by the way.</p>
<p>Beyond bitcoin, there are technologies like Ethereum and Counterparty, which aim to make the more core services of government &#8211; incorporation, courts, arbitration &#8211; obsolete and circumvented. The old structures will not accept that development sitting down.</p>
<p><strong>The entire copyright monopoly war is about to repeat. But rather than brushing it off because politicians don&#8217;t care about what&#8217;s being discussed, this time, the technology and social changes are going to be attacking the very core power of politicians head-on. This time, they will try to crush technology and its users quite deliberately, rather than out of ignorance. This time, they will hold no punches and consider no balance against rights to privacy, life, happiness, or liberty.</strong></p>
<p>But this time we&#8217;re ready. This time, we have a blueprint for exactly what will happen, because the copyright monopoly wars were the tutorial missions in the game of civil liberties. To be honest, we haven&#8217;t played the tutorial very well. But we know all the adversary&#8217;s capabilities, moves, and patterns now.</p>
<p>The end of that development is either a Big Brother society beyond dystopian nightmares, or a society where cryptocurrency is firmly established and the copyright monopoly has also been abolished to cheers and whistles from a new, liberated generation, who have new problems to deal with instead of those that defined our grandparents&#8217; generation.</p>
<p><center>
<div class="alignfull" style="border:2px solid #3F3F3F;width:100%;padding:15px;padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:4px;margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:10px;border-radius:10px">
<h3 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:10px">
<div style="float:right;height:130px;width:39px;margin-left:20px;margin-right:10px"><img src="media/98818a80.Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" data-original-source="http://falkvinge.net/wp-content/themes/WpNewspaper/images/falkvinge/Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" style="border:none;-moz-box-shadow:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none" class="quimby_search_image"></div>
<p><span style="color:#3F3F3F;font-size:125%">About The</span> <span style="color:#FF3C78;font-size:125%">Author</span></p>
</h3>
<p style="font-family:PTSansRegular,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-weight:400;line-height:150%;margin-bottom:14px"><small>Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at <a href="http://falkvinge.net">falkvinge.net</a> focuses on information policy.</small></p>
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<p><small>Book Falkvinge <a href="http://falkvinge.net/keynotes/">as speaker</a>?</small></p>
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<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96974
title: ISP Provides Free VPN to Protect Customer Privacy
uri: ISP-Provides-Free-VPN-to-Protect-Customer-Privacy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YvSTOW6VefU/
content:
<p><a href="media/9a96c0ca.vpn4life.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/vpn4life.jpg"><img src="media/b45c88a8.vpn4life.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vpn4life.jpg" alt="vpn4life" width="180" height="197" class="alignright size-full wp-image-8252"></a>In April a landmark ruling from the European Court of Justice declared Europe’s Data Retention Directive a violation of Internet users’ privacy and therefore invalid.</p>
<p>The Directive required Internet service providers and other telecommunications companies to log data on the activities of their subscribers, including who they communicate with and at what times, plus other identifying information such as IP addresses.</p>
<p>One of the first companies to react to the decision was Swedish ISP Bahnhof. The ISP has a reputation for objecting to what it sees as breaches of customer privacy, so did not hesitate following the Court&#8217;s announcement.</p>
<p>“Bahnhof stops all data storage with immediate effect. In addition, we will delete the information that was already saved,” Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/eu-court-overturns-data-retention-directive-140408/">said</a>.</p>
<p>However, at the end of last month Swedish telecoms regulator PTS ordered Bahnhof to start storing communications data again under local data retention laws, warning the ISP that non-compliance would result in hefty fines.</p>
<p>At the time Karlung promised a &#8220;Plan B&#8221; to skirt the order, and today the details of that have emerged.</p>
<p>&#8220;One week remains before PTS requires a fine of five million krona ($676,500) from Bahnhof, as the company has not yet begun to store customer traffic data. Therefore, Bahnhof has chosen to activate &#8216;Plan B&#8217;,&#8221; Karlung announced today.</p>
<p>The plan involves Bahnhof reactivating data storage on November 24 as required. However, the ISP will thwart the collection of meaningful data by providing every customer with access to an anonymizing VPN service free of charge.</p>
<p>&#8220;The EU Court of Justice has held that it is a human right for people not to have their traffic data stored. We therefore believe that the time is ripe for VPN services become popular,&#8221; Karlung says.</p>
<p>The service, called LEX Integrity, is a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">no-logging provider</a> so it will be impossible for any entity to get useful information about its users.</p>
<p>&#8220;The EU Court of Justice has issued a ruling that the previous government chose to ignore, and the current government has been silent for so long that we are starting to lose patience,&#8221; Karlung adds.</p>
<p>&#8220;So now Bahnhof will resolve the situation in a responsible manner, namely by solving the whole problem. We will start to store data, but at exactly the same time we will make data storage meaningless.&#8221;</p>
<p>The VPN service will become active next Monday.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96994
title: KickassTorrents Moves to Kickass.so Domain Name
uri: KickassTorrents-Moves-to-Kickass-so-Domain-Name
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8efB2pBXbEM/
content:
<p><a href="media/fc398a84.kickasstorrents_500x500.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x500.png"><img src="media/fc398a84.kickasstorrents_500x500.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x500.png" alt="kickasstorrents_500x500" width="250" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96995"></a>With millions of unique visitors per day KickassTorrents (KAT) is one of the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-popular-torrent-sites-2014-140104/">most used</a> torrent sites. In recent months it has even rivaled The Pirate Bay in terms of traffic. </p>
<p>Over the years KAT has moved from domain to domain on a few occasions, to evade law enforcement and pressure from the entertainment industries. Most recently the site had been operating from the Kickass.to domain.</p>
<p>Starting today however, the site is serving its pages from the Somalian TLD <a href="http://kickass.so">Kickass.so</a>. </p>
<p>Wondering whether the site may have run into issues with the .to registry we contacted the KAT team for further details. &#8220;It’s just annual domain rotation,&#8221; we were told in a brief reply.</p>
<p>An additional announcement posted on the site today assures the site&#8217;s users that there is nothing to worry about. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are moving to kickass.so now. As you know we change our domain regularly. Nothing more has been changed for you, so don&#8217;t worry, you can use Kickass as usually, it&#8217;s automatically redirected,&#8221; the KAT team writes.</p>
<p>Intended or not, the domain change will have some consequences on the anti-piracy front. For example, the site will become accessible again in most countries where it has been blocked previously. </p>
<p>In addition all the URLs that were blocked by Google through DMCA notices, <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/search/?q=kickass.to">more than 1.6 million</a>, will become accessible again under the new domain. This also means that Google&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">new downranking algorithm</a> will be bypassed, at least temporarily. </p>
<p>In recent weeks KAT <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/kickass.to">has lost</a> a significant amount of traffic due to Google&#8217;s new anti-piracy measure, so intended or not, that may be an extra incentive to keep the yearly domain rotations going.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97017
title: Movie Chief Describes University Piracy Fines as “Terrific”
uri: Movie-Chief-Describes-University-Piracy-Fines-as-Terrific
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/N9g0_cnETXI/
content:
<p><a href="media/1d367941.wifi-danger.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/wifi-danger.jpg"><img src="media/b85013d8.wifi-danger.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wifi-danger.jpg" alt="wifi-danger" width="200" height="190" class="alignright size-full wp-image-63406"></a>In addition to their obligations under the DMCA, in 2010 a new requirement was put in place which meant that university funding in the U.S. was placed in jeopardy if establishments didn&#8217;t take their anti-piracy responsibilities seriously.</p>
<p>The policy hasn&#8217;t been repeated in any other key countries in Europe or elsewhere, but that hasn&#8217;t stopped educational institutions from introducing their own policies to deal with on-campus infringement. A particularly harsh example can be found in Australia.</p>
<p>The University of New South Wales, which is ranked among the top five universities in Australia, offers its students free Wi-Fi Internet access. Known as Uniwide, the system was upgraded last year to offer speeds of 1.3 Gigabits per second in order to cope with around 20,000 devices being regularly connected to the network.</p>
<p>With students achieving up to 10 megabits per second on their connections, it&#8217;s perhaps no surprise that some use the Wi-Fi network for downloading movies, TV shows and other copyrighted content. In order to curtail the practice the university has put in place tough punishments for those who flout the rules.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/9c80f979.uniwide.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uniwide.png" alt="uniwide"></center></p>
<p>While disconnections and up to $1,000 in fines are serious enough, it may come as a surprise that monies collected don&#8217;t go to compensate artists. University of New South Wales pumps the money back into &#8220;student amenities&#8221; instead.</p>
<p>&#8220;I just find it disturbing that a university has decided how it will enforce the laws of the Commonwealth,&#8221; Michael Speck, an independent anti-piracy investigator and former NSW policeman told <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/university-fines-students-for-pirating-movies-tv-shows-20141118-11oxg3.html">The Age</a>. &#8220;It&#8217;s quite disturbing and without too much natural justice.&#8221;</p>
<p>Adding fuel to the fire, two parties embroiled in the general piracy debate currently raging in Australia have also weighed in with their opinions.</p>
<p>Steve Dalby, chief regulatory officer of Internet provider iiNet, called the fines &#8220;very strange&#8221;. The response from Dalby is predictable. The ISP famously refused to pass on infringement notices to its customers when prompted to by movie company Village Roadshow, a spat that took the pair to court.</p>
<p>On the other hand, comments from Graham Burke, co-chief executive of Village Roadshow, reveal that the rivals are still just as far apart in their views. Burke said it was &#8220;terrific&#8221; that the university was fining students and being &#8220;proactive and taking responsibility for the users of its network.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We think it is more important for students to be educated about copyright by the university imposing these fines than it is for the rights holders to collect damages for the breaches that are occurring,&#8221; Burke told The Age.</p>
<p>&#8220;In fact the more I think about it this action by the university is helping the future of good citizenship of its many students.&#8221;</p>
<p>There can be little doubt that traditionally poor students would find themselves thinking deeply about copyright when landed with a $1,000 fine but whether that would put money back in the artists&#8217; pockets long-term is another matter.</p>
<p>Fortunately not too many WiFi users are falling foul of the rules. According to the university, three students and one staff member have received punishments this year. All had their access suspended and two of the students were fined $480 each.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96956
title: Giganews Not Liable for Pirating Usenet Customers, Court Rules
uri: Giganews-Not-Liable-for-Pirating-Usenet-Customers-Court-Rules
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XosjsyeYBls/
content:
<p><a href="media/85e3d070.giganews.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/giganews.png"><img src="media/85e3d070.giganews.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/giganews.png" alt="giganews" width="267" height="149" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96972"></a>Adult magazine publisher Perfect 10 has made a business out of suing online services for allegedly facilitating copyright infringement.</p>
<p>Over the past several years the company has targeted a dozen high-profile companies including Google, Amazon, Yandex, MasterCard, Visa, RapidShare, Giganews and Depositfiles.</p>
<p>Aside from a few private settlements the company has yet to score its first victory in court. The company was confident that this would happen in their <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/never-give-up-perfect-10-sues-giganews-usenet-service-110503/">prolonged battle</a> with Usenet provider Giganews, but late last week these hopes were shattered.</p>
<p>On Friday the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled on several motions (<sup><a href="media/43e49748.giga1.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/giga1.pdf">1</a>, <a href="media/5be4c3f3.giga2.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/giga2.pdf">2</a>, <a href="media/d989a1fd.giga3.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/giga3.pdf">3</a></sup>) regarding Giganews&#8217; liability for copyright infringement, as well as the nature of its DMCA takedown process. </p>
<p>In its order the court confirms that there is no evidence that Giganews is directly involved in any infringing practices. </p>
<p>&#8220;A claim for direct copyright liability demands evidence that the defendant had a direct hand in causing the infringement. The undisputed evidence before the Court, however, demonstrates that Defendants had no direct causal role in the alleged infringement,&#8221; the order reads. </p>
<p>According to the Court, Perfect 10 confuses direct and indirect copyright infringement, as the company has presented no evidence that Giganews employees are engaged in distributing pirated content. </p>
<p>Furthermore, claims of indirect copyright infringement also failed. The Court didn&#8217;t accept that Giganews is liable for the alleged copyright infringements of its users, as there is no proof that the company enjoyed direct financial benefit from any Perfect 10 images its subscribers may have distributed.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he &#8216;direct financial benefit&#8217; requirement demands more than evidence that customers were &#8216;drawn&#8217; to Giganews to obtain access to infringing material in general. Perfect 10 must prove with competent evidence that at least some of Giganews’ customers were &#8216;drawn&#8217; to Giganews’ services, in part, to obtain access to infringing Perfect 10 material.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;This action is a specific lawsuit by a specific plaintiff against a specific defendant about specific copyrighted images; it is not a lawsuit against copyright infringement in general on the Usenet,&#8221; the order adds.</p>
<p>In addition to their infringement claims Perfect 10 also argued that Giganews didn&#8217;t respond properly to takedown requests. While the court doesn&#8217;t dispute that proper takedown notices would give Giganews actual knowledge of infringements, the publisher&#8217;s notices were not proper. </p>
<p>Instead of listing message-IDs that could identify specific content, Perfect 10 sent in screenshots of a newsreader window, instructing Giganew “to conduct searches of specific names within certain newsgroups” and remove all results that were returned &#8220;on a certain date.&#8221; These notices do not comply with the DMCA&#8217;s standards, the court argues. </p>
<p>All in all the orders mean that Giganews is not liable for the infringements Perfect 10 claimed, and as a result the company can put the case to rest after three years.</p>
<p>However, as <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141114/16081629151/perfect-10-loses-yet-another-copyright-lawsuit-once-again-losing-to-giganews.shtml ">noted by Techdirt</a>, it&#8217;s unlikely that Perfect 10 will stop its legal campaigns anytime soon. Just this summer the company initiated a new suit against hosting service <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/ovh-slapped-with-188m-lawsuit-for-hosting-pirate-websites-140805/">OVH</a>, who thanks to Giganews now have some additional ammunition to fight back.</p>
<p><strong>Update: </strong> Ron Yokubaitis, co-Founder of Giganews, issued the following statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;These decisions and final rulings underscore the fact that Giganews has always acted responsibly and appropriately to work with copyright holders. We&#8217;re proud to have stood up against these baseless claims and to have stayed the course in defending against Perfect 10.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Over the course of the case, three different federal judges issued key rulings in Giganews&#8217; favor.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We look forward to defending against Perfect 10&#8242;s inevitable appeal and to recovering an award of attorney&#8217;s fees against Perfect 10 in due course.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=96944
title: Why Hollywood Director Lexi Alexander Sides With “Pirates”
uri: Why-Hollywood-Director-Lexi-Alexander-Sides-With-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Me8t52xOZ3o/
content:
<p><a href="media/88f021ac.lex.jpeg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lex.jpeg"><img src="media/88f021ac.lex.jpeg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lex.jpeg" alt="lex" width="250" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96949"></a>It’s pretty obvious that Lexi Alexander isn’t your average Hollywood director. Instead of parading on the red carpet sharing redundant quotes, she prefers to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-director-slams-pathetic-anti-piracy-crusade-140708/">challenge</a> the powers that rule Hollywood. </p>
<p>A few months ago Alexander <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-workers-demand-peter-sundes-dignity-freedom-140918/">campaigned</a> to get Pirate Bay&#8217;s Peter Sunde released from prison, pointing out that throwing people in jail is not going to stop piracy. </p>
<p>She believes that the MPAA and other pro-copyright groups are a bigger threat than casual pirates, and unlike some of her colleagues she is not afraid to tell the world. </p>
<p>Recently Alexander <a href="http://www.lexi-alexander.com/blog/2014/11/16/5-reasons-why-i-am-pro-file-sharing-and-copyright-reform">penned</a> five reasons why she&#8217;s pro file-sharing and copyright reform. While she&#8217;s doesn&#8217;t agree with the &#8220;everything should be free&#8221; mantra of some anti-copyright activists, Alexander believes that file-sharing is mostly a symptom of Hollywood&#8217;s failures.</p>
<p>Over the past day or so this turned into a heated debate (e.g. <a href="media/cf684bab.lexifight1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lexifight1.jpg">1</a>, <a href="media/02715ac6.lexifight2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lexifight2.jpg">2</a>) between a movie industry workers <a href="https://twitter.com/Lexialex/">on Twitter</a>, where various anti-piracy advocates condemned the movie director and others for siding with &#8220;pirates.&#8221;</p>
<p>From a Hollywood perspective Alexander&#8217;s &#8216;balanced&#8217; comments may indeed appear extreme, not least since like-minded voices keep quiet for career reasons. So why has she decided to jump on the barricades then? Today, Alexander explains her motivations to us in a short interview.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> <em>What triggered you to discuss file-sharing and copyright related topics in public?</em></p>
<p><strong>Lexi:</strong> It wasn’t my intent to be that outspoken about file-sharing, at first I just wanted to expose the hypocrisy of Hollywood going after anybody for any crime. But after I had published that first blog, I was suddenly exposed to a lot more information about the issue, either from people in the copyright reform movement or through outlets like yours. </p>
<p>Frankly, TorrentFreak has a lot to do with the extent of my outspokenness. Sometimes I see your headlines in my Twitter feed and I think I’m in some alternative universe, where I’m the only one who swallowed the red pill. “Another kid in prison for a file-sharing”, “Anti file-sharing propaganda taught in schools”, “torrent sites reported to the state department”, etc., etc. All done in the name of an industry that is infamous for corruption. I mean, doesn’t anybody see that? Hollywood studios shaking their finger at people who illegally download stuff is like the Vatican shaking their finger at pedophiles.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> <em>What&#8217;s your main motivation to support file-sharing and copyright reform??</em></p>
<p><strong>Lexi:</strong> Well, first and foremost I will not stand for young, bright minds being hunted and locked up in my name. And since I am still part of the film &#038; TV industry, albeit not the most popular member at this point, these acts are done in my name. Even if I would agree with this ludicrous idea that everything to do with file-sharing or downloading is theft and should be punished with prison…then I’d still insist that everybody in Hollywood who has ever stolen anything or cheated anybody needs to go to prison first. If we could somehow make that rule happen with magical fairy dust…you’d never hear another beep about imprisoning file-sharers. </p>
<p>Secondly, I have said this a million times and it’s like I’m talking to the wall…horrible thieves (aka the four letter acronym) are stealing 92.5 % of foreign levies from filmmakers in countries outside of the US, breaking the Berne Convention in the process. It’s actually not legal for those countries to hand any money to anybody else but the creator. But somehow, some very smart con men duped these shady collection societies into handing them all the dough. Ask me again why I need copyright reform?  </p>
<p>See, I wish more of my colleagues would come out of the fog…but that fog is made of fears, so it is  thick and consistent. Fear to upset the decision makers, fear to get blacklisted and never get to make movies again, fear to get fired by your agents, fear to become unpopular with your film-industry peers, it’s so much easier to blame the British, pimple-faced teenager, who uploaded Fast and the Furious 6, for the scarcity we experience. </p>
<p>I used to get frustrated about my peers&#8217; lack of courage, but lately I feel only empathy.  I don’t like seeing talented storytellers ruled by fear. I don’t even enjoy the endless admissions I get anymore from producers or Executives who whisper in my ear that they’re pro file-sharing too (this is often followed by a demonstration of their illegally downloaded goods or their torrent clients, as if they’re trying to make sure I’ll put in a good word, if the power were to shift to the other side one of these days).</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> <em>Do you believe that your opinions on these topics may impact your career? If so, how?</em></p>
<p><strong>Lexi:</strong> What do you think? LOL  </p>
<p>But my opinions on these topics are based on facts, so therefore the question I have to ask myself next is: If I keep the truth to myself and watch innovators get sent to prison by actual criminals…how does that impact my soul?</p>
<p>I do realize how huge the giant I decided to criticize really is whenever I read about the amount of money that&#8217;s at play here. </p>
<p>At the moment I still have a TV show under option, which I am currently developing and I’m getting ready to pitch another one. A few things definitely fell through right after my first piracy post and I’m not sure how many people don’t consider me for projects because of my file-sharing stance. I can’t really worry about that. First and foremost I’m still a filmmaker, so if this shit gets too real I have to force my mind down the rabbit hole (filmmaker euphemism for escaping into your screenplays or movies).</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong><em> File-sharing  also has its downsides of course. What&#8217;s the worst side of piracy in your opinion?</em></p>
<p><strong>Lexi:</strong> The worst part is that there are a lot of people who suddenly feel entitled to do anything they want with our work, at any given stage. I spoke to a filmmaker the other day whose film got leaked during post production. It was missing the visual effects and it had a temp score (temporary music used as a filler before the real score is ready). Then reviews started popping up about this version of the film on IMDB, yet the people who posted those reviews had no fucking clue what they were judging, revealed by the many comments about “the director ripping off the Dark Knight score”.  It was the Dark Knight score, you morons. </p>
<p>That was really heartbreaking and whoever doesn’t understand that can go to hell. I don’t think there’s anybody in the world who’d like their work, whatever it may be, stolen when it’s half way done and paraded around the world with their name on it.</p>
<p>I also will never be able to respect anybody who films or watches one of those shaky cam movies. I don’t buy that there’s anybody who enjoys a movie that way, I think this is all about trying to be the shit on some forum. </p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> <em>In what way do you think file-sharing will (and has) change(d) the movie industry?</em></p>
<p><strong>Lexi:</strong> I entered this industry right at the beginning of the transition to digital technology. I remember insisting to shoot my first two films on film stock, by then people were already dropping the “dinosaur” and “stone age” hints.  We were all beaten into submission when it came to new digital technologies, because they reduced production and distribution costs. Then the powers started realizing that those same technologies also made unauthorized duplications much easier, so the narrative changed and now we were told to hate that part of it. It’s almost comical isn’t it?</p>
<p>I quickly realized that file-sharing would shatter borders and as someone who considers herself a citizen of the world, rather than of one country, this made me extremely happy. I have always wanted entertainment events to be global rather than national. This is good for the world.  </p>
<p>The more the audience becomes familiar with foreign movies and TV shows (not synchronized and released months later, but subtitled and premiering simultaneously) the sooner we will start accepting, maybe even demanding shows and movies with a diverse, global cast from the get go. And since those are the shows I create… it cannot happen fast enough.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97034
title: BitTorrent Inc. Now Allows All Artists to Get Paid
uri: BitTorrent-Inc-Now-Allows-All-Artists-to-Get-Paid
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/crdnCXVubcA/
content:
<p><a href="media/52f836c1.bittorrent-bundle1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-bundle1.jpg"><img src="media/52f836c1.bittorrent-bundle1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-bundle1.jpg" alt="bittorrent-bundle" width="180" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97041"></a>For years BitTorrent Inc. has been struggling with its image due to the name of the company being identical to that of the world&#8217;s most popular file-sharing protocol.</p>
<p>To many BitTorrent is synonymous with piracy and as a result it seemed likely that without a name change BitTorrent Inc. would forever struggle to separate itself in the eyes of the public.</p>
<p>Despite the odds, however, BitTorrent Inc. has put up quite a fight to reposition itself as a friend of the artist. Not only in distribution skills either, but also when it comes to monetizing content and returning unprecedented revenue shares back to creators.</p>
<p>Last month the company enjoyed a big breakthrough when Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke decided to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/thom-yorke-releases-album-via-bittorrent-140926/">release his new album</a> through BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s &#8216;Bundle&#8217; project. A special paywalled torrent format allowed Yorke to charge BitTorrent users for his album, a first for BitTorrent Inc.</p>
<p>The experiment did very well, with the collaboration reporting in excess of 4.4 million downloads to date. And now, with that success still ringing, BitTorrent Inc. has announced it will open up the paywall project to content creators everywhere.</p>
<p>“Taylor Swift sparked debate over the state of music in recent weeks; the value of a stream, the value of a record,” Matt Mason, BitTorrent’s chief content officer, <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/17/bittorrent-now-lets-anyone-sell-content-via-its-direct-to-fan-bundle-publishing-platform/">said</a> in a statement.</p>
<p>“The value of art shouldn’t be up for debate. It should be up to artists. Our goal with BitTorrent Bundle is to restore control to creators.&#8221;</p>
<p>While <a href="https://bundles.bittorrent.com/">BitTorrent Bundles</a> have become associated with music, the company is opening up the platform to creators of all content including film, digital books and even software. The company won&#8217;t be taking the lion&#8217;s share of the revenue either. BitTorrent Inc. will ask for just 10% of sales, returning 90% to the artists and creators.</p>
<p>Following in Yorke&#8217;s footsteps, yesterday musician Diplo became the second artist to <a href="http://blog.bittorrent.com/2014/11/17/diplo-brings-f10rida-to-bittorrent-bundle/">release a pay-gated BitTorrent Bundle</a>. Featuring his original Florida album and plenty of previously unreleased content, the F10rida digital box set is now available for just $5.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unlikely Diplo will achieve Thom Yorke levels of success when it comes to sales, but even a small percentage should provide a decent return after picking up 90% of the spoils.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97019
title: MPAA Pays University $1,000,000 For Piracy Research
uri: MPAA-Pays-University-1-000-000-For-Piracy-Research
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yx6a7_0f-zo/
content:
<p><a href="media/3b0329c8.mpaa-logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo.png"><img src="media/fdb36aee.mpaa-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo.png" alt="mpaa-logo" width="259" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-89856"></a>Last week the MPAA submitted its latest tax filing covering 2013. While there are few changes compared to previous years there is one number that sticks out like a sore thumb. </p>
<p>The movie industry group made a rather sizable gift of $912,000 to Carnegie Mellon University, a figure that neither side has made public before. </p>
<p>This brings the MPAA&#8217;s total investment in the University over the past two years to more than a million dollars.</p>
<p>The money in question goes to the University&#8217;s &#8220;Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics&#8221; (<a href="http://idea.heinz.cmu.edu/">IDEA</a>) that researches various piracy related topics. During 2012 MPAA also <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-revenue-up-as-war-on-piracy-cranks-up-131125/">contributed</a> to the program, albeit significantly less at $100,000.</p>
<p>TF contacted IDEA co-director Rahul Telang, who told us that much of the money is spent on hiring researchers and, buying data from third parties and covering other research related expenses. </p>
<p>&#8220;For any substantial research program to progress it needs funding, and needs access to data and important stakeholders who care about this research. IDEA center has benefited from this funding significantly,&#8221; he says, emphasizing that the research applies to academic standards.</p>
<p>&#8220;All research is transparent, goes through academic peer review, and published in various outlets,&#8221; Telang adds.</p>
<p>While IDEA&#8217;s researchers operate independently, without an obligation to produce particular studies, their output thus far is in line with Hollywood&#8217;s agenda. </p>
<p>One study showed that the Megaupload shutdown <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-shutdown-boosted-movie-revenues-130307/">boosted</a> digital sales while another reviewed academic literature to show that piracy mostly <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2132153">hurts revenues</a>. The MPAA later used these results to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-criticizes-piracy-study-because-it-doesnt-like-the-results-130901/">discredit</a> an independent study which suggested that Megaupload&#8217;s closure hurt box office revenues.</p>
<p>Aside from countering opponents in the press, the MPAA also uses the research to convince lawmakers that tougher anti-piracy measures are warranted. </p>
<p>Most recently, an IDEA paper showed that search engines can help to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/search-engines-can-diminish-online-piracy-research-finds-140916/">diminish online piracy</a>, an argument the MPAA has been hammering on for years. </p>
<p>The tax filing, picked up first by <a href="http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/mpaa-reports-loss-of-4-4-million-for-2013-1201358613/">Variety</a>, confirms a new trend of the MPAA putting more money into research. Earlier this year the industry group launched a new initiative offering researchers a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-offers-20000-grants-piracy-research-140619/">$20,000 grant</a> for projects that address various piracy related topics.</p>
<p>The MPAA sees academic research as an important tool in its efforts to ensure that copyright protections remain in place, or are strengthened if needed.</p>
<p>“We want to enlist the help of academics from around the world to provide new insight on a range of issues facing the content industry in the digital age,” MPAA CEO and former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-offers-20000-grants-piracy-research-140619/">said at the time</a>.</p>
<p>The movie industry isn&#8217;t alone in funding research for &#8216;political&#8217; reasons. Google, for example, heavily supports academic research on copyright-related projects in part to further its own agenda, as do many other companies. </p>
<p>With over a million dollars in Hollywood funding in their pocket, it&#8217;s now up to IDEA&#8217;s researchers to ensure that their work is solid.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97110
title: Artists and Labels Now Sue Chrysler Over CD-Ripping Cars
uri: Artists-and-Labels-Now-Sue-Chrysler-Over-CD-Ripping-Cars
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/AnLNWmpHAeQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/f98071c0.ripping-car.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ripping-car.jpg"><img src="media/f98071c0.ripping-car.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ripping-car.jpg" alt="ripping-car" width="275" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97112"></a>Toward the end of the last century record labels feared that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Taping_Is_Killing_Music">home taping would kill the music industry</a>.</p>
<p>To counter the threat cassette tape recorders posed at the time, they asked Congress to take action. </p>
<p>This eventually resulted in the Audio Home Recording Act (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Home_Recording_Act">AHRA</a>) of 1992. Under this law importers and manufacturers must pay royalties on “digital audio recording devices,” among other things.</p>
<p>The legislation is still in play today. Instead of targeting cassette recorders, however, the threats are now other copying devices. According to the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies, this includes media entertainment systems that are built into many cars. </p>
<p>This week the <a href="http://wp.aarcroyalties.com/">music group</a>, which lists major record labels and 300,000 artists among its members, sued Chrysler and its technology partner Mitsubishi (<a href="media/84e7a3bc.gov.uscourts.dcd_.169037.1.0.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gov.uscourts.dcd_.169037.1.0.pdf">pdf</a>) for failing to pay royalties. </p>
<p>The dispute revolves around Chrysler&#8217;s media entertainment systems including “MyGIG” and “Uconnect Media Center” which allow car owners to rip CDs to a hard drive.</p>
<p>&#8220;These devices are covered by the AHRA, but the defendants have refused to pay royalties on them or include the required serial copy protections,&#8221;  AARC Executive Director Linda Bocchi comments. </p>
<p>The music group reached out to Chrysler and Mitsubishi hoping to settle the issue, but these talks failed. As a result AARC saw no other option than to take the case to court.</p>
<p>&#8220;We had hoped Chrysler and the Mitsubishi Electric companies would settle their liability and begin paying what they owe once they had an opportunity to study and assess the issues,&#8221; Bocchi says.</p>
<p>&#8220;But it has now become painfully clear they have no intention of complying with the law.  While litigation is always a last resort, it is clear this lawsuit is the only way to protect our members’ rights.&#8221;</p>
<p>The current lawsuit follows an <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/music-industry-sues-ford-gm-cd-ripping-cars-140728/">earlier case</a> against Ford and General Motors, which is still ongoing.</p>
<p>In both cases artists and record labels are looking for statutory damages, which could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition, they want to prevent the manufacturers from selling these unauthorized devices in their cars.</p>
<p>Ford has already filed a motion to dismiss arguing that AHRA doesn&#8217;t apply to their systems, and the other defendants including Chrysler are likely to do the same. Whose side the court will agree with is expected to become clear in the months to come.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97076
title: If Illegal Sites Get Blocked Accidentally, Hard Luck Says Court
uri: If-Illegal-Sites-Get-Blocked-Accidentally-Hard-Luck-Says-Court
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0209kYGctXQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/34fb46ee.blocked1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/blocked1.jpg"><img src="media/ab927598.blocked1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blocked1.jpg" alt="blocked" width="170" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-68631"></a>The movie and music industries have obtained several High Court orders which compel UK ISPs to block dozens of websites said to facilitate access to copyright-infringing content. Recently, however, they have been joined by those seeking blockades on trademark grounds.</p>
<p>The lead case on this front was initiated by Cartier and Mont Blanc owner Richemont. The company <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/high-court-orders-isps-to-block-counterfeiting-websites-141017/">successfully argued</a> that several sites were infringing on its trademarks and should be blocked by the UK&#8217;s leading ISPs.</p>
<p>The case is important not only to trademark owners but also to those operating in the file-sharing arena since the High Court is using developments in one set of cases to determine the outcome of legal argument in the other.</p>
<p>The latest ruling concerns potential over-blocking. In some cases target sites move to IP addresses that are shared with other sites that are not covered by an injunction. As a result, these third-party sites would become blocked if ISPs filter their IP addresses as ordered by the Court.</p>
<p>To tackle this problem Richemont put forward a set of proposals to the Court. The company suggested that it could take a number of actions to minimize the problem including writing to the third-party sites informing them that a court order is in force and warning them that their domains could become blocked. The third party sites could also be advised to move to a new IP address.</p>
<p>Complicating the issue is the question of legality. While third-party sites aren&#8217;t mentioned in blocking orders, Richemont views some of them as operating unlawfully. When the company&#8217;s proposals are taken as a package and sites are operating illegally, Richemont believes ISPs should not be concerned over &#8220;collateral damage.&#8221;</p>
<p>Counsel for the ISPs disagreed, however, arguing that the Court had no jurisdiction to grant such an order. Mr Justice Arnold rejected that notion and supported Richemont&#8217;s efforts to minimize over-blocking in certain circumstances.</p>
<p>&#8220;The purpose of Richemont&#8217;s proposal is to ensure that the [blocking] order is properly targeted, and in particular to ensure that it is as effective as possible while avoiding what counsel for Richemont described as &#8216;collateral damage&#8217; to other lawful website operators which share the same IP address,&#8221; the Judge wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the websites are not engaged in lawful activity, then the Court need not be concerned about any collateral damage which their operators may suffer. It is immaterial whether the Court would have jurisdiction, or, if it had jurisdiction, would exercise it, to make an order requiring the ISPs to block access to the other websites.&#8221;</p>
<p>The ISPs further argued that the Court&#8217;s jurisdiction to adopt Richemont&#8217;s proposals should be limited to sites acting illegally in an intellectual property rights sense. The argument was rejected by the Court.</p>
<p>Also of note was the argument put forward by the ISPs that it is the Court&#8217;s position, not anyone else&#8217;s, to determine if a third-party site is acting illegally or not. Justice Arnold said he had sympathy with the submission, but rejected it anyway.</p>
<p>&#8220;As counsel for Richemont submitted, the evidence shows that, in at least some cases, it is perfectly obvious that a particular website which shares an IP address with a Target Website is engaged in unlawful activity. Where there is no real doubt about the matter, the Court should not be required to rule,&#8221; the Judge wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Richemont&#8217;s proposal gives the operators of the affected websites the chance either to move to an alternative server or to object before the IP address is blocked. If they do object, the IP address will not be blocked without a determination by the Court.&#8221; </p>
<p>In summary, any third-party sites taken down after sharing an IP address with a site featured in a blocking order will have no sympathy from the High Court, if at Richemont&#8217;s discretion they are acting illegally. The fact that they are not mentioned in an order will not save them, but they will have a chance to appeal before being blocked by UK ISPs.</p>
<p>“This action is about protecting Richemont’s Maisons and its customers from the sale of counterfeit goods online through the most efficient means, it is not about restricting freedom of speech or legitimate activity,&#8221; the company previously told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;When assessing a site for blocking, the Court will consider whether the order is proportionate – ISP blocking will therefore only be used to prevent trade mark infringement where the Court is satisfied that it is appropriate to do so.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97080
title: Court: $30,000 for Sharing a Pirated Movie is Excessive Punishment
uri: Court-30-000-for-Sharing-a-Pirated-Movie-is-Excessive-Punishment
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VFOHK6j0LVo/
content:
<p><a href="media/5e1b7320.cash1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cash1.jpg"><img src="media/c9e6482e.cash1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cash1.jpg" alt="cash" width="200" height="121" class="alignright size-full wp-image-24443"></a>Over the past several years hundreds of thousands of Internet subscribers have been sued in the United States for allegedly sharing copyrighted material, mostly films, online.</p>
<p>The goal of these lawsuits is to encourage alleged downloader to settle, and in some cases copyright holders continue proceedings against the defendants after being identified by their ISPs. </p>
<p>If the alleged pirates then fail to respond, the rightsholder can ask the court for a default judgment, where they usually get their way.</p>
<p>This also happened in lawsuits brought by the makers of the independent films <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1831806/">Elf-Man</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1831806/">The Thompsons</a>. In both cases the copyright holders asked the court for a default judgment of $30,000 for sharing a single film.</p>
<p>With 11 defendants, including one couple who would share the fine, the potential damage award amounted to a massive $300,000. The copyright holders argued that this is justified since they suffered significant losses as a result, but the court disagreed.</p>
<p>In related <a href="http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2014/11/18/federal-judge-high-statutory-damages-for-copyright-infringement-violate-the-eighth-amendment/">orders</a> U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice notes that a $30,000 punishment per shared film is excessive, considering the evidence that was presented. </p>
<p>&#8220;This Court finds the evidence in this case, which merely shows that each Defendant copied and published via BitTorrent Plaintiff’s motion picture––the cost of which to rent or purchase was less than $20––rather than distributed for commercial resale, does not support a $30,000 penalty for each Defendant,&#8221; Judge Rice <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/247037987/Elfman-Albright">writes</a>.</p>
<p>In his order the Judge refers to the <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/eighth_amendment">Eighth Amendment</a> which prohibits excessive fines as well as cruel and unusual punishments. In this case the requested damages are unconstitutional as they&#8217;re seen as excessive in relation to the nature of the offense.</p>
<p>&#8220;This Court finds an award of $30,000 for each defendant would be an excessive punishment considering the seriousness of each Defendant’s conduct and<br>
the sum of money at issue,&#8221; the order reads.</p>
<p>The filmmakers argued that the pirated downloads threaten the financing of future films and that high damages could serve as a deterrent. Judge Rice, however, was not convinced and set these arguments aside. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230; this Court is unpersuaded that the remote damages––&#8217;downstream revenue&#8217; and destroyed plans for a sequel due, in part, to piracy––justify an award of $30,000 per defendant, even in light of the statute’s goal of deterrence.&#8221; </p>
<p>Judge Rice opted to award the minimum in statutory damages instead, which is $750 per film. In addition, he awarded $2,225 in attorney fees per defendant, which brings the total to a little under $3,000.</p>
<p>This is not the first time that the Eighth Amendment has been raised in a file-sharing case. The same argument was used to lower the damages award in RIAA&#8217;s case against Jammie Thomas, although this was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/222000-music-piracy-fine-not-unconstitutional-court-rules-120911/">overturned</a> on appeal.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97150
title: BitTorrent Preps Sync Pro to Take on the Cloud
uri: BitTorrent-Preps-Sync-Pro-to-Take-on-the-Cloud
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tXKQRlqEwVw/
content:
<p><img src="media/9ab45579.bittorrent-sync.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-sync.png" width="200" height="112" class="alignright">Sharing files across multiple devices used to be laborious and time-consuming affair but with the advent of services such as Dropbox the practice has become a breeze.</p>
<p>However, while many users remain unconcerned that third-party companies offering &#8216;cloud storage&#8217; have control of their files, the revelations of Edward Snowden have undoubtedly increased fear of government snooping. With their new product &#8216;Sync&#8217; in alpha, this data security loophole was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-mastermind-controversial-nsa-billboard-campaign-131008/">pounced upon</a> last year by BitTorrent Inc.</p>
<p>Released in early 2013, BitTorrent Sync is a tool that allows users to securely sync folders across multiple devices using the BitTorrent protocol. In terms of functionality it can be compared to any number of cloud-based services but with one key exception &#8211; Sync does not store data in the cloud but does so on users&#8217; devices instead.</p>
<p>The software has now reached version 1.4 and the take-up has been impressive. During August, BitTorrent Inc. confirmed that there had been 10 million user installs transferring over 80 Petabytes of data between them.</p>
<p>Now the company is preparing to debut Sync 2.0 with greater functionality and flexibility while maintaining the privacy of its users. For the first time it will be made available in two editions, &#8216;free&#8217; and &#8216;pro&#8217;. So what&#8217;s the difference?</p>
<p>&#8220;Sync 2.0 free will be an improvement from 1.4 and there won&#8217;t be any limits on performance or size of individual folders,&#8221; BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s Christian Averill informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;Pro users simply get premium functionality, catered specifically to individuals with large data needs and business workgroups.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Sync 2.0 Free Edition</strong><br>
● Feature improvements, to enhance sharing and syncing folders<br>
● Updated UI across platforms, new tablet apps on Android/iOS<br>
● General performance improvements and bug fixes<br>
● 30-day trial period for Sync Pro<br>
● No restrictions on performance or individual folder sizes.</p>
<p><strong>Sync 2.0 Pro Edition</strong><br>
● Access to very large folders (TBs): allows for on-demand access to individual files<br>
● Control over folder permissions and ownership (see image below)<br>
● Automatic synchronization across devices: all your devices are tied via a common identity; moves the relationship from device-to-device to person-to-person<br>
● Priority technical support</p>
<p><center><img src="media/b37ea0f0.sync-pro.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sync-pro.jpg" alt="sync-pro"></center></p>
<p>BitTorrent Inc. believes that Sync 2.0 trumps services like Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive on a number of fronts. Sync 2.0 places no file-size restrictions on users versus a 1TB limit for rivals. Files are also synced more quickly, up to 16X, since Sync does not rely on uploads to the cloud.</p>
<p>Finally, in addition to enhanced security Sync 2.0 aims to offer better value for money too. The &#8216;free&#8217; edition is just that and the &#8216;pro&#8217; version costs $39.99. Competitors Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive charge upwards of $83.99 for comparable services.</p>
<p>No firm release data has been announced for Sync 2.0 but those interested in becoming an early adopter can do so <a href="http://blog.bittorrent.com/2014/11/19/what-to-expect-next-from-sync/">here</a>. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97128
title: U.S. Brands Kim Dotcom a Fugitive, ‘Spies’ on Others
uri: U-S-Brands-Kim-Dotcom-a-Fugitive-Spies-on-Others
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/d3bg_KEbSL0/
content:
<p><a href="media/29219ba9.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg"><img src="media/9a9629f5.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg" alt="megaupload-logo" width="250" height="208" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95191"></a>It&#8217;s been nearly three years since Megaupload was taken down by the U.S. authorities but it&#8217;s still uncertain whether Kim Dotcom and his fellow defendants will be extradited overseas.</p>
<p>Two months ago the U.S. Government launched a separate civil action in which it asked the court <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-wants-kim-dotcoms-cash-cars-140904/">to forfeit</a> the bank accounts, cars and other seized possessions of the Megaupload defendants, claiming they were obtained through copyright and money laundering crimes.</p>
<p>Megaupload responded to these allegations at the federal court in Virginia with a motion to dismiss the complaint. According to Megaupload’s lawyers the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) is making up crimes that <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-dismiss-141013/">don’t exist</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, Dotcom and his co-defendants claimed ownership of the assets U.S. authorities are trying to get their hands on. A few days ago the DoJ responded to these claims, arguing that they should be struck from the record as Dotcom and his colleagues are fugitives.</p>
<p>In a motion (<a href="media/ceee4c10.motion-to-strike.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/motion-to-strike.pdf">pdf</a>) submitted to a Virginia District Court the U.S. asks for the claims of the defendants to be disregarded based on the doctrine of fugitive disentitlement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Claimants Bram van der Kolk, Finn Batato, Julius Bencko, Kim Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann, and Sven Echternach, are deliberately avoiding prosecution by declining to enter the United States where the criminal case is pending,&#8221; U.S. Attorney Dana Boente writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The key issue in determining whether a person is a fugitive from justice is that person’s intent. A defendant who flees with intent to avoid arrest is a fugitive from justice,&#8221; he adds. </p>
<p>Since Kim Dotcom and his New Zealand-based Megaupload colleagues are actively fighting their extradition they should be seen as fugitives, the DoJ concludes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Those claimants who are fighting extradition on the criminal charges in the related criminal case, claimants van der Kolk, Batato, Kim Dotcom, and Ortmann, are fugitives within the meaning of the statute, regardless of the reason for their opposition.&#8221;</p>
<p>Megaupload lawyer Ira Rothken disagrees with this line of reasoning. He told TF that the fugitive disentitlement doctrine shouldn&#8217;t apply here.</p>
<p>“The DOJ is trying to win the Megaupload case on procedure rather than the merits. Most people don&#8217;t realize that Kim Dotcom has never been to the United States,&#8221; Rothken says. </p>
<p>A person who has never been to the United States and is currently going through a lawful procedure in New Zealand shouldn&#8217;t be seen as a fugitive, according to Rothken. </p>
<p>The recent DoJ filing also highlights another aspect of the case. According to a declaration by special FBI agent Rodney Hays, the feds have obtained &#8220;online conversations&#8221; of Julius Bencko and Sven Echternach, the two defendants who currently reside in Europe.</p>
<p>These conversations were obtained by law enforcement officers and show that the authorities were &#8216;spying&#8217; on some of the defendants months after Megaupload was raided.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/7e25f9c6.tapped.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tapped.png"><img src="media/7e25f9c6.tapped.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tapped.png" alt="tapped" width="600" height="369" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97137"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;During a conversation that occurred on or about March 28, 2012, Bencko allegedly told a third-party, &#8216;I can come to Bratislava [Slovakia] if needed .. bu [sic] you know .. rather not travel around much .. &#8216; Later in the conversation, Bencko states &#8216;i&#8217;m facing 55 years in usa&#8217;,&#8221; the declaration reads.</p>
<p>In addition to the two defendants, law enforcement also obtained a conversation of Kim&#8217;s wife Mona Dotcom, who is not a party in the case herself. </p>
<p>&#8220;During a conversation that occurred on or about February 9, 2012 a third-party told Mona Dotcom, &#8216;Also Julius [Bencko] wants Kim [Dotcom] to know that he will be supportive in what ever way possible that he needs&#8217;,&#8221; </p>
<p>According to the U.S. the &#8216;tapped&#8217; conversations of Bencko and Echternach show that since they are avoiding travel to the United States, they too can be labeled fugitives.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear how the online conversations were obtained, but Megaupload lawyer Ira Rothken told TF that he wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if civil liberties were violated in the process, as has happened before in the case.</p>
<p>Whether these fugitive arguments will be accepted by the court has yet to be seen. Highlighting the motion Megaupload submitted earlier, Rothken notes that regardless of these arguments the case should be dismissed because the court lacks jurisdiction.</p>
<p>“The United States doesn’t have a statute for criminal secondary copyright infringement,” Rothken tells us. “We believe that the case should be dismissed based on a lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97191
title: BitTorrent Users are Avid, Eclectic Content Buyers, Survey Finds
uri: BitTorrent-Users-are-Avid-Eclectic-Content-Buyers-Survey-Finds
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vwEal3dhIFk/
content:
<p><img src="media/b5bb7868.btlogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/btlogo.jpg" width="214" height="64" class="alignright">Each month 150-170 million Internet users share files using the BitTorrent protocol, a massive audience by most standards. The common perception is that these people are only interested in obtaining content for free.</p>
<p>However, studies have found that file-sharers are often more engaged than the average consumer, as much <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-pirates-are-bigger-music-fans-than-average-consumers-121113/">was admitted</a> by the RIAA back in 2012. There&#8217;s little doubt that within those millions of sharers lie people spending plenty of money on content and entertainment.</p>
<p>To get a closer look, in September BitTorrent Inc. conducted a survey among a sample of its users. In all, 2,500 people responded and now the company has published the results. The figures aren&#8217;t broken down into age groups, but BitTorrent Inc. informs TF that BitTorrent users trend towards young and male.</p>
<p><strong>Music</strong></p>
<p>From its survey the company found that 50% of respondents buy music each month, with a sway towards albums rather than singles (44% v 32%). BitTorrent users are reported as 170% more likely to have paid for a digital music download in the past six months than Joe Public.</p>
<p>Citing figures from the RIAA, BitTorrent Inc. says its users are also 8x more likely than the average Internet user to pay for a streaming music service, with 16% of BitTorrent users and 2% of the general public holding such an account. </p>
<p>Perhaps a little unexpectedly, supposedly tech-savvy torrent users are still buying CDs and vinyl, with 45% and 10% respectively reporting a purchase in the past 12 months. BitTorrent Inc. says that the latter represents users &#8220;engaging and unpacking art as a multimedia object&#8221;, a clear reference to how the company perceives its <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-now-allows-all-artists-to-get-paid-141118/">BitTorrent Bundles</a>.</p>
<p>On average, BitTorrent Inc. says its user base spends $48 a year on music, with 31% spending more than $100 annually.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/13db5c71.bit-music.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bit-music.png" alt="bit-music"></center></p>
<p><strong>Movies</strong></p>
<p>When it comes to movies, 47% of respondents said they&#8217;d paid for a theater ticket in the preceding 12 months, up on the 38% who purchased a DVD or Blu-ray disc during the same period.</p>
<p>Users with active movie streaming accounts and those making digital movie purchases tied at 23%, with DVD rental (22%) and digital rental (16%) bringing up the rear.</p>
<p>All told, BitTorrent Inc. says that 52% of respondents buy movies on a monthly basis with the average annual spend amounting to $54. More than a third say they spend in excess of $100.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/57a4676c.bit-movie.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bit-movie.png" alt="bit-movie"></center></p>
<p>So do the results of the survey suggest that BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s users have a lot to offer the market and if so, what?</p>
<p>&#8220;The results confirm what we knew already, that our users are super fans. They are consumers of content and are eager to reward artists for their work,&#8221; Christian Averill, BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s Director of Communications, told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;BitTorrent Bundle was started based on this premise and we have more than 10,000 artists now signed up, with more to come. With 90% of purchase going to the content creators, BitTorrent Bundle is the most artist friendly, direct-to-fan distribution platform on the market.&#8221;</p>
<p>It seems likely that promoting and shifting Bundles was a major motivator for BitTorrent Inc. to carry out the survey and by showing that torrent users aren&#8217;t shy to part with their cash, more artists <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/thom-yorke-releases-album-via-bittorrent-140926/">like Thom Yorke</a> will hopefully be prepared to engage with BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s fanbase.</p>
<p>Also of note is the way BitTorrent Inc. is trying to position that fanbase or, indeed, how that fanbase has positioned itself. While rock (20%), electronic (15%) and pop (13%) took the top spots in terms of genre popularity among users, 23% described their tastes as a vague &#8220;other&#8221;.  Overall, 61% of respondents described their musical tastes as &#8220;eclectic&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Our] users are engaged in the creative community and they have diverse taste. They also do not define themselves by traditional genres. We feel this is a true representation about how fans view themselves universally these days. They are eclectic,&#8221; Averill concludes. </p>
<p>While monetizing content remains a key focus for BitTorrent Inc., the company is also making strides towards monetizing its distribution tools. Last evening uTorrent Plus was replaced by uTorrent Pro (Windows), an upgraded client offering torrent streaming, an inbuilt player, video file converter and anti-virus features. The ad-free client (more details <a href="http://blog.bittorrent.com/2014/11/20/introducing-utorrent-pro-now-for-19-95-and-including-a-streaming-beta/">here</a>) is available for $19.95 per year.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97169
title: Torrents Good For a Third of all Internet Traffic in Asia-Pacific
uri: Torrents-Good-For-a-Third-of-all-Internet-Traffic-in-Asia-Pacific
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/s5Oc65wcYMw/
content:
<p><a href="media/dad34aaa.download-keyboard.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/download-keyboard.jpg"><img src="media/59d6682b.download-keyboard.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/download-keyboard.jpg" alt="download-keyboard" width="200" height="138" class="alignright size-full wp-image-73383"></a>Over the years we have been following various reports on changes in Internet traffic, specifically in relation to torrents.</p>
<p>One of the patterns that emerged with the rise of video streaming services is that BitTorrent is losing its share of total Internet traffic, in North America at least, where good legal services are available.</p>
<p>This downward spiral is confirmed by the latest <a href="https://www.sandvine.com/trends/global-internet-phenomena/">report from Sandvine</a> which reveals that torrent traffic is now responsible for &#8216;only&#8217; 5% of all U.S. Internet traffic in North America during peak hours, compared to 10.3% last year.</p>
<p>In other countries, however, this decrease is not clearly visible. In Europe, for example, the percentage of Internet traffic during peak hours has remained stable over the past two years at roughly 15%, while absolute traffic increased during the same period.</p>
<p>In Asia-Pacific BitTorrent traffic there&#8217;s yet another trend. Here, torrents are booming with BitTorrent traffic increasing more than 50% over the past year. </p>
<p><center><a href="media/2dc0546a.asia-pacific.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/asia-pacific.png"><img src="media/2dc0546a.asia-pacific.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/asia-pacific.png" alt="asia-pacific" width="600" height="330" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97177"></a></center></p>
<p>According to Sandvine torrents now account for 32% of all traffic during peak hours, up from 21%. Since overall traffic use also increased during the same period, absolute traffic has more than doubled.</p>
<p>Looking at upstream data alone torrents are good for more than 55% of all traffic during peak hours.</p>
<p>One of the countries where unauthorized BitTorrent usage has been growing in recent years is Australia, which has one of the highest piracy rates in the world. </p>
<p>There are several reasons why torrents are growing in popularity, but the lack of good legal alternatives is expected to play an important role. It&#8217;s often hard or expensive to get access to the latest movies and TV-shows in this region. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see whether this trend will reverse during the coming years as more legal services come online. Netflix&#8217; arrival <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/netflix-confirms-australia-launch-for-march-2015-20141119-11pipf.html">in Australia</a> next year, for example, is bound to shake things up.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97077
title: U.S. Copyright Alert System Security Could Be Improved, Review Finds
uri: U-S-Copyright-Alert-System-Security-Could-Be-Improved-Review-Finds
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YSajZqpQIU0/
content:
<p><a href="media/5f0dfd25.spy.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/spy.jpg"><img src="media/3d881413.spy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spy.jpg" alt="spy" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-39770"></a>February last year the MPAA, RIAA and five major Internet providers in the United States <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-anti-piracy-scheme-starts-130225/">launched</a> their “six strikes” anti-piracy plan.</p>
<p>The Copyright Alert System’s main goal is to inform subscribers that their Internet connections are being used to share copyrighted material without permission. These alerts start out friendly in tone, but repeat infringers face a temporary disconnection from the Internet or other mitigation measures. </p>
<p>The evidence behind the accusations is provided by MarkMonitor, which monitors BitTorrent users&#8217; activities on copyright holders&#8217; behalf. The overseeing Center for Copyright Information (<a href="http://www.copyrightinformation.org/">CCI</a>) previously hired an impartial and independent technology expert to review the system, hoping to gain trust from the public.</p>
<p>Their first pick, Stroz Friedberg, turned out to be not that impartial as the company previously worked as <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-independent-expert-is-riaas-former-lobbying-firm-121022/">RIAA lobbyists</a>. To correct this unfortunate choice, CCI assigned Professor Avi Rubin of <a href="http://harborlabs.com/">Harbor Labs</a> to re-examine the system. </p>
<p>This week CCI informed us that a summary of Harbor Labs&#8217;s findings is now available to the public. The full review is not being published due to the vast amount of confidential information it contains, but the overview of the findings does provide some interesting details. </p>
<p>Overall, Harbor Labs concludes that the evidence gathering system is solid and that false positives, cases where innocent subscribers are accused, are reasonably minimized. </p>
<p>&#8220;We conclude, based on our review, that the MarkMonitor AntiPiracy system is designed to ensure that there are no false positives under reasonable and realistic assumptions. Moreover, the system produces thorough case data for alleged infringement tracking.&#8221; </p>
<p>However, there is some room for improvement. For example, MarkMonitor could implement additional testing to ensure that false positives and human errors are indeed caught. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230; we believe that the system would benefit from additional testing and that the existing structure leaves open the potential for preventable failures. Additionally, we recommend that certain elements of operational security be enhanced,&#8221; Harbor Labs writes.</p>
<p>In addition, the collected evidence may need further protections to ensure that it can&#8217;t be tampered with or fall into the wrong hands.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230; we believe that this collected evidence and other potentially sensitive data is not adequately controlled. While MarkMonitor does protect the data from outside parties, its protection against inside threats (e.g., potential rogue employees) is minimal in terms of both policy and technical enforcement.&#8221;</p>
<p>The full recommendations as detailed in the report are <a href="media/14a3526e.Harbor-Labs-Executive-Summary.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.copyrightinformation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Harbor-Labs-Executive-Summary.pdf">as follows</a>:</p>
<p><center><a href="media/64da88a3.recommendations.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/recommendations.png"><img src="media/64da88a3.recommendations.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/recommendations.png" alt="recommendations" width="600" height="306" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97164"></a></center></p>
<p>The CCI is happy with the new results, which they say confirm the findings of the earlier Stroz Friedberg review.</p>
<p>“The Harbor Labs report reaffirms the findings from our first report – conducted by Stroz Friedberg – that the CAS is well designed and functioning as we hoped,&#8221; CCI informs TF. </p>
<p>In the months to come the operators of the Copyright Alert System will continue to work with copyright holders to make further enhancements and modifications to their processes.</p>
<p>&#8220;As the CAS exits the initial ramp-up period, CCI has been assured by our content owners that they have taken all recommendations made within both reports into account and are continuing to focus on maintaining the robust system that minimizes false positives and protects customer security and privacy,&#8221; CCI adds.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, they will continue to alert Internet subscribers to possible infringements. After nearly two years copyright holders have warned several million users, hoping to convert then to legal alternatives.</p>
<p>Thus far there’s no evidence that Copyright Alerts have had a significant impact on piracy rates. However, the voluntary agreement model is being widely embraced by various stakeholders and similar schemes are in the making in both the UK and Australia.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97241
title: Swedes Prepare Record File-Sharing Prosecution
uri: Swedes-Prepare-Record-File-Sharing-Prosecution
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/PrIbVpu4XLY/
content:
<p><a href="media/b8a3946a.servers.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/servers.jpg"><img src="media/21210f7a.servers.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/servers.jpg" alt="servers" width="200" height="145" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53363"></a>Following a lengthy investigation by anti-piracy group Antipiratbyrån, in 2010 police raided a &#8220;warez scene&#8221; topsite known as Devil. Dozens of servers were <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-devil-warez-piracy-topsite-101217/">seized</a> containing an estimated 250 terabytes of pirate content.</p>
<p>One man was arrested and earlier this year was eventually charged with unlawfully making content available “intentionally or by gross negligence.&#8221;</p>
<p>Police say that the man acted “in consultation or concert with other persons, supplied, installed, programmed, maintained, funded and otherwise administered and managed” the file-sharing network from where the infringements were carried out. It&#8217;s claimed that the Devil topsite had around 200 members.</p>
<p>All told the man is accused of illegally making available 2,250 mainly Hollywood movies, a record amount according to the prosecutor.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have not prosecuted for this many movies in the past. There are many movies and large data set,&#8221; <a href="http://www.mitti.se/rekordstort-atal- i-fildelningsmal-2/">says</a> prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad. &#8220;It is also the largest analysis of computers ever made in an individual case.&#8221; </p>
<p>Few details have been made available on the case but it&#8217;s now been revealed that Antipiratbyrån managed to trace the main Devil server back to the data center of a Stockholm-based electronics company. The site&#8217;s alleged operator, a man from Väsbybo in his 50s and employee of the company, reportedly admitted being in control of the server.</p>
<p>While it would likely have been the intention of Devil&#8217;s operator for the content on the site to remain private, leaks inevitably occurred. Predictably some of that material ended up on public torrent sites, an aggravating factor according to Antipiratbyrån lawyer Henrik Pontén. </p>
<p>&#8220;This is a very big issue and it is this type of crime that is the basis for all illegal file sharing. The films available on Pirate Bay circulate from these smaller networks,&#8221; Pontén says.</p>
<p>The big question now concerns potential damages. Pontén says that the six main studios behind the case could demand between $673,400 and $2.69m per movie. Multiply that by 2,250 and that&#8217;s an astonishing amount, but the lawyer says that in order not to burden the justice system, a few titles could be selected. </p>
<p>Henrik Olsson Lilja, a lawyer representing the defendant, declined to comment in detail but criticized the potential for high damages.</p>
<p>&#8220;I want to wait for the trial, but there was no intent in the sense that the prosecutor is looking for,&#8221; Lilja told <a href="http://www.mitti.se">Mitte.se</a>. &#8220;In practice, these are American-style punitive damages.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97211
title: Luxury Watchmakers Target Pirate Smartwatch Faces
uri: Luxury-Watchmakers-Target-Pirate-Smartwatch-Faces
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pTlOsrHjkkg/
content:
<p><a href="media/c4c5a6d0.rolx-360.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rolx-360.jpg"><img src="media/c4c5a6d0.rolx-360.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rolx-360.jpg" alt="rolx-360" width="170" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97231"></a>While digital watches have been becoming more complex in recent years, the advent of a new generation of smartwatches is changing the market significantly. Manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony, Pebble, Motorola and LG all have an interest in the game, with Apple set to show its hand in the early part of 2015.</p>
<p>Currently <a href="http://www.androidcentral.com/android-wear">Android Wear</a> compatible devices such as Motorola&#8217;s Moto360 are proving popular, not least due to their ability to display custom watch faces. Fancy Tag Heuer&#8217;s latest offering on your wrist? No problem. Rolex? Omega? Cartier? Patek Philippe? All just a click or two away.</p>
<p>Of course, having a digital copy of a watch on one&#8217;s wrist is a much cheaper option than the real deal. See that Devon watch fourth from left in the image below? A real-world version will set you back <a href="http://www.watchismo.com/devon-tread-1.aspx">a cool $17,500</a>. The copy? Absolutely free.</p>
<p><Center><img src="media/78e0a069.watches.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/watches.png" alt="watches"></center></p>
<p>While it&#8217;s been fun and games for a while, makers of some of the world&#8217;s most expensive and well known watches are now targeting sites offering &#8216;pirate&#8217; smartwatch faces in order to have digital likenesses of their products removed from the market.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak has learned that IWC, Panerai, Omega, Fossil, Armani, Michael Kors, Tissot, Certina, Swatch, Flik Flak and Mondaine are sending cease and desist notices to sites and individuals thought to be offering faces without permission.</p>
<p>Richemont, a company behind several big brands including Cartier, IWC and Panerai, appears to be one of the frontrunners. The company is no stranger to legal action and recently made the headlines after <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/high-court-orders-isps-to-block-counterfeiting-websites-141017/">obtaining court orders</a> to have domains selling counterfeit watches blocked at the ISP level in the UK.</p>
<p>Notices seen by TorrentFreak reveal that the company, which made 2.75 billion euros from its watch division during 2012/2013, is lodging notices against watch face sites citing breaches of its trademark rights. Owners are being given 24 hours to remove infringing content.</p>
<p>We discussed the issue with Richemont&#8217;s PR representatives but were informed that on this occasion the company could not be reached for comment.</p>
<p>Earlier this week a source informed TF that Swatch-owned Omega had also been busy, targeting a forum with demands that all Omega faces should be removed on &#8220;registered trademark, copyright and design rights&#8221; grounds. Although the forum would not talk on the record, its operator revealed that the content in question had been removed. Omega did not respond to our requests for comment.</p>
<p>While watchmakers are hardly a traditional foe for those offering digital content, history shows us that they are prepared to act aggressively in the right circumstances.</p>
<p><a href="media/0bdb46af.mondaine.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mondaine.jpg"><img src="media/0bdb46af.mondaine.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mondaine.jpg" alt="mondaine" width="200" height="141" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97234"></a>Mondaine, a Swiss-based company also involved in the latest takedowns, famously found itself in a huge spat with Apple after the company included one of its designs in iOS6. That ended up costing Apple a <a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/time-is-money-apple-pays-21m-for-clock-design-says-report/">reported</a> $21 million in licensing fees. The same design is readily available for the Moto360 on various watch face sites.</p>
<p>So how are sites handing the claims of the watchmakers? TorrentFreak spoke with Luke, the operator of leading user-uploaded watch face site <a href="http://www.facerepo.com">FaceRepo</a>. He told us that the site had indeed received takedown notices from brand owners but made it very clear that uploading infringing content is discouraged and steps are being taken to keep it off the site.</p>
<p>&#8220;Although some of the replica faces we&#8217;ve received take downs for are very cool looking and represent significant artistic talent on the part of the designer, we believe that owners of copyrights or trademarks have the right to defend their brand,&#8221; Luke explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;If a copyright or trademark owner contacts us, we will promptly remove infringing material. To date, all requests for removal of infringing material have been satisfied within a matter of hours.&#8221;</p>
<p>Learning very quickly from other user generated content sites, FaceRepo notifies its users that their content has been flagged as infringing and also deactivates accounts of repeat infringers. A keyword filter has also been introduced which targets well known brands.</p>
<p>&#8220;If these [brand names] are found in the face name, description or tags, this will cause the upload to be rejected with a message stating that sharing of copyrighted or trademarked material is prohibited,&#8221; FaceRepo&#8217;s owner notes.</p>
<p>The development of a new front in the war to keep copyrighted and trademarked content off the Internet is hardly a surprise, and considering their power it comes as no shock that the watchmakers have responded in the way they have. We may be some time from an actual lawsuit targeting digital reproductions of physical content, but as the wearables market develops, one can not rule them out.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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