# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=97166
title: Fail: MPAA Makes Legal Content Unfindable In Google
uri: Fail-MPAA-Makes-Legal-Content-Unfindable-In-Google
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/147X5NKfC14/
content:
<p><a href="media/925ff127.wheretowatch.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wheretowatch.png"><img src="media/925ff127.wheretowatch.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wheretowatch.png" alt="wheretowatch" width="236" height="134" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97221"></a>The entertainment industries have gone head to head with Google in recent months, demanding tougher anti-piracy measures from the search engine.</p>
<p>According to the MPAA and others, Google makes it too easy for its users to find pirated content. Instead, they would prefer Google to downrank sites such as The Pirate Bay from its search results or remove them entirely.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago Google took <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">additional steps</a> to decrease the visibility of pirated content, but the major movie studios haven&#8217;t been sitting still either. </p>
<p>Last week MPAA announced the launch of <a href="http://WhereToWatch.com">WhereToWatch.com</a>, a website that lists where movies and TV-shows can be watched legally.</p>
<p>&#8220;WheretoWatch.com offers a simple, streamlined, comprehensive search of legitimate platforms – all in one place. It gives you the high-quality, easy viewing experience you deserve while supporting the hard work and creativity that go into making films and shows,&#8221; the MPAA&#8217;s Chris Dodd commented.</p>
<p>At first glance WhereToWatch offers a rather impressive database of entertainment content. It even <a href="http://www.wheretowatch.com/tv-shows/17177">features TorrentFreak TV</a>, although this is listed as &#8220;not available&#8221; since the MPAA&#8217;s service doesn&#8217;t index The Pirate Bay. </p>
<p>Overall, however, it&#8217;s a decent service. WhereToWatch <em>could</em> also be an ideal platform to beat pirate sites in search results, something the MPAA desperately wants to achieve.</p>
<p>Sadly for the MPAA that is only a &#8220;could&#8221; since Google and other search engines currently have a hard time indexing the site. As it turns out, the MPAA&#8217;s legal platform isn&#8217;t designed with even the most basic SEO principles in mind. </p>
<p>For example, if Google visits the <a href="http://wheretowatch.com/movies">movie overview page</a> all links to individual pages are hidden by Javascript, and the search engine <a href="http://www.browseo.net/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwheretowatch.com%2Fmovies">only sees this</a>. As a result, movie and TV-show pages in the MPAA&#8217;s legal platform are invisible to Google.</p>
<p>Google currently indexes <a href="https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ncr#q=site:wheretowatch.com%2Fmovies%2F">only one movie page</a>, which was most likely indexed through an external link. With Bing the problem is <a href="media/384575b0.wtw-bing.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wtw-bing.png">just as bad</a>.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/c082b0d4.wtw-google.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wtw-google.png"><img src="media/c082b0d4.wtw-google.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wtw-google.png" alt="wtw-google" width="771" height="426" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97222"></a></center></p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that WhereToWatch doesn&#8217;t block search engines from spidering its content through the robots.txt file. It&#8217;s just the coding that makes it impossible for search engines to navigate and index the site. </p>
<p>This is a pretty big mistake, considering that the MPAA repeatedly hammered on Google to feature more legal content. With some proper search engine optimization (SEO) advice they can probably fix the problem in the near future.</p>
<p>Previously Google already offered <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/how-google-helps-copyright-holders-to-fight-piracy-130911/">SEO tips</a> to copyright holders, but it&#8217;s obvious that the search engine wasn&#8217;t consulted in this project. </p>
<p>To help the MPAA on its way we asked isoHunt founder Gary Fung for some input. Last year Fung lost his case to the MPAA, forcing him to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-shuts-down-after-110-million-settlement-with-the-mpaa-131017/">shut down the site</a>, but he was glad to offer assistance nonetheless.</p>
<p>&#8220;I suggest MPAA optimize for search engine keywords such as &#8216;download <movie>&#8216; and &#8216;torrent <movie>&#8216;. For some reason when people google for movies, that&#8217;s what they actually search for,&#8221; Fung tells us.</p>
<p>A pretty clever idea indeed, as the MPAA&#8217;s own research shows that <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-accuses-google-of-breeding-pirates-130919/">pirate-related search terms</a> are often used to &#8220;breed&#8221; new pirates.</p>
<p>Perhaps it&#8217;s an idea for the MPAA to hire Fung or other &#8220;industry&#8221; experts for some more advice. Or better still, just look at how the popular pirate sites have optimized their sites to do well in search engines, and steal their work.</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=97294
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 11/24/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-11-24-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SbYCVN8c-Bk/
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 four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Guardians of the Galaxy is the most downloaded movie for the second week in a row.</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-141117/">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>(1)</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>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lucy_2014/">Lucy</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872732/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hpupbliDbk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</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>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/predestination/">Predestination</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2397535/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcQacCfi_pw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</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>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/falcon_rising/">Falcon Rising</a> </td>
<td><a http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2295722/">5.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wys_7B16BVY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(4)</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>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/interstellar_2014/?search=interstellar">Interstellar</a> (TS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/">9.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm8p5rlrSkY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(6)</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>10</strong></td>
<td>(5)</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>
</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=97272
title: Google Refuses MPAA Request to Blacklist ‘Pirate Site’ Homepages
uri: Google-Refuses-MPAA-Request-to-Blacklist-Pirate-Site-Homepages
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QKMJTNpMmvM/
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>Every week copyright holders send millions of DMCA takedown notices to Google, hoping to make pirated movies and music harder to find.</p>
<p>The music industry groups RIAA and BPI are among the most active senders. Together they have targeted more than 170 million URLs in recent years. </p>
<p>The MPAA&#8217;s statistics are more modest. Thus far the Hollywood group has asked Google to remove only 19,288 links from search results. The most recent request is one worth highlighting though, as it shows a clear difference of opinion between Hollywood and Google. </p>
<p>Last week the MPAA sent a <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/requests/1648287/">DMCA request</a> listing 81 allegedly infringing pages, mostly torrent and streaming sites. </p>
<p>Unlike most other copyright holders, the MPAA doesn&#8217;t list the URLs where the pirated movies are linked from, but the site&#8217;s homepages instead. This is a deliberate strategy, one that previously worked <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-kicks-kickasstorrents-off-google-with-precision-takedown-130623/">against KickassTorrents</a>. </p>
<p>However, this time around Google was less receptive. As can be seen below most of the MPAA&#8217;s takedown requests were denied. In total, Google took &#8220;no action&#8221; for  60 of the 81 submitted URLs, including casa-cinema.net, freemoviestorrents.com and solarmovie.is.</p>
<p><center><strong>Part of MPAA&#8217;s takedown request</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/4945e408.mpaa-takedown-refusal.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-takedown-refusal.png"><img src="media/4945e408.mpaa-takedown-refusal.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-takedown-refusal.png" alt="mpaa-takedown-refusal" width="593" height="720" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97275"></a></center></p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear why Google refused to take action, but it seems likely that the company views the MPAA&#8217;s request as too broad. While the sites&#8217; homepages may indirectly link to pirated movies, for most this required more than one click from the homepage.</p>
<p>We previously asked Google under what circumstances a homepage might be removed from search results. A spokesperson couldn&#8217;t go into detail but noted that &#8220;it&#8217;s more complex than simply counting how many clicks one page is from another.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve designed a variety of policies to comply with the requirements of the law, while weeding out false positives and material that&#8217;s too remote from infringing activity,&#8221; Google spokesperson told us.</p>
<p>In this case Google appears to see most reported homepages as not infringing, at least not for the works the MPAA specified.</p>
<p>The MPAA previously said that it would like to move towards blocking pirate sites from search engines entirely, however Google&#8217;s recent actions suggest that the company doesn&#8217;t want to go this far just 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=97321
title: Pirate Bay Founder Preps Appeal, Puts the Press Straight
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-Preps-Appeal-Puts-the-Press-Straight
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MDuWUk2k6h4/
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 Cambodia during September 2012 it soon became clear that two Scandinavian countries wanted to get their hands on Gottfrid Svartholm.</p>
<p>Sweden had a long-standing interest in their countryman for his infamous work on The Pirate Bay, but once that was out-of-the-way a pair of hacking cases had to be dealt with.</p>
<p>The first, in Sweden, resulted in partial successes for both sides. While Gottfrid was found guilty of hacking into IT company Logica, following <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hacker-jacob-appelbaum-to-testify-at-pirate-bay-founder-appeal-130827/">testimony</a> from Jacob Appelbaum he was later <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-hacking-sentence-slashed-in-half-on-appeal-130925/">cleared by the Appeal Court</a> (Svea Hovrätt) of hacking into Nordea Bank. </p>
<p>But despite this significant result and a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/jacob-appelbaum-gives-testimony-in-gottfrid-svartholm-trial-140914/">repeat appearance</a> from Appelbaum, the trial that concluded in Denmark last month went all one way, with Gottfrid picking up a three-and-a-half year <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/gottfrid-svartholm-found-guilty-in-hacking-trial-141030/">sentence</a>.</p>
<p>With his mother Kristina acting as go-between, TorrentFreak recently fired off some questions to Gottfrid to find out how he&#8217;s been bearing up following October&#8217;s verdict  and to discover his plans for the future.</p>
<p>Firstly, TF asked about his opinion on the decision. Gottfrid declined to answer directly but indicated we should look to the fact that he has already filed an appeal against the verdict. That should be enough of an answer, he said.</p>
<p>As it stands and considering time served, Gottfrid could be released as early as August 2015, but that clearly isn&#8217;t deterring him from the possibility of leaving sooner. Gottfrid has always shown that he&#8217;s both stubborn and a fighter, so sitting out his sentence in silence was probably never an option. </p>
<p>Moving on, TF pressed Gottfrid on what he feels were the points of failure during the court process and how these will play out alongside his appeal.</p>
<p>&#8220;Can&#8217;t discuss defense strategy at this point,&#8221; he responded. Fair enough.</p>
<p>Even considering the preparations for an appeal, there are a lot of hours in the coming months that will prove hard to fill. However, Gottfrid&#8217;s comments suggest that his access to books has improved since his days in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-held-in-solitary-confinement-without-a-warrant-131211/">solitary confinement</a> and he&#8217;s putting that to use.</p>
<p>&#8220;I study neurobiology and related subjects to pass the time,&#8221; he says, with mother Kristina noting that this education is self-motivated.</p>
<p>&#8220;The &#8216;arrest house&#8217; can of course not provide him with opportunities for higher studies,&#8221; she says.</p>
<p>Although he&#8217;s been thrust into the public eye on many occasions, Gottfrid&#8217;s appearances at court in Sweden (documented in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/tpb-afk-watch-and-download-the-pirate-bay-documentary-now-130208/">TPB AFK</a>) and later in his Danish trial reveal a man with an eye for detail and accuracy. It perhaps comes as little surprise then that he also took the opportunity to put the record straight on something he knows a lot about &#8211; the history of The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>If one searches for &#8220;founders of The Pirate Bay&#8221; using Google, it&#8217;s very clear from many thousands of reports that they are Gottfrid Svartholm, Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde. According to Gottfrid, however, that simply isn&#8217;t true.</p>
<p>&#8220;TPB was founded by me and two people who haven&#8217;t been involved since 2004,&#8221; Gottfrid says. &#8220;Fredrik came into the picture when the site moved from Mexico to Sweden, probably early 2004.&#8221;</p>
<p>While acknowledging Fredrik&#8217;s work as important for the growth of the site, Gottfrid noted that Peter&#8217;s arrival came sometime later. He didn&#8217;t specify who the other two founders were but it&#8217;s likely they&#8217;re to be found among the early members of Piratbyrån as detailed <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-speak-out-on-the-sites-past-and-future-130811/">here</a>.</p>
<p>With Peter Sunde <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-peter-sunde-released-prison-141011/">already released</a> from his sentence and Fredrik Neij <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-fredrik-neij-arrested-in-asia-141104/">close to beginning his</a>, it&#8217;s possible that the <strike>founders</strike> trio could all be free men by the end of 2015. So does Gottfrid have anything exciting up his sleeve for then?</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes, I have plans, but I&#8217;m not sharing them,&#8221; he 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=97282
title: Piracy Monetization Firm Rightscorp Sued for Harassment and Abuse
uri: Piracy-Monetization-Firm-Rightscorp-Sued-for-Harassment-and-Abuse
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/E_PLtDwqjxo/
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>Copyright holders have been sending DMCA takedown notices to ISPs for over a decade, but in recent years these warnings turned into revenue opportunities.</p>
<p>Companies such as <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/tag/rightscorp/">Rightscorp</a> ask U.S. ISPs to forward DMCA notices to subscribers,with a settlement offer tagged on to the end. On behalf of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-were-fining-file-sharers-who-use-non-six-strike-isps-130607/">Warner Bros</a>, BMG and others Rightscorp asks subscribers to pay $20 per pirated file or <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-were-fining-file-sharers-who-use-non-six-strike-isps-130607/">risk a potential $150,000</a> in court.</p>
<p>In recent months there have been various complaints from people who were aggressively approached by Rightscorp, which has now resulted in a <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/248026337/247788809-1-Class-Action-Complaint-and-Jury-Demand">class-action complaint</a> against the piracy monetization firm.</p>
<p>The lawsuit was filed at a California federal court on behalf of Karen Reif, Isaac Nesmith and others who were approached by Rightscorp. In the complaint, Rightscorp is accused of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, violations of debt Collection laws and Abuse of Process.</p>
<p>One of the allegations describes the repeated use of robo-calls to alleged infringers. A summary of what happened to Karen Reif shows that once Rightscorp knows who you are, they don&#8217;t give up easily.  </p>
<p>&#8220;By late September of 2014, Ms. Reif was receiving on average about one robo-call per day, and sometimes one robo-call and one live call in the same day.These calls came in from a variety of different numbers, from different area codes all over the country,&#8221; the complaint alleges.</p>
<p>This bombardment of harassing robo-calls is a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the lawyers argue.</p>
<p>The class-action further includes a long list of violations regarding Rightscorp&#8217;s debt collection practices, violating both the FDCPA and the Rosenthal Act.</p>
<p>&#8220;Among other wrongful conduct: Rightscorp has engaged in telephone harassment and abuse; made various false and misleading representations; engaged in unfair collections practices; failed to provide validation and required notices relating to the debts..,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>In addition to the above Rightscorp allegedly made false representations that ISPs were participating in the debt collection. For example, the warning letter stated that ISPs would disconnect repeat infringers, something that rarely happened. </p>
<p>Finally, the complaint raises the issue of Rightscorp&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-finds-shortcut-expose-alleged-bittorrent-pirates-140405/">controversial DMCA subpoenas</a> which demand that smaller ISPs should hand over personal details of their subscribers. Thus far most ISPs have complied, but according to the complaint these requests are a &#8220;sham and abuse&#8221; of the legal process.</p>
<p>&#8220;To identify potential consumers to target, Rightscorp has willfully misused this Court’s subpoena power by issuing at least 142 special DMCA subpoenas, per [the DMCA], to various Internet Service Providers.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;These subpoenas, which were issued on this Court’s authority, but procured outside of an adversarial proceeding and without any judicial review, are so clearly legally invalid as to be a sham and abuse of the legal process,&#8221; the complaint reads. </p>
<p>The above is just a summary of the long list of complaints being brought against Rightscorp. With these settlement practices becoming more common, the case will definitely be one to watch.</p>
<p>Attorney Morgan Pietz is confident that they have a strong case and <a href="http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2014/11/21/morgan-pietz-files-a-class-action-lawsuit-against-rightscorp/">told FCT</a> that other Rightscorp victims are invited to get in touch.</p>
<p>“We would still be very interested to talking to anyone who was being contacted by Rightscorp or who paid settlements, particularly anyone who was getting the pre-recorded robo-calls,” Pietz said.</p>
<p>For Rightscorp the lawsuit is yet another setback. Earlier this month the piracy monetization firm reported that it continues to turn a loss, which may eventually drive the company <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-firm-rightscorp-on-the-brink-of-bankruptcy-141114/">towards bankruptcy</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=97365
title: Piracy Police Arrest Two for The Expendables 3 Movie Leak
uri: Piracy-Police-Arrest-Two-for-The-Expendables-3-Movie-Leak
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/i9ahF-WDrc8/
content:
<p><a href="media/0a134585.expendablespiracy.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/expendablespiracy.jpg"><img src="media/f59bc3e0.expendablespiracy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/expendablespiracy.jpg" alt="expendablespiracy" width="275" height="203" class="alignright size-full wp-image-92859"></a>Earlier this year the movie The Expendables 3 leaked in extremely high-quality several weeks before its theatrical debut, causing a huge Hollywood controversy.</p>
<p>A fully finished so-called DVD Screener copy of the action movie featuring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Arnold Schwarzenegger <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/expendables-3-leaks-online-100k-copies-down-in-hours-140725/">appeared on July 25</a> and had already been downloaded millions of times before its official release August 15.</p>
<p>In the U.S., movie distributor LionsGate has been working hard on the legal front, chasing down <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lionsgate-targets-downloaders-of-expendables-3-leak-140826/">alleged downloaders</a> and even suing <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lionsgate-sues-filesharing-sites-expendables-3-leak-140801/">file-sharing sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lionsgate-targets-hosting-providers-domain-registrars-over-expendables-3-piracy-140815/">domain registrars</a>. News in just a few moments ago reveals that the hunt has traveled across the Atlantic.</p>
<p>According to the Intellectual Property Crime Unit of City of London Police (PIPCU), two people were taken into custody this morning under suspicion of leaking The Expendables 3 online.</p>
<p>Detectives from PIPCU traveled to Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, where they arrested a 33-year-old man. PIPCU detectives also arrested a 36-year-old man at his home in Upton, Wirral.</p>
<p>PIPCU informs TorrentFreak that the men are believed to have &#8220;stolen the film from a cloud based system&#8221; before uploading it to the Internet. The statement raises important questions though. Were the men involved in obtaining the original leaked copy and, crucially, were they the first to leak it online?</p>
<p>&#8220;The two suspects are believed to be involved in the leaking of the movie and are currently being questioned by PIPCU detectives,&#8221; is all PIPCU would tell TF, adding that the pair are being held at local police stations.</p>
<p>Earlier this year <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lionsgate-hopes-server-logs-will-expose-expendables-leaker-140925/">Lionsgate collaborated</a> with the owner of file-hosting site Swankshare in an effort to identify who leaked the movie. That site subsequently shut down but it&#8217;s possible that logs were handed over in the meantime. Whether this is the &#8220;cloud based system&#8221; referred to by PIPCU remains a mystery for now.</p>
<p>“Today’s operation shows you the significant impact intellectual property crime has on our creative industries, with millions of pounds being lost as a result of criminal actions,&#8221; Head of PIPCU, Detective Chief Inspector Danny Medlycott said in a statement.</p>
<p>“The public need to be aware that piracy is not a victimless crime. By downloading illegal music, film, TV and books, not only are you exposing your own computer to the risk of viruses and malware, but you are also putting hardworking people’s livelihoods at risk as piracy threatens the security of thousands of jobs in the UK’s creative industries.”</p>
<p>It&#8217;s of some interest that the first suspects to be arrested in this super high-profile case are based in the UK. There have been no reports of arrests in the United States where the movie was made and being prepared for distribution.</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=97239
title: Google Asked to Censor Three Million Pirate Bay URLs
uri: Google-Asked-to-Censor-Three-Million-Pirate-Bay-URLs
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1LV7TFUaqIo/
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>Despite the criminal prosecution of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirate_Bay_trial">The Pirate Bay four</a>, the notorious torrent site remains available to the public at large. </p>
<p>TPB is setup to make it especially difficult for law enforcement to take it down, so copyright holders have to turn to third parties to address the threat.</p>
<p>One of the main strategies is to ask Google and other search engines to remove infringing Pirate Bay URLs from their search results.</p>
<p>Google in particular is heavily targeted and this week the number of thepiratebay.se URLs <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/domains/thepiratebay.se/">submitted to Google</a> reached the three million mark. Nearly all of these links have  indeed been removed and can no longer be accessed through search results. </p>
<p>The chart below shows the number of links that have been submitted per week. There is a sharp decline towards the end of 2013 when The Pirate Bay used another domain name. The requests increased again in December when the torrent site switched back.</p>
<p><center><strong>3 Million Pirate Bay URLs reported</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/beb26394.thepiratebay3m.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thepiratebay3m.png"><img src="media/beb26394.thepiratebay3m.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thepiratebay3m.png" alt="thepiratebay3m" width="600" height="222" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97328"></a></center></p>
<p>While most of the reported links do indeed point to copyrighted material, some none-infringing pages have been removed as well. </p>
<p>Paramount Pictures, for example, <a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/1988453">asked</a> to remove this <a href="http://thepiratebay.se/blog/228">blog post</a> where a comment mentions &#8220;the beast of hercules,&#8221; not the Hercules movie. Similarly, TPB&#8217;s <a href="http://thepiratebay.se/doodles">Doodles</a> page <a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/603716">is gone</a> because an adult entertainment company confused it with Kelly Madison&#8217;s &#8220;Yankee Doodle Dame&#8221;</p>
<p>In total, the three million URLs were submitted in 135,486 separate takedown notices, averaging more than 22 links per takedown request. A staggering number, but one that pales in comparison to other sites. </p>
<p>Looking at the <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/domains/?r=all-time">list of domains</a> for which Google received the most URLs removal requests, The Pirate Bay is currently listed in 23rd place. The top spot goes to rapidgator.net with close to 13 million URLs, followed by 4shared.com, filestube.com, dilandau.eu and zippyshare.com. Torrentz.eu, the first torrent site in the list, comes in 8th with 5.4 million URLs. </p>
<p>For The Pirate Bay the reduced availability in Google is not much of a problem. Previously the Pirate Bay team informed TorrentFreak that they stopped relying on search engines as a traffic source a long time ago. </p>
<p>And indeed, despite the censored pages The Pirate Bay&#8217;s traffic has continued to grow. Even today the site remains <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/thepiratebay.se#trafficstats">among the 100 most visited</a> websites on the Internet.</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=97391
title: Senator Uses Piracy Report to Pressure Visa, Mastercard
uri: Senator-Uses-Piracy-Report-to-Pressure-Visa-Mastercard
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JYMZh9H_LVQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/ac63424b.visa-mastercard.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/visa-mastercard.png"><img src="media/42bd00b6.visa-mastercard.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/visa-mastercard.png" alt="visa-mastercard" width="183" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-73168"></a>Following the crash and burn of the defunct SOPA legislation in the United States, Hollywood and the recording industry regrouped to formulate a new strategy.</p>
<p>Their new approach is more considered and cautious, but underneath there is still a burning desire to achieve the main goals of SOPA without need for new legislation. One aim is to strangle the finances of allegedly copyright-infringing sites, particularly if those funds touch American soil.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly payment processors including Visa and MasterCard have become a key focal point. Directly or otherwise, file-sharing related sites worldwide use the services of these U.S.-based companies, a situation the entertainment industries (and their government allies) would love to bring to an end. Today that fight has been given new momentum.</p>
<p>As the former lead sponsor of the defunct controversial Protect IP Act (PIPA), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is no stranger to pro-copyright issues. Today he&#8217;s again leading the way with letters to both Visa and MasterCard on the topic of online piracy.</p>
<p>Leahy begins by outlining how the work of America&#8217;s artists is being undermined by largely overseas websites dedicated to copyright infringement. This type of &#8220;foreign invasion&#8221; imagery was rolled out in lobbying efforts for both PIPA and SOPA but this time around Leahy draws on a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/report-brands-dotcoms-mega-a-piracy-haven-140918/">recent study</a> to support his pitch to the processors.</p>
<p>&#8220;A report recently released by NetNames and the Digital Citizens Alliance analyzed the financial performance of leading cyberlockers, which (unlike lawful cloud storage services) exist to unlawfully store and disseminate infringing files around the world,&#8221; Leahy writes.</p>
<p><a href="media/5542ef9f.profit.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/profit.png"><img src="media/bad794e8.profit-150x150.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/profit-150x150.png" alt="profit" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-94151"></a>The Senator informs the processors that a vast majority of the &#8220;most pernicious cyberlockers&#8221; rely on them for their financial viability. The companies surely agree, Leahy says, that no amount of money derived from &#8220;unlawful activity&#8221; should end up on their balance sheets.</p>
<p>Although the site is not mentioned by name, Leahy praises the work of both MasterCard and Visa in 2006 when they suspended their services to Russian-based music download portal AllofMP3. However, eight years on more work needs to be done to &#8220;revise policies&#8221; concerning infringing websites.</p>
<p>&#8220;The cyberlockers listed in the NetNames report bear red flags of having no legitimate purpose or activity. I ask [Visa / MasterCard] to review the complaints against those cyberlockers and to ensure that payment processing services offered by [both companies] to those sites, or any others dedicated to infringing activity, cease,&#8221; Leahy adds.</p>
<p>While there are indeed some dubious sites in the NetNames report, Leahy&#8217;s words are bound to further infuriate New Zealand-based file-hosting site Mega.co.nz. Although the status of the complaint is unclear, Mega has already <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mega-goes-legal-issues-ultimatum-over-cyberlocker-report-140925/">threatened legal action</a> against NetNames after the company included the file-hoster in its report.</p>
<p>Finally, it&#8217;s interesting to note that letters like the ones sent by Leahy to MasterCard and Visa usually start out amicably but end in implied threats to intervene should no progress be made. However, Leahy carefully tows the current entertainment industry line of cooperation over confrontation. </p>
<p>Urging the payment processors to work with copyright owners, Leahy says partnerships should develop methods and practices for the &#8220;efficient investigation&#8221; of sites alleged to be involved in infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Voluntary agreements, developed and refined over time between the relevant stakeholders, hold great promise for addressing the problem of infringement online,&#8221; Leahy 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=97346
title: ABS-CBN Sues Another 18 Sites Over TV and Movie Piracy
uri: ABS-CBN-Sues-Another-18-Sites-Over-TV-and-Movie-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/z33jvNvCwUk/
content:
<p><a href="media/f3669132.money-feat.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/money-feat.jpg"><img src="media/90619dc0.money-feat-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/money-feat-150x150.jpg" alt="money-feat" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-85923"></a>Back in August TF published a reported on copyright-focused legal action initiated in the United States by ABS-CBN, the largest media and entertainment company in the Philippines.</p>
<p>The media giant filed a lawsuit at a federal court in Oregon looking for millions of dollars in damages from two local husband and wife residents. Their main target, Jeff Ashby, claimed he created several tiny websites so that his wife could enjoy entertainment from her home country. Lawyers for ABS-CBN viewed those sites rather differently.</p>
<p>Last month the case ended badly for the defendants. After branding Ashby a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/la-police-online-piracy-funds-drug-dealers-and-terrorists-140827/">hardcore criminal</a> and using its own news shows to paint him in a poor light, ABS-CBN hit their home run. The media giant reached a consent agreement with Ashby and the Oregon District Court ordered him to pay a mind-blowing <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-site-operator-slapped-10-million-damages-141030/">$10 million in damages</a>.</p>
<p>Here at TF we suspected that the $10m decision might be of value to ABS-CBN should they wish to begin suing other sites. After all, no one wants to get hit with a $10m bill so settlement offers below this amount might seem more attractive and become more easily arrived at. Sure enough, just weeks later ABS-CBN is back.</p>
<p>In an action filed in a Florida district court, ABS-CBN is now targeting 100 &#8216;Does&#8217; and another 18 sites in a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit. ABS-CBN says that in the United States it makes its content available through companies including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Cox Communications, AT&#038;T, Verizon and Charter to name just a few, but these &#8216;pirate&#8217; services are undermining that commercial activity.</p>
<p>&#8220;Through their various websites, Defendants hold out to the public that they have ABS-CBN’s content, and re-broadcast ABS-CBN’s TV shows and movies over the Internet, in order to illegally profit from ABS-CBN’s intellectual property, without ABS-CBN’s consent,&#8221; court papers read.</p>
<p>&#8220;Further, Defendants control the organization and presentation of the content by themselves providing links to ABS-CBN shows and promote and advertise the content as ABS-CBN’s, including through the use of ABS-CBN’s marks; and stream the shows for users’ viewing through their websites.&#8221;</p>
<p>The media company also claims that the &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites distribute malware, spyware and &#8220;other nefarious, malicious and harmful software&#8230;.typically in the guise of software updates &#8216;needed&#8217; by the viewer in order to enhance their viewing experience of Plaintiffs’ video content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Visits to a handful of the sites carried out by TF confirmed that some do indeed request the installation of a browser addon but when those are rejected the sites remain functional. </p>
<p>In order to end any infringement quickly, ABS-CBN is seeking temporary, preliminary, and permanent injunctions not only against the sites, but also anyone &#8220;acting in concert or participation&#8221; with them including Internet search engines, web hosts, domain name registrars, and domain name registries.</p>
<p>In respect of domains, ABS-CBN wants all domains put &#8220;On Hold&#8221; by their registries and then canceled, deleted or transferred &#8220;so that they may no longer be used for illegal purposes.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the copyright front the action seeks the maximum statutory damages from the defendants of $150,000 per infringement plus attorneys&#8217; fees and costs. In respect of abuse of trademarks, ABS-CBN requests $2 million for each counterfeit trademark used.</p>
<p>Finally, the Philippines-based company demands that all funds generated by the pirate sites should be handed over to partially satisfy any judgment handed down.</p>
<p>It seems unlikely that any of the sites (listed below) will go head-to-head with ABS-CBN in court so settlement agreements will have to be reached. Whether the media giant will begin publishing the details of yet more large settlements will remain to be seen, but it&#8217;s doubtful that any will have $10m just sitting around.</p>
<p><em>Sites targeted by ABS-CBN in its latest lawsuit.</p>
<p>1 buhaypinoyofw.net<br>
2 freepinoytvshows.net<br>
2 pinoylovetvshowreplay.com<br>
3 hapeetube.biz<br>
3 lovelytube.biz<br>
3 pinoy-telebisyon.biz<br>
3 pinoy-telebisyon.org<br>
4 lambingan.tk<br>
5 movieserye.com<br>
6 pinaytambayan.org<br>
7 pinoy-ako.me<br>
8 pinoymoviegallery.net<br>
9 pinoytambayan.me<br>
10 pinoytelesine.com<br>
11 pinoytopmovies.com<br>
12 pinoytv.me<br>
13 projectcabbage.com<br>
14 tambayanofwtv.info<br>
15 telebesyon.com<br>
16 telebyuwers.ph<br>
16 telebyuwers.tv<br>
17 teleseryereplay.com<br>
18 yzreplay.com</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=97405
title: BT Starts Blocking Private Torrent Sites
uri: BT-Starts-Blocking-Private-Torrent-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/n_Ugf6fIQbo/
content:
<p><a href="media/5ccf9346.bt-blocked.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bt-blocked.png"><img src="media/c49febaf.bt-blocked.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bt-blocked.png" alt="bt-blocked" width="211" height="131" class="alignright size-full wp-image-52794"></a>Following a series of High Court orders, six UK ISPs are currently required to block subscriber access to dozens of the world’s largest torrent sites.</p>
<p>The latest order <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-obtain-orders-to-block-21-torrent-sites-141023/">was issued</a> last month after a complaint from the major record labels. It expands the UK blocklist by 21 torrent sites, including  limetorrents.com, nowtorrents.com, picktorrent.com, seedpeer.me and torlock.com.</p>
<p>This weekend both BT and Sky implemented the new changes, making it harder for their subscribers to reach these sites. Interestingly, however, BT appears to have gone above and beyond the court order, limiting access to various other sites as well.</p>
<p>Over the past several days TorrentFreak has received reports from several users of private torrent sites who get an &#8220;error blocked&#8221; message instead of their favorite sites. These include the popular IPTorrents.com and TorrentDay.com trackers, as well as scene release site Scnsrc.me.</p>
<p>IPTorrents and Torrentday are significant targets. Although both sites require prospective users to obtain an invite from a current member (or from the site itself in exchange for cash), they have over a hundred thousand active users. </p>
<p>The error displayed when BT subscribers try to access the above URLs is similar to that returned when users to try access sites covered by High Court injunctions.</p>
<p>However, there is no known court decision that requires BT to block these URLs. In fact, no UK ISP has ever blocked a private torrent site before.</p>
<p>TF contacted BT&#8217;s press contact and customer service team but we have yet to receive a response to our findings. Meanwhile, several of the affected users are discussing on Facebook and Twitter how they can bypass the blockades.  </p>
<p><center><a href="media/8782e180.bt-blocked2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bt-blocked2.png"><img src="media/8782e180.bt-blocked2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bt-blocked2.png" alt="bt-blocked" width="490" height="429" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97436"></a></center></p>
<p>It appears that for now IPTorrents is still accessible via https and via the site&#8217;s alternative .me and .ru domains. In addition, VPNs and proxy servers are often cited among suggested workaround techniques.</p>
<p>Whether the private torrent sites will remain blocked and on what grounds remains a mystery for now. We will update this article if BT sends us a response. BT users who spot more unusual blocks are encouraged to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/contact/">get in touch</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Update: </strong>The blocked sites are part of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-piracy-blocklist-expands-with-demonoid-isohunt-iptorrents-and-more-141127/">a new High Court order</a> that includes 32 sites in total.</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=97414
title: Kim Dotcom Leaves Bail Hearing a Free Man, For Now
uri: Kim-Dotcom-Leaves-Bail-Hearing-a-Free-Man-For-Now
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8-ZWMCBCTmY/
content:
<p><a href="media/9645facf.kimmega.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kimmega.jpg"><img src="media/4146d6ed.kimmega-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kimmega-150x150.jpg" alt="kimmega" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-45532"></a>Last week during a hearing at the Auckland District Court, Crown Prosecutor Christine Gordon said that following an apparent breach of conditions an application had been made to revoke Kim Dotcom’s bail.</p>
<p>The allegations, which are reportedly serious enough to put Dotcom back behind bars, resulted in the Court ordering tightened restrictions preventing the entrepreneur from using helicopters, traveling by boat, or going more than 80 kilometers from his Coatesville mansion.</p>
<p>The details of the allegations were set to be revealed this Monday during a second bail hearing but a day earlier a new affidavit containing more allegations led Dotcom&#8217;s lawyer Ron Mansfield to request and receive a delay until Thursday.</p>
<p>Dotcom arrived in good time for this morning&#8217;s hearing. Pulling up at the Auckland District Court in his familiar Mercedes G-Class, Dotcom exited the vehicle while ignoring questions from the waiting press.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mr Dotcom, are you worried about the prospect of returning to jail?&#8221; one reporter asked.</p>
<p><a href="media/ea61e7e8.dotcom-court.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-court.jpg"><img src="media/ea61e7e8.dotcom-court.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-court.jpg" alt="dotcom-court" width="180" height="140" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97483"></a>Wearing his trademark all black and carrying a small towel and water bottle, within seconds a somber Dotcom was inside, passing metal detectors and riding up an escalator to the next floor.  </p>
<p>What happened next is largely cloaked in mystery due to a media blackout imposed by the court.</p>
<p>What we do know is that the hearing was due to begin at 10:00 and the topic would be whether to extend or revoke Dotcom&#8217;s bail. The Crown alleges that Dotcom breached his bail conditions and it now appears those claims date back to events in 2012, potentially almost three years ago.</p>
<p>The hearing took place before Judge Nevin Dawson. A veteran of Dotcom cases, at one point Dawson cleared the courtroom so that private discussions on how Dotcom should be cross-examined could take place.</p>
<p>More than seven hours after it began and having failed to reach a conclusion on Dotcom&#8217;s bail, the hearing was terminated around 5pm. It will resume lunchtime tomorrow with Dotcom potentially learning his fate before the end of the day.</p>
<p>Dotcom has been on bail since February 2012 following the raids a month earlier on his Coatesville mansion. His extradition battle with the United States has been running ever since and has now been delayed until 2015 to allow the Megaupload founder to put together a new legal team.</p>
<p>Although the companies involved have remained tight-lipped, Dotcom revealed this week that his high-profile New Zealand-based legal team <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dotcom-faces-jail-following-application-to-revoke-bail-141117/">quit</a> after he ran out of money.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m officially broke right now,&#8221; he told a digital technology conference in London this week. According to the entrepreneur, to date he&#8217;s spent $10m on his defense.</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=97460
title: The Pirate Bay Goes Down Locally (Updated)
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-Goes-Down-Locally
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GR04T2WeA6E/
content:
<p><a href="media/850a0ead.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-67837" src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" alt="tpb-logo" width="222" height="198"></a>Many U.S. Internet subscribers across various ISPs are experiencing trouble accessing The Pirate Bay at the moment.</p>
<p>Every time TPB becomes inaccessible thousands of people begin to worry that their ISPs have begun blocking or that something awful has happened to their beloved site. </p>
<p>However, the current downtime appears to be a routing issue as the site is still reachable in most parts of the world.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s also good news for people who can’t access The Pirate Bay at the moment because many of the proxies are still working just fine, as do <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">VPNs</a>.</p>
<p>TF reached out to the TBC crew who confirmed that that there are connectivity problems. However, this appears to be beyond their control.</p>
<p>&#8220;As far as we are concerned TPB is online. Network connectivity issues are outside of our control. Many people are experiencing no issues connecting to TPB,&#8221; a TPB crew member says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sooner or later these routing issues will be resolved. In the meantime, a proxy or VPN can be used,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>There is no ETA for when the problems will be resolved but the most resilient torrent site is expected come back online for everyone eventually.</p>
<p>Stay tuned.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> The routing issues have been resolved after 24 hours.</p>
<div align="center">
<h5>Pirate Bay Downtime</h5>
<p><img src="media/0bf9c0f3.tpbdown.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbdown.jpg" alt="tpb"></p>
</div>
<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=97449
title: Record Biz Wants To Tax Brits For Copying Their Own Music
uri: Record-Biz-Wants-To-Tax-Brits-For-Copying-Their-Own-Music
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8f5d2HZ7E3E/
content:
<p><img src="media/4d28e669.uk-flag.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uk-flag.jpg" width="200" height="179" class="alignright">Until recently the vast majority of British citizens believed that copying music bought with their own money was something they could do without legal concerns.</p>
<p>The truth, however, was somewhat different. Until recently UK legislation did not permit so-called &#8220;private copying&#8221;, meaning that anyone who transferred music from a purchased CD to an MP3 player was committing an offense.</p>
<p>Recognizing this as a problem, earlier this year the government decided that it would be in the best interests of consumers to legalize copying for personal use. After a delay through the summer, last month <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-government-legalizes-cd-ripping-cloud-backups-today-141001/">changes were put into place</a> enabling people to make copies of DVDs, CDs and other types of media, as long as they’re for personal use.</p>
<p>But now, less than two months on, the music industry is voicing its collective displeasure at the government&#8217;s decision and announcing plans to have consumers pay a new &#8220;copy tax&#8221; to rightsholders.</p>
<p>The Musicians’ Union (MU), The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) and UK Music (of which the BPI is a member) say they have launched an application for a judicial review into the government&#8217;s decision to introduce a so-called &#8220;private copying exception&#8221; without including a kickback to rightsholders.</p>
<p>What the industry groups want is a tax to be applied to blank media including blank CDs, hard drives, memory sticks and other devices capable of recording. This money would then be funneled back to the music industry for distribution among rightsholders, a mechanism already operating in other European countries.</p>
<p>Despite never earning a penny from the billions of copies made before October 1, 2014, the music industry groups say that allowing citizens to record in future &#8220;will damage the musician and composer community&#8221; and amounts to a contravention of the EU Copyright Directive.</p>
<p>The judicial review will see the High Court examine the introduction of the levy-less copying exception to ascertain whether the government acted legally. The music groups&#8217; aim is to have the legislation amended in the industry&#8217;s favor.</p>
<p>“We have sought judicial review because of the way the government made its decision not to protect the UK’s creative industries – in stark contrast to other countries that have introduced copyright exceptions,&#8221; says Vick Bain, CEO of The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.</p>
<p>&#8220;We fully support the right of the consumer to copy legally bought music for their own personal and private use, but there must be fair compensation for the creators of the music.&#8221;</p>
<p>UK Music CEO Jo Dipple says that licensing is the key to the industry&#8217;s success in the digital age so when the right to copy without a license is granted, in this case to the public, rightsholders must be compensated.</p>
<p>&#8220;Copyright enables people to earn a living out of their creativity and sustains jobs. The Government has made a serious error with regards to private copying. The legislative framework must guarantee musicians and composers are fairly compensated,&#8221; Dipple says.</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=97513
title: UK Piracy Blocklist Expands With Demonoid, Isohunt, IPTorrents and More
uri: UK-Piracy-Blocklist-Expands-With-Demonoid-Isohunt-IPTorrents-and-Mor
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1oExWlh4dAE/
content:
<p><a href="media/5ceed422.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg"><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076"></a>The list of websites that are blocked in the UK for facilitating copyright infringement is getting longer and longer.</p>
<p>This week a new High Court ruling orders  Sky, BT, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, Telefonica UK and Virgin to block access to 32 piracy related sites. </p>
<p>The newly blocked sites include Demonoid, Watchseries, IPTorrents, TorrentDay, IceFilms, Rarbg and have millions of visitors a day combined. </p>
<p>BT already started adding the new sites to its blocklist yesterday, which caused <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bt-starts-blocking-private-torrent-sites-141126/">some confusion</a> among subscribers. The other ISPs are expected to follow suit within the days to come. </p>
<p>This is the first time that private torrent sites are blocked in the UK. This is noteworthy, because sites such as IPTorrents.com, BitSoup.me and TorrentDay.com have no pirated files listed in public. Instead, these are only available to members of the sites in question.</p>
<p><center><strong>IPTorrents (IPT)</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/7369d361.iptorrents.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptorrents.jpg"><img src="media/7369d361.iptorrents.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptorrents.jpg" alt="iptorrents" width="611" height="279" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97521"></a></center></p>
<p>The latest court order comes after the Motion Picture Association (MPA) filed a complaint that remained uncontested by the ISPs. Because the ISPs have given up on defending their position in court, it is now a mere formality for copyright holders to have a pirate site banned.</p>
<p>Chris Marcich, President and Managing Director of the MPA, Europe, Middle East and Africa, believes that the ISP blockades are an effective and legitimate tool to deter online copyright infringement.</p>
<p>“Securing court orders requiring ISPs to block access to illegal websites is an accepted and legitimate measure to tackle online copyright infringement,&#8221; Marcich says.</p>
<p>&#8220;It carefully targets sites whose sole purpose is to make money off the back of other people’s content while paying nothing back into the legitimate economy,” he adds.</p>
<p>Whether the present blocks will be more than a drop in the ocean has yet to be seen. There are many other streaming portals that are still available, which means that the movie studios will probably be back in court in a few months.</p>
<p>—-</p>
<p>The full list of sites that are currently blocked in the UK is as follows:</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em><strong>New:</strong> watchseries.lt, Stream TV, Watchseries-online, Cucirca, Movie25, watchseries.to, Iwannawatch, Warez BB, Ice Films, Tehparadox, Heroturko, Scene Source,, Rapid Moviez, Iwatchonline, Los Movies, Isohunt, Torrentz.pro, Torrentbutler, IP Torrents, Sumotorrent, Torrent Day, Torrenting, BitSoup, TorrentBytes, Seventorrents, Torrents.fm, Yourbittorrent, Tor Movies , Demonoid, torrent.cd, Vertor, Rar BG.</em> </p>
<p><em><strong>Previously blocked:</strong> bittorrent.am, btdigg.org, btloft.com, bts.to, limetorrents.com, nowtorrents.com, picktorrent.com, seedpeer.me, torlock.com, torrentbit.net, torrentdb.li, torrentdownload.ws, torrentexpress.net, torrentfunk.com, torrentproject.com, torrentroom.com, torrents.net, torrentus.eu, torrentz.cd, torrentzap.com, vitorrent.org.Megashare, Viooz, Watch32, Zmovie, Solarmovie, Tubeplus, Primewire, Vodly, Watchfreemovies, Project-Free TV, Yify-Torrents, 1337x, Bitsnoop, Extratorrent, Monova, Torrentcrazy, Torrentdownloads, Torrentreactor, Torrentz, Ambp3, Beemp3, Bomb-mp3, Eemp3world, Filecrop, Filestube, Mp3juices, Mp3lemon, Mp3raid, Mp3skull, Newalbumreleases, Rapidlibrary, EZTV, FirstRowSports, Download4all, Movie2K, KickAssTorrents, Fenopy, H33T and The Pirate Bay.</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=97355
title: Torrent Site ‘Hijacks’ MPAA’s Movie Search Engine
uri: Torrent-Site-Hijacks-MPAA-s-Movie-Search-Engine
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7iPLUYi8DN8/
content:
<p><a href="media/e7c88f85.popcorncab.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorncab.png"><img src="media/e7c88f85.popcorncab.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorncab.png" alt="popcorncab" width="226" height="140" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97362"></a>Earlier this month Hollywood launched its very own search engine for movies and TV-shows. With <a href="http://wheretowatch.com/">WhereToWatch</a> people can lookup the latest entertainment to check if and where it&#8217;s available. </p>
<p>The site offers a very handy service aimed at steering people away from pirate sites and promoting legal options. Unfortunately, however, it doesn&#8217;t change the fact that most new films aren&#8217;t available for streaming or download. </p>
<p>To fill this gap torrent site <a href="http://popcorn.cab/">PopcornCab</a> decided to release a <a href="http://popcorn.cab/wheretowatchpopcorncab.user.js">userscript</a> that adds torrent links to the MPAA&#8217;s website. The code, which works in all modern browsers through an extension, makes WhereToWatch even more usable according to the PopcornCab team.</p>
<p>PopcornCab&#8217;s <a href="https://twitter.com/teamcoltra">Travis McCrea</a>, who also runs the eBook library <a href="http://tuebl.ca/">Tuebl.ca</a> and previously headed U.S. and Canadian Pirate parties, tells TF that he&#8217;s not a fan of the &#8220;morally corrupt&#8221; MPAA, but that their new site is a step in the right direction.</p>
<p>&#8220;I actually really like WhereToWatch and think it&#8217;s a great concept so getting people using the website to see what streaming options are available to them is nice in my opinion,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>McCrea himself has subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. The user experience of these legal services is much better than torrents, he says, but the availability is lacking. In this regard, adding torrents is a win-win.</p>
<p>&#8220;I get to encourage people to go to WhereToWatch and see if maybe a streaming solution appeals to them but also give them a link to the torrent files from PopcornCab,&#8221; McCrea says.</p>
<p>Below is what a PopcornCab listing looks like when the userscript is enabled. The other streaming and download options are still listed as well, below the torrent link.</p>
<p><center><strong>WhereToWatch with torrents</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/8a87966c.wheretotorrent.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wheretotorrent.jpg"><img src="media/8a87966c.wheretotorrent.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wheretotorrent.jpg" alt="wheretotorrent" width="600" height="400" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97361"></a></center></p>
<p>McCrea tells us that PopcornCab, previously know as TorMovies.org, is mainly operated by a friend who prefers to stay out of the spotlight. Many hours have gone into designing the user interface where it sets itself apart from most other torrent sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;I find that torrent sites frequently neglect user experience in favor of raw information, and I hate that. PopcornCab brings you a beautiful website which helps you find movies and TV shows with a great interface,&#8221; McCrea notes. </p>
<p>McCrea has considered the possible legal repercussions that come with running a torrent site in public and daring the MPAA, but he&#8217;s not worried. If he&#8217;s arrested, there&#8217;s someone else who can take over, he notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;I believe in what I am doing, I believe sharing culture is a fundamental right of every person on Earth and so civil penalties don&#8217;t scare me. That said, we are pretty careful to dot our I&#8217;s and cross our T&#8217;s legally so we SHOULD be fine&#8230;,&#8221; McCrea says.</p>
<p>PopcornCab&#8217;s operator has grown used to facing legal threats. Although he is convinced that they&#8217;re not doing anything illegal, there is an emergency fund available for the worst case scenario. </p>
<p>&#8220;I have money just sitting in a legal trust, and am almost getting disappointed that it isn&#8217;t being used&#8230;. but not that disappointed,&#8221; he says. </p>
<p>While legal trouble can&#8217;t be guaranteed, McCrea is certainly drawing attention from Hollywood with his latest project. So this bag of money may come in handy in the future.</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=97411
title: Pirate Bay Cyberlocker Bayfiles Disappears After Arrest
uri: Pirate-Bay-Cyberlocker-Bayfiles-Disappears-After-Arrest
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gpf7x3Veb-s/
content:
<p><a href="media/3405da84.bayfiles-logo1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bayfiles-logo1.png"><img src="media/a6263690.bayfiles-logo1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bayfiles-logo1.png" alt="bayfiles-logo" width="250" height="189" class="alignright size-full wp-image-90211"></a>Three years ago Pirate Bay founders Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bayfiles-the-pirate-bay-founders-launch-file-hosting-site-110829/">launched Bayfiles</a>, a new file-sharing venture based on the cyberlocker model.</p>
<p>With steady growth ever since the site accumulated a decent user base, not least since it&#8217;s still prominently linked from Pirate Bay&#8217;s homepage.</p>
<p>Aside from issues with Google and its payment processor the site never ran into trouble. However, starting a few weeks ago Bayfiles suddenly disappeared from the Internet. </p>
<p>The site, which is <a href="http://whois.domaintools.com/bayfiles.net">registered to</a> Pirate Bay&#8217;s former operator Fredrik Neij, went down around the same time that he was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-fredrik-neij-arrested-in-asia-141104/">arrested</a>. </p>
<p>Based on traffic estimates Bayfiles had tens of thousands of users per day. The site was frequently used by third-party sites that linked to pirated video hosted on the site. How many users have personal files stored on the site is unknown. </p>
<p>The graph below shows that Bayfiles&#8217; traffic tanked early November and at the time of writing the site remains inaccessible.</p>
<p><center><strong>Bayfiles going down</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/2c4b91c7.bayfilestraffic.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bayfilestraffic.png"><img src="media/2c4b91c7.bayfilestraffic.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bayfilestraffic.png" alt="bayfilestraffic" width="433" height="189" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97417"></a></center></p>
<p>TF spoke with the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-peter-sunde-released-prison-141011/">recently released</a> Peter Sunde who told us that Fredrik&#8217;s arrest may indeed be related to the downtime. Peter himself hasn&#8217;t been involved in the project since its launch, as he was locked out by his former Pirate Bay colleague.</p>
<p>&#8220;I started Bayfiles and invited Fredrik and a third person to join in. Then all of a sudden, just before the launch, I no longer had access to the system and other systems that we previously co-operated in making. I also lost access to a few sites that Fredrik was hosting for me,&#8221; Sunde tells us.</p>
<p>The incident was the end of the friendship between the two. Peter tells us that Fredrik suddenly stopped responding, and the two never spoke again. </p>
<p>&#8220;Since that day Fredrik has never replied to any of my calls, texts, emails, chat requests or anything. I actually feels it’s kind of karma that he’s in prison, just a shame that he’s in prison for the wrong thing,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>If Fredrik is indeed the current operator then it will be a few months before the site comes back. The former Pirate Bay operator was taken to a Swedish prison two weeks ago where he now has to serve his one year prison sentence.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay, meanwhile, remains up and running, as do other TPB affiliated properties such as <a href="http://bayimg.com/">BayImg</a>, <a href="http://pastebay.net/">PasteBay</a> and <a href="http://piratebrowser.com/">PirateBrowser</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=97529
title: Cox Communications Sued For Not Disconnecting Pirates
uri: Cox-Communications-Sued-For-Not-Disconnecting-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/uAVrzVoNimA/
content:
<p><img src="media/015f41e0.cox-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cox-logo.png" width="200" height="99" class="alignright">Since February 2013, five U.S. Internet providers have been sending so-called &#8216;Copyright Alerts&#8217; to subscribers who use BitTorrent to pirate movies, TV-shows and music.</p>
<p>AT&#038;T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon are all participants in the scheme while telecoms giant Cox Communications chose to opt out. Instead, the company operates its <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/cox-targets-pirates-with-10-strikes-program-130408/">own &#8220;strikes&#8221; program</a> but by some rightsholders&#8217; standards, the ISP simply isn&#8217;t doing enough.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/two-music-publishers-suing-cox-1417135138">WSJ</a>, two music publishers &#8211; BMG Rights Management LLC and Round Hill Music LP &#8211; have just sued Cox for failing to disconnect customers who allegedly infringed on the companies&#8217; rights multiple times.</p>
<p>The companies, which control the publishing rights to songs by Katy Perry, The Beatles and David Bowie among others, says that Cox&#8217;s inaction means that the company has given up its safe harbor protections under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.</p>
<p>Of interest is the involvement of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/?s=rightscorp">Rightscorp</a> in the case. BMG and Round Hill are both clients of the anti-piracy monetization company which sends out cash settlement demands to Internet users on their behalf. Rightscorp has been harvesting data on Cox subscribers and will use it in the case.</p>
<p>The anti-piracy company has stated on numerous occasions that its patent-pending technology enables it to accurately identify repeat infringers. According to the complaint there are &#8220;hundreds&#8221; of these at Cox, all of which should have been disconnected by the ISP.</p>
<p>Filed Wednesday but not yet available to the public, the complaint says that Cox has actual knowledge of repeat infringement by its subscribers yet has failed to do anything about it.</p>
<p>&#8220;..Cox has repeatedly refused to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. The reason that Cox does not terminate these subscribers and account holders is obvious — it would cause Cox to lose revenue,” the music publishers say.</p>
<p>While BMG and Round Hill insist there is a financial motive for not disconnecting customers, the big question involves the ISP&#8217;s obligations under the law and, crucially, the very definition of &#8220;repeat infringer&#8221; and who gets to determine a subscriber as such.</p>
<p>For example, AT&#038;T previously <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/140-u-s-internet-providers-disconnect-persistent-pirates-140705/">stated</a> that it would never terminate customer accounts without a court order on the basis that only a court can decide what constitutes a repeat infringement.</p>
<p>By contrast, the current complaint suggests that Rightscorp is qualified to make that determination, even though it&#8217;s likely that the company has scant idea of the alleged infringers&#8217; true identities.</p>
<p>While BMG and Round Hill are seeking monetary damages from the ISP, Rightscorp itself has a huge interest in the publishers prevailing as success could boost its revenues elsewhere.</p>
<p>When Rightscorp sends its settlement demands to alleged infringers the company is known to include threats that if subscribers don&#8217;t pay, disconnection will be the outcome. While some ISPs <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/140-u-s-internet-providers-disconnect-persistent-pirates-140705/">do indeed disconnect</a> repeat infringers following Rightscorp claims, a court ruling in hand against Cox would be a powerful tool to force other ISPs down the same route.</p>
<p>Equally, however, a ruling in Cox&#8217;s favor could undermine the &#8220;muscle&#8221; behind Rightscorp&#8217;s pay-up-or-get-disconnected threats. But with the company currently teetering on the edge and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-firm-rightscorp-on-the-brink-of-bankruptcy-141114/">predicting closure</a> if it can&#8217;t get fresh cash injections, one last throw of the dice is probably worth the gamble.</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=97568
title: Sony Movies Leak Online After Hack Attack
uri: Sony-Movies-Leak-Online-After-Hack-Attack
url: //feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wY7pBWAYoFM/
content:
<p><a href="/images/sony.png"><img src="media/8f4d1e00.sony.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sony.png" alt="sony" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86419"></a>The company is certainly no stranger to security issues but this week has been particularly miserable even by Sony&#8217;s &#8216;high&#8217; standards.</p>
<p><a href="http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/11/sony-pictures-hackers-release-list-of-stolen-corporate-files/">Hacked on Monday</a> by a group calling themselves the Guardians of Peace, Sony Pictures&#8217; systems remain down today, a sign of the situation&#8217;s gravity.</p>
<p>While the attack appears to be aimed at punishing Sony for its actions in the past, reports suggest that the attackers also made off with an estimated 11,000 gigabytes of files. Seriously upping the ante, the hackers warned Sony that &#8220;sensitive&#8221; data would be released into the wild if their demands were not met.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/6f6d788a.sony-gop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sony-gop.jpg" alt="sony-gop"></center></p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/2n9zhv/i_used_to_work_for_sony_pictures_my_friend_still">thread on Reddit</a> has been piecing together details of what information could have been obtained and it&#8217;s not pretty. Documents containing passport and visa information for cast and crew working on Sony movies, Outlook inboxes, documents detailing the company&#8217;s IT systems plus accounting and research information appear to be just the tip of what could be a gigantic data iceberg.</p>
<p>Since this is Sony Pictures it will come as no surprise that video files are also reported as being part of the hackers&#8217; booty. Interestingly the first reports detailed pirated TV shows which may have been downloaded by Sony staff.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Adventure Time-2x04a-Power Animal.avi<br>
Adventure Time Her Parents.avi<br>
Adventure Time The Silent King.avi<br>
Adventure Time-2x09b-Susan Strong.avi<br>
Adventure Time-2x11a-Belly of the Beast.avi<br>
Human.Planet.S01E05.720p.BluRay.x264-SHORTBREHD.mkv<br>
Human.Planet.S01E02.720p.BluRay.x264-SHORTBREHD.mkv<br>
Human.Planet.S01E06.720p.BluRay.x264-SHORTBREHD.mkv<br>
Human.Planet.S01E03.720p.BluRay.x264-SHORTBREHD.mkv<br>
Human.Planet.S01E04.720p.BluRay.x264-SHORTBREHD.mkv<br>
Human.Planet.S01E01.720p.BluRay.x264-SHORTBREHD.mkv<br>
Human.Planet.S01E07.720p.BluRay.x264-SHORTBREHD.mkv </em></p></blockquote>
<p>But while Sony desperately tried to get its systems back online and figure out what had been taken, mid-week and within minutes of each other, DVD screener copies of four Sony movies began appearing online. Making matters worse, just one has been officially released in the United States. They are:</p>
<p>&#8216;<a href="http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/press_releases/2014/09_14/091214_stillalice.html">Still Alice</a>&#8216; starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin (US date: Jan 16, 2015)</p>
<p>&#8216;<a href="http://sonyclassics.com/mrturner/">Mr Turner</a>&#8216; starring Timothy Spall. (US date: Dec 19, 2014)</p>
<p>&#8216;<a href="http://www.annie-movie.com/site/">Annie</a>&#8216; starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz. (US date: Dec 19, 2014)</p>
<p>&#8216;<a href="http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/fury/">Fury</a>&#8216; starring Brad Pitt (US date: Oct 17, 2014)</p>
<p>In the absence of any useful comment from Sony there&#8217;s little to officially link the leaks with Monday&#8217;s hack attack. However, a page on popular torrent site 1337x reveals that a user uploaded these and another upcoming Sony movie (<a href="media/05320ae2.tumblr_inline_ness2vM1fb1ribzlo.jpg" data-original-source="http://media.tumblr.com/8165c97f236ac2ce84e9cea9a44586cf/tumblr_inline_ness2vM1fb1ribzlo.jpg">&#8216;To Write Love on Her Arms&#8217;</a> &#8211; US release date March 2015) on Wednesday or Thursday with a naming convention highlighting Sony.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/abd72a8f.god-movie.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/god-movie.jpg" alt="god-movie"></center></p>
<p>While all of the leaked titles are proving popular, the Sony-watermarked &#8216;Fury&#8217; is way out in front and currently the second most downloaded movie among Pirate Bay users.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/1b470166.sony-water.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sony-water.jpg" alt="sony-water"></center></p>
<p>Finally, among the thousands of files taken from Sony there are other items of interest to piracy watchers. The files detailed below appear to relate to the automatic content recognition systems operated by anti-piracy company Audible Magic.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>audible_magic_sftp_private_key.ppk<br>
audible_magic_sftp_private_key.ppk<br>
set_ssh-private-key-file.htm<br>
audible_magic_sftp_private_key.ppk<br>
private_and_private_key.txt</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Whether more Sony movies will appear online in the days to come remains to be seen, but the fallout from this week&#8217;s hack will send shockwaves through the company for 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=97531
title: Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde Picks Up Fight for a Free Internet
uri: Pirate-Bay-s-Peter-Sunde-Picks-Up-Fight-for-a-Free-Internet
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/j87vFcHfugY/
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>On November 10 former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-peter-sunde-released-prison-141011/">released</a> from the high security prison where he&#8217;d been detained since his arrest last May.</p>
<p>After more than two weeks on the outside Peter is still struggling to put his thoughts into words and come to terms with what happened, a process that needs time. </p>
<p>Peter, who was Pirate Bay&#8217;s public face but never got involved in day-to-day operations, sees his incarceration as a kidnapping. He never committed a crime, but was jailed for a made-up offense due to pressure from the copyright lobby.</p>
<p>While in prison Peter lost his father. Not being able to stand beside his loved ones during this time made it all so much worse. Slowly, however, there&#8217;s a light glimmering at the end of the tunnel, a light that strengthens Peter&#8217;s inner-urge as an Internet activist.</p>
<p>Today, Peter is kind enough to share some of his thoughts on the past and future with TF and the many people who spoke out in his support during the past few months.</p>
<p>Looking back at the difficult months in prison, and ahead to his future as a free man, it&#8217;s clear that Peter hasn&#8217;t given up on his fight to preserve a free and open Internet. Quite the contrary.</p>
<p>&#8220;Data is the oil of our century and the fight against piracy is our version of the invasion of Kuwait. Put this into context and the fight for a free and open network becomes something else. It becomes the fight for a free humanity and open society,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p><em><strong>TF:</strong> Looking back at your time in prison, what was the hardest part?</em></p>
<p><strong>Peter:</strong> The hardest part was actually not being there, but the fact that I could not take care of things outside. The people who depend on me, especially my father, didn’t have me there when they needed me. People I work with had (and still have) to work much harder since I’m not around to take care of things. </p>
<p>The other things, the fact that the “food” was uneatable and unhealthy, the fact that there was nothing to put your mind into besides books and letters which essentially makes one lose one&#8217;s intellectual skills. The fact that you’re never really treated as a human being but rather a bastard that deserves shit, are all awful things but not comparable to the feeling of being un-free in a situation of crisis.</p>
<p><em><strong>TF:</strong> Was there anything positive?<br>
</em></p>
<p><strong>Peter:</strong> The positive things? I realize that criminals in general are not the people one should be afraid of. Criminals are mostly products of a state that didn&#8217;t care enough for its citizens. The people they commit crimes against are victims of victims. The most dangerous criminals I met inside were those who committed the crime of breaking human rights on a daily basis. They are the ones making sure that criminals keep being criminals. But positive? The most positive thing was leaving.</p>
<p><em><strong>TF:</strong> You mention the term &#8220;kidnapping&#8221; in relation to the prison sentence. Can you elaborate on that?</em></p>
<p><strong>Peter:</strong> Well yes. Kidnapping: &#8220;In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful taking away or transportation of a person against that person&#8217;s will, usually to hold the person unlawfully.”  &#8211; there’s no legal merit in taking me, because I&#8217;ve never committed a crime. The state has abused their powers. The whole case is similar to me saying that someone owns me money, making a false receipt and then taking the money from that persons wallet. Noone would consider that right or legal. Hence, the state kidnapped me.</p>
<p><em><strong>TF:</strong> Can you tell us a little bit about the projects you&#8217;re working on, or have planned for the future?<br>
</em></p>
<p><strong>Peter:</strong> I’m working on lots of things, as usual. I&#8217;ve wasted a lot of time during my kidnapping, and I still need some time to catch up with myself. Not (only) because of the kidnapping, mostly for family reasons. There are big things coming, besides the public things such as heml.is (which btw, is awfully close to release and the team is awfully awesome) and a new version of Flattr which will turn a lot of heads. The bigger things are not announced nor public, and mostly still in the planning stages. But it will be bigger than the other projects.</p>
<p><em><strong>TF:</strong> Have you come to any new insights over the past months, or new project ideas?<br>
</em></p>
<p><strong>Peter: </strong>Lots of ideas! My issue has always been that I have a lot of ideas that I want done, but usually not the funds, time or team (because of the funds mostly) to make them happen. I&#8217;ve decided to work less hands-on with tech and rather focus on the idea development. </p>
<p>I&#8217;ve always tried to merge my views on politics with tech, but I also need to merge those things with reaching out to the mainstream public. That’s my next thing. Not going more mainstream, but reaching out to it more. Also, I&#8217;ve decided to spend more time on hobbies (such as my work in comedy and architectural design) since I think it’s better to get a break from doing the same thing 24 hours a day.</p>
<p><em><strong>TF:</strong> What are the main threats the Internet faces today? How should these be addressed? Do you plan to get involved yourself?<br>
</em></p>
<p><strong>Peter:</strong> I’ve been involved for as long as I can remember now, and I’m never stopping. The main threats are the same as always &#8211; the quest for control and power. Everyday more people connect to the network, and every day we move power away from users to big corporations that have lobbyists employed to make sure they’re allowed to centralize. All these corporations, that claim to love the free and open web, that say that the free market ensures it will be a-ok, really lock down the internet and buy their competitors so that they own the markets. </p>
<p>If we don’t stop it now it will end up in an armed revolution in a few years. The internet has gone from being a playground for new technology and entertainment to becoming the bearer of almost all communication, information and expressions; while still being treated as a playground in a sense. The market owners play with our personal information for a profit, states play around with our secrets and integrity (and for that matter, other states secrets and integrity). </p>
<p>All while we, the people, use the systems that enslave us to try to kill the beast. We click “like” on Facebook when we see a group trying to stop Facebook from violating our human rights. We need to wake up out of that stupidity and demand our rights back.</p>
<p>The past decades we all saw the internet being free. We can’t imagine a non-free network today. But it will become locked up, closed down, segregated, if we’re still this naive further down the line.</p>
<p>It’s never been about just the free downloads for me. They just happened to be the first step, the first fight. Data is the oil of our century and the fight against piracy is our version of the invasion of Kuwait. Put this into context and the fight for a free and open network becomes something else. It becomes the fight for a free humanity and open society.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Based on the above it&#8217;s clear that the Internet hasn&#8217;t heard the last of Peter just yet, whether it&#8217;s <a href="https://heml.is/">Heml.is</a>, <a href="https://flattr.com/">Flattr</a> or any of the new projects. We wish Peter all the best in accomplishing his goals and want to thank him profoundly for sharing his thoughts with us, which wasn&#8217;t easy. </p>
<p>Finalizing our question round we asked Peter where he wants to be in 10 years. </p>
<p>&#8220;Still in love,&#8221; he replied.</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=97606
title: Torrent Site Admin Sentenced to Five Months Prison
uri: Torrent-Site-Admin-Sentenced-to-Five-Months-Prison
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/u0ra35caUFQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/c845c7d0.tankaner.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tankaner.jpg"><img src="media/c845c7d0.tankaner.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tankaner.jpg" alt="tankaner" width="190" height="101" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97611"></a>When it comes to file-sharing news arriving from Sweden, these days it&#8217;s rarely something positive. Week after week there&#8217;s news of a fresh prosecution, or historical cases being brought to a conclusion.</p>
<p>This Thursday a case running since 2012 came to an end, with a particularly miserable outcome for the man involved.</p>
<p>It began two years ago when anti-piracy outfit Rights Alliance filed a complaint against a man they believed to be the owner of torrent site Tankaner. Local police launched an investigation and the man was later arrested. </p>
<p>In April 2014 the man was prosecuted for copyright infringement related to the illegal distribution of 32 movies during 2012 and 2013. At the time prosecutor Fredrik Inglad said that since there were ads on the site he would be pushing for a prison sentence.</p>
<p>In his defense the 40-year-old claimed that he&#8217;d disposed of the site four years ago. But according to Rights Alliance lawyer Henrik Pontén, the court didn&#8217;t buy that version of events.</p>
<p>&#8220;There was extensive evidence against the man in the form of signed contracts for the piracy server, login information, book keeping, e-mails and a photo in which he is posing in a T-shirt with &#8216;Tankaner&#8217; printed on it,&#8221; Pontén told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;The man argued that he was innocent and that he had transferred the operation from him to unknown persons who had made alterations to his encrypted computer while he was asleep. The court did not accept this version of events.&#8221;</p>
<p>Pontén says that the Court applied principles from the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hyperlinking-is-not-copyright-infringement-eu-court-rules-140213/">Svensson case</a> previously referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union by Sweden’s Court of Appeal.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the case the suspect argued similar stand points to the ones argued by the suspects in the Pirate Bay case and they were dismissed on the same merits. However a difference from the Pirate Bay case is that the man was convicted as a direct infringer and not for contributory infringement,&#8221; Pontén adds.</p>
<p>On Thursday the Uppsala District Court sentenced the man to five months in prison. Rights Alliance are now seeking damages for one of the movies made available to the public.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Tankaner <a href="http://www.tankaner.com">remains online</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=97615
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 12/01/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-12-01-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lnTV9KqsKWY/
content:
<p><a href="media/1d9ddfd2.turtles.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/turtles.jpg"><img src="media/1d9ddfd2.turtles.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/turtles.jpg" alt="turtles" width="300" height="169" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97621"></a>This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 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-141124/">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/teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles_2013/">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291150/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdgNSJiWJTo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_maze_runner/">The Maze Runner</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790864/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-iSYVmMVY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</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>4</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/predestination/">Predestination</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2397535/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcQacCfi_pw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fury_2015/">Fury</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2713180/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKu5lGfRBxc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lucy_2014/">Lucy</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872732/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hpupbliDbk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(3)</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>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/left_behind_2014/">Left Behind</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2467046/">3.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uskSBJsCf38">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(7)</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>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/interstellar_2014/?search=interstellar">Interstellar</a> (TS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/">9.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm8p5rlrSkY">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=97445
title: Pirates Expose Their Download Habits Through Trakt
uri: Pirates-Expose-Their-Download-Habits-Through-Trakt
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0rH6u42E6c8/
content:
<p><a href="media/771f3d13.traktlogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/traktlogo.jpg"><img src="media/a3a8f600.traktlogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/traktlogo.jpg" alt="traktlogo" width="160" height="160" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97500"></a>With over a quarter million users <a href="http://trakt.tv/">Trakt</a> is one of the most popular communities for movie and TV fans.</p>
<p>The service allows users to keep track of the videos they watch throughout the week, either manually or automatically via media players such as VLC, XBMC and Popcorn Time.</p>
<p>Trakt processes and stores downloading habits so its users can keep track of what they&#8217;re watching. By default it also allows others to see this information as well, and that&#8217;s where things start to become problematic.</p>
<p>Trakt appears to be relatively popular among pirates. A quick glance at the <a href="http://trakt.tv/charts/movies">most popular movies</a> shows that most are still playing in theater. These could technically all be manual entries, but the &#8220;currently watching&#8221; lists shows that this isn&#8217;t the case.</p>
<p>For example, at the time of writing there were several Trakt users watching the latest box-office hit &#8220;<a href="http://trakt.tv/movie/interstellar-2014">Interstellar</a>&#8221; via XBMC and Infuse. Also, the overview of the movie &#8220;<a href="http://trakt.tv/movie/lucy-2014">Lucy</a>&#8221; shown below lists several Popcorn Time users checking in a pirated copy of the film. </p>
<p><center><a href="media/443377c5.lucy-trakt.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lucy-trakt.jpg"><img src="media/443377c5.lucy-trakt.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lucy-trakt.jpg" alt="lucy-trakt" width="954" height="753" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97498"></a></center></p>
<p>Of course people have to decide for themselves if they want to display their piracy habits to the rest of the world, but they shouldn&#8217;t complain if a movie studio comes knocking on their door. </p>
<p>We&#8217;ve just spent a few minutes looking through the profiles of several Popcorn Time users, who all display their browsing habits in public. Needless to say, this offers unique opportunities for copyright trolls.  </p>
<p>Copyright holders only have to write down a few usernames and ask the court for a subpoena to expose their personal info. </p>
<p>Trakt is very clear about the fact that it helps private parties to enforce and comply with the law, and will have no other option than to hand over the requested information if they&#8217;re faced with a subpoena. </p>
<p><em>&#8220;We will disclose any information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate to respond to claims and legal process (including but not limited to subpoenas)&#8230;&#8221;</em> Trakt&#8217;s <a href="http://trakt.tv/privacy">privacy policy</a> reads.</p>
<p>So without too much hassle rightsholders can get their hands on pirates&#8217; IP-addresses, email addresses, payment information, a database of files watched and at what times, etcetera.</p>
<p>And then there&#8217;s the added risk of running into scammers. </p>
<p>Many &#8220;pirating&#8221; Trakt users have profile images and usernames that can easily lead to a person&#8217;s identity. It took us less than a minute to dig up an email address of a Popcorn Time user, info that scammers could exploit to falsely threaten legal action while posing as a copyright holder.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s trouble waiting to happen. </p>
<p>Most pirating Trakt users are probably not aware of the risks above, but in any case it might be wise for the privacy minded to avoid the service.</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=97626
title: US Efforts to Jail Dotcom Fail as Kim Walks Free
uri: US-Efforts-to-Jail-Dotcom-Fail-as-Kim-Walks-Free
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/A3yPNPz46Mk/
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 three days of hearings in Auckland, Kim Dotcom left court smiling today.</p>
<p>The recent appearances were triggered by new claims from United States authorities who want to extradite Dotcom to face charges of copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering.</p>
<p>They alleged that the Megaupload founder had breached his bail conditions on numerous occasions since his arrest in early 2012 and should put back behind bars as a result.</p>
<p>Relying on what appeared to be <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-brands-kim-dotcom-fugitive-spies-others-141120/">wiretap evidence</a> from FBI Special Agent Rodney Hays, who did not appear in court, the Crown said that Dotcom had indirectly associated with Julius Bencko, a former Megaupload developer also named in the U.S. indictment.</p>
<p>During the hearing it was also put to Dotcom that with his knowledge, estranged wife, Mona, had attempted to sell a 2010 Rolls Royce Phantom, a $500,000 forfeitable asset.</p>
<p>Also of concern to the United States is Dotcom&#8217;s alleged wealth. Last week Dotcom admitted that since his arrest in 2012 he&#8217;d made $40m, but that had all been spent on a luxurious lifestyle and funding a $10m legal battle. The Crown argued that it could not be ruled out that Dotcom had money hidden away, a factor which elevated him as a flight risk.</p>
<p>Also under discussion was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dotcom-loses-lawyers-then-they-erase-all-history-of-him-141113/">the exit</a> of Dotcom&#8217;s legal team, which reportedly ditched him after learning that the money had run out. This would be a significant problem for Dotcom during next year&#8217;s extradition battle and could indicate that the Megaupload founder would flee rather than face extradition, the Crown argued.</p>
<p>But in the end, none of the arguments convinced the Auckland District Court to jail Dotcom today.</p>
<p>Judge Nevin Dawson said there was &#8220;no proof&#8221; that Dotcom had contacted former Megaupload staff, nor was there evidence to back up claims that he&#8217;d hidden money away to facilitate a pre-extradition escape from New Zealand.</p>
<p>However, Judge Dawson did recognize that the risk of Dotcom fleeing would increase as next year&#8217;s hearing nears so with that in mind he banned the entrepreneur from traveling by helicopter or sea, unless that transport is via a public service. Dotcom was also ordered to double up on his current once weekly visits to a police station.</p>
<p>Leaving the Court, a clearly relieved Dotcom told waiting reporters that he had been exonerated.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Court has found that i&#8217;ve not breached any of my bail conditions,&#8221; Dotcom said.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have been probably the most compliant and exemplary candidate and I am surprised, even though I&#8217;m going home right now, that my bail conditions have been tightened.&#8221;</p>
<p>Dotom said that the attempt to revoke his bail was timed by local and U.S. authorities to exploit his during a moment of weakness.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think this is another example of harassment and bullying by the United States government in concert with the New Zealand government,&#8221; he <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/63702162/Kim-Dotcom-earned-40m-while-on-bail-court-hears">said</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think this whole application was only made because my lawyers decided to resign because of lack of funds on my part because Hollywood has seized the new family assets that have been earned after the raid. So the Crown and the U.S. government have used this opportunity in a weak moment to make up the bogus case for me having breached my bail conditions.&#8221;</p>
<p>Dotcom went further still, accusing the FBI&#8217;s Special Agent Rodney Hays of flat-out lying to the Court.</p>
<p>&#8220;I invite every member of the media to have a look at the Court file and see how an FBI agent lied in his declarations that I have attempted to sell a car, that I have attempted to get a refund for forfeitable assets, and that I have breached my bail conditions by being directly or indirectly in contact with one of my co-defendants,&#8221; Dotcom said.</p>
<p>&#8220;All these things have been proven to be wrong, and lies, and I invite everyone to have a look at this to understand the tactics of the U.S. government and to understand that the U.S. government can not be treated with candor and good faith in this case.</p>
<p>&#8220;The same thing that I&#8217;ve experienced in this bail hearing I&#8217;ve also experienced with the indictment, which is just as flawed and wrong and misleading and  malicious as this bail proceeding was.&#8221;</p>
<p>Handing questions over to his lawyer Ron Mansfield, who Dotcom praised for doing an excellent job, the German smiled.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am now going home to play with my kids.&#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=97629
title: FilesTube Transforms ‘Piracy Haven’ into Licenced Movie Aggregator
uri: FilesTube-Transforms-Piracy-Haven-into-Licenced-Movie-Aggregator
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7ZfVDLdVk4s/
content:
<p><a href="media/4e60df57.filestube-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/filestube-new.png"><img src="media/4e60df57.filestube-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/filestube-new.png" alt="filestube-new" width="255" height="143" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97649"></a>Founded in 2007, Polish-operated FilesTube is the largest meta-search engine for content hosted on cyberlockers such as Uploaded, 4Shared and Mediafire. </p>
<p>At one point in time the site had <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-largest-file-sharing-sites-110828/">several million visitors</a> a day, but this popularity decayed in recent years in part through Google&#8217;s anti-piracy measures. </p>
<p>The site does still have plenty of visitors though, and last month it was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-pirate-bay-attacks-fundamental-human-rights-141028/">highlighted by the RIAA</a> as one of the top pirate sites on the Internet. </p>
<p>Hoping to shake off this pirate image, <a href="http://filestube.to">FilesTube</a> shut down its search engine today. Instead, it transformed itself into a video portal through which users can watch licensed content, for free.</p>
<p>&#8220;FilesTube is now a film aggregation platform, using third-party video players. The business model change means that the site is now an aggregator of only licensed content,&#8221; a spokesperson tells TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Users now have the option to stream films and series directly on FilesTube. These are free, legal, and can&#8217;t be downloaded,&#8221; FilesTube adds. </p>
<p>The change from a search engine of virtually all popular online media to a licensed platform is a big one. The site now lists relatively unknown content and not the Hollywood blockbusters many users were used to. Music, books, games and other media categories are entirely gone.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/2eefb5f0.new-filestube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/new-filestube.jpg"><img src="media/2eefb5f0.new-filestube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/new-filestube.jpg" alt="new-filestube" width="777" height="1047" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97648"></a></center></p>
<p>With the move to a licensed platform FilesTube no longer has to rely on shady ads and pop-unders. This increases revenue potential as the site can run higher value advertisements. </p>
<p>To build traffic FilesTube is offering partners hard cash in exchange for traffic. The site has been hit hard by Google&#8217;s algorithm changes in the past so it can&#8217;t rely on search engine traffic anymore.</p>
<p>&#8220;As one of our marketing channels FilesTube has started an affiliate program. Now Filestube users can earn up to $10 per 1000 visits by promoting legal content on websites and social media,&#8221; FilesTube tells TF. </p>
<p>During the coming months FilesTube will continue to expand its content library and hopefully add more mainstream content. At the site time, it hopes that the remnants of its pirate image will fade away. </p>
<p>Google has received <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/domains/filestube.com/">more than 10 million</a> DMCA notices for the site, and currently downranks the site in its search engine. Similarly, a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-bittorrent-and-music-download-sites-pushed-underground-in-the-uk-131030/">UK High Court order</a> still requires the country&#8217;s major ISPs to block access to the site.</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=97658
title: Kim Dotcom Announces United States Political Party
uri: Kim-Dotcom-Announces-United-States-Political-Party
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JF1hQaBbtsU/
content:
<p><a href="media/fefd6c89.internetparty.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/internetparty.png"><img src="media/8ac2132a.internetparty.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/internetparty.png" alt="internetparty" width="243" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-90114"></a>Just twenty-four hours ago Kim Dotcom was staring disaster in the face, his freedom hanging in the balance on the words of a New Zealand judge.</p>
<p>U.S. authorities claimed that Dotcom had breached his bail conditions on several occasions in the hope they could place the businessman back behind bars.</p>
<p>With his legal team <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dotcom-loses-lawyers-then-they-erase-all-history-of-him-141113/">mostly resigned</a>, Dotcom faced the court with a single lawyer and pulled it off. Allegations against him dismissed, the German <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/us-efforts-to-jail-dotcom-fail-as-kim-walks-free-141201/">left the court a free man</a>, ready to fight another day.</p>
<p>Not content with cruising speed, this morning Dotcom stomped his foot on the gas once more, announcing what could be his biggest challenge yet.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Internet Party is coming to the United States in 2015,&#8221; he announced <a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom">on Twitter</a>.</p>
<p>The political arena is no stranger to Dotcom. The Megaupload founder pumped millions of dollars into the original New Zealand-based Internet Party in the lead up to the 2014 elections there, although that foray into politics ended mostly in disappointment.</p>
<p>One of the administrative issues faced by Dotcom in his New Zealand campaign was his nationality. As a German he could not stand himself, so instead the Internet Party forged a partnership with the Mana Party whose leader ultimately ended up losing his seat. </p>
<p>In the United States Dotcom will face similar hurdles, but it appears plans are already in place to not only shake up politics, but to do so using players from some of the very industries currently hounding him.</p>
<p>&#8220;Stay tuned for our celebrity founders from the music, film and Internet industry,&#8221; Dotcom teased this morning.</p>
<p>Cracking the United States will be no easy task and will require more funding than the estimated $3m Dotcom pumped into his New Zealand campaign. However, Dotcom possesses considerable skills in grabbing the attention of the media so will be a great asset on the PR front, a role he has confirmed.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Internet Party US will be well funded and run by American citizens. I will help with Public Relations ;-),&#8221; he wrote.</p>
<p>The funding issue could also prove to be an interesting one since only last week Dotcom announced that he&#8217;s &#8220;officially broke&#8221;. Despite having earned $40 million since his assets were seized back in 2012, Dotcom says his luxury lifestyle and hefty legal bills have swallowed it all up.</p>
<p>In a parting shot this morning, Dotcom again protested his innocence and denied U.S. government claims that he&#8217;s a fugitive and likely to flee. The icing on the cake was a reference to a certain Clinton and her anticipated presidential run.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not a pirate. I&#8217;m not a fugitive. I&#8217;m not a flight risk,&#8221; Dotcom declared. &#8220;I&#8217;m your Internet Freedom fighter AND Hillary&#8217;s worst nightmare in 2016!&#8221;</p>
<p>In the wake of the Internet Party&#8217;s election defeat in New Zealand, Dotcom declared his brand &#8220;poisoned&#8221; and briefly retreated out of the spotlight. However, recent headlines have shown there is still a broad  appetite for Dotcom&#8217;s unique blend of drama, but whether US citizens will want that injected into their politics remains to be seen.</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=97670
title: Demonoid Frustrates Censors With Domain Name Switch
uri: Demonoid-Frustrates-Censors-With-Domain-Name-Switch
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0RVfyLncnOE/
content:
<p><a href="media/bfffa813.demonoid-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/demonoid-logo.jpg"><img src="media/6c7a4ac9.demonoid-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/demonoid-logo.jpg" alt="demonoid-logo" width="250" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94766"></a>As one of the oldest torrent communities online the Demonoid tracker has had its fair share of troubles over the years.</p>
<p>Earlier in 2014 the site <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-back-140330/">returned</a> after nearly two years of downtime, which began following a DDoS attack and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-busted-as-a-gift-to-the-united-states-government-120806/">legal troubles</a> in Ukraine. </p>
<p>Since then Demonoid has been rebuilding its community up to a point where it now has millions of visitors per month, making it one of the largest torrent sites online once again.</p>
<p>In an effort to obstruct the site&#8217;s growth Demonoid is now plagued by blocking requests from copyright holders. Last month the site was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-get-demonoid-blocked-in-italy-for-now-141003/">blocked by Italian ISPs</a> and a few days ago major ISPs in the UK were <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-piracy-blocklist-expands-with-demonoid-isohunt-iptorrents-and-more-141127/">told to do the same</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, the site&#8217;s visibility on Google has significantly diminished. Those who Google for &#8220;demonoid&#8221; will see a Wikipedia entry as the top result because the Demonoid.ph domain was removed following a <a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/1576272">takedown notice</a>. </p>
<p>In what appears to be a response to these censorship efforts, Demonoid switched domain names today. Out of the blue the site began redirecting its .ph domain to demonoid.pw which uses Palau &#8216;s TLD .pw.</p>
<p>The new domain was registered this weekend just days after reports of a fresh UK High Court injunction ordering ISPs to block the site.</p>
<p>The true motives for the recent domain changes remain unconfirmed at this point. TorrentFreak reached out to the Demonoid team for more details but we have yet to hear back. </p>
<p>If it&#8217;s indeed an effort to beat the various censorship attempts, the effects will be limited. While Italian ISP blockades are relatively easy to circumvent with a new domain, UK ISPs are generally quick to update their blocklists.  </p>
<p>For now Demonoid.pw is still accessible in the UK via most ISPs, although it has to be noted that some still have to implement the most recent block. </p>
<p>ISP blockades aside, the torrent site will definitely start with a <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/domains/demonoid.pw/">clean sheet</a> on Google. This means that it&#8217;s only a matter of days before Demonoid will have its own domain as the top result again, for as long as it lasts.</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=97734
title: Pirate Site Blockades Can Be Challenged, BT Says
uri: Pirate-Site-Blockades-Can-Be-Challenged-BT-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/w586bDxlLOA/
content:
<p><a href="media/5ceed422.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg"><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076"></a>Following a series of High Court orders, six UK ISPs are required to block subscriber access to so-called &#8220;pirate&#8221; sites, including The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents.</p>
<p>The latest orders were announced <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-piracy-blocklist-expands-with-demonoid-isohunt-iptorrents-and-more-141127/">last week</a> and require that ISPs block an additional 23 sites. This brings the total number of blocked sites to 93 and the end is not yet in sight. </p>
<p>In a response to the blocking bonanza BT decided to follow in the footsteps <a href="http://help.sky.com/articles/websites-blocked-under-order-of-the-high-court">of Sky</a> by listing a complete overview of all sites censored following requests from the movie and music industries. </p>
<p>BT subscribers who now try to access one of the blocked domains are redirected to <a href="http://www.ukispcourtorders.co.uk/">ukispcourtorders.co.uk</a> which offers a full rundown of the court orders. In addition, BT informs its subscribers that the High Court decisions can be challenged. </p>
<p>&#8220;You have the right to apply to the High Court to vary or discharge the Orders below if you are affected by the blocks which have been imposed,&#8221; BT writes, adding that potential appellants should direct their requests to the UK High Court. </p>
<p><center><a href="media/33d7e803.blockedbt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blockedbt.png"><img src="media/33d7e803.blockedbt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blockedbt.png" alt="blockedbt" width="600" height="490" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97742"></a></center></p>
<p>While it&#8217;s unlikely that individual subscribers will be successful in getting a blockade lifted, the affected sites may have more success.</p>
<p>Earlier this week <a href="http://filestube.com">FilesTube</a> transformed its site from a file-host search engine into a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/filestube-transforms-piracy-haven-into-licenced-movie-aggregator-141201/">licensed movie portal</a>. As a result it can no longer be seen as a &#8220;pirate&#8221; site, but the UK block remains in place. </p>
<p>TF contacted the FilesTube team who told us that they will take up BT&#8217;s advice and file a request for their site to be whitelisted.  </p>
<p>&#8220;We are currently preparing to challenge the blockade at the High Court. Hopefully FilesTube will be available again to all UK Internet subscribers in the near future,&#8221; a FilesTube spokesperson says. </p>
<p>BT, meanwhile, is unlikely to appeal any of the blockades itself. The Internet provider previously fought and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isp-bt-given-14-days-to-block-newzbin2-111026/">lost a similar case</a> against the MPA in 2011, and stopped protesting subsequent blocking requests made on copyright grounds.</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=97702
title: ISPs Must Take Responsibility For Sony Movie Leaks, MP Says
uri: ISPs-Must-Take-Responsibility-For-Sony-Movie-Leaks-MP-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nLSHn3NegmE/
content:
<p><a href="media/eb50544b.sony.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sony.png"><img src="media/8f4d1e00.sony.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sony.png" alt="sony" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86419"></a>Last week&#8217;s massive hack of Sony Pictures could hardly have been more high-profile and if reports thus far are to be believed, damage to the company could be significant.</p>
<p>Rather than dropping away, this week momentum is building. In addition to the early leaks, available on BitTorrent networks right now is a 25.87GB data dump featuring the personal details of Sony staff including their names, addresses, salaries and social security numbers.</p>
<p>Not only is this file damaging (it reveals rather healthy executive remuneration packages) it&#8217;s also adding to the already considerable mystery surrounding the case. Early in the torrent&#8217;s life, dozens of Sony-linked Amazon IP addresses <a href="https://twitter.com/viss/status/539602391088115712">were observed</a> on the torrent provoking theories ranging from honey-pots to <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2014/12/03/sony-playstation-serving-hacked-data/">hijacked servers</a>.</p>
<p>Another mysterious element emerging now involves the torrent&#8217;s unique hash. Search for 957DC0A8 04EB8C28 2F33988E B9096974 FC3761C9 using Google or Bing and there are zero results (at least before publication of this article) which is extremely unusual indeed. Whichever way this torrent made its way online, it almost certainly wasn&#8217;t via any conventional route.</p>
<p>As the drama continues, finding someone to blame for the whole debacle is at the forefront. Speculation is rife, with accusatory fingers being pointed as far away as North Korea and as close to home as current Sony employees. It comes as no surprise, however, that picking on easier targets has already slipped onto the agenda.</p>
<p>As first reported <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/sony-movies-leak-online-after-hack-attack-141129/">here on TF</a>, following the hacks last week several unreleased Sony movies leaked online. Fury, featuring Brad Pitt, was by far the highest profile and today we can confirm that the title has been downloaded by BitTorrent users more than a million times.</p>
<p><center><br>
<h5>Fury &#8211; Now downloaded more than a million times</h5>
<p><img src="media/3f2e12ee.fury-million.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fury-million.jpg" alt="fury-million"></center></p>
<p>But with Kim Jong Un beyond Western justice and millions of torrent users too much of a headache to round up, the middle men are yet again being drawn into the fight.</p>
<p>Mike Weatherley MP, the recent IP advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron, has published several <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/?s=Mike+Weatherley">piracy reports</a> including one earlier in the year examining the advertising revenue on pirate sites. He believes that companies with no direct connection to the hack or subsequent leaks should shoulder some blame.</p>
<p>“Piracy is a huge international problem. The recent cyber-attack on Sony and subsequent release of films to illegal websites is just one high-profile example of how criminals exploit others’ Intellectual Property,&#8221; Weatherley writes in an email to TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, the theft of these films – and their subsequent downloads – has been facilitated by web-hosting companies and, ultimately, ISPs who do have to step-up and take some responsibility.”</p>
<p>Weatherley doesn&#8217;t provide detail on precisely why web-hosts and ISPs should take responsibility for the work of malicious hackers (possibly state-sponsored) and all subsequent fall out from attacks. The theory is that &#8220;something&#8221; should be done, but precisely what remains elusive. </p>
<p>In the UK, on Weatherley&#8217;s home turf, almost every major torrent site is already blocked by ISPs. The <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-piracy-blocklist-expands-with-demonoid-isohunt-iptorrents-and-more-141127/">latest wave</a> arrived in the past few days but with <a href="http://avoidcensorship.com/">proxy sites</a> appearing even more quickly, progress is limited.</p>
<p>Overall, it&#8217;s clear that forcing technology companies into shouldering blame for the actions of others is a difficult game and one that has yet to make any noticeable dent in piracy volumes. Still, that won&#8217;t stop rightsholders pursuing <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/cox-communications-sued-for-not-disconnecting-pirates-141128/">claims</a> against them and influential characters like Weatherley pushing for reform.</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=97698
title: Pinterest Sued Over Pirated Photos, Imgur Off The Hook
uri: Pinterest-Sued-Over-Pirated-Photos-Imgur-Off-The-Hook
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lO5tGxjgHUk/
content:
<p><a href="media/450bd333.pinit.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pinit.png"><img src="media/450bd333.pinit.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pinit.png" alt="pinit" width="234" height="138" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97707"></a>When it comes to online piracy most attention usually goes out to music, TV-shows and movies. However, photos are arguably the most-infringed works online.</p>
<p>While most photographers spend little time battling piracy, Seattle-based artist <a href="http://bigappetites.net/">Christopher Boffoli</a> has taken some of the largest web services to court for aiding infringement.</p>
<p>Boffoli has filed lawsuits against Twitter, Google and others, which were settled out of court under undisclosed terms. Last week the photographer filed a new lawsuit, this time targeting the popular image collection platform <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinterest">Pinterest</a>.</p>
<p>According to the complaint Pinterest is hosting 56 photos from Boffoli&#8217;s well-known &#8220;Big Appetites&#8221; series. These photos are hosted without permission and Pinterest allegedly failed to take them down when the photographer sent a takedown notice.</p>
<p><center><strong>Boffoli&#8217;s photos on Pinterest</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/6ba1adb2.boffpinterest.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/boffpinterest.jpg"><img src="media/6ba1adb2.boffpinterest.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/boffpinterest.jpg" alt="boffpinterest" width="600" height="476" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97705"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Upon discovering the Infringing Content, on August 19, 2014 Boffoli sent Pinterest’s designated agent an email notifying Pinterest of the Infringing Content,&#8221; the complaint (<a href="media/28ddafb4.boffoli-pinterest.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/boffoli-pinterest.pdf">pdf</a>) reads, adding that the notices complied with all DMCA requirements.</p>
<p>Despite being alerted to the infringing material, Pinterest took no action. The only reply Boffoli received was an automated message asking him  rate Pinterest’s customer support.</p>
<p>&#8220;To date, Pinterest has not removed or disabled access to the Infringing Content. In other words, the Infringing Content is still accessible to the public on Pinterest’s server,&#8221; Boffoli&#8217;s lawyers write. </p>
<p>The photographer is asking the court to order an injunction preventing Pinterest from making his work available. In addition, the complaint asks for actual and statutory damages for willful copyright infringement.</p>
<p>With at least 56 photos in the lawsuit, Pinterest theoretically faces more than $8 million in damages. Thus far the company hasn’t responded to the complaint but at the time of writing the URLs are no longer linking to infringing content.</p>
<p>Two months ago Boffoli launched a similar <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/photographer-sues-imgur-for-failing-to-remove-copyrighted-photos-140929/">case</a> against popular image sharing site Imgur. This case was dismissed on Monday, meaning that the image hosting site is off the hook. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear whether a deal was made behind closed doors, but considering previous court actions this doesn&#8217;t seem unlikely.</p>
<p>The Imgur case resulted in some negative backlash for the photographer as 20,754 of his photos were <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/photographer-who-sued-imgur-now-has-a-pirate-bay-problem-141022/">uploaded to The Pirate Bay</a> in response. Given the history of the deviant torrent site, these copies won&#8217;t be removed anytime soon.</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=97817
title: Court Orders French ISPs to Block The Pirate Bay
uri: Court-Orders-French-ISPs-to-Block-The-Pirate-Bay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/c4WOelgL_CE/
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>Hounded by copyright holders all around the world for a decade, somehow The Pirate Bay manages to stay afloat. Today the site is doing as well as ever, despite the jailing of the now-famous individuals behind the project.</p>
<p>Faced with an adversary that to date has proven impossible to kill, entertainment companies have chosen what they believe to be the next best course of action. If the site itself can&#8217;t be stopped, then users must be stopped from reaching the site.</p>
<p>This has been achieved by court-ordered ISP blockades in various regions of the world, notably Europe. Today comes news of yet another blocking injunction, this time in France.</p>
<p>The legal process was initiated earlier this year by collection society and anti-piracy group La Société Civile des Producteurs Phonographiques, or SCPP as it&#8217;s more commonly known.</p>
<p>Late Thursday the organization, which represents in excess of 2,000 labels including Warner, Universal and Sony, announced victory in a short statement.</p>
<p>Welcoming a decision handed down by the Paris Court, SCPP said that French service providers will soon be required to &#8220;implement all necessary measures&#8221; to prevent consumer access not only to The Pirate Bay, but also &#8220;its proxy and mirror sites&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;This decision is another step in the fight against music piracy and one that strengthens existing similar decisions in the EU and worldwide,&#8221; SCPP said.</p>
<p>Although the details of the injunction are still to be published, the introduction of a clause which orders the blocking of proxy and mirror sites could be a significant achievement for the labels.</p>
<p>Guillaume Champeau of French news outlet Numerama informs TorrentFreak that SCPP previously <a href="http://www.numerama.com/magazine/20800-comment-tmg-traquera-les-sites-pirates-pour-bloquer-leurs-clones.html">pushed</a> for automatic proxy-accommodating court orders, but without success.</p>
<p>While no announcements have yet been made, it&#8217;s likely that this action against The Pirate Bay and its mirrors won&#8217;t be the last for the French labels and their counterparts in the movie and TV industries. If earlier predictions hold out, more sites will quickly move onto the radars of outfits such as SCPP.</p>
<p>For an indication of what can happen one only needs to look a couple of dozen miles north to the UK. After several years of court action, all major ISPs are required to block most major torrent sites and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-piracy-blocklist-expands-with-demonoid-isohunt-iptorrents-and-more-141127/">even some private trackers</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> <a href="http://www.nextinpact.com/news/91261-telecharger-en-pdf-decision-blocage-the-pirate-bay.htm">Nextinpact</a> has a copy of the verdit which includes the following domains.</p>
<p><strong>Main site:</strong><br>
ThePirateBay.se</p>
<p><strong>Redirects:</strong><br>
piratebay.net<br>
piratebay.org<br>
piratebay.se<br>
piratebay.vg<br>
thehydrabay.net<br>
thehydrabay.org<br>
themusicbay.com<br>
themusicbay.net<br>
themusicbay.org<br>
thepiratebay.cc<br>
thepiratebay.com<br>
thepiratebay.net<br>
thepiratebay.org<br>
thepiratebay.qa<br>
thepiratebay.se<br>
thepiratebay.sh<br>
thepiratebay.tw<br>
thepiratebay.vg</p>
<p><strong>Mirrors:</strong><br>
proxybay.eu<br>
Proxybay. De<br>
ThePIrateBay.se.byud.net</p>
<p><strong>Proxies:</strong><br>
51tsj.com<br>
bayproxy.me<br>
bayproxy.org<br>
bich.in<br>
dieroschtibay.org<br>
filehound.co.uk<br>
kuiken.co<br>
lanunbay.org<br>
malaysiabay.org<br>
piratebaybyproxy.com<br>
piratebayproxy.se<br>
piratebayunion.com<br>
pirateblay.com<br>
pirateby.info<br>
pirateproxy.net<br>
pirateproxy.nl<br>
pirateproxy.se<br>
piratereverse.info<br>
pirateshit.com<br>
pirateshore.org<br>
proxybay.fr<br>
proxybay.net<br>
quluxingba.info<br>
theproxybay.biz<br>
tpb.5gg.biz<br>
tpb.arnaudcornu.com<br>
tpb.cryptocloud.ca<br>
tpb.derp.pw<br>
tpb.fattylewis.com<br>
tpb.genyaa.org<br>
tpb.kleisauke.nl<br>
tpb.madfedora.site40.net<br>
tpb.me<br>
tpb.ninja.so<br>
tpb.occupyuk.co.uk<br>
tpb.par<br>
anoia.net<br>
tpb.partipirate.org<br>
tpb.piraten.lu<br>
tpb.pirates.ie<br>
tpb.pirati.cz<br>
tpb.qwertyoruiop.com<br>
tpb.roylenferink.nl<br>
tpb.skit.kiev.ua<br>
tpb.skit.org.ua<br>
tpb.unblocked.co<br>
tpbproxy.cremoznik.si<br>
tpbproxy.net<br>
tpbunion.com<br>
battleit.ee/tpb<br>
bayproxy.com</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=97767
title: Kim Dotcom’s Hong Kong Millions Unfrozen.. Momentarily
uri: Kim-Dotcom-s-Hong-Kong-Millions-Unfrozen-Momentarily
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-jHjlMe-jqg/
content:
<p><img src="media/5fd37436.megaupload.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload.jpg" width="180" height="154" class="alignright">In 2012, as Megaupload&#8217;s servers were being shuttered in the U.S. and Dotcom&#8217;s New Zealand mansion was raided by armed police, the German&#8217;s Hong Kong offices were being turned over by a reported 100 customs officers.</p>
<p>At the behest of the U.S. government, HK$330 million (US$42.55m) in assets were seized and have remained frozen ever since.</p>
<p>Earlier this year Dotcom and his associates took legal action against the Hong Kong government and in October <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dotcom-tries-to-reclaim-millions-seized-in-hong-kong-141029/">applied</a> for the restraining order to be set aside, accusing the secretary for justice of failing to provide a “full and frank disclosure” of the facts when the application for seizure was made.</p>
<p>According to Dotcom&#8217;s lawyers the prosecution withheld important information from the court when applying for the restraining order, including the fact that Megaupload could not be served with a criminal complaint in the United States as it was based entirely abroad.</p>
<p>In a new hearing in the High Court this morning, Deputy High Court Judge Mr Garry Tallentire <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1655377/kim-dotcom-sees-hk330m-assets-unfrozen-then-locked-again-hong-kong">set aside</a> the restraining order. Celebrations, however, were short-lived.</p>
<p>At his discretion Tallentire immediately re-instated the lock on Dotcom&#8217;s assets, but it was not all bad news for the Megaupload founder.</p>
<p>The original restraining order was granted ex parte, meaning that the defendants in the case were not allowed to put their side of the story. The new modified order gives Dotcom&#8217;s legal team the right to contest the asset freeze.</p>
<p>The Judge also ordered the U.S. government to pay Dotcom&#8217;s legal fees as he continues his fight to have his assets unfrozen. The ruling pleased Dotcom, who took to Twitter to celebrate.</p>
<p>&#8220;Two court victories against the US government in a week. Glad that Hong Kong isn&#8217;t part of the US puppet show. This is the turning point!&#8221; he <a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/540363737895419904">declared</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this week Dotcom maintained his freedom after the U.S. government <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-leaves-bail-hearing-a-free-man-for-now-141127/">failed to have his bail revoked</a> following a three-day hearing.</p>
<p>He now faces an extradition hearing in June 2015.</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=97771
title: Police Shut Down Spain’s Top ‘Pirate’ Streaming Sites
uri: Police-Shut-Down-Spain-s-Top-Pirate-Streaming-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2Qr7v31nys8/
content:
<p><a href="media/db3bd45e.pirate-card.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card.jpg"><img src="media/9d886086.pirate-card-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card-150x150.jpg" alt="pirate-card" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-86520"></a>While Spain has built a reputation over the years for being easy on copyright infringement, there are now signs that the country intends to take a tougher line.</p>
<p>The latest action involves two of the region&#8217;s largest streaming sites, peliculaspepito.com seriespepito.com. The portals had a combined audience of 2.5 million visits per month, with Seriespepito.com taking the larger share as Spain&#8217;s 69th most popular site.</p>
<p>A court injunction served on ISPs including Telefónica, Ono, Jazztel. Orange and Vodafone and R Cable blocked access to the sites yesterday. Two men were arrested by police and taken away for questioning.</p>
<p>The investigation into the sites began in May after a complaint was filed at Court No.3 of Elche by anti-piracy group FAP and major film producers including 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Disney, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures.</p>
<p>The movie companies complained that the sites provided links to other sites where it was possible to stream or download thousands of movies and TV shows without permission, generating thousands of euros in advertising revenue along the way.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/75c304e0.pepito.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pepito.jpg" alt="pepito"></center></p>
<p>An investigation found that the sites were both owned by Zeniox Media SL, a company founded in 2007 and headquartered in the coastal city of Elche. Police uncovered several bank and PayPal accounts which revealed that over the past three years the company generated revenues of 1,085,000 euros.</p>
<p>The individuals targeted yesterday were the company&#8217;s operators. Detained following raids in the cities of Madrid and Alicante, the men aged 20 and 30 were questioned and subsequently charged with intellectual property crime offenses.</p>
<p>&#8220;Through these popular websites an act of public communication is made, being the means by which a number of people can access protected audiovisual content. The large amount of unauthorized content brings immense losses to the film industry,&#8221; police said in a statement.</p>
<p>But while the police seem confident that crimes have been committed, the men&#8217;s lawyer sees things rather differently.</p>
<p>Citing an <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/embedding-copyright-infringement-eu-court-rules-141025/">October 2014 ruling</a> by the Court of Justice of the European Union, Carlos Sánchez Almeida <a href="http://www.eldiario.es/turing/propiedad_intelectual/Seriespepitocom-Peliculaspepitocom-bloqueadas-investigacion_0_331067773.html">says</a> that judges have &#8220;ruled repeatedly&#8221; that offering links to content does not amount to communicating a work to the public.</p>
<p>Almeida also describes police claims of more than a million euros generated from advertising and premium accounts as &#8220;bloated&#8221; since not all of the men&#8217;s business activities were Internet related. The raids on his clients came as no surprise, however.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is typical of the complaints these websites have been suffering since 2003,&#8221; Almeida says. &#8220;We don&#8217;t find this strange at all. Every December there is always a spectacular operation.&#8221;</p>
<p>Police say that both men face penalties of hundreds of thousands of euros or even prison sentences.</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=97876
title: Google Removes Pirate Bay Apps From Play Store
uri: Google-Removes-Pirate-Bay-Apps-From-Play-Store
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6rAUovb2UuY/
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>Facing harsh criticism from copyright holders, Google is gradually changing its attitudes towards sites and services that are often associated with piracy.  </p>
<p>A few weeks ago the company implemented a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">major change to its search algorithm</a>, aimed at downranking sites that often link to copyright infringing material.</p>
<p>Another drastic move came today when Google began removing many Pirate Bay related apps from its Play store. The apps in question include &#8220;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.piratebayfree">The Pirate Bay Proxy</a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.piratebaypremium&#038;hl=en_GB">The Pirate Bay Premium</a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.genesisdev.piratebay">The Pirate Bay Mirror</a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pirateapp&#038;hl=nl">PirateApp</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>The apps targeted by Google offer mobile optimized web-browsers for The Pirate Bay. In addition, many of them used proxy sites so users could easily circumvent local ISP blockades. </p>
<p>The apps appear to have been removed proactively as there is no mention of a DMCA takedown notice. According to an email sent to the developers, the apps in question are violating the intellectual property provisions of Google&#8217;s content policy.</p>
<p>&#8220;REASON FOR REMOVAL: Violation of the intellectual property and impersonation or deceptive behavior provisions of the Content Policy. Please refer to the IP infringement and impersonation policy help article for more information,&#8221; the email reads.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/911eeecf.piratebaygoogleplay.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratebaygoogleplay.png"><img src="media/911eeecf.piratebaygoogleplay.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratebaygoogleplay.png" alt="piratebaygoogleplay" width="470" height="389" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97878"></a></center></p>
<p>The developers are further informed that they received a &#8220;policy strike&#8221; which may lead to the termination of their accounts, if similar problems arise in the future. </p>
<p>TF spoke with Gavin, the developer of &#8220;<a href="http://tpbapp.com/">The Pirate Bay Proxy</a>&#8221; app, which has 900,000 downloads and 45,000 active users per day. He is disappointed with Google&#8217;s decision and has filed an appeal hoping to get his software reinstated.</p>
<p>According to Gavin, his app doesn&#8217;t do anything different than other browsers, Google Chrome included. It simply points people to a working proxy site and then acts as any other browser.</p>
<p>&#8220;The app is no different from Firefox or Chrome in that it&#8217;s a tool which provides access to TPB or any other web address,&#8221; Gavin says.</p>
<p>Gavin originally developed the app as a simple tool to bypass court-ordered ISP blockades. However, the app itself is now being censored as well, which is somewhat ironic. </p>
<p>&#8220;The removal has a sense of irony as the app is described as an anti-censorship tool,&#8221; Gavin notes.</p>
<p>Those who have already downloaded the apps can continue to use them, for now. New downloads from the Google Play Store are no longer allowed, but a copy of &#8220;The Pirate Bay Proxy&#8221; is available <a href="http://tpbapp.com/updates/app-removed-from-play-store-download-here/">on the app&#8217;s website</a>.</p>
<p>Alternatively, people can still use Google and the Chrome browser as these points of access remain uncensored for now.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Gavin informs us that his appeal was denied.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have reviewed your appeal and will not be reinstating your app. This decision is final and we will not be responding to any additional emails regarding this removal.&#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=97833
title: World’s Largest BitTorrent Tracker Goes Down
uri: World-s-Largest-BitTorrent-Tracker-Goes-Down
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/eG4TicXf734/
content:
<p><a href="media/045f1c31.openbittorrent.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/openbittorrent.jpg"><img src="media/f7be818c.openbittorrent.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/openbittorrent.jpg" alt="openbittorrent" width="238" height="57" class="alignright size-full wp-image-14841"></a>Founded in 2009 after The Pirate Bay shut down its tracker, <a href="http://openbittorrent.com/">OpenBitTorrent</a> soon grew out to become a key player in the BitTorrent ecosystem.</p>
<p>Running on the beerware-licensed Opentracker software, the standalone tracker offers a non-commercial service which doesn&#8217;t host or link to torrent files themselves.</p>
<p>For several years OpenBitTorrent has been the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-bittorrent-trackers-serve-30-million-peers-across-4-5-million-torrents-130706/">most used BitTorrent tracker</a>. The free service coordinates the downloads of 30 million people at any given point in time, processing roughly three billion connections per day.</p>
<p>About a week ago, however, the tracker suddenly stopped responding. Those who now try to download a torrent with help from OpenBitTorrent will notice that the connection to the tracker times out.</p>
<p>The problems appear to originate from <a href="http://www.intodns.com/openbittorrent.com">missing DNS entries</a>. The domain name is currently not linked to an IP-address which makes it impossible to reach.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/26cb6fa7.openbttimesout.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/openbttimesout.png"><img src="media/26cb6fa7.openbttimesout.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/openbttimesout.png" alt="openbttimesout" width="539" height="129" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97836"></a></center></p>
<p>Around the same time OpenBitTorrent went down, &#8220;sister&#8221; tracker PublicBT disappeared as well. The latter reappeared two days ago and is functioning as usual at the time of writing. </p>
<p>Hoping to get more details TF reached out both OpenBitTorrent and PublicBT earlier this week, but we have yet to receive a response. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that former Pirate Bay operator Fredrik Neij is listed as the <a href="http://whois.domaintools.com/openbittorrent.com">domain registrant</a> for the OpenBitTorrent domain. Neij was arrested a few weeks ago and is currently imprisoned in Sweden.</p>
<p>Despite the largest tracker being down most BitTorrent users are still able to share files. In fact, it&#8217;s likely that the majority are completely unaware of the downtime.</p>
<p>Instead of using a tracker, most popular torrents work fine when they rely solely on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrents-future-dht-pex-and-magnet-links-explained-091120/">DHT and PEX</a>. This allows downloaders to get info on other peers from each other, instead of a central tracker.</p>
<p>Users of BitTorrent proxy services can experience more problems as they often have DHT and PEX disabled to prevent their real IP-addresses from leaking out. For this group there is no other option than to wait until the trackers return or manually add addresses of other trackers to their torrents.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll update this article if we receive new information on OpenBitTorrent&#8217;s prolonged downtime.</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=97790
title: ExtraTorrent Reveals Most Pirated Files of All Time
uri: ExtraTorrent-Reveals-Most-Pirated-Files-of-All-Time
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NgwbWdRluQM/
content:
<p><a href="media/15e2b1a1.cassette.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cassette.jpg"><img src="media/7abb2d22.cassette.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cassette.jpg" alt="cassette" width="200" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84245"></a>With millions of visitors per day ExtraTorrent is one of the largest torrent sites on the Internet. Founded in 2006 the site has been around for a while, steadily growing its user base.</p>
<p>Over the years <a href="http://extratorrent.cc">ExtraTorrent</a> users have downloaded billions of files, and this week the site revealed the top 20 most pirated files of all time. The data gives a unique insight into the downloading habits of torrent users and comes with a few surprises.</p>
<p>While no exact download counts are provided the ExtraTorrent team told us that the top ten were downloaded at least 10 million times. This number represents the downloads of the .torrent files from the site where different releases of a music album or movie are counted as one. </p>
<p>One of the biggest surprises is that the top three is made up of music. Drake&#8217;s album &#8216;Nothing Was The Same&#8217; is listed in first place, followed by the Maroon 5 track &#8216;Payphone&#8217; and Jay Z&#8217;s album &#8216;Magna Carta Holy Grail.&#8217;</p>
<p>Iron Man 3 is the most pirated movie in fourth place, followed by The Expendables 3, which <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/expendables-3-leaks-online-100k-copies-down-in-hours-140725/">leaked onto the Internet</a> three weeks before its theatrical release this summer. </p>
<p>The rest of the top 20, all music and movies, are listed below. While this data only applies to ExtraTorrent it&#8217;s a decent representation of what&#8217;s popular on other torrent sites as well.</p>
<p><strong>1.  Drake &#8211; Nothing Was The Same (Mp3 Album)<br>
2. Maroon 5 &#8211; Payphone (feat.WizKhalifa Explicit) (Mp3 Track)<br>
3. Jay-Z &#8211; Magna Carta Holy Grail (Mp3 Album)<br>
4. Iron Man 3<br>
5. The Expendables 3<br>
6. Fast And Furious 6<br>
7. The Hunger Games<br>
9. The Hobbit &#8211; The Desolation of Smaug<br>
9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier<br>
10. The Amazing Spider-Man<br>
11. Beyonce &#8211; 4 Deluxe Edition (Mp3 Album)<br>
12. The Wolf of Wall Street<br>
13. Rihanna &#8211; Unapologetic  (Mp3 Album)<br>
14. Lil Wayne &#8211; No Ceilings (Mp3 Album)<br>
15. Justin Timberlake &#8211; The 20/20 Experience (Mp3 Album)<br>
16. Daft Punk &#8211; Get Lucky<br>
17. Kick (Bollywood movie)<br>
18. Ariana Grande &#8211; Problem (ft. Iggy Azalea) (Mp3 Track)<br>
19. Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides<br>
20. Avengers XXX –  (XXX)</strong></p>
<p>The most pirated files include a lot of relatively new files. This can be attributed to the fact that ExtraTorrent has grown significantly over the years. </p>
<p>ExtraTorrent released the ten most downloaded files as <a href="http://extratorrent.cc/article/3980/celebrate+with+et+s+8th+birthday+and+win+ipad+air+2.html">part of a contest</a> in celebration of the site&#8217;s 8th birthday. The rest of the top 20 was provided to TF exclusively. </p>
<p>With the contest the person with the most correct answers could win an iPad Air. Perhaps not a surprise, but none of the 3,000 contestants could name all titles. </p>
<p>The winner guessed seven of the ten correctly, but missed the top three. Most lists were heavily based on movies. For example, Drake&#8217;s &#8216;Nothing Was The Same&#8217; was only mentioned in one entry, while Maroon 5 and Jay-Z weren&#8217;t listed at all.</p>
<p>Finally, it&#8217;s worth nothing that there are no TV-shows and only one porn title in the top 20. While both categories are relatively popular these downloads are usually spread over more files compared to movies and music.</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=97914
title: LionsGate Targets Reddit Over Christmas Movie Piracy
uri: LionsGate-Targets-Reddit-Over-Christmas-Movie-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SiaKTen0BRw/
content:
<p><a href="media/5dfc692b.madeachrist.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/madeachrist.jpg"><img src="media/6404340f.madeachrist-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/madeachrist-150x150.jpg" alt="madeachrist" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-97856"></a>Some jobs are never done. Whether it&#8217;s cleaning up after kids or shifting leaves in the fall, as soon as one mess is dealt with along comes another. And another. And another.</p>
<p>Copyright holders know the feeling only too well. While it may traditionally come around on February 2, for them every day is Groundhog Day. Check torrent and other file-sharing sites for infringing content, send takedown notices. Hope content disappears. Rinse and repeat.</p>
<p>No one knows how many DMCA notices are sent in total each week, but during the past seven days Google alone received 8.68 million. It&#8217;s believed that the majority of these notices are accurate, but the truth is no one really knows. Google rejects thousands every day, often due to notices targeting the same URLs time and again.</p>
<p>Other errors are more easily spotted, such as when copyright holders target content they don&#8217;t own the rights to. Another &#8216;trick&#8217; is not targeting infringing content precisely &#8211; why send a DMCA notice for a single URL when one can move up a level and take out a whole bunch of content in a single swoop?</p>
<p>This week that&#8217;s exactly what LionsGate tried to do. In a single DMCA notice to Google the movie studio targeted 9,000 URLs spread over 379 domains. As usual dozens of URLs were duplicates and as such were rejected by Google, but a trio of links targeting Reddit were dismissed for different reasons.</p>
<p>Each targeted a Reddit sub called <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/BestOfStreamingVideo/">BestOfStreamingVideo</a> after someone posted a link to the LionsGate movie &#8216;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2609758/">Tyler Perry&#8217;s A Madea Christmas</a>&#8216;.</p>
<p>However, instead of targeting the precise link as required under the DMCA, LionsGate tried to have the <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/requests/1705242/">whole sub-reddit delisted</a> from Google. It didn&#8217;t pay off.</p>
<p>Faced with wiping the very existence of /r/BestOfStreamingVideo from its search results, Google refused to go full nuclear and rejected all three attempts by LionsGate.</p>
<p><Center><img src="media/ff38e591.lions-reddit.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lions-reddit.png" alt="lions-reddit"></center></p>
<p>It&#8217;s not clear why the search engine refused to comply but it&#8217;s possible that by being over-broad the studio shot itself in the foot. That being said, one of the URLs does link to the content in question so other factors could be at play.</p>
<p>The &#8220;over-broad&#8221; strategy has certainly paid off in the past, though. The MPAA previously managed to have the homepages of several popular sites removed from Google’s search results, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-kicks-kickasstorrents-off-google-with-precision-takedown-130623/">including</a> that of KickassTorrents.</p>
<p>On the other hand, more recent efforts have produced less impressive results, with Google <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-refuses-mpaa-request-blacklist-pirate-site-homepages-141123/">rejecting an MPAA attempt</a> at removing dozens of &#8216;pirate&#8217; site homepages just last month.</p>
<p>So at least for now /r/BestOfStreamingVideo remains findable using Google, but it&#8217;s quite possible that it will be targeted again before the Christmas period is over&#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/e568aa91.streaming-christmas.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/streaming-christmas.png" alt="stream-christmas"></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=97874
title: Concern Over Russian “Piracy Buster” Internet Tax
uri: Concern-Over-Russian-Piracy-Buster-Internet-Tax
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1H6PBJGefrk/
content:
<p><a href="media/37b74db8.russia.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/russia.jpg"><img src="media/273d96fc.russia.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/russia.jpg" alt="russia" width="180" height="121" class="alignright size-full wp-image-22592"></a>Over the years there have been many strategies put forward aimed at reducing online piracy.</p>
<p>Rightsholders have often pushed for tough legislation in the hope that hefty fines and lengthy jail sentences will encourage the masses to buy rather than download for free. Recent proposals in Russia, however, look at the problem from another direction.</p>
<p>During October the Russian Union of Right Holders (RUR) suggested that a fixed royalty fee should be paid to rightsholders in exchange for people receiving certain freedoms to deal with online content.</p>
<p>&#8220;[People would] get the right to freely and lawfully use for private purposes &#8211; including to receive, distribute and share &#8211; absolutely any content that is not excluded from the system of global licensing,&#8221; RUR <a href="http://izvestia.ru/news/580268#ixzz3L2FPtxfF">told</a> Izvestia.</p>
<p>The proposals envision Internet service providers obtaining &#8220;universal licenses&#8221; from rightsholders or their collecting societies in order to legitimize the &#8216;infringements&#8217; of their subscribers.</p>
<p>While nothing has been set in stone, figures appearing in the press suggest an annual fee of anything up to $5 per subscriber. While the &#8216;tax&#8217; could inflate ISP subscriptions by as much as 5% per year, reports suggest it could also bring in $860m for rightsholders.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the proposals have a number of potential pitfalls. </p>
<p>Every Internet subscriber would be required to pay the tax, whether they are downloading copyrighted material for free or purchasing it legitimately. Also, public sharing of content would not be licensed, a serious limitation for most file-sharers.</p>
<p>Furthermore, royalty charges would be &#8220;per device&#8221;, including home connections and cellphones, meaning some people could end up paying multiple times, whether they &#8216;pirate&#8217; or not.</p>
<p>For their part, ISPs have also expressed concerns that by accepting the proposals the Internet piracy &#8216;problem&#8217; would be placed on their shoulders as they would have to collect fees from customers.</p>
<p>Even copyright holders seem to have issues with the proposals. Some say that no suitable system for distribution of royalties exists. Others are expressing concerns that the tax would amount to the legalization of piracy and the undermining of fledgling digital services.</p>
<p>Still, reports now coming out of Russia suggest that the whole thing won&#8217;t easily or quickly get off the ground.</p>
<p>Late Friday Mail.ru <a href="http://news.mail.ru/politics/20375147/">reported</a> First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov as saying that the government &#8220;won&#8217;t be rushed&#8221; into a decision on the licensing model.</p>
<p>All stakeholders need to negotiate, Shuvalov said.</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=97976
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 12/08/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-12-08-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DAMNBKNY2qo/
content:
<p><a href="media/34145e70.mazerunner.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mazerunner.jpg"><img src="media/34145e70.mazerunner.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mazerunner.jpg" alt="mazerunner" width="290" height="192" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97979"></a>This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>The Maze Runner 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-141201/">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>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_maze_runner/">The Maze Runner</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790864/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-iSYVmMVY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nightcrawler/">Nightcrawler</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCDgPqcYatY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</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/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdgNSJiWJTo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(3)</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>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/this_is_where_i_leave_you/">This Is Where I Leave You</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371150/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGSBiqnCh44">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fury_2015/">Fury</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2713180/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKu5lGfRBxc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eliza_graves/">Stonehearst Asylum</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772264/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56d95EaFiKk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/predestination/">Predestination</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2397535/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcQacCfi_pw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lucy_2014/">Lucy</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872732/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hpupbliDbk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(7)</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>
</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=97494
title: Piracy ≠ Theft? Movie Industry Workers Speak Out
uri: Piracy-Theft-Movie-Industry-Workers-Speak-Out
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/9inqiTZubyI/
content:
<p>A few weeks ago we published <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/why-hollywood-director-lexi-alexander-sides-with-pirates-141118/">an interview</a> with Hollywood director Lexi Alexander in which she explained her support for file-sharers. </p>
<p>This resulted in a lively discussion on Twitter and other media, so we decided to explore the topic a little further. Instead of letting movie industry bosses speak, we solicited the thoughts of various filmmakers.</p>
<p>There are just as many opinions as there are people working in the film business and we aimed to cover a broad spectrum. Our main goal is to show that the piracy issue isn&#8217;t as black and while as it&#8217;s sometimes portrayed.</p>
<p>The real challenge, perhaps, is to let people have their say without condemning their views. While this won&#8217;t solve the issue it&#8217;s a good way to move forward.  That&#8217;s true for both &#8220;sides&#8221; of the debate.</p>
<p>Below are the four filmmakers who were kind enough to participate and answer five questions about piracy, how it affects the movie industry, and what can be done in response. </p>
<p><a href="media/3ff9518d.joshua.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/joshua.jpg"><img src="media/3ff9518d.joshua.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/joshua.jpg" alt="joshua" width="75" height="75" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97861"></a><strong>Joshua Caldwell </strong> (<a href="https://twitter.com/joshua_caldwell">@Joshua_Caldwell</a>) won an MTV Movie Award for Best Film in 2006. Recent films he produced, wrote and directed are Layover (2014), Resignation (2014) and Assassin (2015). </p>
<p><a href="media/a667308b.kevin.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kevin.jpg"><img src="media/a667308b.kevin.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kevin.jpg" alt="kevin" width="75" height="75" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97869"></a><strong>Kevin Koehler:</strong> (<a href="https://twitter.com/kevrockcity">@kevrockcity</a>) is a screenwriter whose work has been featured on the Hollywood blacklist. He worked with several well-known filmmakers including Wim Wenders and Gregg Araki. </p>
<p><a href="media/f967830d.brent1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/brent1.jpg"><img src="media/f967830d.brent1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/brent1.jpg" alt="brent" width="75" height="75" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97962"></a><strong>Brent Weichsel</strong> (@<a href="https://twitter.com/bsweichsel">bsweichsel</a>) is a Local 600 camera assistant. He worked on several popular movies and TV-shows including Person Of Interest and White Collar.</p>
<p><a href="media/d91f4afd.johnkent.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/johnkent.jpg"><img src="media/d91f4afd.johnkent.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/johnkent.jpg" alt="johnkent" width="75" height="75" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97866"></a><strong>John Kent</strong> (<a href="https://twitter.com/johndoctorkent">@JohnDoctorKent</a>) works as a producer at Potent Media. He is known for his work on the films Booley (2010), Deer Crossing (2012) and Apocalypse Kiss (2014).</p>
<h3>Do you think piracy equals theft?</h3>
<p><strong>Joshua Caldwell:</strong> No. I believe the Supreme Court has been <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3901205964610715556">very clear</a> on the issue of whether file-sharing constitutes ‘theft’ or ‘copyright infringement.’ I harp on this because it seems to be the core argument from a lot of people. “It’s stealing. They’re thieves.” Even when presented with this ruling they say, “Well, I don’t believe that.” Okay, well the court system you’re supposedly relying on to “enact justice” on file-sharers does, so now what?</p>
<p>It’s an important distinction for me and how I think about this issue because of how it frames file-sharers. It’s a psychological thing. Thinking of someone as a thief is very different than thinking of them as an infringer. It’s much easier to think of a ‘thief’ as being an inherently bad person who must be punished by the law. Not to say that those who infringe upon copyright aren’t subject to consequences, but as a creator, I think of them as audience that we just haven’t been able to capture yet. So, I start from a place of “Why?” and ask questions in search of solutions rather than “sue them all and put them in jail.”</p>
<p><strong>Kevin Koehler:</strong> No, they are not equivalent. Piracy is copyright infringement. I know this is a boring, pedantic answer. Sorry. However, while it is not theft, it is taking compensation from the folks that make the content and shifting it to the folks that distribute the content &#8211; not just piracy sites, but also legal streaming sites (Netflix, Spotify, iTunes, et cetera) who can leverage the threat of piracy into more favorable deals.</p>
<p><strong>Brent Weichsel:</strong> Piracy in and of itself is not theft. It&#8217;s also not a loss. Studies have shown that people who pirate often spend far more money on media than those that do not. Now if you make money because of your piracy well that&#8217;s a gray area where I do not know what to think.</p>
<p><strong>John Kent:</strong> Piracy of media is theft, in the legal sense of the word, but I do not think it is always &#8220;illegal&#8221;. Films and television shows are created for corporations and investors to realize a financial return, or for artistic purposes. The financial return cannot be realized if the media is experienced without viewers paying for it.</p>
<p>Without a financial return, no further media can be made. So everything can&#8217;t be free. However, there are thousands of hours of media which would be lost without YouTube, from old television shows their corporate masters no longer wish to exploit to a commercial fondly remembered from childhood. Should the films which were owned by Vestron Video in the 80s be lost forever because they are now a line item on the sheet of a corporation which put them out of business?</p>
<p>My personal stance and practice is that if a film or television show is available from the legal owner for a fee, it should be paid for.</p>
<h3>How do you think piracy is affecting the movie industry?</h3>
<p><strong>Joshua Caldwell:</strong> It’s affecting it without a doubt. Whether it’s doing so to such a degree that it’s having an overall impact? I don’t think we know for sure yet. For one, the jury&#8217;s still out on whether it has a negative or positive impact. On a film-by-film basis, it’s easy to suggest that it might have a negative impact, but for the industry as a whole? It’s hard to make that case when the films that make the most money at the box office are also the most pirated. No one complains about piracy when the movie does well, but when a movie tanks and it was leaked online, it becomes an easy place to point fingers. And yes, I’m sure it has some impact; but at the same time, maybe the film just wasn’t very good. </p>
<p>I can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the audiences that most studios rely on for box office aren’t file-sharers. I mean, <a href="http://www.slashfilm.com/google-moviegoing-infographic/">/Film recently posted</a> about how 70% of moviegoers don’t plan on a specific movie when going to the movie theater. It’s really, really difficult to equate a free download to a lost sale.  There are just too many other factors. But piracy is an easy target for blame specifically because no one really knows.</p>
<p>On the flipside, if piracy is as harmful financially and as widespread as is being argued, I can’t figure out why you would want to alienate such a large audience further than you already have.</p>
<p><strong>Kevin Koehler:</strong> Well, it has certainly helped obliterate the movie industry’s former business model, which was based around theatrical distribution (followed by timed DVD and television broadcast releases). This is no longer a workable model, so the industry is in search of a new one. For some releases &#8211; large studio tentpoles, franchised, with branded tie-ins, often in 3-D &#8211; they’ve found a successful model. For other kinds of films, they’re still looking, which is why the studios have stopped making certain genres altogether.  Piracy isn’t the only reason, obviously, but it’s a contributing factor.</p>
<p><strong>Brent Weichsel:</strong> It&#8217;s become a scapegoat. People blame dwindling sales on it. The studios use it as an excuse to pay the crew and talent less. Producers use it in negotiations to have shittier contracts with the unions. Has it had a truly negative impact that doesn&#8217;t have to do with its perception? Probably not much. Not any more than the folks selling dvds or VHS on Canal Street.  </p>
<p><strong>John Kent:</strong> Piracy has an effect on the film industry in different ways, depending on the genesis of the film. Downloading &#8220;The Avengers&#8221; probably doesn&#8217;t hurt the movie &#8211; it made a billion dollars in the theaters, and millions more through the secondary revenue streams. The people who worked on the film were paid for their work. </p>
<p>Piracy might kill off some sequels &#8211; the revenue that would have made the studio heads greenlight part two was lost in no-pay downloads. But what I can tell you for sure is that piracy hurts the independent filmmaker financially. I produced a direct-to-DVD movie called DEER CROSSING &#8211; a horror film, no artistic masterpiece, but something people might want to kill an evening watching.</p>
<p>During the first week of DVD release, on one popular torrent site only, there were over 30,000 downloads of the film. How many of these downloads could have been paid rentals or DVD purchases? When you add this to the deals that distributors offer for independent films, there is no way to make back the money the investors put in &#8211; and forget about a profit or paying off deferred deals.</p>
<p><em>(continue reading on page 2)</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=98002
title: UK Users Need 27 Services to Get Most Popular Films, Report Finds
uri: UK-Users-Need-27-Services-to-Get-Most-Popular-Films-Report-Finds
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bkM-5YrqH5U/
content:
<p><a href="media/ff584a98.film.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/film.png"><img src="media/aa3ac9b8.film.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/film.png" alt="film" width="180" height="127" class="alignright size-full wp-image-69392"></a>During September a new media availability report hit the United States, shouting loudly about how most popular content is legally accessible online.</p>
<p>Released by research company KPMG and commissioned by NBC Universal, the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/most-top-films-are-not-available-on-netflix-research-finds-140926/">report</a> was praised by the MPAA and other similarly interested parties. Supporters said that the study provided yet more proof that studios are fulfilling their part of the consumer bargain by making content widely available.</p>
<p>Less than three months on and KPMG has just published the results of a second study into availability of content online. In common with the US-focused September report,  &#8216;UK Availability of Film and TV Titles in the Digital Age&#8217; was also commissioned by NBC Universal.</p>
<p>The study examined UK availability of the most popular film and TV titles across legal digital streaming and download services and according to KPMG, things looked good.</p>
<p>&#8220;This report found that the vast majority of the most popular and critically acclaimed film and television content is available from legal digital platforms,&#8221; the report begins.</p>
<p>The study found that as of December 2013, almost nine out of 10 of the 756 films reviewed were indeed available from online video services, which does sound like a great start.</p>
<p>When 2012&#8217;s box office hits were examined 100% were available online, dropping slightly to 98% for those released in 2011. All-time box office hits also had good exposure, with 96% available online. Even 2013&#8217;s top 100 hits fared well, with 77% available digitally.</p>
<p>These stats are admittedly a fairly impressive read, but the details take off some the shine. Accessing content online should be a relatively painless affair, but UK film fans are going to need quite a lot of patience if they want the broadest possible choice.</p>
<p>In fact, in order to access content at the levels detailed above, users will need to use to more than two dozen services, 27 to be precise.</p>
<p>&#8220;As at December 2013, 86% of the 756 unique films reviewed were<br>
available via online video on demand distribution on at least one of the 27 service offerings studied,&#8221; the report reads.</p>
<p>When the researchers required that titles must be found on 5 out of 27 services, overall availability drops to 73%, meaning that more than a quarter of popular content is missing, even for consumers with five separate online movie accounts.</p>
<p>In the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/most-top-films-are-not-available-on-netflix-research-finds-140926/">US version</a> of the KPMG report, notable was the poor availability of content on services such as Netflix. The findings showed that just 16% of the films studied were available through on-demand subscription services (SVOD). The UK does quite a bit better.</p>
<p>&#8220;A relatively lower proportion of the most popular and critically acclaimed films were offered under the SVOD model (39%),&#8221; KPMG found.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/2728cfdc.uk-kpmg.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uk-kpmg.png" alt="uk-kpmg"></center></p>
<p>The UK online subscription market has grown quickly over the past couple of years fueled largely by Netflix. Ofcom’s Communications Market <a href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/market-data/communications-market-reports/cmr14/uk/uk-2.86">Report</a> 2014 revealed that revenue for online subscriptions for audio-visual content reached £111.7m in 2013, up from £63.5m in the previous 12 months.</p>
<p>Moving forward, Netflix&#8217;s growth faces similar challenges to that of its US-based service. According to KPMG, six out of 10 times consumers will not find the popular content they are looking for, meaning that additional payments to other services will be required.</p>
<p>The other issues relate to reducing piracy. While having content around 60% of the time is better than nothing, most pirated titles are recent releases that simply aren&#8217;t available on Netflix, iTunes, Amazon or other similar services.</p>
<p>And as far as Joe Public signing up to as many as 27 services in order to access most popular content, that isn&#8217;t going to happen in a hurry. An almost fully-comprehensive Spotify for movies might be a while off, but bringing one to market would simplify matters no end. </p>
<p>The report can be downloaded <a href="http://www.kpmg.com/UK/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/PDF/Market%20Sector/Technology/uk-availability-of-film-and-tv.pdf?utm_medium=social&#038;utm_source=twitter&#038;utm_campaign=nbc">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=97983
title: Microsoft Sues ‘Does’ For Activating Pirated Software
uri: Microsoft-Sues-Does-For-Activating-Pirated-Software
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2xSs7-Qr4g4/
content:
<p><a href="media/d4825a36.microsoft-pirate.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/microsoft-pirate.png"><img src="media/b4f20436.microsoft-pirate.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/microsoft-pirate.png" alt="microsoft-pirate" width="225" height="137" class="alignright size-full wp-image-51663"></a>Despite being one of the most pirated software vendors in the world, Microsoft doesn&#8217;t have a long track record of cracking down on individual pirates.</p>
<p>In fact, two months ago Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted that in some cases piracy can act as a conversion tool. </p>
<p>“We’ve always had freemium. Sometimes our freemium was called piracy,” Nadella <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/microsoft-weve-always-had-freemium-its-called-piracy-141021/">said</a>, adding that the usage first approach has its advantages.</p>
<p>This doesn&#8217;t mean that all pirates can have their way though. Microsoft does keep a close eye on the unauthorized use of its products with help from its in house cybercrime center.</p>
<p>Late last week Microsoft filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against a person (or persons) who activated pirated copies of Windows 7 and Office 10 from an AT&#038;T Internet connection. </p>
<p>&#8220;Microsoft’s cyberforensics have identified a number of product key activations originating from IP address 76.245.7.147, which is presently assigned to ISP AT&#038;T Internet Services..,&#8221; the complaints (<a href="media/37e4c727.microsoftcomplaint.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/microsoftcomplaint.pdf">pdf</a>) reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;These activations have characteristics that on information and belief, establish that Defendants are using the IP address to activate pirated software.&#8221; </p>
<p>While many people believe that unauthorized copies are hard for Microsoft to detect, the company explains that its cybercrime team leverages state-of-the-art technology to detect software piracy.</p>
<p>The company describes its investigative approach as cyberforensics. Among other things, they look for activation patterns and characteristics which make it likely that certain IP-addresses are engaged in unauthorized copying.</p>
<p>&#8220;As part of its cyberforensic methods, Microsoft analyzes product key activation data voluntarily provided by users when they activate Microsoft software, including the IP address from which a given product key is activated,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>According to the complaint, the defendant(s) in this case have activated numerous copies of Windows 7 and Office 2010 with suspicious keys. These keys were likely stolen from Microsoft&#8217;s supply chain, used without permission from the refurbisher channel, and used more often than the license permits.</p>
<p>Microsoft is now looking to identify the person or persons responsible for the copyright and trademark infringements, to recoup the damage they&#8217;ve suffered. </p>
<p>From the descriptions used in the complaint it seems likely that the target is not an average user, but someone who sells computers containing pirated software. Time will tell whether that&#8217;s indeed the case. </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=98018
title: Aussie Pirates Face Site Blocking, But No Disconnections
uri: Aussie-Pirates-Face-Site-Blocking-But-No-Disconnections
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/O3XaBzOXyW8/
content:
<p><img src="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg" width="222" height="204" class="alignright">For many years Australia has been struggling with a reputation for being a nation of file-sharing pirates and throughout the summer the most serious debate thus far consumed the nation.</p>
<p>Leading the charge were rightsholders who <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-draft-reveals-hollywoods-anti-piracy-plans-140828/">tabled</a> demands for ISPs to take greater responsibility for their subscribers, under weight of legislation if necessary.</p>
<p>Once this liability had been clearly established, rightsholders argued that ISPs should be forced to send notices to their subscribers. These would warn customers that their connections were being used for piracy and that consequences, including the slowing down or disconnection of Internet services, would follow.</p>
<p>Finally, copyright holders sought a formal &#8216;pirate&#8217; site blocking mechanism. This would allow individual domains to be targeted by legal action in order to have them rendered inaccessible to Australians.</p>
<p>After intense debate it appears that a watered-down version of the rightsholders wish-list will today be presented to the Australian Cabinet. According to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/no-harsh-penalties-for-illicit-downloaders-under-copyright-reform-20141208-122rmj.html">Fairfax</a>, Attorney-General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull will present the reforms to colleagues during the final meeting of the year.</p>
<p>According to the report, new punishments for Internet downloaders are not part of the proposals, meaning that calls for connection throttling and account suspensions are off the table. Downloaders won&#8217;t get a completely free ride though.</p>
<p>The ministers&#8217; proposals envision ISPs and rightsholders working together on a voluntary code aimed at educating consumers who persist in sharing files without permission.</p>
<p>Administered by telecoms regulator the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the code would see entertainment companies monitoring and gathering information on Internet users who share copyrighted material using BitTorrent. That information would be sent to ISPs who would then be required to forward written notices to subscribers informing them they are breaching copyright.</p>
<p>Of course, entertainment companies and ISPs have been here several times before, with negotiations on this very topic breaking down time and again on various issues, including who will pay to implement the scheme. This time, however, the government is threatening to legislate if agreement can&#8217;t be reached and if that happens ISPs might find themselves less well off.</p>
<p>While they are likely to negotiate hard, it may be in ISPs interests to reach some kind of agreement. The proposals for &#8220;extended authorization liability&#8221; &#8211; holding ISPs responsible for users&#8217; piracy &#8211; appear to be off the table, at least for now, and the last thing they need is for that to rear its head again. </p>
<p>But whatever happens on those fronts, ISPs will still find themselves in the spotlight on another matter &#8211; the controversial issue of site blocking.</p>
<p>Today, Brandis and Turnbull will ask the Cabinet to approve the development of a new legal mechanism which will allow rightsholders to obtain site blocking injunctions against ISPs. If approved, movie companies like Village Roadshow will be able to head off to court and have sites like The Pirate Bay blocked by all the major ISPs without too much difficulty.</p>
<p>The news of these proposals to Cabinet comes a day after consumer group Choice published the results of a <a href="http://www.choice.com.au/media-and-news/consumer-news/news/choice-content-piracy-survey-091214.aspx">survey</a> which found that 67% of Australians have never pirated movies or TV shows online.</p>
<p>Of the 33% that do, half said their motivation was high prices, while 41% complained that content takes too long to arrive in Australia. The research found that 55% of consumers try to obtain content legally before turning to pirate sources.</p>
<p>In common with other similar studies, Choice also found that regular pirates are also avid consumers of legitimate content. Of those who pirate at least once a month, 56% will pay to go to the movies, a figure that drops to 36% for the non-pirating group.</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=98027
title: Kim Dotcom Is Not a Fugitive, Court Hears
uri: Kim-Dotcom-Is-Not-a-Fugitive-Court-Hears
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DEiwJahFFJ0/
content:
<p><a href="media/7b53d529.kimfugitive.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kimfugitive.jpg"><img src="media/7b53d529.kimfugitive.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kimfugitive.jpg" alt="kimfugitive" width="200" height="267" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98044"></a>It’s been nearly three years since Megaupload was taken down by the U.S. authorities but it’s still uncertain whether Kim Dotcom and his fellow defendants will be extradited overseas.</p>
<p>As there&#8217;s little progress in the criminal case, the U.S. launched a separate civil case asking the court to forfeit the bank accounts, cars and other seized possessions of the Megaupload defendants.</p>
<p>The U.S. claims that these assets were obtained through criminal activities. In a recent motion to strike the DoJ added that Kim Dotcom and his fellow defendants have no right to oppose the forfeiture request as they are fugitives.</p>
<p>“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,” U.S. Attorney Dana Boente noted.</p>
<p>Yesterday evening Megaupload&#8217;s legal team filed a response to the Government&#8217;s motion, noting that the U.S. heavily distorts the “fugitive” status concept.</p>
<p>The lawyers inform the court that Kim Dotcom and his fellow defendants aren&#8217;t trying to avoid prosecution. Instead, they&#8217;re remaining in place until the New Zealand court decides over their extradition request.</p>
<p>&#8220;These Claimants never fled the United States to evade prosecution. To the contrary, they remain precisely where they have long been residing and carrying out the very business enterprise that the Government characterizes as criminal—in New Zealand.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;Nor have these Claimants altered their plans so as to avoid return to the United States. To the contrary, they are simply maintaining the pre-indictment status quo and following the rule of law by invoking their rights under the laws and procedures of their home countries, where they had long-planned to remain.&#8221; </p>
<p>In a declaration to the court Dotcom emphasizes that he&#8217;s currently under supervision of the New Zealand court. He never fled from the United States, in fact, he has never been there in his entire life.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have never been a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. I have never visited the United States,&#8221; Dotcom writes.</p>
<p>Megaupload&#8217;s lawyers ask the court to deny the U.S. &#8220;fugitives'&#8221; claim or keep it pending until there&#8217;s a decision on the motion to dismiss they filed earlier. In this motion they argued that the entire case should be dismissed since the U.S. doesn’t have a statute for criminal secondary copyright infringement. </p>
<p>If the court decides to move forward, Megaupload&#8217;s legal team want the &#8220;fugitives&#8221; claim to be converted to a request for summary judgment. This would allow them to conduct discovery and find out what role the MPAA played in the criminal investigation. </p>
<p>Shortly before the investigation began the MPAA hired former Assistant Attorney General, Cybele Daley, for lobbying purposes. Daley had a budget of over $1 million a year to lobby attorneys at the Department of Justice, and Megaupload&#8217;s lawyers want to find out where the U.S. was overreaching. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s now up to the Virginia federal court to decide how to proceed. Needless to say, the outcome will have a major impact on Dotcom&#8217;s means to fight back.</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=98078
title: Swedish Police Raid The Pirate Bay, Site Offline
uri: Swedish-Police-Raid-The-Pirate-Bay-Site-Offline
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/W9Vz6CvG6us/
content:
<p><img src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" width="222" height="198" class="alignright">For many years The Pirate Bay has been sailing by the seat of its pants so any downtime is met with concern from its millions of users.</p>
<p>This morning, for the first time in months, The Pirate Bay <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-goes-worldwide-141209/">disappeared offline</a>. A number of concerned users emailed TF for information but at that point technical issues seemed the most likely culprit.</p>
<p>However, over in Sweden authorities have just confirmed that local police carried out a raid in Stockholm this morning as part of an operation to protect intellectual property.</p>
<p>&#8220;There has been a crackdown on a server room in Greater Stockholm. This is in connection with violations of copyright law,&#8221; read a statement from Paul Pintér, police national coordinator for IP enforcement.</p>
<p>Police are staying quiet on the exact location of the operation and the targets involved but the fact that the national police IP chief is involved at this early stage suggests something sizable.</p>
<p>In addition, expert file-sharing case prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad has commented on the raid, further adding weight to the incident.</p>
<p>&#8220;There were a number of police officers and digital forensics experts there. This took place during the morning and continued until this afternoon. Several servers and computers were seized, but I cannot say exactly how many,&#8221; Ingblad told SR.</p>
<p>Ingblad would not be drawn on any arrests during the operation but TorrentFreak has learned that police may have detained at least one man connected to the site.</p>
<p>While it seems certain that The Pirate Bay has been targeted today, it was not the only casualty. Several other torrent related sites including EZTV, Zoink, Torrage and the Istole tracker are also down.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> The Pirate Bay&#8217;s forum Suprbay.org is also offline. The same goes for Bayimg.com and Pastebay.net.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> According to the police the raid targeted a data center in Nacka which is built into a &#8220;mountain.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> No, the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-has-not-been-resurrected-yet-141210/">Pirate Bay is not back yet</a>. </p>
<p><em>Breaking news story, more as we have it.</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=98062
title: The Pirate Bay Goes Down Worldwide
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-Goes-Down-Worldwide
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fnb2OwtH3_I/
content:
<p><a href="media/850a0ead.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-67837" src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" alt="tpb-logo" width="222" height="198"></a>The Pirate Bay is down at the moment, which is a cause for concern among many BitTorrent users.</p>
<p>Those wondering whether their ISP has started to block access to the site can be reassured though, as the site is down globally.</p>
<p>Every time TPB becomes unresponsive threads appear on Reddit and other discussion forums as people start to worry that something awful has happened to their beloved site. To users&#8217; relief, however, this is <em>usually</em> not the case.</p>
<p>That being said, today&#8217;s issues are a little more widespread. In addition to The Pirate Bay, other torrent related sites such as EZTV, Zoink, Torrage and the Istole tracker are down too. This suggests that there&#8217;s a broader technical issue at play.</p>
<p>Pirate Bay, EZTV, and others have had simultaneous downtime in the past. On one occasion the problems were caused by a power failure.</p>
<p>TF contacted the people behind The Pirate Bay and other affected sites to find out more about the current downtime, but we have yet to hear back.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> The problems seem to be more serious, more news in a few minutes.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">Pirate Bay targeted in police raid</a>.</p>
<div align="center">
<h5>Pirate Bay Downtime</h5>
<p><img src="media/0bf9c0f3.tpbdown.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbdown.jpg" alt="tpb"></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=98105
title: The Pirate Bay HAS NOT Been Resurrected – YET
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-HAS-NOT-Been-Resurrected-YET
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DbfS5sXGYho/
content:
<p><a href="media/210b58a3.pirate-cr.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-cr.png"><img src="media/0957ba0e.pirate-cr-150x150.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-cr-150x150.png" alt="pirate-cr" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-98106"></a>There hasn&#8217;t been this much panic in the file-sharing world since 2006. Back then the cause was a huge police raid that targeted The Pirate Bay in its Swedish homeland. Now, eight years later, it&#8217;s deja vu all over again.</p>
<p>As everyone knows by now, yesterday morning Swedish police <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">raided a data center</a> in Nacka, Stockholm. A little time later The Pirate Bay disappeared offline and late last evening anti-piracy group Rights Alliance took responsibility for the complaint that forced the site offline.</p>
<p>In the hours that followed dozens of news reports appeared, most of which accurately reported the facts so far. However, several outlets, Sydney Morning Herald <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/pirate-bay-sets-sail-for-costa-rica-following-swedish-raid-20141210-123wn6.html">included</a>, reported overnight that The Pirate Bay was in the process of being resurrected at a brand new domain.</p>
<p>The domain mentioned in most of the reports is the Costa Rica based ThePirateBay.cr. As can be seen from the screenshot below, it does indeed look like The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/8ce14bca.pirate-cr.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-cr.png" alt="pirate-cr"></center></p>
<p>Only adding to the excitement (or perhaps causing it), plenty of posts appeared on Reddit trumpeting this domain as the site&#8217;s new home. Sadly, however, these reports are wide of the mark.</p>
<p>ThePirateBay.cr is a Pirate Bay proxy/mirror service (<a href="https://proxybay.info/list.txt">it&#8217;s listed by Proxybay</a>) and as such relies entirely on The Pirate Bay for its torrent content. Currently it has none. The site appears to be operating out of the Netherlands and only became widely available in October.</p>
<p>While admittedly quite popular in India (it recently became its 1,349th most popular site according to Alexa, already people are proclaiming the .CR domain as the new Pirate Bay. In fact, someone has already <a href="http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-navigate-to-thepiratebay-cr/">begun marketing</a> a range of t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, posters and greetings cards carrying the site&#8217;s name. </p>
<p>The confusion appears to stem from the fact that some &#8220;proxy&#8221; homepages stay up even when The Pirate Bay goes down as they cache some content. As can be seen from the screenshot below, another proxy &#8216;<a href="https://labaia.me/">labaia.me</a>&#8216; displays just fine, but then does nothing when the user attempts to find torrents.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7b2eec67.LaBaia1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/LaBaia1.png" alt="LaBaia"></center></p>
<p>While still in the early hours following the shutdown, there&#8217;s nothing to suggest that The Pirate Bay&#8217;s domains have fallen into the hands of the authorities. This suggests that if the site does reappear, it will do so via one of its existing domains, although that position is certainly open to change.</p>
<p>In the meantime users should be cautious of sites claiming to be &#8220;the new Pirate Bay&#8221;. While most probably just want to get some traffic, there could be others with more nefarious ideas in mind.</p>
<p><em><strong>Update:</strong> Apparently the commercialism doesn&#8217;t stop at novelty items. The .CR domain listed above was briefly diverting users to another domain (thepiratebay.ee) which demands anything from <a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&#038;ion=1&#038;espv=2&#038;ie=UTF-8#q=thepiratebay.ee pay">$4 to £4</a> for users to access torrents &#8211; AVOID.</em></p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> The .ee domain removed the paywall, but it&#8217;s still nothing more than a mirror without new content.</p>
<p>Spotted any other Pirate Bay scams? Please <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/contact/">let us know</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=98125
title: Peter Sunde: The Pirate Bay Should Stay Down
uri: Peter-Sunde-The-Pirate-Bay-Should-Stay-Down
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/dhyJLiSOX-Y/
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>A few weeks ago Peter Sunde was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-peter-sunde-picks-fight-free-internet-141129/">released from prison</a> where he&#8217;d been serving a sentence for his involvement in The Pirate Pay. </p>
<p>Peter is one of the few people who paid the ultimate price of sacrificing his freedom for the site but he isn&#8217;t mourning its recent troubles. In fact, Sunde would prefer it if the site shut down permanently.</p>
<p>TF spoke with Peter this morning and he told us that the site has long since served its purpose. </p>
<p>TPB&#8217;s main aim was to bring BitTorrent to the masses, a goal that was completed years ago. According to Peter the site has gone downhill in recent years up to a point where it turned into a soulless cash cow.</p>
<p>Peter, often referred to as one of Pirate Bay&#8217;s co-founders, wrote about his sentiments in a <a href="http://blog.brokep.com/2014/12/09/the-pirate-bay-down-forever/">recent blog post</a>. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Pirate Bay has been raided, again. That happened over 8 years ago last time. That time, a lot of people went out to protest and rally in the streets. Today few seem to care. And I&#8217;m one of them,&#8217; he writes.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay was founded as a platform to allow people to share and copy whatever they want without restrictions. However, in recent years very little progress was made, Peter notes. </p>
<p>&#8220;The site was ugly, full of bugs, old code and old designs. It never changed except for one thing &#8211; the ads. More and more ads were filling the site, and somehow when it felt unimaginable to make these ads more distasteful, they somehow ended up even worse.&#8221;</p>
<p>The former Pirate Bay spokesman is happy to see the site on its knees. After it was handed over to the new crew a few years ago the site lost its soul, he believes.</p>
<p>That said, Peter regrets that it has gone down like this. The plan had always been to pull the plug after 10 years, so others could take over. However, when that day came last year the site remained online.</p>
<p>&#8220;A planned retirement would have given the community time and a way to kick off something new, something better, something faster, something more reliable and with no chance of corrupting itself. Something that has a soul and can retain it,&#8221; Peter notes.</p>
<p>This sentiment is not really new. Peter and others <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-speak-out-on-the-sites-past-and-future-130811/">argued the same</a> in the past. </p>
<p>The big question that remains right now is whether The Pirate Bay will make another comeback, or if this is indeed the end. Peter seems to believe that the latter may be the case, but that others will fill the gap.</p>
<p>&#8220;From the immense void that will now fill up the fiber cables all over the world, I&#8217;m pretty sure the next thing will pan out. And hopefully it has no ads for porn or viagra. There are already other services for that,&#8221; Peter 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=98097
title: Can The Pirate Bay Make a Comeback?
uri: Can-The-Pirate-Bay-Make-a-Comeback
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/WdWKeSjGd0I/
content:
<p><a href="media/234c1fe3.phoenix-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/phoenix-bay.jpg"><img src="media/234c1fe3.phoenix-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/phoenix-bay.jpg" alt="phoenix-bay" width="250" height="227" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98103"></a>In recent years The Pirate Bay took several steps to make the site as resilient as possible, moving from a full-fledged BitTorrent tracker to a trimmed-down and highly portable torrent index.</p>
<p>The infamous torrent site canceled nearly all central servers and moved most of its operation to the cloud, where it ran on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-runs-on-21-raid-proof-virtual-machines-140921/">21 virtual machines</a> scattered over several commercial cloud hosting providers.</p>
<p>Yesterday, however, the site was pulled offline with a single raid at the Nacka station, a nuclear-proof data center built into a <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/V%C3%A4rmd%C3%B6v%C3%A4gen+87,+131+35+Nacka,+Sweden/@59.3067868,18.1302376,3a,52.5y,5h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sRbmAE9hpQ0KlzCDct-nFlA!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x465f787266d7a7e9:0x428111b20bee2b5d!6m1!1e1">mountain complex</a>. Despite <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-has-not-been-resurrected-yet-141210/">various rumors</a> of TPB reincarnations there is still no sign that the site will return anytime soon.</p>
<p>So how can it be that The Pirate Bay <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">was taken down</a> despite all the time and effort that went into making its setup raid proof?</p>
<p>TF has been speaking with various people familiar with the matter and one of the most likely scenarios emerging is that the site&#8217;s loadbalancer was hit by the raid. This has been one of the remaining bottlenecks for TPB in recent years and the cause of previous downtime.</p>
<p>If this theory holds true it should be possible for the site to recover quickly if a new loadbalancer with the right setup is put in place. After all, the virtual machines are not centrally hosted and should be up and running. </p>
<p>How long it will take to connect these to the Internet remains guesswork for now, if it happens at all. </p>
<p>At the moment it&#8217;s still unknown what Pirate Bay-related hardware was seized during the raid. The Pirate Bay team previously stressed, however, that everything is encrypted in case it falls into the wrong hands.</p>
<p>On the human front, the police arrested one member of the Pirate Bay crew yesterday. The identity of this person hasn&#8217;t been confirmed, but if it&#8217;s one of the people with access to the site&#8217;s crucial infrastructure it will further complicate any possible comeback.</p>
<p>Another concern is that the people running TPB and other sites affected by the raid are also remaining quiet. The popular TV-torrent site EZTV remains offline too and thus far the operator is not commenting on the situation.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, most other torrent sites are seeing a spike in traffic from Pirate Bay users looking for a new home. TorrentReactor and other large torrent sites inform TF that there&#8217;s an increase in traffic of between 5 and 10 percent at the moment.</p>
<p>After <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-celebrates-independence-day-8-year-raid-anniversary-140531/">the first raid in 2006</a> it took The Pirate Bay three days to recover, making a blazing comeback as &#8220;The Police Bay.&#8221; There&#8217;s not long left to beat that record.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Just to be clear, thepiratebay.ee, thepiratebay.cr, thepiratebay.mobi and others are mirrors not affiliated with the original site. They serve old content (no new uploads) and are not TPB resurrections. If the site reappears it will be on the original .se domain.</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=98164
title: BitTorrent Inc Works on P2P Powered Browser
uri: BitTorrent-Inc-Works-on-P2P-Powered-Browser
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VrWDbfYCzLY/
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>BitTorrent Inc. announced a new project today, a web browser with the ambition of making the Internet &#8220;people powered.&#8221;</p>
<p>Project Maelstrom, as it&#8217;s called, is in the very early stages of development but BitTorrent Inc. is gearing up to send out invites for a closed Alpha test.</p>
<p>The company hasn&#8217;t released a feature set as yet, but it&#8217;s clear that the browser will serve websites and other content through users. </p>
<p>According to BitTorrent Inc. this can not only speed up websites but also boost people&#8217;s privacy. In addition, it should be capable of bypassing website blockades and other forms of censorship.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we are successful, we believe this project has the potential to help address some of the most vexing problems facing the Internet today,&#8221; BitTorrent CEO Eric Klinker notes. </p>
<p>&#8220;How can we keep the Internet open? How can we keep access to the Internet neutral? How can we better ensure our private data is not misused by large companies? How can we help the Internet scale efficiently for content?&#8221;</p>
<p>The idea for a BitTorrent powered browser is not new. The Pirate Bay started work on a related project a few months ago with the aim of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/how-the-pirate-bay-plans-to-beat-censorship-for-good-140105/">keeping the site online</a> even if its servers were raided. </p>
<p>The project hasn&#8217;t been released yet, although it would have come in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">handy today</a>. </p>
<p>Interestingly, BitTorrent&#8217;s brief summary of how the browser will work sounds a lot like Pirate Bay&#8217;s plans. The company shared the following details <a href="https://gigaom.com/2014/12/10/bittorrent-is-building-a-decentralized-web-browser/">with Gigaom</a>.</p>
<p>“It works on top of the BitTorrent protocol. Websites are published as torrents and Maelstrom treats them as first class citizens instead of just downloadable content. So if a website is contained within a torrent we treat it just like a normal webpage coming in over HTTP.”</p>
<p>More details are expected to follow during the months to come. Those interested in Project Maelstrom can sign up for an <a href="http://bit.ly/1ytada4">invite to the Alpha test</a> here. </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=98181
title: MPAA Prepares to Bring Pirate Site Blocking to the U.S.
uri: MPAA-Prepares-to-Bring-Pirate-Site-Blocking-to-the-U-S
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mRFlWNz-VRM/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b5440c0.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg"><img src="media/08fa08ae.mpaa-logo1-150x112.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1-150x112.jpg" alt="mpaa-logo" width="150" height="112" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-36694"></a>Site blocking has become one of the go-to anti-piracy techniques for the music and movie industries. Mechanisms to force ISPs to shut down subscriber access to &#8220;infringing&#8221; sites are becoming widespread in Europe but have not yet gained traction in the United States.</p>
<p>If the Stop Online Piracy Act had been introduced, U.S. blocking regimes might already be in place but the legislation was stamped down in 2012 following a furious public and technology sector revolt. Behind closed doors, however, blocking proponents were simply waiting for the storm to die down.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak has learned that during 2013 the MPAA and its major studio partners began to seriously consider their options for re-introducing the site blocking agenda to the United States. Throughout 2014 momentum has been building but with no real option to introduce new legislation, the MPAA has been looking at leveraging existing law to further its aims.</p>
<p>Today we can reveal that the MPAA has been examining four key areas.</p>
<p><strong>DMCA</strong></p>
<p>According to TF sources familiar with the plan, the MPAA began by exploring the possibility of obtaining a <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512">DMCA 512(j) blocking injunction</a> without first having to establish that an ISP is also liable for copyright infringement. </p>
<p>To get a clearer idea the MPAA commissioned an expert report from a national lawfirm with offices in Chicago, Dallas, New York and Washington, DC. Returned in July, the opinion concluded that a U.S. court would &#8220;likely&#8221; require a copyright holder to establish an ISP as secondarily liable before granting any site-blocking injunction.</p>
<p>This option might be &#8220;difficult&#8221; and financially costly, the law firm noted.</p>
<p><strong>Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_19">Rule 19</a> &#8211; &#8216;Required Joinder of Parties&#8217; &#8211; is also under consideration by the MPAA as a way to obtain a blocking injunction against an ISP. In common with the DMCA option detailed above, the MPAA hopes that a blocking order might be obtained without having to find an ISP liable for any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>The MPAA is considering a situation in which they obtain a judgment finding a foreign &#8220;rogue&#8221; site guilty of infringement but one whose terms the target rogue site has failed to abide by. Rule 19 could then be used to join an ISP in the lawsuit against the rogue site without having to a) accuse the ISP of wrongdoing or b) issue any claims against it.</p>
<p>The same lawfirm again provided an expert opinion, concluding that the theory was &#8220;promising, but largely untested.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Using the ITC to force ISPs to block &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites</strong></p>
<p>Among other things the United States International Trade Commission determines the impact of imports on U.S. industry. It also directs action on unfair trade practices including those involving patents, trademarks and copyright infringement.</p>
<p>The MPAA has been examining two scenarios. The first involves site-blocking orders against &#8220;transit&#8221; ISPs, i.e those that carry data (infringing content) across U.S. borders. The second envisions site-blocking orders against regular ISPs to stop them providing access to &#8220;rogue&#8221; sites.</p>
<p>Again, the same lawfirm was asked for its expert opinion. In summary its lawyers found that scenario one presented significant technical hurdles. Scenario two might be feasible, but first ISPs would have to be found in violation of Section 337.</p>
<p>&#8220;Section 337 declares the infringement of certain statutory intellectual property rights and other forms of unfair competition in import trade to be unlawful practices,&#8221; the section reads (<a href="media/cfb48d66.337_faqs.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.usitc.gov/intellectual_property/documents/337_faqs.pdf">pdf</a>).</p>
<p>The lawfirm&#8217;s August report highlights several potential issues. One noted that an injunction against a domestic ISP would effectively stop outbound requests to &#8220;rogue&#8221; sites when it is in fact &#8220;rogue&#8221; sites&#8217; inbound traffic that is infringing. Also at issue is sites that don&#8217;t &#8220;import&#8221; content themselves but merely offer links to such content (torrent sites, for example).</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the general conclusion is that if a clear relationship between the linking sites and the infringing content can be established, the ITC may take the view that the end result still amounts to &#8220;unfair competition&#8221; and &#8220;unfair acts&#8221; during importation of articles.</p>
<p><strong>The Communications Act</strong></p>
<p>Details on this final MPAA option involves the Communications Act and how it is perceived by the Federal Communications Commission and the Supreme Court. </p>
<p>The scenario balances on the MPAA&#8217;s stance that ISPs have taken the &#8220;public position&#8221; that they are not &#8220;telecommunications services&#8221;. When the position of the ISPs and opinions of the FCC and Supreme Court are combined, the MPAA wonders whether the ISPs could become vulnerable.</p>
<p>The scenario under discussion is one in which ISPs are not eligible for safe harbor as DMCA 512(a) &#8220;conduits&#8221; since the DMCA definition of a conduit is the same as the Communications Act&#8217;s definition of “telecommunications service” provider.</p>
<p><strong>Major meeting two months ago</strong></p>
<p>TorrentFreak sources reveal that a large meeting consisting of more than two dozen studio executives took place in October to discuss all aspects of site-blocking. A senior engineer from U.S. ISP Comcast was also invited.</p>
<p>On the agenda was a wide range of topics including bringing on board &#8220;respected&#8221; people in the technology sector to agree on technical facts and establish policy support for site blocking.</p>
<p>Other suggestions included encouraging academics to publish research papers with a narrative that site blocking elsewhere in the world has been effective, is not a threat to DNSSEC, and has not &#8220;broken the Internet&#8221;.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
<p>In June, MPAA chief and former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-pirate-site-blockades-140613/">praised</a> pirate site blockades as one of the most important anti-piracy measures, and in August a leaked draft <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-research-blocking-the-pirate-bay-works-so-140828/">revealed</a> MPAA research on the topic.</p>
<p>The big question now is whether the studios&#8217; achievements in Europe will be mirrored in the United States &#8211; without a SOPA-like controversy alongside. While the scale is unlikely to be the same, opposition is likely to be vigorous.</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=98184
title: EZTV Slowly Recovers From Swedish Police Raid
uri: EZTV-Slowly-Recovers-From-Swedish-Police-Raid
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/o_pX_vw_CMI/
content:
<p><a href="media/58f42931.eztv-logo-small.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eztv-logo-small.png"><img src="media/8447faa4.eztv-logo-small.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eztv-logo-small.png" alt="eztv-logo-small" width="205" height="80" class="alignright size-full wp-image-81993"></a>Earlier this week Swedish police <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">raided</a> a nuclear-proof data center built into a mountain complex in the city of Nacka. </p>
<p>The target of the raid was The Pirate Bay but collateral damage caused several other torrent sites to go down as well. This included EZTV, the go-to place for many torrenting TV fans.</p>
<p>After nearly two days of downtime EZTV is slowly starting to crawl back up. TF spoke to the EZTV crew who confirmed that several servers are up and running again and that the site&#8217;s services are coming back online.</p>
<p>At the time of writing the main site is still offline. However, the upload bots are back in action and EZTV torrents are being uploaded again in other places such as Kickass.so and ExtraTorrent. </p>
<p>In addition, EZTV proxies such as eztv-proxy.net can now connect to the site&#8217;s backend IP-addresses. This means that these are showing new uploads again, as can be seen below.</p>
<p><center><strong>EZTV recovers</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/91708af5.eztv-back.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eztv-back.png"><img src="media/91708af5.eztv-back.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eztv-back.png" alt="eztv-back" width="982" height="540" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98185"></a></center></p>
<p>During the days to come EZTV hopes to recover fully and continue business as usual from the main EZTV.it domain.</p>
<p>For Pirate Bay users there is no positive news to report yet. The site remains offline and there are no indications that it will return in the near future. </p>
<p>There are several unofficial mirror sites that still work, but these have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-has-not-been-resurrected-yet-141210/">nothing to do with a possible comeback</a>. These sites provide a minimal archive of old torrents, but there&#8217;s no new content being added as these all lack an upload feature. </p>
<p>For now, many estranged Pirate Bay users seem to be flocking to other popular torrent sites. ExtraTorrent informed TF that they saw a 90 percent surge in user signups following the raid, while the number of downloads increased by a third.</p>
<p>Most other sites that were hit by the raid remain offline. These include Torrage, the Istole tracker and Pirate Bay&#8217;s forum Suprbay. Torrent storage servie Zoink has fully recovered. </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=98287
title: Pirate Bay ‘Copycats’ Flourish After Raid
uri: Pirate-Bay-Copycats-Flourish-After-Raid
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rvbH31bRJzk/
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>The torrent community is still shaken up by the abrupt <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">raid on the Pirate Bay</a> this week.</p>
<p>With millions of visitors a day TPB was one of the largest websites on the Internet and despite the police action its users remain hungry for fresh content. </p>
<p>We previously reported that other large torrent sites have noticed a significant uptick in traffic in recent days. However, many of TPB&#8217;s users are eagerly waiting for the original site to return. </p>
<p>Thus far it&#8217;s still unclear whether the site will return in the near future, if at all. Our queries to find out more remain unanswered for now.</p>
<p>Meanwhile there&#8217;s a &#8216;worrying&#8217; development that Pirate Bay &#8220;copies&#8221; are gaining a lot of momentum. While none of these sites are associated with The Pirate Bay they are happy to welcome the extra visitors.</p>
<p><strong>First a word of caution. None of the sites below are related to the &#8220;official&#8221; site and visitors should beware of scams and malware. </strong></p>
<p>In recent days we have received more than a hundred tips from readers who announced that TPB has returned on the thepiratebay.cr. While this site does look familiar, it&#8217;s by no means an official incarnation. </p>
<p>In fact, as we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-has-not-been-resurrected-yet-141210/">highlighted earlier</a>, the .cr domain used to be one of the many Pirate Bay proxy/mirror sites. It has no upload functionality nor can visitors sign up to add torrents. Interestingly enough (and adding to the confusion) the site&#8217;s operators started to populate the site with new content themselves a few hours ago. </p>
<p>The .cr domain, which was incorrectly promoted by several news media sites as an official comeback, previously redirected to thepiratebay.ee, a site that used to <a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&#038;ion=1&#038;espv=2&#038;ie=UTF-8#q=thepiratebay.ee pay">charge people for access</a> to torrents. </p>
<p>The .ee domain is another mirror site that&#8217;s getting a lot of new visitors. While the site removed its paygate shortly after the Pirate Bay raid, potential visitors should keep this history in mind.  </p>
<p>As is true for most mirrors and copies, the .ee site mimics Pirate Bay&#8217;s appearance but doesn&#8217;t allow people to upload new files. Other mirror sites, some of which have added fresh content and convenient chat boxes, include thepiratebay.hk and thepiratebay.org.es. </p>
<p>These sites, like the ones above, are not connected to the original site. In fact, The Pirate Bay still has access to its .se domain name so there would be no reason to change that for a potential comeback.</p>
<p>Finally, there are also &#8220;copies&#8221; that make it clear that they&#8217;re not the new Pirate Bay. <a href="http://oldpiratebay.org">OldPirateBay.org</a>, for example, was launched by the people behind Isohunt.to. The operators told TF that their main motivation is to keep the torrents accessible, not to cause confusion.</p>
<p>&#8220;We saw a lot of topics where people are looking for something like this. For sure it has some bugs and glitches but we are going to improve it. The tool is for the users&#8217; convenience till TPB comes alive again,&#8221; we were told. </p>
<p>OldPirateBay.org doesn&#8217;t have much to do with TPB though. It appears to be little more than a copy of Isohunt.to with a Pirate Bay Theme, which is missing many original Pirate Bay torrents.</p>
<p>If The Pirate Bay does indeed come back we will be the first to report it here. Until then, caution is warranted.</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=98217
title: Furious Google Ended MPAA Anti-Piracy Cooperation
uri: Furious-Google-Ended-MPAA-Anti-Piracy-Cooperation
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Hv6Iv7f3rRU/
content:
<p>Each week Google removes millions of &#8216;infringing&#8217; links from search engine results at rightsholders&#8217; request, 9.1m during the last documented week alone. In the main Google removes these links within hours of receiving a complaint, a record few other large sites can match.</p>
<p>But no matter what Google does, no matter how it tweaks its search algorithms, it&#8217;s never been enough for the MPAA. For years the movie group has been piling on the pressure and whenever Google announces a new change, the MPAA (and often RIAA) tell the press that more can be done.</p>
<p>By most standards, this October Google really pulled out the stops. Responding to years of criticism and endless complaints that it&#8217;s one of the world&#8217;s largest facilitators of pirate content, Google <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-will-downrank-pirate-sites-starting-next-week-141018/">came up with the goods</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We’ve now refined the signal in ways we expect to visibly affect the rankings of some of the most notorious sites,&#8221; said Katherine Oyama, Google’s Copyright Policy Counsel.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in search results. This ranking change helps users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily.”</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s claims were spot on. Within days it became clear that torrent sites had been <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">hit hard</a>. Was this the tweak the MPAA had been waiting for? </p>
<p>Google seemed confident, in fact so confident that according to an email made public due to the recent Sony hack attack, the company contacted MPAA chief Senator Chris Dodd the day before to give him the headsup.</p>
<p>But if Google was hoping for a congratulatory public statement, they would need to look elsewhere. Instead of a warm reception the MPAA chose to suggest that Google knew it have been involved in wrongdoing.</p>
<p>&#8220;Everyone shares a responsibility to help curb unlawful conduct online, and we are glad to see Google acknowledging its role in facilitating access to stolen content via search,&#8221; the MPAA&#8217;s press release began.</p>
<p>The leaked emails reveal that Google responded furiously to the perceived slur.</p>
<p>“At the highest levels [Google are] extremely unhappy with our statement,” an email from the MPAA to the studios reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Google] conveyed that they feel as if they went above and beyond what the law requires; that they bent over backwards to give us a heads up and in return we put out a &#8216;snarky&#8217; statement that gave them no credit for the positive direction.&#8221;</p>
<p>In response to the snub, Google pressed the &#8216;ignore&#8217; button. A top executive at Google&#8217;s policy department told the MPAA that his company would no longer &#8220;speak or do business” with the movie group.</p>
<p>In future Google would speak with the studios directly, since &#8220;at least three&#8221; had already informed the search engine that they &#8220;were very happy about the new features.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the MPAA and Google will probably patch things up in future, the emails also suggest reasons why the MPAA might have given Google a frosty reception.</p>
<p>First up, the MPAA had no time to assess the changes Google had put in place, so had no idea whether they would work. Welcoming changes that fail to perform in future is clearly something the MPAA would want to avoid.</p>
<p>But intriguingly the emails suggest that the MPAA were trying not to affect another external matter from progressing.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were also sensitive to the fact that Mississippi [Attorney General] Hood is expected to issue a [Civil Investigative Demand] to Google sometime this week; we did not want an unduly favorable statement by us to discourage AG Hood from moving forward,&#8221; the MPAA email reads.</p>
<p>In conclusion the MPAA felt that Google overreacted to their October  press release and that the problems will eventually blow over. It’s certainly possible that relations have improved since the emails were written in October.</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=98222
title: Leak Exposes Hollywood’s Global Anti-Piracy Strategy
uri: Leak-Exposes-Hollywood-s-Global-Anti-Piracy-Strategy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1DcAqgIJlVw/
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>The Sony Pictures leak has caused major damage to the Hollywood movie studio, but the fallout doesn&#8217;t end there. </p>
<p>Contained in one of the leaked data batches is a complete overview of the MPAA&#8217;s global anti-piracy strategy for the years to come. </p>
<p>In an email sent to top executives at the major Hollywood studios earlier this year, one of the MPAA&#8217;s top executives shared a complete overview of Hollywood&#8217;s anti-piracy priorities.</p>
<p>The email reveals key areas of focus for the coming years, divided into high, medium and low priority categories, as shown below.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/1bfaca6d.piracy-strategy-page.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-strategy-page.png"><img src="media/1bfaca6d.piracy-strategy-page.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-strategy-page.png" alt="piracy-strategy-page" width="926" height="750" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98224"></a></center></p>
<p>The plan put forward by the MPAA is the ideal strategy. Which elements are to be carried out will mostly depend on the funds made available by the studios. </p>
<h3>High priority</h3>
<p>For <strong>cyberlockers and video streaming sites</strong> the MPAA plans to reach out to hosting providers, payment processing companies and advertising networks. These companies are urged not to work with so-called rogue sites.</p>
<p>Part of the plan is to create &#8220;legal precedent to shape and expand the law on cyberlockers and their hosting providers,&#8221; with planned lawsuits in the UK, Germany and Canada.</p>
<p><center><strong>Cyberlocker strategy</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/ec956bac.mpaa-cyberlocker.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-cyberlocker.png"><img src="media/ec956bac.mpaa-cyberlocker.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-cyberlocker.png" alt="mpaa-cyberlocker" width="727" height="218" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98225"></a></center></p>
<p>Other top priorities are:</p>
<p><strong>Apps:</strong> Making sure that pirate apps are taken down from various App stores. Google&#8217;s removal of various Pirate Bay apps may be part of this. In addition, the MPAA wants to make apps &#8220;unstable&#8221; by removing the pirated files they link to.</p>
<p><strong>Payment processors:</strong> The MPAA wants to use government influence to put pressure on payment processors, urging them to ban pirate sites. In addition they will approach major players with &#8220;specific asks and proposed best practices&#8221; to deter piracy.</p>
<p><strong>Site blocking:</strong> Expand site blocking efforts in the UK and other countries where it&#8217;s supported by law. In other countries, including the U.S., the MPAA will investigate whether blockades are an option through existing principles of law.</p>
<p><strong>Domain seizures: </strong> The MPAA is slowly moving toward domain seizures of pirate sites. This strategy is being carefully tested against sites selling counterfeit products using trademark arguments.</p>
<p><strong>Site scoring services:</strong> Developing a trustworthy site scoring system for pirate sites. This can be used by advertisers to ban rogue sites. In the future this can be expanded to payment processors, domain name	registrars, hosting providers and search engines, possibly with help from the government.</p>
<p><strong>Copyright Notices:</strong> The MPAA intends to proceed with the development of the UK Copyright Alert System, and double the number of notices for the U.S. version. In addition, the MPAA wants to evaluate whether the U.S. Copyright Alert System can expand to mobile carriers.</p>
<h3>Mid and low priority</h3>
<p><strong>BitTorrent</strong> is categorized as a medium priority. The MPAA wants to emphasize the role of BitTorrent in piracy related apps, such as Popcorn Time. In addition, illegal torrent sites will be subject to site blocking and advertising bans. </p>
<p><center><strong>BitTorrent strategy</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/8408181f.mpaa-bittorrent-strategy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-bittorrent-strategy.png"><img src="media/8408181f.mpaa-bittorrent-strategy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-bittorrent-strategy.png" alt="mpaa-bittorrent-strategy" width="729" height="198" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98226"></a></center></p>
<p>Other medium and low priorities are:</p>
<p><strong>Search:</strong> Keep putting pressure on search engines and continue periodic research into its role in facilitating piracy. In addition, the MPAA will support third-party lawsuits against search engines.</p>
<p><strong>Hosting:</strong> The MPAA sees Cloudflare as a problem and is developing a strategy of how to deal with the popular hosting provider. Lawsuits against hosting providers are also in the agenda.</p>
<p><strong>Link sites:</strong> Apart from potential civil lawsuits in Latin America, linking sites will only be targeted if they become &#8220;particularly problematic.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the email the MPAA&#8217;s top executive does not consider the above strategies to be “final” or &#8220;set in stone&#8221;. How much the MPAA will be able to carry out with its partners depends on funds being availble, which appears to be a subtle reminder that the studios should keep their payments coming.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;the attached represents priorities and activities presuming online CP is adequately resourced. Your teams understand that, depending upon how the budget process plays out, we may need to lower priorities and activities for many sources of piracy and/or antipiracy initiatives,&#8221; the email reads.</p>
<p>The leaked strategy offers a unique insight into Hollywood&#8217;s strategy against various forms of online infringement. </p>
<p>It exposes several key priorities that were previously unknown. The MPAA&#8217;s strong focus on domain name seizures for example, or the plans to target cyberlockers with lawsuits in the UK, Germany and Canada. </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=98154
title: Pirate Bay Holdout Still Holds 40 “Illegal Sites”, Lawyer Says
uri: Pirate-Bay-Holdout-Still-Holds-40-Illegal-Sites-Lawyer-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Pi12GJ2QIas/
content:
<p><a href="media/fde1a69c.smashedserver.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/smashedserver.jpg"><img src="media/2e88a66d.smashedserver.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/smashedserver.jpg" alt="smashedserver" width="180" height="120" class="alignright size-full wp-image-76636"></a>This whole week has felt like a crazy rollercoaster of a dream foretelling an impossible future. Has the world&#8217;s most resilient torrent site really gone for good?</p>
<p>At this point in time it&#8217;s hard to say for sure, but optimism is pretty low. The Pirate Bay was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">hit hard</a> on Tuesday by Swedish police and currently not a shred of evidence suggests that a recovery is on the cards.</p>
<p>The action against TPB, which took place in a cave-built datacenter in Nacka, Sweden, affected several other sites too including Zoink, Torrage, the Istole tracker, Suprbay.org, Bayimg.com and Pastebay.net. EZTV was also taken down, but is currently working its way <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eztv-slowly-recovers-swedish-police-raid-141211/">back online</a>.</p>
<p>However, according to one of the key figures behind the complaint and subsequent police raid of The Pirate Bay, the sites taken down this week are just the tip of a pretty large Swedish iceberg.</p>
<p>Henrik Pontén is a lawyer with Rights Alliance, the anti-piracy group previously known as Antipiratbyrån. He informs TorrentFreak that there are dozens of other &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites operating in the very same datacenter that previously housed parts of The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the hosting provider that the police raided [this week] there are still around 40 illegal sites still up and running,&#8221; Pontén explains.</p>
<p>Quite why those sites didn&#8217;t go down too isn&#8217;t clear, but according to the lawyer some big ones remain operational including torrent site 1337x.to and streaming movie portal Solarmovie.is.</p>
<p>Perhaps even more of a surprise is Pontén&#8217;s allegation that movie release group SPARKS is operating a topsite there. TorrentFreak has no way of verifying the claim and the fact we were given the information is in itself curious, but the Rights Alliance lawyer seems pretty convinced.</p>
<p>The big question is whether the anti-piracy group intends to do anything about the sites. We weren&#8217;t told anything specific but received a general warning.</p>
<p>&#8220;Rights Alliance acts wherever a crime has been committed against our rightsholders. The guilty persons will be prosecuted and damages will be required,&#8221; Pontén said. </p>
<p>In the meantime and in the wake of the The Pirate Bay&#8217;s untimely disappearance there&#8217;s no shortage of sites stepping up to try and take its place. As <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-has-not-been-resurrected-yet-141210/">previously mentioned</a> certain impostors have directed people to malware and have even tried to charge for access.</p>
<p>Right now this misdirection only looks set to get worse &#8211; unless there&#8217;s a miraculous rebirth this Christmas.</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=98248
title: Sony Planned to Flood Torrent Sites With “Promo” Torrents
uri: Sony-Planned-to-Flood-Torrent-Sites-With-Promo-Torrents
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QMIsIWfLSz0/
content:
<p>Copyright holders have a wide range of options they can employ to counter online piracy. Takedown notices are best known and sent out in their millions every day. However, the people at Sony Pictures&#8217; TV network AXN thought that uploading content to torrent sites could help their business.</p>
<p>Sony&#8217;s AXN in Central Europe developed an ad campaign for the show “Hannibal”  which proposed posting torrents of the first minute of the show on popular torrent sites such as Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents.</p>
<p>The revelations are part of the Sony Pictures leaks which contain a discussion on the plan, framing it as a &#8220;brilliant anti­piracy social campaign.&#8221; The AXN employee describes the idea as follows.</p>
<p>&#8220;The idea is simple. We made a promo dedicated to Hannibal which is convincing people in very creative and no­invasive way to watch Hannibal legally on AXN instead downloading it from torrents.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]his promo is supposed to be downloaded on the torrents sites, imitating the first episode of Hannibal season 2 but in reality would be only a 60 sec promo. The torrents sites are exactly the place where people just after [the] US premier would be searching for the first episode of season 2. So the success of this project is more than 100% sure.&#8221;</p>
<p>Unfortunately for the AXN Central Europe team the advertising campaign wasn&#8217;t well received at Sony Pictures&#8217; headquarters in Los Angeles. The Hollywood execs showed great concern about the sites where these promos would end up, a view that wasn&#8217;t widely shared by the team in Europe.</p>
<p>&#8220;From the legal point of view in many CE countries the torrents sites itself are legal. Only sharing and downloading the illegal stuff there is not. This project is to support anti­piracy strategy not against,&#8221; the AXN employee writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;From my perspective this would be something really unconventional, something to be shared and presented in case studies presentations. Great story for be presented at the panel discussions. This could really help us to show AXN CE is actively fighting against piracy.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Part of the promo email</strong></center><center><a href="media/cf241244.sony-promo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sony-promo.jpg"><img src="media/cf241244.sony-promo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sony-promo.jpg" alt="sony-promo" width="735" height="303" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98347"></a></center></p>
<p>The discussion eventually landed on the desk of a Sony Pictures Executive Vice President, who emphasized that it was a no go. Populating torrent sites with promos could risk current efforts to disrupt those same websites.</p>
<p>&#8220;I called [XXX] and restated that this is simply a long road to &#8216;no&#8217; because it so severely undercuts our efforts not only in CE, but all we have accomplished elsewhere.</p>
<p>&#8220;Forget about a site blocking strategy if we start putting legitimate PSAs or promos on sites we’ve flagged to governments as  having no legitimate purpose other than theft… PSAs being for public good, etc…&#8221;</p>
<p>And so it never happened&#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=98302
title: Morgan Freeman: Movie Pirates Have Tiny, Useless Penises
uri: Morgan-Freeman-Movie-Pirates-Have-Tiny-Useless-Penises
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xR1UD_n4D0E/
content:
<p><a href="media/33e76cea.downloadcar.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/downloadcar.png"><img src="media/1c69e722.downloadcar.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/downloadcar.png" alt="downloadcar" width="200" height="132" class="alignright size-full wp-image-76166"></a>You wouldn&#8217;t steal a car. You wouldn&#8217;t steal a handbag. You wouldn&#8217;t steal a television. You wouldn&#8217;t steal a movie.</p>
<p>Today there can be few of us unaware of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZm8vNHBSU">origins</a> of those lines since for nearly ten years the anti-piracy PSA in question has been subjected to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuxO6CZptck">online ridicule</a>.</p>
<p>Educating people on piracy matters, especially those aged between 15 and 35, is notoriously difficult. It&#8217;s all too easy to patronize those of a more mature age with amped up drama and needless scaremongering but that&#8217;s easily eclipsed by the chances of appearing terribly &#8220;uncool&#8221; to the cutting-edge youth.</p>
<p>None of these pitfalls appear to have fazed Creative Future, the huge <a href="http://creativefuture.org/about/our-coalition/">coalition</a> of entertainment industry companies with a mission to suck profit out of piracy and educate the masses.</p>
<p>When they&#8217;re not <a href="http://creativefuture.org/were-waiting-bittorrent/">taking a shot</a> at BitTorrent Inc., the organization supports groups such as <a href="http://www.ikeepsafe.org/educational-issues/why-is-ikeepsafe-collaborating-to-teach-students-about-creative-content-online/">iKeepSafe</a> who in turn aim to keep the younger generation safe (and pirate-free) online. </p>
<p>And next year, if all goes to plan, we&#8217;ll get the chance to view Creative Future&#8217;s anti-piracy PSAs. TorrentFreak obtained a copy of the concepts and scripts and they range from mildly annoying and stereotypical to outrageously daring and hilarious.</p>
<p><strong>Torrent &#8211; The Slightly Smug, BitTorrent Veteran Douchebag</strong></p>
<p>One of the campaigns involves a character called &#8220;Torrent&#8221;. This intriguing fellow, set to played by a young male actor in his late 20s or early 30s, appears to be a bit of a file-sharing veteran since he has &#8220;all the answers&#8221; when it comes to justifying his piracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Confident and unapologetic&#8221;, Torrent isn&#8217;t ashamed of what he does because he believes he&#8217;s right, in fact he&#8217;s so sure of his moral compass &#8220;he speaks the opinions of the BitTorrent community word for word.&#8221;</p>
<p>However, while Torrent is living up to his billing as a &#8220;slightly smug douchebag&#8221; with a mantra of &#8220;if it&#8217;s online, it&#8217;s mine&#8221;, his actions are affecting people who create content.</p>
<p>&#8220;I support art but I don’t pay big corporations for entertainment,&#8221; Torrent says, his words overlaying images of production assistants packing vans at 3am and games coders working through the night.</p>
<p>But while the campaign outlined above plays to a specific file-sharing sterotype, there are more exciting plans ahead.</p>
<p><strong>Don&#8217;t Be An Asshole</strong></p>
<p>Another PSA campaign, surprisingly titled &#8220;Don&#8217;t Be An Asshole&#8221;, features big name stars filmed on the sets of big movies. We&#8217;ve read all the early scripts (featuring everyone from Sandra Bullock to Morgan Freeman) and not only are they pretty funny but they might even turn into a campaign people won&#8217;t actually hate. Better than that, they&#8217;re a parody goldmine.</p>
<p>The premise is simple &#8211; if you download movies illegally, you&#8217;re an asshole. While the title of the campaign gives that away, the content of the scripts is nothing short of a huge surprise.</p>
<p>One PSA, set to be filmed on the set of Ted 2, features Mark Wahlberg and Ted (Seth MacFarlane) sitting together chatting on a couch.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-</p>
<p>MARK:  “Hey, buddy. Have you ever done anything, like, illegal. You<br>
know…illegal illegal?”</p>
<p>TED:  “Oh, ya man. Tons of stuff.”</p>
<p>MARK:  “Like what?”</p>
<p>TED:  “Alright, uh, top of my head…I once paid two prostitutes to have a boob<br>
fight. Does that count?”</p>
<p>MARK:  “That sounds awesome. One time I pooped in the deep fryer at a Doug’s Sr.”</p>
<p>TED:  “I kicked a nine year old in the nuts. No reason. And not when I was<br>
younger either, this was like, Tuesday.”</p>
<p>MARK:  “One time I punched a blind guy in the face, cause I knew he couldn’t<br>
identify me.”</p>
<p>TED:  “I had sex with a Grifford the Dog doll…that was not consensual”</p>
<p>MARK:  “I’m guilty of that one, too.”</p>
<p>TED:  “I posted those naked pictures of your ex without her permission.”</p>
<p>MARK:  “I took ‘em without her permission.”</p>
<p>TED:  “Wow. We’ve both done some pretty messed up things.” </p>
<p><em> &#8211; The laughter dies down, but Mark has one last question.</em></p>
<p>MARK:  “Ya. Hey, have you ever illegally downloaded a movie?”</p>
<p><em>- The tone in the room shifts immediately. Ted is clearly upset by this.</em></p>
<p>TED:  “What? No. I’m not an asshole.”</p>
<p>TITLES:  DON’T BE AN ASSHOLE</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-</p>
<p>As made clear by the above, this is no ordinary anti-piracy campaign and the scripts we&#8217;ve seen reveal there are plenty more surprises where these came from.</p>
<p>We won&#8217;t spoil the fun but I for one simply cannot wait to see Morgan Freeman captured on film reciting the lines set down for him in one script&#8230;.</p>
<p>MORGAN: &#8220;If you illegally download movies off of the Internet, you have a tiny, useless penis, and you should be embarrassed to be alive.&#8221;</p>
<p>No, really&#8230;&#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=98278
title: Former ‘Pirate’ Site Dropped From UK Blocklist
uri: Former-Pirate-Site-Dropped-From-UK-Blocklist
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/l5g-Nzjc7UA/
content:
<p><a href="media/866b8c19.filestube-new.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/filestube-new.png"><img src="media/4e60df57.filestube-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/filestube-new.png" alt="filestube-new" width="255" height="143" class="alignright size-full wp-image-97649"></a>Last week the popular media search engine FilesTube <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/filestube-transforms-piracy-haven-into-licenced-movie-aggregator-141201/">transformed itself</a> into a licensed video aggregator. </p>
<p>The site, which was once branded one of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-pirate-bay-attacks-fundamental-human-rights-141028/">top pirate sites</a> by the entertainment industry, hopes that the move will bring in new revenue opportunities.</p>
<p>First, however, the site had to get rid of various remnants from its &#8220;pirate&#8221; history. The site is still blocked in the UK, for example, as the High Court previously  declared that FilesTube infringed music rights.</p>
<p>Earlier, FilesTube informed TF that it planned to challenge the blockade at the High Court, but it turns out that this is no longer needed. Music industry group BPI, who were the driving force behind FilesTube&#8217;s blockade, followed recent developments and decided to unblock the site.</p>
<p>This is the first time that the list of blocked pirate sites in the UK has become shorter, although it may not be for long.</p>
<p>The BPI believes that FilesTube is a good example of how High Court orders can motivate websites to go legit and hopes that others will follow the example.</p>
<p>“We are pleased that the block has encouraged FilesTube to change its business model so that it no longer appears to infringe music rights,&#8221; BPI&#8217;s General Counsel Kiaron Whitehead tells TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Accordingly, we have agreed to un-block the site, which the ISPs will implement over the next few weeks. We hope that other sites which are subject to blocking orders will follow suit and help to support the development of legal digital entertainment.”</p>
<p>TF also spoke with Maciej Zawisza from FilesTube, who is happy with BPI&#8217;s swift response. Since the music group can amend the blocklists without a court order, this saves the trouble of going through court.</p>
<p>“We used to be a media search engine for content on cyberlocker sites. Now we operate as a free VOD aggregator with licensed content only. We are grateful to BPI for agreeing to lift the blocks and we look forward to the growth of the new FilesTube,” Maciej Zawisza informed TF.</p>
<p>In addition to the lifted blockade, FilesTube&#8217;s Facebook page was also unblocked recently. The page was taken down by the movie industry FACT, but is now accessible again.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, many of FilesTube&#8217;s former users are disappointed with the change. Apparently &#8220;going legit&#8221; also has its downsides, but the site hopes to rebuild a new community during 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=98353
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 12/15/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-12-15-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zNMvRjWBrMs/
content:
<p><a href="media/aacecd00.equalizer1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/equalizer1.jpg"><img src="media/aacecd00.equalizer1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/equalizer1.jpg" alt="equalizer1" width="299" height="223" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98355"></a>This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>The Equalizer 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-141208/">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/the_equalizer_2013/">The Equalizer</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455944/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-iSYVmMVY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_maze_runner/">The Maze Runner</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790864/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt0GkVZK8zA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/horrible_bosses_2/">Horrible Bosses 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2170439/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGX4XwYVoIg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(4)</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>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gone_girl/">Gone Girl</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2267998/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DPpygqaCjY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</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/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdgNSJiWJTo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nightcrawler/">Nightcrawler</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCDgPqcYatY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/this_is_where_i_leave_you/">This Is Where I Leave You</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371150/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGSBiqnCh44">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fury_2015/">Fury</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2713180/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKu5lGfRBxc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_good_lie_2013/">The Good Lie</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2652092/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2tI5zW3IU8">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=98365
title: “How To Learn Absolutely Nothing In Fifteen Years,” By The Copyright Industry
uri: How-To-Learn-Absolutely-Nothing-In-Fifteen-Years-By-The-Copyrig
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BFnW1SlFuIo/
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>In 1999, Napster was a one-time opportunity for the copyright industry to come out on top of the Internet. Napster was <i>the</i> center of attention for people sharing music. (Hard drives weren&#8217;t big enough to share movies yet.) </p>
<p>Everybody knew that the copyright industry at the time had two options &#8211; they could embrace and extend Napster, in which case <i>they</i> would be the center of culture going forward, or they could try to crush Napster, in which case they would lose the Internet forever as there would not be another centralized point like it.</p>
<p>The copyright industry, having a strong and persistent tradition of trying to obliterate every new technology for the <a href="http://falkvinge.net/2012/01/27/the-copyright-industry-a-century-of-deceit/">past century</a>, moved to crush Napster. It vanished. DirectConnect, LimeWire, and Kazaa &#8212; slightly more decentralized sharing mechanisms &#8211; popped up almost immediately, and BitTorrent a year or so later.</p>
<p>This was about as predictable as the behavior of a grandfather clock: the cat wasn&#8217;t just out of the bag, but had boarded a random train and travelled halfway cross-country already. People had smelled the scent of sharing, and there was no going back. However, people wouldn&#8217;t repeat the mistakes of Napster and have a single point of failure. For the next couple of years, sharing decentralized rapidly to become more impervious and resilient to the onslaught of an obsoleted distribution industry.</p>
<p>It is not a coincidence that The Pirate Bay rose about 2003. That time period was the apex of the post-Napster generation of sharing technologies. With the advent of the first generation of torrent sites, sharing slowly started to re-centralize to focus on these sharing sites. For a few years, DirectConnect hubs were popular, before people transitioned completely to the faster and more decentralized BitTorrent technology.</p>
<p>This week, The Pirate Bay was taken offline in a police raid in Sweden. It may only have been the front-end load balancer that got captured, but it was still a critical box for the overall setup, even if all the other servers are running in random, hidden locations. </p>
<p>Sure, The Pirate Bay was old and venerable, and quite far from up to date with today&#8217;s expectations on a website. That tells you so much more, when you consider it was consistently in the top 50 websites globally: if such a&#8230; <i>badly maintained</i> site can get to such a ranking, how <i>abysmal</i> mustn&#8217;t the copyright industry be?</p>
<p>The copyright industry is so abysmal it hasn&#8217;t learned anything in the past 15 years.</p>
<p>In the mere week following the downing of The Pirate Bay, there has been a flurry of innovation. People are doing <i>exactly</i> what they did fifteen years ago, after Napster: everybody is saying &#8220;never again&#8221;, and going to town inventing more resilience, more decentralization, and more sharing efficiency. The community who are manufacturing our own copies of knowledge and culture had gotten complacent with the rather badly-maintained website and more or less stopped innovating &#8211; The Pirate Bay had been <i>good enough</i> for several years, even when its age was showing.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve seen signals from every continent in the past week that the past decade of decentralization technologies is getting pooled into new sharing initiatives. A lot of them seem really hot. Some are just hitting the ball out of the park if they get realized: everything from TOR to blockchain technology to distributed computing &#8211; components that weren&#8217;t there when BitTorrent first surfaced ten years ago. If realized, they should surface over the next few years, like BitTorrent surfaced three to four years after Napster with a bunch of other technologies in between. As a side bonus, these new initiatives will also protect privacy and free speech, which are both incompatible with enforcement of the copyright monopoly.</p>
<p>So in a way, this was welcome. We need that innovation. We need to not grow complacent. We all need to stay ahead of the crumbling monopolies &#8211; a dying tiger is dangerous, even when it&#8217;s obviously insane. But The Pirate Bay&#8217;s legacy will never die, just like Napster&#8217;s legacy won&#8217;t.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the copyright industry is a case study in how to really insist on not learning a damn thing from your own monumental mistakes in fifteen full years.</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>
<div style="float:right;position:relative;top:-12px">
<p><small>Book Falkvinge <a href="http://falkvinge.net/keynotes/">as speaker</a>?</small></p>
</div>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/Falkvinge" class="twitter-follow-button">Follow @Falkvinge</a></p>
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<p></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=98400
title: Fake Pirate Bay Lies to Press and Fakes User Uploads
uri: Fake-Pirate-Bay-Lies-to-Press-and-Fakes-User-Uploads
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/z2oraejerIo/
content:
<p><a href="media/b408680c.fake.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/fake.jpg"><img src="media/23431dd4.fake.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fake.jpg" alt="fake" width="190" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-71690"></a>The Pirate Bay was without doubt the most iconic BitTorrent site in history before it was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">abruptly shutdown</a> last week following a raid on a Swedish datacenter.</p>
<p>Even today it seems strange talking about The Pirate Bay in the past tense. Many believe it&#8217;s simply a question of time before the site reappears but for others any amount of time is too long to wait.</p>
<p>Within days, many replicas of The Pirate Bay <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-copycats-flourish-after-raid-141212/">appeared online</a>, each trying to recreate the look and feel of the old site. While some, such as the isoHunt.to domain oldpiratebay.org, made it clear that they&#8217;re a copy of the iconic site, others are flat-out lying by pretending to be the real deal.</p>
<p>The worst offender by far is ThePirateBay.cr. Thanks to several mainstream news outlets <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-has-not-been-resurrected-yet-141210/">posting</a> uninformed articles in the days following the raid, millions of people now believe that this site is the real deal. Admittedly, that&#8217;s not the site&#8217;s fault, but that traction is adding weight to their current campaign which involves impersonating Pirate Bay operators and lying to the media.</p>
<p>In an email sent to out to the mainstream press, ThePirateBay.cr identify themselves as &#8220;winstonbay&#8221;, a name that has been used by genuine Pirate Bay staff in the past. By carefully weaving some fact into their press release (thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/epro">Emil Protalinski</a> for the copy), their aim is to mislead.</p>
<p>&#8220;Most of our cloud servers including load balancer are shut down except one in NZ. TPB is back and already running at thepiratebay.cr which used to be an official proxy previously,&#8221; the release reads.</p>
<p>Referencing an earlier article on TF in which we pointed out that .CR was redirecting to another domain charging users for access, the release again blends truth and lies.</p>
<p>&#8220;Redirection to .ee &#8211; scam site running from long time was due to technical fault while DNS propagation which was cached by server. Comments &#038; normal user login (VIP users allowed access) are disabled currently due to excessive load.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Enter your TPB VIP username and password here &#8211; at your peril</strong><img src="media/5b4860d2.cr-login.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cr-login.png" alt="cr-login"></center></p>
<p>The fact the site brings up user registrations is interesting since their existence offers a straightforward test to determine whether a site is a clone of The Pirate Bay or not. Quite simply, clone sites do not have the millions of user accounts The Pirate Bay used to have, neither do they have associated user comments under torrents.</p>
<p>While ThePirateBay.cr tries to explain this away by saying accounts have been disabled due to server load, they also have another trick up their sleeve. New torrents being added to the site now show names of popular uploaders. However, as pointed out by ExtraTorrent.cc, these are not being uploaded by the people in question. </p>
<p>&#8220;None of the torrents are actually uploaded by ETTV of ExtraTorrent and we didn&#8217;t log in or sign up to that site,&#8221; ExtraTorrent told TF.</p>
<p><center><strong>Fake user accounts on ThePirateBay.cr</strong><img src="media/870c58e2.fake-cr.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fake-cr.jpg" alt="fake-cr"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;This is them making their own bot to grab our torrents but the funny thing is that they made accounts [in our names] and are fooling members that we are uploading there. They are trying to make it look more legit so users go there.&#8221;</p>
<p>Other user accounts recreated on the site include SaM and Juggs of ETRG, YIFY, EZTV, scene4all and BOZX, previously one of The Pirate Bay&#8217;s most popular uploaders.</p>
<p>While people might argue that having as many Pirate Bay&#8217;s as possible is a great thing, sites like this are problematic. There have been attempts to mislead right from the very start and the recent mails to the press just make matters worse. It&#8217;s now impossible to determine the nature of their intentions but the lies aren&#8217;t a good start.</p>
<p>Add to that the very real possibility that former TPB users (VIPs no less) might enter their usernames and passwords into this site and there&#8217;s a very real possibility of account hijacks should the original site come back online. If they use the same username and passwords elsewhere, things will go bad a lot sooner.</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=98362
title: Pirate Bay Responds to The Raid, Copies and The Future
uri: Pirate-Bay-Responds-to-The-Raid-Copies-and-The-Future
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_uX2sBBhfL8/
content:
<p><a href="media/c43a3558.phoenix-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/phoenix-bay.jpg"><img src="media/234c1fe3.phoenix-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/phoenix-bay.jpg" alt="phoenix-bay" width="250" height="227" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98103"></a>For more than a decade The Pirate Bay&#8217;s been the bastion of uncensored information. Until <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">the raid</a> on some of its critical infrastructure last week, the site never had more than three days of downtime. </p>
<p>The big remaining question on everyone&#8217;s minds right now is whether the site will make a comeback, and if so, how long this will take.</p>
<p>The TPB crew have remained awfully quiet and haven&#8217;t commented on the raid in public, but today &#8220;Mr 10100100000&#8243; breaks the silence in order to get a message out to the world. </p>
<p>&#8220;We were not that surprised by the raid. That is something that is a part of this game. We couldn&#8217;t care less really,&#8221; Mr 10100100000 informed TF through an encrypted channel.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have however taken this opportunity to give ourselves a break. How long are we supposed to keep going? To what end? We were a bit curious to see how the public would react.&#8221; </p>
<p>Without hearing about the exact issues, we get the feeling that a comeback may be more complicated than most people assume. It seems unlikely that the site will return within the next few days, but if it does eventually come back online people will surely notice.</p>
<p>&#8220;Will we reboot? We don&#8217;t know yet. But if and when we do, it&#8217;ll be with a bang,&#8221; Mr 10100100000 says.</p>
<p>Obviously there are discussions ongoing behind the scenes on how to proceed. The entire team including the moderators comprises a few dozen people who all have their own opinions on the matter. </p>
<p>&#8220;The people behind TPB are like one big collective mind. There are no leaders nor any one in charge. About 30-50 people from all over the world pitch their ideas against each other and whatever comes out of that is what will be the fate of TPB.&#8221;</p>
<p>In recent days many <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-copycats-flourish-after-raid-141212/">&#8220;copies&#8221; of The Pirate Bay</a> appeared online and many of these have now started to add new content as well. According to the TPB crew this is a positive development, although people should be wary of scams.</p>
<p>&#8220;Copycats are to be seen as a higher form of the proxies. If [Pirate Bay&#8217;s] code wouldn&#8217;t be so shitty we would make it public for everyone to use, so that everyone could start their own bay.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;Of course there is a problem if sites like [thepiratebay].ee try to scam people. But overall, we’d love to see a thousand Pirate Bays,&#8221; Mr 10100100000 adds.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay doesn&#8217;t really have a preference when it comes to the best Pirate Bay alternative and says the &#8220;swarm&#8221; has to decide which one is best. In any case, people should keep the Kopimi spirit alive as TPB is much more than some hardware stored in a dusty datacenter.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve always lived by Kopimi. We love being cloned. It would be amazing if, like in the classic movie Spartacus, everyone could stand up and say &#8220;I am The Pirate Bay,&#8221; Mr 10100100000 says.</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=98426
title: Pirate Bay Suspect Released After Raid Arrest
uri: Pirate-Bay-Suspect-Released-After-Raid-Arrest
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KfSTOEEUe9I/
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>A week ago The Pirate Bay was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">pulled offline</a> with a single raid at the Nacka station, a nuclear-proof data center built into a mountain complex. </p>
<p>Despite the rise of various <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-copycats-flourish-after-raid-141212/">TPB copycats</a> and rumors of reincarnations, the Pirate Bay crew <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-crew-responds-to-the-raid-copies-and-the-future-141215/">hasn&#8217;t made its mind up</a> about a possible comeback.</p>
<p>“Will we reboot? We don’t know yet. But if and when we do, it’ll be with a bang,” Pirate Bay&#8217;s Mr 10100100000 told TF yesterday.</p>
<p>In addition to police seizing some of Pirate Bay&#8217;s crucial infrastructure, last Tuesday authorities also arrested one individual with alleged ties to the notorious torrent site.</p>
<p>After being held in custody for nearly a week, the Pirate Bay suspect was released from custody yesterday, pending an ongoing investigation.</p>
<p>The suspect is believed to be one of the moderators of the site, but this hasn&#8217;t been confirmed by the police. Expert file-sharing case prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad did state that the man was suspected of copyright violations.</p>
<p>&#8220;The suspicions relate to a violation of copyright law. Everything is being analyzed now and new hearings may possibly be held,&#8221; Ingblad <a href="http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.602131/pirate-bay-misstankt-slappt-pa-fri-fot">said</a>. </p>
<p>The prosecutor&#8217;s comments also make it clear that there&#8217;s a new investigation into the people behind The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>The data seized in the raid will first be examined by the authorities. Paul Pintér, National coordinator for intellectual property crimes, told <a href="http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article3871560.ece">NyTeknik</a> that there is a lot of information to go through, so it may take some time before the investigation completes.</p>
<p>In recent days TF has received evidence that Fredrik Neij, who is currently serving a 10 month sentence from the previous trial, remains a Pirate Bay suspect. Neij was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-fredrik-neij-arrested-in-asia-141104/">arrested</a> by Thai immigration authorities last month when he tried to cross the border from Laos.  </p>
<p>How many people the police are investigating in the new case and whether there will be a fresh trial is unknown at this point.</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=98425
title: Swedish Supreme Court Determines Movie Piracy Fines
uri: Swedish-Supreme-Court-Determines-Movie-Piracy-Fines
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rJuXnqEGzQE/
content:
<p><a href="media/3f7d7afd.nopiracy1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/nopiracy1.png"><img src="media/9b1b215b.nopiracy1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nopiracy1.png" alt="nopiracy" width="140" height="141" class="alignright size-full wp-image-89794"></a>While headlines may suggest otherwise, the vast majority of online file-sharers go about their business without ever falling foul of the law. Like hundreds of millions of speeding motorists every day, most breaches go unnoticed or unpunished.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, that&#8217;s not to say people can forget about the risks. Breaches of copyright law can result in hefty fines in most developed countries, if rightsholders feel strongly enough about prosecuting the case.</p>
<p>One such case began in Sweden four years ago when police investigating another incident stumbled across content being shared on a man&#8217;s computer. The discovery, which involved material obtained from The Pirate Bay, was reported to both copyright holders and the prosecutor.</p>
<p>After moving through an initial case and an appeal, the prosecutor&#8217;s office was disappointed when the file-sharer was issued with just a fine. With ambitions for a scary legal precedent, those sharing files habitually should be sent to jail, the prosecutor argued.</p>
<p>The case went all the way to the Supreme Court but it didn&#8217;t work out as planned. The Court agreed that the defendant (known as JS) had damaged the interests of copyright holders with his actions but noted that in the majority of cases (57 out of the 60 movies) his subsequent sharing with others had been brief.</p>
<p>Also in the man&#8217;s favor was how the Court viewed his activities. No commercial motivation was found, with the Court noting that his file-sharing had been for personal use, despite its scale.</p>
<p>&#8220;Such use of the current networks and services should not be considered as an aggravating factor when assessing the penalty amount,&#8221; the judgment reads.</p>
<p>Sweden operates an income-calibrated system of fines known as &#8220;day fines&#8221; which are equal to the amount the defendant could have earned in a day. The Court ruled that for each movie download with a short upload, the man would be sentenced to 50 day fines.</p>
<p>While that sounds like the fine could increase to a huge amount, in Sweden when people are convicted of several offenses at the same time the penalty is gradually reduced for each subsequent offense. In any event the maximum punishment is 200 day fines.</p>
<p>In this case the man was sentenced to 180 day fines, up from the 160 handed down by the lower court. Anti-piracy group Rights Alliance who assisted with the case welcomed the judgment, but there can be little doubt that a custodial sentence (even a suspended one) was the target here.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it appears that the judgment could have drawn a line in the sand.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a borderline case where the sentence is located on the edge of going over to prison. If you&#8217;re looking to see what is necessary for a prison sentence, it&#8217;s not much more than this,&#8221; Supreme Court Judge Svante O. Johansson <a href="http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article3871560.ece">concluded</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=98460
title: Swedish ISP Refuses to Block The Pirate Bay
uri: Swedish-ISP-Refuses-to-Block-The-Pirate-Bay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XlXedLTt6Ds/
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>In many countries around the world The Pirate Bay has become a focal point for rightsholders seeking website blocking injunctions. Portrayed as the worst-of-the-worst, the site has been named in many ISP liability lawsuits.</p>
<p>But while the site disappeared <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">last week</a>, pending legal action concerning it has not. The most recent lawsuit was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/copyright-holders-want-pirate-bay-blocked-in-sweden-141111/">filed in November</a> by Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Nordisk Film and the Swedish Film Industry against Swedish service provider Bredbandsbolaget.</p>
<p>In papers filed at the Stockholm District Court, the plaintiffs attempt to hold Bredbandsbolaget liable for the copyright-infringing actions of its pirating subscribers. The entertainment companies say that in order to put itself in the clear the ISP should block its customers from accessing The Pirate Bay and popular streaming portal Swefilmer.</p>
<p>Just over a month later and Bredbandsbolaget (Broadband Company) has now submitted its response to the Court. The ISP completely opposes the entertainment companies&#8217; demand to block content and services.</p>
<p>&#8220;Bredbandsbolaget&#8217;s role is to provide its subscribers with access to the Internet, thereby contributing to the free flow of information and the ability for people to reach each other and communicate,&#8221; the company said in a statement.</p>
<p>Bredbandsbolaget says that its job is to deliver a broadband service to its customers, not control or block specified content or services. Noting that the company will not monitor the communications of its subscribers, the ISP says that it&#8217;s a fundamental principle of the &#8220;Open Internet&#8221; that carriers can not be held responsible for the traffic carried on their networks.</p>
<p>&#8220;Bredbandsbolaget does not block content or services based on individual organizations&#8217; requests. There is no legal obligation for operators to block either The Pirate Bay or Swefilmer,&#8221; the company explains. </p>
<p>&#8220;There are other legal means to stop infringement of rights, but there is no provision in Swedish law that forces an Internet provider to block its subscribers&#8217; access to services and content.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the motivation behind the lawsuit is to obtain a ruling that will ease blocking of additional sites in future, stopping Swedish users from accessing sharing services could prove more difficult than in other territories. The country has a long history of sharing files and services such as The Pirate Bay have become embedded in its Internet culture.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also worth noting that at least for now The Pirate Bay doesn&#8217;t even exist so blocking it would be futile. Whether the entertainment companies will proceed with their case as planned if TPB stays down remains to be seen, but it&#8217;s certainly possible they might seek to include the many <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-crew-responds-to-the-raid-copies-and-the-future-141215/">copycat sites</a> that have appeared following the site&#8217;s demise.</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=98415
title: Pirate Bay Shutdown Doesn’t Stop People From Sharing
uri: Pirate-Bay-Shutdown-Doesn-t-Stop-People-From-Sharing
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1Jy5e-16vo8/
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>There is no denying that The Pirate Bay played a central role in the torrent ecosystem. </p>
<p>As one of the few well-moderated sites it was the source for dozens, if not hundreds of other torrent sites. And with millions of visitors per day the site also had the largest user-base. </p>
<p>With an event like this, one could expect that BitTorrent usage would have been severely impacted, but it appears that people have found their way to one of the many alternatives.</p>
<p>TF reached out to the operator of <a href="https://demonii.com/">Demonii</a>, the tracker that was used for all Pirate Bay torrents, and it appears that the Pirate Bay raid isn&#8217;t affecting its traffic much.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Not much is happening differently on our side due to the TPB downtime. I cannot see any anomalies or differences,&#8221; the Demonii operator told us.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since all the torrents are pretty much mirrored by KickassTorrents and Torrentz, it seems that the downtime hasn&#8217;t stopped people from downloading or uploading at all,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>The connections per minute to the Demonii tracker remain relatively stable, hovering around the 25 million mark, with a peak during the weekends. The graph below shows the pattern for the past week with the Pirate Bay raid (last Tuesday) included.</p>
<p><center><strong>Demonii weekly stats</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/f6050c6e.tracker-peer-week.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tracker-peer-week.png"><img src="media/f6050c6e.tracker-peer-week.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tracker-peer-week.png" alt="tracker-peer-week" width="500" height="185" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98417"></a></center></p>
<p>The monthly graph suggests that traffic over the past several days has been a fraction lower than the weeks before, but the impact is relatively low. </p>
<p>&#8220;In terms of connections we are looking at roughly 2,880,000 connections per minute at peak hours and about 2,160,000 connections per minute at the lowest,&#8221; Demonii&#8217;s operator says.</p>
<p><center><strong>Demonii month stats</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/749d02e6.tracker-peer-month.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tracker-peer-month.png"><img src="media/749d02e6.tracker-peer-month.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tracker-peer-month.png" alt="tracker-peer-month" width="500" height="185" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98418"></a></center></p>
<p>If The Pirate Bay remains down for a longer period of time problems may arise on a different level though. TPB has traditionally been one of the best moderated sites, which helped to prevent malware and other scams from spreading. </p>
<p>In theory others could take over this role, but if more sites topple the quality element may become an issue. For now, however, most people seem to be sharing as much as usual.</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=98481
title: Icefilms Downtime Causes Concern, But Site Will Return
uri: Icefilms-Downtime-Causes-Concern-But-Site-Will-Return
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Dh-1hN56rlI/
content:
<p>Without doubt the past seven days have shaken the file-sharing world to its core. Last Tuesday the Internet&#8217;s most famous file-sharing site, invincible according to many accounts, fell following a raid by Swedish police.</p>
<p>That kind of surprise can lead people to panic when other similar sites have downtime at the same time. For the past 24 hours concern has been growing over Icefilms, a movie and streaming portal with a strong online following.</p>
<p>Sometime yesterday morning, Icefilms disappeared offline. Visitors to the site reported various issues, from no page loading to redirections to another domain. Most, however, were confronted with the image shown below.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/940be0d9.icefilms.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/icefilms.jpg" alt="icefilms"></center></p>
<p>While much preferable to a law enforcement notice, the image itself has been causing concern among Icefilms users due to it being hosted on Amazon rather than the site&#8217;s own server.</p>
<p>But despite the worries a source familiar with the situation informs TF that there is nothing to be concerned about. Icefilms currently has hosting issues to overcome, hence placing the image on another server. The site itself should be back to its full glory within days.</p>
<p>Even when the Pirate Bay raid is disregarded, it&#8217;s easy to see why Icefilms users have been panicking. Firstly, the first few pages of Google are almost useless when it comes to getting information about the site. In fact, Icefilms itself is <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=icefilms">completely absent</a> from Google search results.</p>
<p>However, if one <a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=icefilms">turns to Bing</a> then results are restored to their former glory. In fact, Bing even provides a convenient Icefilms search engine as the first result.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/bc63a3cd.icesearch.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/icesearch.png" alt="icesearch"></center></p>
<p>Only adding to the confusion is Icefilms&#8217; inclusion in a recent blocking order. Last month the UK High Court <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-piracy-blocklist-expands-with-demonoid-isohunt-iptorrents-and-more-141127/">ordered</a> ISPs to block 32 domains following an application by the Motion Picture Association. In recent weeks the leading service providers responded by blocking access to Icefilms.info.</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=98468
title: The Pirate Bay’s Facebook Page Is Shut Down Too
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-s-Facebook-Page-Is-Shut-Down-Too
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xFSbVXeOcDk/
content:
<p><a href="media/f9752f4e.tpbfacebook.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbfacebook.png"><img src="media/f9752f4e.tpbfacebook.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbfacebook.png" alt="tpbfacebook" width="299" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98475"></a>More than a week has passed since The Pirate Bay&#8217;s servers were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">pulled offline</a>, and now the same is happening to the site&#8217;s official Facebook page.</p>
<p>With more than 470,000 likes <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ThePirateBayWarMachine">TPB&#8217;s Facebook page</a> had quite a reach, although the last status update dates back to last year. Since then the page was mostly used by &#8216;fans&#8217; to share TPB related news stories, and most recently links to Pirate Bay alternatives.</p>
<p>Those who try to access the page today are out of luck though, as Facebook informs them that &#8220;the page isn&#8217;t available&#8221; and that it &#8220;may have been removed.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear what the reason behind the removal is. It could have been initiated by The Pirate Bay crew itself but it&#8217;s also possible that Facebook was asked to shut it down for alleged links to copyright infringing material.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/8601d7ac.tpb-facebook.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-facebook.jpg"><img src="media/8601d7ac.tpb-facebook.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-facebook.jpg" alt="tpb-facebook" width="800" height="693" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98476"></a></center></p>
<p>If The Pirate Bay crew deleted the page the motivation may have been to cover its tracks. Swedish authorities have confirmed that there&#8217;s a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-suspect-released-raid-arrest-141216/">new criminal investigation</a> ongoing into the site&#8217;s operators, which may have prompted some to cut their ties. </p>
<p>That said, TPB&#8217;s official <a href="https://twitter.com/tpbdotorg">Twitter profile</a>, which hasn&#8217;t been updated since December last year, remains online. </p>
<p>The Pirate Bay crew have remained pretty much silent over the past few days. Earlier this week a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-crew-responds-to-the-raid-copies-and-the-future-141215/">message was relayed</a> through &#8220;Mr 10100100000&#8243; who suggested that no decision has yet been made on a potential return.</p>
<p>“Will we reboot? We don’t know yet. But if and when we do, it’ll be with a bang,” Mr 10100100000 said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, most of the site&#8217;s users are flocking to the Pirate Bay copies that are floating around, or one of the other popular torrent sites. This mass migration caused trouble at ExtraTorrent yesterday, who were <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ExtratorrentPage">briefly offline</a> due to a &#8220;sudden increase in user traffic.&#8221;</p>
<p>At the same time, groups using the &#8220;Anonymous&#8221; moniker claimed to have hacked both the <a href="http://rt.com/news/214371-anonymous-hacks-emails-pirate-bay/">Swedish Government</a> and the <a href="http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/police-hackers-new-zealand-will-suffer-2014121714#axzz3M8xtDbmY">New Zealand police</a> in a retaliatory move, while a better known &#8220;Anonymous&#8221; group distanced itself from The Pirate Bay. </p>
<p>&#8220;We do not support the return of The Pirate Bay itself. We used to be the activist arm behind this website and what it stood for, but we feel like The Pirate Bay doesn’t represent our message anymore,&#8221; the <a href="https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews/status/543081988409012224">latter group said</a>.</p>
<p>And so the storm 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=98515
title: Paulo Coelho Wants to Give The Interview Away Using BitTorrent
uri: Paulo-Coelho-Wants-to-Give-The-Interview-Away-Using-BitTorrent
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/z9VzQKC6K8k/
content:
<p><img src="media/deba4e80.coelho.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/coelho.jpg" width="193" height="183" class="alignright">As has become customary in the past few weeks, the so-called Guardians of Peace hackers contacted TorrentFreak on Tuesday advising us of the latest release from their Sony hack.</p>
<p>The tone on this occasion was different. Threats of destroying Sony&#8217;s business had given way to suggestions of 9/11 style attacks on locations daring to show the now-controversial movie The Interview. Under increasing pressure, last evening Sony decided to pull the film.</p>
<p>&#8220;In light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film The Interview, we have decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release,&#8221; Sony said in a statement.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s believed the US government will officially <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/12/17/north-korea-sony-hack/20558135/">point the finger</a> at North Korea today, not everyone is scared of being associated with the movie. In fact, BitTorrent-loving, Pirate Bay-supporting, best-selling author <a href="http://paulocoelho.com/en/">Paulo Coelho</a> is interested in buying the rights &#8211; and then some.</p>
<p>In a message to Sony this morning, Coelho &#8211; who <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/paulo-coelho-supports-the-pirate-bay-090415/">offered</a> to testify for the defense in The Pirate Bay trial of 2009 &#8211; laid down his offer.</p>
<p>&#8220;I offer @SonyPictures 100k for the rights of &#8216;The Interview&#8217; I will post it free on my blog,&#8221; the author <a href="https://twitter.com/paulocoelho">announced</a>.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Coelho confirmed that if successful he&#8217;ll make the movie available for free using BitTorrent. But what made him want to get involved in the controversy?</p>
<p>&#8220;As a writer, freedom of information /distribution is important for me.  You can&#8217;t bend to threats,&#8221; Coelho told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Worse, you can&#8217;t give an excuse that [Sony] decided to pull the plug fearing &#8216;terrorist attacks&#8217;. It is my understanding that what they really fear are email leaks.&#8221; </p>
<p>While the amount offered by Coelho is small beans against a movie that could end up <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/killing-the-interview-could-cost-sony-100-million/">costing Sony $100m</a> (hack costs not included), it&#8217;s being offered by an individual who knows all about leveraging file-sharing to his benefit.</p>
<p>In 2007 Coelho sold in excess of 100 million books and since its release his novel The Alchemist has shifted more than 165 million copies. Extraordinary writing talent aside, Coelho is unusual in that he embraces piracy and is more than happy to let people download his work <a href="http://paulocoelho.com/foundation/index-paulo-coelho.php?idioma=ingles">for free</a>.</p>
<p>In an earlier <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/best-selling-author-turns-piracy-into-profit-080512/">interview </a>with TorrentFreak the Brazilian said that he wanted people to have the opportunity to ‘try’ his books for free, but some of his publishers wouldn’t agree to that right away. So, taking matters into his own hands, Coelho put his books onto BitTorrent and hosting sites to achieve his aims.</p>
<p>“The ultimate goal of a writer is to be read. Money comes later,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>In fact, BitTorrent distribution is helping Coelho&#8217;s sales today more than ever before.</p>
<p>&#8220;Adultery, my new book, broke all records this year, and I believe that one of the reasons was there being many copies on P2P sites,&#8221; the author says.</p>
<p>Coelho concluded his offer to Sony Pictures this morning by suggesting he should be contacted via the company&#8217;s Brazil division. Whether a response will be forthcoming will remain to be seen, but in any event it seems unlikely that The Interview will remain dark forever.</p>
<p>Although Sony has reportedly killed its theatrical and VOD releases and has &#8220;no further release plans” for the movie, in the piracy world forbidden fruit is always the sweetest. File-sharers are now very keen indeed to get their hands on the movie, which is known to be available in DVD screener format.</p>
<p>Should that leak &#8211; and copies usually do &#8211; then there will be absolutely nothing that anyone can do about that, North Korea included. It won&#8217;t land on The Pirate Bay <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">of course</a>, but Coelho doesn&#8217;t think that will be too much of a problem.</p>
<p>&#8220;<a href="https://oldpiratebay.org/">Thanks isoHunt</a>,&#8221; he 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=98508
title: Researchers Make BitTorrent Anonymous and Impossible to Shut Down
uri: Researchers-Make-BitTorrent-Anonymous-and-Impossible-to-Shut-Down
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pO18OxaAVxI/
content:
<p><a href="media/e23bf960.tribler1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tribler1.jpg"><img src="media/e23bf960.tribler1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tribler1.jpg" alt="tribler" width="300" height="210" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98516"></a>The Pirate Bay shutdown has once again shows how vulnerable the BitTorrent &#8216;landscape&#8217; is to disruptions.</p>
<p>With a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">single raid</a> the largest torrent site on the Internet was pulled offline, dragging down several other popular BitTorrent services with it. </p>
<p>A team of researchers at Delft University of Technology has found a way to address this problem. With <a href="http://www.tribler.org/">Tribler</a> they&#8217;ve developed a robust BitTorrent client that doesn&#8217;t rely on central servers. Instead, it&#8217;s designed to keep BitTorrent alive, even when all torrent search engines, indexes and trackers are pulled offline.</p>
<p>&#8220;Tribler makes BitTorrent anonymous and impossible to shut down,&#8221; Tribler&#8217;s lead researcher Dr. Pouwelse tells TF. </p>
<p>&#8220;Recent events show that governments do not hesitate to block Twitter, raid websites, confiscate servers and steal domain names. The Tribler team has been working for 10 years to prepare for the age of server-less solutions and aggressive suppressors.&#8221;</p>
<p>To top that, the most recent version of Tribler that was released today also <a href="http://tribler.org/anonymity.html">offers &#8216;anonymity&#8217;</a> to its users through a custom-built in Tor network. This allows users to share and publish files without broadcasting their IP-addresses to the rest of the world (<em>note: see warning at the bottom of this article</em>). </p>
<p>&#8220;The public was beginning to lose the battle for Internet freedom, but today we are proud to be able to present an attack-resilient and censorship-resilient infrastructure for publishing,&#8221; Dr. Pouwelse says.</p>
<p>After thorough tests of the anonymity feature <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tribler-makes-bittorrent-client-anonymous-built-tor-network-140902/">earlier this year</a>, it&#8217;s now built into the latest release with end-to-end encryption. Tribler implemented a Tor-like onion routing network which hides who is seeding or sharing files. Users can vary the number of &#8220;hops&#8221; the client uses to increase anonymity.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Tribler creates a new dedicated network for anonymity that is in no way connected to the main Tor network. By using Tribler you become part of a Tor-like network and help others become anonymous,&#8221; Dr. Pouwelse says.</p>
<p>&#8220;That means you no longer have any exposure in any swarm, either downloading or seeding,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/cc46cae0.oading_in-action__select_your_privacy_level_for_each_torrent.gif" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Tribler_anonymous_downloading_in-action__select_your_privacy_level_for_each_torrent.gif"><img src="media/cc46cae0.oading_in-action__select_your_privacy_level_for_each_torrent.gif" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Tribler_anonymous_downloading_in-action__select_your_privacy_level_for_each_torrent.gif" alt="Tribler_anonymous_downloading_in action__select_your_privacy_level_for_each_torrent" width="600" height="450" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98528"></a></center></p>
<p>The downside to the increase in privacy is higher bandwidth usage. After all, users themselves also become proxies and have to relay the transfers of others. In addition, the anonymity feature may also slow down transfer speeds depending on how much other users are willing to share.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are very curious to see how fast anonymous downloads will be. It all depends on how social people are, meaning, if they leave Tribler running and help others automatically to become anonymous. If a lot of Tribler users turn out to be sharing and caring, the speed will be sufficient for a nice downloading experience,&#8221; Pouwelse says.</p>
<p>Another key feature of Tribler is decentralization. Users can search for files from within the application, which finds torrents through other peers instead of a central server. And if a tracker goes offline, the torrent will continue to download with the help of other users too.</p>
<p>The same decentralization principle applies to spam control. Where most torrent sites have a team of moderators to delete viruses, malware and fake files, Tribler uses user-generated “channels” which can be “liked” by others. If more people like a channel, the associated torrents get a boost in search results.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/3265bee6.triblernew.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/triblernew.jpg"><img src="media/3265bee6.triblernew.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/triblernew.jpg" alt="triblernew" width="600" height="421" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98529"></a></center></p>
<p>Overall the main goal of the University project is to offer a counterweight to the increased suppression and privacy violations the Internet is facing. Supported by million of euros in taxpayer money, the Tribler team is confident that it can make the Internet a bit safer for torrent users.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Internet is turning into a privacy nightmare. There are very few initiatives that use strong encryption and onion routing to offer real privacy. Even fewer teams have the resources, the energy, technical skills and scientific know-how to take on the Big and Powerful for a few years,&#8221; Pouwelse says. </p>
<p>After the Pirate Bay raid last week Tribler enjoyed a 30% increase in users and they hope that this will continue to grow during the weeks to come.</p>
<p>Those who want to give it a spin are welcome to <a href="http://www.tribler.org/">download Tribler here</a>. It’s completely Open Source and with a version for Windows, Mac and Linux. In addition, the Tribler team also invites researchers <a href="https://github.com/Tribler/tribler/wiki">to join</a> the project.</p>
<p><strong>Warning:</strong> It&#8217;s worth noting that since Tribler users route traffic of others, people may receive infringement notices for content they haven&#8217;t downloaded personally. While tracking companies may not see what you download, they can in some cases see what traffic you transfer for others.</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=98606
title: Google & MPAA Publicly Slam Each Other Over Piracy
uri: Google-MPAA-Publicly-Slam-Each-Other-Over-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/07HXX28i2_I/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b5440c0.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg"><img src="media/394b6768.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg" alt="mpaa-logo" width="200" height="112" class="alignright size-full wp-image-36694"></a>Even after running for weeks, the fallout from the Sony hacking fiasco is showing no signs of waning. In fact in some areas it appears that matters are only getting worse.</p>
<p>Earlier this month a TF report <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-prepares-to-bring-pirate-site-blocking-to-the-u-s-141211/">revealed</a> how the MPAA (with a SOPA defeat still ringing loudly in its ears) is still intent on bringing website blocking to the United States. </p>
<p>The notion that Hollywood was intent on reintroducing something so unpopular didn&#8217;t sit well with critics, but that was only the beginning. A subsequent article in The Verge <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/12/7382287/project-goliath">revealed</a> a campaign by the MPAA to attack &#8220;Goliath&#8221; &#8211; a codeword for Google &#8211; by &#8220;convincing state prosecutors to take up the fight&#8221; against the search giant.</p>
<p>The MPAA budgeted $500,000 for the project with costs potentially rising to $1.175 million. The Hollywood group subsequently called on SOPA-supporting Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood to attack Google, which he did. </p>
<p>The New York times has a copy of the letter he sent to the search giant &#8211; worryingly it was almost entirely <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/16/technology/attorney-general-letter-to-google.html">drafted by the MPAA&#8217;s lawfirm</a> Jenner and Block.</p>
<p>After a week of &#8220;no comment&#8221; from Google, the company has just broken its silence. In a statement from SVP and General Counsel Kent Walker, Google questions the MPAA&#8217;s judgment over its SOPA-like aims and apparent manipulation of an Attorney General.</p>
<p>&#8220;Almost three years ago, millions of Americans helped stop a piece of congressional legislation—supported by the MPAA—called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). If passed, SOPA would have led to censorship across the web. No wonder that 115,000 websites—including Google—participated in a protest, and over the course of a single day, Congress received more than 8 million phone calls and 4 million emails, as well as getting 10 million petition signatures,&#8221; Walker <a href="http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.co.uk/">writes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are deeply concerned about recent reports that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) led a secret, coordinated campaign to revive the failed SOPA legislation through other means, and helped manufacture legal arguments in connection with an investigation by Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood.&#8221;</p>
<p>Then, in what can only be a huge embarrassment for the MPAA and the Attorney General, Walker turns to the letter AG Hood sent to him in 2013.</p>
<p>&#8220;The MPAA did the legal legwork for the Mississippi State Attorney General.<br>
The MPAA then pitched Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood, an admitted SOPA supporter, and Attorney General Hood sent Google a letter making numerous accusations about the company,&#8221; Walker explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;The letter was signed by General Hood but was actually drafted by an attorney at Jenner &#038; Block — the MPAA’s law firm. As the New York Times has reported, the letter was only minimally edited by the state Attorney General before he signed it.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Google SVP ends with a shot at the MPAA and questions its self-professed position as an upholder of the right to free speech.</p>
<p>&#8220;While we of course have serious legal concerns about all of this, one disappointing part of this story is what this all means for the MPAA itself, an organization founded in part &#8216;to promote and defend the First Amendment and artists&#8217; right to free expression.&#8217; Why, then, is it trying to secretly censor the Internet?&#8221; Walker concludes. </p>
<p>Without delay, Google&#8217;s public comments were pounced upon by the MPAA who quickly published a statement of their own. It pulls no punches.</p>
<p>“Google’s effort to position itself as a defender of free speech is shameful. Freedom of speech should never be used as a shield for unlawful activities and the internet is not a license to steal,&#8221; the statement begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google’s blog post today is a transparent attempt to deflect focus from its own conduct and to shift attention from legitimate and important ongoing investigations by state attorneys general into the role of Google Search in enabling and facilitating illegal conduct – including illicit drug purchases, human trafficking and fraudulent documents as well as theft of intellectual property.&#8221;</p>
<p>And, in a clear indication that the MPAA feels it acted appropriately, the Hollywood group lets Google know that nothing will change.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will seek the assistance of any and all government agencies, whether federal, state or local, to protect the rights of all involved in creative activities,” the MPAA concludes.</p>
<p>The statements by both Google and the MPAA indicate that in this fight the gloves are now well and truly off. Will &#8216;David&#8217; slay &#8216;Goliath&#8217;? Who will get hurt in the crossfire?</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=98540
title: Torrent Site Fenopy Shuts Down Quietly
uri: Torrent-Site-Fenopy-Shuts-Down-Quietly
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/sfxVh7V3PQ0/
content:
<p>A few days ago Fenopy.se stopped responding, leaving tens of thousands of regular users without one of their favorite torrent sites. </p>
<p>The downtime wasn&#8217;t related to Pirate Bay&#8217;s troubles. Instead, the site&#8217;s domain name had simply expired.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/6dccb955.fenopy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fenopy.jpg"><img src="media/6dccb955.fenopy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fenopy.jpg" alt="fenopy" width="700" height="349" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98544"></a></center></p>
<p>TF talked to Fenopy&#8217;s owner who says that the expiration was not an accident, but planned a long time ago. The site&#8217;s owner decided that it was time to move on, and let the site vanish.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Fenopy was being operated by an Artificial Intelligence that I created back in 2011 and was on autopilot during the past 2 years. The domain just expired few days ago.&#8221; he says. </p>
<p>Fenopy gained a lot of visitors in 2006 when it was the first full-fledged torrent site with a &#8220;modern&#8221; looking design and nifty web 2.0 features. </p>
<p>In recent years the site&#8217;s traffic went down considerably, not in the last place because of various ISP blockades. </p>
<p>The owner of Fenopy gave us the following statement which is food for thought, discussion, and much more. </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><strong>On Liberty of Knowledge:</strong></p>
<p>I wanted to talk about the values of sharing in this statement.</p>
<p>But shame on us. For taking the greatest invention of our era, The Internet, and turn it into a marketing and surveillance web; all for feeding our greed and controlling the information.</p>
<p>Inside every artist, scientist, priest, student, politician and every man, is a will. Will to be heard and be remembered. From the dawn of time, we shared and reasoned our perceptions of our surroundings with one another. We documented them in inscriptions, fables, and books. Gathered them in our most sacred places; from Hanging Gardens of Babylon to Library of Alexandria. So everyone could access the knowledge of us freely to grow out of nonage.</p>
<p>The Internet could become our global library of knowledge. The path was by giving every information to everyone for the sake of giving. What we saw was an Internet owned and operated by enterprises. We need enterprises, but we also need to realize that each enterprise function to protect self-interests and profits. So we decided to guard the knowledge and reveal it; allowing everyone access, without forcing them to go through guardians who would conceal it. We made mistakes too, but at least we tried.</p>
<p>Power heard and acknowledged. It forced my brothers at The Pirate Bay to exile from their fatherlands. They found love and friendship in the people of the new lands. </p>
<p>Our brothers &#8211; Aaron, Gottfrid, Fredrik, and Peter &#8211; have fulfilled their mission. They sacrificed their freedom to fight the greed while living a modest life in prisons and remote corners of our world.</p>
<p>They are the heroes of our generation, the martyrs of the digital era, the liberators of our knowledge in art, science, and humanities. They broke the constructs of ownership and freed themselves even from their lands. Like all of us, they made mistakes too; yet they fought for a human reason.</p>
<p>May the death of these websites, the libraries of our modern age, be a lesson for future generations, that path to liberty starts with courage.</p>
<p>I finish this eulogy with Immanuel Kant:</p>
<p>&#8220;Enlightenment is man&#8217;s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one&#8217;s own understanding without another&#8217;s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one&#8217;s own mind without another&#8217;s guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) &#8220;Have the courage to use your own understanding,&#8221; is therefore the motto of the enlightenment.&#8221;</p>
<p>This, once liberated us from Dark Ages in Europe. Hope it will liberate all of us again.</p>
<p>With peace<br>
Breathe in union</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=98592
title: The Open Bay: Now Anyone Can Run A Pirate Bay ‘Copy’
uri: The-Open-Bay-Now-Anyone-Can-Run-A-Pirate-Bay-Copy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NxpkilTcMOc/
content:
<p><a href="media/09a8fa76.openbaylogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/openbaylogo.jpg"><img src="media/09a8fa76.openbaylogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/openbaylogo.jpg" alt="openbaylogo" width="218" height="210" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98593"></a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">The Pirate Bay raid</a> last week was a landmark incident which disrupted the BitTorrent ecosystem. </p>
<p>Many people have been looking for Pirate Bay alternatives in recent days. While there is nothing that can match the old Pirate Bay, there are plenty of copies available. </p>
<p>Earlier this week the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-crew-responds-to-the-raid-copies-and-the-future-141215/">TPB crew said</a> that it would be a good thing to have clones of the site all over the Internet, and it appears that the Isohunt.to team heard this message loud and clear. </p>
<p>The same team that previously resurrected isoHunt launched a copy of TPB on Oldpiratebay.org last week, and now they&#8217;re opening up its code to the public.</p>
<p>The initiative, properly named <a href="http://openbay.isohunt.to/">The Open Bay</a>, opens up the source to their Pirate Bay clone. This means that in a few simple steps anyone can have a copy of the Pirate Bay installed on his or her own domain. </p>
<p>&#8220;We, the team that brought you Isohunt.to and oldpiratebay.org are bringing you the next step in torrent evolution. Open Pirate Bay source code,&#8221; Isohunt.to says.</p>
<p>According to the people behind &#8220;The Open Bay&#8221; there&#8217;s a lesson to be learned from the isoHunt and Pirate Bay shutdowns. Instead of a few big players, the torrent community itself should be a swarm of copies.</p>
<p>&#8220;We want to change the torrent landscape which has been frozen for 10 years. We need to push it ahead,&#8221; Isohunt.to tells TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Open Pirate Bay source code will give absolutely anyone with minimal knowledge of how the Internet and websites work and some basic hosting, the opportunity to create a pirate bay copy on his own domain.&#8221;</p>
<p>To do so, the Isohunt.to team offers <a href="https://github.com/isohuntto/openbay/">code and scripts</a> and a large <a href="http://openbay.isohunt.to/">database dump</a> with instructions to get it up and running on a simple shared hosting account. In addition, they put all files in a <a href="https://github.com/isohuntto/openbay">GitHub repository</a> so people can create improved copies of their copy.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/86a28c2d.openbay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/openbay.jpg"><img src="media/86a28c2d.openbay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/openbay.jpg" alt="openbay" width="841" height="539" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98654"></a></center></p>
<p>We have to emphasize that the term Pirate Bay &#8220;copy&#8221; should be used loosely here. The standard release includes oldpiratebay.org&#8217;s theme and a database dump of roughly 8 million torrent links, while Pirate Bay only had around 3 million.</p>
<p>The difference is explained by the fact that The Open Bay database also includes files that originated from KickassTorrents and Isohunt.to. The original Pirate Bay code or descriptions are not there, and it&#8217;s not possible to upload or comment either.</p>
<p>Finally, it may go without saying but people should keep in mind that hosting a Pirate Bay copy comes with a legal risk. </p>
<p>Whether the surge in Pirate Bay copies is really a good development is open to debate, but we&#8217;ll examine this topic in an upcoming article.</p>
<p>For those who want a local copy of The Pirate Bay&#8217;s archive for historical purposes there&#8217;s a safer option. A recent dump of the files database, complete with all original pirate bay IDs, torrent descriptions and hashes is <a href="http://bitsnoop.com/thepiratebay-dump-2014-09-18-txt-gz-q68231481.html?rated=y ">available here</a>.</p>
<p>Torrent savvy people who know how magnet links work can even use the latter as a local Pirate Bay search engine, with the help of notepad. </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=98635
title: Hollywood Tries to Crush Popcorn Time, Again
uri: Hollywood-Tries-to-Crush-Popcorn-Time-Again
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/noSoRwjx19Q/
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>This year Popcorn Time became an instant hit by offering BitTorrent-powered streaming inside an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/open-source-torrent-streaming-a-netflix-for-pirates-140308/">breakthrough app</a> had Hollywood concerned but luckily for them the developers shut it down after a few weeks, saying that they wanted to move on with their lives. </p>
<p>It was never revealed whether Hollywood forces had threatened the developers, but an MPAA update that surfaced as part of the Sony leaks now reveals that this was indeed the case.</p>
<p>In the MPAA&#8217;s &#8220;first quarter update,&#8221; sent to the movie studio heads in March, the group stated that it had &#8220;scored a major victory in shutting down the key developers of Popcorn Time.&#8221; </p>
<p>The MPAA added that the investigative and enforcement actions required collaboration on three continents, which they hoped would prevent Popcorn Time from becoming a &#8220;major piracy threat.&#8221;</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Hollywood the threat didn&#8217;t go away. The Open Source project was quickly picked up by others and in recent months several popular forks gained steady user-bases.</p>
<p><a href="http://popcorn-time.se/">Popcorn-Time.se</a>, one of the most-used forks, has since turned into a bigger threat than the original application. As a result, Hollywood is trying its best to dismantle it. </p>
<p>Previously the fork had its <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-legal-investigation-switches-domain-141014/">domain name suspended</a> and over the past few weeks found itself being kicked out by various hosting providers. Complaints from the Hollywood backed anti-piracy group <a href="http://www.anti-piracy.nl/english.php">BREIN</a> were to blame.</p>
<p>The hosting troubles resulted in long periods of downtime, which isn&#8217;t good for morale among the developers. </p>
<p>&#8220;We had a tough two weeks with a few shut downs that came unexpectedly. We moved our service through three different hosting companies in these weeks,&#8221; the Popcorn-Time.se team tells TF. </p>
<p>&#8220;All caved after a few hours to a day or two, after &#8216;some&#8217; copyright organization contacted them, saying suddenly that they don&#8217;t want to host our &#8216;illegal&#8217; domain. We were shocked actually to see how quickly these organizations work.&#8221;  </p>
<p>While Popcorn-Time.se might have been down, they&#8217;re not out yet. The team is determined to keep its software available and will be releasing new updates to the app today. </p>
<p>&#8220;BREIN is on our backs? Well, we found a new hosting company which we hope will be more cooperative, and we&#8217;re releasing updates for both Windows and Mac today to show everyone that business is as usual.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;No one said it was gonna be easy, but what doesn&#8217;t kill you, makes you stronger, and we&#8217;re not into dying&#8230; ;-),&#8221; the Popcorn-Time.se team concludes. </p>
<p>Whether other Popcorn Time forks have had similar problems recently is unknown, but the above makes it clear that Hollywood is still determined to crush these popular apps.</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=98686
title: BitTorrent Inc. Happy to Take on Kim Jong Un
uri: BitTorrent-Inc-Happy-to-Take-on-Kim-Jong-Un
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hmZ2rE88pyU/
content:
<p><a href="media/734911e6.theinterview.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/theinterview.jpg"><img src="media/734911e6.theinterview.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/theinterview.jpg" alt="theinterview" width="180" height="136" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98689"></a>For Sony Pictures and the creative talent behind The Interview, the past several weeks have been extraordinary. With Sony falling to a crippling hack attack reportedly at the hands of North Korea, never before has a movie resulted in so much corporate destruction.</p>
<p>As the dust settles, at least temporarily, Sony finds itself between a rock and a hard place. After pulling the movie this week following threats of terror attacks on theaters, Sony was criticized by President Obama yesterday who described the decision as &#8220;<a href="http://gizmodo.com/obama-sony-made-a-mistake-pulling-the-interview-1673268761">a mistake</a>&#8220;.</p>
<p>Sony responded with a statement from CEO Michael Lynton: &#8220;We have not caved. We have not given in. We have persevered, and we have not backed down. We have always had every desire to have the American public see this movie.”</p>
<p>But with theaters dropping like flies and &#8220;not been one major VOD or one major ecommerce site&#8221; stepping forward to show the film, the studio&#8217;s options are limited. Last night, however, a hero stepped forward to take on the tyranny of state-sponsored terrorism. </p>
<p>&#8220;Like everyone else around the world, we’ve been following this egregious hacking of Sony’s servers over the past few weeks,&#8221; BitTorrent Inc. <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/19/bittorrent-invites-sony-pictures-to-release-the-interview-on-its-platform/">said</a> in a statement to VB.</p>
<p>&#8220;A trend has emerged among commentary in the days since Sony announced they would not release the motion picture, &#8216;The Interview.&#8217; There have been calls for Sony to release the film online. And many have contacted us asking: Would they be able to release the movie using BitTorrent?</p>
<p>&#8220;Though we normally would not offer commentary during such a trying time for another company, the answer is yes,&#8221; the company said.</p>
<p><a href="media/45bad50c.bittorrent-bundle1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.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>BitTorrent Inc. believes that Sony&#8217;s best option to &#8220;take back control of their film&#8221; and not cave in to &#8220;terrorist threats&#8221; is to utilize the company&#8217;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-now-allows-all-artists-to-get-paid-141118/">BitTorrent Bundles</a>.</p>
<p>Not only would Bundles allow everyone to view The Interview at home safe in the knowledge they aren&#8217;t going to get blown up, but this would strike &#8220;a strong note for free speech&#8221; while allowing Sony to set whatever price they like for the film, BitTorrent Inc. says.</p>
<p>While there is certainly a promotional aspect to BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s offer, releasing the movie using the BitTorrent protocol would solve Sony&#8217;s initial distribution problems. The company could probably flick the switch and have this movie out by Monday, if they&#8217;re really wanted to.</p>
<p>Of course, any release via BitTorrent Bundles would mean that The Interview would also become available on public and private torrent sites within hours. At this point anyone could download the movie for free. There had been suggestions earlier this week that Sony should go straight to torrent sites with the movie anyway, but BitTorrent Inc. thinks this is a bad idea.</p>
<p>&#8220;We disagree, however, with some that have suggested that Sony should make the film available through piracy sites. That would only serve to encourage bad actors. It’s also important to make the distinction that these piracy sites are not &#8216;torrent sites.&#8217; They are piracy sites that are wrongfully exploiting torrent technology,&#8221; the company said.</p>
<p>It seems unlikely that BitTorrent Inc. will seal the deal with Sony, but if they were successful this would not only be a major coup for the company but one steeped in irony.</p>
<p>As BitTorrent Inc. promises to strike a blow for freedom using BitTorrent, for the past several weeks the Sony hackers have also been using the BitTorrent protocol to distribute the very files they obtained from Sony.</p>
<p>Just goes to show, BitTorrent technology really can be used for anything.</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=98618
title: Twitter Suspends Account of Torrent Release Group ETRG
uri: Twitter-Suspends-Account-of-Torrent-Release-Group-ETRG
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/CvGAUNBSuc0/
content:
<p><a href="media/b4239d69.pirate-twitter.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-twitter.png"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-98627" src="media/b4239d69.pirate-twitter.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-twitter.png" alt="pirate-twitter" width="198" height="186"></a>The ExtraTorrent Release Group, or ETRG for short, is one of the best known sources for pirated movies.</p>
<p>The group releases dozens of popular films on various torrent sites each week and has a steady following of movie fans looking for fresh content.</p>
<p>Some of these followers track new releases through <a href="https://twitter.com/ExtraTorrentRG">ETRG&#8217;s Twitter account</a>. While the group doesn&#8217;t link to any copyrighted material, it does list the titles of new releases there.</p>
<p>One would think that ETRG isn&#8217;t violating Twitter&#8217;s policies by merely pasting a title. However, a few days ago two tweets mentioning &#8220;The Signal&#8221; got them in trouble. </p>
<p>The tweets were targeted with a DMCA takedown request which led to the immediate suspension of the group&#8217;s account.</p>
<p>&#8220;Twitter suspended ETRG&#8217;s account with no logical or valid reason. In fact they didn&#8217;t even give the reason. All I got was a DMCA notification and next day the account was suspended,&#8221; ETRG tells TF.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/647dac8d.ETRG-tweet.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ETRG-tweet.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98623" src="media/647dac8d.ETRG-tweet.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ETRG-tweet.jpg" alt="ETRG-tweet" width="604" height="287"></a></center>In its <a href="https://support.twitter.com/articles/15795-copyright-and-dmca-policy">copyright and DMCA policy</a> Twitter explains that it takes action against &#8220;tweets containing links to allegedly infringing materials,&#8221; but ETRG didn&#8217;t post any links, just text.</p>
<p>And there are more strange things happening. The takedown notice was sent on behalf of &#8220;Wild Side&#8221; and also targeted tweets from @PRoDJi and @TorrentBird. These tweets were removed as well, but interestingly enough the associated accounts haven&#8217;t been suspended.</p>
<p>ETRG is disappointed with Twitter&#8217;s actions and says the company is caving in to unreasonable demands from copyright holders.</p>
<p>&#8220;It shows how these sites are influenced by the powerful movie industry to do anything they want,&#8221; the group says.</p>
<p>A few years ago the group stopped posting links after it has its account suspended and at the time Twitter re-enabled it within a day. But even without links it couldn&#8217;t escape another suspension.</p>
<p>Hoping to get its account reinstated ETRG filed a counter-notice, but several days have passed since and they have yet to hear back from Twitter. Meanwhile, the account remains suspended. </p>
<p><center><a href="media/3b19c1eb.suspended.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/suspended.png"><img src="media/3b19c1eb.suspended.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/suspended.png" alt="suspended" width="592" height="161" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-98633"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><sub><a href="http://www.animhut.com/freebies/fresh-twitter-icons-5packs/">Pirate Twitter credit</a></sub></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=98442
title: Private Torrent Site Operators Face Criminal Trial
uri: Private-Torrent-Site-Operators-Face-Criminal-Trial
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/B5WK0xW_ars/
content:
<p>In 2009, in the wake of the first Pirate Bay trial and the guilty verdict handed to its operators, other admins with file-sharing sites in Sweden began to reconsider their positions.</p>
<p>Piling on the pressure, Antipiratbyrån (now Rights Alliance) <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-anti-pirates-threaten-bittorrent-trackers-090423/">wrote</a> to several sites warning them to end their copyright-infringing activities or face the consequences.</p>
<p>While most simply ignored the threats, some decided it was time to close down. One pair, SweDVDR and SoftMP3, did so alongside the release of their source code. This led to the creation of two new sites which eventually merged into one to become ‘eXcelleNT’, or XNT as it was known in public.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/3adeffad.excellent.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/excellent.jpg" alt="xnt"></center></p>
<p>For two years the site grew in size and reputation but in 2011 things came crashing down. Just as promised 24 months earlier, Antipiratbyrån / Rights Alliance investigated the site and filed a complaint with the police. In May the authorities pounced, arresting a man in Borlänge, Sweden, and another in the Stockholm area a day later. The site&#8217;s server was seized in Germany.</p>
<p>“We believe that the men have been administering and managing the site together,” said prosecutor Frederick Ingblad at the time.</p>
<p>In April 2014, almost three years after the raids, prosecutor Ingblad announced that the men had been prosecuted and would be heading to court. This week they appeared before the Falu District Court to appear before a  criminal copyright infringement trial.</p>
<p>&#8220;On this file-sharing site 1,050 different types of movies and TV shows were made available to the public illegally without rightholders&#8217; approval,&#8221; Ingblad <a href="http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=161&#038;artikel=6046539">said</a> this week.</p>
<p>The case, which received support from German authorities, centers around the unauthorized distribution of movies and TV shows between March and May 2011, including content owned by Warner Bros. and Disney.</p>
<p>The men, aged 23 and 24, stand accused of operating XNT in a case similar to the one involving The Pirate Bay in 2009. However, while the man from Borlänge admits to running the site, he feels no crime has been committed since he uploaded no content himself and only provided a sharing platform.</p>
<p>His lawyer, Sven-Erik Charles, goes even further. Charles believes that his client can not be convicted of infringement in Sweden since any crimes were committed overseas</p>
<p>&#8220;The issue in this lawsuit is where the crime were committed, abroad or in Sweden. This particular site&#8217;s server was located in Germany,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>With most private BitTorrent trackers there&#8217;s an issue with site funding that&#8217;s usually overcome by users making donations. In this case XNT also received voluntary payments from its users &#8211; $6,500 to be precise. However, according to SR.se, the prosecutor has already determined that money was not the motivation behind the site and the men didn&#8217;t get rich as a result.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about the desire to compete with other sites, you want to be the quickest to upload some movies and become the greatest, pure and simple,&#8221; Ingblad said.</p>
<p>As noted following the Supreme Court decision earlier this week, 1000 movies and TV shows is way above the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-supreme-court-determines-movie-piracy-fines-141216/">newly-established threshold</a> for file-sharers to avoid custodial sentences. The men have other concerns too, however. As expected the entertainment companies represented by Rights Alliance have also lodged a multi-million claim for damages. </p>
<p>The men&#8217;s fate on both counts will be determined in the coming 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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