# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147720
title: Supreme Court Will Decide if ISP Can Charge Money to Expose Pirates
uri: Supreme-Court-Will-Decide-if-ISP-Can-Charge-Money-to-Expose-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XcEx2Eiujjk/
content:
<p><img src="media/af081baa.canada-pirate.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/canada-pirate.png" alt="" width="225" height="113" class="alignright size-full wp-image-83641">Movie studio Voltage Pictures is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/downloaded-dallas-buyers-club-the-piracy-lawsuits-are-coming-140207/">no stranger</a> to suing BitTorrent users.</p>
<p>The company has filed numerous lawsuits against alleged pirates in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia, and is estimated to have made a lot of money doing so.</p>
<p>Voltage and other copyright holders who initiate these cases generally rely on IP addresses as evidence. This information is collected from BitTorrent swarms and linked to an ISP using an IP-database.</p>
<p>With this information in hand, they then ask the courts to direct Internet providers to hand over the personal details of the associated account holders, in order to go after the alleged pirates. </p>
<p>In Canada, this so-called copyright trolling practice hasn&#8217;t been without controversy. </p>
<p>Last year Voltage Pictures launched a &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/canadian-movie-pirates-targeted-in-reverse-class-action-160429/">reverse class action</a>&#8221; to demand damages from an unspecified number of Internet users whom they accuse of sharing films, including The Cobbler, Pay the Ghost, Good Kill, Fathers and Daughters, and American Heist.</p>
<p>The application of a reverse class action in a copyright case was unprecedented in itself. In a single swoop, many of Internet subscribers were at risk of having their personal details exposed. However, Internet provider Rogers was not willing to hand over this information freely. </p>
<p>Instead, Rogers demanded compensation for every IP-address lookup, as is permitted by copyright law. The provider asked for $100 per hour of work, plus taxes, to link the addresses to subscriber accounts.</p>
<p>The Federal Court agreed that the charges were permitted under the Copyright Act. However, when Voltage Pictures appealed the decision, this was reversed. The Appeals Court noted that there&#8217;s currently no fixed maximum charge defined by law. As long as this is the case, ISPs can charge no fees at all, the argument was. </p>
<p>In addition, the court stressed that it&#8217;s important for copyright holders to be able to protect their rights in the digital era.</p>
<p>“The internet must not become a collection of safe houses from which pirates, with impunity, can pilfer the products of others’ dedication, creativity and industry,” the appeal court Justice David Stratas wrote. </p>
<p>Not happy with the decision, Rogers decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court, which just decided that it will <a href="https://www.bramptonguardian.com/whatson-story/7960099-high-court-will-hear-piracy-disclosure-case/">hear the case</a>.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court hasn&#8217;t given an explanation for its decision to take the case. For the accused BitTorrent pirates in Canada, it&#8217;s certainly one to watch though.</p>
<p>The case will in large part determine how profitable the copyright trolling scheme is in Canada. When ISPs can charge a substantial fee for the IP-address lookups the efforts might not bring in enough money through settlements, making them less likely to continue. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147709
title: Police Seize Hundreds of Computers Over Pirate Movie Download in 2013
uri: Police-Seize-Hundreds-of-Computers-Over-Pirate-Movie-Download-in-2013
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/w4JiQ_A-lNM/
content:
<p><a href="media/a035d672.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png"><img src="media/0a6858fb.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" alt="" width="222" height="157" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108110"></a>Late October 2016, we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-confiscate-hundreds-of-computers-over-piracy-allegations-161024/">reported</a> on an alarming situation in Poland, where police had visited hundreds of homes across the country, seizing computers alleged to have been involved in the sharing of a comedy movie titled “Screwed“.</p>
<p>In some cases, police reportedly advised suspects to settle with copyright holders rather than face legal action, something critics felt was particularly inappropriate in an unproven copyright case. Now it appears that history is repeating itself in the region, with people being targeted over downloads of a local thriller titled &#8220;Drogówka&#8221;.</p>
<p>While this is of concern in itself, the alleged offenses took place via BitTorrent way back in 2013, four whole years ago. Local journalist Marcin Maj at <a href="http://Bezprawnik.pl">Bezprawnik</a>, who&#8217;s also an IT security instructor at <a href="http://Niebezpiecznik.pl">Niebezpiecznik</a>, has been documenting the activities of copyright trolls in Poland for some time. He picked up the story this week after he learned that police had seized an alleged file-sharer&#8217;s computer.</p>
<p>After speaking with local police, he subsequently discovered that 200 to 300 other people had been given the same treatment.</p>
<p>Maj says that after presenting a long list of questions to authorities, he learned that these seizures have been going on continuously for about a year, following a criminal complaint filed by a law firm. It&#8217;s that this point that the uncomfortable nature of this whole operation becomes apparent.</p>
<p>&#8220;In 2013-2014, lawyer Artur Glass-Brudziński reported numerous copyright infringements (movie sharing) to the prosecutor&#8217;s office, and the prosecutor&#8217;s office started to identify people behind the indicated IP addresses,&#8221; Maj informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s important to understand that in the Polish legal system, it&#8217;s impossible to sue someone who is unknown to a plaintiff [John Doe]. But you can always start a criminal proceeding.&#8221;</p>
<p>Such a criminal proceeding was filed in 2014 but it appears that Glass-Brudziński used the process to gain a secondary advantage. </p>
<p>&#8220;As a barrister of the [copyright holder], Artur Glass-Brudziński had access to the prosecutor&#8217;s documentation. So he used this to obtain identified names and addresses, without waiting for the end of the criminal proceeding. Those people were just witnesses, but Glass-Brudziński sent thousands of letters to them, suggesting they are suspects, which was not true,&#8221; Maj says.</p>
<p>So, in effect, a criminal action was used to gain access to personal details that were subsequently used in civil actions. That&#8217;s completely legal and quite common in Poland but many view the process as problematic.</p>
<p>&#8220;Polish lawyers see this as something not quite ethical,&#8221; Maj reports. &#8220;Now Glass-Brudziński faces a <a href="https://bezprawnik.pl/copryght-trolling-sad-dyscyplinarny/">disciplinary court</a> because his letters were quite misleading. Regardless of that, however, criminal proceedings are still underway.&#8221;</p>
<p>A hearing took place before the Disciplinary Court November 13 but a resolution will take some time to reach since there around 80 people involved in the case. In the meantime the current criminal case continues, with several problems.</p>
<p>For example, it&#8217;s quite likely that many people will have changed their computers since 2013, but the police are required to seize the ones people currently have. Also, Maj reports that after speaking to people who received demands for cash payment, many report having had nothing to do with the alleged offenses. But there is a broader problem around such cases in general.</p>
<p>As we reported last year, prosecutors admit that they do not verify the technical processes that the copyright holders use to identify the alleged infringers, meaning that hundreds of members of the public are subjected to property seizures based on untested evidence.</p>
<p>&#8220;Polish prosecutors often decide to seize computers just because they got an IP address list from a lawyer. Sometimes even prosecutors don&#8217;t want to do that, but copyright owners complain to the courts, and the courts issue an order to seize machines. That&#8217;s deeply absurd,&#8221; Maj says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Many times I have asked prosecutors if they check the method used to track pirates. Many times I have asked prosecutors if they have found evidence on every seized computer. The answers? No. They don&#8217;t check the method of tracking pirates, and evidence is found only &#8216;sometimes&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
<p>There are clearly mounting problems in Poland with both evidence and discovery-based loopholes providing copyright holders with a significant advantage. While questionable, it&#8217;s currently all legal, so it seems likely that as long as &#8216;victims&#8217; can gain access to private information via criminal cases, the cash threats will continue. It&#8217;s a topic covered in a report compiled by Maj and the Modern Poland Foundation <em>(Polish, <a href="media/38b4353c.MMaj-CopyrightTrolling-raport.pdf" data-original-source="https://prawokultury.pl/media/entry/attach/MMaj-CopyrightTrolling-raport.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p>&#8220;Computer seizures and our report were <a href="http://www.sejm.gov.pl/Sejm8.nsf/transmisje_arch.xsp?page=2#B5A3290EEE2C68DCC1258083003B8491">discussed</a> in the lower house of the Polish parliament in 2016, at the meeting of the Commision of Digitalization, Innovation and New Technologies. Many politicians are aware of the problem and they declare we should do something to stop bullying and seizures. Unfortunately, it all ended with was declarations,&#8221; Maj concludes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147632
title: Mom Defends 14-Year Old ‘Fortnite’ Cheater in Court
uri: Mom-Defends-14-Year-Old-Fortnite-Cheater-in-Court
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/oFABfqRwcNg/
content:
<p><img src="media/56a4e275.battlefortnite.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/battlefortnite.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="212" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145747">A few weeks ago, Epic Games released Fortnite’s free-to-play “Battle Royale” game mode for the PC and other platforms, which proved to be quite popular.</p>
<p>It also attracted attention from thousands of cheaters, many of whom were subsequently banned. In addition, Epic Games went a step further by taking <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/epic-sues-fortnite-cheaters-for-copyright-infringement-171012/">several cheaters to court</a> over copyright infringement.</p>
<p>One of the accused is Caleb Rogers, who was banned at least 14 times since he started playing. Every time Epic took action, he simply created new accounts under false names and continued to play and cheat at Fortnite.</p>
<p>What Epic Games probably didn&#8217;t know is that the cheater in question is a minor. The company likely obtained his name via YouTube or elsewhere, without knowing his real age.</p>
<p>Instead of responding to the complaint through an attorney, it&#8217;s the kid&#8217;s mother who&#8217;s come out in his defense.</p>
<p>&#8220;This company is in the process of attempting to sue a 14-year-old child,&#8221; Caleb&#8217;s mother informs the court.</p>
<p>In addition, she points out that Epic has no proof that her son modified the game and violated copyright law in the process. Perhaps more importantly, she highlights that the EULA, which the game publisher relies heavily upon in the complaint, isn&#8217;t legally binding. </p>
<p>The EULA states that minors require permission from a parent or legal guardian, which is not the case here.</p>
<p>&#8220;Please note parental consent was not issued to Caleb Rogers to play this free game produced by Epic Games, INC,&#8221; the mother writes in her letter. </p>
<p>Epic claims that cheaters cause the company to lose money, but the mother doesn&#8217;t buy this since it&#8217;s a free game. Instead, she believes that the company is trying to blame her son for its failure to curb cheaters. </p>
<p>&#8220;It is my belief that due to their lack of ability to curve cheat codes and others from modifying their game, they are using a 14-year-old child as a scape goat to make an example of him.&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>Letter</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/eef2f9e6.fortnitecheat14.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fortnitecheat14.png" alt="" width="600" height="479" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-147641"></center></p>
<p>The cheaters shouldn&#8217;t be the ones that are targeted, the mother additionally informs the court. Instead, Epic should go after the websites that offer the cheats themselves.</p>
<p>&#8220;The company is in the process of suing a multitude of players for this game Fortnite. Instead of Epic Games INC suing the websites providing the cheat codes, they are going after the individuals using these codes,&#8221; she notes. </p>
<p>The boy is accused of using cheat software that injects unauthorized code into the active memory of the game as it runs, not just codes. While he didn&#8217;t write the cheat himself, through his YouTube channel he showed others where to download it and asked for donations.</p>
<p>The mother is convinced that the case should be thrown out. Topping it off, she mentions that Epic Games violated the State of Delaware House Bill No. 64 by releasing her son&#8217;s personal information, allowing others to do the same.</p>
<p>Epic Games has yet to reply to the mother&#8217;s letter. The fact that they sued a 14-year-old boy is a problem though, as minors can&#8217;t be sued directly. It&#8217;s possible that the game publisher will drop the case for this reason, unless they want to take it up with his mom.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>The mother&#8217;s full letter is available <a href="media/5c07f71a.epicreply-1.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/epicreply-1.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147272
title: Netflix Takedown Request Targets “Stranger Things” Subreddit
uri: Netflix-Takedown-Request-Targets-Stranger-Things-Subreddit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1lNJU5aBxYE/
content:
<p><img src="media/8ca412aa.strangerthingsp.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/strangerthingsp.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="208" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147689" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/strangerthingsp.jpg 277w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/strangerthingsp-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 277px) 100vw, 277px">Netflix offers a great selection of movies and TV-shows and dozens of millions of people can&#8217;t go a week without it.</p>
<p>Netflix is seen as an alternative to piracy. However, since Netflix’s priorities are shifting more to the production of original content, piracy is also a problem.</p>
<p>The streaming service now has its own anti-piracy unit and works with third-party vendors to remove unauthorized content from the Internet. This includes links to their shows in Google&#8217;s search results. </p>
<p>While most requests are legitimate, a <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/request/5295026">recent takedown notice</a> targeting &#8220;Stranger Things,&#8221; was a bit off. Tucked in between various pirate sites, we spotted articles from news sites Express and The Wrap. </p>
<p><center><strong>Strange?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/a74330dc.strangertakedown.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/strangertakedown.png" alt="" width="600" height="180" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-147687"></center></p>
<p>The Express article has an obvious clickbait title aimed to attract freeloaders: &#8220;Stranger Things season 2 streaming &#8211; How to watch Stranger Things online for FREE in UK.&#8221; </p>
<p>While there are no references to infringing content in the piece, it&#8217;s at least understandable that Netflix&#8217; anti-piracy partner &#8220;IP Arrow&#8221; was confused by it. The Wrap article, however, doesn&#8217;t even hint at anything piracy related. </p>
<p>That&#8217;s not all though. Netflix&#8217;s takedown request also lists the &#8220;<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/StrangerThings/">Stranger Things</a>&#8221; subreddit. This community page has nearly a quarter million followers and explicitly forbids any pirated content. Still, Netflix wanted it removed from Google&#8217;s search results.</p>
<p><center><strong>Stranger Things subreddit</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b9ea562b.strangerthings.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/strangerthings.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="459" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-147686"></center></p>
<p>To give Netflix and IP Arrow the benefit of doubt, it&#8217;s always possible that a link to pirated content slipped through at the time the notice was sent. But, if that was the case they should have at least targeted the link to the full Reddit post as well. </p>
<p>The more likely scenario is that there was some sort of hiccup in the automated takedown software, or perhaps a human error of some kind. Stanger things have happened. </p>
<p>The good news is that Google came to the rescue. After reviewing the takedown notice, the three mentioned links were discarded. This means that the subreddit is still available in Google&#8217;s search results. For now.</p>
<p>Reddit itself is also quite skilled at spotting faulty takedown requests. While it&#8217;s unknown whether they were contacted directly by Netflix&#8217;s anti-piracy partner, the company rejects <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/reddit-rejects-81-of-all-piracy-takedown-notices-170416/">more than half</a> of all DMCA takedown requests it receives.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147256
title: Rightscorp: Revenue From Piracy Settlements Down 48% in 2017
uri: Rightscorp-Revenue-From-Piracy-Settlements-Down-48-in-2017
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MWQAv3IP-DM/
content:
<p><a href="media/c9f95d44.rightscorp.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp.png"><img src="media/ef1215bb.rightscorp.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp.png" alt="" width="222" height="54" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78740"></a>For the past several years, anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp has been trying to turn piracy into profit. The company monitors BitTorrent networks, captures IP addresses, then attempts to force ISPs to forward cash settlement demands to its subscribers.</p>
<p>Unlike other companies operating in the same area, Rightscorp has adopted a &#8220;speeding fine&#8221; type model, where it asks for $20 to $30 to make a supposed lawsuit go away, instead of the many hundreds demanded by its rivals. To date, this has resulted in the company closing more than 230,000 cases of infringement.</p>
<p>But despite the high numbers, the company doesn&#8217;t seem to be able to make it pay. Rightscorp&#8217;s latest set of financial results covering the three months ended September 30, 2017, show how bad things have got on the settlement front.</p>
<p>During the period in question, Rightscorp generated copyright settlement revenues of $45,848, an average of just $15,282 per month. That represents a decrease of 67% when compared to the $139,834 generated during the same period in 2016.</p>
<p>When looking at settlement revenues year to date, Rightscorp generated $184,362 in 2017, a decrease of 48% when compared to $354,160 generated during the same nine-month period in 2016.</p>
<p>But as bleak as these figures are, things get much worse. Out of these top-line revenues, Rightscorp has to deal with a whole bunch of costs before it can put anything into its own pockets. For example, in exchange for the right to pursue pirates, Rightscorp agrees to pay around 50% of everything it generates from settlements back to copyright holders.</p>
<p>So, for the past three months when it collected $45,848 from BitTorrent users, it must pay out $22,924 to copyright holders. Last year, in the same period, it paid them $69,143. For the year to date (nine months ended September 30, 2017), the company paid $92,181 to copyright holders, that&#8217;s versus $174,878 for the same period last year.</p>
<p>Whichever way you slice it, Rightscorp settlement model appears to be failing. With revenues from settlements down by almost half thus far this year, one has to question where this is all going, especially with BitTorrent piracy volumes continuing to fall in favor of other less traceable methods such as streaming.</p>
<p>However, Rightscorp does have a trick up its sleeve that is helping to keep the company afloat. As previously reported, the company has amassed a lot of intelligence on pirate activity which clearly has some value to copyright holders.</p>
<p>That data is currently being utilized by both BMG and the RIAA, who are using it as evidence in copyright liability lawsuits filed against ISPs Cox and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-sues-isp-grande-communications-for-failing-to-disconnect-pirates-170422/">Grande Communications</a>, where each stand accused of failing to disconnect repeat infringers.</p>
<p>This selling of &#8216;pirate&#8217; data is listed by Rightscorp in its financial reports as &#8220;consulting services&#8221; and thus far at least, it&#8217;s proving to be a crucial source of income.</p>
<p>&#8220;During the three months ended September 30, 2017, we generated revenues of $76,666 from consulting services rendered under service arrangements with prominent trade organizations,&#8221; Rightscorp reports.</p>
<p>&#8220;Under the agreements, the Company is providing certain data and consultation regarding copyright infringements on such organizations&#8217; respective properties. During the three months ended September 30, 2016, we had no consulting services revenue.&#8221;</p>
<p>Year to date, the numbers begin to add up. In the nine months ended September 30, 2017, Rightscorp generated revenues of $224,998 from this facet of their business, that&#8217;s versus zero revenue in 2016.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear that without this &#8220;consulting&#8221; revenue, Rightscorp would be in an even worse situation than it is today. In fact, it appears that these services, provided to the likes of the RIAA, are now preventing the company from falling into the abyss. All that being said, there&#8217;s no guarantee that won&#8217;t happen anyway.</p>
<p>To the nine months ended September 30, 2017, Rightscorp recorded a net loss of $1,448,899, which is even more than the $1,380,698 it lost during the same period last year. As a result, the company had just $3,147 left in cash at the end of September. That crisis was eased by issuing 2.5 million shares to an investor for a purchase price just $50,000. But to keep going, Rightscorp will need more money &#8211; much more.</p>
<p>&#8220;Management believes that the Company will need an additional $250,000 to $500,000 in 2017 to fund operations based on our current operating plans,&#8221; it reports, noting that there is &#8220;substantial doubt&#8221; whether Rightscorp can continue as a going concern.</p>
<p>But despite all the bad news, Rightscorp manages to survive and at least in the short-term, the piracy data it has amassed holds value, beyond basic cash settlement letters. The question is, for how long?</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147781
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 11/27/17
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-11-27-17
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QgmjMKGKtbk/
content:
<p><img src="media/0e7ff6cd.kingsman-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kingsman-1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="205" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147783">This week we have five newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Kingsman: The Golden Circle 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 Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip 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>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-112017/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">Kingsman: The Golden Circle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nxc-3WpMbg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1961175/">American Assassin</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1961175/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yoEyzOkTOI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/">Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZsG7WJVZv8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981128/">Geostorm</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981128/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuOlYPSEzSc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5439796/">Logan Lucky</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5439796/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPzvKH8AVf0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5362988/">Wind River</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5362988/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7WuKdVhrmA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5719700/">Home Again</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5719700/">5.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-oFOgFB2uM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959563/">The Hitman&#8217;s Bodyguard</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959563/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Afusxc2SM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501632/">Thor Ragnarok</a> (HDTS/Cam)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501632/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue80QwXMRHg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3011960/">Hangman</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3011960/">4.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNhLBNG-dUg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147718
title: Court: Accused Pirate Doesn’t Have to ‘Spy’ on Family Members
uri: Court-Accused-Pirate-Doesn-t-Have-to-Spy-on-Family-Members
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/AE8777Un-18/
content:
<p><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977">Over the past decade, copyright holders have gone after <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/lawyers-sent-109000-piracy-threats-in-germany-during-2013-140304/">hundreds of thousands</a> of alleged pirates in Germany, demanding settlements ranging from a few hundred to thousands of euros.</p>
<p>The targeted account holder is sometimes the perpetrator, but it could just as easily be another member of the household or even a complete stranger, especially if the Wi-Fi network is unsecured.</p>
<p>This was brought up recently in a case before a District Court Charlottenburg, where a man was accused by the makers of the movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1911644/">The Call</a>. Law firm Waldorf Frommer demanded 1,000 euros in damages for the alleged infringement, but the defendant denied that he downloaded the film.</p>
<p>Several other people were in the house at the time of the alleged offense, including the man&#8217;s adult son, his adult daughter and his sister-in-law. These people all have good computer skills and could, in theory, have downloaded the movie. </p>
<p>The filmmakers argued that the man should be held liable for the alleged infringement on his connection, even when he denies direct involvement, but the <a href="media/86ba8056.SKM_C754e17112309590.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.wbs-law.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/SKM_C754e17112309590.pdf">court disagreed</a> and denied a request for a thorough investigation. </p>
<p>The District Court of Charlottenburg decided that the father cannot be held liable for damages. The fact that he questioned the other members of the household, which yielded no results, <a href="https://tarnkappe.info/filesharing-wegen-familienfreundlicher-ausrichtung-kein-ausspionieren-von-familienmitgliedern-gefordert/">was sufficient</a> in this case.</p>
<p>Law firm Wilde Beuger Solmecke (WBS), which represented the defendant, notes that the man&#8217;s respect for private and family life is protected by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. As such, he cannot be required to spy on the downloading habits of household members.</p>
<p>&#8220;He was not required to document the use of the Internet connection or to investigate the computers for file-sharing software. Such investigation obligations would not be reasonable for him,&#8221; <a href="https://www.wbs-law.de/abmahnung-filesharing/filesharing-sieg-ag-charlottenburg-schuetzt-familie-75882/">the law firm</a> stresses. </p>
<p>&#8220;Once again, it has been established that undisturbed marital and family life is protected from harm by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which has a massive impact on the investigation obligations of the subscribers.&#8221;</p>
<p>The ruling is in line with recent orders from the German Federal Court of Justice. Last year, the highest German civil court ruled that subscribers are not required to spy on the downloading habits of family members, which was confirmed in a separate order a few months ago.</p>
<p>&#8220;Families, in particular, should not be intimidated by law firms. These often make demands for investigations, which the Federal Court of Justice has recently rejected,&#8221; law firm WBS concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147771
title: Mashup Site Hit With Domain Suspension Following IFPI Copyright Complaint
uri: Mashup-Site-Hit-With-Domain-Suspension-Following-IFPI-Copyright-Compla
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FXa0JgKnxE0/
content:
<p><a href="media/992b1efc.Zw0Cqraj.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Zw0Cqraj.jpg"><img src="media/9019ae2d.Zw0Cqraj.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Zw0Cqraj.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="220" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147772"></a>Mashups are musical compositions, usually made up of two or more tracks seamlessly blended together, which bring something fresh and new to the listener.</p>
<p>There are hundreds of stunning examples online, many created in hobbyist circles, with dedicated communities sharing their often brilliant work.</p>
<p>However, the majority of mashups have something in common &#8211; they&#8217;re created without any permission from the copyright holders&#8217; of the original tracks. As such they remain controversial, as mashup platform Sowndhaus has just discovered.</p>
<p>This Canada-based platform allows users to upload, share and network with other like-minded mashup enthusiasts. It has an inbuilt player, somewhat like Soundcloud, through which people can play a wide range of user-created mashups. However, sometime last Tuesday, Sowndhaus&#8217; main domain, Sowndhaus.com, became unreachable.</p>
<p><center><b>Sowndhaus: High-quality mashups</b><a href="media/547ccb2f.soundhaus.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/soundhaus.png"><img src="media/392d1dab.soundhaus.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/soundhaus.png" alt="" width="1052" height="485" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147774"></a></center></p>
<p>The site&#8217;s operators say that they initially believed there was some kind of configuration issue. Later, however, they discovered that their domain had been &#8220;purposefully de-listed&#8221; from its DNS servers by its registrar.</p>
<p>&#8220;DomainBox had received a DMCA notification from the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) and immediately suspended our .com domain,&#8221; Sowndhaus&#8217; operators report.</p>
<p>At this point it&#8217;s worth noting that while Sowndhaus is based and hosted in Canada, DomainBox is owned by UK-based Mesh Digital Limited, which is in turn owned by GoDaddy. IFPI, however, reportedly sent a US-focused DMCA notice to the registrar which noted that the music group had &#8220;a good faith belief&#8221; that activity on Sowndhaus &#8220;is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.&#8221;</p>
<p>While mashups have always proved controversial, Sowndhaus believe that they operate well within Canadian law.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have a good faith belief that the audio files allegedly &#8216;infringing copyright&#8217; in the DMCA notification are clearly transformative works and meet all criteria for &#8216;Non-commercial User-generated Content&#8217; under Section 29.21 of the Copyright Act (Canada), and as such are authorized by the law,&#8221; the site says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our service, servers, and files are located in Canada which has a &#8216;Notice and Notice regime&#8217; and where DMCA (a US law) has no jurisdiction. However, the jurisdiction for our .com domain is within the US/EU and thus subject to its laws.&#8221;</p>
<p>Despite a belief that the site operates lawfully, Sowndhaus took a decision to not only take down the files listed in IFPI&#8217;s complaint but also to ditch its .com domain completely. While this convinced DomainBox to give control of the domain back to the mashup platform, Sowndhaus has now moved to a completely new domain (sowndhaus.audio), to avoid further issues.</p>
<p>&#8220;We neither admit nor accept that any unlawful activity or copyright infringement with respect to the DMCA claim had taken place, or has ever been permitted on our servers, or that it was necessary to remove the files or service under Section 29.21 of the Copyright Act (Canada) with which we have always been, and continue to be, in full compliance,&#8221; the site notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The use of copyright material as Non-commercial User-generated Content is authorized by law in Canada, where our service resides. We believe that the IFPI are well aware of this, are aware of the jurisdiction of our service, and therefore that their DMCA notification is a misrepresentation of copyright.&#8221;</p>
<p>Aside from what appears to have been a rapid suspension of Sowndhaus&#8217; .com domain, the site says that it is being held to a higher standard of copyright protection that others operating under the DMCA.</p>
<p>Unlike YouTube, for example, Sowndhaus says it pro-actively removes files found to infringe copyright. It also bans users who use the site to commit piracy, as per its <a href="https://sowndhaus.audio/page/tos">Terms of Service</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a much stronger regime than would be required under the DMCA guidelines where users generally receive warnings and strikes before being banned, and where websites complying with the DMCA and seeking to avoid legal liability do not actively seek out cases of infringement, leading to some cases of genuine piracy remaining undetected on their services,&#8221; the site says.</p>
<p>However, the site remains defiant in respect of the content it hosts, noting that mashups are transformative works that use copyright content &#8220;in new and creative ways to form new works of art&#8221; and as such <a href="http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/page-9.html#h-27">are legal for non-commercial purposes</a>.</p>
<p>That hasn&#8217;t stopped it from being targeted by copyright holders in the past, however.</p>
<p>This year three music-based organizations (IFPI, RIAA, and France&#8217;s SCPP) have sent complaints to Google about the platform, targeting close to 200 URLs. However, at least for more recent complaints, Google hasn&#8217;t been removing the URLs from its indexes.</p>
<p><center><b>Complaints sent to Google about Sowndhaus in 2017</b><<a href="media/833d9dc9.sowndhaus-google.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sowndhaus-google.png"><img src="media/cceb689e.sowndhaus-google.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sowndhaus-google.png" alt="" width="702" height="311" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147796"></a></center></p>
<p>Noting that corporations are using their powers &#8220;to hinder, stifle, and silence protected new forms of artistic expression with no repercussions&#8221;, Sowndhaus says that it is still prepared to work with copyright holders but wishes they would &#8220;reconsider their current policies and accept non-commercial transformative works as legitimate art forms with legal protections and/or exemptions in all jurisdictions.&#8221;</p>
<p>While Sowndhaus is now operating from a new domain, the switch is not without its inconveniences. All URLs with links to files on sowndhaus.com are broken but can be fixed by changing the .com to .audio.</p>
<p>DomainBox did not respond to TorrentFreak&#8217;s request for comment.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147825
title: ACE and CAP Shut Down Aussie Pirate IPTV Operation
uri: ACE-and-CAP-Shut-Down-Aussie-Pirate-IPTV-Operation
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OyITywkUG8A/
content:
<p><img src="media/51f4f7b3.ace-members.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ace-members.png" width="216" height="284" class="alignright size-large">Instead of companies like the MPAA, Amazon, Netflix, CBS, HBO, BBC, Sky, CBS, Foxtel, and Village Roadshow tackling piracy completely solo, this year they teamed up to form the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE).</p>
<p>This massive <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/global-entertainment-giants-form-massive-anti-piracy-coalition-170613/">collaboration of 30 companies</a> represents a new front in the fight against piracy, with global players publicly cooperating to tackle the phenomenon in all its forms.</p>
<p>The same is true of <a href="http://www.casbaa.com/">CASBAA</a>&#8216;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-coalition-against-piracy-will-crack-down-on-pirate-streaming-boxes-171017/">Coalition Against Piracy</a> (CAP), a separate anti-piracy collective which to some extent shares the same members as ACE but with a sharp of focus on Asia.</p>
<p>This morning the groups announced the results of a joint investigation in Australia which targeted a large supplier of illicit IPTV devices. These small set-top boxes, which come in several forms, are often configured to receive programming from unauthorized sources. In this particular case, they came pre-loaded to play pirated movies, television shows, sports programming, plus other content.</p>
<p>The Melbourne-based company targeted by ACE and CAP allegedly sold these devices in Asia for many years. The company demanded AUS$400 (US$305) per IPTV unit and bundled each with a year&#8217;s subscription to pirated TV channels and on-demand movies from the US, EU, India and South East Asia markets.</p>
<p>In the past, companies operating in these areas have often been met with overwhelming force including criminal action, but ACE and CAP appear to have reached an agreement with the company and its owner, even going as far as keeping their names out of the press.</p>
<p>In return, the company has agreed to measures which will prevent people who have already invested in these boxes being able to access ACE and CAP content going forward. That is likely to result in a whole bunch of irritated customers.</p>
<p>“The film and television industry has made significant investments to provide audiences with access to creative content how, where, and when they want it,&#8221; says ACE spokesperson Zoe Thorogood.</p>
<p>&#8220;ACE and CAP members initiated this investigation as part of a comprehensive global approach to protect the legal marketplace for creative content, reduce online piracy, and bolster a creative economy that supports millions of workers. This latest action was part of a series of global actions to address the growth of illegal and unsafe piracy devices and apps.”</p>
<p>Neil Gane, General Manager of the CASBAA Coalition Against Piracy (CAP), also weighed in with what are now becoming <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-narrative-isnt-about-ethics-anymore-its-about-danger-170812/">industry-standard warnings</a> of losses to content makers and supposed risks to consumers.</p>
<p>“These little black boxes are now beginning to dominate the piracy ecosystem, causing significant damage to all sectors of the content industry, from producers to telecommunication platforms,&#8221; Gane said.</p>
<p>&#8220;They also pose a risk to consumers who face a well-documented increase in exposure to malware. The surge in availability of these illicit streaming devices is an international issue that requires a coordinated effort between industry and government. This will be the first of many disruption and enforcement initiatives on which CAP, ACE, and other industry associations will be collaborating together.”</p>
<p>In September, TF revealed the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">secret agreement</a> behind the ACE initiative, noting how the group&#8217;s founding members are required to commit $5m each annually to the project. The remaining 21 companies on the coalition&#8217;s Executive Committee put in $200,000 each.</p>
<p>While today&#8217;s IPTV announcement was very public, ACE has already been flexing its muscles behind the scenes. Earlier this month we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kodi-developers-quit-following-threats-from-mpa-netflix-amazon-171116/">reported</a> on <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ares-kodi-project-calls-it-quits-after-hollywood-cease-desist-171117/">several cases</a> where UK-based Kodi addon developers were approached by the anti-piracy group and warned to shut down &#8211; or else.</p>
<p>While all complied, each was warned not to reveal the terms of their agreement with ACE. This means that the legal basis for its threats remains shrouded in mystery. That being said, it&#8217;s likely that several European Court of Justice decisions earlier in the year played a key role.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147845
title: Steal This Show S03E11: The Nerd Reich
uri: Steal-This-Show-S03E11-The-Nerd-Reich
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/W0xd93P43tc/
content:
<p><img src="media/d01749d9.stslogo180.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stslogo180.png" alt="stslogo180" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-113928"><strong><sup><em>If you enjoy this episode, consider becoming a patron and getting involved with the show. <a href="https://patreon.com/user?u=4275705">Check out Steal This Show&#8217;s Patreon campaign</a>: support us and get all kinds of&nbsp;fantastic benefits!</em></sup></strong></p>
<p>In this episode, we meet Vinay Gupta: software engineer, disaster consultant, global resilience guru, and visionary. </p>
<p>Vinay served as Release Co-ordinator for the Ethereum project and is now CEO of Mattereum, &#8216;the first Internet of Agreements infrastructure project, bringing legally-enforceable smart contracts to the internet.&#8217; </p>
<p>We discuss: the idea of a &#8216;nerd Reich&#8217; that has either usurped power from or merged with global governmental power; how and why we now live in a market-driven version of Orwell&#8217;s 1984; and Vinay&#8217;s concept of <em>de-governance</em>, and why the modern nation-state is the wrong platform to solve the problems that face us today. </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><a href="https://stealthisshow.com">Steal This Show</a> aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing copyright and file-sharing news. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary, and analysis. </p>
<p>The guests for our news discussions will vary, and we&#8217;ll aim to introduce voices from different backgrounds and persuasions. In addition to news, STS will also produce features interviewing some of the great innovators and minds. </p>
<p><strong>Host:</strong> Jamie King</p>
<p><strong>Guest:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/leashless">Vinay Gupta</a></p>
<p><center><iframe width="100%" height="180px" src="//stealthisshow.com/?lpe-frame=1&#038;lpe-season=3&#038;lpe-episode=11" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p><strong>Produced </strong> <em>by </em>Jamie King<br>
<strong>Edited &#038; Mixed</strong> <em>by</em> Riley Byrne<br>
<strong>Original Music</strong> <em>by</em> David Triana<br>
<strong>Web Production</strong> <em>by</em> Siraje Amarniss</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147776
title: The Pirate Bay Has Trouble Keeping Afloat
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-Has-Trouble-Keeping-Afloat
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/E9hIiBxGQi8/
content:
<p><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">The crew of The Pirate Bay has had a hard time keeping the ship afloat over the past few days, something which has caused considerable downtime.</p>
<p>For a lot of people, the site still displays a Cloudflare error message across the entire site, and many proxies are affected by the downtime as well. </p>
<p>Not everyone is affected equally though. In some regions, the site loads just fine. That said, there are reports that, even then, uploads are broken and searches turn up blank.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to the TPB team but we have yet to hear more about the issue. Judging from past experience, however, it&#8217;s likely down to a small technical issue with part of the infrastructure that needs fixing.</p>
<p><center><strong>Pirate Bay down</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/c5595d26.tpb520.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb520.png" alt="" width="600" height="321" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-146935"></center></p>
<p>The Pirate Bay has had quite a few stints of downtime in recent months. The popular torrent site usually returns after several hours, although it can take longer on occasion. </p>
<p>But there&#8217;s some good news for those who desperately need to access the notorious torrent site. </p>
<p>TPB is still accessible through some proxies and its <a href="http://uj3wazyk5u4hnvtk.onion/recent">.onion</a> address on the Tor network, via the popular Tor Browser, for example. The Tor traffic goes through a separate connection and works just fine.</p>
<p>New uploads are coming through as well, although these appear to be mostly from upload bots. </p>
<p>As always, the site&#8217;s admins and moderators are <a href="https://pirates-forum.org/Thread-ThePirateBay-The-Pirate-Bay-Site-Status-Thread-not-for-personal-account-issues?page=53">asking people to refrain from panicking while waiting patiently for the storm to subside</a>, but seasoned TPB users will probably know the drill by now&#8230;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147760
title: Torrent Site Blocking Endangers Freedom of Expression, ISP Warns
uri: Torrent-Site-Blocking-Endangers-Freedom-of-Expression-ISP-Warns
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BwjbQK0JQjk/
content:
<p><img src="media/e2485339.linkomanijaf.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/linkomanijaf.png" alt="" width="282" height="239" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147819">LinkoManija.net is the most visited BitTorrent site in Lithuania. The private tracker has been around for more than a decade and has made quite a name for itself. </p>
<p>While it&#8217;s a &#8216;closed&#8217; community, that name hardly applies anymore considering that it&#8217;s the 32nd most-visited site in Lithuania, beating the likes of Twitter, eBay, and even Pornhub.</p>
<p>Over the past several years, Linkomanija has endured its fair share of copyright-related troubles. This includes a multi-million dollar lawsuit launched <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/microsoft-fails-to-close-major-bittorrent-tracker-100521/">by Microsoft</a>, which failed to put the site out of business. </p>
<p>Last week the Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association (LATGA) had more <a href="https://it.lrytas.lt/ismanyk/2017/11/20/news/-linkomanijos-byla-teismo-sprendimas-ipareigojo-prigriebti-piratus-3580234/">success</a>. The anti-piracy group went to court demanding that local ISPs block access to the site. It won.</p>
<p>The Vilnius Regional Court subsequently issued an order which requires Internet providers including Telia, Bitė, LRTC, Cgates, Init, Balticum TV, to start blocking access to the popular torrent tracker. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are glad that our courts follow the precedents set in European Courts and are following their practices,&#8221; Jonas Liniauskas, head of LATGA <a href="https://www.15min.lt/mokslasit/straipsnis/technologijos/skelbiamas-nuoprendis-linkomanijai-646-884252">told</a> 15min.</p>
<p>“We really hope that internet providers will not fight the decision and that they have finally decided whether they are ready to fight against pirates who take away their customers, or want to continue to contribute to the illegal exploitation of works on the Internet by providing high-speed Internet access to pirated websites.”</p>
<p>LATGA&#8217;s lawyer, Andrius Iškauskas, pointed out that the torrent site was operating as a commercial venture. Between 2013 and 2016 it collected hundreds of thousands of euros through donations from its users.</p>
<p>Internet provider Telia is not happy with the verdict and says it endangers people&#8217;s freedom of expression and speech. While the company doesn&#8217;t condone piracy, sites such as Linkomanija are also <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-tracker-becomes-official-movie-distributor-110428/">used legitimately</a> by copyright holders to share their work. </p>
<p>Telia pointed out in court that the anti-piracy group represented only 28 copyright holders and listed less than 100 works for which links were posted on Linkomanija.net. Despite these relatively small numbers, ISPs must block access to the entire site.</p>
<p>In response, LATGA&#8217;s lawyer pointed out that any rightsholders who legally distribute their content through Linkomania can easily find other suitable alternatives, such as YouTube, Spotify, and many more.</p>
<p>While the verdict is a blow to millions of users, the fight may not be over yet. The ISPs have 30 days to appeal the decision of the Vilnius Regional Court. According to Telia, this is likely to happen.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are currently analyzing the solution. It is very likely that it will be submitted to the higher court because the dispute is complex. This case can become case-law and determine when content is blocked on the Internet. This includes the possible restriction of freedom of expression and speech&#8221; the ISP notes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147884
title: Sky’s Pirate Site-Blocking Move is Something For North Korea, ISPs Say
uri: Sky-s-Pirate-Site-Blocking-Move-is-Something-For-North-Korea-ISPs-S
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/muHEOMzP4_I/
content:
<p><a href="media/9eb9cac7.pageblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg"><img src="media/a70e19c9.pageblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147564" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg 275w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px"></a>Entertainment companies have been taking legal action to have pirate sites blocked for more than a decade so it was only a matter of time before New Zealand had a taste of the action.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s now been revealed that Sky Network Television, the country&#8217;s biggest pay-TV service, filed a complaint with the High Court in September, demanding that four local Internet service providers block subscriber access to several &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p>At this point, the sites haven&#8217;t been named, but it seems almost inevitable that the likes of The Pirate Bay will be present. The ISPs are known, however. Spark, Vodafone, Vocus and Two Degrees control around 90% of the Kiwi market so any injunction handed down will affect almost the entire country.</p>
<p>In its application, Sky states that pirate sites make available unauthorized copies of its entertainment works, something which not only infringes its copyrights but also undermines its business model. But while this is standard fare in such complaints, the Internet industry backlash today is something out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>ISPs in other jurisdictions have fought back against blocking efforts but few have deployed the kind of language being heard in New Zealand this morning.</p>
<p>Vocus Group – which runs the Orcon, Slingshot and Flip brands – is labeling Sky&#8217;s efforts as &#8220;gross censorship and a breach of net neutrality&#8221;, adding that they&#8217;re in direct opposition to the idea of a free and open Internet.</p>
<p>“SKY’s call that sites be blacklisted on their say so is dinosaur behavior, something you would expect in North Korea, not in New Zealand. It isn’t our job to police the Internet and it sure as hell isn’t SKY’s either, all sites should be equal and open,” says Vocus Consumer General Manager Taryn Hamilton.</p>
<p>But in response, Sky said Vocus &#8220;has got it wrong&#8221;, highlighting that site-blocking is now common practice in places such as Australia and the UK.</p>
<p>&#8220;Pirate sites like Pirate Bay make no contribution to the development of content, but rather just steal it.  Over 40 countries around the world have put in place laws to block such sites, and we’re just looking to do the same,&#8221; the company said.</p>
<p>The broadcaster says it will only go to court to have dedicated pirate sites blocked, ones that &#8220;pay nothing to the creators&#8221; while stealing content for their own gain.</p>
<p>&#8220;We’re doing this because illegal streaming and content piracy is a major threat to the entertainment, creative and sporting industries in New Zealand and abroad. With piracy, not only is the sport and entertainment content that we love at risk, but so are the livelihoods of the thousands of people employed by these industries,&#8221; the company said. </p>
<p>&#8220;Illegally sharing or viewing content impacts a vast number of people and jobs including athletes, actors, artists, production crew, customer service representatives, event planners, caterers and many, many more.&#8221;</p>
<p>ISP Spark, which is also being targeted by Sky, was less visibly outraged than some of its competitors. However, the company still feels that controlling what people can see on the Internet is a slippery slope.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have some sympathy for this given we invest tens of millions of dollars into content ourselves through Lightbox. However, we don&#8217;t think it should be the role of ISPs to become the &#8216;police of the internet&#8217; on behalf of other parties,&#8221; a Spark spokesperson said.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sky&#8217;s blocking efforts haven&#8217;t been well received by InternetNZ, the non-profit organization which protects and promotes Internet use in New Zealand. </p>
<p>Describing the company&#8217;s application for an injunction as an &#8220;extreme step&#8221;, InternetNZ Chief Executive Jordan Carter said that site-blocking works against the &#8220;very nature&#8221; of the Internet and is a measure that&#8217;s unlikely to achieve its goals.</p>
<p>&#8220;Site blocking is very easily evaded by people with the right skills or tools. Those who are deliberate pirates will be able to get around site blocking without difficulty,&#8221; Carter said.</p>
<p>&#8220;If blocking is ordered, it risks driving content piracy further underground, with the help of easily-deployed and common Internet tools. This could well end up making the issues that Sky are facing even harder to police in the future.&#8221;</p>
<p>What most of the ISPs and InternetNZ are also agreed on is the need to fight piracy with competitive, attractive legal offerings. Vocus says that local interest in The Pirate Bay has halved since Netflix launched in New Zealand, with traffic to the torrent site sitting at just 23% of its peak 2013 levels.</p>
<p>&#8220;The success of Netflix, iTunes and Spotify proves that people are willing to pay to access good-quality content. It’s pretty clear that SKY doesn’t understand the internet, and is trying a Hail Mary to turnaround its sunset business,” Vocus Consumer General Manager Taryn Hamilton said.</p>
<p>The big question now is whether the High Court has the ability to order these kinds of blocks. InternetNZ has its doubts, noting that it should only happen following a parliamentary mandate.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147903
title: EU Court: Cloud-Based TV Recorder Requires Rightsholder Permission
uri: EU-Court-Cloud-Based-TV-Recorder-Requires-Rightsholder-Permission
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-b-oCWxgSCI/
content:
<p><a href="media/6542fb40.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg"><img src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985"></a>Over the years, many useful devices have come along which enable the public to make copies of copyright works, the VCR (video cassette recorder) being a prime example.</p>
<p>But while many such devices have been consumed by history, their modern equivalents still pose tricky questions for copyright law. One such service is <a href="https://www2.vcast.it/home/">VCAST</a>, which markets itself as a Video Cloud Recorder. It functions in a notionally similar way to its older cousin but substitutes cassette storage for that in the cloud.</p>
<p>VCAST targets the Italian market, allowing users to sign up in order to gain access to more than 50 digital terrestrial TV channels. However, rather than simply watching live, the user can tell VCAST to receive TV shows (via its own antenna system) while recording them to private cloud storage (such as Google Drive) for subsequent viewing over the Internet.</p>
<p>VCAST attracted the negative interests of rightsholders, including Mediaset-owned RTI, who doubted the legality of the service. So, in response, VCAST sued RTI at the Turin Court of First Instance, seeking a judgment confirming the legality of its operations. The company believed that since the recordings are placed in users&#8217; own cloud storage, the Italian private copying exception would apply and rightsholders would be compensated.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly given the complexity of the case, the Turin Court decided to <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&#038;docid=182052&#038;pageIndex=0&#038;doclang=en&#038;mode=req&#038;dir=&#038;occ=first&#038;part=1&#038;cid=1075144">refer questions</a> to the European Court of Justice. It essentially asked whether the private copying exception is applicable when the copying requires a service like VCAST and whether such a service is allowed to operate without permission from copyright holders. </p>
<p>In September, Advocate General Szpunar <a href="http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/ag-szpunar-advises-cjeu-on-cloud-based.html">published</a> his opinion, concluding that EU law prohibits this kind of service when copyright holders haven&#8217;t given their permission. Today, the ECJ handed down its decision, broadly agreeing with Szpunar&#8217;s conclusion.</p>
<p>&#8220;By today’s judgment, the Court finds that the service provided by VCAST has a dual functionality, consisting in ensuring both the reproduction and the making available of protected works. To the extent that the service offered by VCAST consists in the making available of protected works, it falls within communication to the public,&#8221; the ECJ announced.</p>
<p>&#8220;In that regard, the Court recalls that, according to the directive, any communication to the public, including the making available of a protected work or subject-matter, requires the rightholder’s consent, given that the right of communication of works to the public should be understood, in a broad sense, as covering any transmission or retransmission of a work to the public by wire or wireless means, including broadcasting.&#8221;</p>
<p>The ECJ notes that the original transmission made by RTI was intended for one audience. In turn, the transmission by VCAST was intended for another. In this respect, the subsequent VCAST transmission was made to a &#8220;new public&#8221;, which means that copyright holder permission is required under EU law.</p>
<p>&#8220;Accordingly, such a remote recording service cannot fall within the private copying exception,&#8221; the ECJ concludes.</p>
<p>The full text of the judgment can be found <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&#038;docid=197264&#038;pageIndex=0&#038;doclang=EN&#038;mode=req&#038;dir=&#038;occ=first&#038;part=1&#038;cid=929440">here</a>.</p>
<p>The key ruling reads as follows:</p>
<p><em>Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society, in particular Article 5(2)(b) thereof, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which permits a commercial undertaking to provide private individuals with a cloud service for the remote recording of private copies of works protected by copyright, by means of a computer system, by actively involving itself in the recording, without the rightholder’s consent.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147791
title: Netflix Is Not Going to Kill Piracy, Research Suggests
uri: Netflix-Is-Not-Going-to-Kill-Piracy-Research-Suggests
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RJgGa_B9Vvc/
content:
<p><img src="media/e12f98ba.netflixlogonew.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflixlogonew.png" alt="" width="267" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145677">There is little doubt that, in many countries, Netflix has become the standard for watching movies on the Internet.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, on-demand streaming services are convenient alternatives to piracy. However, millions of people stick to their old pirate habits, Netflix subscription or not. </p>
<p>Intrigued by this interplay of legal and unauthorized viewing, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Universidade Católica Portuguesa carried out an extensive study. They partnered with a major telco, which is not named, to analyze if BitTorrent downloading habits can be changed by offering legal alternatives. </p>
<p>The researchers used a piracy-tracking firm to get a sample of thousands of BitTorrent pirates at the associated ISP. Half of them were offered a free 45-day subscription to a premium TV and movies package, allowing them to watch popular content on demand.</p>
<p>To measure the effects of video-on-demand access on piracy, the researchers then monitored the legal viewing activity and BitTorrent transfers of the people who received the free offer, comparing it to a control group. The results show that piracy is harder to beat than some would expect.</p>
<p>Subscribers who received the free subscription watched more TV, but overall their torrenting habits didn&#8217;t change significantly. </p>
<p>&#8220;We find that, on average, households that received the gift increased overall TV consumption by 4.6% and reduced Internet downloads and uploads by 4.2% and 4.5%, respectively. However, and also on average, treated households did not change their likelihood of using BitTorrent during the experiment,&#8221; the researchers write.</p>
<p>One of the main problems was that these &#8216;pirates&#8217; couldn&#8217;t get all their favorite shows and movies on the legal service, which is a common problem. For the small portion of subscribers who had access to their preferred content, the researchers did find an effect on torrent traffic.</p>
<p>&#8220;Households with preferences aligned with the gifted content reduced their probability of using BitTorrent during the experiment by 18% and decreased their amount of upload traffic by 45%,&#8221; the paper reads.</p>
<p>The video-on-demand service in the study had an average &#8220;fit&#8221; of just 12% with people&#8217;s viewing preferences, which means that they were missing a lot of content. But even Netflix, which has a library of thousands of titles, only has a fit of roughly 50%. </p>
<p>The researchers show that the lack of availability is partly caused by licensing windows, which makes it hard for legal video streaming services to compete with piracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;We show that licensing windows impose significant restrictions on the content that can be included in SVoD catalogs, which hampers the ability of content distributors to offer catalogs that cater to the preferences of pirates,&#8221; they write. </p>
<p>However, even if more content became available, piracy wouldn&#8217;t magically disappear. In the experiment, subscribers were offered free access to a video on demand service. In the real world, they would have to pay, which presents another barrier. </p>
<p>In this study, the pirate households were willing to pay at most $3.25 USD per month to access a service with a library as large as Netflix’s in the United States. That&#8217;s not enough. </p>
<p>This leads the researchers to the grim conclusion that video on demand services such as Netflix can&#8217;t significantly lower piracy rates. They could make a dent if they increase their content libraries while lowering the price at the same time, but that&#8217;s not going to happen.</p>
<p>&#8220;Together, our results show that, as a stand-alone strategy, using legal SVoD to curtail piracy will require, at the minimum, offering content much earlier and at much lower prices than those currently offered in the marketplace, changes that are likely to reduce industry revenue and that may damage overall incentives to produce new content while, at the same time, curbing only a small share of piracy,&#8221; the researchers conclude.</p>
<p>While Hollywood maintains that people <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/most-top-films-are-not-available-on-netflix-research-finds-140926/">can get pretty much anything they want</a> legally, the current research shows that it&#8217;s not as simple as that. Most people are not going to pay for 22 separate subscriptions. Instead of more streaming services, it would be better to make more content available at the ones that are already out there. </p>
<p>The research was partially funded by the Carnegie Mellon University&#8217;s IDEA, which receives an unrestricted <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-pays-university-for-piracy-research-141118/">gift from the MPAA</a>, so Hollywood will likely be clued in on the results.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147952
title: YouTube Begins Blocking Music in Finland Due to Licensing Failure
uri: YouTube-Begins-Blocking-Music-in-Finland-Due-to-Licensing-Failure
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RiiEeTTLkMY/
content:
<p><a href="media/c0ea239b.youtubeface.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/youtubeface.jpg"><img src="media/a5365da2.youtubeface.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/youtubeface.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="158" class="alignright size-full wp-image-107705"></a>YouTube is used by millions of people worldwide to access a broad range of content but it is music that is increasingly one of the platform&#8217;s big draws.</p>
<p>With an almost unrivaled library, YouTube is the go-to service for music fans globally but over in Finland this morning, things aren&#8217;t playing out well.</p>
<p>As shown in the image below, users who try to access music are now getting the following graphic. When translated the text reads &#8220;Video content owned by Teosto. The video can not be used in your country.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><b>No license&#8230;..No access&#8230;</b><Unavailble in Finland</b><a href="media/775a304e.TEOSTO-unavailable.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/TEOSTO-unavailable.png"><img src="media/bb6820db.TEOSTO-unavailable.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/TEOSTO-unavailable.png" alt="" width="885" height="494" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147953"></a></center></p>
<p>This is a pretty big deal. Teosto is a Finnish performance rights organization that collects royalties on behalf of local artists and composers. It represents around 30,000 local songwriters and publishers, small fry when compared to the three million foreign music entities it represents in Finland.</p>
<p>This means that YouTube must have pulled huge volumes of content from its platform locally, rendering the service far less attractive to users. However, according to a TorrentFreak source, things go much further than standard modern licensed music.</p>
<p>As shown in the image below, even music published in 1899 has found itself pulled from the platform.</p>
<p><center><b>Jean Sibelius&#8217; masterpiece Finlandia? Gone..</b><a href="media/04abd0dc.sibelius-unavailable.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sibelius-unavailable.png"><img src="media/e4409057.sibelius-unavailable.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sibelius-unavailable.png" alt="" width="851" height="740" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147962"></a></center></p>
<p>The music licensing dispute, which appears to have led to millions of tracks being rendered inaccessible in Finland, was confirmed by YouTube this morning.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were unable to reach a new licensing agreement with TEOSTO. Because of this, some videos containing music will be blocked in Finland,&#8221; the team said.</p>
<p>While the removal of content will come as a disappointment to the quarter of Finnish citizens who use YouTube regularly, it doesn&#8217;t come as a complete surprise.</p>
<p>In September, Teosto issued an opinion on copyrights to Parliament&#8217;s Education Committee. The licensing group <a href="http://www.iltalehti.fi/viihdeuutiset/201711302200570491_vd.shtml">complained</a> that rightsholders aren&#8217;t adequately compensated for content played on platforms like YouTube. Like other groups in the same position, Teosto is looking to obtain more revenue for its members. That seems to be the basis for the dispute with YouTube.</p>
<p>For YouTube to have pulled so much content, negotiations must have really broken down, but Teosto sounded a note of optimism this morning. The group noted that while Google had indeed pulled music content from YouTube in Finland, it may reinstate it during the next couple of days.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147979
title: European Commission Steps Up Fight Against Online Piracy
uri: European-Commission-Steps-Up-Fight-Against-Online-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XvTSdwzhOHk/
content:
<p><img src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985">The European Commission has had copyright issues at the top of its agenda for a while, resulting in several <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-proposes-mandatory-piracy-filters-for-online-services-160914/">controversial</a> proposals.</p>
<p>This week it presented a series of <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-17-4943_en.htm">new measures</a> to ensure that copyright holders are well protected, targeting both online piracy and counterfeit goods.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Today we boost our collective ability to catch the &#8216;big fish&#8217; behind fake goods and pirated content which harm our companies and our jobs – as well as our health and safety in areas such as medicines or toys,&#8221; Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska announced.</p>
<p>The Commission notes that it&#8217;s stepping up the fight against counterfeiting and piracy. However, many of the proposals are not entirely new for those who follow anti-piracy issues around the globe. </p>
<p>One of the main goals is to focus on the people who facilitate copyright infringement, such as pirate site operators, and try to cut their revenue streams.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Commission seeks to deprive commercial-scale IP infringers of the revenue flows that make their criminal activity lucrative – this is the so-called ‘follow the money&#8217; approach which focuses on the &#8216;big fish&#8217; rather than individuals,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>Instead of using legislation to reach this goal, the Commission prefers to continue its support for voluntary agreements between copyright holders and third-party services. This includes deals with advertising and payment services to cut their ties with pirate sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;Such agreements can lead to faster action against counterfeiting and piracy than court actions,&#8221; the Commission writes. </p>
<p>Another tool to fight piracy appears on the agenda for the first time. The European Commission notes that it will also support the quest for new anti-piracy initiatives, including the use of blockchain technology. </p>
<p>&#8220;Supporting industry-led initiatives to combat IP infringements, including work on Memoranda of Understanding and exploring the potential of new technologies such as blockchain to combat IP infringements in supply chains,&#8221; the suggestion reads.</p>
<p>No concrete examples were given but earlier this week, European Parliament member Brando Benifei wrote an article on the issue in <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/section/copyright/opinion/benifei-embed-blockchain-in-copyright-reform/">Euractiv</a>. </p>
<p>Benifei mentions that blockchain technology can help independent artists collect royalty payments without the need for middlemen. In a similar vein, blockchains can also be used to track the unauthorized distribution of works.</p>
<p>In addition to broadening the anti-piracy horizon, the European Commission also released a <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/26582">new guidance</a> on how the current IPR Enforcement Directive (IPRED) should be interpreted, taking into account various recent developments, including landmark EU Court of Justice rulings.</p>
<p>The guidance explains how and when it&#8217;s appropriate to issue website blocking orders, for example. In general, blocking injunctions are warranted when they are proportional and aimed at preventing concrete infringements.</p>
<p>The comprehensive guidance also covers the issue of filtering. Interestingly, the Commission clarifies that third-party services can&#8217;t be required to  &#8220;install and operate excessively broad, unspecific and expensive filtering systems.&#8221; </p>
<p>This appears to run counter to the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-proposes-mandatory-piracy-filters-for-online-services-160914/">mandatory piracy filters</a> that were suggested as part of the copyright reform proposal. </p>
<p>However, the Commission notes that in some specific cases, hosting providers (e.g. YouTube) can be ordered to monitor uploads. This is in line with a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-proposes-take-down-stay-down-approach-to-combat-online-piracy-170928/">recent communication</a> which recommended that online services should implement measures to automatically detect and remove suspected illegal content.</p>
<p>While the new plans continue down the path of stronger copyright protections, not all rightsholders are happy. IFPI is glad that the main problems are highlighted, but would have liked to have seen more concrete plans.  </p>
<p>&#8220;We are disappointed that despite the European Commission recognizing the need to modernize IPRED and years of evidence gathering, today’s result is merely guidance to EU Member State governments. Soft law does not give right holders the tools they need to take effective action against pirate services,&#8221; IFPI writes.</p>
<p>On the other side of the divide, opposition to the previously announced EU copyright reform plans continues as well. Earlier today a group of over 80 organizations urged EU member states to speak out against several controversial copyright proposals, including the upload filter.</p>
<p>&#8220;The signatories warn the Member states that the discussion around the Copyright Directive are on the verge of causing irreparable damage to our fundamental rights and freedoms, our economy and competitiveness, our education and research, our innovation and competition, our creativity and our culture,&#8221; <a href="http://copybuzz.com/copyright/november-2017-open-letter-eu-reform/">they say</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148015
title: Seven Years of Hadopi: Nine Million Piracy Warnings, 189 Convictions
uri: Seven-Years-of-Hadopi-Nine-Million-Piracy-Warnings-189-Convictions
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ue-jEUJ9YzU/
content:
<p><a href="media/8474cc37.hadopilogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/hadopilogo.jpg"><img src="media/ac0922f3.hadopilogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hadopilogo.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="80" class="alignright size-full wp-image-41298"></a>More than seven years ago, it was predicted that the next big thing in anti-piracy enforcement would be the graduated response scheme. </p>
<p>Commonly known as “three strikes” or variants thereof, these schemes were promoted as educational in nature, with alleged pirates receiving escalating warnings designed to discourage further infringing behavior.</p>
<p>In the fall of 2010, France became one of the pioneers of the warning system and now almost more than seven years later, a new report from the country’s ‘Hadopi’ anti-piracy agency has revealed the extent of its operations.</p>
<p>Between July 2016 and June 2017, Hadopi <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/secteur/high-tech/2017/11/30/32001-20171130ARTFIG00288-la-hadopi-veut-s-adapter-a-l-evolution-des-pratiques-illicites-sur-le-web.php">sent</a> a total of 889 cases to court, a 30% uplift on the 684 cases handed over during the same period 2015/2016. This boost is notable, not least since the use of peer-to-peer protocols (such as BitTorrent, which Hadopi closely monitors) is declining in favor of streaming methods.</p>
<p>When all the seven years of the scheme are added together ending August 31, 2017, the numbers are even more significant.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since the launch of the graduated response scheme, more than 2,000 cases have been sent to prosecutors for possible prosecution,&#8221; Hadopi&#8217;s report reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;The number of cases sent to the prosecutor&#8217;s office has increased every year, with a significant increase in the last two years. Three-quarters of all the cases sent to prosecutors have been sent since July 2015.&#8221;</p>
<p>In all, the Hadopi agency has sent more than nine million first warning notices to alleged pirates since 2012, with more than 800,000 follow-up warnings on top, 200,000 of them during 2016-2017. But perhaps of most interest is the number of French citizens who, despite all the warnings, carried on with their pirating behavior and ended up prosecuted as a result.</p>
<p>Since the program&#8217;s inception, 583 court decisions have been handed down against pirates. While 394 of them resulted in a small fine, a caution, or other community-based punishment, 189 citizens walked away with a criminal conviction.</p>
<p>These can include fines of up to 1,500 euros or in more extreme cases, up to three years in prison and/or a 300,000 euro fine. </p>
<p>While this approach looks set to continue into 2018, Hadopi&#8217;s report highlights the need to adapt to a changing piracy landscape, one which requires a multi-faceted approach. In addition to tracking pirates, Hadopi also has a mission to promote legal offerings while educating the public. However, it is fully aware that these strategies alone won&#8217;t be enough.</p>
<p>To that end, the agency is calling for broader action, such as faster blocking of sites, expanding to the <a href="http://www.numerama.com/politique/310627-la-hadopi-voudrait-quon-la-mobilise-contre-les-sites-miroirs-pirates.html">blocking of mirror sites</a>, tackling unauthorized streaming platforms and, of course, dealing with the &#8220;fully-loaded&#8221; set-top box phenomenon that&#8217;s been sweeping the world for the past two years.</p>
<p><em>The full report can be downloaded <a href="media/864f276d.HADOPI-Rapport-d-activite-2016-2017.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.hadopi.fr/sites/default/rapportannuel/HADOPI-Rapport-d-activite-2016-2017.pdf">here</a> (pdf, French)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148011
title: Epic Games Settles First Copyright Case Against Fortnite Cheater
uri: Epic-Games-Settles-First-Copyright-Case-Against-Fortnite-Cheater
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GbMALiWwQ2U/
content:
<p><img src="media/56a4e275.battlefortnite.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/battlefortnite.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="212" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145747">Frustrated by thousands of cheaters who wreak havoc in Fortnite&#8217;s “Battle Royale,” game publisher Epic Games decided to take several of them to court.</p>
<p>One of the defendants is Minnesota resident Charles Vraspir, a.k.a. “Joreallean,” </p>
<p>The game publisher<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/epic-sues-fortnite-cheaters-for-copyright-infringement-171012/"> accused him</a> of copyright infringement and breach of contract, by injecting unauthorized computer code in order to cheat.</p>
<p>According to Epic’s allegations, Vraspir was banned at least nine times but registered new accounts to continue his cheating. In addition, he was also suspected of having written code for the cheats.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant’s cheating, and his inducing and enabling of others to cheat, is ruining the game playing experience of players who do not cheat,&#8221; Epic games wrote. </p>
<p>While the complaint included all the elements for an extensive legal battle, both sides chose to resolve the case without much of a fight. Yesterday, they informed the court that a settlement had been reached.</p>
<p>Epic Games&#8217; counsel asked the court to enter the agreement as well as a permanent injunction, which both have agreed on.</p>
<p>The proposed injunction, signed today, forbids Vraspir from carrying out any copyright infringements in the future, to destroy all cheats, and to never cheat again.</p>
<p>Among other things, he is prohibited from &#8220;creating, writing, developing, advertising, promoting, and/or distributing anything that infringes Epic’s works now or hereafter protected by any of Epic’s copyrights.&#8221;</p>
<p>While there is no mention of a settlement fee or fine, Vraspir will have to pay $5,000 if he breaches the agreement. </p>
<p><center><strong>From the injunction</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/808b1a9d.vrasepic.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vrasepic.png" alt="" width="573" height="231" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148041"></center></p>
<p>Based on the swift settlement, it can be assumed that Epic Games is not aiming to bankrupt the cheaters. Instead, it&#8217;s likely that the company wants to set an example and deter others from cheating in the future. </p>
<p>In addition to the settlement, Epic Games also responded to the mother of the 14-year-old cheater who was sued in a separate case. After we first covered the news last week it was quickly picked up by mainstream media, and it hasn&#8217;t gone unnoticed by the game publisher either. </p>
<p>The mother accused Epic of taking a minor to court and making his personal info known to the public. </p>
<p>In a response this week, the company notes that it had no idea of the age of the defendant when it filed the complaint. In addition, Epic notes that by handing over his full name and address in the unredacted letter, she exposed her son.</p>
<p>The rules dictate that filings mentioning an individual known to be a minor should use the minor&#8217;s initials only, not the full name as the mother did. While the mother may have waived this protection with her letter, Epic says it will stick to the initials going forward.</p>
<p>&#8220;Although there is an argument that by submitting the Letter to the Court containing Defendant’s name and address, Defendant’s mother waived this protection [&#8230;] we plan to include only Defendant’s initials or redact his name entirely in all future filings with the Court, including this letter.&#8221;</p>
<p>Given the quick settlement in the Vraspir case, it&#8217;s likely that the case against the 14-year-old boy will also be resolved without much additional damage. That is, if both sides can come to an agreement.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the yet unsigned stipulation and injunction is available <a href="media/616a384f.injunctionepic.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/injunctionepic.pdf">here (pdf)</a>. The reply to the mother can be found <a href="media/59bf099d.motherreply.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/motherreply.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147933
title: New Piracy Scaremongering Video Depicts ‘Dangerous’ Raspberry Pi
uri: New-Piracy-Scaremongering-Video-Depicts-Dangerous-Raspberry-Pi
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4PAeLXa96Sw/
content:
<p><a href="media/9ef6a551.warning.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/warning.png"><img src="media/40fc3a89.warning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warning.png" alt="" width="250" height="213" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109065"></a>Unless you&#8217;ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you&#8217;ll be aware that online streaming of video is a massive deal right now.</p>
<p>In addition to the successes of Netflix and Amazon Prime, for example, unauthorized sources are also getting a piece of the digital action.</p>
<p>Of course, entertainment industry groups hate this and are quite understandably trying to do something about it. Few people have a really good argument as to why they shouldn&#8217;t but recent tactics by some video-affiliated groups are really starting to wear thin.</p>
<p>From the mouth of Hollywood itself, the trending worldwide <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-narrative-isnt-about-ethics-anymore-its-about-danger-170812/">anti-piracy message</a> is that piracy is dangerous. Torrent sites carry viruses that will kill your computer, streaming sites carry malware that will steal your identity, and ISDs (that&#8217;s &#8216;Illegal Streaming Devices&#8217;, apparently) can burn down your home, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-truth-behind-the-kodi-boxes-can-kill-their-owners-headlines-171118/">kill you</a>, and corrupt your children.</p>
<p>If anyone is still taking notice of these overblown doomsday messages, here&#8217;s another one. Brought to you by the Hollywood-funded Digital Citizens Alliance, the new video rams home the message &#8211; the exact same message in fact &#8211; that set-top boxes providing the latest content for free are a threat to, well, just about everything.</p>
<p>While the message is probably getting a little old now, it&#8217;s worth noting the big reveal at ten seconds into the video, where the evil pirate box is introduced to the viewer.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RlzEQVfNuJk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>As reproduced in the left-hand image below, it is a blatantly obvious recreation of the totally content-neutral <a href="https://www.raspberrypi.org">Raspberry Pi</a>, the affordable small computer from the UK. Granted, people sometimes use it for Kodi (the image on the right shows a Kodi-themed Raspberry Pi case, created by official Kodi team partner FLIRC) but its overwhelming uses have nothing to do with the media center, or indeed piracy.</p>
<p><center><b>Disreputable and dangerous device? Of course not</b><a href="media/6e553d47.raspberry-kodi.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/raspberry-kodi.png"><img src="media/ec2454cb.raspberry-kodi.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/raspberry-kodi.png" alt="" width="900" height="282" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147944"></a></center></p>
<p>So alongside all the scary messages, the video succeeds in demonizing a perfectly innocent and safe device of which more than 15 million have been sold, many of them directly to schools. Since the device is so globally recognizable, it&#8217;s a not inconsiderable error.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a topic that the Kodi team itself vented over earlier this week, noting how the British tabloid media presented the recent wave of &#8220;Kodi Boxes Can Kill You&#8221; click-bait articles alongside pictures of the Raspberry Pi.</p>
<p>&#8220;Instead of showing one of the many thousands of generic black boxes sold without the legally required CE/UL marks, the media mainly chose to depict a legitimate Rasbperry Pi clothed in a very familiar Kodi case. The Pis originate from Cambridge, UK, and have been rigorously certified,&#8221; the team <a href="https://kodi.tv/article/beware-killer-kodi-boxes">complain</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re also super-huge fans of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and the proceeds of Pi board sales fund the awesome work they do to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education in schools. The Kodi FLIRC case has also been a hit with our Raspberry Pi users and sales contribute towards the cost of events like Kodi DevCon.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s insulting, and potentially harmful, to see two successful (and safe) products being wrongly presented for the sake of a headline,&#8221; they conclude.</p>
<p>Indeed, it seems that both press and the entertainment industry groups that feed them have been playing fast and loose recently, with the Raspberry Pi getting a particularly raw deal.</p>
<p>Still, if it scares away some pirates, that&#8217;s the main thing&#8230;.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148007
title: Google Says It Can’t Filter Pirated Content Proactively
uri: Google-Says-It-Can-t-Filter-Pirated-Content-Proactively
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OZtESuHTUBs/
content:
<p><img src="media/3c5b1a66.googlepiratebay.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlepiratebay.png" alt="" width="267" height="257" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128445">Over the past few years the entertainment industries have repeatedly asked Google to step up its game when it comes to its anti-piracy efforts.</p>
<p>These calls haven’t fallen on deaf ears and Google has steadily implemented various <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwxyRPFduTN2cl91LXJ0YjlYSjA/view">anti-piracy measures</a> in response.</p>
<p>Still, that is not enough. At least, according to several prominent music industry groups who are advocating a ‘Take Down, Stay Down’ approach.</p>
<p>Currently, Google mostly responds <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-asked-to-remove-3-billion-pirate-search-results-171018/">to takedown requests</a> that are sent in by copyright holders. The search engine deletes the infringing results and demotes the domains of frequent infringers. However, the same content often reappears on other sites, or in another location on the same site. </p>
<p>Earlier this year a group of prominent music groups <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/music-industry-wants-piracy-filters-no-takedown-whack-a-mole-170222/">stated</a> that the present situation forces rightsholders to participate in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole which doesn’t fix the underlying problem. Instead, it results in a “frustrating, burdensome and ultimately ineffective takedown process.”</p>
<p>While Google understands the rationale behind the complaints, the company doesn&#8217;t believe in a more proactive solution. This was <a href="http://advanced-television.com/2017/11/30/google-we-could-do-more-on-piracy/">reiterated</a> by Matt Brittin, President of EMEA Business &#038; Operations at Google, during the <a href="https://www.rts.org.uk/events">Royal Television Society</a> Event in London this week.</p>
<p> “The music industry has been quite tough with us on this. They’d like us proactively to know this stuff. It’s just not possible in this industry,&#8221; Brittin said. </p>
<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean that Google is sitting still. Brittin stresses that the company has invested millions in anti-piracy tools. That said, there can always be room for improvement.</p>
<p>&#8220;What we’ve tried to do is build tools that allow them to do that at scale easily and that work all together … I’m sure there are places where we could do better. There are teams and millions of dollars invested in this.</p>
<p> “Combatting bad acts and piracy is obviously very important to us,&#8221; Brittin added.</p>
<p>While Google sees no room for proactive filtering in search results, music industry insiders believe it&#8217;s possible.</p>
<p>Ideally, they want some type of automated algorithm or technology that removes infringing results without a targeted DMCA notice. This could be similar to YouTube’s Content-ID system, or the hash filtering mechanisms Google Drive employs, for example.</p>
<p>For now, however, there&#8217;s no sign that Google will go beyond the current takedown notice approach, at least for search. A ‘Take Down, Stay Down’ mechanism wouldn&#8217;t &#8220;understand&#8221; when content is authorized or not, the company previously noted. </p>
<p>And so, the status quo is likely to remain, at least for now.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147929
title: Could a Single Copyright Complaint Kill Your Domain?
uri: Could-a-Single-Copyright-Complaint-Kill-Your-Domain
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bZAifOXUz1M/
content:
<p><a href="media/cdef4830.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg"><img src="media/bd0abf4c.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120567"></a>It goes without saying that domain names are a crucial part of any site&#8217;s infrastructure. Without domains, sites aren&#8217;t easily findable and when things go wrong, the majority of web users could be forgiven for thinking that they no longer exist.</p>
<p>That was the case last week when Canada-based mashup site Sowndhaus suddenly found that its domain had been rendered completely useless. As <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mashup-site-hit-with-domain-suspension-following-ifpi-copyright-complaint-171127/">previously reported</a>, the site&#8217;s domain was suspended by UK-based registrar DomainBox after it received a copyright complaint from the IFPI.</p>
<p>There are a number of elements to this story, not least that the site&#8217;s operators believe that their project is entirely legal.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are a few like-minded folks from the mashup community that were tired of doing the host dance &#8211; new sites welcome us with open arms until record industry pressure becomes too much and they mass delete and ban us,&#8221; a member of the Sowndhaus team informs TF. </p>
<p>&#8220;After every mass deletion there are a wave of producers that just retire and their music is lost forever. We decided to make a more permanent home for ourselves and Canada&#8217;s <a href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2012/11/c-11-impact/">Copyright Modernization Act</a> gave us the opportunity to do it legally.<br>
We just want a small quiet corner of the internet where we can make music without being criminalized. It seems insane that I even have to say that.&#8221;</p>
<p>But while these are all valid concerns for the Sowndhaus community, there is a bigger picture here. There is absolutely no question that sites like YouTube and Soundcloud host huge libraries of mashups, yet somehow they hang on to their domains. Why would DomainBox take such drastic action? Is the site a real menace?</p>
<p>&#8220;The IFPI have sent a few standard DMCA takedown notices [to Sowndhaus, indirectly], each about a specific track or tracks on our server, asking us to remove them and any infringing activity. Every track complained about has been transformative, either a mashup or a remix and in a couple of cases cover versions,&#8221; the team explains.</p>
<p>But in all cases, it appears that IFPI and its agents didn&#8217;t take the time to complain to the site first. They instead went for the site&#8217;s infrastructure.</p>
<p>&#8220;[IFPI] have never contacted us directly, even though we have a &#8216;report copyright abuse&#8217; feature on our site and a dedicated copyright email address. We&#8217;ve only received forwarded emails from our host and domain registrar,&#8221; the site says.</p>
<p>Sowndhaus believes that the event that led to the domain suspension was caused by a support ticket raised by the &#8220;RiskIQ Incident Response Team&#8221;, who appear to have been working on behalf of IFPI.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were told by DomainBox&#8230;&#8217;Please remove the unlawful content from your website, or the domain will be suspended. Please reply within the next 5 working days to ensure the request was actioned&#8217;,&#8221; Sowndhaus says.</p>
<p>But they weren&#8217;t given five days, or even one. DomainBox chose to suspend the Sowndhaus.com domain name immediately, rendering the site inaccessible and without even giving the site a chance to respond.</p>
<p>&#8220;They didn&#8217;t give us an option to appeal the decision. They just took the IFPI&#8217;s word that the files were unlawful and must be removed,&#8221; the site informs us.</p>
<p>Intrigued at why DomainBox took the nuclear option, TorrentFreak sent several emails to the company but each time they went unanswered. We also sent emails to Mesh Digital Ltd, DomainBox&#8217;s operator, but they were given the same treatment.</p>
<p>We wanted to know on what grounds the registrar suspended the domain but perhaps more importantly, we wanted to know if the company is as aggressive as this with its other customers.</p>
<p>To that end we posed a question: If DomainBox had been entrusted with the domains of YouTube or Soundcloud, would they have acted in the same manner? We can&#8217;t put words in their mouth but it seems likely that someone in the company would step in to avoid a PR disaster on that scale.</p>
<p>Of course, both YouTube and Soundcloud comply with the law by taking down content when it infringes someone&#8217;s rights. It&#8217;s a position held by Sowndhaus too, even though they do not operate in the United States.</p>
<p>&#8220;We comply fully with the Copyright Act (Canada) and have our own policy of removing any genuinely infringing content,&#8221; the site says, adding that users who infringe are banned from the platform. </p>
<p>While there has never been any suggestion that IFPI or its agents asked for Sowndhaus&#8217; domain to be suspended, it&#8217;s clear that DomainBox made a decision to do just that. In some cases that might have been warranted, but registrars should definitely aim for a clear, transparent and fair process, so that the facts can be reviewed and appropriate action taken.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s something for people to keep in mind when they register a domain in future.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147954
title: Digital Rights Groups Warn Against Copyright “Parking Tickets” Bill
uri: Digital-Rights-Groups-Warn-Against-Copyright-Parking-Tickets-Bil
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/LhDN3jjmcbo/
content:
<p><img src="media/82334688.smallclaimsfinepenaltycourt.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/smallclaimsfinepenaltycourt.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="176" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148048">Nearly five years ago, US lawmakers agreed to carry out a comprehensive review of United States copyright law.</p>
<p>In the following years, the House Judiciary Committee held dozens of hearings on various topics, from DMCA reform and fair use exemptions to the possibility of a small claims court for copyright offenses.</p>
<p>While many of the topics never got far beyond the discussion stage, there&#8217;s now a new bill on the table that introduces a small claims process for copyright offenses. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3945">CASE Act</a>, short for Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement, proposes to establish a small claims court to resolve copyright disputes outside the federal courts. This means that legal costs will be significantly reduced.</p>
<p>The idea behind the bill is to lower the barrier for smaller copyright holders with limited resources, who usually refrain from going to court. Starting a federal case with proper representation is quite costly, while the outcome is rather uncertain.</p>
<p>While this may sound noble, digital rights groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (<a href="https://www.eff.org/es/deeplinks/2017/11/creating-copyright-court-copyright-office-wrong-move">EFF</a>) and <a href="https://www.publicknowledge.org/news-blog/blogs/the-case-act-small-claims-big-risks">Public Knowledge</a>, warn that the bill could do more harm than good.</p>
<p>One of the problems they signal is that the proposed “Copyright Claims Board” would be connected to the US Copyright Office. Given this connection, the groups fear that the three judges might be somewhat biased towards copyright holders.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, the Copyright Office has a history of putting copyright holders’ interests ahead of other important legal rights and policy concerns. We fear that any small claims process the Copyright Office conducts will tend to follow that pattern,&#8221; EFF&#8217;s Mitch Stoltz warns.</p>
<p>The copyright claims board will have three judges who can hear cases from all over the country. They can award damages awards of up to $15,000 per infringement, or $30,000 per case. </p>
<p>Participation is voluntary and potential defendants can opt-out. However, if they fail to do so, any order against them can still be binding and enforceable through a federal court.</p>
<p>An opt-in system would be much better, according to EFF, as that would prevent abuse by copyright holders who are looking for cheap default judgments.</p>
<p>&#8220;[A]n opt-in approach would help ensure that both participants affirmatively choose to litigate their dispute in this new court, and help prevent copyright holders from abusing the system to obtain inexpensive default judgments that will be hard to appeal.&#8221;</p>
<p>While smart defendants would opt-out in certain situations, those who are less familiar with the law might become the target of what are essentially copyright parking tickets.</p>
<p>&#8220;Knowledgeable defendants will opt out of such proceedings, while legally unsophisticated targets, including ordinary Internet users, could find themselves committed to an unfair, accelerated process handing out largely unappealable $5,000 copyright parking tickets,&#8221; EFF adds.</p>
<p>In its current form, the small claims court may prove to be an ideal tool for copyright trolls, including those who made a business out of filing federal cases against alleged BitTorrent pirates.</p>
<p>This copyright troll issue angle highlighted by both EFF and Public Knowlege, who urge lawmakers to revise the bill.</p>
<p>&#8220;[I]t’s not hard to see how trolls and default judgments could come to dominate the system,&#8221; Public Knowledge says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Instead of creating a reliable, fair mechanism for independent artists to pursue scaled infringement claims online, it would establish an opaque, unaccountable legislation mill that will likely get bogged down by copyright trolls and questionable claimants looking for a payout,&#8221; they conclude.</p>
<p>Various copyright holder groups are more positive about the bill. The <a href="http://copyrightalliance.org/ca_post/bill-new-generation-creators/">Copyright Alliance</a>, for example, says that it will empower creators with smaller budgets to protect their rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;The next generation of creators deserves copyright protection that is as pioneering and forward-thinking as they are. They deserve practical solutions to the real-life problems they face as creators. This bill is the first step.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148106
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 12/03/17
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-12-03-17
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/m_A48QE9TZo/
content:
<p><img src="media/0e7ff6cd.kingsman-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kingsman-1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="205" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147783">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Kingsman: The Golden Circle is the most downloaded movie again.</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 Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip 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>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-112717/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">Kingsman: The Golden Circle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nxc-3WpMbg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">The Foreigner</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9YCk7ufHs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1961175/">American Assassin</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1961175/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yoEyzOkTOI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5390504/">Detroit</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5390504/">7.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmQebVSsRbA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/">Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZsG7WJVZv8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981128/">Geostorm</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981128/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuOlYPSEzSc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">Justice League</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-DM9uBtVI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5439796/">Logan Lucky</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5439796/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPzvKH8AVf0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501632/">Thor Ragnarok</a> (HDTS/Cam)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501632/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue80QwXMRHg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5362988/">Wind River</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5362988/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7WuKdVhrmA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148104
title: Coalition Against Piracy Wants Singapore to Block Streaming Piracy Software
uri: Coalition-Against-Piracy-Wants-Singapore-to-Block-Streaming-Piracy-Sof
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/94zKJMU5xpE/
content:
<p><a href="media/096bd33d.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg"><img src="media/468f0769.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-125426"></a>Earlier this year, major industry players including Disney, HBO, Netflix, Amazon and NBCUniversal formed the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a huge coalition set to tackle piracy on a global scale.</p>
<p>Shortly after the Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) was announced. With a focus on Asia and backed by <a href="http://www.casbaa.com/about-us/what-is-casbaa">CASBAA</a>, CAP counts Disney, Fox, HBO Asia, NBCUniversal, Premier League, Turner Asia-Pacific, A&#038;E Networks, BBC Worldwide, National Basketball Association, Viacom International, and others among its members.</p>
<p>In several <a href="http://www.casbaa.com/resources/casbaa-publications/singapore-piracy/">recent reports</a>, CAP has homed in on the piracy situation in Singapore. Describing the phenomenon as &#8220;rampant&#8221;, the group says that around 40% of locals engage in the practice, many of them through unlicensed streaming. Now CAP, in line with its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-coalition-against-piracy-will-crack-down-on-pirate-streaming-boxes-171017/">anti-streaming stance</a>, wants the government to do more &#8211; much more.</p>
<p>Since a large proportion of illicit streaming takes place through set-top devices, CAP&#8217;s 21 members want the authorities to block the software inside them that enables piracy, <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/rampant-piracy-in-singapore-sparks-calls-for-crackdown-from-hollywood-sports-titans">Straits Times</a> reports.</p>
<p>&#8220;Within the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore is the worst in terms of availability of illicit streaming devices,&#8221; said CAP General Manager Neil Gane.</p>
<p>&#8220;They have access to hundreds of illicit broadcasts of channels and video-on-demand content.&#8221;</p>
<p>There are no precise details on CAP&#8217;s demands but it is far from clear how any government could effectively block software.</p>
<p>Blocking access to the software package itself would prove all but impossible, so that would leave blocking the infrastructure the software uses. While that would be relatively straightforward technically, the job would be large and fast-moving, particularly when dozens of apps and addons would need to be targeted.</p>
<p>However, CAP is also calling on the authorities to block pirate streams from entering Singapore. The country already has <a href="http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/aol/search/display/view.w3p;ident=d4661fd5-4c36-427b-a395-fb4f3d20c0bd;page=0;query=DocId%3A630bb8d1-3d6d-4a77-852a-0d292edcf6cf%20Depth%3A0%20Status%3Ainforce;rec=0">legislation in place</a> that can be used for site-blocking, so that is not out of the question. It&#8217;s notable that the English Premier League is part of the CAP coalition and following legal action <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/premier-league-wins-new-stream-blocking-injunction-to-fight-piracy-170727/">taken in the UK</a> earlier this year, now has plenty of experience in blocking streams, particularly of live broadcasts.</p>
<p>While that is a game of cat-and-mouse, TorrentFreak sources that have been monitoring the Premier League&#8217;s actions over the past several months report that the soccer outfit has become more effective over time. Its blocks can still be evaded but it can be hard work for those involved. That kind of expertise could prove invaluable to CAP.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Premier League is currently engaged in its most comprehensive global anti-piracy programme,&#8221; a spokesperson told ST. &#8220;This includes supporting our broadcast partners in South-east Asia with their efforts to prevent the sale of illicit streaming devices.&#8221;</p>
<p>In common with other countries around the world, the legality of using &#8216;pirate&#8217; streaming boxes is somewhat unclear in Singapore. A Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-03/-rampant-singapore-piracy-prompts-hollywood-lobby-for-crackdown">report</a> cites a local salesman who reports sales of 10 to 20 boxes on a typical weekend, rising to 300 a day during electronic fairs. He believes the devices are legal, since they don&#8217;t download full copies of programs.</p>
<p>While that point is yet to be argued in court (previously an Intellectual Property Office of Singapore spokesperson <a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/technology/faqs-tv-streaming-devices-are-they-legal-in-singapore-9216202">said</a> that copyright owners could potentially go after viewers), it seems unlikely that those selling the devices will be allowed to continue completely unhindered. The big question is how <a href="http://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/commercial-law/chapter-12">current legislation</a> can be successfully applied.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148043
title: GoMovies/123Movies Launches Anime Streaming Site
uri: GoMovies-123Movies-Launches-Anime-Streaming-Site
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_SyMYKJkcgg/
content:
<p><img src="media/cf8aed71.animehub.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/animehub.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="120" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148045">Pirate video streaming sites are booming. Their relative ease of use through on-demand viewing makes them a viable alternative to P2P file-sharing, which traditionally dominated the piracy arena.</p>
<p>The popular movie streaming site <a href="https://twitter.com/gomovieshd?lang=en">GoMovies</a>, formerly known as 123movies, is one of the most-used streaming sites. Despite the rebranding and several domain changes, it has built a steady base of millions of users over the past year and a half. </p>
<p>And it&#8217;s not done yet, we learn today. </p>
<p>The site, currently operating from the Gostream.is domain name, recently launched a new spinoff targeting anime fans. <a href="https://www.animehub.to/">Animehub.to</a> is currently promoted on GoMovies and the site&#8217;s operators aim to turn it into the leading streaming site for anime content. </p>
<p><center><strong>Animehub.to</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/102eb6b0.animehubl.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/animehubl.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="520" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148056"></center></p>
<p>Someone connected to GoMovies told us that they&#8217;ve received a lot of requests from users to add anime content. Anime has traditionally been a large niche on file-sharing sites and the same is true on streaming platforms.</p>
<p>Technically speaking, GoMovies could have easily filled up the original site with anime content, but the owners prefer a different outlet. </p>
<p>With a separate anime site, they hope to draw in more visitors, TorrentFreak was told by an insider. For one, this makes it possible to rank better in search engines. It also allows the operators to cater specifically to the anime audience, with anime specific categories and release schedules.</p>
<p>Anime copyright holders will not be pleased with the new initiative, that&#8217;s for sure, but GoMovies is not new to legal pressure. </p>
<p>Earlier this year the US Ambassador to Vietnam <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-ambassador-asks-vietnam-to-target-123movies-putlocker-and-kisscartoon-170323/">called on</a> the local Government to criminally prosecute people behind 123movies, the previous iteration of the site. In addition, the MPAA <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-pirate-sites-hosts-and-ad-networks-to-us-government-171004/">reported</a> the site to the US Government in its recent overview of notorious pirate sites.</p>
<p>Pressure or not, it appears that GoMovies has no intention of slowing down or changing its course, although we&#8217;ve heard that yet another rebranding is on the horizon.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148162
title: ISPs and Movie Industry Prepare Canadian Pirate Site Blocking Deal
uri: ISPs-and-Movie-Industry-Prepare-Canadian-Pirate-Site-Blocking-Deal
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/uXi0xUfMio8/
content:
<p><img src="media/a70e19c9.pageblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147564" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg 275w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px">ISP blocking has become a prime measure for the entertainment industry to target pirate sites on the Internet.</p>
<p>In recent years sites have been blocked throughout Europe, in Asia, and even Down Under.</p>
<p>In most countries, these blockades are ordered by local courts, which compel Internet providers to restrict access to certain websites. In Canada, however, there&#8217;s a plan in the works to allow for website blockades without judicial oversight.</p>
<p>A coalition of movie industry companies and ISPs, including Bell, Rogers, and Cineplex are discussing a proposal to implement such measures. The Canadian blocklist would be maintained by a new non-profit organization called “Internet Piracy Review Agency” (IPRA) and enforced through the CTRC, Canadaland <a href="http://www.canadalandshow.com/bell-pushing-end-to-net-neutrality-in-canada/">reports</a>.</p>
<p>The plan doesn&#8217;t come as a total surprise as Bell alluded to a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/canadian-isp-bell-calls-for-nationwide-pirate-site-blacklist-170925/">nationwide blocking mechanism</a> during a recent Government hearing. What becomes clear from the new plans, however, is that the telco is not alone. </p>
<p>The new proposal is being discussed by various stakeholders including ISPs and local movie companies. As in other countries, major American movie companies are also in the loop, but they will not be listed as official applicants when the plan is submitted to the CRTC.</p>
<p>Canadian law professor Micheal Geist is very critical of the plans. Although the proposal would only cover sites that “blatantly, overwhelmingly or structurally” engage in or facilitate copyright infringement, this can be a blurry line.</p>
<p>&#8220;Recent history suggests that the list will quickly grow to cover tougher judgment calls. For example, Bell has targeted TVAddons, a site that contains considerable non-infringing content,&#8221; <a href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2017/12/bell-leads-radical-proposal-crtc-backed-mandatory-website-blocking-system/">Geist notes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;It can be expected that many other sites disliked by rights holders or broadcasters would find their way onto the block list,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>While the full list of applicants is not ready yet, it is expected that the coalition will file its proposal to the CRTC before the end of the month. </p>
<p>Thus far, the Government appears to be reluctant in its response. In comments to Canadaland spokesperson Karl Sasseville stressed that Canada maintains committed to an open Internet.</p>
<p>“Our government supports an open internet where Canadians have the ability to access the content of their choice in accordance to Canadian laws,&#8221; Sasseville says. “While other parts of the world are focused on building walls, we’re focused on opening doors‎.”</p>
<p>As we&#8217;ve seen in the past, &#8220;net neutrality&#8221; and website blocking are not mutually exclusive. Courts around the world, also in Canada, have ordered content to be blocked, open Internet or not. However, bypassing the judicial system may prove to be a problem.</p>
<p>Professor Geist is happy with the Government&#8217;s comments and notes that legal basis for the proposal is thin. </p>
<p>He stresses that the ISPs involved in these plans should seriously consider if they want to continue down this path, which isn&#8217;t necessarily in the best interest of their customers.</p>
<p>&#8220;The government rightly seems dismissive of the proposal in the Canadaland report but as leading Internet providers, Bell and Rogers should be ashamed for leading the charge on such a dangerous, anti-speech and anti-consumer proposal,&#8221; Geist concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148192
title: Google & Facebook Excluded From Aussie Safe Harbor Copyright Amendments
uri: Google-Facebook-Excluded-From-Aussie-Safe-Harbor-Copyright-Amendment
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0pMYOipocR4/
content:
<p><a href="media/b997f7ba.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg"><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211"></a>Due to a supposed drafting error in Australia’s implementation of the Australia – US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), copyright safe harbor provisions currently only apply to commercial Internet service providers.</p>
<p>This means that while local ISPs such as Telstra receive protection from copyright infringement complaints, services such as Google, Facebook and YouTube face legal uncertainty.</p>
<p>Proposed amendments to the Copyright Act earlier this year would’ve seen enhanced safe harbor protections for such platforms but they were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/australia-shelves-copyright-safe-harbor-for-google-facebook-et-al-170323/">withdrawn at the eleventh hour</a> so that the government could consider &#8220;further feedback&#8221; from interested parties.</p>
<p>Shortly after the government embarked on a detailed consultation with entertainment industry groups. They accuse platforms like YouTube of exploiting safe harbor provisions in the US and Europe, which forces copyright holders into an expensive battle to have infringing content taken down. They do not want that in Australia and at least for now, they appear to have achieved their aims.</p>
<p>According to a report from AFR <em>(<a href="http://www.afr.com/business/media-and-marketing/google-and-facebook-excluded-from-safe-harbour-copyright-reforms-20171205-gzz3fw">paywall</a>)</em>, the Australian government is set to introduce new legislation Wednesday which will expand safe harbors for some organizations but will exclude companies such as Google, Facebook, and similar platforms.</p>
<p>Communications Minister Mitch Fifield confirmed the exclusions while noting that additional safeguards will be available to institutions, libraries, and organizations in the disability, archive and culture sectors.</p>
<p>&#8220;The measures in the bill will ensure these sectors are protected from legal liability where they can demonstrate that they have taken reasonable steps to deal with copyright infringement by users of their online platforms,&#8221; Senator Fifield told AFR.</p>
<p>&#8220;Extending the safe harbor scheme in this way will provide greater certainty to institutions in these sectors and enhance their ability to provide more innovative and creative services for all Australians.&#8221;</p>
<p>According to the Senator, the government will continue its work with stakeholders to further reform safe harbor provisions, before applying them to other service providers.</p>
<p>The news that Google, Facebook, and similar platforms are to be denied access to the new safe harbor rules will be seen as a victory for rightsholders. They&#8217;re desperately trying to tighten up legislation in other regions where such safeguards are already in place, arguing that platforms utilizing user-generated content for profit should obtain appropriate licensing first.</p>
<p>This so-called &#8216;Value Gap&#8217; <em>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-says-youtube-is-running-a-dmca-protection-racket-160412/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ifpi-sneers-at-youtubes-1-billion-music-industry-revenue-payout-161207/">2</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dmca-helps-youtube-avoid-up-to-1bn-in-royalties-per-year-study-claims-170330/">3</a>)</em> and associated <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-proposes-mandatory-piracy-filters-for-online-services-160914/">proactive filtering proposals</a> are among the hottest copyright topics right now, generating <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mandatory-piracy-filters-may-violate-eu-law-scholars-warn-161203/">intense debate</a> across <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/abandon-proactive-copyright-filters-huge-coalition-tells-eu-heavyweights-171017/">Europe</a> and the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-copyright-office-undecided-about-future-of-dmca-takedowns-161114/">United States</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148122
title: New Police Anti-Piracy Task Force May Get Involved in Site Blocking
uri: New-Police-Anti-Piracy-Task-Force-May-Get-Involved-in-Site-Blocking
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gPangaja2jo/
content:
<p><img src="media/ea9d7654.denmark-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denmark-1.jpg" alt="" width="249" height="195" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148128">On a regular basis, major media companies and their associates seek assistance from the authorities in order to curb copyright infringement. </p>
<p>In some cases, this has resulted in special police units that have piracy among their main objectives, such as The City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) in the UK. </p>
<p>Over in Denmark, the Government greenlighted a similar initiative last week. Justice Minister Søren Pape Poulsen approved a new task force that will operate under police wings, with an exclusive focus on intellectual property crimes.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is the culmination of a joint effort among Danish trade organizations’ calls for public engagement in the enforcement of IP crime in Denmark,&#8221; Maria Fredenslund, CEO of the local anti-piracy group <a href="http://rettighedsalliancen.dk">RettighedsAlliancen</a> (Rights Alliance) tells TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;Similar to the PIPCU unit in the UK the task force will be specialized in IP crime and will handle existing cases and develop digital enforcement,&#8221; she adds. </p>
<p>The new unit will consist of five or six investigators, who will be assisted by prosecutors. The main goal will be to tackle organized crime on as many levels as possible.</p>
<p>The new police task force will first operate on a trial basis. After the first half year, the Government will evaluate its progress and decide if the project will continue. If that happens, the unit may also get involved in website blocking efforts.</p>
<p>Pirate site blockades are not new in Denmark, but thus far these have been the result of civil procedures initiated by copyright holders. According to new plans, which still have to be approved, legislation that&#8217;s currently used to block terrorist content may be used against pirate sites as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Government will look into the possibility to give the police authority to carry out blockades of infringing websites,&#8221; Fredenslund says. </p>
<p>This would be possible under a provision in the Administration of Justice Act, which the Danish Parliament recently adopted. While the blocking requests would be submitted by the police unit, instead of copyright holders, a court still has to approve them. </p>
<p>&#8220;The decision to block a website is made with a court order by request of the police. The court order shall list the specific circumstances that prove the conditions for the blocking of the website have been met. The court order may be revoked at any time,&#8221; the relevant provision reads.</p>
<p>For the time being, the new anti-piracy task force will focus on handling other copyright infringement cases, which these are plenty of. </p>
<p>Rights Alliance is happy with the help they are getting. The anti-piracy group has been working on their own &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/danes-deploy-disruption-machine-to-curb-online-piracy-171119/">piracy disruption machine</a>&#8221; in recent months and with assistance from law enforcement, they hope to achieve some good results soon.</p>
<p>For now, however, the private blocking requests are continuing as well. </p>
<p>Just yesterday the District Court in Frederiksberg issued <a href="media/877584aa.Dombog.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Dombog.pdf">an order (pdf)</a> in favor of the Rights Alliance, requiring a local ISP to block dozens of Popcorn Time related domain names. As part of a voluntary agreement, this block will be implemented by other Internet providers as well.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148229
title: Apple CEO is Optimistic VPN Apps Will Return to China App Store
uri: Apple-CEO-is-Optimistic-VPN-Apps-Will-Return-to-China-App-Store
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6HFyuYfFNo0/
content:
<p><a href="media/f8298705.apple-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/apple-small.jpg"><img src="media/3ec20135.apple-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/apple-small.jpg" alt="" width="177" height="174" class="alignright size-full wp-image-118783"></a>As part of an emerging crackdown on tools and systems with the ability to bypass China&#8217;s &#8216;Great Firewall&#8217;, during the summer Chinese government pressure began to affect Apple.</p>
<p>During the final days of July, Apple was forced to remove many of the most-used VPN applications from its Chinese App Store. In a short email from the company, VPN providers and software developers were told that VPN applications are considered illegal in China.</p>
<p>“We are writing to notify you that your application will be removed from the China App Store because it includes content that is illegal in China, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines,” Apple <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/apple-bans-vpns-from-app-store-in-china-170729/">informed</a> the affected VPNs.</p>
<p>While the position on the ground doesn&#8217;t appear to have changed in the interim, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook today expressed optimism that the VPN apps would eventually be restored to their former positions on China&#8217;s version of the App Store.</p>
<p>“My hope over time is that some of the things, the couple of things that’s been pulled, come back,&#8221; Cook said. &#8220;I have great hope on that and great optimism on that.”</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-fortunteforum-apple/apples-cook-optimistic-that-apps-pulled-in-china-will-be-back-idUSKBN1E00MI">Reuters</a>, Cook said that he always tries to find ways to work together to settle differences and if he gets criticized for that &#8220;so be it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Speaking at the Fortune Forum in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, Cook said that he believes strongly in freedoms. But back home in the US, Apple has been strongly criticized for not doing enough to uphold freedom of speech and communication in China.</p>
<p>Back in October, two US senators <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-senators-ask-apple-why-vpn-apps-were-removed-in-china-171020/">wrote</a> to Cook asking why the company had removed the VPN apps from the company&#8217;s store in China.</p>
<p>“VPNs allow users to access the uncensored Internet in China and other countries that restrict Internet freedom. If these reports are true, we are concerned that Apple may be enabling the Chinese government’s censorship and surveillance of the Internet,” senators Ted Cruz and Patrick Leahy wrote.</p>
<p>“While Apple’s many contributions to the global exchange of information are admirable, removing VPN apps that allow individuals in China to evade the Great Firewall and access the Internet privately does not enable people in China to ‘speak up’.&#8221;</p>
<p>They were comments Senator Leahy underlined again yesterday.</p>
<p>&#8220;American tech companies have become leading champions of free expression. But that commitment should not end at our borders,&#8221; Leahy told CNBC.</p>
<p>&#8220;Global leaders in innovation, like Apple, have both an opportunity and a moral obligation to promote free expression and other basic human rights in countries that routinely deny these rights.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whether the optimism expressed by Cook today is based on discussions with the Chinese government is unknown. However, it seems unlikely that authorities would be willing to significantly compromise on their dedication to maintaining the Great Firewall, which not only controls access to locally controversial content but also seeks to boost the success of Chinese companies.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148254
title: Movie & TV Companies Tackle Pirate IPTV in Australia Federal Court
uri: Movie-TV-Companies-Tackle-Pirate-IPTV-in-Australia-Federal-Court
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MGXr8aGMWTY/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034" src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155"></a>As movie and TV show piracy has migrated from the desktop towards mobile and living room-based devices, copyright holders have found the need to adapt to a new enemy.</p>
<p>Dealing with streaming services is now high on the agenda, with third-party Kodi addons and various Android apps posing the biggest challenge. Alongside is the much less prevalent but rapidly growing pay IPTV market, in which thousands of premium channels are delivered to homes for a relatively small fee.</p>
<p>In Australia, copyright holders are treating these services in much the same way as torrent sites. They feel that if they can force ISPs to block them, the problem can be mitigated. Most recently, movie and TV show giants Village Roadshow, Disney, Universal, Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox, and Paramount <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/aussie-pirate-blocking-efforts-switch-to-premium-iptv-171106/">filed an application</a> targeting HDSubs+, a pirate IPTV operation servicing thousands of Australians.</p>
<p>Filed in October, the application for the injunction targets Australia’s largest ISPs including Telstra, Optus, TPG, and Vocus, plus their subsidiaries. The movie and TV show companies want them to quickly block HDSubs+, to prevent it from reaching its audience.</p>
<p><center><b>HDSubs+ IPTV package</b><a href="media/6a302106.HDSubsPricing.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/HDSubsPricing.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-146818" src="media/039f030f.HDSubsPricing.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/HDSubsPricing.png" alt="" width="1000" height="615"></a></center>However, blocking isn&#8217;t particularly straightforward. Due to the way IPTV services are setup a number of domains need to be blocked, including their sales platforms, EPG (electronic program guide), software (such as an Android app), updates, and sundry other services. In HDSubs+ case around ten domains need to be restricted but in court today, Village Roadshow revealed that probably won&#8217;t deal with the problem.</p>
<p>HDSubs+ appears to be undergoing some kind of transformation, possibly to mitigate efforts to block it in Australia. <a href="https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/630959/prospect-ip-based-blocking-fight-piracy-raised-court/?fp=16&amp;fpid=1">ComputerWorld</a> reports that it is now directing subscribers to update to a new version that works in a more evasive manner.</p>
<p>If they agree, HDSubs+ customers are being migrated over to a service called PressPlayPlus. It works in the same way as the old system but no longer uses the domain names cited in Village Roadshow&#8217;s <span style="background-color: #f5f6f5;">injunction </span>application. This means that DNS blocks, the usual weapon of choice for local ISPs, will prove futile.</p>
<p>Village Roadshow says that with this in mind it may be forced to seek enhanced IP address blocking, unless it is granted a speedy hearing for its application. This, in turn, may result in the normally cooperative ISPs returning to court to argue their case.</p>
<p>&#8220;If that&#8217;s what you want to do, then you&#8217;ll have to amend the orders and let the parties know,&#8221; Judge John Nicholas <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/roadshow-takes-aim-at-hd-subs-streaming-app/">said</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s only the former [DNS blocking] that carriage service providers have agreed to in the past.&#8221;</p>
<p>As things stand, Village Roadshow will return to court on December 15 for a case management hearing but in the meantime, the Federal Court must deal with another IPTV-related blocking request.</p>
<p>In common with its Australian and US-based counterparts, Hong Kong-based broadcaster Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) has launched a similar case asking local ISPs to block another IPTV service.</p>
<p>“Television Broadcasts Limited can confirm that we have commenced legal action in Australia to protect our copyright,” a TVB spokesperson <a href="https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/630913/hong-kong-tv-company-seeks-block-illicit-set-top-box-streaming-australia/">told</a> Computerworld.</p>
<p>TVB wants ISPs including Telstra, Optus, Vocus, and TPG plus their subsidiaries to block access to seven Android-based services named as A1, BlueTV, EVPAD, FunTV, MoonBox, Unblock, and hTV5.</p>
<p>Court documents list 21 URLs maintaining the services. They will all need to be blocked by DNS or other means, if the former proves futile. Online reports suggest that there are similarities among the IPTV products listed above. A demo for the FunTV IPTV service is shown below.</p>
<p><center></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148164
title: Resilient TVAddons Plans to Ditch Proactive ‘Piracy’ Screening
uri: Resilient-TVAddons-Plans-to-Ditch-Proactive-Piracy-Screening
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DGRZMYWVPK8/
content:
<p><img src="media/b1019d68.tvaddonsnew.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tvaddonsnew.png" alt="" width="277" height="119" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145066">After years of smooth sailing, this year TVAddons became a poster child for the entertainment industry&#8217;s war on illicit streaming devices.</p>
<p>The leading repository for unofficial Kodi addons was sued for copyright infringement <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dish-network-sues-zemtv-and-tv-addons-for-copyright-infringement-170605/">in the US</a> by satellite and broadcast provider Dish Network. Around the same time, a similar case was filed by Bell, TVA, Videotron, and Rogers <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-returns-ugly-war-canadian-telcos-kodi-addons-170801/">in Canada</a>.</p>
<p>The latter case has done the most damage thus far, as it caused the addon repository to lose its domain names and social media accounts. As a result, the site went dead and while many believed it would never return, it made a blazing comeback after a few weeks. </p>
<p>Since the original TVAddons.ag domain was seized, the site returned on <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/">TVaddons.co</a>. And that was not the only difference. A lot of the old add-ons, for which it was unclear if they linked to licensed content, were no longer listed in the repository either.</p>
<p>TVAddons previously relied on the DMCA to shield it from liability but apparently, that wasn’t enough. As a result, they took the drastic decision to check all submitted add-ons carefully.</p>
<p>“Since complying with the law is clearly not enough to prevent frivolous legal action from being taken against you, we have been forced to implement a more drastic code vetting process,” a TVAddons representative told us previously.</p>
<p>Despite the absence of several of the most used add-ons, the repository has managed to regain many of its former users. Over the past month, TVAddons had over 12 million unique users. These all manually installed the new repository on their devices. </p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not like one of those pirate sites that are shut down and opens on a new domain the next day, getting users to actually manually install a new repo isn&#8217;t an easy feat,&#8221; a TVAddons representative informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s still far away from the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kodi-addon-repository-sees-massive-surge-users-170417/">40 million</a> unique users it had earlier this year, before the trouble began, it&#8217;s still a force to be reckoned with.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the vast majority of all TVAddons traffic comes from the United States. The UK is second at a respectable distance, followed by Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands.</p>
<p>While many former users have returned, the submission policy changes didn&#8217;t go unnoticed. The relatively small selection of add-ons is a major drawback for some, but that&#8217;s about to change as well, we are informed. </p>
<p>TVAddons plans to return to the old submission model where developers can upload their code more freely. Instead of proactive screening, TVAddons will rely on a standard DMCA takedown policy, relying on copyright holders to flag potentially infringing content.</p>
<p>&#8220;We intend on returning to a standard DMCA compliant add-on submission policy shortly, there&#8217;s no reason why we should be held to a higher standard than Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Reddit given the fact that we don&#8217;t even host any form of streaming content in the first place.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our interim policy isn&#8217;t pragmatic, it&#8217;s nearly impossible for us to verify the global licensing of all forms of protected content. When you visit a website, there&#8217;s no way of verifying licensing beyond trusting them based on reputation.&#8221;</p>
<p>The upcoming change doesn&#8217;t mean that TVAddons will ignore its legal requirements. If they receive a legitimate <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/tvaddons-terms-conditions/">takedown notice</a>, proper action will be taken, as always. As such, they would operate in the same fashion as other user-generated sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;Right now our interim addon submission policy is akin to North Korea. We always followed the law and will always continue to do so. Anytime we&#8217;ve received a legitimate complaint we&#8217;ve acted upon it in an expedited manner. </p>
<p>&#8220;Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other online communities would have never existed if they were required to approve the contents of each user&#8217;s submissions prior to public posting.&#8221; </p>
<p>The change takes place while the two court cases are still pending. TVAddons is determined to keep up this fight. Meanwhile, they are also asking the public to <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/donate-credit/">support</a> the project <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/donate-bitcoin/">financially</a>. </p>
<p>While some copyright holders, including those who are fighting the service in court, might not like the change, TVAddons believes that this is well within their rights. And <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eff-warns-against-abusive-lawsuits-targeting-kodi-add-on-repository-171002/">with support</a> from groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, they don&#8217;t stand alone in this. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148287
title: Dutch Film Distributor Wins Right To Chase Pirates, Store Data For 5 Years
uri: Dutch-Film-Distributor-Wins-Right-To-Chase-Pirates-Store-Data-For-5-Y
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5g-Xg3JJXKY/
content:
<p><img src="media/efd05bc4.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-large">For many years, Dutch Internet users were allowed to download copyrighted content without reprisals, provided it was for their own personal use.</p>
<p>In 2014, however, the European Court of Justice ruled that the country’s “piracy levy” to compensate rightsholders was unlawful. Almost immediately, the government announced a downloading ban.</p>
<p>In March 2016, anti-piracy outfit BREIN followed up by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/brein-threatens-pirates-with-high-fines-warns-vpn-users-160314/">obtaining permission</a> from the Dutch Data Protection Authority to track and store the personal data of alleged BitTorrent pirates. This year, movie distributor Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) made a similar application.</p>
<p>The company <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dutch-film-distributor-to-target-bittorrent-users-for-cash-fines-170802/">said</a> that it would be pursuing alleged pirates to deter future infringement but many suspected that securing cash settlements was its main aim. That was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-fines-for-dutch-pirates-starting-this-autumn-170828/">confirmed</a> in August.</p>
<p>“[The letter to alleged pirates] will propose a fee. If someone does not agree [to pay], the organization can start a lawsuit,” said DFW CEO Willem Pruijsserts</p>
<p>“In Germany, this costs between €800 and €1,000, although we find this a bit excessive. But of course it has to be a deterrent, so it will be more than a tenner or two,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>But despite the grand plans, nothing would be possible without first obtaining the necessary permission from the Data Protection Authority. This Wednesday, however, that arrived.</p>
<p>&#8220;DFW has given sufficient guarantees for the proper and careful processing of personal data. This means that DFW has been given a green light from the Data Protection Authority to collect personal data, such as IP addresses, from people downloading from illegal sources,&#8221; the Authority announced.</p>
<p>Noting that it received feedback from four entities during the six-week consultation process following the publication of its draft decision during the summer, the Data Protection Authority said that further investigations were duly carried out. All input was considered before handing down the final decision.</p>
<p>The Authority said it was satisfied that personal data would be handled correctly and that the information collected and stored would be encrypted and hashed to ensure integrity. Furthermore, data will not be retained for longer than is necessary.</p>
<p>&#8220;DFW has stated&#8230;that data from users with Dutch IP addresses who were involved in the exchange of a title owned by DFW, but in respect of which there is no intention to follow up on that within three months after receipt, will be destroyed,&#8221; the decision reads.</p>
<p>For any cases that are active and haven&#8217;t been discarded in the initial three-month period, DFW will be allowed to hold alleged pirates&#8217; data for a maximum of five years, a period that matches the time a company has to file a claim under the Dutch Civil Code.</p>
<p>&#8220;When DFW does follow up on a file, DFW carries out further research into the identity of the users of the IP addresses. For this, it is necessary to contact the Internet service providers of the subscribers who used the IP addresses found in the BitTorrent network,&#8221; the Authority notes.</p>
<p>According to the decision, once DFW has a person&#8217;s details it can take any of several actions, starting with a simple warning or moving up to an amicable cash settlement. Failing that, it might choose to file a full-on court case in which the distributor seeks an injunction against the alleged pirate plus compensation and costs.</p>
<p>Only time will tell what strategy DFW will deploy against alleged pirates but since these schemes aren&#8217;t cheap to run, it&#8217;s likely that simple warning letters will be seriously outnumbered by demands for cash settlement.</p>
<p>While it seems unlikely that the Data Protection Authority will change its mind at this late stage, it&#8217;s decision remains open to appeal. Interested parties have just under six weeks to make their voices heard. Failing that, copyright trolling will hit the Netherlands in the weeks and months to come.</p>
<p><em>The full decision can be found here (<a href="media/24aaadc0.besluit_online_handhaving_auteursrechten_dfw.pdf" data-original-source="https://autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/sites/default/files/atoms/files/besluit_online_handhaving_auteursrechten_dfw.pdf">Dutch, pdf</a>) via <a href="https://tweakers.net/nieuws/132669/dutch-filmworks-krijgt-toestemming-gegevens-uploaders-vijf-jaar-te-bewaren.html">Tweakers</a></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147977
title: Movie Company Has No Right to Sue, Accused Pirate Argues
uri: Movie-Company-Has-No-Right-to-Sue-Accused-Pirate-Argues
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/iSYOFmlUw7k/
content:
<p><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977">In recent years, a group of select companies have pressured hundreds of thousands of alleged pirates to pay significant settlement fees, or face legal repercussions.</p>
<p>These so-called “copyright trolling” efforts have also been a common occurrence in the United States for more than half a decade, and still are today.</p>
<p>While copyright holders should be able to take legitimate piracy claims to court, not all cases are as strong as they first appear. Many defendants have brought up flaws, often in relation to the IP-address evidence, but an accused pirate in Oregon takes things up a notch. </p>
<p>Lingfu Zhang, represented by attorney David Madden, has turned the tables on the makers of the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582502/">Fathers &#038; Daughters</a>. The man denies having downloaded the movie but also points out that the filmmakers have signed away their online distribution rights.</p>
<p>The issue was brought up in previous months, but the relevant findings were only unsealed this week. They show that the movie company (F&#038;D), through a sales agent, sold the online distribution rights to a third party. </p>
<p>While this is not uncommon in the movie business, it means that they no longer have the right to distribute the movie online, a right Zhang was accused of violating. This is also what his attorney pointed out to the court, asking for a judgment in favor of his client.</p>
<p>&#8220;ZHANG denies downloading the movie but Defendant’s current motion for summary judgment challenges a different portion of F&#038;D’s case: Defendant argues that F&#038;D has alienated all of the relevant rights necessary to sue for infringement under the Copyright Act,&#8221; Madden writes.</p>
<p>The filmmakers opposed the request and pointed out that they still had some rights. However, this is irrelevant according to the defense, since the distribution rights are not owned by them, but by a company that&#8217;s not part of the lawsuit.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff claims, for example, that it still owns the right to exploit the movie on airlines and oceangoing vessels. That may or may not be true – Plaintiff has not submitted any evidence on the question – but ZHANG is not accused of showing the movie on an airplane or a cruise ship.</p>
<p>&#8220;He is accused of downloading it over the Internet, which is an infringement that affects only an exclusive right owned by non-party DISTRIBUTOR 2,&#8221; Madden adds.</p>
<p>Interestingly, an undated addendum to the licensing agreement, allegedly created after the lawsuit was started, states that the filmmakers would keep their &#8220;anti-piracy&#8221; rights, as can be seen below.</p>
<p><center><strong>Anti-Piracy rights?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/59425090.zhangfiling.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/zhangfiling.png" alt="" width="640" height="456" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148290"></center></p>
<p>This doesn&#8217;t save the filmmaker, according to the defense. The &#8220;licensor&#8221; who keeps these anti-piracy and enforcement rights refers to the sales agent, not the filmmaker, Madden writes. In addition, the case is about copyright infringement, and despite the addendum, the filmmakers don&#8217;t have the exclusive rights that apply here.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff represented to this Court that it was the &#8216;proprietor of all copyrights and interests need to bring suit&#8217; [&#8230;] notwithstanding that it had – years earlier – transferred away all its exclusive rights under Section 106 of the Copyright Act,&#8221; the defense lawyer concludes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even viewing all Plaintiff’s agreements in the light most favorable to it, Plaintiff holds nothing more than a bare right to sue, which is not a cognizable right that may be exercised in the courts of this Circuit.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the court has yet to decide on the motion, this case could turn into a disaster for the makers of Fathers &#038; Daughters. </p>
<p>If the court agrees that they don&#8217;t have the proper rights, defendants in other cases may argue the same. It&#8217;s easy to see how their entire trolling scheme would then collapse.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>The original memorandum in support of the motion for summary judgment is available <a href="media/618fa4e3.zhang1.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/zhang1.pdf">here (pdf)</a> and a copy of the reply brief can be found <a href="media/02899969.zhang.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/zhang.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148139
title: CrimeStoppers Campaign Targets Pirate Set-Top Boxes & Their Users
uri: CrimeStoppers-Campaign-Targets-Pirate-Set-Top-Boxes-Their-Users
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5ELM4oZ2QWU/
content:
<p><a href="media/ddc0bcbc.crimestoppers.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/crimestoppers.jpg"><img src="media/dc44120a.crimestoppers.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/crimestoppers.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="112" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148155"></a>While many people might believe CrimeStoppers to be an official extension of the police in the UK, the truth is a little more subtle.</p>
<p>CrimeStoppers is a charity that operates a service through which members of the public can report crime anonymously, either using a dedicated phone line or via a website. Callers are not required to give their name, meaning that for those concerned about reprisals or becoming involved in a case for other sensitive reasons, it&#8217;s the perfect buffer between them and the authorities.</p>
<p>The people at CrimeStoppers deal with all kinds of crime but perhaps a little surprisingly, they&#8217;ve just got involved in the set-top box controversy in the UK.</p>
<p>&#8220;Advances in technology have allowed us to enjoy on-screen entertainment in more ways than ever before, with ever increasing amounts of exciting and original content,&#8221; the CrimeStoppers campaign begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, some people are avoiding paying for this content by using modified streaming hardware devices, like a set-top box or stick, in conjunction with software such as illegal apps or add-ons, or illegal mobile apps which allow them to watch new movie releases, TV that hasn’t yet aired, and subscription sports channels for free.&#8221;</p>
<p>The campaign has been launched in partnership with the Intellectual Property Office and unnamed &#8220;industry partners&#8221;. Who these companies are isn&#8217;t revealed but given the standard messages being portrayed by the likes of ACE, Premier League and Federation Against Copyright Theft lately, it wouldn&#8217;t be a surprise if some or all of them were involved.</p>
<p>Those messages are revealed in a series of four video ads, each taking a different approach towards discouraging the public from using devices loaded with pirate software.</p>
<p>The first video clearly targets the consumer, dispelling the myth that watching pirate video isn&#8217;t against the law. It is, that&#8217;s not in any doubt, but from the constant tone of the video, one could be forgiven that it&#8217;s an extremely serious crime rather than something which is likely to be a civil matter, if anything at all.</p>
<p>It also warns people who are configuring and selling pirate devices that they are breaking the law. Again, this is absolutely true but this activity is clearly several magnitudes more serious than simply viewing. The video blurs the boundaries for what appears to be dramatic effect, however.</p>
<p><center><b>Selling and watching is illegal</b><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FxAreLt07U0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></b></center></p>
<p>The second video is all about demonizing the people and groups who may offer set-top boxes to the public.</p>
<p>Instead of portraying the hundreds of &#8220;cottage industry&#8221; suppliers behind many set-top box sales in the UK, the CrimeStoppers video paints a picture of dark organized crime being the main driver. By buying from these people, the charity warns, criminals are being welcomed in.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is illegal. You could also be helping to fund organized crime and bringing it into your community,&#8221; the video warns.</p>
<p><center><b>Are you funding organized crime?</b><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yOMwVycIvxQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>The third video takes another approach, warning that set-top boxes have few if any parental controls. This could lead to children being exposed to inappropriate content, the charity warns. </p>
<p>&#8220;What are your children watching. Does it worry you?&#8221; the video asks.</p>
<p>Of course, the same can be said about the Internet, period. Web browsers don&#8217;t filter what content children have access to unless parents take pro-active steps to configure special services or software for the purpose.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s always the option to supervise children, of course, but Netflix is probably a safer option for those with a preference to stand off. It&#8217;s also considerably more expensive, a fact that won&#8217;t have escaped users of these devices.</p>
<p><center><b>Got kids? Take care&#8230;.</b><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CBXxZM2HSRU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Finally, video four picks up a theme that&#8217;s becoming increasingly common in anti-piracy campaigns &#8211; malware and identity theft.</p>
<p>&#8220;Why risk having your identity stolen or your bank account or home network hacked. If you access entertainment or sports using dodgy streaming devices or apps, or illegal addons for Kodi, you are increasing the risks,&#8221; the ad warns.</p>
<p><center><b>Danger&#8230;.Danger&#8230;.</b><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r0BQmud2R3Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></b></center></p>
<p>Perhaps of most interest is that this entire campaign, which almost certainly has Big Media behind the scenes in advisory and financial capacities, barely mentions the entertainment industries at all.</p>
<p>Indeed, the success of the whole campaign hinges on people worrying about the supposed ill effects of illicit streaming on them personally and then feeling persuaded to inform on suppliers and others involved in the chain.</p>
<p>&#8220;Know of someone supplying or promoting these dodgy devices or software? It is illegal. Call us now and help stop crime in your community,&#8221; the videos warn.</p>
<p>That CrimeStoppers has taken on this campaign at all is a bit of a head-scratcher, given the bigger crime picture. Struggling with severe budget cuts, police in the UK are already de-prioritizing a number of crimes, leading to something called &#8220;screening out&#8221;, a process through which victims are given a crime number but no investigation is carried out.</p>
<p>This means that in 2016, 45% of all reported <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/you-victim-crimes-how-unlikely-12811431">crimes in Greater Manchester</a> weren&#8217;t investigated and a staggering 57% of all recorded domestic burglaries weren&#8217;t followed up by the police. But it gets worse.</p>
<p>&#8220;More than 62pc of criminal damage and arson offenses were not investigated, along with one in three reported shoplifting incidents,&#8221; MEN reports.</p>
<p>Given this backdrop, how will police suddenly find the resources to follow up lots of leads from the public and then subsequently prosecute people who sell pirate boxes? Even if they do, will that be at the expense of yet more &#8220;screening out&#8221; of other public-focused offenses?</p>
<p>No one is saying that selling pirate devices isn&#8217;t a crime or at least worthy of being followed up, but is this niche likely to be important to the public when they&#8217;re being told that nothing will be done when their homes are emptied by intruders? &#8220;NO&#8221; says a comment on one of the CrimeStoppers videos on YouTube.</p>
<p>&#8220;This crime affects multi-million dollar corporations, I&#8217;d rather see tax payers money invested on videos raising awareness of crimes committed against the people rather than the 0.001%,&#8221; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0BQmud2R3Q&#038;lc=Ugyx1cVCXjBJChV5iHR4AaABAg">it concludes</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148300
title: Hollywood and Netflix Ask Court to Seize Tickbox Streaming Devices
uri: Hollywood-and-Netflix-Ask-Court-to-Seize-Tickbox-Streaming-Devices
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Cm0W0hUUa_E/
content:
<p><img src="media/d10d8b10.tickbox.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tickbox.png" alt="" width="250" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145879">More and more people are starting to use Kodi-powered set-top boxes to stream video content to their TVs.</p>
<p>While Kodi itself is a neutral platform, sellers who ship devices with unauthorized add-ons give it a bad reputation. </p>
<p>According to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (<a href="http://alliance4creativity.com/">ACE</a>), an anti-piracy partnership between Hollywood studios, Netflix, Amazon, and more than two dozen other companies, <a href="https://www.tickboxtv.com/">Tickbox TV</a> is one of these bad actors.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, ACE <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">filed a lawsuit</a> against the Georgia-based company, which sells set-top boxes that allow users to stream a variety of popular media. The Tickbox devices use the Kodi media player and come with instructions on how to add various add-ons.</p>
<p>According to ACE, these devices are nothing more than pirate tools, allowing buyers to stream copyright infringing content.  &#8220;TickBox promotes and distributes TickBox TV for infringing use, and that is exactly the result of its use,&#8221; they told court this week.</p>
<p>After the complaint was filed in October, Tickbox made some cosmetic changes to the site, removing some allegedly inducing language. The streaming devices are still for sale, however, but not for long if it&#8217;s up to the media giants. </p>
<p>This week ACE submitted a request for a preliminary injunction to the court, hoping to stop Tickbox&#8217;s sales activities.</p>
<p>&#8220;TickBox is intentionally inducing infringement, pure and simple. Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court enter a preliminary injunction that requires TickBox to halt its flagrantly illegal conduct immediately,&#8221; they write in their application.</p>
<p>The companies explain that that since Tickbox is causing irreparable harm, all existing devices should be impounded.</p>
<p>&#8220;[A]ll TickBox TV devices in the possession of TickBox and all of its officers, directors, agents, servants, and employees, and all persons in active concert or participation or in privity with any of them are to be impounded and shall be retained by Defendant until further order of the Court,&#8221; the proposed order reads.</p>
<p>In addition, Tickbox should push out a software update which remove all infringing add-ons from the devices that were previously sold.</p>
<p>&#8220;TickBox shall, via software update, remove from all distributed TickBox TV devices all Kodi &#8216;Themes,&#8217; &#8216;Builds,&#8217; &#8216;Addons,&#8217; or any other software that facilitates the infringing public performances of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works.&#8221; </p>
<p>Among others, the list of allegedly infringing add-ons and themes includes Spinz, Lodi Black, Stream on Fire, Wookie, Aqua, CMM, Spanish Quasar, Paradox, Covenant, Elysium, UK Turk, Gurzil, Maverick, and Poseidon. </p>
<p>The filing shows that ACE is serious about its efforts to stop the sale of these type of streaming devices. Tickbox has yet to reply to the original complaint or the injunction request.  </p>
<p>While this is the first US lawsuit of its kind, the anti-piracy conglomerate has been rather active in recent weeks. The group has successfully <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kodi-developers-quit-following-threats-from-mpa-netflix-amazon-171116/">pressured</a> several addon developers to quit and has been involved in <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ace-and-cap-shut-down-aussie-pirate-iptv-operation-171128/">enforcement actions</a> around the globe.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the proposed preliminary injunction is available <a href="media/84451be2.tickpropinjunction.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tickpropinjunction.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148179
title: Terrarium TV: The Best Android Movie Streaming App Faces Uncertain Future
uri: Terrarium-TV-The-Best-Android-Movie-Streaming-App-Faces-Uncertain-Fut
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xQ9YYLcVtBo/
content:
<p><a href="media/0808e723.terrariumtv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/terrariumtv.jpg"><img src="media/999bde15.terrariumtv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/terrariumtv.jpg" alt="" width="203" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148354"></a>In early 2014, Popcorn Time turned the consumer end of the piracy world upside down. Utilizing a BitTorrent backend and a beautiful interface, Popcorn Time certainly lived up to its promise of being the Netflix for Pirates. Adopted by millions of users, it soon became a household name.</p>
<p>In the months and years to come, Popcorn Time grabbed hundreds of headlines. However, aside from the app&#8217;s success, much of what followed was negative in tone as the entertainment industries struggled to contain this new kid on the block.</p>
<p>Since then, of course, Kodi and its numerous illicit third-party addons have become massive news, stepping over Popcorn Time to become the most talked about and consumer-friendly of piracy tools. In the background, however, other applications have been making steady and indeed somewhat stealthy progress.</p>
<p>One of these applications is Terrarium TV. Built exclusively for the Android platform and equally at home on a phone, tablet, streaming stick or set-top box, this software has gained a cult but significant following. For those out of the loop, it will be the most important piracy app they&#8217;ve never heard of, despite its Facebook page alone attracting close to 200,000 members.</p>
<p>In many respects, Terrarium TV resembles Popcorn Time. It has a beautiful Netflix-style interface, pulling movie and TV show artwork and metadata from several sources to make what some consider to be the best all-in-one streaming app for Android, period. While Kodi is no doubt powerful and Popcorn Time has one hell of a reputation, Terrarium TV makes viewing simplicity itself. And it really does cater to everyone.</p>
<p><center><b>Terrarium TV &#8211; A category for everyone</b><a href="media/c558e7e0.terra3.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/terra3.png"><img src="media/65553ed0.terra3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/terra3.png" alt="" width="1000" height="1455" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-148356"></a></center></p>
<p>If people are worried about Popcorn Time due to its BitTorrent-based streaming, Terrarium TV has that covered. Every single stream offered by the app is conjured up from public sources such as file-hosting sites and even GoogleVideo. On the whole, streaming is of an extremely high-quality with dozens of sources offered for most content, whether that&#8217;s the latest Hollywood movies, blockbuster TV shows, or decades-old rarities.</p>
<p>The quality is impressive too. While 4K rips are best left to the BitTorrent crowd with bandwidth to spare, Terrarium TV manages to conjure up a bewildering range of content in an impressive array of qualities. HD is commonplace and barely a search goes by without a corresponding source alongside. And with multi-language subtitle and Chromecast support, the icing is placed on top of what is an extremely competent cake.</p>
<p>But despite all the accolades, Terrarium TV has an uncertain future.</p>
<p>Over a week ago TerrariumTV.com &#8211; the site from where the application has been seamlessly delivered for some time &#8211; suddenly disappeared without trace. There was no announcement on Facebook, no announcement on Twitter. Even the moderators on the fairly active Terrarium TV subreddit seemed to have few ideas as to what was going on.</p>
<p>Theories are numerous but most center around the developer, who&#8217;s resident in Asia, going on some kind of hiatus. Why that would require the Terrarium TV website to be taken down isn&#8217;t clear. Neither does it explain why the Terrarium TV site Github repo was taken down too.</p>
<p><center><b>Terrarium movies</b><a href="media/e989616a.terra2.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/terra2.png"><img src="media/de16c9ff.terra2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/terra2.png" alt="" width="1000" height="476" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-148358"></a></center></p>
<p>But alongside the &#8216;break&#8217; theory is one that legal trouble, either actual or simply the fear of it, is what&#8217;s underlying the apparent limbo in which the app now sits. That was confirmed this week by the developer, who told one of the app&#8217;s subreddit moderators that he&#8217;d be lying low, at least for a while.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve decided to shut down the official website and maybe soon will also shut down the Github repository hosting the apk files in order to avoid any potential legal issues,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;There has been no cease and desist letters, no lawyers at the door, no seizing of the website. Ad free is not involved. It has been purely a precautionary measure. I want to take a break for a while (maybe a few weeks) first.&#8221;</p>
<p>After a short exchange in the summer, Terrarium TV&#8217;s developer didn&#8217;t return our recent requests for comment but if he had, we&#8217;d have certainly asked him about the future development of the app, framed around the Popcorn Time situation.</p>
<p>Despite many legal attacks, the open source nature of Popcorn Time allowed the project to &#8216;fork&#8217; in several different directions, with various teams continuing development. Terrarium TV, on the other hand, is closed source meaning that when it&#8217;s gone, it&#8217;s possibly gone for good.</p>
<p>At the moment it&#8217;s still available for download from sources listed in the sidebar of its <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/TerrariumTV/">dedicated subreddit</a> but whether the dev will decide to revisit the project again is unclear at this point. If he does not, it seems likely that the system will degrade over time although at the moment it carries out its tasks automatically, which is impressive in itself.</p>
<p>In the meantime, its hundreds of thousands of users will just have to cross everything &#8211; and wait.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148113
title: ETTV: How an Upload Bot Became a Pirate Hero
uri: ETTV-How-an-Upload-Bot-Became-a-Pirate-Hero
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/kKNDnTiVws4/
content:
<p><img src="media/6deda9af.ettvlo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ettvlo.png" alt="" width="225" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148211">Earlier this year, the torrent community was hit hard when another major torrent site suddenly <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrent-shuts-down-for-good-170517/">shut its doors</a>.</p>
<p>Just a few months after celebrating its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-icon-extratorrent-turns-ten-years-old-today-161115/">tenth anniversary</a>, ExtraTorrent&#8217;s operator threw in the towel. While an official explanation was never provided, it&#8217;s likely that he was pressed to make this decision. </p>
<p>The ExtraTorrent site was a safe harbor for millions of regular users, who became homeless overnight. But it was more than that. It was also the birth ground of several popular releasers and distribution groups. </p>
<p>ETTV and ETHD turned into well-known brands themselves. While the ET is derived from ExtraTorrent, the groups have shared TV and movie torrents on several other large torrent sites, and they still do. They even have their own site now. </p>
<p>With millions of people sharing their uploads every week, they&#8217;ve become icons and heroes to many. But how did this all come to be? We sat down with the team, virtually, to find out more.</p>
<p>&#8220;The idea for ettv/ethd was brought up by ExtraTorrent users,&#8221; the ETTV team says. </p>
<p>There was demand for a new group that would upload scene releases faster than the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eztv-shuts-down-after-hostile-takeover-150518/">original EZTV</a>, which was the dominant TV-torrent distribution group around 2011, when it all started. </p>
<p>&#8220;At the time the real EZTV was still active. They released stuff hours after it was released from the scene, leaving sites to wait very long for shows to arrive in public. In no way was ettv intended for competitive purposes. We had a lot of respect for Nova and the original EZTV operators.&#8221;</p>
<p>While ETTV is regularly referred to as a &#8220;group,&#8221; it was a one-person operation initially. Just a guy with a seedbox, grabbing scene releases and posting them on torrent sites.</p>
<p>It didn&#8217;t take long before people got wind of the new distribution &#8216;group,&#8217; and interest for the torrents quickly exploded. This meant that a single seedbox was no longer sufficient, but help was not far away.</p>
<p>&#8220;It started off with one operator and a seedbox, but it became popular too fast. That&#8217;s when former ExtraTorrent owners stepped in to give ETTV the support and funding it needed to keep the story going.&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>One of the earliest ETTV uploads on ExtraTorrent</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/0b685be4.ettvearly.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ettvearly.png" alt="" width="600" height="442" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148214"></center></p>
<p>In addition to the available disk space and bandwidth, the team itself expanded as well. At its height, a handful of people were working on the group. However, when things became more and more automated this number reduced again.</p>
<p>What many people don&#8217;t realize is that ETTV and ETHD are mostly run by lines of code. The entire distribution process is automated and requires minimal intervention from the people behind it. </p>
<p>&#8220;Ettv/Ethd is a bot, it doesn&#8217;t require human attention. It grabs what you tell the script to,&#8221; the team tells us.</p>
<p>The bot is set up to grab the latest copies of predefined shows from private servers where the latest scene release are posted. These are transferred to the seedbox and the torrents are then pushed out to the public &#8211; on ETTV.tv, but also on The Pirate Bay and elsewhere. Everything is automated. </p>
<p>Even most of the maintenance is taken care of by the &#8216;bot&#8217; itself. When disk space is running out older content is purged, allowing fresh releases to come through.</p>
<p>&#8220;The only persons involve with the bots are the bill payers of our new home <a href="https://www.ettv.tv">ettv.tv</a>. All they do check bot logs to see if it has any errors and correct them,&#8221; the team explains.</p>
<p>One problem that couldn&#8217;t be easily solved with some code was the shutdown of ExtraTorrent. While the bills for the seedboxes were paid in advance until the end of 2017, the groups had to find a new home.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The shutdown of ExtraTorrent didn&#8217;t affect the bots from running, it just left ettv/ethd homeless and caused fans to lose their way trying to find us. Not many knew where else we uploaded or didn&#8217;t like the other sites we uploaded to.&#8221;</p>
<p>After a few months had passed it became clear that they were not going anywhere. Quite the contrary, they started <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrent-uploader-groups-launch-their-own-torrent-site-171031/">their very own site, ETTV.tv</a>, where all the latest releases are published.  </p>
<p><center><strong>ETTV.tv</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/4b03ea30.ettvtvscreen.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ettvtvscreen.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="590" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148215"></center></p>
<p>In the near future, the team will focus on turning the site into a new home for its followers. Just a few weeks ago it launched a new release &#8220;tag,&#8221; ETMovies, which specializes in lower resolution films with a smaller file size, for example.</p>
<p>&#8220;We recently introduced ETMovies which is basically for SD Movies, other than that the only plan ettv/ethd has is to give a home to the members that suffered from the sudden shut down of ExtraTorrent.&#8221; </p>
<p>Just this week, the site also expanded its reach by adding new categories such as music, games, software, and Books, where approved uploaders will publish content.</p>
<p>While they are doing their best to keep the site up and running, it&#8217;s not a given that ETTV will be around forever. As long as there are plenty of funds and no concrete legal pressure they might. But if recent history has shown us anything, it&#8217;s that there are no guarantees.</p>
<p>&#8220;No one is here seeking to be a millionaire, if the traffic pays the bills we keep going, if not then all we can say is (sorry we tried) we will not be the heroes that saved the day. </p>
<p>&#8220;Again and again, the troublesome history of torrent sites is clear. It&#8217;s a war no site owner can win. If we are ever in danger, we will choose freedom. It&#8217;s not like followers can bail you out if the worst were to happen,&#8221; the ETTV team concludes.</p>
<p>For now, however, the bot keeps on running.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148382
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 12/11/17
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-12-11-17
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/IJhU4193Kcg/
content:
<p><img src="media/6f5287e1.dunkirk.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dunkirk.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="195" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148385">This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Dunkirk 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 Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip 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>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-120317/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">Dunkirk</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ01tJ4EWeg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">Kingsman: The Golden Circle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nxc-3WpMbg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5109784/">Mother!</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5109784/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpICoc65uh0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">The Foreigner</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9YCk7ufHs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1961175/">American Assassin</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1961175/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yoEyzOkTOI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/">American Made</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEBIJRAkujM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/">Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZsG7WJVZv8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">Justice League</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-DM9uBtVI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">Coco</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga6RYejo6Hk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501632/">Thor Ragnarok</a> (HDTS/Cam)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501632/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue80QwXMRHg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148391
title: Screener Piracy Season Kicks Off With Louis C.K.’s ‘I Love You, Daddy’
uri: Screener-Piracy-Season-Kicks-Off-With-Louis-C-K-s-I-Love-You-Da
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/EMcax1pHw4g/
content:
<p><img src="media/179fec3e.loveyoudaddy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/loveyoudaddy.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="229" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148393">Towards the end of the year, movie screeners are sent out to industry insiders who cast their votes for the Oscars and other awards.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a highly anticipated time for pirates who hope to get copies of the latest blockbusters early, which is traditionally what happens. </p>
<p>Last year the action started <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/screener-season-is-here-but-where-are-the-piracy-leaks-161218/">relatively late</a>. It took until January before the first leak <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/first-dvd-screener-leak-of-2017-is-denzel-washingtons-fences-170103/">surfaced</a> &#8211; Denzel Washington&#8217;s Fences &#8211;<br>
 but more than a dozen made their way online soon after. </p>
<p>Today the first leak of the new screener season started to populate various pirate sites, Louis C.K.&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7264080/">I Love You, Daddy</a>.&#8221; It was released by the infamous &#8220;Hive-CM8&#8221; group which also made headlines in previous years. </p>
<p>&#8220;I Love You, Daddy&#8221; was carefully chosen, according to a message posted in the release notes. Last month distributor The Orchard chose to cancel the film from its schedule after Louis C.K. was accused of sexual misconduct. With uncertainty surrounding the film&#8217;s release, &#8220;Hive-CM8&#8221; decided to get it out.</p>
<p>&#8220;We decided to let this one title go out this month, since it never made it to the cinema, and nobody knows if it ever will go to retail at all,&#8221; Hive-CM8 write in their NFO.</p>
<p>&#8220;Either way their is no perfect time to release it anyway, but we think it would be a waste to let a great Louis C.K. go unwatched and nobody can even see or buy it,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p><center><strong>I Love You, Daddy</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/4e486496.ckscreener.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ckscreener.png" alt="" width="600" height="644" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148394"></center></p>
<p>It is no surprise that the group put some thought into their decision. In 2015 they published several movies <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-hateful-eight-and-the-revenant-leaked-online-151221/">before their theatrical release</a>, for which they later <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hive-cm8-apologizes-for-leaking-hateful-eight-dvd-screener-151230/">offered an apology</a>, stating that this wasn&#8217;t acceptable. </p>
<p>Last year this stance was reiterated, noting that they would not leak any screeners before Christmas. Today&#8217;s release shows that this isn&#8217;t a golden rule, but it&#8217;s unlikely that they will push any big titles before they&#8217;re out in theaters. </p>
<p>&#8220;I Love You, Daddy&#8221; isn&#8217;t going to be seen in theaters anytime soon, but it might see an official release. This past weekend, news broke that Louis C.K. had <a href="http://deadline.com/2017/12/louis-c-k-buying-i-love-you-daddy-back-from-the-orchard-sexual-misconduct-scandal-1202222771/">bought back</a> the rights from The Orchard and must pay back marketing costs, including a payment for the 12,000 screeners that were sent out.</p>
<p>Hive-CM8, meanwhile, suggest that they have more screeners in hand, although their collection isn&#8217;t yet complete.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are still missing some titles, anyone want to share for the collection? Yes we want to have them all if possible, we are collectors, we don&#8217;t want to release them all,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>Finally, the group also has some disappointing news for Star Wars fans who are looking for an early copy of &#8220;The Last Jedi.&#8221; Hive-CM8 is not going to release it.</p>
<p>&#8220;Their will be no starwars from us, sorry wont happen,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148362
title: 16-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Running Pirate TV Service
uri: 16-Year-Old-Boy-Arrested-for-Running-Pirate-TV-Service
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/j2M6Hn0w0Zo/
content:
<p><a href="media/8f67d38e.alpa.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/alpa.jpg"><img src="media/ffab1cb1.alpa.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/alpa.jpg" alt="" width="213" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148377"></a>After more than a decade and a half in existence, public pirate sites, services, and apps remain a thorn in the side of entertainment industry groups who are determined to close them down.</p>
<p>That trend continued last week when French anti-piracy group ALPA teamed up with police in the Bordeaux region to raid and arrest the founder and administrator of piracy service ARTV.</p>
<p>According to the anti-piracy group, the ARTV.watch website first appeared during April 2017 but quickly grew to become a significant source of streaming TV piracy. Every month the site had around 150,000 visitors and in less than eight months amassed 800,000 registered users.</p>
<p>&#8220;Artv.watch was a public site offering live access to 176 free and paid French TV channels that are members of ALPA: Canal + Group, M6 Group, TF1 Group, France Télévision Group, Paramount, Disney, and FOX. Other thematic and sports channels were broadcast,&#8221; an ALPA statement reads.</p>
<p>This significant offering was reportedly lucrative for the site&#8217;s operator. While probably best taken with a grain of salt, ALPA estimates the site generated around 3,000 euros per month from advertising revenue. That&#8217;s a decent amount for anyone but even more so when one learns that ARTV&#8217;s former operator is just 16 years old.</p>
<p>&#8220;ARTV.WATCH it&#8217;s over. ARTV is now closed for legal reasons. Thank you for your understanding! The site was indeed illegal,&#8221; a <a href="http://artv.watch/">notice</a> on the site now reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Thank you all for this experience that I have acquired in this project. And thanks to you who have believed in me.&#8221;</p>
<p>Closure formalities aside, ARTV&#8217;s founder also has a message for anyone else considering launching a similar platform.</p>
<p>&#8220;Notice to anyone wanting to do a site of the same kind, I strongly advise against it. On the criminal side, the punishment can go up to three years of imprisonment and a 300,000 euro fine. If [individual] complaints of channels (or productions) are filed against you, it will be more complicated to determine,&#8221; ARTV&#8217;s owner warns.</p>
<p>ALPA says that in addition to closing down the site, ARTV&#8217;s owner also deactivated the site&#8217;s Android app, which had been available for download on Google Play. The anti-piracy group adds that this action against IPTV and live streaming was a first in France.</p>
<p>For anyone who speaks French, the 16-year-old has published a video on YouTube talking about his predicament.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xVTvSfT1uvU" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148453
title: Treasure Trove of AACS 2.0 UHD Blu-Ray Keys Leak Online
uri: Treasure-Trove-of-AACS-2-0-UHD-Blu-Ray-Keys-Leak-Online
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BNuA0YQkUuM/
content:
<p><img src="media/7dbd917f.uhdblu.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uhdblu.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="156" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148461">Nowadays, movie buffs and videophiles find it hard to imagine a good viewing experience without UHD content, but disc rippers and pirates have remained on the sidelines for a long time.</p>
<p>Protected with strong AACS 2.0 encryption, UHD Blu-ray discs have long been one of the last bastions movie pirates had yet to breach.</p>
<p>This year there have been some major developments on this front, as full copies of UHD discs <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/first-pirated-ultra-hd-blu-ray-disk-appears-online-aacs-2-0-cracked-170503/">started to leak online</a>. While it remained unclear how these were ripped, it was a definite milestone. </p>
<p>Just a few months ago another breakthrough came when a Russian company released a Windows tool <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-deuhd-tool-can-rip-uhd-blu-ray-discs-171002/">called DeUHD</a> that could rip UHD Blu-ray discs. Again, the method for obtaining the keys was not revealed.</p>
<p>Now there&#8217;s another setback for AACS LA, the licensing outfit founded by Warner Bros, Disney, Microsoft, Intel, and others. On various platforms around the Internet, copies of 72 AACS 2.0 keys are being shared.</p>
<p>The first mention we can find was posted a few days ago in a ten-year-old forum thread in the <a href="https://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=9">Doom9 forums</a>. Since then it has been replicated a few times, without much fanfare.</p>
<p><center><strong>The keys</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/6aa5049d.aacs2keys.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aacs2keys.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="315" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148456"></center></p>
<p>The keys in question are confirmed to work and allow people to rip UHD Blu-ray discs of movies with freely available software such as MakeMKV. They are also different from the DeUHD list, so there are more people who know how to get them.</p>
<p>The full list of leaked keys includes movies such as Deadpool, Hancock, Passengers, Star Trek: Into Darkness, and The Martian. Some movies have multiple keys, likely as a result of different disc releases.</p>
<p>The leaked keys are also relevant for another reason. Ten years ago, a hacker leaked the AACS cryptographic key &#8220;09 F9&#8221; online which prompted the MPAA and AACS LA to issue DMCA takedown requests to sites where it surfaced. </p>
<p>This escalated into a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AACS_encryption_key_controversy#cite_note-10">censorship debate</a> when Digg started removing articles that referenced the leak, triggering a massive backlash. </p>
<p>Thus fas the response to the AACS 2.0 leaks has been pretty tame, but it&#8217;s still early days. A user who posted the leaked keys on <a href="https://club.myce.com/t/blu-ray-volume-unique-keys-leaked-on-the-internet/399695">MyCe</a> has already removed them due to possible copyright problems, so it&#8217;s definitely still a touchy subject.</p>
<p>The question that remains now is how the hacker managed to secure the keys, and if AACS 2.0 has been permanently breached.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148478
title: YouTuber Convicted For Publishing Video Piracy ‘Tutorials’
uri: YouTuber-Convicted-For-Publishing-Video-Piracy-Tutorials
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/062Ldx7My8c/
content:
<p><a href="media/b9f3b5ba.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg"><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196"></a>While piracy-focused tutorials have been around for many years, the advent of streaming piracy coupled with the rise of the YouTube star created a perfect storm online.</p>
<p>Even a cursory search on YouTube now turns up thousands of Kodi addon and IPTV-focused channels, each vying to become the ultimate location for the latest and hottest piracy tips. While these videos don&#8217;t appear to be a priority for copyright holders, a channel operator in Brazil has just discovered that they aren&#8217;t without consequences.</p>
<p>The case involves Marcelo Otto Nascimento, the operator of YouTube channel Café Tecnológico. It began, strangely, with videos about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z2uMvLW8dI">baking bread</a> but later experimented with videos on technological topics including observations on streaming content without paying for it.</p>
<p>In time, this attracted the negative attention of local TV industry group Associação Brasileira de Televisões por Assinatura (Brazilian Association of Television By Signature / <a href="http://www.abta.org.br/">ABTA</a>). The group eventually took legal action, complaining about the nature of Nascimento&#8217;s YouTube and Facebook pages.</p>
<p>ABTA told the court that Nascimento had been posting tutorials that &#8220;encourage the use of equipment and applications designed to allow access to services and content&#8221; of its members, despite that content being protected by copyright. The trade group called for the removal of the content, an injunction against Nascimento, an apology, plus compensation for &#8220;material and moral damages.&#8221;</p>
<p>In his defense, Nascimento said that he merely comments on IPTV systems, does not breach copyright, doesn&#8217;t represent unfair competition, and did not cause the TV companies to incur any losses. Overall, Judge Fernando Henrique de Oliveira Biolcati did not agree with his assertions.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he plain intention of the defendant was to guide users in order for them to obtain access to the restricted content of the applicant&#8217;s associates&#8230;.while gaining advantages for this, especially via remuneration from the providers of the mentioned applications (YouTube and Facebook), proportional to the volumes of visitors,&#8221; the Judge wrote in his ruling.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is not a question of mere disinterested comments, in the exercise of freedom of expression,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>As a result, Nascimento was ordered to remove all of his online content that could be deemed instructional for pirates, in order to protect the interests of ABTA&#8217;s members and their ability to earn revenue from their content. In addition, the channel operator was forbidden from publishing any more videos of a similar nature.</p>
<p>On top, Nascimento must now pay the copyright holders for material damages, yet to be determined, measured from the posting of the first &#8216;pirate&#8217; tutorial until such a date when all of the tutorials have been removed.</p>
<p>The ruling <em>(<a href="media/c00c7935.art20171211-06.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.migalhas.com.br/arquivos/2017/12/art20171211-06.pdf">PDF</a> via <a href="http://www.migalhas.com.br/Quentes/17,MI270854,71043-Youtuber+e+condenado+por+ensinar+acesso+gratuito+a+TV+por+assinatura">Mg</a>, Portuguese)</em> also requires Nascimento to pay the equivalent of US$7,600 for &#8220;moral damages&#8221; plus extra for legal costs, during the next 15 days.</p>
<p>In a statement, ABTA said that following this conviction, more people could fall under the spotlight.</p>
<p>&#8220;ABTA is also monitoring the activities of other channels on YouTube and on social networks that publish illegal content such as channel lists, movies and &#8216;free&#8217; access TV series, as well as tutorials and comparisons of devices or applications intended for illicit use (such as Megabox, HtvBox, Kodi, Dejavu, IPTV, ITVGo, etc.),&#8221; the group <a href="https://portal.comunique-se.com.br/youtuber-condenado-tv-por-assinatura/">said</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Nascimento <a href="http://emais.estadao.com.br/noticias/tv,youtuber-e-condenado-pela-justica-por-ensinar-acesso-ilegal-a-canais-por-assinatura,70002113219">says</a> that he would&#8217;ve taken the videos down if only ABTA had asked him to. He will be appealing the decision, claiming that the videos did not teach people about piracy, they only demonstrated functionality. YouTube declined to comment.</p>
<p><center><b>One of the remaining IPTV-focused videos</b><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LqnfNA8UuYk" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148337
title: How The US Pushed Sweden to Take Down The Pirate Bay
uri: How-The-US-Pushed-Sweden-to-Take-Down-The-Pirate-Bay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aEYR5bK1D_s/
content:
<p><img src="media/932e6d7d.thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="206" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116122">It&#8217;s well known that the US Government is actively involved in copyright enforcement efforts around the globe. </p>
<p>In some countries they&#8217;ve <a href="https://books.google.nl/books?id=Pkl7HNzhXgoC&#038;pg=PA87&#038;lpg=PA87&#038;dq="Jamaica+had+no+intellectual+property+law,+but+they+wrote+one+(with+our+help).">actively helped</a> write copyright law. Elsewhere, U.S. authorities provide concrete suggestions for improvement, including in Sweden. </p>
<p>After The Pirate Bay was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-remains-on-top-11-years-after-the-raid-170531/">raided</a> for the first time, more than ten years ago, the media highlighted that the U.S. Government and Hollywood pulled strings behind the scenes. However, little was known about what this actually entailed.</p>
<p>Today we can provide more context, thanks to a Freedom of Information request that was sent to the <a href="https://www.state.gov/">U.S. Department of State</a>. While the events happened a decade ago, they show how action against The Pirate Bay was discussed at the highest political level.</p>
<p>The trail starts with a cable sent from the US Embassy in Sweden to Washington in November 2005. This is roughly six months before the Pirate Bay raid, which eventually resulted in criminal convictions for four men connected to the site.</p>
<p>The Embassy writes that Hollywood&#8217;s MPAA and the local Anti-Piracy Bureau (APB) met with US Ambassador Bivins and, separately, with Swedish State Secretary of Justice at the time, Dan Eliasson. The Pirate Bay issue was at the top of the agenda during these meetings.</p>
<p>&#8220;The MPA is particularly concerned about PirateBay, the world‘s largest Torrent file-sharing tracker. According to the MPA and based on Embassy&#8217;s follow-up discussions, the Justice Ministry is very interested in a constructive dialogue with the US. on these concerns,&#8221; the cable reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Embassy understands that State and Commerce officials have also met with Swedish officials in Washington on the same concern,&#8221; it adds, with the Embassy requesting further &#8220;guidance&#8221; from Washington. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/93042ad6.foiatpb1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/foiatpb1.png" alt="" width="500" height="322" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148418"></center></p>
<p>The document adds that there has been some movement on the piracy enforcement front in Sweden, with two legal cases pending. However, those were not the targets Hollywood was looking for.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have yet to see a &#8216;big fish&#8217; tried &#8211; something the MPA badly wants to see, particularly in light of the fact that Sweden hosts the largest Bit Torrent file-sharing tracker in the world, &#8216;Pirate-Bay&#8217;, which openly flaunts IPR,&#8221; the cable writer comments.</p>
<p>Interestingly, Hollywood and the authorities were aware of the fact that a case against The Pirate Bay wouldn&#8217;t be an easy one. The site never stored any infringing material directly and had proper legal backing, the cable points out. </p>
<p>&#8220;However, it is not clear to us what constraints Sweden and even U.S. authorities would be under in pursuing a case like this when the site is legally well advised and studiously avoids storing any copyrighted material.&#8221;</p>
<p>At the time there were some rumors that Sweden would be placed on the US Trade Representative&#8217;s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_301_Report">301 Watch List</a>. This could possibly result in negative trade implications. However, in a cable written April 2006, the US Embassy in Sweden was informed that, while there were concerns, it would not be listed. Not yet at least. </p>
<p>&#8220;We understand that a specialized organization for enforcement against Internet piracy currently is under consideration,&#8221; the cable reads, while mentioning The Pirate Bay once again.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are encouraged by reports of ongoing efforts related to Internet piracy in Sweden; however, the increase in Pirate Bay peers, up 74 percent in just the last 7 months, demonstrates the urgent need to step up current efforts dramatically to address this issue in the near term.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/341a0c8e.tpbfoia7.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbfoia7.png" alt="" width="500" height="213" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148422"></center></p>
<p>Then the &#8216;inevitable&#8217; happened. On May 31, 2006, The Pirate Bay was raided by 65 Swedish police officers. They entered a datacenter in Stockholm with instructions to shut down the Pirate Bay’s servers and collect vital evidence.</p>
<p>A few weeks after the raid, the Embassy sent another cable to Washington informing the homefront on the apparent success of their efforts.</p>
<p>&#8220;Starting with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) visit to post last fall, Embassy Stockholm has engaged intensely with our Swedish interlocutors in efforts to improve IPR enforcement, in particular with regard to Internet piracy. The actions on May 31 thus mark a significant victory for our IPR efforts.&#8221;</p>
<p>The US clearly saw a link between their diplomatic maneuvering and the Pirate Bay raid. This link was also brought up in the media at the time, with news reports citing sources claiming that Justice Minister Bodström and his State Secretary Dan Eliasson ordered the police raid under US pressure. </p>
<p>Interestingly, both Bodström and Eliasson denied any direct involvement of the Justice Ministry with the work of the police and prosecutors in the Pirate Bay case.</p>
<p>While the cables make it very clear that the US wanted The Pirate Bay gone, the Embassy said that the raid went beyond their expectations, suggesting they were not directly involved. The pressure was clearly there though.</p>
<p>In future cables, the Pirate Bay case was often mentioned, with regular updates on the media backlash and progress in the criminal investigation. According to the US Embassy in Sweden, shutting down The Pirate Bay &#8220;should not be underestimated as a sign of [Sweden&#8217;s] willingness to take action and their position against illegal piracy.&#8221;</p>
<p>The cables also make clear that in Washington, the Pirate Bay raid was celebrated as a victory that was directly triggered by US diplomacy.</p>
<p>In a cable sent in April 2007, the Embassy nominated one of its employees, whose name is redacted, for the State Department&#8217;s Foreign Service National (FSN) of the year award. Again, The Pirate Bay case was brought up.</p>
<p>&#8220;REDACTED has spearheaded-work on Internet piracy enforcement in Sweden. The issue is particularly acute here as Sweden was home to the largest Internet piracy site (Pirate Bay) in the world. The work has involved extensive contacts with the Ministry of Justice, the Motion Picture Agency, as well as the Anti-Piracy Bureau.&#8221; </p>
<p>The employee is praised for her diplomatic efforts behind the scenes which directly led to the decision to raid The Pirate Bay, the Embassy writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;REDACTED skillful outreach directly led to a bold decision by Swedish law enforcement authorities to raid Pirate Bay and shut it down. This was recognized as a major achievement in Washington in furthering U.S. efforts to combat Internet piracy worldwide.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/68152af7.foiatpb5.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/foiatpb5.png" alt="" width="500" height="305" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148419"></center></p>
<p>Despite US officials taking credit for the Pirate Bay raid, it didn&#8217;t turn out to be the success they had hoped for. The notorious torrent site was back online after three days, &#8220;flaunting IPR&#8221; bolder and braver than ever before. </p>
<p>The press coverage was largely unfavorable towards the US Government and Hollywood, while the people behind the site were seen as heroes by many. </p>
<p>The US Embassy in Sweden was well aware of the delicate situation but kept pushing for stronger copyright measures behind the scenes. This time even further in the background than before.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Pirate Bay raid was portrayed as caving to USG pressure. The delicate situation made it difficult, if not counter-productive, for the Embassy to play a public role on IPR issues. Behind the scenes, the Embassy has worked well with all stakeholders,&#8221; Washington was informed February 2008. </p>
<p>At the time, Sweden was being considered for the 301 Watch List once again. The Embassy pointed out that, given the public suspicion, this could backfire. The other option was to keep a potential watch list entry as a &#8220;looming threat&#8221; while Sweden implements the changes they&#8217;re looking for.</p>
<p>&#8220;The USG [US Govt] has to carefully determine which course of action will be the most productive; (1) a Watch-Listing with potentially negative repercussions in future GOS [Swedish Govt.] cooperation and in the public eye; or (2) continuing to exercise influence behind the scenes, with a potential Watch-Listing looming in the background as a continued threat.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7961471b.tpbfoia6.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbfoia6.png" alt="" width="500" height="178" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148420"></center></p>
<p>As our earlier coverage has shown, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/wikileaks-cable-shows-us-involvement-in-swedish-anti-piracy-efforts-101207/">Sweden then went on to implement a list of copyright changes</a> which also happened to be proposed by US copyright holders. Needless to say, Sweden was never placed on the US Trade Representative&#8217;s 301 Watch List. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke with Peter Sunde, one of the Pirate Bay co-founders who was indicted after the raid, and who has since served a jail sentence for his involvement with the site. </p>
<p>He is happy to see the new information being released. This is yet more confirmation of what he and many others have known for quite some time. </p>
<p>While former Swedish State Secretary of Justice Dan Eliasson, who now happens to be the national police commissioner, denied any direct orders from the Justice Ministry, it&#8217;s clear that US pressure made an impact.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s been an open secret that the USG was behind the unlawful raid against The Pirate Bay, and exerting their power with threats against Sweden like this. It’s nice to see these documents coming up, interestingly enough from the most secretive of governments,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>There is still a lot of information missing though. The documents mention a fifth person that was supposed to be indicted, for example, which is completely new information. Sunde hopes that Sweden will open up its secret archives as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m hoping that Sweden will now follow up and release the 747 documents they’ve classified as secret regarding this affair. The Minister of Justice at the time, Thomas Bodström, said that he would put all the cards on the table so the public would know what happened, but then classified these 747 documents as secret. </p>
<p>&#8220;Sweden has a proud history of transparency, celebrating 250 years of freedom of the press this year, and it’s an open sore that these documents are being held as classified,&#8221; Sunde adds.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>The relevant responses to the Freedom of Information request, which was submitted by Rachael Tackett and shared with TorrentFreak, are <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1f8iARvsMb_AGhhJ95lAAhXfb3CZWhHSS">available here</a>. </em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148506
title: BitTorrent Inc. Emerges Victorious Following EU Trademark Dispute
uri: BitTorrent-Inc-Emerges-Victorious-Following-EU-Trademark-Dispute
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5_SjKTwwAN0/
content:
<p><img src="media/4d02d246.bittorrent-logo.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-logo.png" width="266" height="99" class="alignright size-large">For anyone familiar with the BitTorrent brand, there can only be one company that springs to mind. BitTorrent Inc., the outfit behind uTorrent that still employs BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen, seems the logical choice, but not everything is straightforward. </p>
<p>Back in June 2003, a company called BitTorrent Marketing GmbH filed an application to register an EU trademark for the term &#8216;BitTorrent&#8217; with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The company hoped to exploit the trademark for a wide range of uses from marketing, advertising, retail, mail order and Internet sales, to film, television and video licensing plus &#8220;providing of memory space on the internet&#8221;.</p>
<p>The trademark application was published in Jul 2004 and registered in June 2006. However, in June 2011 BitTorrent Inc. filed an application for its revocation on the grounds that the trademark had not been &#8220;put to genuine use in the European Union in connection with the services concerned within a continuous period of five years.&#8221;</p>
<p>A year later, the EUIPO notified BitTorrent Marketing GmbH that it had three months to submit evidence of the trademark&#8217;s use. After an application from the company, more time was given to present evidence and a deadline was set for November 21, 2011. Things did not go to plan, however.</p>
<p>On the very last day, BitTorrent Marketing GmbH responded to the request by fax, noting that a five-page letter had been sent along with 69 pages of additional evidence. But something went wrong, with the fax machine continually reporting errors. Several days later, the evidence arrived by mail, but that was technically too late.</p>
<p>In September 2013, BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s application for the trademark to be revoked was upheld but in November 2013, BitTorrent Marketing GmbH (by now known as Hochmann Marketing GmbH) appealed against the decision to revoke.</p>
<p>Almost two years later in August 2015, an EUIPO appeal held that Hochmann &#8220;had submitted no relevant proof&#8221; before the specified deadline that the trademark had been in previous use. On this basis, the evidence could not be taken into account.</p>
<p>&#8220;[The appeal] therefore concluded that genuine use of the mark at issue had not been proven, and held that the mark must be revoked with effect from 24 June 2011,&#8221; EUIPO documentation reads.</p>
<p>However, Hochmann Marketing GmbH wasn&#8217;t about to give up, demanding that the decision be annulled and that EUIPO and BitTorrent Inc. should pay the costs. In response, EUIPO and BitTorrent Inc. demanded the opposite, that Hochmann&#8217;s action should be dismissed and they should pay the costs instead.</p>
<p>In its decision published yesterday, the EU General Court (Third Chamber) clearly sided with EUIPO and BitTorrent Inc.</p>
<p>&#8220;The [evidence] document clearly contains only statements that are not substantiated by any supporting evidence capable of adducing proof of the place, time, extent and nature of use of the mark at issue, especially because the evidence in question was submitted, in the present case, three days after the prescribed period expired,&#8221; the decision reads.</p>
<p>The decision also notes that the company was given an additional month to come up with evidence and then some &#8211; the evidence was actually due on a Saturday so the period was extended until Monday for the convenience of the company. </p>
<p>&#8220;Next, EUIPO had duly informed the applicant, by letter of 19 July 2011, that it was ‘required to submit the required evidence of use in reply to the request within three months of receipt of this communication’ and that ‘if no evidence of use [was] submitted within this period, the [EU] mark w[ould] be revoked’,&#8221; the decision reads, adding;</p>
<p>&#8220;That letter also included guidance on how to provide evidence in a timely manner. Consequently, the applicant knew not only what documents it must submit, but also what the consequences of late submission of evidence were.&#8221;</p>
<p>All things considered, the Court <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&#038;docid=197645&#038;pageIndex=0&#038;doclang=EN&#038;mode=lst&#038;dir=&#038;occ=first&#038;part=1&#038;cid=583826">rejected</a> Hochmann Marketing GmbH&#8217;s application, ultimately deciding that not enough evidence was produced and what did appear was too late. For that, the trademark remains revoked and Hochmann Marketing must cover EUIPO and BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s legal costs.</p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time that BitTorrent Inc. has taken on BitTorrent/Hochmann Marketing GmbH and won. In 2014, it took the company to court in the United States and walked away with a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-wins-2-2-million-damages-scammer-141107/">$2.2m damages award</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148369
title: Google Play Store Rejects App For Using the Word “BitTorrent”
uri: Google-Play-Store-Rejects-App-For-Using-the-Word-BitTorrent
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KbIqQTgFVP8/
content:
<p><img src="media/21af8fa2.bittorrent-crime.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-crime.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="202" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79637">In recent years we&#8217;ve written several <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/apple-boots-bittorrent-app-from-iphone-store-101006/">articles</a> on Apple&#8217;s aversion to BitTorrent-related apps in the iOS store. </p>
<p>Until this day, no fully-featured torrent client has managed to get listed in the store, at least not permanently but Google Play has been more welcoming. The popular app store for Android devices has had a nice collection of BitTorrent apps for years, including several well-known brands. </p>
<p>Last weekend, however, the developers of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/former-vuze-developers-launch-biglybt-a-new-open-source-torrent-client-170803/">relatively new</a> BitTorrent client <a href="https://www.biglybt.com/">BiglyBT</a> learned that the term &#8220;BitTorrent&#8221; is no longer allowed. When they pushed an update of their app on Google Play they were informed that their description violated the metadata policy. </p>
<p>&#8220;I reviewed your app and had to reject it because it violates our metadata policy. The app&#8217;s full description mentions other brands: Bittorrent.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Play Store rejection</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/da14042e.googleplaymailbigly.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googleplaymailbigly.png" alt="" width="584" height="320" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148496"></center></p>
<p>Needless to say, the BiglyBT developers were astounded. The app is created by seasoned BitTorrent developers who previously worked on Azureus and Vuze. Since BitTorrent is the name of the transfer protocol their app is using, they expected no issues. </p>
<p>Initially, this wasn&#8217;t the case. When the app was first submitted, Google didn&#8217;t flag the description as problematic, but something apparently changed. </p>
<p>&#8220;Looks like either Google just newly considered &#8216;Bittorrent&#8217; a brand, or Bittorrent Inc has decided to enforce their name.  I guess it&#8217;s not good enough anymore that bittorrent is also the protocol name,&#8221; BiglyBT developer TuxPaper informed us.</p>
<p>It could indeed have been possible that BitTorrent Inc, which owns the relevant <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-emerges-victorious-following-eu-trademark-dispute-171213/">trademark</a> in the US, had started to enforce it. However, that&#8217;s not the case. The San Francisco company informs TorrentFreak that they haven&#8217;t asked Google to take any action.</p>
<p>Interestingly, BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s own uTorrent app also disappeared from Google&#8217;s app store for a few days last month, but it&#8217;s unclear to us why this was. The app eventually returned though, and there are also plenty of other apps with BitTorrent mentions on Google Play.</p>
<p>The good news for BiglyBT&#8217;s developers is that their app was allowed back on Google Play after they <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.biglybt.android.client">changed all &#8220;BitTorrent&#8221; mentions to &#8220;torrent.&#8221;</a></p>
<p>Google rejections can happen automatically or after a manual review. If the former applies in this case, other developers may face the same issue in the future.</p>
<p>&#8220;If it&#8217;s an automated one, then other Bittorrent Apps will also be getting this rejection the next time they update their app or play metadata,&#8221; TuxPaper notes.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Google for a comment on the situation but a few days have passed without a reply. So for now, it remains a mystery why Google is taking action against &#8220;BitTorrent,&#8221; and on what grounds.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148563
title: Canadian Government Triggers Major Copyright Review
uri: Canadian-Government-Triggers-Major-Copyright-Review
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_QEWsgucyZM/
content:
<p><a href="media/4d2ce87e.canada.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/canada.jpg"><img src="media/c89c2205.canada.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/canada.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="165" class="alignright size-full wp-image-60888"></a>The Copyright Act of Canada was first passed in 1921 and in the decades that followed has undergone considerable amendment.</p>
<p>Between 2005 and 2010, several bills failed to gain traction due to opposition but in 2011 the Copyright Modernization Act was tabled. A year later, in the summer of 2012, it was passed into law.</p>
<p>The Act tackles a number of important issues, such as allowing time and format shifting, plus backup copies, as long as DRM isn&#8217;t circumvented along the way. So-called &#8216;fair dealing&#8217; also enjoys expansion while statutory damages for non-commercial scale infringement are capped at CAD$5000 per proceeding. Along with these changes sits the “notice-and-notice” regime, in which ISPs forward infringement notices to subscribers on behalf of copyright holders.</p>
<p>The Act also mandates a review of copyright law every five years, a period that expired at the end of June 2017. Yesterday a House of Commons motion triggered the required parliamentary review, which will be carried out by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. It didn&#8217;t take long for the music industry to make its position known.</p>
<p>Music Canada, whose key members are Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music, enthusiastically welcomed the joint announcement from the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and the Minister of Canadian Heritage.</p>
<p>&#8220;I applaud Minister Bains and Minister Joly for initiating this review of the Copyright Act,&#8221; said Graham Henderson, President and CEO of Music Canada.</p>
<p>&#8220;Music creators, and all creators who depend on copyright, deserve a Copyright Act that protects their rights when their works are commercialized by others. This is our chance to address the Value Gap threatening the livelihood of Canadian creators and the future of Canadian culture.&#8221;</p>
<p>That the so-called &#8220;Value Gap&#8221; has been immediately thrown on the table comes as no surprise. The term, which loosely refers to the way user-generated platforms like YouTube are able to avoid liability for infringing content while generating revenue from it, is a hot topic around the world at the moment.</p>
<p>In the US and Europe, for example, greater emphasis is being placed on YouTube&#8217;s position than on piracy itself, with record labels claiming that the platform gains an unfair advantage in licensing negotiations, something which leads to a &#8220;gap&#8221; between what is paid for music, and what it&#8217;s actually worth.</p>
<p>But the recording labels are unlikely to get an easy ride. As pointed out in a <a href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2017/12/faircopyrightreturns/">summary</a> by Canadian law professor Michael Geist, the notice-and-takedown rules that facilitate the &#8220;Value Gap&#8221; are not even part of Canadian law and even without them, the labels have done just fine.</p>
<p>&#8220;The industry has enjoyed remarkable success since 2012, growing far faster [than] the world average and passing Australia as the world’s 6th largest music market,&#8221; Geist writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The growth has come largely through Internet streaming revenues, which now generate tens of millions of dollars every year for creators, publishers, and the broader industry. The industry is also likely to continue to lobby for <a href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2017/11/global-music-lobby-groups-hit-ottawa-blitz-copyright-term-extension/">copyright term extension</a>, as foreshadowed by a lobbying blitz just last month in Ottawa.&#8221;</p>
<p>As <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/canadian-isp-bell-calls-for-nationwide-pirate-site-blacklist-170925/">reported</a> in September, telecoms companies and the entertainment industries are pressing for website blockades, without intervention from the courts. The upcoming copyright review will provide additional opportunity to push that message home.</p>
<p>&#8220;Bell admits that copyright reform is not needed for site blocking, but the link to the Copyright Act ensures that the issue will be a prominent part of its lobbying campaign,&#8221; Geist notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The reality is that Canada is already home to some of the toughest anti-piracy laws in the world with many legislative tools readily available for rights holders and some of the largest damages provisions found anywhere in the world.&#8221;</p>
<p>But for copyright holders, a review also has the potential to swing things the other way.</p>
<p>The previously mentioned <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/canadian-piracy-notices-boost-demand-anonymous-vpns-150113/">notice-and-notice</a> regime, for example, was put in place as an alternative to more restrictive schemes elsewhere. However, it was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-trolls-claim-student-pirates-lose-scholarships-face-deportation-160910/">quickly abused</a> by copyright trolls seeking cash settlements from alleged pirates. It&#8217;s certainly possible for that particular loophole to be closed or at least addressed as part of a comprehensive review.</p>
<p>In any event, the review is likely to prove spirited, with interested parties on all sides trying to carve out a smooth path for their interests under the next five years of copyright law.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148557
title: FCC Repeals U.S. Net Neutrality Rules
uri: FCC-Repeals-U-S-Net-Neutrality-Rules
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/WRUfyQ5zqMA/
content:
<p><img src="media/b42eea50.throttle-net-neutrality.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/throttle-net-neutrality.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="190" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148565">In recent months, millions of people have protested the FCC’s plan to repeal U.S. net neutrality rules, which were put in place by the Obama administration.</p>
<p>However, an outpouring <a href="https://www.battleforthenet.com/">public outrage</a>, critique from major tech companies, and even <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/11/internet-pioneers-plead-with-congress-to-preserve-net-neutrality/">warnings</a> from pioneers of the Internet, had no effect. </p>
<p>Today the FCC voted to repeal the old rules, effectively ending net neutrality. </p>
<p>Under the net neutrality rules that have been in effect during recent years, ISPs were specifically prohibited from blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization of “lawful” traffic. In addition, Internet providers could be regulated as carriers under Title II.</p>
<p>Now that these rules have been repealed, Internet providers have more freedom to experiment with paid prioritization. Under the new guidelines, they can charge customers extra for access to some online services, or throttle certain types of traffic.</p>
<p>Most critics of the repeal fear that, now that the old net neutrality rules are in the trash, ‘fast lanes’ for some services, and throttling for others, will become commonplace in the U.S.</p>
<p>This could also mean that BitTorrent traffic becomes a target once again. After all, it was Comcast&#8217;s &#8216;secretive&#8217; BitTorrent throttling that started the broader net neutrality debate, now ten years ago.</p>
<p>Comcast&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-throttles-bittorrent-traffic-seeding-impossible/">throttling history</a> is a sensitive issue, also for the company itself. </p>
<p>Before the Obama-era net neutrality rules, the ISP vowed that it would no longer discriminate against specific traffic classes. Ahead of the FCC vote yesterday, it doubled down on this promise.</p>
<p>&#8220;Despite repeated distortions and biased information, as well as misguided, inaccurate attacks from detractors, our Internet service is not going to change,&#8221; <a href="http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast-voices/fcc-to-vote-to-restore-internet-freedom-and-innovation">writes</a> David Cohen, Comcast&#8217;s Chief Diversity Officer.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have repeatedly stated, and reiterate today, that we do not and will not block, throttle, or discriminate against lawful content.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth highlighting the term &#8220;lawful&#8221; in the last sentence. It is by no means a promise that pirate sites won&#8217;t be blocked. </p>
<p>As we&#8217;ve <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/net-neutrality-is-not-a-pirates-fight-anymore-170712/">highlighted in the past</a>, blocking pirate sites was already an option under the now-repealed rules. The massive <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-net-neutrality-has-a-massive-copyright-loophole-150315/">copyright loophole</a> made sure of that. Targeting all torrent traffic is even an option, in theory. </p>
<p>That said, today&#8217;s FCC vote certainly makes it easier for ISPs to block or throttle BitTorrent traffic across the entire network. For the time being, however, there are no signs that any ISPs plan to do so.</p>
<p>If they do, we will know soon enough. The FCC requires all ISPs to be transparent under the new plan. They have to disclose network management practices, blocking efforts, commercial prioritization, and the like.</p>
<p>And with the current focus on net neutrality, ISPs are likely to tread carefully, or else they might just face an exodus of customers.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148624
title: Kim Dotcom’s Extradition Battle Suffers High Court Setback
uri: Kim-Dotcom-s-Extradition-Battle-Suffers-High-Court-Setback
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/19k2Qg_KKU4/
content:
<p><img src="media/66633aca.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg" width="233" height="170" class="alignright size-large">In 2012, file-hosting site Megaupload was shut down by the United States government and founder Kim Dotcom and his associates were arrested in New Zealand.</p>
<p>Ever since, the US government has sought to extradite Dotcom on several counts including copyright infringement, racketeering, and money laundering. Dotcom has fought them every single step of the way.</p>
<p>One of the key areas of conflict has been the validity of the search warrants used to raid his Coatesville home on January 20, 2012. The fight has been meticulous and lengthy but in 2014, following appeals to lower courts, the Supreme Court finally <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/raid-on-kim-dotcoms-mansion-was-legal-supreme-court-rules-141223/">dismissed Dotcom&#8217;s appeals</a> that the search warrants weren&#8217;t valid.</p>
<p>Following a three-month hearing, the District Court later found that Dotcom was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-can-be-extradited-to-the-united-states-judge-rules-151223/">eligible for extradition</a>. Dotcom appealed again but in February 2017 the High Court ruled that the entrepreneur <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-extradition-to-go-ahead-but-not-on-copyright-grounds-170220/">could indeed be transferred</a> to the United States.</p>
<p>Dotcom subsequently appealed the High Court decision to the Court of Appeal, a hearing that will go ahead in February 2018. Last summer, the Megaupload founder also &#8220;attacked the underpinnings of the extradition process&#8221; by filing an eight-point statement of claim for judicial review. This morning the High Court handed down its decision and it looks like bad news for Dotcom</p>
<p>The causes of action presented by the Megaupload founder were varied but began by targeting the validity of the arrest warrants used in January 2012 and by extension every subsequent process, including the extradition effort itself. </p>
<p>&#8220;Accordingly, the relief sought includes orders that the extradition proceeding be quashed or set aside and that Mr Dotcom be discharged,&#8221; the ruling reads.</p>
<p>However, the Court describes this argument as an abuse of process, noting that the Supreme Court has already upheld the validity of the search warrants and a High Court ruling confirmed the District Court’s finding that Dotcom is eligible for extradition, a process that will soon head to the Court of Appeal.</p>
<p>But Dotcom&#8217;s arguments continued, with attacks on the validity of search warrants and a request to quash them and return all property seized under their authority. Another point asserted that a US request to seize Dotcom&#8217;s assets in New Zealand was invalid because no extraditable offense had been committed.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Dotcom, none of his detailed arguments gained traction with the Hight Court. In his decision, Justice Timothy Brewer sides with the US government which previously described the efforts as &#8220;collateral attacks on previous decisions of the Courts and an attempt to pre-empt Mr Dotcom’s appeal.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Judge eventually rejected seven out of the eight causes of action in a 22-page ruling <em>(<a href="http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/cases/kim-dotcom-v-the-district-court-at-north-shore/@@images/fileDecision?r=996.450243406">pdf</a>)</em> published this morning.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have granted the USA’s application to strike out causes of action 1 to 7 of the statement of claim for judicial review dated 21 July 2017. The proceeding is now &#8216;live&#8217; only in relation to the eighth cause of action,&#8221; Justice Brewer writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;I direct that the proceeding be listed for mention in relation to the eighth cause of action in the duty list at 10:00 am on 7 February 2018.&#8221;</p>
<p>The eighth point, which wasn&#8217;t challenged by the US, concerns the &#8220;decision by the Deputy Solicitor-General in June 2017 to direct that clones be made of the electronic devices seized from Mr Dotcom’s homes and that they be sent to the USA.&#8221;</p>
<p>A few minutes ago, Dotcom took to Twitter with an apparent upbeat reference to the ruling.</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sometimes what looks like a loss is really a win 😜</p>
<p>&mdash; Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/941567652153122821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>Like all things Dotcom, the show won&#8217;t be over until every last stone has been unturned. Next stop, Court of Appeal in February.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148471
title: Seized Popcorn Time “News” Domain Back in Court to Defend Free Speech
uri: Seized-Popcorn-Time-News-Domain-Back-in-Court-to-Defend-Free-Spe
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tous6rq9LwM/
content:
<p><img src="media/3b9dbdf1.popcornt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcornt.png" alt="popcornt" width="237" height="106" class="alignright size-full wp-image-101106">A few years ago, Popcorn Time gained popularity worldwide, mostly thanks to its ability to stream torrent files through a user-friendly interface.</p>
<p>This rapid rise raised concern among many movie industry companies, who worked hard to contain the threat by going after several forks and their developers.</p>
<p>This resulted in the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-chaos-triggers-more-downtime-151023/">shutdown</a> of several projects. Domain name blockades in several countries, including the UK and most <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-police-anti-piracy-task-force-may-get-involved-in-site-blocking-171206/">recently Denmark</a>, were used to further mitigate the problem.</p>
<p>The most unusual action, however, was taken in Norway where the economic crime police <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/norwegian-police-seize-popcorn-time-information-site-160308/">seized the Popcorn-Time.no domain name</a> following a complaint from copyright holders.</p>
<p>This was highly unusual because the domain in question didn’t host Popcorn Time itself. Instead, the site posted news articles, as well as links to sites that offered the application.</p>
<p><center><strong>Popcorn-time.no when it was still active</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/307b3667.popcor-no.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcor-no.jpg" alt="popcor-no" width="600" height="353" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-119038" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/popcor-no.jpg 600w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/popcor-no-220x130.jpg 220w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></center></p>
<p>This broad takedown of a news-focused site raised concerns among digital rights activists and legal experts. They questioned whether the far-reaching measure, without a proper judicial review, was violating free speech.</p>
<p>Hoping to hold the authorities accountable, Electronic Frontier Norway (<a href="https://efn.no/">EFN</a>) and the Norwegian Unix User Group (<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>) took the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/norwegian-authorities-sued-over-popcorn-time-domain-seizure-160418/">case to court</a>. </p>
<p>Initially, the court refused to take on the case, arguing that both parties lacked standing, since they were not sufficiently affected by the domain seizure. This decision was appealed together with the legal owner of the domain name, the Norwegian company IMCASREG8, the domain registrar. </p>
<p>After several new filings and hearings, the Appeal Court decided that the case had to be sent back to the District Court again, which will start a new trial next week.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke with senior lawyer Kirill Miazine, who will act as the legal assistant for the digital rights groups. He is looking forward to the hearings.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is going to be like the revenge of the nerds, as the usual suspects, who are monitoring the Internet and bullying the users and ISPs, are now going to be asked uncomfortable questions,&#8221; Miazine says.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re also considering whether there are grounds to file a criminal case against the people who filed the criminal complaint against the registrant. We are serious about this. It&#8217;s not about Popcorn Time.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since the beginning, this case has been one against the seizure process of the authorities, rather than the site in question. The person who operated the targeted website is not even involved in the case.</p>
<p>One of the key questions that will be brought up during the trial, is how Popcorn-Time.no&#8217;s activities were different from all the mainstream news sites that covered and linked to Popcorn Time.</p>
<p>The rights groups are being represented pro bono by law firm <a href="https://foyentorkildsen.no/">Føyen Torkildsen</a>, who are confident that they can win the case, and prevent similar broad seizures in the future.</p>
<p>&#8220;For us, the matter is about three core aspects: Internet freedom, free speech, and free software,&#8221; Miazine says.</p>
<p>&#8220;When they attack a tool which could be used legally and illegally, we have to fight back, as their next step could target Tor and VPNs. Of course, the case is about justice too: the police should not be agents of the called copyright groups..,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148504
title: CBS Drops Lawsuit Over ‘Pirated’ Screenshot of 59-Year-Old TV Show
uri: CBS-Drops-Lawsuit-Over-Pirated-Screenshot-of-59-Year-Old-TV-Sh
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gE_-wQWv-II/
content:
<p><img src="media/703004d7.photo-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/photo-1.jpg" alt="" width="299" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-124919">Over the past year, dozens of independent photographers have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirating-mainstream-media-outlets-haunted-by-photographers-in-court-171028/">taken mainstream media outlets to court</a>, accusing the companies of using their work without permission. </p>
<p>While the photographers only have a tiny fraction of the legal budgets of their wealthy adversaries, they have managed to score several settlements. </p>
<p>This is no surprise, as the evidence in these cases is often undisputed. However, New York photographer Jon Tannen learned that going up against a media mogul is not without risk. When he sued CBS Broadcasting a few weeks ago, the company &#8216;retaliated&#8217; in a highly unusual way.</p>
<p>Instead of resolving the matter behind closed doors, CBS came out <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cbs-sues-man-for-posting-image-of-a-59-year-tv-show-on-social-media-171030/">guns blazing</a>. The company filed a lawsuit against the photographer accusing him of posting a copyright-infringing screenshot of a TV show on social media &#8211; the 59-year-old show <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunsmoke">Gunsmoke</a>.</p>
<p>While posting a half-century old screenshot of an episode is quite different from using a recent photograph in a commercial publication, CBS branded Tannen a hypocrite in the complaint. </p>
<p>Follow up filings revealed how things spiraled out of control. Both parties were not able to agree on a settlement. According to CBS, Tannen demanded more than 100 times the value of a license, which they refused to pay.</p>
<p>Instead, they filed a lawsuit of their own. It was a clear retaliatory move and without informing the photographer in advance, attorney Richard Liebowitz wrote to the court.</p>
<p>&#8220;[I]n the midst of settlement negotiations on this case, Ballard Spahr LLP, the same law firm which serves as defense counsel here, filed a patently frivolous copyright infringement case on behalf of CBS against Tannen in obvious retaliation for this lawsuit,&#8221; he writes.</p>
<p><center><strong>&#8220;Patently frivolous&#8221;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/6ba232b7.tannenreply-e1513331823869.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tannenreply-e1513331823869.png" alt="" width="600" height="273" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148645"></center></p>
<p>While lawsuits over TV show screenshots are highly unusual, this one apparently revitalized the settlement negotiations. </p>
<p>Both parties recently informed the court that they are finalizing an agreement in the initial lawsuit, which will end the case. As a result, CBS also <a href="media/ff6680ac.tannedismiss.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tannedismiss.pdf">dismissed</a> its case against the photographer this week. As is usual, details of the settlement are not disclosed. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, another photographer filed a lawsuit against CBS this week, again represented by attorney Richard Liebowitz, who&#8217;s not hesitant in targeting the company again. </p>
<p>In this case the photographer, New York-based Lawrence Schwartzwald, accuses CBS Interactive of using a photo he took of actress Barbara Streisand and actor Jeff Bridges on <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-films-of-barbra-streisand/23/">CBSNews.com</a> without obtaining permission.    </p>
<p>With a screenshot of the photo of the site on file, the evidence looks quite compelling. However, let&#8217;s see if CBS can dig up some dirt on the photographer&#8217;s social media accounts this time round.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Schwartzwald&#8217;s complaint is available <a href="media/b9d3e90f.cbscom.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cbscom.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148536
title: Sci-Hub Battles Pirate Bay-esque Domain Name Whack-a-Mole
uri: Sci-Hub-Battles-Pirate-Bay-esque-Domain-Name-Whack-a-Mole
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/sBjnmvmijpw/
content:
<p><img src="media/a00bfc67.sci-hub1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sci-hub1.png" alt="" width="225" height="281" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148552"><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-tears-down-academias-illegal-copyright-paywalls-150627/">Sci-Hub</a> is often referred to as the “Pirate Bay of Science,” and this description has become more and more apt in recent weeks. </p>
<p>Initially, the comparison was made to illustrate that Sci-Hub is used by researchers to download articles for free, much like the rest of the world uses The Pirate Bay to get free stuff. </p>
<p>There are more parallels though. Increasingly, Sci-Hub has trouble keeping its domain names. Following two <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-court-grants-isps-and-search-engine-blockade-of-sci-hub-171106/">injunctions</a> in the US, academic publishers now have court orders to compel domain registrars and registries to suspend Sci-Hub&#8217;s addresses. </p>
<p>Although there is no such court order for The Pirate Bay, the notorious torrent site also has a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-is-back-to-square-one-after-months-of-domain-hopping-151231/">long history</a> of domain suspensions. </p>
<p>Both sites appear to tackle the problem in a similar manner. They simply ignore all enforcement efforts and bypass them with new domains and other circumvention tools. They have several backup domains in place as well as unsuspendable .onion addresses, which are accessible on the Tor network. </p>
<p>Since late November, a lot of Sci-Hub users have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-loses-domain-names-but-remains-resilient-171122/">switched to Sci-Hub.bz</a> when other domains were suspended. And, when the .bz domain was targeted a few days ago, they moved to different alternatives. It&#8217;s a continuous game of Whack-a-Mole that is hard to stop. </p>
<p><center><strong>Suspended&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/42b6a754.sci-bz.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sci-bz.png" alt="" width="572" height="284" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148541"></center></p>
<p>There&#8217;s another striking similarity between TPB and Sci-Hub. Unlike other pirate sites, their founders are both vocal. In the case of Sci-Hub this is Alexandra Elbakyan, a researcher born and graduated in Kazakhstan. </p>
<p>She recently responded to people who had trouble accessing the site. &#8220;The site is working properly, but the capitalists have started blocking Sci-Hub domains, so the site may not be accessible at the regular addresses,&#8221; she wrote <a href="https://vk.com/sci_hub">on VK</a>.</p>
<p>Instead of complaining, Elbakyan encouraged people to do some research of their own, as there are still plenty of alternative domains up and running. And indeed, at the time of writing Sci-hub.la, Sci-hub.tv, Sci-hub.tw, Sci-hub.hk, and <a href="https://twitter.com/Meraz2099/status/940719772165197830">others</a> can be accessed without any hassle.</p>
<p>While Sci-Hub&#8217;s classification as the &#8220;Pirate Bay of Science&#8221; is certainly warranted, there are also differences. The Pirate Bay was raided several times and the founders were criminally prosecuted. That&#8217;s not the case for Sci-Hub.  </p>
<p>But who knows what will happen next&#8230;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148588
title: University College London is Accidentally Running a Huge “Pirate” Movie Site
uri: University-College-London-is-Accidentally-Running-a-Huge-Pirate
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-ZC_J6gX6hQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/2045e206.theater-movie-cinema.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/theater-movie-cinema.png"><img src="media/86342ead.theater-movie-cinema.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/theater-movie-cinema.png" alt="" width="275" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-142135" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/theater-movie-cinema.png 275w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/theater-movie-cinema-220x130.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px"></a>If someone wants to obtain the latest movies for free, all they need to do is head over to the nearest torrent or streaming portal, press a few buttons, and the content appears in a matter of seconds or minutes, dependent on choice.</p>
<p>Indeed, for those seeking mainstream content DRM-free, this is the only way to obtain it, since studios generally don&#8217;t make their content available in this fashion. But we know an establishment that does, on a grand scale.</p>
<p>University College London is the third largest university in the UK. According to accounts <em>(<a href="media/8fa2b838.2017_ucl-annual-report.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/docs/docs-corporate/2017_ucl-annual-report.pdf">pdf</a>)</em> published this summer, it has revenues of more than £1.32 billion. Somewhat surprisingly, this educational behemoth also has a sensational multimedia trick up its considerable sleeve.</p>
<p>The university&#8217;s website, located at UCL.ac.uk, is a polished affair and provides all the information anyone could need. However, until one browses to the Self-Access Centre, the full glory of the platform remains largely hidden.</p>
<p>Located at <a href="https://resources.clie.ucl.ac.uk/home/sac/english/films">resources.clie.ucl.ac.uk/home/sac/english/films</a>, it looks not unlike Netflix, or indeed any one of thousands of pirate streaming sites around today. However, it appears to be intended for university and educational use only.</p>
<p><center><b>UCL&#8217;s Self-Access Centre</b><a href="media/ca2e32b7.UCL1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/UCL1.png"><img src="media/911f85a4.UCL1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/UCL1.png" alt="" width="1122" height="682" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-148602"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Welcome to the Self-Access Centre materials database. Here you can find out about the English materials we have in the SAC and explore our online materials,&#8221; the site reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;They were designed to help you improve your English skills. Most of the video materials, including films and documentaries, are now available to be watched online. Log on with your UCL id and password to watch them!&#8221;</p>
<p>According to a university <a href="https://resources.clie.ucl.ac.uk/home/player/26249/47qjxe8566kzfznvm5dfixxe6p62t4nt">video tutorial</a>, all content on the SAC can be viewed on campus or from home, as long as a proper login and password is entered. The material is provided for educational purposes and when viewed through the portal, is accompanied by questions, notes, and various exercises. </p>
<p>Trouble is, the entire system is open to the wider Internet, with no logins or passwords required.</p>
<p><center><b>A sample of the movies on offer for direct download</b><a href="media/0949e32b.ucl2.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ucl2.png"><img src="media/e59c920f.ucl2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ucl2.png" alt="" width="853" height="852" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-148604"></a></center></p>
<p>The above image doesn&#8217;t even begin to scratch the surface. In one directory alone, TorrentFreak counted more than 700 English language movies. In another, more than 600 documentaries including all episodes of the BBC&#8217;s Blue Planet II. World Cinema produced close to 90 results, with hundreds of titles voiced in languages from Arabic to Japanese to Welsh.</p>
<p><center><b>Links can be pasted into VLC and streamed direct</b><a href="media/edcc5a3e.ucl3.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ucl3.png"><img src="media/f9f3159f.ucl3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ucl3.png" alt="" width="1223" height="807" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-148606"></a></center></p>
<p>Quite how long this massive trove of films and TV shows has been open to the public isn&#8217;t clear but a simple Google search reveals not only the content itself, but also links to movies and other material on sites in the Middle East and social networks in Russia.</p>
<p>Some of them date back to at least 2016 so it&#8217;s probably safe to assume that untold terabytes of data have already been liberated from the university&#8217;s servers for the pleasure of the public.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148576
title: UK Should Hold Google & Facebook “Liable for Illegal Content” After Brexit
uri: UK-Should-Hold-Google-Facebook-Liable-for-Illegal-Content-Afte
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6IzjWAJKaxc/
content:
<p><a href="media/5d378082.uk-flag.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/uk-flag.jpg"><img src="media/4d28e669.uk-flag.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uk-flag.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="179" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86005"></a>In order to operate and innovate in the online space, Internet giants such as Google, YouTube, and Facebook can&#8217;t be held immediately liable for everything that appears on their platforms.</p>
<p>If Google indexes an objectionable website, if someone posts an infringing video to YouTube, or if abusive or violent messages appear on Facebook, that is currently and quite rightly the responsibility of the person who put the offending content there. </p>
<p>However, once the platforms in question are advised by an appropriate authority that content posted on their services breaks the law, they are required to take it down. If they do not, they can then be held liable under local and EU law.</p>
<p>While essential for tech companies, this so-called safe harbor is a thorn in the side of copyright holders. They contend that platforms like YouTube abuse their freedoms in order to monetize infringing content while gaining advantages in licensing negotiations.</p>
<p>The protection offered by the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/e-commerce-directive">E-Commerce Directive</a> is a hot topic right now, one which necessarily involves the UK. However, with the UK due to leave the EU at 11pm local time on Friday 29 March, 2019, it will then be free to make its own laws. It&#8217;s now being suggested that as soon as Brexit happens, the UK should introduce new laws that hold tech companies liable for &#8220;illegal content&#8221; that appears on their platforms.</p>
<p>The advice can be found in a new report published by the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Titled &#8220;Intimidation in Public Life&#8221;, the report focuses on the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/action-is-needed-to-stop-intimidation-in-public-life-sbrc6n9mq">online threats and intimidation</a> experienced by Parliamentary candidates and others.</p>
<p>However, the laws that currently protect information society service providers apply to a much broader range of content, including that alleged to be copyright-infringing.</p>
<p>&#8220;Currently, social media companies do not have liability for the content on their sites, even where that content is illegal. This is largely due to the EU E-Commerce Directive (2000), which treats the social media companies as ‘hosts’ of online content. It is clear, however, that this legislation is out of date,&#8221; the report reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;Facebook, Twitter and Google are not simply platforms for the content that others post; they play a role in shaping what users see. We understand that they do not consider themselves as publishers, responsible for reviewing and editing everything that others post on their sites. But with developments in technology, the time has come for the companies to take more responsibility for illegal material that appears on their platforms.&#8221;</p>
<p>That responsibility should be increased immediately upon Brexit, the Committee recommends, via new legislation that won&#8217;t be hindered by the safe harbors offered by the E-Commerce Directive. Doing so will force online platforms to take more direct action to combat the appearance of illegal content, the Committee argues.</p>
<p>&#8220;The government should seek to legislate to shift the balance of liability for illegal content to the social media companies away from them being passive ‘platforms’ for illegal content. Given the government’s stated intention to leave the EU Single Market, legislation can be introduced to this effect without being in breach of EU law,&#8221; the report notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;We believe government should legislate to rebalance this liability for illegal content, and thereby drive change in the way social media companies operate in combatting illegal behavior online in the UK.&#8221;</p>
<p>How the process will play out from here remains to be seen but there is likely to be significant push-back from companies including the likes of Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Whether the &#8220;illegal content&#8221; they&#8217;re to be held liable for is deemed threatening, racist, or indeed copyright-infringing, matters are rarely clear-cut and there could be significant fall out if conditions are set too tightly.</p>
<p>Expect plenty of stakeholders to get involved when it comes to diminishing the protections of the E-Commerce Directive. To be continued&#8230;..</p>
<p>The full report can be found <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/intimidation-in-public-life-committee-publishes-report">here</a>. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148482
title: US Government Teaches Anti-Piracy Skills Around The Globe
uri: US-Government-Teaches-Anti-Piracy-Skills-Around-The-Globe
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Tz0JRD1GrGU/
content:
<p><img src="media/6f965905.doj1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/doj1.png" alt="" width="222" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-62313">Online piracy is a global issue. Pirate sites and services tend to operate in multiple jurisdictions and are purposefully set up to evade law enforcement. </p>
<p>This makes it hard for police from one country to effectively crack down on a site in another. International cooperation is often required, and the US Government is one of the leaders on this front. </p>
<p>The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has quite a bit of experience in tracking down pirates and they are actively sharing this knowledge with countries that can use some help. This goes far beyond the occasional seminar.</p>
<p>A diplomatic cable obtained through a Freedom of Information request provides a relatively recent example of these efforts. The document gives an overview of anti-piracy training, provided and funded by the US Government, during the fall of 2015. </p>
<p>&#8220;On November 24 and 25, prosecutors and investigators from Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Turkey participated in a two-day, US. Department of Justice (USDOJ)-sponsored training program on combatting online piracy. </p>
<p>&#8220;The program updated participants on legal issues, including data retention legislation, surrounding the investigation and prosecution of online piracy,&#8221; the cable adds. </p>
<p>According to the cable, piracy has become a very significant problem in Eastern Europe, costing rightsholders and governments millions of dollars in revenues. After the training, local law enforcement officers in these countries should be better equipped to deal with the problem.</p>
<p><center><strong>Pirates Beware</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/0ecc333e.piratesbeware.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratesbeware.png" alt="" width="600" height="380" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148533"></center></p>
<p>The event was put together with help from various embassies and among the presenters were law enforcement professionals from around the world. </p>
<p>The Director of the DoJ&#8217;s CCIPS Cybercrime Laboratory was among the speakers. He gave training on computer forensics and participants were provided with various tools to put this to use.</p>
<p>&#8220;Participants were given copies of forensic tools at the conclusion of the program so that they could put to use some of what they saw demonstrated during the training,&#8221; the cable reads.</p>
<p>While catching pirates can be quite hard already, getting them convicted is a challenge as well. Increasingly we&#8217;ve seen criminal complaints using non-copyright claims to have site owners prosecuted. </p>
<p>By using money laundering and tax offenses, pirates can receive tougher penalties. This was one of the talking points during the training as well.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Participants were encouraged to consider the use of statutes such as money laundering and tax evasion, in addition to those protecting copyrights and trademarks, since these offenses are often punished more severely than standalone intellectual property crimes.&#8221; </p>
<p>The cable, written by the US Embassy in Bucharest, provides a lot of detail about the two-day training session. It&#8217;s also clear on the overall objective. The US wants to increase the likelihood that pirate sites are brought to justice. Not only in the homeland, but around the globe. </p>
<p>&#8220;By focusing approximately forty investigators and prosecutors from four countries on how they can more effectively attack rogue sites, and by connecting rights holders and their investigators with law enforcement, the chances of pirates being caught and held accountable have increased.&#8221;</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s hard to link the training to any concrete successes, Romanian law enforcement did shut down the country&#8217;s leading pirate site a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/romanian-govt-seizes-leading-pirate-site-domain-160711/">few months later</a>. As with a previous case in Romania, which <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/fbi-assists-overseas-pirate-movie-site-raids-150714/">involved the FBI</a>, money laundering and tax evasion allegations were expected.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s not out of the ordinary for international law enforcers to work together, it&#8217;s notable how coordinated the US efforts are. Earlier this week we wrote about the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/how-the-us-pushed-sweden-to-take-down-the-pirate-bay-171212/">US pressure on Sweden to raid The Pirate Bay</a>. And these are not isolated incidents. </p>
<p>While the US Department of Justice doesn&#8217;t reveal all details of its operations, it is very open about its global efforts to protect Intellectual Property. </p>
<p><center><strong>Around the world..</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/aa401fc8.IPLEC-e1513162834444.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/IPLEC-e1513162834444.png" alt="" width="600" height="331" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148534"></center></p>
<p>The DoJ&#8217;s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (<a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ccips">CCIPS</a>) has relationships with law enforcement worldwide and regularly provides training to foreign officers. </p>
<p>A crucial part of the Department’s international enforcement activities is the Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordinator (<a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ccips/overseas-work">IPLEC</a>) program, which started in 2006. </p>
<p>Through IPLECs, the department now has Attorneys stationed in Thailand, Hong Kong, Romania, Brazil, and Nigeria. These Attorneys keep an eye on local law enforcement and provide assistance and training, to protect US copyright holders.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our strategically placed coordinators draw upon their subject matter expertise to help ensure that property holders’ rights are enforced across the globe, and that the American people are protected from harmful products entering the marketplace,” Attorney General John Cronan of the Criminal Division  <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-and-department-state-launch-intellectual-property-law-enforcement">said</a> just last Friday.  </p>
<p>Or to end with the title of the Romanian cable: &#8216;Pirates beware!&#8217;</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>The cable cited here was made available in response to a Freedom of Information request, which was submitted by Rachael Tackett and shared with TorrentFreak. It starts at <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1f8iARvsMb_AGhhJ95lAAhXfb3CZWhHSS">page 47 of document 2</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148704
title: New Zealand Prepares Consultation to Modernize Copyright Laws
uri: New-Zealand-Prepares-Consultation-to-Modernize-Copyright-Laws
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0thHqlScpaY/
content:
<p><a href="media/b997f7ba.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg"><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211"></a>The Copyright Act 1994 is the key legislation governing New Zealand&#8217;s handling of intellectual property issues, covering protection, infringement, exceptions and enforcement. It last underwent a review more than a decade ago resulting in the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008.</p>
<p>Like much copyright law worldwide, New Zealand&#8217;s legislation has struggled to keep pace with technological change so, during the summer, the last government announced plans for a review with several key goals:</p>
<p>&#8211; <em>Assess the performance of the Copyright Act against the objectives of New Zealand’s copyright regime.</em></p>
<p>&#8211; <em>Identify barriers to achieving the objectives of New Zealand’s copyright regime, and the level of impact that these barriers have.</em></p>
<p>&#8211; <em>Formulate a preferred approach to addressing these issues – including amendments to the Copyright Act, and the commissioning of further work on any other regulatory or non-regulatory options that are identified.</em></p>
<p>The former government planned to initiate a public consultation in the second quarter of 2018, with a review being informed by the responses. According to an announcement Friday, the new government plans to go ahead with the overhaul, beginning in April as previously envisioned.</p>
<p>Many of the hot topics in the United States, Europe and closer to home in Australia are expected to come to the forefront, including site-blocking, service provider safe harbor provisions, and the thorny issue of fair use.</p>
<p>Speaking with RadioNZ, New Zealand Screen Association managing director Matthew Cheetham says that new legislation is required to keep pace with a rapidly moving landscape.</p>
<p>&#8220;In New Zealand, piracy is almost an accepted thing, because no one&#8217;s really doing anything about it, because no one actually can do anything about it,&#8221; Cheetham <a href="https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/346412/copyright-law-confirmed-for-an-overhaul">says</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;As new technologies have evolved, the law has struggled to keep pace with those new technologies and to make sure that the law is fit for purpose in the digital age.&#8221;</p>
<p>As the local representative for several Hollywood studios, it&#8217;s no surprise that NZSA will be seeking amendments that will force ISPs to block access to popular pirate sites, as they do already in the UK, Europe, and Australia.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the site is infringing [a court] can order internet service providers to block access to that site. Forty-two countries around the world have recognised that blocking access when it&#8217;s carefully defined is a perfectly legitimate avenue for rights holders to protect their rights,&#8221; Cheetham notes.</p>
<p>While there hasn&#8217;t been a major copyright overhaul in more than a decade, New Zealand is no stranger to prolonged exercises to try and stop piracy.</p>
<p>The country spent huge amounts of time and money late last decade in order to come up with the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011. It laid out a system under which pirates received escalating warnings culminating in eventual disconnection from the Internet. But, with escalating costs (between NZ$20 and NZ$25 per notice), the scheme was ultimately an expensive flop.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have an entire regime that allows copyright holders to seek and send notices to users that are committing piracy and actually have a process in a court-based system that allows remedies to be pursued,&#8221; Internet New Zealand deputy chief executive Andrew Cushen told RadioNZ.</p>
<p>&#8220;None of them are using it. Why would we now look at a wholly different solution that none of them are going to use as well?&#8221;</p>
<p>As someone who has been acutely affected by New Zealand&#8217;s approach to intellectual property rights enforcement, Kim Dotcom certainly has an interest in the development of local copyright law. The Megaupload founder was arrested in 2012 for alleged copyright offenses that he insists aren&#8217;t even a crime in New Zealand. So what advice does he have for the review?</p>
<p>According to the entrepreneur, the NZ Copyright Act is &#8220;mostly good&#8221;, noting that it protects both ISPs and consumers. Given the chance, however, he would remind judges about the purpose of the act.</p>
<p>“The NZ Copyright Act is a code. The Copyright Act creates a special property right. No other act applies to this special property right, including the crimes act,” Dotcom informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;This might be a helpful yardstick for Judges who don’t understand the Copyright Act and attempt to create new and unintended law from the bench. Just like in my case.&#8221;</p>
<p>Only time will tell how the public consultation will play out but it seems likely that tackling the &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/?s=value+gap">Value Gap</a>&#8221; situation will be high up the agenda, especially if that can be achieved by eroding Internet companies&#8217; safe harbors under copyright law. Expect that to receive significant push-back from the technology sector.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148706
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 12/18/17
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-12-18-17
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/qFnqJyzOTGU/
content:
<p><img src="media/0e7ff6cd.kingsman-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kingsman-1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="205" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147783">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Kingsman: The Golden Circle 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 Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip 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>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-121117/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">Kingsman: The Golden Circle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nxc-3WpMbg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">Dunkirk</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ01tJ4EWeg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2226597/">The Mountain Between Us</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2226597/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu41hu1a_8c">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">The Foreigner</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9YCk7ufHs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2039338/">Flatliners</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2039338/">5.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1S52y5ZVlY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/">American Made</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEBIJRAkujM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5109784/">Mother!</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5109784/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpICoc65uh0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">Coco</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga6RYejo6Hk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536537/">What Happened to Monday</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536537/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F-YEbm65a8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501632/">Thor Ragnarok</a> (HDTS/Cam)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501632/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue80QwXMRHg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148628
title: Google Defeats Worldwide Site Blocking Order in US Court
uri: Google-Defeats-Worldwide-Site-Blocking-Order-in-US-Court
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZkgXrdHxxyw/
content:
<p><img src="media/c89c2205.canada.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/canada.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="165" class="alignright size-full wp-image-60888">As the largest search engine on the Internet, Google has received its fair share of takedown requests. Over the past year, the company removed roughly a billion links from its search results.</p>
<p>However, this doesn&#8217;t mean that Google will remove everything it&#8217;s asked to. When a Canadian court demanded the search engine to delist sites that offered unlawful and competing products of Equustek Solutions, it fought back. </p>
<p>After several years in court, the Supreme Court of Canada directed Google to remove the websites from its search results <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/canadas-supreme-court-orders-google-remove-search-results-worldwide-170629/">last summer</a>. This order wasn&#8217;t limited to Canada alone, but applied worldwide.</p>
<p>Worried about the possible negative consequences the broad verdict could have, Google then took the case to the US, and with success.  </p>
<p>A federal court in California already signed a preliminary injunction a few weeks ago, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-court-disarms-canadas-global-site-blocking-order-against-google-171103/">disarming</a> the Canadian order, and a few days ago ruled that Google has won its case.</p>
<p><center><strong>Case closed</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/050eead4.equustekclosed.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/equustekclosed.png" alt="" width="590" height="256" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148721"></center></p>
<p>According to the California court, the Canadian Supreme court ruling violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, putting free speech at risk. </p>
<p>It would also go against Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which offers search engines and other Internet services immunity from liability for material published by others.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Canadian order would eliminate Section 230 immunity for service providers that link to third-party websites,&#8221; the court wrote. </p>
<p>&#8220;By forcing intermediaries to remove links to third-party material, the Canadian order undermines the policy goals of Section 230 and threatens free speech on the global internet.&#8221;</p>
<p>After a legal battle that kept the Canadian court busy since 2014, the US case was solved rather quickly. Equustek Solutions didn&#8217;t show up and failed to defend itself, which made it an easy win.</p>
<p>Now that the permanent injunction is signed the case will be closed. While Google still has to delist the contested pages in Canada, it no longer has to do the same worldwide. </p>
<p>As highlighted previously, the order is very important in the broader scheme. If foreign courts are allowed to grant worldwide blockades, free speech could be severely hampered. </p>
<p>Today it’s a relatively unknown Canadian company, but the damage could be much more severe if the Chinese Government asked Google to block the websites of VPN providers, or any other information they don&#8217;t like.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148748
title: Facebook Rejects 31% of All Piracy Takedown Requests
uri: Facebook-Rejects-31-of-All-Piracy-Takedown-Requests
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8FXSkPmH3E4/
content:
<p><img src="media/139ebf81.facebook-pirate-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facebook-pirate-1.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="122" class="alignright size-full wp-image-139520">As one of the largest user-generated platforms on the Internet, Facebook has to battle a constant stream of unauthorized copyright material. </p>
<p>To facilitate this process, Facebook has rolled out a few anti-piracy initiatives in recent years. </p>
<p>The company has a &#8220;Rights Manager&#8221; tool that automatically detects infringing material and allows owners to take down or monetize this content. In addition, Facebook uses the third-party service Audible Magic to spot and remove pirated music tracks.</p>
<p>Thus far, little was known about the number of copyright takedown requests Facebook processes every month, but new details released in its new <a href="https://transparency.facebook.com/intellectual_property/">transparency report</a> a few hours ago provides some context.</p>
<p>During the first six months of 2017, a total of 224,464 requests were received by Facebook. One request can list a single post or file, but they can contain more items. During this period, 1,818,794 items were removed from Facebook, which is roughly 10,000 per day.</p>
<p>&#8220;Each report submitted by a rights holder is processed by our IP Operations team, which is a global team of trained professionals who provide around-the-clock coverage in multiple languages,&#8221; Facebook writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the report is complete and valid, the team will promptly remove the reported content, typically within a day or less, and confirm that action with the rights holder that reported it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Another interesting statistic is that no action was taken in response to more than 31% of the 224,464 requests. This means that none of the content highlighted in these notices was removed. These rejections could be the result of an abusive, inaccurate or incomplete request, for example.</p>
<p><center><strong>Copyright removals</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/164c5e22.facedmca.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facedmca.png" alt="" width="619" height="323" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148759"></center></p>
<p>In addition to takedown requests on Facebook itself, the company also shared the same data for Instagram. The numbers are roughly a third of Facebook&#8217;s, with 70,008 requests and 685,996 removed posts or items during the first half of 2017.</p>
<p>The social media giant stresses that it operates with the best interests of copyright holders and users in mind. For copyright holders, the takedown process is optimized and improved where possible. At the same time, the company aims to educate users who make an occasional mistake, to prevent further problems. </p>
<p>Facebook users who continue to post or link to pirated content repeatedly, will be dealt with eventually though. The company regularly disables accounts, removes pages, and deletes groups to stop persistent infringers. </p>
<p>&#8220;In addition to removing reported content, we disable the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances. Our repeat infringer policy applies to IP violations committed via Facebook profiles and Instagram accounts, including copyright, trademark and counterfeit,&#8221; the company writes. </p>
<p>This is likely the reason why several pages of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/facebook-removes-extratorrent-page-deletes-user-profiles-flags-links-160809/">pirate sites disappeared</a> from the social media platform in recent years. Interestingly, there appears to be little to stop these repeat infringers from signing up again and starting over. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148806
title: VPN Server Seized to Investigate Russian Ambassador’s Assassination
uri: VPN-Server-Seized-to-Investigate-Russian-Ambassador-s-Assassination
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KfQE1HEOgC4/
content:
<p><img src="media/9b13b8a6.privacy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/privacy.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135982">VPNs are valuable tools for people who want to use the Internet securely and maintain their anonymity. They are vital for whistleblowers and people who rebel against Government oppression.</p>
<p>As with any online service, they can also be used for criminal purposes. According to <a href="http://www.diken.com.tr/buyukelci-karlov-suikasti-suikastci-polisin-mesajlari-silinmis/">Turkish news</a> <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/social-media-posts-e-mails-of-turkish-policeman-who-killed-russian-ambassador-deleted-via-virtual-computer-124304">sources</a>, this is also what happened following the assassination of Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, exactly one year ago.</p>
<p>Karlov was <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38377419">shot dead in Ankara</a> by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty Turkish police officer. While that much is clear, the investigation into the assassination is not closed yet. </p>
<p>When the authorities tried to find links to other people that may have been involved, they found out that the policeman&#8217;s Gmail and Facebook had been deleted. This happened remotely over a VPN connection, operated by ExpressVPN.</p>
<p>To find out more, the authorities raided the datacenter and seized the server through which the connection went. This all happened last January, but the information just came out today.</p>
<p>Like <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">many other VPN services</a> nowadays, <a href="https://www.expressvpn.com/">ExpressVPN</a> doesn&#8217;t store any logs, and this is what the investigators soon found out as well. An inspection of the server in question yielded no useful information.</p>
<p>Following the seizure, an investigator also reached out to ExpressVPN directly, asking for logs. The VPN provider is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and only responds to local court orders, but the investigator was informed that they don&#8217;t store connection or activity logs.</p>
<p>&#8220;As we stated to Turkish authorities in January 2017, ExpressVPN does not and has never possessed any customer connection logs that would enable us to know which customer was using the specific IPs cited by the investigators,&#8221; ExpressVPN writes in a <a href="https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/expressvpn-statement-andrey-karlov-investigation/">statement</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Furthermore, we were unable to see which customers accessed Gmail or Facebook during the time in question, as we do not keep activity logs. We believe that the investigators’ seizure and inspection of the VPN server in question confirmed these points.&#8221;</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, the VPN provider mentions that they&#8217;ve had physical server seizures in the past, but generally not more than a few times per year.</p>
<p>These seizures are not announced in public, but the company stresses that user anonymity is their highest priority.</p>
<p>&#8220;While we don&#8217;t have a policy of announcing such incidents, we&#8217;ve designed our technology to ensure that VPN servers do not possess logs which would enable a third party to determine sensitive information about our users, such as their VPN activity or connections. </p>
<p>&#8220;A physical server seizure is therefore highly unlikely to provide relevant information to someone trying to determine data about specific usage,&#8221; ExpressVPN tells us.</p>
<p>Incidents like these show that decent VPNs do what they&#8217;re set out to. They safeguard the privacy of users which, like the Internet in general, can be used for good and bad.</p>
<p>It also highlights the importance of the server location. When servers are operated by third-party companies in foreign jurisdictions, they can be easily targeted, or perhaps even worse, monitored. </p>
<p>ExpressVPN told TorrentFreak that after the seizure incident in Turkey, the company decided to no longer use physical servers in Turkey. Instead, they provide a <a href="https://www.expressvpn.com/support/troubleshooting/virtual-server-locations/#virtual-locations">virtual location</a> with Turkey-registered IP addresses pointing to VPN servers hosted in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>The VPN provider regrets that its services were used for unlawful purposes but says that its policies will remain the same.</p>
<p>&#8220;While it’s unfortunate that security tools like VPNs can be abused for illicit purposes, they are critical for our safety and the preservation of our right to privacy online. ExpressVPN is fundamentally opposed to any efforts to install &#8216;backdoors&#8217; or attempts by governments to otherwise undermine such technologies,&#8221; the company concludes.</p>
<p><em>—</p>
<p>Disclosure: ExpressVPN is a TorrentFreak sponsor</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148737
title: Students and Youths Offered $10 to Pirate Latest Movies in Cinemas
uri: Students-and-Youths-Offered-10-to-Pirate-Latest-Movies-in-Cinemas
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XJcwZTsuLgo/
content:
<p><a href="media/cf654c6a.piratekay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratekay.jpg"><img src="media/0fe8e43a.piratekay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratekay.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108106"></a>In common with most other countries, demand for movies is absolutely huge in India. According to a 2015 <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2015/10/23/indias-film-industry-a-10-billion-business-trapped-in-a-2-billion-body/">report</a>, the country produces between 1,500 and 2,000 movies each year, more than any other country in the world.</p>
<p>But India also has a huge piracy problem. If a movie is worth watching, it&#8217;s pirated extremely quickly, mostly within a couple of days of release, often much sooner. These early copies ordinarily come from &#8220;cams&#8221; &#8211; recordings made in cinemas &#8211; which are sold on the streets for next to nothing and eagerly snapped up citizens. Who, incidentally, are served by ten times fewer cinema screens than their US counterparts.</p>
<p>These cam copies have to come from somewhere and according to representatives from the local Anti-Video Piracy Committee, piracy groups have begun to divert &#8220;camming&#8221; duties to outsiders, effectively decentralizing their operations.</p>
<p>Their targets are said to be young people with decent mobile phones, students in particular. Along with China, India now has more than a billion phone users, so there&#8217;s no shortage of candidates.</p>
<p>“The offer to youngsters is that they would get 10 US dollars into their bank accounts, if they videographed and sent it on the first day of release of the film,” <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/2017/dec/19/lured-into-making-quick-bucks-youngsters-attracted-to-film-piracy-1730924.html">says</a> Raj Kumar, Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce representative and Anti-Video Piracy Committee chairman.</p>
<p>&#8220;The minors and youngsters are getting attracted to the money, not knowing that piracy is a crime,” he adds.</p>
<p>Although US$10 sounds like a meager amount, for many locals the offer is significant. According to figures from 2014, the average daily wage in India is just 272 Indian Rupees (US$4.24) so, for an hour or two&#8217;s &#8216;work&#8217; sitting in a cinema with a phone, a student can, in theory, earn more than he can in two days employment.</p>
<p>The issue of youth &#8220;camming&#8221; came up yesterday during a meeting of film producers, Internet service providers and cybercrime officials convened by IT and Industries Secretary Jayesh Ranjan.</p>
<p>The meeting heard that the Telangana State government will soon have its own special police officers and cybercrime experts to tackle the growing problem of pirate sites, who will take them down if necessary.</p>
<p>“The State government has adopted a no-tolerance policy towards online piracy of films and will soon have a plan in place to tackle and effectively curb piracy. We need to adopt strong measures and countermeasures to weed out all kinds of piracy,” Ranjan <a href="https://telanganatoday.com/telangana-have-dedicated-personnel-tackle-piracy">said</a>.</p>
<p>The State already has its own Intellectual Property Crimes Unit (IPCU) but local officials have complained that not enough is being done to curb huge losses faced by the industry. There have been successes, however.</p>
<p>Cybercrime officials previously tracked down individuals said to have been involved in the piracy of the spectacular movie <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baahubali_2:_The_Conclusion">Baahubali 2 &#8211; The Conclusion</a></em> which became the highest grossing Indian film ever just six days after its release earlier this year. But despite the efforts and successes, the basics appear to elude Indian anti-piracy forces.</p>
<p>During October 2017, a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9770lB6E2M">4K copy of Baahubali 2</a> was uploaded to YouTube and has since racked up an astonishing 54.7m views to the delight of a worldwide audience, many of them enjoying the best of Indian cinema for the first time &#8211; for free.</p>
<p>Still, the meeting Monday found that sites offering pirated Indian movies should be targeted and brought to their knees.</p>
<p>“In the meeting, the ISPs too were asked to designate a nodal officer who can keep a watch over websites which upload such data onto their websites and bring them down,” a cybercrime police officer said.</p>
<p>Next stop, YouTube?</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148849
title: Internet Users Warned Over Fake 20th Century Fox Piracy ‘Fines’
uri: Internet-Users-Warned-Over-Fake-20th-Century-Fox-Piracy-Fines
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BgBZ1qr8_Qk/
content:
<p><a href="media/cc4e5caf.scamkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/scamkey.jpg"><img src="media/af175f74.scamkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/scamkey.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-140925"></a>Most people who obtain and share large quantities of material online understand that comes with risk, possibly in the form of an ISP-forwarded warning, a letter demanding cash, or even a visit from the police.</p>
<p>While the latter only happens in the rarest of circumstances, warnings are relatively commonplace, especially in the United States where companies like Rightscorp pump them out in their thousands. Letters demanding cash payment, sent by so-called copyright trolls, are less prevalent but these days most people understand the concept of a piracy &#8216;fine&#8217;.</p>
<p>With this level of understanding in the mainstream there are opportunities for scammers, who have periodically tried to extract payments from Internet users who have done nothing wrong. This is currently the case in Germany, where a consumer group is warning of a wave of piracy &#8216;fines&#8217; being sent out to completely innocent victims.</p>
<p>The emails, which claim to be sent on behalf of 20th Century Fox, allege the recipient has infringed copyright on streaming portal Kinox.to. For this apparent transgression, they demand a payment of more than 375 euros but the whole thing is an elaborate scam.</p>
<p><center><b>The 20th Century Fox &#8216;piracy&#8217; scam</b><a href="media/84b6df89.g-wegen-urheberrechtsverletzung-im-namen-der-kanzlei-hofmann.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/fake-abmahnung-wegen-urheberrechtsverletzung-im-namen-der-kanzlei-hofmann.jpg"><img src="media/a7daa1fd.g-wegen-urheberrechtsverletzung-im-namen-der-kanzlei-hofmann.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fake-abmahnung-wegen-urheberrechtsverletzung-im-namen-der-kanzlei-hofmann.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="1514" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-148853"></a></center></p>
<p>Unlike some fairly primitive previous efforts, however, these emails are actually quite clever.</p>
<p>Citing a genuine ruling from the European Court of Justice which found that streaming content is illegal inside the EU, the cash demand offers up personal information of the user, such as IP addresses, browser, and operating system. </p>
<p>However, instead of obtaining these via an external piracy monitoring system and subsequent court order (as happens with BitTorrent cases), the data is pulled from the user&#8217;s machine when a third-party link is clicked. </p>
<p>As highlighted by <a href="https://tarnkappe.info/kinox-to-betrueger-verschicken-fake-abmahnungen-wegen-illegalem-streaming/">Tarnkappe</a>, who first noticed the <a href="https://www.verbraucherzentrale-niedersachsen.de/themen/internet-telefon/fake-abmahnung-von-kanzlei-hofmann-wegen-urheberrechtsverletzung">warning</a>, there are other elements to the cash demands that point to an elaborate scam.</p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest tell of all is the complete absence of precise details of the alleged infringement, such as the title of the content supposedly obtained along with a time and date. These are common features of all genuine settlement demands so any that fail to mention content should be treated with caution.</p>
<p>&#8220;Do not pay. It is rip off. Report to the police,&#8221; the local consumer group warns.</p>
<p>Interestingly, warning recipients are advised by the scammers to pay their &#8216;fine&#8217; directly to a bank account in the United Kingdom. Hopefully it will have been shut down by now but it&#8217;s worth mentioning that people should avoid direct bank transfers with anyone they don&#8217;t trust.</p>
<p>If any payment must be made, credit cards are a much safer option but in the case of wannabe trolls, they&#8217;re best ignored until they appear with proper proof backed up by credible legal documentation. Even then, people should consider putting up a fight, if they&#8217;re being unfairly treated.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148751
title: AnyDVD Supports UHD Blu-Ray Ripping, While Devices Patch Security Holes
uri: AnyDVD-Supports-UHD-Blu-Ray-Ripping-While-Devices-Patch-Security-Hole
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VzAEiKl_0Rk/
content:
<p><img src="media/6a87c411.anydvdhd-200.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/anydvdhd-200.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148874">For a long time UHD Blu-Ray discs have been the holy grail for movie rippers. </p>
<p>Protected by the &#8216;unbreakable&#8217; AACS 2.0 encryption, pirates were left with regular HD releases. While that&#8217;s fine for most people, it didn&#8217;t sit well with the real videophiles. </p>
<p>This year there have been some major developments on this front. First, full copies of UHD discs <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/first-pirated-ultra-hd-blu-ray-disk-appears-online-aacs-2-0-cracked-170503/">started</a> to leak online, later followed by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/treasure-trove-of-aacs-2-0-uhd-blu-ray-keys-leak-online-171211/">dozens</a> of AACS 2.0 keys. Technically speaking AACS 2.0 is not confirmed to be defeated yet, but many discs can now be ripped. </p>
<p>This week a popular name jumped onto the UHD Blu-Ray bandwagon. In its latest beta release, AnyDVD now supports the format, relying on the leaked keys.</p>
<p>&#8220;New (UHD Blu-ray): Fetch AACS keys from external file for use with &#8216;UHD-friendly&#8217; drives,&#8221; the <a href="https://forum.redfox.bz/threads/anydvd-hd-8-2-1-1-beta.74118/">release notes</a> read.</p>
<p>The involvement of AnyDVD is significant because it previously came under legal pressure from decryption licensing outfit AACS LA. This caused former parent company Slysoft to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popular-blu-ray-ripper-shuts-down-following-legal-pressure-160224/">shut down</a> last year, but the software later <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anydvd-is-back-but-dont-call-us-pirates-developer-says-160302/">reappeared</a> under new management.</p>
<p>Based on reports from several AnyDVD users, the UHD ripping works well for most people. Some even claim that it&#8217;s faster than the free alternative, MakeMKV.</p>
<p>The question is, however, how long the ripping party will last. TorrentFreak has learned that not all supported Blu-Ray disc drives will remain &#8220;UHD-friendly.&#8221;</p>
<p>According to one source&#8217;s information, which we were unable to independently verify, device manufacturers have recently been instructed to patch the holes through firmware updates. </p>
<p>This indeed appears to be what&#8217;s happening. According to <a href="https://club.myce.com/t/help-revert-lg-wh16ns40-back-to-fw-1-02-or-crossflash/399700">several</a> user <a href="http://www.avsforum.com/forum/26-home-theater-computers/2923478-deuhd-uhd-disc-ripping-9.html#post55314340">reports</a>, LG&#8217;s WH16NS40 is no longer able to read and rip UHD Blu-Rays after the most recent firmware change.</p>
<p>Ironically, LG advertises it as &#8220;Improved BD UHD disc compatibility.&#8221;</p>
<p>So, while ripping tools such as AnyDVD are joining in to support UHD ripping, AACS LA and disc drive manufacturers appear to be patching security holes. But whatever they do, rippers are unlikely to stop their efforts until they&#8217;ve reached the holy grail. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148808
title: Yet More Copyright Trolls Invade Sweden Demanding Much More Money
uri: Yet-More-Copyright-Trolls-Invade-Sweden-Demanding-Much-More-Money
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/IwPP9gQF43c/
content:
<p><a href="media/e83f35a0.xmastroll.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/xmastroll.jpg"><img src="media/850af792.xmastroll.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/xmastroll.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="204" class="alignright size-full wp-image-81338"></a>Back in 2016, so-called copyright-trolling landed in Sweden for the first time via an organization calling itself Spridningskollen (Distribution Check). Within months, however, it was all over, with the operation heading for the hills after much negative publicity.</p>
<p>February this year, another wave of trolling <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-internet-users-face-new-wave-of-piracy-cash-demands-170225/">hit the country</a>, with Danish law firm Njord Law targeting the subscribers of several ISPs, including Telia, Tele2 and Bredbandsbolaget. Thousands of IP addresses had been harvested by its media company partners, potentially linking to thousands of subscribers.</p>
<p>“We have sent out a few thousand letters, but we have been given the right to obtain information behind many more IP addresses that we are waiting to receive from the telecom operators. So there are more,” lawyer Jeppe Brogaard Clausen said in October.</p>
<p>But while Internet users in Sweden wait for news of how this campaign is progressing, multiple new threats are appearing on the horizon. Swedish publication <a href="https://www.breakit.se/artikel/10474/fildelarnas-nya-skrack-kravbrev-pa-7-000-kronor-skickas-i-sverige">Breakit</a> reports that several additional law firms in Sweden are also getting in on the action with one, Innerstans Advokatbyrå, already sending out demands to alleged file-sharers.</p>
<p>&#8220;By downloading and uploading the movie without permission from the copyright holder, you have committed a copyright infringement,&#8221; its letter warns.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, the rightsholder wishes to propose a conciliation solution consisting of paying a flat rate of 7,000 kronor [$831] in one payment for all of the copyright infringements in question.&#8221;</p>
<p>The demand for 7,000 kronor is significantly more than 4,500 kronor ($535) demanded by Njord Law but Innerstans Advokatbyrå warns that this amount will only be the beginning, should an alleged pirate fail to pay up and the case goes to court.</p>
<p>&#8220;If this happens, the amount will not be limited to 7,000 kronor but will compensate for the damage suffered and will include compensation for investigative costs, application fees and attorney fees,&#8221; the company warns.</p>
<p>Breakit spoke with Alex Block at Innerstans Advokatbyrå who wouldn&#8217;t reveal how many letters had been sent out. However, he did indicate that while damages amounts will be decided by the court, a license for a shared film can cost 80,000 kronor ($12,800). </p>
<p>&#8220;This will last for a long time, and to a large extent,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Of course, we&#8217;ve reported on plenty of these campaigns before and their representatives all state that people will be taken to court if they don&#8217;t pay. This one is no different, with Block assuring the public that if they don&#8217;t pay, court will follow. The credibility of the campaign is at stake, he notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s our intention [to go to court], even if we prefer to avoid it. We must make reality of our requirements, otherwise it will not work,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Breakit says it has seen a copy of one letter from the lawfirm, which reveals a collaboration between US film company Mile High Distribution Inc. and Mircom International Content Management &#038; Consulting Ltd.</p>
<p>Mircom is extremely well known in trolling circles having conducted campaigns in several areas of the EU. German outfit Media Protector is also involved, having tracked the IP addresses of the alleged pirates. This company also has years of experience working with copyright trolls.</p>
<p>With several other law firms apparently getting in on the action, Swedish authorities need to ensure that the country doesn&#8217;t become another Germany where trolls have run rampant for a number of years, causing misery for thousands.</p>
<p>While that help may not necessarily be forthcoming, it&#8217;s perhaps a little surprising that given Sweden&#8217;s proud and recent history of piracy activism, there appear to be very few signs of a visible and organized pushback from the masses. That will certainly please the trolls, who tend to thrive when unchallenged.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148888
title: Gamers Want DMCA Exemption for ‘Abandoned’ Online Games
uri: Gamers-Want-DMCA-Exemption-for-Abandoned-Online-Games
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RghymoqbDeY/
content:
<p><img src="media/5355a57a.starwarsf.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/starwarsf.png" alt="" width="235" height="225" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148899">The U.S. Copyright Office is considering whether or not to update the DMCA&#8217;s anti-circumvention provisions, which prevent the public from tinkering with DRM-protected content and devices.</p>
<p>These provisions are renewed every three years. To allow individuals and organizations to chime in, the Office traditionally launches a <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=COLC-2017-0007-0070">public consultation</a>, before it makes any decisions. </p>
<p>This week a series of new responses were received and many of these focused on abandoned games. As is true for most software, games have a limited lifespan, so after a few years they are no longer supported by manufacturers. </p>
<p>To preserve these games for future generations and nostalgic gamers, the Copyright Office previously included game preservation exemptions. This means that libraries, archives and museums can use emulators and other circumvention tools to make old classics playable. </p>
<p>However, these exemptions are limited and do not apply to games that require a connection to an online server, which includes most recent games. When the online servers are taken down, the game simply disappears forever.</p>
<p>This should be prevented, according to The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (<a href="https://www.themade.org/">the MADE</a>), a nonprofit organization operating in California.</p>
<p>&#8220;Although the Current Exemption does not cover it, preservation of online video games is now critical,&#8221; MADE writes in its comment to the Copyright Office. </p>
<p>&#8220;Online games have become ubiquitous and are only growing in popularity. For example, an estimated fifty-three percent of gamers play multiplayer games at least once a week, and spend, on average, six hours a week playing with others online.&#8221;</p>
<p>During the previous review, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eff-seeks-dmca-exemption-to-preserve-abandoned-games-150409/">similar calls</a> for an online exemption were made but, at the time, the Register of Copyrights noted that multiplayer games could still be played on local area networks. </p>
<p>&#8220;Today, however, local multiplayer options are increasingly rare, and many games no longer support LAN connected multiplayer capability,&#8221; MADE counters, adding that nowadays even some single-player games require an online connection.</p>
<p>&#8220;More troubling still to archivists, many video games rely on server connectivity to function in single-player mode and become unplayable when servers shut down.&#8221;</p>
<p>MADE asks the Copyright Office to extend the current exemptions and include games with an online connection as well. This would allow libraries, archives, and museums to operate servers for these abandoned games and keep them alive. </p>
<p>The nonprofit museum is not alone in its call, with digital rights group <a href="https://www.publicknowledge.org/">Public Knowledge</a> submitting a similar comment. They also highlight the need to preserve online games. Not just for nostalgic gamers, but also for researchers and scholars. </p>
<p>This issue is more relevant than ever before, as hundreds of online multiplayer games have been abandoned already.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is difficult to quantify the number of multiplayer servers that have been shut down in recent years. However, Electronic Arts’ &#8216;Online Services Shutdown&#8217; list is one illustrative example,&#8221; Public Knowledge writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;The list — which is littered with popular franchises such as FIFA World Cup, Nascar, and The Sims — currently stands at 319 games and servers discontinued since 2013, or just over one game per week since 2012.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, several &#8216;regular&#8217; gaming fans have also made their feelings known. While their arguments are usually not as elaborate, the personal pleasure people still get out of older games can&#8217;t be overstated.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have been playing video games since the Atari 2600, for 35 years. Nowadays, game &#8216;museums&#8217; &#8212; getting the opportunity to replay games from my youth, and share them with my child &#8212; are a source of joy for me,&#8221; one individual commenter wrote. </p>
<p>&#8220;I would love the opportunity to explore some of the early online / MMO games that I spent so much time on in the past!&#8221; </p>
<p>Game on?</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p><sup>Header image via <a href="https://mmos.com/review/star-wars-galaxies">MMOs.com</a></sup></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148986
title: VPN Provider Jailed For Five Years After Helping Thousands Breach China’s Firewall
uri: VPN-Provider-Jailed-For-Five-Years-After-Helping-Thousands-Breach-Chin
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MTcokZW1T1k/
content:
<p><a href="media/339209a8.jail.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/jail.jpg"><img src="media/9c39c603.jail.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jail.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="148" class="alignright size-full wp-image-70302"></a>The Chinese government&#8217;s grip on power is matched by its determination to control access to information. To that end, it seeks to control what people in China can see on the Internet, thereby limiting the effect of outside influences on society.</p>
<p>The government tries to reach these goals by use of the so-called Great Firewall, a complex system that grants access to some foreign resources while denying access to others. However, technologically advanced citizens are able to bypass this state censorship by using circumvention techniques including Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).</p>
<p>While large numbers of people use such services, in January 2017 the government gave its clearest indication yet that it would begin to crack down on people offering Great Firewall-evading tools.</p>
<p>Operating such a service without a corresponding telecommunications business license constitutes an offense, the government <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/china-ban-unauthorized-vpn-services-in-internet-crackdown-170123/">said</a>. Now we have a taste of how serious the government is on this matter.</p>
<p>According to an <a href="http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2017-12-20/doc-ifypwzxq4576546.shtml">announcement</a> from China&#8217;s Procuratorate Daily, Wu Xiangyang, a resident of the Guangxi autonomous region, has just been jailed for five-and-a-half years and fined 500,000 yuan ($75,920) for building and selling access to VPNs without an appropriate license.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s alleged that between 2013 and June 2017, Wu Xiangyang sold VPN server access to the public via his own website, FangouVPN / Where Dog VPN, and Taobao, a Chinese online shopping site similar to eBay and Amazon.</p>
<p>The member accounts provided by the man allowed customers to browse foreign websites, without being trapped behind China&#8217;s Great Firewall. He also sold custom hardware routers that came read-configured to use the VPN service, granting access to the wider Internet, contrary to the wishes of Chinese authorities.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say that the illegal VPN business had revenues of 792,638 yuan (US$120,377) and profits of around 500,000 yuan ($75,935). <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2125326/man-jailed-51/2-years-fined-us76000-selling-vpn">SCMP</a> reports that the company previously boasted on Twitter at having 8,000 foreigners and 5,000 businesses using its services to browse blocked websites.</p>
<p>This is at least the second big sentence handed down to a Chinese citizen for providing access to VPNs. Back in September, it was revealed that Deng Jiewei, a 26-year-old from the city of Dongguan in the Guangdong province, had been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/chinese-man-jailed-for-nine-months-for-selling-vpn-software-170904/">jailed for nine months</a> after offering a similar service to the public for around a year.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149090
title: Swedish Police Set to Take Over Pirate Bay Domains
uri: Swedish-Police-Set-to-Take-Over-Pirate-Bay-Domains
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ugX-XpBquLQ/
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="" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470"></a>Way back in 2013, anti-piracy prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad filed a motion targeting two key Pirate Bay domain names &#8211; ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se.</p>
<p>Ingblad filed a complaint against Punkt SE (IIS), the organization responsible for Sweden’s top level .SE domain, arguing that the domains are tools that The Pirate Bay uses to infringe copyright.</p>
<p>In April 2015 the case was heard and a month later the Stockholm District Court ruled that The Pirate Bay should forfeit both ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se to the state. The case later went to appeal.</p>
<p>In May 2016, the Svea Court of Appeal handed down its decision which upheld the decision of the Stockholm District Court, finding that since they assisted with crimes, the domains could be seized.</p>
<p>With that established a question remained &#8211; should the domains be seized from Pirate Bay co-founder and domain owner Fredrik Neij or from IIS, the organization responsible for Sweden’s top-level .SE domain?</p>
<p>The Court subsequently found that domain names should be considered a type of intellectual property, property owned by the purchaser of the domain. In this case, therefore, IIS was not considered the owner of the Pirate Bay domains, Fredrik Neij was.</p>
<p>Neij subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the District Court and the Court of Appeal wrongly concluded that a domain name is a type of property that can be confiscated.</p>
<p>Today the Supreme Court handed down its decision, siding with the lower courts and determining that the domains &#8211; ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se &#8211; can indeed be seized by the state.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Supreme Court declares that the right to domain names constitutes property that may be forfeited as the Court of Appeal previously found,&#8221; its judgment reads.</p>
<p>Since the decision was handed down, things have been moving quickly. Kjetil Jensen of <a href="https://www.onlinegroup.com">Online Group</a>, the parent company of domain registry Binero, informs TorrentFreak that the police have already moved to take over the domains in question.</p>
<p>&#8220;Today Binero, Binero.se, (registrar for thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se) received an executive request from Swedish Police to take over ownership of the domain names thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se because the Swedish Supreme Court now allows the domain names to be seized,&#8221; Jensen says.</p>
<p>&#8220;The WHOIS of the domain names shows that the domain names no longer have any active name servers and the next step in this process is that the Police will take over the ownership of the domain names.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><b>WHOIS entry for ThePirateBay.se</b><a href="media/85dda3e5.tpb-se-whois.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-se-whois.png"><img src="media/c51404ba.tpb-se-whois.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-se-whois.png" alt="" width="769" height="534" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-149093"></a></center></p>
<p>While Binero will cooperate with the authorities, the company doesn&#8217;t believe that seizure will solve the online copyright infringement problem.</p>
<p>&#8220;Binero considers that the confiscation of a domain name is an ineffective approach to prevent criminal activity on the internet,&#8221; Jensen says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Moving a site to another top-level domain is very easy. And even if you want to close the domain, content is still available over the internet, using both the IP address and search engines etc.&#8221;</p>
<p>Indeed, The Pirate Bay <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-domain-shuffle-come-full-circle-160520/">saw this day coming a long way off</a> and has already completely migrated to its original domain, ThePirateBay.org.</p>
<p>Despite the ruling, the site remains fully accessible, but it appears a line has been drawn in the sand in Sweden when it comes to domains that are used to break the law. They will be easier to seize in future, thanks to this lengthy legal process.</p>
<p>The judgment is available here (<a href="media/f7fafbb1.2017-12-2220B202787-1620Dom.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.hogstadomstolen.se/Domstolar/hogstadomstolen/Avgoranden/2017/2017-12-22%20B%202787-16%20Dom.pdf">PDF, Swedish</a>)</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148863
title: “Pirate” Streaming Service Sued by “Legal” Competitor
uri: Pirate-Streaming-Service-Sued-by-Legal-Competitor
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jixdSe7e5A4/
content:
<p><img src="media/5b103fd7.etv-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/etv-1.png" alt="" width="192" height="125" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148957">In recent years there has been a boom in video streaming services, some operating with proper licenses and others without. </p>
<p>In a few cases, the line between legal and illegal is hard to spot for the public. When the latest Hollywood blockbusters are available for free it&#8217;s quite clear, but there are also slick-looking paid subscription services that operate without proper licenses. </p>
<p>The latter is what <a href="http://etvnet.com/">eTVnet</a> is accused of. The streaming service targets Russian speakers in the United States and is accessible via the web or streaming boxes such as Roku. However, it does so without proper licenses, a complaint filed at a Massachusetts federal court alleges.</p>
<p>&#8220;On information and belief, the eTVnet Conspirators have illegally copied thousands of movies and are distributing them to paying customers illegally,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;By populating their streaming video service with stolen, illegally copied, and infringing copyrighted content, the eTVnet Conspirators have unlawfully and unfairly gained an advantage over their competitors, including Plaintiff.&#8221;</p>
<p>While this reads like a typical copyright infringement lawsuit, it isn&#8217;t. The complaint was filed by the Scottish company Alamite Ventures, which operates <a href="https://tua.tv/en">TUA.tv</a>, a competing streaming service in the US. </p>
<p>The company filed suit against eTVnet, which is incorporated in Canada, as well as two owners and operators of the streaming service. They stand accused of civil conspiracy, unfair business practices, and false or misleading representations of fact under the Lanham Act.</p>
<p>&#8220;The eTVnet Conspirators deceptively market the eTVnet Service as a legal and fully licensed service,&#8221; Alamite Ventures notes.</p>
<p><center><strong>ETVNET</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/73cbb0ff.etcv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/etcv.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="370" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148988"></center></p>
<p>There obviously can&#8217;t be a claim for copyright infringement damages, since Alamite is not a copyright holder, but the complaint does mention that major US companies such as HBO, Disney and Netflix are harmed as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;Given the staggering amount of copyright infringement committed by the eTVnet Conspirators, the damage to United States-based copyright owners easily eclipses $100,000,000,&#8221; it reads.</p>
<p>There is no calculation or evidence to back the $100 million claim, which seems quite substantial. However, according to Alamite Ventures there is no doubt that eTVnet is willingly operating a pirate service.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;the eTVnet Conspirators know that their actions are illegal and have instituted a sophisticated scheme to avoid getting caught.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;For example, the eTVnet Conspirators do not allow new users to access the stolen content library until they can verify that the new users are not “spies” or affiliated with content producers or law enforcement.&#8221;</p>
<p>Alamite Ventures hopes the court will agree and requests damages, as well as the shutdown of eTVnet in the United States. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the full complaint is available <a href="media/b67ed996.Complaint-with-Exhibits-eTVnet.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Complaint-with-Exhibits-eTVnet.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149060
title: Torrent Links Disappear From Torrentz2
uri: Torrent-Links-Disappear-From-Torrentz2
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5DhpaE74IX8/
content:
<p><img src="media/2fcc6f90.torrentz2-3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrentz2-3.png" alt="" width="203" height="55" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149061" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/torrentz2-3.png 203w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/torrentz2-3-200x55.png 200w" sizes="(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px">Last year, Torrentz.eu decided to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/feds-seize-kickasstorrents-domains-charge-owner-160720/">close its doors</a>. Without prior warning, all torrent listings were removed from the meta-search engine.</p>
<p>As is often the case with torrent sites, this gap was quickly filled. Just several hours after Torrentz has thrown the proverbial towel, several ‘copies’ popped up, eager to take its place.</p>
<p>The most successful alternative, in terms of traffic, is the elegantly named <a href="https://torrentz2.eu/">Torrentz2.eu</a>. Unlike many others, Torrentz2 has always been upfront with its users and never claimed to be an official resurrection. </p>
<p>They just wanted to do what Torrentz did, or even better. This worked, as millions of users were drawn to the site. However, since a few days Torrentz2 is no longer listing any torrent links. </p>
<p>People can still search for files, but the site only lists file details and no links to third-party sites where these can be downloaded. </p>
<p><center><strong>No links?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/f4b7e0ba.torrentznolink.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrentznolink.png" alt="" width="600" height="436" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149062"></center></p>
<p>The problems first started earlier this week and have been persistent since at least Thursday.</p>
<p>To the broader public it&#8217;s unclear what&#8217;s causing the issue. It could very well be a technical problem that can be addressed easily, or perhaps something more severe. </p>
<p>Interestingly, new torrent data is still being added to the site. The links to other torrent sites are missing, however, which makes it pretty much unusable. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to the operator to find out more but we haven&#8217;t heard back yet. If we received a response the article will be updated accordingly.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149035
title: Deezer Tries to Shut Down ‘Hacked’ Pirate Versions
uri: Deezer-Tries-to-Shut-Down-Hacked-Pirate-Versions
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/968ijRqHCAs/
content:
<p><img src="media/c554c9fe.deezerlogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deezerlogo.png" alt="" width="277" height="181" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149074">Nowadays there are dozens of ways for people to pirate free music. Torrent sites, direct downloading portals, stream ripping, you name it. </p>
<p>While the music industry tries to crack down on these unauthorized services, there are also plenty of problems close to home. </p>
<p>Legitimate streaming platforms such as Spotify and Tidal has been used to rip music from, and the same is true for the French streaming giant <a href="https://www.deezer.com/en/">Deezer</a>. </p>
<p>Through various applications, the public can freely access and download the entire Deezer library, completely hassle-free. </p>
<p>Take Deezloader, for example, which makes it surprisingly easy to grab high-quality tracks, complete with proper titles and tags. Want to download a full album in one click? No problem. A custom playlist of dozens of songs? Done. </p>
<p><center><strong>Deezloader</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/cc510b60.deezloader.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deezloader.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="484" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149068"></center></p>
<p>Deezer is obviously not happy with these applications. Through DMCA notices the company does its best to take them down. This week it sent a notice to the developer platform GitHub, targetting several of these tools.</p>
<p>&#8220;The following projects, in the paragraph below, make available a hacked version of our Deezer application or a method to unlawfully download the music catalogue of Deezer, in total violation of our rights and of the rights of our music licensors,&#8221; Deezer <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/commit/525404d6d1010b6172cc06fb5700fa17628d433d">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;..therefore ask that you immediately take down the projects corresponding to the URLs below and all of the related forks by others members who have had access or even contributed to such projects.&#8221;</p>
<p>GitHub was quick to respond and removed access to (forks of) applications such as Deezloader, DeezerDownload, Deeze, Deezerio, Deezit, and Deedown. Instead, users who try to access these repositories now see the following notice.</p>
<p><center><strong>Deezgone?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/e9f8e51b.deezerdmca.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deezerdmca.png" alt="" width="600" height="304" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149069"></center></p>
<p>While the DMCA notice helps to make these projects unavailable, at least on GitHub, the applications still work. They&#8217;re also widely available through other sites and forums.</p>
<p>These tools have been around for a while and despite Deezer&#8217;s most recent efforts, the music&#8217;s still playing </p>
<p>Deezer refers to the pirate applications as &#8220;hacked&#8221; versions and appears to be unable block them from accessing its own servers. That&#8217;s a worrying prospect for the company. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148830
title: Might Google Class “Torrent” a Dirty Word? France is About to Find Out
uri: Might-Google-Class-Torrent-a-Dirty-Word-France-is-About-to-Find
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HVszK6-WzK0/
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<p><a href="media/096ded05.franceflag.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/franceflag.png"><img src="media/43240eea.franceflag.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/franceflag.png" alt="" width="277" height="182" class="alignright size-full wp-image-131983"></a>Like most countries, France is struggling to find ways to stop online piracy running rampant. A number of options have been tested thus far, with varying results.</p>
<p>One of the more interesting cases has been running since 2015, when music industry group SNEP took Google and Microsoft to court demanding automated filtering of &#8216;pirate&#8217; search results featuring three local artists.</p>
<p>Before the High Court of Paris, SNEP argued that searches for the artists&#8217; names plus the word &#8220;torrent&#8221; returned mainly infringing results on Google and Bing. Filtering out results with both sets of terms would reduce the impact of people finding pirate content through search, they said.</p>
<p>While SNEP claimed that its request was in line with Article L336-2 of France’s intellectual property code, which allows for “all appropriate measures” to prevent infringement, both Google and Microsoft fought back, arguing that such filtering would be disproportionate and could restrict freedom of expression.</p>
<p>The Court eventually sided with the search engines, noting that torrent is a common noun that refers to a neutral communication protocol. </p>
<p>“The requested measures are thus tantamount to general monitoring and may block access to lawful websites,” the High Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-google-and-bing-dont-have-to-censor-torrent-searches-160719/">said</a>.</p>
<p>Despite being told that its demands were too broad, SNEP decided to appeal. The case was heard in November where concerns were expressed over potential false positives.</p>
<p>Since SNEP even wants sites with &#8220;torrent&#8221; in their URL filtered out via a &#8220;fully automated procedures that do not require human intervention&#8221;, this very site &#8211; TorrentFreak.com &#8211; could be sucked in. To counter that eventuality, SNEP proposed some kind of whitelist, NextInpact <a href="https://www.nextinpact.com/news/105678-lindustrie-musique-demande-filtrage-mot-torrent-sur-google-et-bing.htm">reports</a>.</p>
<p>With no real consensus on how to move forward, the parties were advised to enter discussions on how to get closer to the aim of reducing piracy but without causing collateral damage. Last week the parties <a href="https://www.nextinpact.com/news/105844-filtrage-mot-torrent-accord-entre-snep-bing-et-google-sur-principe-dune-mediation.htm">agreed</a> to enter negotiations so the details will now have to be hammered out between their respective law firms. Failing that, they will face a ruling from the court.</p>
<p>If this last scenario plays out, the situation appears to favor the search engines, who have a High Court ruling in their favor and already offer comprehensive takedown tools for copyright holders to combat the exploitation of their content online.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, other elements of the French recording industry have booked a notable success against several pirate sites.</p>
<p>SCPP, which represents Warner, Universal, Sony and thousands of others, went to court in February this year demanding that local ISPs Bouygues, Free, Orange, SFR and Numéricable prevent their subscribers from accessing ExtraTorrent, isoHunt, Torrent9 and Cpasbien.</p>
<p>Like SNEP in the filtering case, SCPP also cited Article L336-2 of France’s intellectual property code, demanding that the sites plus their variants, mirrors and proxies should be blocked by the ISPs so that their subscribers can no longer gain access.</p>
<p>This week the Paris Court of First Instance <a href="https://www.nextinpact.com/news/105855-les-majors-disque-obtiennent-blocage-dextratorrent-torrent9-isohunt-et-cpasbien.htm">sided</a> with the industry group, ordering the ISPs to block the sites.  The service providers were also told to pick up the bill for costs.</p>
<p>These latest cases are yet more examples of France&#8217;s determination to crack down on piracy.</p>
<p>Early December it was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/seven-years-of-hadopi-nine-million-piracy-warnings-189-convictions-171201/">revealed</a> that since its inception, nine million piracy warnings have been sent to citizens via the Hadopi anti-piracy agency. Since the launch of its graduated response regime in 2010, more than 2,000 cases have been referred to prosecutors, resulting in 189 criminal convictions.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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