# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79942
title: How to Unblock Websites For Free and Why it Feels Good
uri: How-to-Unblock-Websites-For-Free-and-Why-it-Feels-Good
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YlV_s8kKnx8/
content:
<p><a href="media/ecda2f2c.wetpaint.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wetpaint.png"><img src="media/ecda2f2c.wetpaint.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wetpaint.png" alt="wetpaint" width="180" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79973" /></a>Have you ever noticed that when someone tells you what to do &#8211; or what not to do &#8211; you have a somewhat natural tendency to go against their instructions?</p>
<p>In psychology it&#8217;s called &#8216;reactance&#8217; and is something which occurs when we believe that someone&#8217;s orders, mechanisms, rules or regulations are about to narrow our options or limit our behavioral freedoms.</p>
<p>I love incredibly hot sauce (such as Dave&#8217;s Insanity <a href="http://www.hotsauceworld.com/daghpenajoho.html">Ghost Pepper </a>Sauce) even though it leaves me bent up in pain if I have too much, which incidentally is anything more than a few drops. On the label of these sauces it often orders you NEVER, EVER under ANY circumstances to consume the sauce neat. </p>
<p>Yeah, right.</p>
<p>The problem is that there is something inherently annoying about someone we don&#8217;t know trying to impose their will on us when we are perfectly capable of making our own decisions. Not only do we inexplicably want the forbidden item even more than before, we kick back and build up resentment against those attempting to restrict our freedoms.</p>
<p>For example, I&#8217;ve never commented on a YouTube video before but the idea that Google wants to force Plus down our necks in order for us to do so fills me with rage, to the point where i&#8217;ve even <a href="https://www.change.org/petitions/google-change-the-youtube-comment-section-back-to-its-original-form">signed the petition</a>.</p>
<p>All kinds of Internet restriction has this effect on me. Every time news breaks that another site has been blocked I have an overwhelming desire to make sure I can still access it, even though I may never have visited it in the past and have no intention of doing so in the future.</p>
<p>That said, once the &#8220;This Site Has Been Blocked&#8221; message appears there&#8217;s nothing more immediately satisfying than unblocking it, a feeling that parallels the challenging of &#8220;don&#8217;t touch, wet paint&#8221; when it turns out to be dry after all.</p>
<p>The good news is that satisfaction is just a few clicks away for anyone who wants it and it doesn&#8217;t have to cost a penny either. Here are a few of the most simple solutions that will take a maximum of five to ten minutes for a novice to setup.</p>
<h2>PirateBrowser</h2>
<p><img src="media/85793bea.piratebrowser.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratebrowser.jpg" width="222" height="96" class="alignright" />PirateBrowser is a simple tool provided by the operators of The Pirate Bay. It allows anyone to quickly and simply circumvent ISP and government web blocking.</p>
<p>The software is Tor-based and includes a version of the popular Firefox browser which should be used when a site needs to be unblocked. By mid October the tool had achieved around <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-anti-censorship-browser-clocks-1-million-downloads-131019/">one million downloads</a> and according to Alexa is most popular among users in South Korea.</p>
<p>PirateBrowser can be downloaded <a href="http://piratebrowser.com/">here</a></p>
<h2>Tor</h2>
<p>Tor is perhaps the most famous tool to unblock websites, avoid censorship and maintain privacy. It was originally designed and implemented by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory for protecting government communications.</p>
<p>Today it used by people such as whistleblowers, journalists and activists who may need to keep their identities secret. It is also used by those looking to access censored webpages, hence its inclusion in this list.</p>
<p>Tor can be downloaded <a href="https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en">here</a></p>
<h2>Virtual Private Networks &#8211; VPN</h2>
<p><a href="media/b88e6e67.vpngate3.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vpngate3.jpg"><img src="media/2cfb9a96.vpngate3-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vpngate3-150x150.jpg" alt="vpngate3" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-67076" /></a>A VPN is a group of computers networked over the top of the world&#8217;s largest network &#8211; the Internet. Communications are encrypted so VPNs are useful for maintaining privacy and, of course, unblocking blocked websites.</p>
<p>There can be no doubt that paying a few dollars per month for a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">premium account</a> is the best option for those who have the money, but basic and completely free options are available.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most interesting one is offered by the Graduate School of University of Tsukuba, Japan. The <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/free-access-to-dozens-of-anonymous-vpns-via-new-university-project-130324/">VPN Gate Academic Experiment Project</a> launched earlier this year aiming “to expand the knowledge of Global Distributed Public VPN Relay Servers.”</p>
<p>Like all technologies listed in this article, it&#8217;s not necessary for beginners to understand how they work, just that they do. Unlike Tor, don&#8217;t expect total privacy with VPN Gate but be assured that the service unblocks websites just fine.</p>
<p>VPN Gate can be downloaded <a href="http://www.vpngate.net/en/howto.aspx">here</a>.</p>
<h2>Site-Specific Reverse Proxies</h2>
<p>In the wake of the censorship of torrent sites in the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark and other countries around Europe, special sites started to appear. Known as &#8216;reverse proxies&#8217;, these webpages access blocked sites and feed the content back to their own pages. To visitors accessing the reverse proxy, the blocked site appears as normal.</p>
<p>There are hundreds of these available, such as the selection available on <a href="http://piratereverse.info/">PirateReverse.info</a> and <a href="http://come.in/">Come.in</a>. However, some reverse proxies themselves have become subjected to censorship, meaning that they too are blocked at the ISP level, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-secretly-start-blocking-torrent-site-proxies-130611/">in the UK</a>, the Netherlands and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-isps-to-police-the-internet-for-pirate-bay-proxies-131120/">Belgium</a>.</p>
<h2>General Web Proxies</h2>
<p>General webpage proxies are sites which can unblock most websites online via a simple interface. By simply entering the URL of the blocked website into the search box of the web proxy, the blocked site will become accessible.</p>
<p>There are hundreds of these web-based solutions which can be uncovered by a simple <a href="https://www.google.com/#q=web+proxy">Google search</a>, although some are overloaded with adverts and cluttered interfaces.</p>
<p>On the plus side they&#8217;re all free so have a browse around and find one you like. Some are available as a <a href="http://hidemyass.com/software/proxy-browser-extension/">browser extension</a>, which makes them even easier to use.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>You are hereby ordered NOT to try any of these solutions &#8211; EVER &#8211; and if you have any of your own solutions you will REFRAIN from posting them in the comments section below.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79818
title: MPAA Revenue Up 50% As “War on Piracy” Cranks Up
uri: MPAA-Revenue-Up-50-As-War-on-Piracy-Cranks-Up
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Ga20yoS8r9A/
content:
<p><img src="media/72da5504.dodd-laughing.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dodd-laughing.jpg" align="right" alt="dodd" />Protecting the interests of Hollywood, the MPAA has been heavily involved in numerous anti-piracy efforts around the world in recent years. </p>
<p>From the pro-SOPA lobby in the United States through the iiNet case in Australia and the Megaupload shutdown, the MPAA has worked hard to target piracy around the globe. Perhaps related to these increased anti-piracy efforts, the six major movie studios backing the MPAA nearly increased their investment in the group by 50% over a two year period.</p>
<p>This conclusion comes from the latest tax filing submitted to the IRS by the MPAA a week ago, covering the fiscal year ending December 31st 2012. The paperwork reveals that the movie studios increased their membership dues from <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/103928435/MPAA-Tax-990">$41.5 million in 2010</a> to $59.7 million two years later.</p>
<p>Total revenue increased from $48.6 million to $66.8 million in the same period. Interestingly and despite the sizable increase in funds, the MPAA cut nearly 20% of its employees to 200 in 2012, down from 247 two years earlier.</p>
<p>The latest tax papers picked up by <a href="http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/chris-dodd-salary-2012-1200837496/">Variety</a> reveal that MPAA boss and former senator Chris Dodd is handsomely compensated with an income of $3.3 million a year. </p>
<p>MPAA&#8217;s Global General Counsel, Henry Hoberman, is the second best paid executive (+$700,000), followed by MPAA’s Senior Vice President Michael O’Leary (+$600,000). Robert Pisano, who stepped down as MPAA president in 2011, also received a severance payment of $1 million.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>MPAA revenue</h5>
<p><img src="media/5ca39890.AOX7yyc.png" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/AOX7yyc.png" alt="mpaa" /></center></p>
<p>The paperwork further reveals that the Copyright Alert System cost the MPAA $475,000 in 2012, which is roughly a quarter <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikescopyright-alert-system-costs-millions-131017/">of the total budget</a> the new anti-piracy system was awarded that year.</p>
<p>Looking at some of the other expenses we see that the MPAA’s lobbying outlays remained relatively stable at $4.8 million. Legal costs were $10.3 million, and didn&#8217;t change much compared to the previous year. </p>
<p>Every year the MPAA also hands out several grants and in 2012 this included $127,150 to the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI). The purpose of the grant is to “promote the film industry,” and perhaps in an effort to do so, IPI president Tom Giovanetti <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/policy-research-chief-blasts-torrentfreak-piracy-research-but-why-131016/">recently attacked</a> our news reporting. </p>
<p>Another grant that&#8217;s not without controversy is the $100,000 Carnegie Mellon University received to start its &#8220;Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics.&#8221; A recent study from these researchers found that the Megaupload shutdown boosted movie industry revenues, a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-criticizes-piracy-study-because-it-doesnt-like-the-results-130901/">finding that aids the MPAA in its lobbying efforts</a>.</p>
<p>While the MPAA&#8217;s budget increase over the past two years is notable, the $59.7 million paid by the Hollywood studios is still significantly lower than the $84.7 million they paid in 2007. </p>
<p>However, if the MPAA continues to book successes such as the recent isoHunt shutdown, the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/imagine-piracy-group-founder-jailed-for-23-months-130411/">IMAGiNE bust</a>, and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/ninjavideo-founder-sentenced-to-22-months-in-prison-120106/">convictions</a> of several streaming site operators, its budget may fully recover to that level in the years to come.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80009
title: ISPs Condemn “Useless” Blocking Proposals From Secret Piracy Talks
uri: ISPs-Condemn-Useless-Blocking-Proposals-From-Secret-Piracy-Talks
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HdXt_eiVgYQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/09fa6d0a.ustr.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ustr.jpg"><img src="media/09fa6d0a.ustr.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ustr.jpg" alt="ustr" width="175" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-44005" /></a>&#8220;The United States continues to have serious concerns regarding the inability of rights holders to secure legal redress in Switzerland in cases involving copyright piracy over the Internet,&#8221; the USTR&#8217;s 2013 Special 301 report reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;The United States strongly encourages Switzerland to demonstrate its commitment to copyright protection and to combating online piracy vigorously, including by taking steps to ensure that rights holders can protect their rights,&#8221; it adds.</p>
<p>The admonishment could&#8217;ve been worse. In its submission to the USTR the International Intellectual Property Alliance recommended that Switzerland be placed on the Watch List, complaining that around 35% of Swiss Internet users access unlicensed services in any given month. But the problems don&#8217;t stop there.</p>
<p>&#8220;The country has become an attractive haven for services heavily engaged in infringing<br />
activity,&#8221; IIPA said, noting that Internet companies were moving their headquarters and servers to Switzerland. &#8220;From there, they provide a global service, effectively turning Switzerland into a major exporter of pirated content.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition to a file-sharing portal friendly environment, U.S. rightholders are concerned by the Swiss attitude to regular file-sharing. Even when Swiss citizens obtain content from illegal sources, downloading copyrighted material for personal use is currently completely legal.</p>
<p>Only a change in the law can reverse that situation and with that in mind the USTR has made it clear to Switzerland that it is monitoring the work of AGUR12, a working group responsible for identifying the possibilities that exist for adapting copyright law to technical developments. </p>
<p>That process includes &#8220;ensuring an appropriate remuneration for the use of copyright-protected content&#8221; &#8211; i.e the combating of piracy. Like so many similar talks in recent years including ACTA and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/first-leaked-tpp-chapter-evokes-memories-of-sopa-131113/">TPP</a>, the discussions are being held largely in secret.</p>
<p>Copyright lawyer <a href="http://www.steigerlegal.ch">Martin Steiger</a> reports that the U.S. Government (through its Swiss Embassy) and the entertainment companies (though local anti-piracy group SAFE) are actively participating in the talks. It comes as no surprise then that the group&#8217;s proposals have gone in the direction they have.</p>
<p><a href="media/b10c22f8.warning.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warning.jpg"><img src="media/b10c22f8.warning.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warning.jpg" alt="warning" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-8335" /></a>According to a report obtained by <a href="http://nzz.ch">NZZ am Sontagg</a>, AGUR12 have concluded that Swiss Internet service providers should be forced to delete content if hosted on Swiss-based sites. Most controversially their final report, which is now being sent to the Justice Minister, states that ISPs should display warnings when users attempt to access unauthorized content sources while &#8220;obviously illegal sites&#8221; should be rendered entirely inaccessible.</p>
<p>After not being invited to participate in the working group, ISPs are less than impressed with its conclusions, particularly as they suggest a march towards a change in the law.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Justice Department [will take measures] that affect the Internet and hosting providers but have not invited them to the working group. Accordingly, useless ideas have now emerged,&#8221; says Franz Grüter, managing director of ISP Green.ch</p>
<p>But while ISPs in the UK are now completely accommodating when faced with a blocking request from Hollywood or the music industry, the culture in Switzerland is quite different. Grüter says that in order to block a user, ISPs will have to monitor his or her traffic, a notion he rejects.</p>
<p>&#8220;Internet providers would have to become Internet police that would monitor their clients. This is moving towards censorship and arises from a totalitarian approach,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>The idea was also condemned by Andrej Vckovski, president of industry association Simsa.</p>
<p>&#8220;We reject the monitoring of Internet traffic on principle, because to have exceptions opens a dangerous door. Suddenly, it would be conceivable, for example, to filter political content,&#8221; Vckovski said.</p>
<p>Of course, there is a conflict of interests. Currently the working group appears to have no proposals to criminalize file-sharing for personal use, but on the other hand they foresee a situation where the sites from where those files are obtained being blocked by ISPs.</p>
<p>Quite what kind of warnings the working group would require on sites isn&#8217;t clear, but warning people that they are about to engage in an entirely legal activity isn&#8217;t likely to carry much of an impact, especially since there is no Netflix or similar service currently available in Switzerland.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80001
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week
uri: 2013-11-25-Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/a5c78NqHcU0/
content:
<p><img src="media/ca0df15b.prisoners.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/prisoners.jpg" alt="prisoners" width="275" height="193" class="alignright size-full wp-image-80003" />This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Prisoners is the most downloaded movie. </p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover" summary="Most downloaded movies on BitTorrent">
<caption>Week ending November 24, 2013</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-131118/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/prisoners_2013/">Prisoners</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392214/">8.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpXfcTF6iVk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/percy_jackson_sea_of_monsters/">Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1854564/">6.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KoOtiuSjuI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elysium_2013/">Elysium</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535108/">7.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILNSgou5BY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_2/">Red 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821694/">6.9</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfB8QwYBPxY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wolverine_2012/">The Wolverine</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1272878/">6.9</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh1LdTFkm7I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drinking_buddies_2013/">Drinking Buddies</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2265398/">6.2</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxuxkQF7Bak">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2_guns/">2 Guns</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/">7.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVNe3RK2fgI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/were_the_millers/">We&#8217;re The Millers</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723121/">7.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUR0NxUX4PU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/machete_kills/">Machete Kills</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2002718/">6.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO1WwOQowlg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thor_the_dark_world/">Thor: The Dark World</a> (Cam)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/">7.6</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npvJ9FTgZbM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80086
title: ISPs Can Be Required to Block Access to Pirate Sites, EU Court Hears
uri: ISPs-Can-Be-Required-to-Block-Access-to-Pirate-Sites-EU-Court-Hears
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Ve_q4Zj62cY/
content:
<p><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076" />Notorious movie and TV show streaming site Kino.to has long since closed and its operators <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/download-site-founder-receives-4-5-year-jail-sentence-forfeits-4-7m-120615/">punished</a>, but its legacy lives on in the legal realm.</p>
<p>The current dispute involves Austrian ISP UPC Telekabel Wien and movie companies Constantin Film  Verleih  and  Wega  Filmproduktionsgesellschaft. The film companies complained that the ISP was providing its subscribers with access to Kino.to which enabled them to access their copyrighted material without permission.</p>
<p>Interim injunctions were granted in the movie companies&#8217; favor which required the ISP to block the site. However, the Austrian Supreme Court later issued a request to the Court of Justice to clarify whether a provider that provides Internet access to those using an illegal website were to be regarded as an intermediary, in the same way that the host of an illegal site might.</p>
<p>In his opinion handed down today, Advocate  General  Pedro  Cruz  Villalón said that the ISP of a user accessing a website said to be infringing copyright should also be regarded as an intermediary whose services are used by a third party, such as the operator of an infringing website.</p>
<p>This means that the ISP of an infringing site user can be subjected to a blocking injunction, as long as it contain specifics on the technicalities.</p>
<p>&#8220;The  Advocate  General  is of  the  view  that  it  is  incompatible  with  the  weighing  of  the fundamental  rights  of  the  parties [freedom of information, freedom to do business, copyright protection] to  prohibit  an  internet  service  provider  generally  and  without ordering  specific  measures from  allowing  its  customers  to  access  a  particular  website that infringes copyright,&#8221; the opinion reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, a specific blocking measure imposed on a provider relating to a specific website is not, in principle,  disproportionate  only  because  it  entails  not  inconsiderable  costs  but  can  easily  be circumvented without any special technical knowledge. It is for the national courts, in  the particular case, taking into account all relevant circumstances, to weigh the fundamental rights of the parties against each other and thus strike a fair balance between those fundamental rights,&#8221; the adviser notes.</p>
<p>The Advocate General also notes that operators of piracy-related websites and their hosts often base themselves outside Europe or take steps to mask their identities. This, he says, makes it difficult to bring cases before the courts. Nevertheless, whenever possible rightsholders must first issue claims directly against site operators or their providers.</p>
<p>The legal opinion is not legally binding and the Court of Justice is entitled to disregard it, but the Court often follows the AG&#8217;s advice in such cases. Deliberations in the Kino.to case are just beginning and a judgment will be handed down at a later date.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80051
title: Pirate Bay Founder Ordered to Take Down Russian Pirate Sites
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-Ordered-to-Take-Down-Russian-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/U3MvpUMuZbs/
content:
<p><img src="media/2c059aef.gottfrid1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gottfrid1.jpg" align="right" alt="anakata" />It’s been a rough few months for Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm. After being sentenced in Sweden on hacking related charges, he will be <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-imminent-extradition-raises-big-questions-131123/">extradited to Denmark</a> this week to stand trial in a similar case. </p>
<p>As if that&#8217;s not enough trouble, Svartholm has now been dragged into a prominent Russian piracy case.</p>
<p>The case in question is one of the first under Russia&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/large-torrent-site-to-be-blocked-by-russias-sopa-130826/">new anti-piracy law</a> and was initiated by several major media companies including Gazprom Media, Non-Stop Production and Star Media. </p>
<p>The copyright holders have targeted several websites, including the popular Rutor.org, which are accused of distributing their content without permission. The list of pirated titles includes the movies Stalingrad and Legend 17 as well as the TV series Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire.</p>
<p>While Svartholm is not believed to be directly involved in the case, his name appeared as the domain name registrant for Rutor.org and Kinozal.tv. In addition, PRQ, the hosting company created by the Pirate Bay founder, is listed as the registrant organization.</p>
<p>Following a verdict released by Moscow City Court this week, Svartholm is now being held responsible for the copyright infringements that take place though these two sites. </p>
<p>The court has therefore <a href="http://tjournal.ru/paper/svartholm-moscow">ordered him</a> to stop the distribution of these copyrighted works by changing the domain name information, and pay the fees for the publication of the verdict.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Rutor Whois</h5>
<p><img src="media/4367c20f.rutor-anakata.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rutor-anakata.png" alt="rutor-anakata" width="499" height="324" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-80058" /></center></p>
<p>Commenting on the case, a representative for the plaintiffs <a href="http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2352555">says</a> that copyright holders &#8220;do not care who the ultimate owner of the site is,&#8221; as long as the infringing material is rendered unavailable. </p>
<p>Russia&#8217;s new anti-piracy law can be used to block IP-addresses or make domains unavailable. This effectively means that domain registrars and hosting companies can be held liable for the infringing actions of their clients. </p>
<p>It is unknown to what extent the court has researched whether Svartholm still has control over the domain name information or how he is supposed to comply with the ruling during his incarceration.</p>
<p>If the authorities plan to bring Svartholm to justice on their home turf should he fail to take action, they will have to get in line behind Denmark.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80111
title: U.S. Government Caught Pirating Military Software, Settles For $50 Million
uri: U-S-Government-Caught-Pirating-Military-Software-Settles-For-50-Mil
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_SZY0rgCPRk/
content:
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35703177@N00/6198162188"><img src="media/48aee306.mil-pirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mil-pirate.jpg" alt="mil-pirate" width="250" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-80114" /></a>In recent years the U.S. Government has taken an aggressive stance towards copyright infringement, both at home and abroad. </p>
<p>“Piracy is theft, clean and simple,” Vice President Joe Biden <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/piracy-is-theft-clean-and-simple-us-vice-president-says-100622/">said</a> when he announced the Joint Strategic Plan to combat intellectual property theft.</p>
<p>However, at the same time the Vice President was launching the new anti-piracy strategy, software company <a href="http://www.apptricity.com/">Apptricity</a> was involved in a multi-million dollar piracy dispute with the Government. </p>
<p>In 2004 Apptricity signed a contract with the U.S. Army to license <a href="http://www.apptricity.com/government-services/defense-national-security/">enterprise software</a> that manages troop and supply movements. The deal allowed the Government to use the software on five servers and 150 standalone devices, and since then it has been used in critical missions all over the world.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Army has used Apptricity’s integrated transportation logistics and asset management software across the Middle East and other theaters of operation. The Army has also used the software to coordinate emergency management initiatives, including efforts following the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti,&#8221; the company explains. </p>
<p>While Apptricity was happy to have the Government as a client, the company was shocked to find out that the army had secretly installed thousands of unlicensed copies of the software. This unauthorized use was discovered by accident during Strategic Capabilities Planning 2009, when the U.S. Army Program Director stated that thousands of devices used Apptricity software.</p>
<p>As it turned out, the army had installed pirated copies of the software on 93 servers and more than 9,000 standalone devices. With license fees of $1.35 million per server and $5,000 per device, Apptricity calculated that the Government owed the company $224 million in unpaid fees. </p>
<p>To recoup the missing revenue the software company <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/187533910/App-Gov-uscourts-cofc-26764-1-0">filed a lawsuit</a> at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. It accused the Government of willful copyright infringement, while actively concealing these infringements from Apptricity.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The Government knew or should have known that it was required to obtain a license for copying Apptricity software onto each of the servers and devices,&#8221; the company told the court, demanding a minimum of $224,543,420.80 in damages, an amount equal to the shortfall in license revenue. </p>
<p>The Government eventually admitted that it used many copies of the software without permission, and after lengthy negotiations both parties have now decided to settle the case.  </p>
<p>&#8220;After Alternative Dispute Resolution proceedings, the parties agreed to settle for $50 million. The figure represents a fraction of the software’s negotiated contract value that provides a material quantity of server and device licenses for ongoing and future Department of Defense usage,&#8221; Apptricity just announced.</p>
<p>Despite the copyright dispute, Apptricity expects that it will continue its business relationship with the U.S. military.</p>
<p>“Now that this process is behind us, it is envisioned the Apptricity and Army relationship will continue to grow exponentially,” says Tim McHale, an Apptricity senior adviser and retired major-general.</p>
<p>The Obama administration has yet to comment on the settlement but if a statement is forthcoming it will be almost certainly be less vocal on the piracy front, especially since the Government now finds itself on the other side of the fence.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80112
title: Anti-Piracy Group ‘Extorts’ Cash From Subtitle Providers
uri: Anti-Piracy-Group-Extorts-Cash-From-Subtitle-Providers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/I4T5wP66BCw/
content:
<p><a href="media/cf841bc6.brein-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/brein-new.png"><img src="media/cf841bc6.brein-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/brein-new.png" alt="brein-new" width="189" height="69" class="alignright size-full wp-image-40624" /></a>Subtitle files distributed outside the United States are usually created for two purposes &#8211; to let foreign residents understand mainly English-speaking entertainment or to provide the deaf with a way to comprehend audio.</p>
<p>While many people get annoyed when regular file-sharing sites are targeted with legal action, an extra-special level of annoyance is achieved when Hollywood and its proxies decide to shut down sites</a> that offer fan-created subtitles.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the outrage doesn&#8217;t dissuade the studios. After dropping out of the headlines for some months, Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN is now back with a campaign against sites offering subtitles. One of the domains targeted is <a href="http://http://www.bierdopje.com">Bierdopje.com</a>, a TV show news site ranked 400th most-popular domain in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>In an announcement yesterday, site operator &#8216;Sypher&#8217; explained how BREIN had contacted him with threats over the free subtitling services offered by the site&#8217;s translators. The anti-piracy group&#8217;s lawyers explained that Bierdopje must immediately cease and desist from engaging in &#8220;unlawful and illegal&#8221; acts or face a lawsuit.</p>
<p>In addition, BREIN also demanded an undisclosed cash payment within a week to cover the costs it had incurred so far, a demand that Sypher describes as &#8220;extortion.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;You guessed it, we simply cannot go up against the legal ravings of this party with delusions of grandeur and overpaid lawyers, and certainly not within the short deadlines they set us,&#8221; Sypher says. &#8220;We simply don&#8217;t have the financial resources to embroil us in such a process.&#8221;</p>
<p>Importantly, Bierdopje is not a file-sharing portal offering movies or TV shows and before this contact from BREIN the site had never received a single takedown request from a rightsholder.</p>
<p><a href="media/46061605.reason.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/reason.jpg"><img src="media/46061605.reason.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/reason.jpg" alt="reason" width="256" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-80127" /></a>&#8220;We do no harm and we don&#8217;t harm the income of producers. We help people who do not speak the English language, plus the hearing impaired or deaf,&#8221; Sypher explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Anyway, many of the series translated by our users do not even come out in the Netherlands,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>With no sensible or effective way of opposing BREIN, Sypher says that Bierdopje will now remove all references and links to subtitles in addition to suspending the translation and subtitling team and shutting down their IRC channel.</p>
<p>&#8220;We very much regret that a private party such as BREIN has grabbed a hobby project like ours around the neck. Furthermore, we understand that this will come as a blow to our users and translators and will create frustration but there is unfortunately nothing we can do,&#8221; Sypher concludes.</p>
<p>According to Dutch news site <a href="http://tweakers.net/nieuws/92839/bierdopje-punt-com-en-simply-releases-stoppen-ermee-na-sommatie-van-stichting-brein.html">Tweakers</a>, BREIN has sent a similar warning to other sites including SimplyReleases.com, which appears to have shut down its operations.</p>
<p>In July, Swedish police <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/fan-created-subtitle-site-raided-by-swedish-police-130710/">raided</a> the popular subtitling site Undertexter.se, an action that outraged the so-called &#8216;subbing&#8217; community. Despite the aggression, that site was soon back online and is currently operating business as usual.</p>
<p>Just recently the music industry in the United States also decided to renew its offensive against sites offering text related to entertainment products. During a press event November 11, the National Music Publishers’ Association announced that it had sent cease and desist notices to around 50 sites that offer song lyrics without permission.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80074
title: Landmark Beyonce File-Sharing Prosecution Fails to Intimidate
uri: Landmark-Beyonce-BitTorrent-Prosecution-Fails-to-Intimidate
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5ZpHZ6nrQT4/
content:
<p><img src="media/8f38ff87.4.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/4.jpg" width="200" height="200" class="alignright" />Difficulties associated with gathering evidence against BitTorrent users have led authorities in Sweden to concentrate on file-sharing cases where large-scale infringement can be more easily shown. That has been achieved by going after users of systems such as DirectConnect, where proving the distribution of thousands of tracks is a much easier prospect.</p>
<p>However, while going after individuals sharing an album or two on BitTorrent usually amounts to an endless and expensive task, music labels are very happy to make exceptions. One of the industry&#8217;s pet hates are album pre-releases, and for those they are prepared to commit significant resources.</p>
<p>One such case concluded yesterday dates back to early June 2011 when a copy of Beyonce&#8217;s album &#8217;4&#8242; appeared online more than two weeks ahead of its official launch. An investigation carried out by the IFPI and anti-piracy company DtecNet (now MarkMonitor) led them to an IP address registered to a woman in Gothenburg. It was later established, however, that she was not the only one with access to her Internet account.</p>
<p>Also using her wireless connection was a neighbor, a then 47-year-old man. IFPI and Sony Music Entertainment said he uploaded the album to the Internet during June 8 2011, 16 days before the album&#8217;s June 24 launch.</p>
<p>Revelations that the man worked in the industry as a DJ and music producer added interest to the case, however it later became clear that he was not the source of the original leak. Torrent site records show the album was uploaded at least the day before but that didn&#8217;t matter to prosecutor Henrik Rasmusson, who stated that a pre-release is still a pre-release, no matter who released it first.</p>
<p>In interviews with the police the man protested his innocence, stating that he only believed he had been <a href="http://www.metro.se/nyheter/laddade-upp-beyonce-kan-fa-fangelse/EVHmkk!9GBam1GcLMQOc/">downloading</a> the album for personal use, something he believed was permissible in Sweden.</p>
<p>&#8220;I had no idea when the Beyoncé album would be released, these days it&#8217;s almost impossible to know when the release takes place,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;If I downloaded the album illegally from a site such as The Pirate Bay, I would not have had a clue that it was a pre-release of the record or not.&#8221;</p>
<p>Of course, since BitTorrent is a two-way protocol he necessarily became an uploader too, something which exposed him as a pre-releaser of the album, despite his protests.</p>
<p>Earlier this month the man went to court for a two-day trial, with the now 48-year-old standing accused of breaches of copyright law. Hanging in the background was a huge $233,000 damages claim from Sony Entertainment, who said that the leak had not only damaged its marketing strategy and sales revenues, but had also hurt its relationship with Beyonce whose reputation had been damaged.</p>
<p>After much drama and deliberation, yesterday the sentence was handed down. The man was found <a href="http://www.metro.se/nyheter/dagsboter-for-fildelare/Hdzmkz!nsyAG6SycL11WuUqRb23cA/">guilty</a> of copyright infringement but the verdict was hardly the scary affair the IFPI and Sony had hoped for.</p>
<p>In the event the court rejected imprisonment and handed down punishment based on the &#8216;day-fine&#8217; system, which ranks the severity of the offense (in this case 80) and then multiplying that by the defendant&#8217;s daily income minus certain expenses.</p>
<p>Grand total &#8211; $1,200.</p>
<p>&#8220;They tried to make an example of me to intimidate both Swedish and foreign citizens,&#8221; <a href="http://expressen.se/gt/man-doms-till-boter-for-att-ha-fildelat-beyonce/ ">said</a> the 30 year veteran of the music industry. &#8220;Given that Swedish taxpayers have had to pay for this it smells a little bad.&#8221;</p>
<p>De-escalating matters further, it&#8217;s also believed that Sony has withdrawn its claim for damages. If true, that suggests that the music industry&#8217;s switch to chasing down BitTorrent users has proven just as time-consuming, costly and ineffective as observers believed it would.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80146
title: Publisher Promotes Homeland Book Via ‘Pirate’ Subtitles
uri: Publisher-Promotes-Homeland-Book-Via-Pirate-Subtiles
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MEKft45pTKU/
content:
<p><img src="media/b68df304.homeland-book.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/homeland-book.jpg" alt="homeland-book" width="175" height="256" class="alignright size-full wp-image-80148" />Every week millions of people download the latest episode of the Showtime hit series &#8220;Homeland&#8221; via file-sharing sites.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of these downloads originate from Poland, where it can take weeks before the episodes air on local TV. This huge interest in unauthorized copies has created a high demand for &#8220;pirate subtitles,&#8221; a niche which the <a href="http://grupahatak.pl/">group Hatak</a> has been serving for years.</p>
<p>Many copyright holders are not happy with these pirate subtitle releases and prefer to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-targets-subtitle-providers-131127/">shut these sites down</a>. But where others see a threat, the Polish book publisher <a href="http://otwarte.eu/">Wydawnictwo Otwarte</a> (Open Publishing) decided to use this unauthorized distribution channel to its advantage. </p>
<p>The publisher is selling the Polish translation of David Kaplan&#8217;s book &#8220;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17349317-carrie-s-run">Homeland: Carrie&#8217;s Run</a>,&#8221; which is a prequel to the popular TV-series. In a unique opportunity to appeal directly to thousands of Homeland &#8220;pirates,&#8221; the publisher teamed up with group Hatak to promote the book.</p>
<p>&#8220;We decided to advertise via subtitles because we wanted to show the book to all the fans of the Homeland series in Poland, no matter where they watch the show,&#8221; Maciej Migda, Managing Director at Wydawnictwo Otwarte told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>The publisher explained that they wanted to plug the book in spots where people would see it as useful information instead of an ad. This means that the added text should not interfere with people&#8217;s viewing habits.</p>
<p>&#8220;We also wanted to inform them about the prequel book in a specific context. When they watch the credits and flashbacks from the Carrie&#8217;s past we catch them with the phrase &#8216;How did it all begin? Let&#8217;s read the prequel book,&#8221; Migda says. </p>
<p>Below is a screenshot of the subtitle file and how it appears on-screen. In this case during the opening credits the subtitles show the text &#8220;How did it start? You will learn from a book prequel &#8220;Homeland: Carrie&#8217;s Run.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Subtitle file promoting the book</h5>
<p><img src="media/740d211f.homelandsubs.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/homelandsubs.png" alt="homelandsubs" width="566" height="380" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-80149" /></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke to Karol, the Hatak group member who translates Homeland for Polish viewers. He tells us that the cooperation with the publisher is not really an ad, his main motivation is to bring the book to the attention of Homeland fans.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just information for the &#8216;Homeland&#8217; fans about the new book, based on Showtime&#8217;s hit series. Unfortunately, the book promotion in Poland was really poor, so I thought placing the mention about it in subtitles was in the fans&#8217; best interest.&#8221; </p>
<p>The publisher gave Hatak several copies of the Homeland book in return for the promotion, which the group gave away via their Facebook page.</p>
<p>&#8220;The publisher gave us a few copies of the book, so we could organize the prize competition on Facebook. In addition, we received a few copies of &#8216;A Captain&#8217;s Duty&#8217; for our Facebook fans, without running an &#8216;ad&#8217; in the subtitles.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a really good deal that makes everyone happy and so far I haven&#8217;t had any complaints from the users,&#8221; Karol notes.</p>
<p>The Polish Homeland subtitles are downloaded by roughly 4,000 people every week, which results in a lot of highly targeted promotion for the book. According to the publisher, Homeland fans appreciated the guerrilla advertising which resulted in at least a few <a href="http://www.blog.mediafun.pl/homeland-gdzie-jeszcze-nie-bylo-reklamy/">extra sales</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The responses we got so far tell us that people appreciated the fact that we informed them about the book, and some have bought it,&#8221; Migda informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>To our knowledge this is the first time that a copyright holder has teamed up with a subtitle group to promote related content. While we don&#8217;t expect this type of promotion to become mainstream anytime soon, it is a great example of how unauthorized distribution is able to add value for copyright holders. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Publisher explains its advertising strategy in a video</h5>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/sBeyeuhsXjI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80174
title: Unpublished Salinger Books Leaked to Private File-Sharing Site
uri: Unpublished-Salinger-Books-Leaked-to-Private-File-Sharing-Site
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UOydABU48Sc/
content:
<p><a href="media/98ea54b2.salinger1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/salinger1.jpg"><img src="media/98ea54b2.salinger1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/salinger1.jpg" alt="salinger1" width="180" height="211" class="alignright size-full wp-image-80176" /></a>From very early in its life the Internet became a mine of amazing things, but while accessing information was relatively easy for most, becoming a publisher was a different matter.</p>
<p>Soon enough regular people learned the skills to put up a rudimentary webpage, but it wasn&#8217;t until the advent of mainstream file-sharing networks that anyone could become a publisher of information, simply by putting a file in a folder.</p>
<p>As a result countless pieces of media &#8211; from music and video, to documents, artwork and software &#8211; were distributed by individuals to every corner of the Internet-enabled globe.</p>
<p>Over the years many thousands of curiosities have appeared online in this manner, such as unfinished movies, unreleased songs, top-secret military documents, plus all manner of sundry ephemera subsequently given almost eternal life. Today, fans of writer J.D. Salinger will have something particularly extraordinary to talk about.</p>
<p>What.cd, an invitation-only BitTorrent tracker, is probably the most coveted source of music on the Internet. The site is a veritable goldmine of audio of every conceivable genre, all wrapped up in the best software interface the BitTorrent site world has to offer. But technicalities aside, what the site has is an incredible community that contributes to the enjoyment of every other member of What.cd, and not just with music either.</p>
<p>Yesterday one of What.cd&#8217;s users uploaded an amazing set of files &#8211; three previously unpublished stories by reclusive American writer J. D. Salinger.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/0eed3b1c.salinger2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/salinger2.png" alt="Salinger" /></center></p>
<p>As can be seen from the screenshot above, the first story offered was The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls, a coveted piece some Salinger experts describe as a &#8220;superior&#8221; work.</p>
<p>&#8220;Of great intrigue are the works of JD Salinger which he has determined to remain unpublished,&#8221; reads a piece on <a href="http://deadcaulfields.com/Unpublished.html">Dead Caulfields</a>, a site dedicated to the works of the writer.</p>
<p>&#8220;The author&#8217;s decision to withhold these pieces is a never-ending source of speculation. Initially, Salinger anxiously submitted many of these stories to various magazines for publication, but by 1950, he increasingly begins to draw them back. The term &#8216;unpublished&#8217;, when referring to Salinger, is but a mild indication of the ferocity with which these works are guarded,&#8221; the site explains.</p>
<p>Only adding to the intensity is the fact that The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls is only available to read at the Princeton library and under supervision in a special reading room. It is one of two titles bound up in a legal agreement which forbids the release of the work until fifty years after Salinger&#8217;s death. He passed away in 2010.</p>
<p>Of course, that agreement now lies in tatters. The stories have escaped What.cd and are already doing the rounds on The Pirate Bay and other torrent sites. Only adding to the previously unpublished works&#8217; availability, the entire set now available for anyone to read on image upload site, <a href="http://imgur.com/a/64v5t">Imgur</a>.</p>
<p>This leak, like hundreds before it, raises many questions, both legal and moral.</p>
<p>As his work, Salinger was obviously entitled to do whatever he liked with these stories and following his death those wishes seem to have been carried out by those he entrusted them to. However, one has to question why even after death someone would choose to consider a work so &#8216;exclusive&#8217; as to wrap it up in security and hide it away from those who might enjoy it most.</p>
<p>Has Salinger been financially damaged due to the works being made widely available to anyone who cares to read them? Absolutely not. Is Princeton in a worse position now that the lid has been blown off their &#8216;secret&#8217; possession? Hard to say.</p>
<p>There will be those who say that morally the user on What.cd shouldn&#8217;t have uploaded the stories as this was against Salinger&#8217;s wishes. But isn&#8217;t the world a richer place today now that he has? If information isn&#8217;t shared and people aren&#8217;t allowed to benefit from its availability, one really has to question the point of its existence.</p>
<p>Whether Salinger fans are delighted or outraged at these leaks, one thing is pretty much certain. No matter what side of the fence they sit on, fans will read these stories &#8211; possibly several times over &#8211; and worry about the morals later.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80244
title: Court Orders Google, Microsoft & Yahoo to Make Pirate Sites Disappear
uri: Court-Orders-Google-Microsoft-Yahoo-to-Make-Pirate-Sites-Disappear
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2NCGQmRSJtE/
content:
<p><a href="media/3a6fa524.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg"><img src="media/3a6fa524.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg" alt="google-bay" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21875" /></a>Last week turned out to be yet another hectic seven days for the copyright enforcement obligations of Google. The search engine received requests to de-list 6.51 million allegedly infringing URLs, yet another new record in a piracy battle that seemingly has no end.</p>
<p>If the entertainment companies had their way, however, things would be handled differently. The general line coming out of the MPAA, RIAA and their UK-based counterparts BPI, is that by now Google knows which domains are infringing copyright. On this basis action should be taken to render their indexes harder to find. Or better still, have them de-listed from search engines altogether, the rightsholders say.</p>
<p>While Google has shown zero interest in the latter proposal, over in Europe a case underway since 2011 has now concluded, with a thought-provoking outcome for the entertainment industries.</p>
<p>The case dates back to December 2011 when L’Association des Producteurs de Cinéma (APC), a group which in itself represents more than 120 companies including Paramount and Sony, teamed up with La Fédération Nationale des Distributeurs de Films (FNDF) and Syndicat de l’Edition Vidéo Numérique (SEVN). Adding to the already formidable lineup, the groups were later joined by the Union of Film Producers (UPF) and the Union of Independent Producers (SPI).</p>
<p>The film and TV companies&#8217; complaint, rooted in Article 336-2 of the Intellectual Property code, targeted 16 domains connected to the popular Allostreaming, Fifostream and DPstream video portals. The aim was to force the world&#8217;s largest search engines &#8211; Google, Bing and Yahoo &#8211; to completely delist the sites from their search results and to have local ISPs block them.</p>
<p>After previously obtaining emergency interim measures, yesterday the studios received good news from the High Court of Paris. </p>
<p>The court ruled that the film industry had clearly demonstrated that the sites in question are &#8220;dedicated or virtually dedicated to the distribution of audiovisual works without the consent of their creators,&#8221; thus violating their copyrights.</p>
<p>As a result the search services of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and local company Orange are now under orders to &#8220;take all necessary measures to prevent the occurrence on their services of any results referring to any of the pages&#8221; on these sites.</p>
<p>Several ISPs &#8211;  Orange, Free, Bouygues Télécom, SFR, Numéricable and Darty Télécom were also ordered to &#8220;implement all appropriate means including blocking&#8221; to prevent access to the infringing sites.</p>
<p>Rightsholders have been celebrating the decision in the case which was concluded after almost two years of legal wrangling.</p>
<p>&#8220;The ruling today by the High Court in this case recognized the merits of the approach forcing ISPs and search engines to cooperate with right holders in the protection of the law of literary and artistic property on the Internet,&#8221; they <a href="http://www.pcinpact.com/news/84657-telecharger-jugement-allostreaming.htm">said</a> in a statement.</p>
<p>But despite the big win, the cards didn&#8217;t all fall in favor of the movie companies. <a href="http://www.pcinpact.com/news/84642-la-justice-ordonne-blocage-galaxie-allostreaming.htm">PCInpact</a> reports that they had demanded that the search engines and ISPs foot the bill of the blocking and censorship, but the court decided otherwise.</p>
<p>&#8220;The cost of the measures ordered can not be charged to the defendants who are required to implement them,&#8221; the decision reads.</p>
<p>Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and the ISPs now have two weeks to implement the measures, which come on the heels of the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isps-can-be-required-to-block-access-to-pirate-sites-131126/">EU Advocate General&#8217;s advice</a> earlier this week on the blocking of infringing sites.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=80205
title: MPAA Banned From Using Piracy and Theft Terms in Hotfile Trial
uri: MPAA-Banned-From-Using-Piracy-and-Theft-Terms-in-Hotfile-Trial
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2L8Q7LmfHDM/
content:
<p><img src="media/4f6f21d0.piracy-crime.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-crime.jpg" alt="piracy-crime" width="222" height="140" class="alignright size-full wp-image-80208" />The ongoing legal battle between Hotfile and the MPAA is nearing its climax.</p>
<p>In August the movie studios <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/169898030/Hotfile-Mpaa-Redacted">won summary judgmen</a>t on the issues of DMCA defense and vicarious liability, while the file-hosting site was cleared of direct copyright infringement. The remaining issues, including the damages amount, will be decided during a trial early next month.</p>
<p>In preparation for the trial both parties have submitted motions to the court in recent weeks. Hotfile, for example, asked the court to prevent the MPAA from using “pejorative” terms including <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hotfile-wants-mpaa-to-stop-using-piracy-theft-and-stealing-terms-in-court-131108/">piracy, theft and stealing</a> as these could misguide the jury. </p>
<p>District Court Judge Kathleen Williams has now <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/188004334/MPAA-piracy-ban">ruled on these motions</a>, with the file-hosting service scoring several important victories. </p>
<p>The Judge granted Hotfile&#8217;s “pejorative” terms motion, which means that the movie studios and its witnesses are not allowed to use words including “piracy,” “theft” and “stealing” during the trial.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants&#8217; Motion in Limine to Preclude Use of Pejorative Terms is GRANTED IN PART. The parties may not use pejorative terms but may use terms of art,&#8221; the order reads.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/dcf3e796.pejor.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pejor.png"><img src="media/dcf3e796.pejor.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pejor.png" alt="pejor" width="589" height="111" size-full wp-image-80211" /></a></center></p>
<p>The file-hosting service previously argued that since piracy and theft-related terms are derogatory, their use could mislead the jury and possibly influence their judgment. According to Hotfile there is no ground to substantiate the use of such terms.</p>
<p>“In the present case, there is no evidence that the Defendants (or Hotfile’s founders) are ‘pirates’ or ‘thieves,’ nor is there evidence that they were ‘stealing’ or engaged in ‘piracy’ or ‘theft.’ Even if the Defendants had been found to have directly infringed on the Plaintiffs’ copyrights, such derogatory terms would add nothing to the Plaintiffs’ case, but would serve to improperly inflame the jury.”</p>
<p>The MPAA countered that there is absolutely no reason to exclude words that are commonly used in cases related to copyright infringement. Banning the terms would make it hard for MPAA&#8217;s lawyers and the witnesses to describe the events that took place, according to the movie studios.</p>
<p>“Terms like ‘piracy’ and ‘theft’ are commonplace terms often used in court decisions, statutes, and everyday speech to describe the conduct in which Hotfile and its users engaged, and for which the Court has already found Defendants liable,” MPAA’s legal team wrote.</p>
<p>With her ruling Judge Williams clearly sides with Hotfile&#8217;s argument that the jury could be misled by piracy and theft-related descriptions. This is a clear win for the file-hosting service, but it also leads to the awkward situation that several witnesses can&#8217;t name their job titles, such as Warner&#8217;s head of Global Corporate <a href="http://www.warnerbros.com/studio/divisions/home-entertainment/anti-piracy-operations.html">Anti-Piracy</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, the MPAA can no longer quote Vice President Joe Biden&#8217;s famous comment: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/piracy-is-theft-clean-and-simple-us-vice-president-says-100622/">“Piracy is theft, clean and simple.&#8221;</a></p>
<p>The full list of motions Judge Williams ruled on includes more good news for Hotfile. For example, with regard to Hotfile&#8217;s countersuit over alleged DMCA abuse by the movie studio, Warner&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-our-false-dmca-takedowns-are-not-a-crime-131115/">motions to exclude the term &#8220;perjury&#8221; and the studio&#8217;s audit of its anti-piracy system</a> from trial were both denied.</p>
<p>On the downside, Hotfile&#8217;s request to prevent the MPAA from bringing up the criminal indictment against &#8220;Megaupload&#8221; was denied. This means that in describing the Megaupload case the movie studios can&#8217;t quote passages that reference piracy or theft. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see how the MPAA tackles Hotfile now that they are restricted in the language they can use. It probably means that the term &#8220;copyright infringement&#8221; will be used more often than they had hoped. </p>
<p>To be continued. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84499
title: Torrenting “Billboard 100″ Pirates Slapped With Automated Fines
uri: Torrenting-Billboard-100-Pirates-Slapped-With-Automated-Fines
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OtbHFI0N6Qc/
content:
<p><img src="media/691045c1.billboard100.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/billboard100.png" alt="billboard100" width="200" height="104" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84502">It&#8217;s been more than five years since the RIAA stopped its controversial legal campaign against individuals, an effort which resulted in thousands of private settlements with accused file-sharers. </p>
<p>In recent months, however, the music industry has shown renewed interest in extracting payments from pirates. In a scheme pioneered by the Santa Monica based firm Rightscorp, several major rightsholders are targeting alleged BitTorrent pirates. </p>
<p>After the company <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-goes-public-131028/">went public </a>last year, this number has been expanding steadily. Rightscorp now says it protects over 1,000,000 copyrights which includes 13 tracks from the most recent Billboard Hot 100. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are pleased to announce that we are monitoring and protecting 13 songs on the current Billboard Hot 100,&#8221; Rightscorp says.  </p>
<p>In common with other works they are protecting, Rightscorp sends settlement requests to U.S. ISPs who are asked to forward them to subscribers. In addition to commercial ISPs, this also includes universities and all other companies that have IP-addresses registered in their name.</p>
<p>&#8220;We can confirm that we send notices to every ISP with a registered block of IP-addresses. This includes universities and corporations,&#8221; Rightscorp CEO Christopher Sabec told TF.</p>
<p>Thus far the company has received settlements from subscribers of more than 50 ISPs across the country. In the near future it hopes to add more copyright holders to its client base to increase this number. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are in discussions with content creators and rights holders of additional copyrighted property including many other tracks in the Hot 100 as the entertainment industry places more value on our unique service,&#8221; Rightscorp notes. </p>
<p>Internet users who are caught don&#8217;t face bankruptcy, as the settlement demands are usually around $20 per pirated file. The costs can increase quickly though, as an album of 14 tracks results in separate settlement offers for each song. </p>
<p>Below is an example of a notice Charter forwarded to one of its subscribers. It lists John Mayer&#8217;s track &#8220;Wildfire&#8221; from the album &#8220;Paradise Valley,&#8221; and warns that the recipient may be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars, unless he or she settles.</p>
<p>&#8220;Your ISP account has been used to download, upload or offer for upload copyrighted content in a manner that infringes on the rights of the copyright owner. Your ISP service could be suspended if this matter is not resolved. You could be liable for up to $150,000 per infringement in civil penalties,&#8221; the email warns.</p>
<p><center><strong>Rightscorp notice</strong><a href="media/2062770d.bmg-notice.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bmg-notice.png"><img src="media/2062770d.bmg-notice.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bmg-notice.png" alt="bmg-notice" width="567" height="960" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-84505"></a></center></p>
<p>Interestingly, John Mayer and his label are not involved in the matter in any way. Instead, the settlement request was sent on behalf of BMG, who bought Bug Music, which has one of the co-writers of Wildfire under contract, as Rightscorp <a href="media/bb85cce2.bmg-mayer.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bmg-mayer.png">explained to us</a>.  </p>
<p>The above brings up an important issue regarding the settlements. Since most copyrighted works have several stakeholders, a settlement with one party doesn&#8217;t automatically mean that other interested parties are barred from also seeking settlement. In the example shown above, Sony Music or John Mayer could still sue for the infringement that was settled with BMG.</p>
<p>While many ISPs kindly forward the settlement requests, not all do. <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-kills-business-model-of-piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-131206/">Comcast for example</a>, only appears to forward the infringement details and not the part about the settlement. This means Rightscorp&#8217;s scheme doesn&#8217;t work with the country&#8217;s largest ISP. </p>
<p>However, that doesn&#8217;t stop Rightscorp from stepping up its efforts. According to the company their system is much <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-goes-public-131028/">more effective</a> than the voluntary &#8220;copyright alerts&#8221; and with millions of dollars rolling in, they are not expected to change course anytime soon.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84470
title: World’s Largest BitTorrent Trackers Suffer Prolonged Downtime
uri: World-s-Largest-BitTorrent-Trackers-Suffer-Prolonged-Downtime
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DNgtYX8aDsY/
content:
<p><a href="media/ce09ad7f.opentracker.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/opentracker.png"><img src="media/4a01ccea.opentracker.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/opentracker.png" alt="opentracker" width="198" height="144" class="alignright size-full wp-image-57349"></a><a href="http://openbittorrent.com/">OpenBitTorrent</a> and <a href="http://publicbt.com/">PublicBitTorrent</a> are two non-commercial BitTorrent trackers running on the beerware-licensed <a href="http://erdgeist.org/arts/software/opentracker/">Opentracker</a> software. Neither service hosts or links to torrent files and both are free to use by all torrent users.</p>
<p>The services, which were listed as number one and two in our latest list of most-used trackers, coordinate the downloads of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-bittorrent-trackers-serve-30-million-peers-across-4-5-million-torrents-130706/">30 million people</a> at any given point in time. </p>
<p>This means that the trackers handle a staggering three billion connections per day &#8211; each.</p>
<p>However, starting a few days ago the trackers stopped working entirely. While the trackers have had their fair share of downtime in the past, it&#8217;s not often that both of the top trackers are offline for more than a day. Needless to say, this caused concern among some of the most avid file-sharers.</p>
<p><center><strong>PBT and OBT down</strong><br></br><img src="media/e8093189.trackers-down.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trackers-down.png" alt="trackers-down" width="588" height="55" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-84474"></center></p>
<p>To find out more TF contacted the owner of OpenBitTorrent, who told us that the current downtime is intentional. The tracker is replacing some hardware, a process that could take a week or more to complete. In any event, there is no doubt that the tracker will continue business as usual in the near future.</p>
<p>We also reached out to PublicBitTorrent, whose owner confirmed they are also working on maintenance issues. There is currently no ETA for when the tracker will return, but the current downtime will continue for several days at least.</p>
<p>The upside to all the bad news is that most people can still download torrents. In fact, the majority of BitTorrent users probably failed to notice the downtime to begin with.</p>
<p>Instead of using a tracker, most downloads work fine when they rely solely on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrents-future-dht-pex-and-magnet-links-explained-091120/">DHT and PEX</a>, which allows downloaders to get info on other peers from each other, instead of a central tracker. This works just fine in most situations, especially for popular files.</p>
<p>The downtime is most problematic for users of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/5-ways-to-download-torrents-anonymously/">BitTorrent proxy services</a>. These often advise users to disable DHT and PEX to prevent their real IP-addresses from leaking out, so unless a torrent has other working trackers, nothing can be downloaded for the time being.</p>
<p>For users of proxy services there is no other option than to wait until the trackers return. Meanwhile, <em>udp://tracker.istole.it:80/announce</em> is the largest BitTorrent tracker that&#8217;s still online. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84454
title: YouTube Ordered to Remove “Illegal” Copyright Blocking Notices
uri: YouTube-Ordered-to-Remove-Illegal-Copyright-Blocking-Notices
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/a6XVwWJtEbw/
content:
<p><a href="media/f805d856.youtubesadsmall1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/youtubesadsmall1.png"><img src="media/d9d620b7.youtubesadsmall1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/youtubesadsmall1.png" alt="youtubesadsmall" width="200" height="145" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84333"></a>Simply <a href="https://www.google.com/#q=%22unavailable+in+germany%22&#038;spell=1">searching</a> for the terms &#8220;unavailable in Germany&#8221; reveals the scale of the problem. Thousands of complaints, from the man in the street right up to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/sony-music-boss-censored-youtube-videos-cost-us-millions-120224/">record label bosses</a>, show that the licensing dispute with collecting society/anti-piracy group GEMA has hit in every corner.</p>
<p>It is a complex battle with a simple disagreement at its core. In 2007 the entities reached a licensing agreement for YouTube to use works from GEMA&#8217;s extensive repertoire. Two years later negotiations to extend that deal broke down when GEMA&#8217;s long-term demand of around €0.12 per stream was rejected by Google.</p>
<p>In May 2010 GEMA sued to have YouTube block certain titles so that they could not be viewed locally. In April 2012 and after much legal wrangling, the Regional Court of Hamburg ruled that YouTube could be held liable for the &#8220;infringing&#8221; videos and must therefore take measures to render content unavailable in Germany.</p>
<p>And herein lies the problem. YouTube is a constant source of frustration for German users thanks to the blocking of thousands of videos as a result of the GEMA dispute. When local users try to access popular videos being enjoyed by their fellow Internet users (GEMA claims that YouTube overblocks unnecessarily) they are greeted with a message informing them that they should blame GEMA, not YouTube, for the inconvenience.</p>
<p><img src="media/2bc18dea.gematube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gematube.jpg" alt="GEMA"></p>
<p>Time and again, users are informed that videos are blocked due to GEMA not granting the necessary music rights. As a result, GEMA has become very unpopular indeed.</p>
<p>Trying to remedy the situation, GEMA applied for an injunction to force YouTube to change the messages, claiming that they misrepresent the situation and damage GEMA&#8217;s reputation. YouTube alone is responsible for blocking the videos, claiming otherwise is simply false, GEMA argued.</p>
<p>Yesterday the District Court of Munich agreed with the music group and issued an injunction to force YouTube to comply, stating that the notices &#8220;denigrate&#8221; GEMA with a &#8220;totally distorted representation of the legal dispute between the parties.&#8221; Changing the message to state that videos are not available due to a lack of a licensing agreement between YouTube and GEMA would be more appropriate, the Court said.</p>
<p>&#8220;For almost three years, YouTube has misled the public with these blocking messages and unlawfully influenced public opinion at the expense of GEMA,&#8221; GEMA CEO Dr. Harald Heker said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;The decision sends an important and positive signal: It&#8217;s not GEMA preventing the enjoyment of music on the Internet. It seeks merely to license YouTube, like all other music portals. Our concern is that the artists participate in the economic exploitation of their works and can earn a livelihood in the future.&#8221;</p>
<p>YouTube parent company Google said it was studying the decision.</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to examine the reasons for the judgment, before we can make a decision about what to do next,&#8221; a spokesperson said.</p>
<p>Once the judgment of the District Court of Munich is made final, YouTube faces fines of up to 250,000 euros per breach.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84415
title: Six Strikes Anti-Piracy Scheme Turns One Year, But Does It Work?
uri: Six-Strikes-Anti-Piracy-Scheme-Turns-One-Year-But-Does-It-Work
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tfumEPgZUWc/
content:
<p><img src="media/1c69e722.downloadcar.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/downloadcar.png" class="alignright" alt="six strikes">February last year the MPAA, RIAA and five major Internet providers in the United States launched their <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-anti-piracy-scheme-starts-130225/">“six strikes” anti-piracy plan</a>.</p>
<p>The Copyright Alert System’s main goal is to educate the public. People are informed that their connections are being used to share copyrighted material without permission, and told where they can find legal alternatives. </p>
<p>These alerts start out friendly in tone, but repeat infringers face a temporary disconnection from the Internet or other mitigation measures. </p>
<p>The program has not yet revealed how many people have been warned thus far or how many have been punished. Data obtained by TF earlier this month showed that Comcast had sent out <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-625000-copyright-alerts-140207/">625,000 alerts</a> to its subscribers.</p>
<p>Today it&#8217;s a year since the Copyright Alert System officially rolled out, so it&#8217;s time to look back at what happened over recent months.</p>
<p>What stands out most is the lack of news. The Center for Copyright Information (<a href="http://www.copyrightinformation.org/">CCI</a>), which oversees the program, has issued <a href="http://www.copyrightinformation.org/category/press-release/">no press releases</a> over the past 12 months, and nor have any of the participating parties. </p>
<p>The only time CCI hit the mainstream news is when it <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-anti-piracy-outfit-loses-company-status-faces-penalties-130515/">lost its company status</a> temporarily, and when it was criticized for its efforts to teach <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-and-riaa-to-teach-copyright-at-kindergartens-130918/">copyright classes at kindergartens</a>. None of these issues were directly related to the Copyright Alert program.</p>
<p>The big question that has to be answered somewhere in the future is how effective the six-strikes scheme is. The ultimate goal of the program is to reduce online piracy, but thus far there has been no clear indication that this is happening. </p>
<p>On the contrary, recent research shows that these type of anti-piracy efforts are <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/three-strikes-law-does-nothing-to-curb-piracy-research-finds-140122/">rather unsuccessful</a>. This is <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-fails-to-halt-u-s-pirate-bay-growth-130903/">confirmed</a> by data provided by The Pirate Bay, whose growth in U.S. traffic continued after the system went into effect. </p>
<p>Similarly, there have been no reports indicating an increase in movie or music industry revenues that can be linked to the introduction of the Copyright Alert System. </p>
<p>The only industry that <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-boosts-demand-for-bittorrent-vpns-and-proxies-130311/">clearly profited</a> from the new anti-piracy measures are the providers of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition/">anonymity services</a>. This suggests that many people prefer to hide what they are sharing, instead of kicking their piracy habit. </p>
<p>The above suggests that the Copyright Alert System may not be as effective as the copyright holders had hoped. In a few weeks CCI is expected to release more details on the program&#8217;s results, so we might know more then.</p>
<p>Aside from analyzing the effectiveness of the program, CCI is also looking to include other copyright holders and ISPs. No official announcements have yet been made on this front.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84400
title: Paramount Sets Lawyers on ‘Top Gun’ Frame-By-Frame Tweets
uri: Paramount-Sets-Lawyers-on-Top-Gun-Frame-By-Frame-Tweets
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RDwOgs-lN9s/
content:
<p><a href="media/8a75542d.cruise.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cruise.jpg"><img src="media/8a75542d.cruise.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cruise.jpg" alt="cruise" width="180" height="204" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84426"></a>Back in 1986 the movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092099/">Top Gun</a> was nearing the pinnacle of cool.</p>
<p>With the Navy&#8217;s elite fighter weapons school as a backdrop, the perfect smile of Tom Cruise to charm the beautiful Kelly McGillis, and the bleached flattop of Val Kilmer to wow the masses, the flick ticked all the 80s boxes. Throw in Kenny Loggins&#8217; &#8216;Danger Zone&#8217; and to those born in the 70s it didn&#8217;t get much better than this.</p>
<p>Nearly three decades on and to ensure that a whole new generation is exposed to Tony Scott&#8217;s masterpiece, for the last month Twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/555uhz">@555uhz</a> has been tweeting Top Gun to the world, but with a twist. The movie, which runs to 110 mins in regular format, is being relayed frame-by-frame in the JPG format, a feat that could take months to complete.</p>
<p><img src="media/b54d282a.tg4ss.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tg4ss.jpg" alt="TG4SS"></p>
<p>At the time of writing the account has pushed out 1,525 tweets to the delight of nearly 6,900 followers. But as they ponder where best to invest in a pair of much-needed Aviator shades, the whole 80s nostalgia trip could already be on the verge of extinction.</p>
<p>Even though modern movies fly at dozens of frames per second and this reenactment is struggling to get off the ground with a couple every hour, it seems that the lawyers in Hollywood have decided this Twitter account is an existential threat to their near 30-year-old Top Gun revenue machine.</p>
<p><img src="media/5551a873.tg3SS.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tg3SS.jpg" alt="TG4SS"></p>
<p>Sometime in the past few days, exactly when is unclear, Paramount Pictures sent a lone MiG 28 on a dangerous mission to end the rampant copyright infringement being carried out by @555uhz. The plane, flown by a pilot from the Kilpatrick Townsend &#038; Stockton LLP lawfirm, dropped a single but potentially devastating DMCA notice on Twitter in San Francisco. It contained a chilling message.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are writing to you on behalf of our client, Paramount Pictures Corporation (&#8216;Paramount&#8217;). Paramount is the owner of copyright and other intellectual property rights in and to the &#8216;Top Gun&#8217; motion picture (hereinafter referred to as &#8216;Top Gun&#8217;). No one is authorized to copy, reproduce, distribute, or otherwise use Top Gun without the express written permission of Paramount,&#8221; the notice warned.</p>
<p>&#8220;Notwithstanding this, it has come to our attention that a user of your website, @555uhz, is distributing the Top Gun film, frame by frame, via your website. The following URLs are some examples from the user’s Twitter account, with additional frames being uploaded continuously.&#8221;</p>
<p>What followed was a list of URLs, each representing a slow but steady destruction of Paramount&#8217;s near thirty-year-old Top Gun business model.</p>
<p>&#8220;Paramount has the good faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by Paramount, its agent or the law. We request that you immediately remove all the Top Gun images from this website relating to the @555uhz user account,&#8221; the law firm concludes in tones that can only be described as Cold War-esque.</p>
<p>However, it appears that Twitter hasn&#8217;t been fazed by Paramount. The notice, which just appeared on <a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512c/notice.cgi?NoticeID=1532735">Chilling Effects</a>, has clearly been already processed by Twitter yet none of the tweets listed in the notice have been removed. Claim dismissed.</p>
<p><img src="media/0f2832eb.tg5ss.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tg5ss.jpg" alt="TG5SS"></p>
<p>More tweets are going up every few minutes too, meaning that thus far Twitter hasn&#8217;t bowed to Paramount&#8217;s request to remove all images from the account either. This could mean that there will be dozens of new complaints and an entire squadron of MiGs heading for Twitter in the future.</p>
<p>Maverick, your country needs you. Again.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Twitter nuked the account&#8230;.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84398
title: Pirate Bay Teams Up With Lund University and Becomes “Research Bay”
uri: 2014-02-27-
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TC1oeQt6jyY/
content:
<p><a href="media/08c5fa57.research-bay-3.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/research-bay-3.jpg"><img src="media/08c5fa57.research-bay-3.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/research-bay-3.jpg" alt="research-bay-3" width="286" height="261" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84399"></a>The Pirate Bay renamed itself to The Research Bay today for a new collaboration with the <a href="http://cybernormer.se/about-us/">Cybernorms</a> research group at Lund University.</p>
<p>The notorious BitTorrent site has changed its iconic logo and is encouraging visitors to take part in the survey, which examines people’s file-sharing habits and their views on privacy and copyright-related issues. </p>
<p>The study is the third iteration of a longitudinal study which has already enjoyed participation from 170,000 Pirate Bay users.</p>
<p>To learn more, TF talked to Stefan Larsson, one of the researchers involved in the project. Larsson believes that it&#8217;s crucial to document values and norms of The Pirate Bay and its users, as it&#8217;s one of the defining Internet icons of our times.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is the biggest, most popular and most resilient hub for free file-sharing, and collects invaluable information on values, norms and conceptions of the file-sharing community,&#8221; Larsson says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Also, it is one of the most interesting phenomena of our times in itself, in the intersection of social, legal and technological change,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>The previous surveys have already resulted in some unique insights which have been published in several <a href="http://luii.lu.se/the-research-bay-3/">academic articles</a>. </p>
<p>For example, the researchers found that the majority of Pirate Bay users planned to use VPNs or other measures to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-users-hide-ip-addresses-to-counter-copyright-enforcement-research-finds-121109/">become more anonymous</a>. Another observation is that only a small percentage of Pirate Bay users contribute to the site. Most people are relatively passive downloaders. </p>
<p>These and other statistics are also available to the public on the <a href="http://thesurveybay.com/">Survey Bay</a> website <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/find-out-whos-using-the-pirate-bay-and-why-130829/">which launched</a> a few months ago.</p>
<p>Larsson tells TF that one of the key goals of the project is to look for trends and changes over time among Pirate Bay users. By repeating the survey the researchers can see how attitudes and behaviors of Pirate Bay users develop.</p>
<p>In addition, the latest survey also includes new questions to tap into newer trends, among other things.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have added some stuff, for example a method for measuring the strength of social norms, which we&#8217;ve done in smaller surveys before, as well as questions on when and how &#8211; if ever &#8211; authorities should collect and process information on internet behavior,&#8221; Larsson says. </p>
<p>The Research Bay project runs from 25 to 27 February, and survey will be linked from The Pirate Bay homepage during these days. People who are interested in taking part <a href="http://thepiratebay.se/">can do so here</a>. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84362
title: Google Downranks The Pirate Bay in Search Results
uri: Google-Downranks-The-Pirate-Bay-in-Search-Results
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/g8A6yFVR1M4/
content:
<p><img src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" alt="tpb-logo" width="222" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-67837">Over the past few years the entertainment industries have repeatedly asked Google to step up its game when it comes to anti-piracy efforts.</p>
<p>These remarks haven’t fallen on deaf ears and Google has slowly implemented various new anti-piracy measures in response. For example, the company began filtering “piracy-related” terms from its AutoComplete and Instant services. </p>
<p>One of the main demands from copyright holders is that Google should downrank copyright-infringing websites, so these don&#8217;t show up as the top results in Google. The search engine promised it <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-starts-punishing-pirate-sites-in-search-results-120810/">would do so</a>, but reports published by the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-accuses-google-of-breeding-pirates-130919/">MPAA and RIAA</a> a few months back provided little evidence to back that up.</p>
<p>To see how accessible The Pirate Bay is in Google we decided to run a few tests of our own. The results undoubtedly show that Google is now downranking the most-used torrent site, although it is far from completely gone. </p>
<p>For example, those who type &#8220;The Pirate Bay&#8221; in Google&#8217;s search box will still see the notorious torrent site as the first result. The same is true for the three-letter abbreviation TPB and several related searches. </p>
<p>The results are quite different, though, when people search for specific titles such as &#8220;<a href="media/29f6f183.2lat.png" data-original-source="http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/657/2lat.png">12 years a slave dvdrip</a>&#8220;. For these keywords The Pirate Bay doesn&#8217;t appear on the first pages of the search results. Several other popular torrent sites do show up of course.</p>
<p>In itself the above doesn&#8217;t really prove that any downranking is going on, although it&#8217;s strange that the world&#8217;s biggest torrent site is absent from results. So, the next step is to take content that&#8217;s unique to The Pirate Bay, and let Google search for that. </p>
<p>We picked a phrase from TPB&#8217;s <a href="http://thepiratebay.se/help">help page</a>, which doesn&#8217;t show or link to any pirated files. The phrase in question is as follows: <em>&#8220;There are many different clients for bittorrent, this guide explains how to use Bitlord&#8221;</em>. As can be seen below, The Pirate Bay <a href="https://www.google.com/search?&#038;q=&quot;There+are+many+different+clients+for+bittorrent%2C+this+guide+explains+how+to+use+Bitlord.&quot;">is not showing</a> in the top results when we search for it on Google.com, even though it&#8217;s the source of the content.</p>
<p>Instead, the first result is a Pirate Bay proxy. </p>
<p class="alignfull""><a href="media/dfe3f99a.googletpb-com.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googletpb-com.png"><img src="media/dfe3f99a.googletpb-com.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googletpb-com.png" alt="googletpb-com" width="680" height="485" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-84368"></a></p>
<p>We used the same method with a few other targeted searches, including a track Dan Bull uploaded to the site, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?site=&#038;source=hp&#038;q=&quot;Dan+Bull+-+Sharing+Is+Caring+%2B+bonus+tracks&quot;">and got a similar result</a>. The top result doesn&#8217;t list The Pirate Bay site, which is the original place where the &#8220;<a href="http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7205038/Dan_Bull_-_Sharing_Is_Caring___bonus_tracks">Sharing Is Caring</a>&#8221; song was uploaded. </p>
<p>The above suggests that individual Pirate Bay pages are being downranked. This is confirmed by the fact that the results for the search phrases above do show TPB as the first result on other Google domains, such as <a href="https://www.google.ca/search?&#038;q=&quot;There+are+many+different+clients+for+bittorrent%2C+this+guide+explains+how+to+use+Bitlord.&quot;">Google.ca</a> and <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?&#038;q=&quot;There+are+many+different+clients+for+bittorrent%2C+this+guide+explains+how+to+use+Bitlord.&quot;">Google.co.uk</a>. Apparently, the downranking for this phrase only happens on the .com domain.</p>
<p class="alignfull""><a href="media/2dac6e24.googletpb-ca.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googletpb-ca.png"><img src="media/2dac6e24.googletpb-ca.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googletpb-ca.png" alt="googletpb-ca" width="680" height="485" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-84369"></a></p>
<p>It has to be noted though, that the result above shows the Pirate Bay&#8217;s old domain, thepiratebay.org, where one would expect thepiratebay.se. The .se site does appear on other Google domains for the <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?site=&#038;source=hp&#038;q=%22Dan+Bull+-+Sharing+Is+Caring+%2B+bonus+tracks%22">Dan Bull song</a> and several other keyword variations we tested.</p>
<p>The more phrases and keywords we tried, the more varying results we encountered. For example, searching for a sentence on The Pirate Bay&#8217;s &#8220;doodle&#8221; page doesn&#8217;t list TPB&#8217;s official site in the top results of <a href="https://www.google.ca/search?site=&#038;source=hp&#038;q=&quot;We%27ve+put+them+here+for+your+amusement+and+to+remember+the+good+times+we%27ve+had&quot;">any</a> of the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?site=&#038;source=hp&#038;q=&quot;We%27ve+put+them+here+for+your+amusement+and+to+remember+the+good+times+we%27ve+had&quot;">Google domains</a> we <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?site=&#038;source=hp&#038;q=&quot;We%27ve+put+them+here+for+your+amusement+and+to+remember+the+good+times+we%27ve+had&quot;">tried</a>. Clearly, something is going on here.</p>
<p>Our findings show that Google is certainly downranking The Pirate Bay in its search results. Whether this is part of the earlier announced anti-piracy initiatives is unknown at this point. </p>
<p>In any case, The Pirate Bay is not really bothered by Google&#8217;s decision to downrank websites that are accused of linking to pirated material. According to The Pirate Bay team, it will only result in more direct traffic. </p>
<p>&#8220;That Google is putting our links lower is in a way a good thing for us. We’ll get more direct traffic when people don’t get the expected search result when using Google, since they will go directly to TPB,” the site previously told TF.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84366
title: Authorities Raid Large Torrent Site Again…aaand it’s Back Online
uri: Authorities-Raid-Large-Torrent-Site-Again-aaand-it-s-Back-Online
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/giXcAiDTz_k/
content:
<p><img src="media/9585afa0.tanka3.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tanka3.jpg" width="180" height="288" class="alignright">There was a time when raiding a torrent site meant that it stayed down for good, but with 2014 just a couple of months old it&#8217;s clear that things have changed.</p>
<p>The latest signs relate to Tankafetast, Sweden&#8217;s #2 torrent site and the 95th most popular site in the country according to Alexa. The site, second only to The Pirate Bay, specializes in movies and TV shows and has been an anti-piracy target for some time. With a motto of &#8220;We shall never surrender!&#8221; one gets a flavor of how that&#8217;s gone so far.</p>
<p>On October 1, 2012, PRQ, a webhost previously owned by Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/prq-police-raid-takes-down-dozens-of-file-sharing-sites-121001/">disappeared offline</a> after Swedish police raided the facility. Many file-sharing sites went offline and it was later confirmed that Tankafetast was the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/prq-raid-targets-revealed-pirate-party-gets-boost-plot-thickens-121003/">prime target</a>.</p>
<p>Just three weeks later it was back online, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/raided-prq-torrent-site-promises-grand-return-this-friday-121010/">taunting the authorities</a> and nemesis Henrik Pontén at copyright protection outfit Antipiratbyrån (Rights Alliance).</p>
<p>In April 2013 yet more action was taken against the site, with <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/police-flex-muscles-again-arrest-admin-of-swedens-2-bittorrent-site-130424/">the arrest</a> of one of the site&#8217;s admins. Yet again the site remained intact and online.</p>
<p>And now, according to the site&#8217;s operators, Rights Alliance and local authorities have had another go at shutting Tankafetast down.</p>
<p>&#8220;Once again, we fell victim to a Rights Alliance (Anti-Piracy Office) ploy to shut down TankaFetast! Our data centers have been raided,&#8221; the site&#8217;s operators report.</p>
<p>It appears that a continuing investigation led authorities to a location from where they believed Tankafetast was operating. While the raid last week may have unearthed something, the site was fully prepared for the event.</p>
<p>&#8220;Instead of sitting and waiting to see what the authorities want us to do we can move just anywhere to our other servers located abroad. Once again we will rise up again!&#8221; the site&#8217;s operators said.</p>
<p>And, a few initial problems aside, Tankafetast returned online this weekend. [Update: site has some stability issues]</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going nowhere Rights Alliance, believe it!&#8221; the site declared.</p>
<p>Interestingly there was no announcement of action against Tankafetast last week from Rights Alliance or the police. Both are usually fairly quick to inform the press of their achievements but there are no reports from either. TorrentFreak contacted lawyer Henrik Pontén for comment but we have received no response.</p>
<p>It is certainly possible that the raid on the Tankafetast datacenter was expected to fail. Last Thursday a site operator revealed that the 2012 raid on PRQ didn&#8217;t net the site, just a gateway.</p>
<p>&#8220;We had some old empty dusty boxes with PRQ a few years ago but that was merely a proxy. When police got them there was nothing left in them anyway, since the memory was cleared for the least outside risk,&#8221; he revealed.</p>
<p>While in the &#8216;old days&#8217; torrent site admins simply crossed their fingers and perhaps wore garlic to fend off attacks, it&#8217;s becoming clear that these days site setups are <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/revealed-the-secrets-of-yify-torrents-network-140223/">being hardened</a> in preparation for what many believe to be an increasingly likely event. But these systems cost money and that has to be made somehow. Intrusive advertising is one way, according to Tankafetast.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is precisely because of pop-under advertising that we have been able to have servers around the world. Here you get a really good example. When one goes down we just move to another. The advertising that many find annoying saves us in situations like this,&#8221; they conclude. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84351
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 02/24/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-02-24-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ARsL-mes35o/
content:
<p><img src="media/6e18bb6e.12yearsa.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/12yearsa.jpg" alt="12yearsa" width="250" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84353">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>12 Years A Slave is the most downloaded movie this week. </p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-140217/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/12_years_a_slave/">12 Years A Slave</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024544/?">8.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02Ie8wKKRg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thor_the_dark_world/">Thor: The Dark World</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/">7.6</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npvJ9FTgZbM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frozen_2013/">Frozen</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/">8.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQm5doF_Uc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gravity_2013/">Gravity</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/">8.2</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiTiKOy59o4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/after_the_dark/">After The Dark</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1928340/">5.7</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ36cRPg9es">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200731-robocop/">RoboCop</a> (CAM)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234721/">6.7</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPLSpmAtc1Q">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ride_along_2014/">Ride Along</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408253/">6.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdXo4vBgG7I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/homefront/">Homefront</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2312718/">6.8</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjSOj8b804U">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wolf_of_wall_street_2013/">The Wolf Of Wall Street</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/">8.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UNWLgY-wuo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_secret_life_of_walter_mitty_2013/">The Secret Life of Walter Mitty</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359950/">7.7</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp_cxxqOaPM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84357
title: Why Is The Copyright Monopoly Necessary, Anyway?
uri: Why-Is-The-Copyright-Monopoly-Necessary-Anyway
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4cmCjtplBms/
content:
<p><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211">I sometimes try to hold the copyright monopoly to the same legislative quality standards as other laws. </p>
<p>It fails laughably at the &#8220;necessary, effective, and proportionate&#8221; test, where a law must be necessary (meet an identified legislative need), effective (solve that problem effectively), and proportionate (not cause worse damage in the process). </p>
<p>Most of the time, the copyright monopoly fails all three tests, and when legislators have this pointed out to them, they shift uncomfortably in their chairs and change the subject.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t know any profession except legislation that gets away with such abysmal quality assurance.</p>
<p>Most of the time, the discussion focuses on the &#8220;effective&#8221; and &#8220;proportional&#8221; parts of copyright legislation, illustrating how it is absolutely toothless in the absence of draconian privacy invasions, which is exactly what the copyright industry is tenaciously pushing for &#8211; which brings us to the &#8220;proportional&#8221; part right in the next sentence.</p>
<p>For once, though, &#8220;necessary&#8221; is up for debate. Is the copyright monopoly even necessary to solve a real problem? If so, what specific problem is it trying to solve? This passage is notably absent from most copyright monopoly legislations: &#8220;The purpose of this law is X&#8221;. If you were arguing for the introduction of such a monopoly today, how would you justify it? Could you conceivably do so?</p>
<p>To that effect, a new book, <a href="http://reason.com/archives/2014/02/21/how-writers-coped-without-copy">Without Copyright</a>, was published recently. It reminds us of a sobering fact &#8211; even though the copyright monopoly was created in 1554 in England by &#8220;Bloody&#8221; Mary I in order to persecute political dissenters, it didn&#8217;t have much of an international effect until the 1900s. The copyright monopolies only protected authors of books in their own countries; outside the author&#8217;s own country, it was generally a free-for-all, and nowhere moreso than in the United States.</p>
<p>The international convention that turns copyright monopolies international is known as the Berne Convention, and it is overseen by the UN organization WIPO (the only UN organization to be <a href="http://www.wipo.int/about-wipo/en/faq.html">funded</a> by outside private interests). The United States ratified the Berne Convention only when it became geopolitically important to aggressively push its monopolies onto other countries, as described in <a href="http://falkvinge.net/2011/02/01/history-of-copyright-part-1-black-death/">The History of Copyright</a>. More specifically, the United States ratified international copyright monopolies on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_Implementation_Act_of_1988">March 1, 1989</a>.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s very recent. To put it in perspective, that&#8217;s a newer event than Mario Bros, Die Hard, The Princess Bride, and The Legend of Zelda. It&#8217;s over fifteen years after the introduction of TCP/IP, the communications protocol of the modern Internet.</p>
<p>The U.S. had recognized some international monopolies to a very limited degree before that point. But before 1891, only citizens and residents of the United States could qualify for copyright monopolies at all. In today&#8217;s words of the United States: America was a rogue piracy state, plain and simple. That begs the obvious question &#8211; if there was no copyright monopoly, how did the writers make money, and since we have been told this always depends on the copyright monopoly, why were any books written at all in this time period?</p>
<p>But books were written before 1891. Tons of them. And there&#8217;s nothing to indicate more books were written after the United States accepted international monopolies, neither in the 1891 change nor in the 1989 change.</p>
<p><strong>The answer, it turns out, was very simple. There wasn&#8217;t really any need for the copyright monopoly. There was a whole slew of tools available for publishers and authors to enforce business terms and make their agreed money, where &#8211; notably &#8211; not a single one of them involved lawyers. And this was considered modern times.</strong></p>
<p>So that lets us return to the question:</p>
<p>How necessary is the copyright monopoly, anyway?</p>
<p><center>
<div class="alignfull" style="border:2px solid #3F3F3F;width:100%;padding:15px;padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:4px;margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:10px;border-radius:10px">
<h3 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:10px">
<div style="float:right;height:130px;width:39px;margin-left:20px;margin-right:10px"><img src="media/98818a80.Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" data-original-source="http://falkvinge.net/wp-content/themes/WpNewspaper/images/falkvinge/Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" style="border:none;-moz-box-shadow:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none" class="quimby_search_image"></div>
<p><span style="color:#3F3F3F;font-size:125%">About The</span> <span style="color:#FF3C78;font-size:125%">Author</span></p>
</h3>
<p style="font-family:PTSansRegular,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-weight:400;line-height:150%;margin-bottom:14px"><small>Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at <a href="http://falkvinge.net">falkvinge.net</a> focuses on information policy.</small></p>
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<p><small>Book Falkvinge <a href="http://falkvinge.net/keynotes/">as speaker</a>?</small></p>
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<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84528
title: Bitcoin Donations Now Integrated into BitTorrent Client
uri: Bitcoin-Donations-Now-Integrated-into-BitTorrent-Client
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0d1hCWYWGPc/
content:
<p><img class="alignright" alt="" src="media/fc8163af.bitcoin1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bitcoin1.jpg" width="200" height="181">While content distributed via BitTorrent is almost always free (a situation most users would like to keep intact) there has long been a desire to find a straightforward mechanism for optional donations.</p>
<p>The possibilities are intriguing, from artists being able to seed their own content to the public and getting paid directly by fans, to curators of already free content being rewarded for their distribution efforts.</p>
<p>In file-sharing circles there has been a traditional reliance upon PayPal transactions to show appreciation, but with the rise of alternative cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, new avenues have opened up. Many sites, The Pirate Bay included, accept donations in Bitcoin and Litecoin, and some artists have adopted the currencies for fans who want to chip-in.</p>
<p>Despite these developments there remains a disconnect between downloading content and a subsequent donation, meaning that split-second urges to hand over cash in appreciation often have time to cool. That, however, is about to change.</p>
<p>Following their <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-client-devs-work-on-bitcoin-integration-131213/">teaser</a> in December 2013, a brand new build of FrostWire&#8217;s BitTorrent client (Windows, Mac, Linux) now includes torrent creation supporting not only Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin and PayPal donations, but also the selection of appropriate Creative Commons licenses for delivered content.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll bring you comment from the FrostWire team in just a moment, but first let&#8217;s look at the simple process from the creator&#8217;s perspective.</p>
<p>After loading up FrostWire one simply goes about creating a .torrent file in the usual way, by selecting the tracking options and pointing it to the relevant content on the host computer. If the torrent creator would then like to give fans the option to donate, two extra screens appear.</p>
<p>The first allows the user to select an appropriate Creative Commons license under which to spread the content.</p>
<p class="alignfull&quot;"><img alt="Frost2" src="media/3bd6da46.frost2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/frost2.png"></p>
<p>The next screen configures payment/tips/donation options, whether Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, PayPal, or a mix-and-match between all four.</p>
<p class="alignfull&quot;"><img alt="Frostdonate" src="media/5e3733ce.frost3donate.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/frost3donate.png"></p>
<p>Obviously the creator/distributor will now need to seed, at least until plenty of other people download and start sharing the content.</p>
<p>For the downloader it&#8217;s simply a case of installing the <a href="https://github.com/frostwire/frostwire-desktop/wiki/Extending-a-Torrent%27s-info-map-with-Cryptocurrency-Wallet-addresses-and-a-Creative-Commons-license.-BitTorrent-meets-Bitcoin.#wiki-try-it">correct version</a> of FrostWire (this is a must at the moment until other clients implement the feature) and clicking on a donation-enabled .torrent file.</p>
<p>FrostWire have made a couple available for testing, one of which is a track by FriCtrl labeled Bitcoin_Revolution. Downloading <a href="http://dl.frostwire.com/torrents/audio/music/bitcoin_revolution_by_FriCtrl_CC-BY-SA.mp3.torrent">that</a> reveals a box next to the torrent title labeled &#8220;Tips/Donations&#8221;, with Bitcoin&#8217;s logo highlighted. Hovering over reveals the text shown below.</p>
<p><img alt="Hover" src="media/627ed609.frostbitc.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/frostbitc.png"></p>
<p>Once an option is clicked, FrostWire launches a payment process which <a href="http://www.frostwire.com/tips/?method=BITCOIN&amp;po={%22bitcoin%22:%22bitcoin:14F6JPXK2fR5b4gZp3134qLRGgYtvabMWL%22,%22litecoin%22:%22litecoin:LLW2rNAXbAt41SGjk8GZjbi3uYT2snjbq1%22,%22dogecoin%22:%22dogecoin:DFsTxd7Pyg1KJQPpesAUXGjkkjsgJibPnq%22,%22paypalUrl%22:%22https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr%3Fcmd\u003d_flow\u0026SESSION\u003dYA4BmvuUEwUQD0-3-N5eW5gyJrUqmEE1smlODl2SPZfl_8ccWXH7ZyL4Cme\u0026dispatch\u003d5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d7ff5e1e81f2ed97dd1e90bd72966c40c%22}&amp;title=frostwire-5.7.1.dmg">opens a web page</a> containing the target wallet&#8217;s cryptocurrency address in QR, hyperlink, and text form.</p>
<p class="alignfull&quot;"><img alt="Donate" src="media/0d20a895.frost-revo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/frost-revo.png"></p>
<p>Of course, there will be those who immediately see possibilities for monetizing piracy. But, speaking with TorrentFreak, FrostWire&#8217;s Angel Leon says their objectives actually run counter to that.</p>
<p>&#8220;We believe piracy is best fought by giving consumers the options of getting legal content, and we want to build solutions that use this technology to empower content creators no matter how big or small they are. We want them to try BitTorrent as an alternative, an additional channel. We think it will be easier to convince more and more artists to join us with the new possibilities,&#8221; Leon told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Putting it bluntly, Bitcoin and BitTorrent integration give us the tools to create the P2P equivalents of iTunes and Netflix, which are centralized venues which work great for big content but not so much for the little guys who have to jump through many hoops to get in.&#8221; </p>
<p>Leon says that the end result could be a decentralized media store &#8220;owned by nobody and available to all,&#8221; one which allows consumers to deal directly with content creators &#8220;without the corporate interests, censorship issues and draconian rules that make it hard for the little guy to publish his work.&#8221; </p>
<p>The possibilities don&#8217;t always have to be commercial either.</p>
<p>&#8220;Just imagine a BitTorrent bundle powered by this technology in which Bono from U2 shares free songs or a free video documentary to raise awareness and collect Bitcoin donations for the (Red) foundation to further the fight against HIV worldwide,&#8221; the FrostWire team teases.</p>
<p>Further information, including the experimental builds and info on how to activate .torrent-enabled donations, can be found <a href="https://github.com/frostwire/frostwire-desktop/wiki/Extending-a-Torrent%27s-info-map-with-Cryptocurrency-Wallet-addresses-and-a-Creative-Commons-license.-BitTorrent-meets-Bitcoin.">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><sup>Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegarfield/11209394443/">Steve Garfield</a></sup></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84582
title: Lawrence Lessig Wins Damages For Bogus YouTube Takedown
uri: Lawrence-Lessig-Wins-Damages-For-Bogus-YouTube-Takedown
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hkE0wV9dEZk/
content:
<p><a href="media/47fe1920.lessig.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lessig.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-84596" alt="lessig" src="media/47fe1920.lessig.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lessig.jpg" width="180" height="212"></a>Lawrence Lessig is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School but is probably best known to readers for his work with Creative Commons, the Free Software Foundation and Electronic Frontier Foundation.</p>
<p>As a fair use advocate he seems a most unlikely adversary to quarrel with on those grounds. Nevertheless, that was exactly the path chosen by Australian music label Liberation Music in 2013.</p>
<p>The story began in June 2010 when Lessig delivered the keynote address at a Creative Commons conference in South Korea. The lecture, discussing cultural and technological innovation, included several clips from amateur music videos, some of them depicting people dancing to a song called &#8220;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BJDNw7o6so">Lisztomania</a>&#8221; by the band Phoenix.</p>
<p>The &#8220;Lisztomania&#8221; craze had developed when young people all around the world latched on to a video created by YouTube &#8220;avoidant consumer&#8221; and used the Internet and technology to develop and distribute their own derivatives. In his lecture, Lessig described the phenomenon as the latest iteration in the classic &#8220;call and response&#8221; tradition of communication.</p>
<p>In June 2013 Lessig&#8217;s video, which necessarily used snippets of the Lisztomania track, was uploaded to YouTube. On the last day of that month Lessig received a notice from YouTube warning him that the video had been blocked after it was deemed to contain content from Viacom. Liberation Music, the label behind the Phoenix track, then issued a DMCA notice and caused YouTube to shut down the video.</p>
<p>Lessig was subsequently warned by YouTube that further copyright breaches could lead to his account being closed down. In response Lessig submitted a counter-notice but was informed by Liberation Music that they would &#8220;commence legal proceedings in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts &#8230; for copyright infringement” if Lessig didn&#8217;t withdraw his notice.</p>
<p>While Lessig did retract his counter-notice, in August 2013 and with support from the EFF he sued Liberation Music, asserting his right to use the music clip under the fair use doctrine. Liberation acted in bad faith when it sent the takedown notice, Lessig&#8217;s lawsuit said, and &#8220;knowingly and materially&#8221; misrepresented Lessig&#8217;s video as infringing copyright.</p>
<p><a href="media/de92d5cd.eff.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eff.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-31200" alt="eff" src="media/2aa8451f.eff.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eff.jpg" width="190" height="129"></a>Now, according to the <a href="https://www.eff.org/press/releases/lawrence-lessig-settles-fair-use-lawsuit-over-phoenix-music-snippets">EFF</a>, Lessig has settled his dispute with Liberation after the label agreed to pay him damages and &#8220;fix&#8221; its copyright policies.</p>
<p>Liberation will pay Lessig an undisclosed sum for the damages it caused with the wrongful takedown. The money will go towards supporting the EFF&#8217;s work on open access and the label will also &#8220;adopt new policies&#8221; that respect fair use.</p>
<p>&#8220;Liberation Music is pleased to amicably resolve its dispute with Professor Lessig. Liberation Music agrees that Professor Lessig&#8217;s use of the Phoenix song &#8216;Lisztomania&#8217; was both fair use under US law and fair dealing under Australian law,&#8221; the label stated in the settlement agreement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Liberation Music will amend its copyright and YouTube policy to ensure that mistakes like this will not happen again. Liberation Music is committed to a new copyright policy that protects its valid copyright interests and respects fair use and dealing.&#8221;</p>
<p>When Liberation took on Lessig they clearly picked the wrong person, but the professor hopes that the label&#8217;s mistakes will help others understand that fair use has its place, but copyright abuse does not.</p>
<p>&#8220;Too often, copyright is used as an excuse to silence legitimate speech,&#8221; Lessig said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been fighting against that kind of abuse for many years, and I knew I had to stand up for fair use here as well. Hopefully this lawsuit and this settlement will send a message to copyright owners to adopt fair takedown practices — or face the consequences.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>A Lisztomania mashup</strong><br>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/U1ywFh2AZLg" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84579
title: Fileserve Ordered to Pay $869k to Compensate Movie Studio’s Piracy Losses
uri: Fileserve-Ordered-to-Pay-869k-to-Compensate-Movie-Studio-s-Piracy-L
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OtKkv764mv8/
content:
<p><img src="media/a0c9eafa.fileserve.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fileserve.png" class="alignright" alt="fileserve">With nearly 200 million pageviews a month, FileServe was listed as one of the top 10 <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-largest-file-sharing-sites-110828/">most-visited file-sharing sites</a> two years ago. </p>
<p>This put the site in the crosshairs of the entertainment industry, with Paramount Pictures branding it as one of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-targets-fileserve-mediafire-wupload-putlocker-and-depositfiles-120331/">main sites</a> to be targeted following the Megaupload shutdown.</p>
<p>While FileServe is still around, the site has undergone some drastic changes to its business model since its heyday. Immediately after the Megaupload raid the company changed its policy to only allow users to download files they have uploaded themselves.  </p>
<p>As a result of this decision traffic to the site tanked, but not all of the site&#8217;s troubles went away. Last year the production company behind the independent movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0850648/">American Cowslip</a> <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/fileserve-sued-for-copyright-infringement-by-movie-company-130511/">filed</a> a lawsuit at a federal court in California.</p>
<p>The movie studio filed a motion for summary judgment last month, after the Virgin Islands-based file-hosting service failed to respond to the allegations. In <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/202799857/default71bb25d9-a843-43cb-92d7-a0d3d58e65b7">the motion</a>, FileServe was accused of a wide variety of copyright related offenses, including selling pirated goods through subscriptions.</p>
<p>“FileServe is aware that its websites are being used as a vehicle to illegally copy and distribute large amounts of infringing materials. Because it charges membership fees for immediate access to the copyrighted materials stored on its servers, it is a distributor and seller of pirated materials,” the complaint read.</p>
<p>Yesterday, District Court Judge Audrey Collins decided on the case and entered a <a href="media/528547ba.fileserve-default.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fileserve-default.pdf">judgment</a> in favor of American Cowslip, holding FileServe liable for copyright infringements committed by its users.</p>
<p>The file-hosting service is now ordered to pay $869,500 to compensate the movie studio for the alleged piracy losses, and an additional $20,990 in attorney’s fees</p>
<p><img src="media/0fecd290.fileserve-default.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fileserve-default.jpg" alt="fileserve-default" width="633" height="250" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-84587"></p>
<p>The damages sum is entirely based on an estimate the movie studio came up with. Based on revenues of comparable movies the company ran a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/202800207/filescalc17df93bf-9d81-4734-8732-dfefa8d70391">statistical forecast model</a> which predicted that American Cowslip should have generated more than a million in revenues in North America, as opposed to the $68,000 it actually made.  </p>
<p>While these calculations raise several questions, the judge had little other option than to accept it, since FileServe failed to weigh in.</p>
<p>Whether the movie company will ever see a penny has yet to be seen though. FileServe never responded to the complaint, and it would be a surprise if the Virgin Islands company changed its stance when the bill arrives.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84652
title: FACT Closes More Torrent and Usenet Sites, and Makes it Look Easy
uri: FACT-Closes-More-Torrent-and-Usenet-Sites-and-Makes-it-Look-Easy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fJLKUCofqPc/
content:
<p><a href="media/9b46c1db.fact.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/fact.jpg"><img src="media/f002015f.fact.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fact.jpg" alt="fact" width="180" height="133" class="alignright size-full wp-image-74060"></a>Every week TorrentFreak receives emails from individuals trying to find out the status of sites all over the world. Many disappear without warning and with no Facebook or Twitter updates, users naturally fear the worst.</p>
<p>Just lately a lot of torrent-related sites have been under DDoS attack so temporary disappearances have been nothing out of the ordinary, but when a site goes down and stays down for a few days or more, things begin to look more serious.</p>
<p>One site currently affected by prolonged downtime is <a href="https://opentrackers.org/xtremetv/">XtremeTV.org</a> but for users of this site there will be no happy ending. Along with related sites MazysMadhouse and ParadiseLane, XtremeTV has fallen victim to the long arm of Hollywood, reaching across the Atlantic via local anti-piracy group FACT.</p>
<p>&#8220;The domains listed [in your email] are part of our ongoing activity to disrupt pirate websites and to create an effective deterrent to operators of such sites,&#8221; FACT Director of Communications Eddy Leviten told TF.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/54c3547e.xtremetv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/xtremetv.jpg" alt="xtremetv"></center></p>
<p>Direct confirmation from FACT aside, signs that the anti-piracy group have shuttered a site are not too hard to find, if one knows how they operate.</p>
<p>In cases we&#8217;ve <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/?s=fact">covered previously</a>, FACT employees have turned up on the doorsteps of admins or staff demanding they close down sites. FACT has plenty of resources so obtaining an address to visit is not usually that difficult, if they set their mind to it.</p>
<p>However, for some unknown reason there are plenty of site operators who make it very easy for FACT. In several recent cases, queries on the affected sites&#8217; WHOIS entries has revealed the site operators&#8217; names and addresses, completely unprotected. </p>
<p>While revealing WHOIS reports can indicate that FACT might have been in town, there is another more obvious sign &#8211; FACT&#8217;s email addresses embedded into domain entries.</p>
<p>In previous cases as well as the one involving XtremeTV and MazysMadhouse, copyright@fact-org.uk is now listed as the site&#8217;s contact email. This is because FACT <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/fact-turn-up-at-torrent-site-owners-house-demanding-domain-names-130402/">demands the sign over</a> of the site&#8217;s domain as part of the settlement agreement. Once the domain is in FACT&#8217;s hands it is shut down, taking the site with it, if that hasn&#8217;t gone offline already.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/425a0c12.xtremewhois.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/xtremewhois.png" alt="XtremeWhois"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;We continue to direct visitors to domains signed over to FACT to legitimate resources where they can enjoy films and TV programmes in the cinema, online and on disc,&#8221; FACT&#8217;s Eddy Leviten told us.</p>
<p>Finally, Usenet indexing site NZBRoyalty.com also fell to FACT pressure this month. It appears the closure didn&#8217;t require a home visit, just an email to the site&#8217;s operators.</p>
<p>&#8220;Investigators at FACT have been examining your site and have noted that it is predominantly infringing TV content that is being made available,&#8221; FACT Director of Investigations and Intelligence Peter O’Rourke told the site in an email. &#8220;FACT requests that you desist from this activity immediately. Failure to do so will result in further investigation which may result in criminal prosecution.&#8221;</p>
<p>The perfectly understandable response from the site was put personal lives first.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are no longer under the radar. And therefore we also need to dip out. Remember we have lives and families,&#8221; the site&#8217;s operator said in a statement. &#8220;Sorry folks. Hope you all understand that this is out of our hands.&#8221;</p>
<p>All of the sites listed in this article are now closed and signs suggest that FACT will continue to close more, as long as site operators can be identified or simply convinced that prosecution and/or imprisonment is a serious possibility.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84533
title: SeriesGuide Turns Chrome Browser Into a TV Torrent TiVo
uri: SeriesGuide-Turns-Chrome-Browser-Into-a-TV-Torrent-TiVo
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KEDYoo3sDQc/
content:
<p>It&#8217;s no secret that many people catch up with their favorite TV-shows via BitTorrent. Popular shows such as Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead are downloaded <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-most-pirated-tv-show-of-2013-131225/">millions of times</a> by people from all over the world. </p>
<p>While downloading and/or sharing copyrighted material is against the law in many countries, there are plenty of tools around to help people&#8217;s TV-torrenting habits. The new Chrome extension &#8216;SeriesGuide&#8217; falls into this category. </p>
<p><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/seriesguide-chrome-v2-new/hkbamkappmgfjjahmnlngibomenmbbdf">SeriesGuide</a> keeps track of people&#8217;s favorite TV-shows, which are then displayed in a calendar format, so users know when to tune in. In addition, it offers Pirate Bay download links for each episode, ranked by the number of seeders and leechers. </p>
<p><center><strong>SeriesGuide Overview</strong></center>
<p class="alignfull"><img src="media/8ab3f39c.wJrYaHf.jpg" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/wJrYaHf.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>TF caught up with SeriesGuide&#8217;s developer who goes by the nickname SchizoDuckie. The developer says he coded the extension to fix a recurring problem he faced.  </p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m developing this mostly because it&#8217;s a solution to a problem I have myself. I&#8217;m following loads of series that air at separate intervals and you keep having to take the same steps manually: Figure out when something has aired, wait for a download to appear, go to The Pirate Bay, search for a torrent, sort it by most seeds, weed out the crap, and download.&#8221;</p>
<p>While he has a Netflix account, SchizoDuckie says most TV-shows take weeks or months to become available in Europe where he&#8217;s located.   </p>
<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t even have the final half of Breaking Bad yet. So then you resort back to piracy,&#8221; he says, adding that many other people are probably facing a similar problem. </p>
<p>Right now SeriesGuide is in beta stage, but SchizoDuckie says that many more features will be added in the near future. This will include automatic notifications when new episodes are released, automatic downloads, plus support for seedboxes and remote downloading.</p>
<p><center><strong>SeriesGuide Downloads</strong></center>
<p class="alignfull"><img src="media/17cd66bd.1bm6l8H.jpg" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/1bm6l8H.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>SeriesGuide is free of charge and available in the Chrome Store. It currently comes in two flavors; one that opens the extension in the <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/seriesguide-chrome-v2-bro/cdfkaloficjmdjbgmckaddgfcghgidei">same tab</a>, and one that <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/seriesguide-chrome-v2-new/hkbamkappmgfjjahmnlngibomenmbbdf">launches it in a separate tab.</a></p>
<p>There&#8217;s very little doubt that the TV-companies wont be amused by SeriesGuide. However, SchizoDuckie believes that the extension is perfectly legal and there&#8217;s no lawsuit on the horizon.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not really worried. First off, I&#8217;m in Europe, I don&#8217;t have to worry about gazillions of dollars of lawyer fees if I cough in the wrong direction. Secondly, I&#8217;m not distributing anything illegal, I&#8217;m merely connecting pieces of data that are freely available on the web and presenting them in another interface,&#8221; he says.  </p>
<p>&#8220;This is exactly what Google and The Pirate Bay does too, and this is exactly what a human does if he operates this same procedure manually. If there&#8217;s a law against that somehow, then I don&#8217;t want to live on this planet anymore.&#8221;</p>
<p>That said, Google is known to boot torrent related extensions from the Chrome Store over &#8220;<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-bans-torrent-search-extensions-for-chrome-over-piracy-concerns-131211/">piracy concerns</a>&#8220;, so there is a chance that SeriesGuide will not be available there forever. According to SchizoDuckie, this isn&#8217;t really a major problem.</p>
<p>&#8220;If somehow the whole thing does get taken down, then the source code is still out there, since it&#8217;s an <a href="https://github.com/SchizoDuckie/seriesguide-chrome">open source project</a>. The genie is out of the bottle,&#8221; he concludes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84616
title: Police Raid “Movie Cammer” and Family Twice – Then Drop All Charges
uri: Police-Raid-Movie-Cammer-and-Family-Twice-Then-Drop-All-Char
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QJbml3lWa2U/
content:
<p><img class="alignright" alt="" src="media/bfbc3855.cammer1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cammer1.jpg" width="210" height="122">During May 2013, police assisted by the Federation Against Copyright Theft carried out a surprisingly heavy-handed raid in the UK against a suspected movie cammer. Five unmarked police vehicles containing detectives and FACT employees were deployed to arrest a 24-year-old said to have recorded the movie Fast and Furious 6.</p>
<p>The man, who had lots of property seized, was arrested, detained and later questioned by police and FACT. Later released on police bail until September 2013 as the investigation continued, the man <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/five-undercover-police-cars-sent-to-arrest-single-alleged-movie-pirate-130525/">told TorrentFreak</a> he had been banned from entering any cinema in England and Wales.</p>
<p>With the guy&#8217;s bail date just a few weeks away, the story took another twist. Police and FACT again turned up at the man’s home in the West Midlands armed with a new search warrant. This time they said that along with his sister and her ex-boyfriend, the man was suspected of camming the movie &#8220;Epic&#8221;. All of their homes <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/police-arrest-alleged-movie-pirate-again-along-with-his-brother-sister-130909/">were raided</a>. With a lot more equipment seized and yet more detainment and questioning, all involved were bailed until this month.</p>
<p>&#8220;I went to answer bail at a local police station around a week ago,&#8221; the alleged cammer now informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;When I arrived I was told that the officer in charge of the case wasn&#8217;t on duty. However, when he was called at his home he said he had completely forgotten about the bail date and said that F.A.C.T had not sent over any paperwork relating to the case, so he did not know what to do.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="media/9b46c1db.fact.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/fact.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-74060" alt="fact" src="media/f002015f.fact.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fact.jpg" width="180" height="133"></a>At this point a decision was taken to re-bail the three people involved in the case until March 13, and a few days later the man&#8217;s sister received a call from FACT saying that they would soon return the property they seized from her. Wednesday this week the trio went to the local police station to collect it.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were greeted by Simon from F.A.C.T, the person who came and searched my property and interviewed me last year,&#8221; the man explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;When my sister returned to the car she had several evidence bags, three of which were for me which contained my phone, six laptops, a desktop computer, two tablets and around eleven hard drives plus an external hard drive. Her bags included hard drives, two Xbox 360 consoles, a mobile phone and other items. Another bag contained my brother&#8217;s property (a mobile phone, laptop and several USB memory sticks) and a further bag contained my friend&#8217;s property including a laptop, an old mobile phone and other things.&#8221;</p>
<p>However, it appears that that despite spending significant time and resources on the case, police have no further interest in the investigation or anyone&#8217;s prosecution.</p>
<p>&#8220;Speaking with the officer in charge of the case this week he informed me that when I do go to answer bail all criminal charges will be dropped, or NFA [no further action] as they call it,&#8221; the man informs TF.</p>
<p>But with the police backing off, does that mean an end to the matter? Possibly not.</p>
<p>The officer in charge of the case has told the man that FACT don&#8217;t appear to be giving up and are attempting to bring a private prosecution. That seems to be backed up by FACT not returning all property &#8211; a mobile phone, three servers, plus a router and modem are all still in the anti-piracy group&#8217;s possession.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fact that there is no evidence for a criminal prosecution begs the question as to whether or not there is sufficient evidence for a private law suit. Surely if there was any evidence at all [the police] would not be dropping the criminal charges,&#8221; the man says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Also what can they possibly sue me for? I have no job, no savings and no means of paying any compensation regardless of the outcome. Is it simply going to be a waste of everyone&#8217;s time?&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>These questions can only be answered by FACT, although at the time of publication no answers to our questions had been received.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84438
title: “Dallas Buyers Club” Makers Censor Comcast On Demand, By Mistake
uri: Dallas-Buyers-Club-Makers-Censor-Comcast-On-Demand-By-Mistake
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/AKJx1yuxldM/
content:
<p><a href="media/4270b5a2.dallas.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dallas.jpg"><img src="media/d45c68ed.dallas.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas.jpg" alt="dallas" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-83513"></a>In a few hours from now we will know which film has won the 2014 Oscar for Best Motion Picture. </p>
<p>One of the contenders is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Buyers_Club">Dallas Buyers Club</a>, which grossed over <a href="http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dallasbuyersclub.htm">$30 million</a> at the box office on a relatively small budget. Despite this success, the studio behind the movie fears that piracy may cannibalize future profits. </p>
<p>Last month we reported that its makers, Voltage Pictures, launched a series of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/downloaded-dallas-buyers-club-the-piracy-lawsuits-are-coming-140207/">lawsuits</a> in the U.S. against dozens of people who downloaded an unauthorized copy of the film via BitTorrent. This is not the first time for the studio &#8211; it previously launched a similar campaign against downloaders of The Hurt Locker.</p>
<p>Voltage&#8217;s anti-piracy actions are not limited to the courts though. The company is also sending out DMCA takedown requests, one of which was directed at Google. While this isn&#8217;t something newsworthy per se, the takedown request does include some curious URLs which appear to be counterproductive. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1454431">DMCA notice</a> lists 388 URLs in total. As can be seen below, these links are not all pointing to copyright-infringing content. On the contrary, Voltage Pictures asks Google to censor a <a href="http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/watch/Dallas-Buyers-Club/8457005391298221112/movies#filter=online&#038;episode=Video-59643971960">perfectly legal</a> Dallas Buyers Club page on Comcast&#8217;s XFINITY on-demand service. </p>
<p>The notice also includes several other URLs which don&#8217;t link to pirated material, including an <a href="http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/28/dallas-buyers-club-watch-matthew-mcconaugheys-transformation/">article on CNN</a> and a page from Google&#8217;s own <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/156449?hl=en">webmaster FAQ</a>. </p>
<p><center><strong>Dallas Buyers Club Takedown Notice</strong><br></br><a href="media/adbc8eb2.dallas-comcast.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas-comcast.png"><img src="media/adbc8eb2.dallas-comcast.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas-comcast.png" alt="dallas-comcast" width="582" height="115" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-84655"></a></center></p>
<p>It appears that Google isn&#8217;t happy with the sloppy DMCA notice, as the search engine has decided to remove <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/requests/991384/">none of the links</a> in the request. This means that the Pirate Bay links listed in the notice remain accessible through Google. </p>
<p>Also of note, is that this is the first and only DMCA request Voltage Pictures has ever sent to Google. This suggests that the company might not be too worried about appearing in search results. Instead, the takedown notice may have been a preemptive action related to the BitTorrent lawsuits we mentioned earlier.</p>
<p>With this DMCA notice Voltage can show the court that it took other anti-piracy efforts as well. Whether that is wise has yet to be seen though, since right now it mostly shows how weak the studio&#8217;s evidence gathering tools are.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84695
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 03/03/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-03-03-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/l90aYr1nEh0/
content:
<p><img src="media/deab8184.frozen.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/frozen.jpg" alt="frozen" width="300" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84700">This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Frozen, which came available as Blu-ray rip a few days ago, is the most downloaded movie this week. </p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-140217/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frozen_2013/">Frozen</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/">8.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQm5doF_Uc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_hustle/">American Hustle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1800241/">7.6</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST7a1aK_lG0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/12_years_a_slave/">12 Years A Slave</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024544/?">8.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02Ie8wKKRg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_frankenstein/">I Frankenstein</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1418377/">5.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCUZd1iuq3o">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thor_the_dark_world/">Thor: The Dark World</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/">7.6</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npvJ9FTgZbM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gravity_2013/">Gravity</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/">8.2</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiTiKOy59o4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saving_mr_banks_2013/">Saving Mr. Banks</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140373/">7.7</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5kYmrjongg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_book_thief/">The Book Thief</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816442/">7.7</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92EBSmxinus">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ride_along_2014/">Ride Along</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408253/">6.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdXo4vBgG7I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wolf_of_wall_street_2013/">The Wolf Of Wall Street</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/">8.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UNWLgY-wuo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84706
title: VPN Users ‘Pirating’ Netflix Scare TV Networks
uri: VPN-Users-Pirating-Netflix-Scare-TV-Networks
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/kS_Mwit34xU/
content:
<p><a href="media/057c7f2e.netflix-logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/netflix-logo.png"><img src="media/b310fc7c.netflix-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix-logo.png" alt="netflix-logo" width="200" height="121" class="alignright size-full wp-image-69714"></a>While Netflix is without doubt a hit service credited for doing something positive in the battle against piracy, it needs to spread its wings even more widely. There is one region in particular that would love to see it arrive on its shores, but probably won&#8217;t for some time.</p>
<p>Australia is often criticized for its appetite for unauthorized downloading but it&#8217;s a country with a better &#8216;excuse&#8217; than most for engaging in it. Not only is legal content much more expensive than in the US, the region is continually <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/australia-breeds-pirates-game-thrones-140203/">under-served</a>, meaning that locals resort to file-sharing networks for shows such as Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, turning Australia into a per-head <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-pirates-break-bittorrent-swarm-record-130401/">piracy front-runner</a>.</p>
<p>Netflix is blocked in Australia, partly because the big US studios have an exclusive deal with media giant News Corp to show content. On the Internet, however, news travels fast. Googling &#8220;netflix australia&#8221; turns up dozens of articles explaining how to circumvent the Netflix geo-blocking mechanism to (shock, horror) actually PAY to watch Netflix in Australia using <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition/">VPN services and proxies</a>.</p>
<p>Naturally there are no official figures on how many people watch Netflix this way but estimates range from 20,000 up to 200,000 subscribers. Highlighting how the TV networks view these people, an article this morning in News Corp-owned <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/broadcast/more-netflix-pirates-on-board/story-fna045gd-1226842998214#">The Australian</a> went as far as labeling subscribers as &#8220;pirates&#8221;, even though they are paying for the service.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is concern at local networks about the growing impact of the US company flouting international regulations by accepting payments from Australian credit cards, despite maintaining a geo-block that is easily bypassed by VPN manipulation or spoof IP addresses,&#8221; the paper said.</p>
<p>But do subscribers deserve to be called pirates when they are showing the clearest possible buying signals? In 2011, then Attorney-General Robert McClelland gave his opinion.</p>
<p>“In relation to the use of VPNs by Australians to access services such as Hulu and Netflix, on the limited information provided there does not appear to be an infringement of copyright law in Australia,” McClelland told The Australian, the same News Corp-owned publication now calling Aussie Netflix subscribers &#8220;pirates&#8221;.</p>
<p>But with Netflix not having to go to the expense of setting up in Australia in order to service the region, rivals in the same market area are also feeling uneasy.</p>
<p>“The studios have licensed Netflix to distribute content on particular terms in the US and other larger markets, they haven’t licensed Netflix for Australia,&#8221; <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/technology/quickflix_chief_hits_out_streaming_MPpkVja74SNNI3iM0SbcQM">said</a> <a href="http://www.quickflix.com.au/">Quickflix</a> chief executive Stephen Langsford this morning.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have no doubt that the studios are in discussions with Netflix about VPNs because it is blatantly in breach of terms and Netflix is essentially getting a free ride into Australia.”</p>
<p>Quickflix currently has around 100,000 full subscribers so if the highest estimates are to be believed, the company has potentially half the 200,000 &#8220;unauthorized&#8221; subscribers Netflix already has in Australia.</p>
<p>The only real solution to the situation with Netflix, VPNs, piracy and the Australian content problem is to properly service the region with legal video in a timely fashion and at a reasonable price. By now it&#8217;s a stuck record, but anything else simply won&#8217;t work.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84690
title: Warner Bros. DMCA Abuse Records Should be Unsealed, EFF Tells Court
uri: Warner-Bros-DMCA-Abuse-Records-Should-be-Unsealed-EFF-Tells-Court
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yayRXuefLAk/
content:
<p><a href="media/0c580e09.warner.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/warner.jpg"><img src="media/d5859e0c.warner.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warner.jpg" alt="warner" width="200" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-38004"></a>In a retaliatory move, three years ago file-hosting service Hotfile <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hotfile-sues-warner-bros-for-copyright-fraud-and-abuse-110913/">sued Warner Bros.</a>, accusing the movie studio of repeatedly abusing the DMCA takedown process.</p>
<p>Hotfile alleged that after giving Warner access to its systems, the studio removed hundreds of files that weren&#8217;t theirs, including games demos and Open Source software. </p>
<p>In a response, Warner Bros. admitted the accusations. However, the movie studio argued that they were not to blame because a computer made the mistakes, not a person. As a result, the false takedown requests were not “deliberate lies.”</p>
<p>Warner Bros. asked the court for summary judgment in its favor but Florida District Court Judge Kathleen Williams eventually decided to let the issue be heard before a jury, stating that there was sufficient evidence to suggest that Warner intentionally took down files it didn&#8217;t own.</p>
<p>With instances of automated abuse becoming more frequent in recent years the case promised to be crucial. But last November, a few weeks before the trial was due to begin, it was closed as part of a settlement between Hotfile and the MPAA. </p>
<p>The decision was a disappointment to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (<a href="https://www.eff.org/">EFF</a>) who have now <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/210233244/eff-hot1">asked the court</a> to unseal documents regarding Warner&#8217;s alleged abuse. According to the group, the public has the right to know what mistakes Warner made.</p>
<p>&#8220;Judge Williams&#8217; decision was encouraging, but mysterious – we don’t get to see evidence of how Warner&#8217;s system works and which of its improper DMCA takedown notices gave rise to liability. So we know that Warner may have crossed a line, but not how or why,&#8221; EFF notes. </p>
<p>EFF&#8217;s interest in the matter is heightened because Congress and the Patent and Trademark Office have asked the public for input on the DMCA&#8217;s notice-and-takedown procedure. Details about Warner&#8217;s alleged abuse can help to shape these discussions, the group explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Without seeing the facts that went into Judge WIlliams&#8217;s decision, it doesn&#8217;t help people design takedown systems that comply with the law, and it doesn&#8217;t help anyone make informed arguments about the DMCA when Congress takes it up,&#8221; EFF says.</p>
<p>According to EFF, public interest trumps Warner&#8217;s motivations to keep the court documents under seal. In fact, EFF believes that one of Warner&#8217;s main reasons not to disclose the details is to avoid embarrassment.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are indications that Warner simply seeks to avoid embarrassment that might follow from public disclosure of abusive practices that the Court’s summary judgment order strongly suggest were taking place. Avoiding embarrassment of a corporate litigant is not a legitimate reason for denying the public its right of access,&#8221; EFF tells Judge Williams.</p>
<p>The EFF is convinced that some copyright holders are abusing the DMCA to censor free speech. If this is the case with Warner, then lawmakers should know about it, so these violations can be stopped in the future. </p>
<p>&#8220;Lawmakers need to hear about how well the system is actually working, and whether it protects Internet users against having their speech curtailed by takedown-bots or overzealous and poorly trained reviewers.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;Actual data about major DMCA users like Warner is vital,&#8221; EFF concludes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84759
title: “12 Years A Slave” Piracy Surges After Oscar Win
uri: 12-Years-A-Slave-Piracy-Surges-After-Oscar-Win
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/w-gGccEftNA/
content:
<p><a href="media/6fa5d6d2.oscartorrents.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/oscartorrents.png"><img src="media/7cffd0f4.oscartorrents.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/oscartorrents.png" alt="oscartorrents" width="185" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-22131"></a>With 7 Oscars Gravity was the big winner at the <a href="http://oscar.go.com/">Academy Awards</a> ceremony on Sunday evening. However, the Oscar for the best motion picture went to 12 years a Slave. </p>
<p>While the makers of both films couldn&#8217;t be happier, there&#8217;s also a dark side to this success. </p>
<p>Soon after the Hollywood festivities ended, the number of downloads for both films gradually increased. </p>
<p>For example, the number of 12 Years a Slave pirates downloading the film via BitTorrent tripled, resulting in more than 100,000 extra downloads on Monday.</p>
<p>The interest in 7-time Oscar winner Gravity increased as well, as the number of active downloaders on the most popular torrent more than doubled.</p>
<p>The temporary boost in piracy is a recurring phenomenon for Oscar winners. The <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/oscar-win-boosts-hurt-lockers-piracy-numbers-100312/">same happened</a> to The Hurt Locker, which prompted movie studio Voltage Pictures to sue <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hurt-locker-makers-target-record-breaking-24583-bittorrent-users-110523/">tens of thousands</a> of downloaders.</p>
<p>Whether the makers of Gravity and 12 Years a Slave have similar plans has yet to be seen. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/5c4ef01d.aVynJRH.jpg" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/aVynJRH.jpg" alt="12 years piracy"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84769
title: Lawyers Sent 109,000 Piracy Threats in Germany During 2013
uri: Lawyers-Sent-109-000-Piracy-Threats-in-Germany-During-2013
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pta_I_FYKg0/
content:
<p>The file-sharing settlement business has humble roots, but is now turning into big business. <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/billboard-100-pirates-automated-fines-140227/">As revealed</a> last week, Rightscorp is growing its operation in leaps and bounds, obtaining tens of thousands of settlements from US-based users on behalf of rightsholders.</p>
<p>While Rightscorp seeks small settlements of a few dollars per alleged offense, other companies really do earn their copyright troll label with demands for thousands of dollars/euros per infringed item. US citizens have parted with millions of dollars in recent years but spare a thought for the people of Germany, who were introduced to this model in the middle of the last decade.</p>
<p>Information supplied to TorrentFreak by Christian Solmecke of the <a href="http://www.wbs-law.de/">Wilde Beuger Solmecke</a> law firm, shows that plenty of well-known companies are involved in the German settlement market. Record companies EMI, Sony and Warner, US porn trolls Malibu Media, plus big movie companies including Universal and Twentieth Century Fox were all active last year.</p>
<p>New figures made available by <a href="http://www.iggdaw.de/">IGGDAW</a>, an interest group that works with targets of predatory rightsholders, reveal that the business has shown little sign of let up during the past 12 months.</p>
<p>During 2013, a total of 108,975 threat letters were sent out to Internet users, a modest decrease of 1.3% over the number sent in 2012. As can be seen in the chart below, the number is thankfully just a fraction of the huge numbers sent in 2009 and 2010.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/d936ef9e.warnings1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warnings1.jpg" alt="Warnings1"></center></p>
<p>While the number of threats sent is slightly down, rightsholders and law firms involved are both on the rise. A total of 446 rightsholders employed 72 law firms to send out letters in 2013, versus 422 and 65 respectively in 2012.</p>
<p>Content-wise, the greatest number of settlement requests were sent out for regular movies (&#8216;spielfilm&#8217;) with 43.9% of the total. Adult movies (&#8216;porno&#8217;) trailed quite a way behind in second place with 24.2%. Music tracks came a close third with 22.8% of the total.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/d276460b.contentsplit.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/contentsplit.jpg" alt="Content"></center></p>
<p>For yet another year the all-important settlement numbers make for bleak reading. In 2012 the average amount demanded from letter recipients was 796.87 euros ($1,094), an amount that increased to 829.11 euros ($1,140)in 2013.</p>
<p>Multiply that by the number of threats sent (108,975) and we reach a figure in excess of 90.3 million euros, or around $124 million. How many people actually settle remains unclear but German law is geared up to put pressure on Internet users to pay up.</p>
<p>So where now for Germany?</p>
<p>It was hoped that new legislation (Improper Business Practices Act) introduced last October would assist by imposing transparency requirements on law firms sending out letters and capping the amounts they can claim. But according to Christian Solmecke, the law firms involved have adjusted accordingly.</p>
<p>“The new rules do not go far enough. The position in which internet users find themselves is hardly any better than that in which they were in before the legislation came into force,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84807
title: “Pirates Are The Movie Industry’s Most Valuable Customers”
uri: Pirates-Are-The-Movie-Industry-s-Most-Valuable-Customers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DdckQW3fa1A/
content:
<p><a href="media/0dcb729d.worthpaying.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/worthpaying.jpg"><img src="media/0dcb729d.worthpaying.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/worthpaying.jpg" alt="worthpaying" width="250" height="141" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84810"></a>&#8220;<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=piracy+it%27s+a+crime">Piracy, it&#8217;s a crime</a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_can_click,_but_you_can't_hide">You can click but you can&#8217;t hide</a>&#8221; are slogans from two familiar anti-piracy campaigns launched by the movie industry in the 2000s.</p>
<p>Despite these efforts, unauthorized copying grew in popularity over the past decade, spurred on by better broadband connections and cheaper bandwidth. Perhaps of even greater interest, there was also a counterproductive element to this negative messaging which the movie industry overlooked. </p>
<p>Pirates are actually the industry&#8217;s most valuable customers.</p>
<p>In recent years <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/file-sharers-buy-more-movies-121018/">several studies</a> <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-movie-pirates-spend-way-more-at-the-box-office-121122/">have shown</a> that those who share movies illegally tend to spend more on legal entertainment. This finding is now recognized by the <a href="http://www.industrytrust.co.uk/">Industry Trust For IP Awareness</a>, which includes all major Hollywood studios among <a href="http://www.industrytrust.co.uk/who-we-are/members/">its members</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We know that the people that infringe content are the most valuable audience group,&#8221; Liz Bales, Director of the Industry Trust says.</p>
<p>&#8220;They go to the cinema more than the national average, they are buying more Blu-rays than anyone else. They are more likely to have a Sky subscription and they are massively in love with Lovefilm and Netflix,&#8221; Bales  told <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/steal-or-no-steal-tackling-the-changing-face-of-movie-piracy-1230538">TechRadar</a>.</p>
<p>With the above in mind, the movie industry has been rolling out a new series of anti-piracy PSAs. Instead of criminalizing their own audience, the campaigns gently suggest that their customers should pirate a little less. </p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s saying that we know you love movies and value that you are spending money on movies but we just want you to do a bit more of the right things and less of the infringement,&#8221; Bales explains.</p>
<p>In other words, the messaging has become more positive, pointing out that there are plenty of legal options to choose from. The <a href="http://www.industrytrust.co.uk/press-releases/the-industry-trust-and-sony-pictures-releasing-uk-launch-exclusive-moments-worth-paying-for-the-amazing-spider-man-2-trailer/">latest video</a> in this series focuses on the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man 2 release.</p>
<p>Using the slogan &#8220;moments worth paying for&#8221; the video points out that people can also pay for their movies, hoping it will encourage pirates to pay more often. </p>
<p>Whether these positive campaigns will prove successful remains to be seen, but it&#8217;s a refreshing approach for sure.  </p>
<p><center><strong>It&#8217;s worth paying for</strong><br></br><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JQRqHH2G_-w?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84826
title: Italian Police Carry Out Largest Ever ‘Pirate’ Domain Crackdown
uri: Italian-Police-Carry-Out-Largest-Ever-Pirate-Domain-Crackdown
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/r6GgEMtW2HI/
content:
<p><img src="media/3df2fe22.guardia.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/guardia.jpg" width="225" height="150" class="alignright">For many years Italian authorities have targeted torrent and other file-sharing sites. Complaints from the music and movie industries have sometimes led to raids, but in recent times site blocking has been in vogue.</p>
<p>Sharing giants such as The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents, isoHunt, 1337x and waves of file-hosting sites have been blocked in previous actions, with <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/massive-bittorrent-and-cyberlocker-domain-crackdown-underway-130415/">27 targeted</a> in a single sweep during April 2013, the largest ever of its type.</p>
<p>Now authorities are back with a fresh action on a previously unseen scale. The initiative, which targets 46 torrent, streaming and other file-sharing portals, was ordered by the Public Prosecutor of Rome.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Fulvio Sarzana, a lawyer with the Sarzana and Partners <a href="http://www.lidis.it/">law firm</a> specializing in Internet and copyright disputes, says the operation is the largest ever seen in Italy and will see dozens of sites blocked at the ISP level.</p>
<p>&#8220;The domains of sites linking to torrent files, in order to download illegal copies of music and movie, have been seized today as ordered by Preliminary investigation Judge of Rome, at the request of the public prosecutor,&#8221; Sarzana explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Both the DNS addresses of the sites and their domain name have been made inaccessible to Italian users by all Italian ISPs, in such a way to deprive users of the possibility to access their files hosted in the sites.&#8221;</p>
<p><img src="media/f05b8357.censored.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/censored.jpg" width="199" height="173" class="alignright">The blocking will be carried out on the orders of the Guardia di Finanza (GdF), a department under Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance tasked with dealing with financial crime, and will cover sites including mondotorrent, dopinatorrent, truepirates,  filmxtutti, casacinema, watchfreemovies.ch and universfilms.</p>
<p>Interestingly, Sarzana adds that the case could have a novel twist, in that the police carried out the action on their own initiative.</p>
<p>&#8220;At present it seems that the action wasn&#8217;t carried out at the request of copyright owners associations,&#8221; the lawyer explains.</p>
<p>TF spoke with Enzo Mazzo of music industry group FIMI who confirmed that while there is yet no public announcement on the action, it was indeed carried out by the Fiscal Police from Rome with an order from the Public Prosecutor.</p>
<p>&#8220;We obviously appreciate the action carried out by the Fiscal Police following the blocking strategy,&#8221; Mazzo said. </p>
<p>This huge sweep is of particular interest when one considers that a controversial new process to more easily block allegedly infringing sites is not yet in force. Dubbed Italy&#8217;s &#8216;SOPA&#8217;, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/italys-sopa-ranked-most-important-ip-legislation-of-2013-131230/">the framework</a>  &#8211; set for April introduction &#8211; will see the domains of sites blocked at the ISP level if they fail to remove infringing content in a timely fashion.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, across Europe in Spain, three of the country&#8217;s largest sites have bowed to rightsholder pressure and agreed to stop linking to infringing content. According to <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/spains-popular-piracy-sites-stop-685791">THR</a>, SeriesYonkis, Peliculas Yonkis and VideoYonkis stopped linking over the weekend as part of negotiations in their legal dispute with Spain&#8217;s Anti-Piracy Federation (FAP).</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84822
title: RuPaul Trolls Pirates With Fake Album Leak on The Pirate Bay
uri: RuPaul-Trolls-Pirates-With-Fake-Album-Leak-on-The-Pirate-Bay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_63nXJXpsP0/
content:
<p><a href="media/111d4961.rupaul.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rupaul.jpg"><img src="media/111d4961.rupaul.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rupaul.jpg" alt="rupaul" width="225" height="219" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84842"></a>Last week <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuPaul">RuPaul</a>, known for his reality TV competition &#8220;Drag Race,&#8221; leaked several copies of his/her album &#8220;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/born-naked/id826616569">Born Naked</a>&#8221; on The Pirate Bay. </p>
<p>Unlike other leaks, however, this copy wasn&#8217;t exactly what most pirates were looking for. </p>
<p>At first sight the album appears to be full length, and even the start of all tracks seem legit. However, those who continue to listen are in for a surprise. </p>
<p>After the first minute or so the music becomes muffled, just as RuPaul breaks in with a message for the downloader. </p>
<p>&#8220;Girl, you done stole my album. Uh Uh, you better don&#8217;t hookah, you better get your tail on over to iTunes baby, because I want to get some of that,&#8221; is how the first track &#8220;Freaky Money&#8221; goes after a 30 second intro.</p>
<p>Then RuPaul continues with some random conversation, funny skits, as well as some additional pirate-shaming as you can hear below.  </p>
<p><center><strong>&#8220;Freaky Money&#8221; pirate edition</strong><br></br><audio controls><br>
  <source src="media/9c0167a8.01_Freaky_Money_feat._Big_Freedia_.mp3" data-original-source="http://k007.kiwi6.com/hotlink/ctxc360vz8/01_Freaky_Money_feat._Big_Freedia_.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"><br>
Your browser does not support the audio element.<br>
</audio></center></p>
<p>It appears that it took quite a bit of effort to put the pirate leak together, as every track contains a unique message. In addition to poking fun at pirates, most of the conversation is about the tracks themselves, or just random thoughts.</p>
<p>With the track &#8220;Modern Love&#8221; RuPaul starts talking over the music around a minute into the song. </p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s RuPaul up on WERQ, I&#8217;ve decided to change my radio station name to WERQ, ain&#8217;t that better? That&#8217;s right, you&#8217;re listening to WERQ, this is Ru, you&#8217;re listening to the BOOT motherfucking LEG of my album.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I wasn&#8217;t going to cuss, because I thought, oh no, we can&#8217;t do that. But hey, this is some motherfucking pirated shit, this is illegal, bitch, you&#8217;re illegal, as.. as, you&#8217;re the one illegal!&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>&#8220;Modern Love&#8221; pirate edition</strong><br></br><audio controls><br>
  <source src="media/c5118b9f.08_Modern_Love.mp3" data-original-source="http://k007.kiwi6.com/hotlink/rmtoxsze5o/08_Modern_Love.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"><br>
Your browser does not support the audio element.<br>
</audio></center></p>
<p>On the final track &#8220;Born Naked&#8221; RuPaul again starts by condemning the person who downloaded the album, then continues to chat about the track and the people who participated in the &#8216;leak&#8217;, which is in effect an extended advert for the album. </p>
<p><center><strong>&#8220;Born Naked&#8221; pirate edition</strong><br></br><audio controls><br>
  <source src="media/0e6de773.10_Born_Naked_feat._Clairy_Browne_.mp3" data-original-source="http://k007.kiwi6.com/hotlink/j562d746lp/10_Born_Naked_feat._Clairy_Browne_.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"><br>
Your browser does not support the audio element.<br>
</audio></center></p>
<p>The parts where RuPaul talks over the tracks are actually quite entertaining at times, which makes it pretty unique. The tone isn&#8217;t too serious, although the message probably is, which is a good combo. </p>
<p>It definitely beats the decoy files music labels used to upload, which wouldn&#8217;t play at all. Instead of frustrating potential consumers, RuPaul is sending a friendly reminder to those who perhaps forgot to pay. </p>
<p>Ironically, those who like RuPaul will have to pay a visit to The Pirate Bay to grab a copy of <a href="http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/9658611">this collector&#8217;s item</a>. </p>
<p><center><a href="media/1c9c3a99.rupaulleak.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rupaulleak.png"><img src="media/1c9c3a99.rupaulleak.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rupaulleak.png" alt="rupaulleak" width="619" height="437" size-full wp-image-84862"></a></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84861
title: BREIN: We Killed 200+ Pirate Bay Proxies in 2013
uri: BREIN-We-Killed-200-Pirate-Bay-Proxies-in-2013
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5MGfYujhDc8/
content:
<p><a href="media/3701bdeb.brein-new.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/brein-new.png"><img src="media/cf841bc6.brein-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/brein-new.png" alt="brein-new" width="189" height="69" class="alignright size-full wp-image-40624"></a>During the first few months of each year, infamous Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN details its successes of the previous 12 months. </p>
<p>In its new report published this week, BREIN presents a laundry list of site and service shutdowns, payment processor and advertising disruptions, plus the results of takedown campaigns directed at companies such as Google. Most of BREIN&#8217;s annual declarations contain large-scale claims and the report for 2014 continues that tradition.</p>
<p><strong>Strategy</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;Briefly, BREIN&#8217;s enforcement strategy is aimed at forcing illegal sites or online services into copyright compliance and fulfilling their duty of care. If not, the sites&#8217; hosting providers could identify them or take them offline, or if that offers no solace, providers can block access to them,&#8221; BREIN explains.</p>
<p>In addition to identifying individuals behind sites, BREIN says it also targets their payment providers, advertisers and their intermediaries. The group also issues takedown requests, including many thousands sent to Google.</p>
<p><strong>Site takedown results</strong></p>
<p>In common with all previous years, BREIN has some big claims on this front. Cyberlocker linking sites were hardest hit in 2013, with BREIN claiming shutdown of 280 sites in total. The names of the sites remain a mystery, a policy maintained by BREIN throughout many years&#8217; reports.</p>
<p>Moving up to the sources rather than sites that merely link to them, BREIN says it closed down 10 actual file-hosting sites. In the streaming and Usenet realms the group claims the scalps of 66 and 38 sites respectively. Again, no details are provided.</p>
<p>Of course, most readers will be interested in BREIN&#8217;s claims of successes against BitTorrent sites and as usual they are pretty lofty. The Hollywood-affiliated group says that it closed 118 torrent sites in 2013. Their names are&#8230;..unknown.</p>
<p>The big feather-in-the-cap for BREIN in 2012 was of course the blocking of The Pirate Bay, but there was less to celebrate on that front in 2013. As previously <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isps-no-longer-have-to-block-the-pirate-bay-dutch-court-rules-140128/">reported</a>, all that came tumbling down in recent weeks when The Court of The Hague decided to lift the ban and restore access for Dutch citizens.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, in this week&#8217;s report BREIN is still claiming successes in upholding the ban throughout 2013, with claims that it took down an astonishing 206 proxy sites setup to circumvent the blockade of The Pirate Bay. Whether those sites remain down today is largely moot, as Dutch citizens can now access The Pirate Bay directly pending a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-will-take-pirate-bay-blocking-case-to-supreme-court-140222/">Supreme Court ruling</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Advertisers, payment processors and takedown notices</strong></p>
<p>A developing anti-piracy strategy is to try and cut sites off from their income. To this end BREIN says it deals with advertisers on the one hand and payment processors on the other.</p>
<p>The group reports that in 41 cases payment processors divulged &#8220;identifying information&#8221; and discontinued service to sites. In another 100 cases advertisers reportedly offered a commitment not to advertise on sites offering content without permission.</p>
<p>In common with many other anti-piracy groups, BREIN is now sending plenty of takedown requests to both sites and search engines. A total of 2.3 million URL takedown notices were sent to Google last year, making an average of around 44,000 per week. According to Google&#8217;s Transparency Report, most related to file-host search engine FilesTube, followed by now-defunct torrent site isoHunt.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
<p>There can be little doubt that in recent years BREIN has proven to be a major thorn in the side of many hundreds of mostly small, Netherlands-based file-sharing sites. However, while it seems unlikely that BREIN would be outwardly untruthful in its annual statements, the anti-piracy outfit provides zero evidence in support of its claims. Pirate Bay aside, not a single site is mentioned by name, even though the claim is that more than 700 (sites and proxies) were taken down in 2013.</p>
<p>Effective? The rightsholders paying them must think so.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><sub><em>Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/danzen/2963144336/">Dan Zen</a> </em></sub></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84836
title: Pirate Bay Down Due to Network Issues
uri: Pirate-Bay-Down-Due-to-Network-Issues
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BWfKspjWsPc/
content:
<p>Every time <a href="http://thepiratebay.se/">The Pirate Bay</a> suffers a few minutes of downtime thousands of people start to worry that &#8220;the galaxy&#8217;s most resilient BitTorrent site&#8221; has been raided by the authorities. </p>
<p><img src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" alt="tpb-logo" width="222" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-67837">Luckily, this happened only once, and most downtime has a less dramatic cause. </p>
<p>Today the site has been down for a few hours as well. </p>
<p>TF contacted the Pirate Bay team who informed us that they are facing some network issues that have to be fixed. </p>
<p>There is no ETA for when the site will return, but it will come back online eventually. </p>
<p>Stay tuned.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Well that was quick, hardware replaced, TPB is back.</p>
<div align="center">
<h5>Pirate Bay Downtime</h5>
<p><img src="media/0bf9c0f3.tpbdown.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbdown.jpg" alt="tpb"></div>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84881
title: Pirate Bay Founder’s Detention Extended Based on “New Evidence”
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-s-Detention-Extended-Based-on-New-Evidence
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/j65H519-vU8/
content:
<p><img src="media/7557a16b.anakata1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/anakata1.jpg" alt="anakata" width="225" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-64418">Late last year Gottfrid Svartholm was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-imminent-extradition-raises-big-questions-131123/">extradited</a> to Denmark, where The Pirate Bay founder stands accused of hacking into the mainframe computers of IT company CSC.  </p>
<p>After several custody extensions Svartholm appeared in court again this week, and for the first time the hearing was open to the press and &#8220;Free Anakata&#8221; supporters. </p>
<p>During the court session new evidence was presented which allegedly links Svartholm to the CSC hack. The prosecution said that an encrypted file found on Svartholm&#8217;s computer contained the Swede&#8217;s personal information as well as documents related to the hacks.  </p>
<p>According to the court this evidence warrants another custody extension of four weeks, which means that Svartholm will remain in detention until April 2nd. </p>
<p>&#8220;Our suspicion has been confirmed, because the personal data found on Svartholm&#8217;s computer comes from the same place where the CSC files were stored. It reinforces our belief that it is obviously not a random person remotely accessed the computer to do all these things,&#8221; senior prosecutor Maria Cingari told <a href="http://politiken.dk/indland/ECE2226676/nye-oplysninger-i-csc-sag-sender-svensk-hacker-tilbage-i-faengsel/">Politiken</a> in a comment.</p>
<p>The prosecution believes that Svartholm was operating under the alias &#8216;My Evil Twin&#8217; while his 20-year-old co-defendant used the handle &#8216;Advanced Persistent Terrorist Threat.&#8217;</p>
<p><center><strong>Gottfrid&#8217;s lawyer <a href="http://freeanakata.tumblr.com/post/78694153794/support-anakata-in-court-5-march-2014-photos">Luise Høj</a></strong><br></br><img src="media/4c1225e1.free-ana.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/free-ana.jpg" alt="free-ana" width="600" height="346" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-84885"></center></p>
<p>Svartholm&#8217;s lawyer Luise Høj, who posed with a &#8220;Free Anakata&#8221; poster outside court, points out that the evidence in the encrypted container is not new. The container also holds documents from the Nordea hack and was previously used in the Swedish trial.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The same material was used in the Swedish case. In the encrypted container are CSC documents, Nordea material and personal information about my client. It is evidence that the Swedish High Court has considered and which they believed affected the case,&#8221; Høj said.</p>
<p>In the Swedish case the Pirate Bay founder was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-hacking-sentence-slashed-in-half-on-appeal-130925/">acquitted</a> of hacking Nordea because it could not be proven that Svartholm carried out the hacks himself. Svartholm later pointed this out in an <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-asks-danish-authorities-to-drop-hacking-case-131006/">open letter</a> to the Danish authorities last year, but his extradition went ahead nonetheless.</p>
<p>Svartholm&#8217;s lawyer hopes to use the same &#8220;remote access&#8221; argument in Denmark, but thus far the authorities aren&#8217;t being cooperative. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have asked for investigative measures that can help to make it probable that my client&#8217;s computer has been accessed remotely, but so far, police have not been willing to comply,&#8221; Høj said.</p>
<p>It is expected that the defense will get the opportunity to law out their argument in detail at a later stage. Svartholm is expected to remain in prison until then. The trial is currently scheduled to start on September 2nd.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84877
title: Washington Attorney General Hits Cyberlocker For “Deceptive Practices”
uri: Washington-Attorney-General-Hits-Cyberlocker-For-Deceptive-Practice
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/PgRpVanowdM/
content:
<p><a href="media/b2e2ff16.ultramegabit.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ultramegabit.jpg"><img src="media/b2e2ff16.ultramegabit.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ultramegabit.jpg" alt="ultramegabit" width="180" height="97" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84903"></a>In the wake of the Megaupload shutdown many file-hosting services reconsidered their options, with some opting to drastically change their business models or even shut down. Whatever the response, the general consensus was to think twice before running a &#8216;cyberlocker&#8217; in the United States.</p>
<p>Some, however, shrugged off the naysayers and elected to operate from the U.S., putting faith in legislation designed to protect them, such as the DMCA.</p>
<p>One such site, UltraMegabit.com, a file-hosting service operated by former <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/?s=elitetorrents">EliteTorrents</a> staff member Rudy Corella, has been doing business there ever since. Just recently it became clear the authorities had been watching the service, but the situation is unlike most other complaints against file-sharing sites.</p>
<p>The problem stems from alleged breaches of Washington State&#8217;s Consumer Protection Act, legislation put in place to protect people against fraud and unfair business practices. According to the Attorney General&#8217;s Office, UltraMegabit &#8220;engaged in a number of deceptive business practices&#8221; contrary to the Act.</p>
<p>These allegations admittedly looks pretty serious on first view but drilling down into the details reveals an interesting picture to say the least. </p>
<p>First off, UltraMegaBit (UMB) is owned by a California-based corporation with thousands of customers, but only a few based in Washington State are affected by the allegations. Like many file-hosters of its kind, UMB has both free and premium customers, the latter purchasing monthly or annual subscriptions for unlimited use of the service. It is these subscriptions that form the basis of the complaint.</p>
<p>The Attorney General&#8217;s Office (AGO) says that UltraMegaBit failed to &#8220;adequately disclose&#8221; that these subscriptions renewed without members&#8217; express approval. Countering, UMB say that members receive an email one week before renewal takes place.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly the issue of copyright eventually raises its head, although not in the form of any obvious rightsholder complaint.</p>
<p>Like the majority of file-hosting services, YouTube included, users sometimes upload unauthorized content to UMB, meaning that other users of the service gain access to infringing material. For its part, UMB says that it fully complies with the DMCA to remove such content.</p>
<p><a href="media/5aa8f09a.washingtonAG.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/washingtonAG.jpg"><img src="media/5aa8f09a.washingtonAG.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/washingtonAG.jpg" alt="washingtonAG" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84905"></a>However, the AGO says that by failing to inform users that some of the content available from UMB may be copyrighted, UMB had engaged in &#8220;deceptive business practices&#8221; contrary to the Consumer Protection Act.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the AGO said that by charging a subscription fee to use the service, UMB had been &#8220;implicitly leading members to believe&#8221; they were accessing content legally, something that was likely to confuse customers and lead them to unwittingly break the law.</p>
<p>“Ultra Mega Corp’s business model was confusing to consumers who are familiar with companies like Netflix or other companies that charge consumers a monthly fee to legally watch TV shows and movies,” said Assistant Attorney General Jake Bernstein.</p>
<p>“The AGO investigation revealed that the most popular files stored on UMB are copyrighted works, such as TV shows and movies, that members can not legally download,” Bernstein added. “UMB members were unknowingly downloading copyrighted content illegally, opening themselves up to potential lawsuits by content owners, as occurred with Napster and the music industry.”</p>
<p>While the AGO says that UMB&#8217;s Rudy Corella agreed to pay $20,000 to settle the case, a statement by UMB support staff suggests that the payment was only made to allow the site to move on.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are and always have been compliant with DMCA, and our rebilling model will send an email out one week prior to rebilling. As it is now, any member can cancel their rebill at any time. Rather than drag anything on, we as a company felt to just pay them, so they would get off of our back, and not hound any of our various other ventures we are involved in,&#8221; UMB said.</p>
<p>As this process has played out, questions were being asked about who filed the original complaints with the AGO. Many accusatory fingers were pointed at Robert King of the StopFileLockers anti-piracy group, who over the course of the past 18 months has endlessly and publicly accused Corella of copyright-infringement &#8220;crimes&#8221;.</p>
<p>However, UMB staff say that the Attorney General&#8217;s Office probably initiated the case on its own as payback for an earlier case that didn&#8217;t conclude to its satisfaction. </p>
<p>&#8220;One of the [UMB] owners used to have a business which was sued by Washington, and they never collected anything from that owner; once they heard news about his involvement in a new company, they looked for anything they could to threaten us with a lawsuit,&#8221; the staff member said.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure [there are people] who will try to profit from this news [thinking] they have something or anything to do with it. Fact of the matter is, they don&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
<p>TF spoke with Robert King, who would neither confirm nor deny the accusations.</p>
<p>&#8220;In regards to this particular case I cannot comment on this as doing so may impede the advancement of other matters,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84767
title: ‘Domains by Proxy’ Hands Over Personal Details of “Pirate” Site Owner
uri: Domains-by-Proxy-Hands-Over-Personal-Details-of-Pirate-Sit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/T1xEJuf7OVg/
content:
<p><img src="media/8f0693c8.domain-proxy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/domain-proxy.png" alt="domain-proxy" width="250" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84771">Representing the major Hollywood studios, the Motion Picture Association (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Association">MPA</a>) regularly patrols the Internet for sites that host or link to pirated movies. </p>
<p>In recent months the group has approached several site owners requesting them to take down their sites, or face legal action. </p>
<p>One way to identify the owners of said sites is through domain WHOIS information, which is publicly available. However, this becomes problematic when site owners use so-called domain privacy services, which hide their personal details from the public. At least, that&#8217;s what&#8217;s assumed. </p>
<p>As it turns out, not all of these services are as private as one might think. The operator of a linking site learned this the hard way when &#8216;<a href="https://www.domainsbyproxy.com/default.aspx">Domains by Proxy</a>&#8216; shared his personal details with the MPA.  </p>
<p>The domain privacy service, which is owned by GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons, handed over his personal details without a subpoena, or any form of due process.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have received a possible legal complaint regarding your domain name xxx.com,&#8221; Domains By Proxy informed the site owner.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since we were provided with proof the complainant owns a potentially applicable copyright, we have disclosed your identity for the limited purpose of this complaint so that the complainant can communicate directly with you to seek resolution.&#8221;</p>
<p>The site owner, who prefers to remain anonymous, was shocked when he received the message. He says his website doesn&#8217;t host any copyrighted material and assumed that Domains by Proxy would at least notify him before sharing any personal details.</p>
<p>Soon after the email from Domains by Proxy arrived, the Motion Picture Association reached out to the domain owner, using the name and email address provided by the domain privacy service. </p>
<p>&#8220;This Notice requires you to immediately take effective measures to end and prevent further copyright infringement. All opportunities provided by the Website to download, stream or otherwise obtain access to the Entertainment Content should be disabled permanently,&#8221; the movie industry group wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you fail to take the immediately required action to end and prevent further copyright infringements the MPA and the MPA Members expressly reserve the right to pursue all remedies available,&#8221; MPA added.</p>
<p><center><strong>MPA email</strong><br></br><img src="media/6da440ba.mpa-email.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpa-email.png" alt="mpa-email" width="557" height="449" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-84773"></center></p>
<p>Needless to say, the domain owner does not agree with Domains by Proxy&#8217;s action. He says that the MPA obtained his personal details without providing actual proof. In addition, he doesn&#8217;t understand why his personal details had to be handed over, as all emails directed to the email listed in the WHOIS are forwarded to him anyway.</p>
<p>&#8220;Domain by Proxy automatically adds yourdomainname@domainbyproxy.com, so any organization can contact the domain owners directly. There is no need to ask personal details from the WHOIS service without any proof of copyright infringements,&#8221; the domain owner tells TF. </p>
<p>&#8220;Other web services, such as LeaseWeb, don&#8217;t give details directly to MPA but force you to disable the service instead. Domains by Proxy should do the same I think,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>TF reached out to Domains by Proxy for a comment on the situation, but the company hasn&#8217;t responded yet. With the slogan &#8220;your identity is nobody&#8217;s business but ours&#8221; it&#8217;s odd to see that they hand over private details of customers so easily, but those who read the company&#8217;s <a href="https://www.domainsbyproxy.com/policy/ShowDoc.aspx?pageid=privacy">privacy policy</a> can see that this is common practice.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will disclose any information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate to respond to claims and legal process, to protect our property and rights or the property and rights of a third-party,&#8221; the privacy policy reads.</p>
<p>As it turns out, Domains by Proxy is judge and jury here, while due process is completely absent. That&#8217;s not really an ideal policy for a company that trades on people&#8217;s privacy rights.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84941
title: Privacy Disaster: Type IP Address, Get Internet User’s Phone Number
uri: Privacy-Disaster-Type-IP-Address-Get-Internet-User-s-Phone-Number
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/cSrWZhUxVEc/
content:
<p><a href="media/5f0dfd25.spy.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/spy.jpg"><img src="media/3d881413.spy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spy.jpg" alt="spy" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-39770"></a>Websites can&#8217;t function without them and a user must be allocated one before he or she can begin using the Internet. Without doubt, IP addresses one of the most important elements underpinning today&#8217;s online experience.</p>
<p>While website IP addresses are necessarily public information, IP addresses of individual users are by their very nature a lot more sensitive. Rather than identifying a web server designed to attract traffic, IP addresses operated by regular Internet users are often considered personal information.</p>
<p>Of course, it&#8217;s fairly common knowledge that the IP addresses of file-sharers become publicly visible when they enter BitTorrent swarms for example, but matching those IP addresses to real-life identities is a complex process wrapped up in privacy laws designed to protect the consumer. During the past week, however, it became evident that users of a Scandinavian ISP could be traced back to their real-life identities simply by using their IP address.</p>
<p>Discovered by Norwegian site <a href="http://www.dinside.no">Dinside</a>, this privacy disaster stems from the software installed on routers supplied by local ISP NextGenTel. By simply entering the IP address of another NextGenTel user into a standard web browser, users were presented with a webpage containing router status information. The page also revealed the telephone number of the user behind the entered IP address.</p>
<p>Armed with a telephone number and a directory site such as <a href="http://1881.no">1881.no</a>, all it took was a few clicks to find out the name and address of the person behind not only the telephone number, but also the original IP address.</p>
<p>After being alerted to the issue NextGenTel took action to fix the security hole by updating the relevant software, but the episode is a shining example of how years of care over personal information can be undone in an instant.</p>
<p>One of Norway&#8217;s biggest privacy cases in recent times involved a BitTorrent user who allegedly leaked a hit local movie to The Pirate Bay. Law firm Simonsen had the IP address of the leaker but desperately needed to convert that into a real-life identity in order to pursue legal action. That case went <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/after-epic-battle-anti-piracy-lawyers-finally-get-their-man-100806/">all the way to the Supreme Court</a> when the ISP behind that IP address refused to hand over its customer&#8217;s private details.</p>
<p>Needless to say, that lengthy process would have been endlessly easier if that customer had been a NextGenTel customer. Simonsen could&#8217;ve accessed the Internet via NextGenTel, entered the IP address into their web browser, and used the telephone number to reach their target there and then &#8211; or called round for a visit, whichever was easier.</p>
<p>In a comment to Dinside, NextGenTel CTO Jørn E. Hodne said his company were taking the matter seriously and were attempting to put things right by fixing software and reporting themselves to the country&#8217;s Data Inspectorate.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve started the [software] update and even reported the matter to the Inspectorate,&#8221; Hodne <a href="http://www.dinside.no/927491/nextgentel-avslorte-ip-adressers-eiere">said</a>. &#8220;The world we live in is very complex, but this is our responsibility.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84960
title: BREIN Ends Pirate Bay-Related ISP and Proxy Lawsuits
uri: BREIN-Ends-Pirate-Bay-Related-ISP-and-Proxy-Lawsuits
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lFxW12Ou9NQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/cf841bc6.brein-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/brein-new.png" width="189" height="69" class="alignright">Faced with a Pirate Bay website that simply refused to die, in 2010 Hollywood-linked anti-piracy group BREIN decided to take a different approach to the problem. If The Pirate Bay wouldn&#8217;t disconnect itself from the Internet, BREIN would force ISPs to disconnect their customers from the site instead.</p>
<p>The initial action, against Ziggo, the Netherlands&#8217; largest ISP, soon encompassed another. XS4ALL decided the case was too important to stay out of and joined its rival to fight against BREIN. The case took many twists and turns, with victory first for the ISPs, then for BREIN. Refusing to give in, the ISPs fought back and in January The Court of The Hague <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isps-no-longer-have-to-block-the-pirate-bay-dutch-court-rules-140128/">delivered a huge blow</a>.</p>
<p>That ruling, which deemed that ISPs did not have to block their subscribers from accessing The Pirate Bay, threw BREIN&#8217;s whole strategy into turmoil. With no ruling against Ziggo and XS4ALL, BREIN would be unable to get any kind of victory against KPN, UPC and Tele2, the other ISPs the anti-piracy group had unfinished legal business with.</p>
<p>Things soon started to unravel. Within days UPC <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-agrees-lift-pirate-bay-blockade-140219/">said</a> it had lifted its Pirate Bay blockade and KPN and Tele2 quickly followed. Agreement with BREIN had been reached in private, with most other details unavailable.</p>
<p>Now, in a fresh announcement, it&#8217;s clear that BREIN will back away from all legal action against ISPs pending the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-will-take-pirate-bay-blocking-case-to-supreme-court-140222/">Supreme Court ruling</a> it seeks against Ziggo and XS4ALL.</p>
<p>&#8220;BREIN has laid the case against the other providers to rest in anticipation of the outcome at the Supreme Court,&#8221; <a href="http://webwereld.nl/e-commerce/81643-brein-trekt-rechtszaak-tegen-kpn--upc--tele2-in">said</a> BREIN lawyer Joris van Manen. &#8220;The ISPs have a golden rule that they will only block under judicial coercion. BREIN, however, is reasonable.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the ISPs will be breathing a sigh of relief at the prospect of around 18 months respite from legal action, they aren&#8217;t the only ones in the clear. BREIN says that it will also end hostilities against Pirate Bay proxies. These services, including Kuiken.co and one operated by the Pirate Party, worked hard to circumvent the now-defunct ISP blockades but were attacked for their actions. </p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not Don Quixote,&#8221; van Manen told Webwereld. &#8220;If there is no blockage of the Pirate Bay any more then a proxy makes little sense, and also any lawsuit against one.&#8221;</p>
<p>The fact that BREIN feels it has no legal basis to force proxies into compliance is very interesting. Earlier this week the anti-piracy group <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/brein-we-killed-200-pirate-bay-proxies-in-2013-140305/">said it had killed</a> in excess of 200 such sites in 2013.</p>
<p>Whether any will now return to their former glory remains to be seen but given that their services aren&#8217;t just of use to Dutch citizens (proxies are also very useful to Internet users in the UK) some are likely to restart their engines to operate legally from the Netherlands &#8211; at least until the Supreme Court ruling, that is.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84915
title: Popcorn Time: Open Source Torrent Streaming Netflix For Pirates
uri: Popcorn-Time-Open-Source-Torrent-Streaming-Netflix-For-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/333nByqXOJY/
content:
<p><img src="media/16c6d12b.popcorn-time.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-time.png" alt="popcorn-time" width="228" height="99" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84917">Over the years BitTorrent has become fairly mainstream, with hundreds of millions of people using torrent clients to download the latest entertainment. </p>
<p>Despite its popularity the downloading process can be cumbersome at times, especially for novices. Faced with this challenge Sebastian, a designer from Buenos Aires, Argentina, decided to come up with a piece of software that would make the process as easy as Netflix.</p>
<p>&#8220;As a designer I love the challenge of simplification. Take something hard for the common user and make it usable. I have a lot of friends who don&#8217;t understand torrents and I wanted to make it easy and effortless to use torrent technology,&#8221; Sebastian tells us.</p>
<p>A few months of coding later &#8220;<a href="http://getpopcornti.me/">Popcorn Time</a>&#8221; was born, a tool that allows users to stream popular movie torrents with the click of a button. Popcorn Time offers instant access to hundreds of films, in various qualities and complete with subtitles if needed. </p>
<p><center><strong>Popcorn Time</strong></center>
<p class="alignfull"><a href="media/dba704b0.popcorntime-screen.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorntime-screen.jpg"><img src="media/dba704b0.popcorntime-screen.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorntime-screen.jpg" alt="popcorntime-screen" width="700" height="395" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84918"></a></p>
<p>What started out as an experiment for a group of friends soon developed into something much bigger. Popcorn Time now has 20 collaborators <a href="https://github.com/popcorn-time/popcorn-app">on Github</a> and continues to expand at a rapid pace. Developers from all over the world have added new features and within 24 hours it was translated into six languages.</p>
<p>Sebastian explains that Popcorn Time uses node-webkit and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It&#8217;s basically a browser that users HTML, CSS and JavaScript to serve the movie streams. </p>
<p>&#8220;The technology behind the app is very simple. We consume a group of APIs, one for the torrents, another for the movie info, and another for the poster. We also have an API for the subtitles. Everything is automated, we don&#8217;t host anything, but take existing information and put it together,&#8221; Sebastian says</p>
<p>The torrent files all come from YTS (formerly YIFY), which has an API Popcorn Time taps into. The application can search this database and allows users to stream the torrent on demand. When finished the app will continue to share for a while after the download is finished, to avoid leeching. </p>
<p>Since Popcorn Time links to a lot of copyrighted movies, Hollywood is not going to be happy, but according to Sebastian the developers don&#8217;t expect any legal issues. They inform users that sharing copyrighted material is not allowed everywhere, and other than that they are just repackaging existing content, without a commercial angle.</p>
<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t expect legal issues. We don&#8217;t host anything, and none of the developers makes any money. There are no ads, no premium accounts, and no subscription fees or anything like that. It&#8217;s an experiment to learn and share,&#8221; Sebastian notes. </p>
<p>All the people who work on the project are big movie fans themselves, and most have Netflix accounts. Sebastian believes that going to the cinema is the best way to experience a movie, but if people who want to enjoy a recent film at home they should be able to do so. This is often not the case, and that&#8217;s where Popcorn Time comes in.   </p>
<p>&#8220;We hate that we don&#8217;t have the chance to watch some movies at home. Popcorn Time is an experiment to show that you can do something better for the users, and that you can do it with BitTorrent,&#8221; Sebastian says.</p>
<p>Popcorn Time is officially still in Beta, and will continue to improve in the weeks and month to come. However, one thing will never change, it will remain free and open source for as long as it exists. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84966
title: Russia’s Facebook Prepares To Make Peace With USTR Over Piracy
uri: Russia-s-Facebook-Prepares-To-Make-Peace-With-USTR-Over-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/oD32DgKfWV4/
content:
<p><a href="media/cf86e20d.ustr.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ustr.jpg"><img src="media/09fa6d0a.ustr.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ustr.jpg" alt="ustr" width="175" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-44005"></a>Every year the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/?s=%22special+301+report%22">Special 301 Report</a> identifies countries thought by the United States Trade Representative to pose the biggest intellectual property-related threats to U.S. companies. Russia has been a &#8216;priority&#8217; country for some time, not least due to the actions of one of its biggest and most influential websites.</p>
<p>VKontakte (In Touch), is Russia&#8217;s Facebook. It&#8217;s a huge operation with tens of millions of users, each of whom has the ability to upload music, movies and TV shows to share with their friends. And with their friends&#8217; friends. And with their friends&#8217; friends&#8217; friends.</p>
<p>Needless to say, entertainment companies aren&#8217;t pleased that this social networking giant is facilitating piracy on a grand scale, especially when that content &#8211; music in particular &#8211; goes on to fuel countless free MP3 download portals all around the Internet. If you&#8217;ve ever downloaded MP3s from the free web, chances are some of that music has come from VK.</p>
<p>For some time VK has been keen to update its image by making steps towards becoming more rightsholder-friendly. That said, it&#8217;s never really been enough for the U.S. and as a result Russia has again found itself on the latest Special 301 Report. But there signs that things could be getting more serious.</p>
<p>VK Executive Director Dmitry Sergeyev <a href="http://itar-tass.com/obschestvo/1028507">told</a> ITAR-TASS yesterday that consultations between his company and rightsholders were underway, with a view to the signing of an anti-piracy memorandum with telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor.</p>
<p>As the government outfit at the center of Russia&#8217;s web-blocking mechanism, Roskomnadzor has significant power. Its anti-piracy memo deals with the pre-trial settlement of disputes between sites and copyright holders and requires signatories to implement content fingerprinting and identification systems in order to filter and block unauthorized material.</p>
<p><a href="media/3e3f1f7f.vk.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/vk.jpg"><img src="media/2dca634d.vk.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vk.jpg" alt="vk" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72276"></a>&#8220;VKontakte will introduce content identification, which will be used to monitor and promptly delete published content protected by copyright,&#8221; a source close to the company said.</p>
<p>&#8220;This will be the first step towards eliminating the social network from of the U.S. Trade Representative&#8217;s Special 301 Report, which is currently limiting the company&#8217;s ability to raise funds abroad and sign agreements with foreign rightsholders.&#8221;</p>
<p>Anti-piracy memorandum signatory the Russian Anti-Piracy Organization (RAPO) will be the messenger of progress. The group says it will monitor VK for pirate content in the months to come and if there is significant improvement, the MPAA will be informed.</p>
<p>“During this year, the industry will be observing what is happening to the sites, including VK.com,&#8221; RAPO chief Konstantin Zemchenkov said.</p>
<p>&#8220;If pirate content disappears from the social network, we’ll report to the MPAA, which in turn will report that fact to the IIPA [International Intellectual Property Alliance], which will inform the US authorities.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since the Special 301 Report is based on the previous years&#8217; data, even in the event of progress VK won&#8217;t be able to get off the list until 2015. The site has been included since 2011, so removal isn&#8217;t going to come easy. Other local sites, such as RUtracker.org and Rapidgator, remain on the list as thorns in the side of the U.S.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84943
title: VPN Providers Ban BitTorrent Traffic Over Piracy Concerns
uri: VPN-Providers-Ban-BitTorrent-Traffic-Over-Piracy-Concerns
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6vfoSsiE5O4/
content:
<p><a href="media/5ceed422.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg"><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076"></a>BitTorrent is a great technology to share large files with a massive audience, but it’s also one of the least private tools for communicating on the Internet.</p>
<p>It therefore makes sense for frequent BitTorrent users to use anonymity services such as VPNs and proxies. But those who sign up with a VPN should take a good look at the fine print, as not all VPN providers allow BitTorrent traffic across their entire network.</p>
<p>TF is currently compiling our latest <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition/">overview of logging policies at various VPN providers</a>, and by popular demand we also asked whether these services allow BitTorrent and other file-sharing traffic. The responses received thus far confirm that BitTorrent traffic is not welcome everywhere. </p>
<p>While all VPN providers we surveyed have BitTorrent-friendly servers, many have chosen to block file-sharing traffic on U.S. and U.K. servers. The main reason for these policies is piracy related.  </p>
<h4>VPNs Blocking File-sharing traffic</h4>
<p>It appears that companies who offer VPN services in the US are often flooded with DMCA notices. This causes issues with the ISPs, as <a href="http://www.unspyable.com/">Unspyable</a> explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;The issue is simply that the U.S. ISPs forward all the DMCA complaints to us. This forces us to deal with them which wastes time and effort, as we do have to send them a response,&#8221; Unspyable says.   </p>
<p>&#8220;Since we don&#8217;t track anything we have nothing to give them in the response to the DMCA. However, many times that is not sufficient and we have had ISPs shut down our servers several times. This results in having to find new ISPs and the expense of setting up new servers,&#8221; the company adds.</p>
<p><a href="http://nextgenvpn.com/en/index.php">NexTGenVPN</a> notes that they block file-sharing traffic in the U.S. and U.K. because of bandwidth restrictions. The company also mentions that banning this type of traffic helps them to prevent being flooded with DMCA requests.</p>
<p>&#8220;The reason is quite simple actually. UK and U.S. are the only two locations where our bandwidth allocation is not really extendable at the moment, and we cannot accommodate massive transfers speeds there. Also, this prevents us from being flooded with DMCA complaints. Not that we really care, but it gets annoying in the end,&#8221; NexTGenVPN explains.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hideipvpn.com/">HideIPVPN</a> also prohibits file-sharing traffic on some servers. The company notes that downloading copyrighted content is prohibited by law in the US, UK and Canada, so has decided to block both legal and unauthorized BitTorrent traffic on these servers. </p>
<p>&#8220;As you know uploads and downloads of copyrighted content via P2P and torrent networks is considered illegal in the U.S. With that in mind and also the fact that we do not wish to monitor traffic and data exchanged by our users, the simplest solution was to ban such traffic on some servers,&#8221; HideIPVPN tells TF. </p>
<p>While unauthorized file-sharing is against the law in most countries, rightsholders mostly send their takedown notices to U.S. ISPs. This is one of the main reasons why several VPN providers block BitTorrent traffic there.</p>
<p><a href="https://nordvpn.com/">NordVPN</a> provides a similar explanation. The company currently blocks all file-sharing in several places. </p>
<p>&#8220;We only allow P2P traffic on servers that are located in the countries where there are no restrictions on the content downloaded via BitTorrent or other file-sharing applications,&#8221; NordVPN informed us.</p>
<p>File-sharing traffic is a no-go on <a href="http://www.earthvpn.com/">EarthVPN</a>&#8216;s U.S. servers as well. The company mentions the DMCA as the main reason for this decision.</p>
<p>&#8220;Torrent and other file-sharing traffic is only allowed on Canada, Panama, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg and Romania locations as of now due to the DMCA,&#8221; the company explains.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.purevpn.com/">PureVPN</a> takes it a step further. In addition to blocking file-sharing traffic on their servers in  the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and elsewhere, they also block various torrent sites on these connections.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have blocked torrents on some of our servers. If users want to use BitTorrent, they can connect to our servers in Turkey, Sweden, Romania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany (Frankfurt only) or Russia and enjoy P2P/file-sharing there.</p>
<h4>Non-blocking ISPs</h4>
<p>Not all VPN providers are blocking file-sharing traffic in the U.S. and elsewhere though. <a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/">Private Internet Access</a>, for example, prides itself on providing unrestricted access to the Internet on all servers.</p>
<p>&#8220;We do not discriminate against any kind of traffic/protocol on any of our servers, period.  We believe in a free, open, and uncensored internet,&#8221; PIA notes. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ipredator.se/">Ipredator</a>, the VPN that was launched by a founder of The Pirate Bay, doesn&#8217;t have any file-sharing restrictions either.</p>
<p>&#8220;Besides filtering SMTP on port 25 we do not impose any restrictions on protocols our users can use on the VPN, quite on the contrary. We believe our role is to provide a net-neutral access,&#8221; the company told us.</p>
<p>The same is true for <a href="https://www.blackvpn.com/">BlackVPN</a>, <a href="https://mullvad.net/en/">Mullvad</a>, <a href="http://proxy.sh">Proxy.sh</a>, <a href="https://vikingvpn.com/">VikingVPN</a> and many others.</p>
<p>TF&#8217;s full report on the BitTorrent and logging policies of several dozen VPN providers will be published next week. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84990
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 03/10/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-03-10-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jXarw8P76tg/
content:
<p><a href="media/8e581807.12yearsa.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/12yearsa.jpg"><img src="media/6e18bb6e.12yearsa.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/12yearsa.jpg" alt="12yearsa" width="250" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84353"></a>This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Oscar winner 12 Years A Slave is the most downloaded movie this week. </p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-140303/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/12_years_a_slave/">12 Years A Slave</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024544/?">8.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02Ie8wKKRg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frozen_2013/">Frozen</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/">8.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQm5doF_Uc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/delivery_man/">Delivery Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2387559/">6.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGAktL45XNQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gravity_2013/">Gravity</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/">8.2</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiTiKOy59o4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_frankenstein/">I Frankenstein</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1418377/">5.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCUZd1iuq3o">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_hustle/">American Hustle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1800241/">7.6</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST7a1aK_lG0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thor_the_dark_world/">Thor: The Dark World</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/">7.6</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npvJ9FTgZbM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_country_2014/">Bad Country</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2350892/">?.?</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3_15U0d2oo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dallas_buyers_club_2013/">Dallas Buyer&#8217;s Club</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790636/?">8.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8utPuIFVnU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_bag_man/">The Bag Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2212008/">5.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKBLfwVEKP8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=84994
title: Google: Piracy is An Availability and Pricing Problem
uri: Google-Piracy-is-An-Availability-and-Pricing-Problem
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6Zpfh0XjTSY/
content:
<p><a href="media/bf524f61.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-78717" alt="pirate-running" src="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg" width="222" height="204"></a></p>
<p>As in many other countries, online piracy is causing headaches for the Australian Government. A variety of anti-piracy strategies to deal with the problem have been suggested in recent years, but thus far without result.</p>
<p>Late last year Australia&#8217;s Minister for Communication invited several companies to share their thoughts on the&nbsp;reduction of&nbsp;regulation in the communication sector. The minister asked for input on a variety of issues including future legislation regarding copyright. </p>
<p>One of the companies that responded is Google, and TorrentFreak has obtained a previously unpublished <a href="media/b2994c84.Google-response.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Google-response.pdf">copy</a> of the company&#8217;s&nbsp;response.</p>
<p>In its letter Google warns the Government not to implement draconian ant-piracy legislation. The search giant notes that they believe piracy is mostly an availability and pricing problem, which is best tackled with innovation instead of legislation.</p>
<p>“We believe there is significant, credible evidence emerging that online piracy is primarily an availability and pricing problem. We would encourage the Government to promote new business models and a free marketplace for legal purchasing of content,” Google writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;We would be disappointed if the Government decided to go down the route of overly harsh regulation to combat piracy without considering the evidence from around the world that this would likely be costly for businesses to implement and with little effect,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>Besides the warning above, Google stresses that some of the current legislation is also problematic. For example,&nbsp;Section 313 of the&nbsp;Telecommunications Act is used to censor websites, which threatens the free availability of information.</p>
<p>&#8220;It appears that this law has been interpreted broadly by various Australian government agencies to include the take down of websites that are deemed illegal,&#8221; Google writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google believes that section 313 does not contain sufficient safeguards, and could potentially impact significantly on the availability of information and content on the internet through the over­broad blocking of websites.&#8221;</p>
<p>Google recommends that the Government should create more oversight by implementing measures to make these website takedowns more transparent.</p>
<p>In addition, Google is also worried about the lack of a safe harbor for Internet services, which can now be held liable for pirating users.</p>
<p>According to the company it is of &#8220;critical importance&#8221; that this gap is addressed, as the current uncertainty has a chilling effect on innovation among Internet services.</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s suggestions appear to stand in sharp contrast to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/australian-government-signals-online-piracy-crackdown-140214/">the plans</a>&nbsp;Australia&#8217;s Attorney-General George Brandis unveiled a few weeks ago.&nbsp;In a&nbsp;speech to the Australian Digital Alliance forum, Brandis opted for a&nbsp;&#8221;three strikes&#8221; graduated response &nbsp;system for persistent pirates as well as wide scale blockades of infringing websites.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85019
title: News Editor Copyright Trolls Pirating Political Party – and Gets Paid
uri: News-Editor-Copyright-Trolls-Pirating-Political-Party-and-Gets-Pai
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/v0WaYVN_wVo/
content:
<p><a href="media/04d6c2b6.cc-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cc-logo.jpg"><img src="media/83a0ada5.cc-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cc-logo.jpg" alt="cc-logo" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-42473"></a>Over the past few years the copyright troll industry has grown from a few scattered companies trying to earn a few extra bucks into a huge machine with some very big players.</p>
<p>The business is now widespread in the United States, is spreading into Canada and has been present in Europe for many years, Germany <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lawyers-sent-109000-piracy-threats-in-germany-during-2013-140304/">feeling the most pain</a>. It seems fitting, then, that the government there should feel what it&#8217;s like to become a victim of an aggressive copyright holder.</p>
<p>Sebastian Heiser is an editor at popular news resource Taz.de. Back in 2005 he attended a panel where he took a photograph of Manfred Stolpe, a politician with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), part of the current coalition government.</p>
<p>So that anyone could enjoy his work, Heiser <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Stolpe">uploaded his photo to Wikipedia</a> with just two Creative Commons CC-BY-SA conditions &#8211; the creator must be mentioned along with the fact the image is available under a free license.</p>
<p>The SPD, however, didn&#8217;t feel bound by these minor restrictions, republishing Heiser&#8217;s work on netzwerkberlin.de and manfred-stolpe.de without the correct attribution.</p>
<p>&#8220;Usually it does not bother me when other people distribute my text or images. If it still bothers me sometimes, I write a friendly e-mail or pick up the phone,&#8221; Heiser explains.</p>
<p>But this case was different. Heiser saw an opportunity to turn the tables on the SPD, a party he believes is at least partly responsible for the &#8220;broken&#8221; copyright situation in Germany today. Why shouldn&#8217;t they suffer like everyone else?</p>
<p>Mirroring the behavior of the trolls that have flourished under German copyright law, Heiser hired himself a lawyer who formulated a suitable threatening letter with the aim of getting compensation from SPD. Heiser asked them to declare for how long they had been infringing his rights, requested payment equivalent to that of an appropriate license to use the content, and doubled them up for failing to attribute him correctly. Of course, there would be legal fees on top.</p>
<p>Perhaps surprisingly, without any fight Heiser received a letter back stating that copyright is important to SPD and as such they were willing to obey the law &#8211; and pay the &#8216;fine&#8217;.</p>
<p>&#8220;After some back and forth, because there were two images on the two websites, 1,800 euros was remitted to me,&#8221; Heiser <a href="http://blogs.taz.de/hausblog/2014/03/09/liebe-raubkopierer-bei-der-spd/">says</a>. However, according to Heiser, things have not reached a happy conclusion. </p>
<p>Underlining the state of today&#8217;s &#8220;great copyright&#8221;, of the 1,800 euros paid ($2,497) Heiser only pocketed 696 euros ($965) since the remaining 1,104 euros ($1,531) went into his lawyer&#8217;s bank acccount. Of course, SPD would&#8217;ve had to pay legal fees too, estimated at another 1,100 euros.</p>
<p>Total outlay 2,900 euros ($4,023). Amount paid to copyright holder &#8211; less than a quarter of that.</p>
<p>Heiser signs off with a call for SPD to fix the copyright situation, with a minimum requirement that the party understands it in future, and with artists getting paid more than lawyers.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85042
title: U.S. Court Orders Seizure of “DVD Ripping” Software Domains and Funds
uri: U-S-Court-Orders-Seizure-of-DVD-Ripping-Software-Domains-Serve
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/C4RLTIGyrmA/
content:
<p><a href="media/d2a9a2a0.dvdfablogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dvdfablogo.jpg"><img src="media/d2a9a2a0.dvdfablogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dvdfablogo.jpg" alt="dvdfablogo" width="200" height="189" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85044"></a>AACS, the decryption licensing outfit founded by a group of movie studios and technology partners including Warner Bros, Disney, Microsoft and Intel, has launched a crackdown on DRM-circumvention software.</p>
<p>In an effort to limit the availability of so-called DVD ripping software, <a href="http://www.aacsla.com/founders/">AACS</a> has sued the company behind the popular DVD ripping software DVDFab.  </p>
<p>Under U.S. law it&#8217;s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-circumvention">forbidden</a> to distribute software with the primary intention of circumventing copyright protection. In its complaint, AACS accuses the &#8220;DVDFab Group&#8221; of violating the DMCA&#8217;s anti-circumvention clause by selling tools that can bypass their DVD encryption. </p>
<p>&#8220;The DVDFab Group openly touts these illegal circumvention attributes of the DVDFab Software on the DVDFab Websites, advertising that, among other things, its software products &#8216;remove all Blu-ray copy protections,&#8217; and &#8216;can remove &#8230; all known AACS copy protections&#8217;,&#8221; AACS writes in its complaint. </p>
<p>To stop the Chinese-based DVDFab from distributing its software in public, AACS moved for a preliminary injunction. After DVDFab failed to respond in court the request was granted by New York Federal Judge Vernon Broderick. TF has obtained <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/211712569/TorrentFreak-AACS-Injunction">a copy</a> of the order.</p>
<p class="alignfull"><a href="media/5cc7fabf.dvdfab.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dvdfab.jpg"><img src="media/5cc7fabf.dvdfab.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dvdfab.jpg" alt="dvdfab" width="700" height="508" size-full wp-image-85045"></a></p>
<p>The broad injunction is unique in its scope, ordering several domain registrars to disable all domains associated with the DVDFab group. This includes DVDFab.com, DVDFab.net, DVDidle.com, 3d-videoconverters.com, 3dBluRay-ripper.com, Blu-Ray-ripper.us, Blu-Ray-Software.us, BluRayripper.jp, BluRaysbs3d.com, BluRaysoft.jp, CopyBiuRay.us, DVDFab.jp, DVDFab9.com and DVDvideosoft.jp.</p>
<p>At the time of writing none of the above domains can be reached. </p>
<p>Besides the domain names, DVDFab&#8217;s hosting providers are also ordered to stop servicing the company, as are other online services including Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Whether AACS has asked for the closure of DVDFab&#8217;s social media accounts is unclear, as they remain active for now.</p>
<p>Adding to DVDFab&#8217;s troubles, Judge Broderick also ordered several banks and payment providers to freeze or stop processing the company&#8217;s funds. This includes PayPal, Amazon Payments, Visa and MasterCard. </p>
<p><center><strong>The injunction</strong></center><br></br><a href="media/69c04c77.dvdfab-order.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dvdfab-order.jpg"><img src="media/69c04c77.dvdfab-order.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dvdfab-order.jpg" alt="dvdfab-order" width="600" height="534" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-85047"></a></p>
<p>In summary, the order grants AACS the power to completely wipe all traces of DVDFab from the Internet, and make it hard for the company to resurface elsewhere. At least, that was the plan. </p>
<p>The Chinese software vendor is not giving up easily, and is already making a comeback.</p>
<p>&#8220;Existing bookmarks for either site may not work from some locations, so temporary sites for both are being prepared and will be online shortly,&#8221; a company spokesman <a href="http://club.myce.com/f116/dvdfab-sites-blocked-335575/#post2721910">says</a>, pointing users to <a href="http://dvdfab.jp/">dvdfab.jp</a>.</p>
<p>Quite how long this domain and associated payment services can remain functional remains to be seen.</p>
<p>In any case, AACS and the movie industry will be encouraged by this broad injunction, and it wouldn&#8217;t be a big surprise if we see this strategy being repeated against other piracy-related targets in the near future.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85038
title: UK Piracy Blocklist Expands With Megashare, Viooz, Watch32 and Zmovie
uri: UK-Piracy-Blocklist-Expands-With-Megashare-Viooz-Watch32-and-Zmovie
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xfL10Yxc1zU/
content:
<p><a href="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg"><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076"></a>The list of websites that are blocked in the UK for facilitating copyright infringement is getting longer and longer.</p>
<p>This week a new High Court ruling orders BT, Sky, Virgin Media, O2, EE and TalkTalk to block access to <a href="http://megashare.info/">Megashare</a>, <a href="http://viooz.co/">Viooz</a>, <a href="http://watch32.com/">Watch32</a> and <a href="http://zmovie.co/">Zmovie</a>.</p>
<p>Through the sites users can stream Hollywood movies directly, or via links to third-party sites such as Vidspace or Videohub. Viooz is the largest of the quartet and is listed among the <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/viooz.co#trafficstats">500 most visited</a> sites in the UK. </p>
<p>The ruling comes after Hollywood studios filed a complaint that remained uncontested by the ISPs. Because the ISPs have given up on defending their position in court, it is now a mere formality for copyright holders to have a pirate site banned.</p>
<p>Represented by FACT and the Motion Picture Association, several major movie studios decided to ask for the blockades after their inquiries to the owners of the sites remained unanswered.</p>
<p>“FACT and the Motion Picture Association (MPA) wrote to four websites asking them to stop infringing creative content. Collectively, these sites provide access to an enormous collection of films with no permission from the copyright owners. FACT, supported by the MPA, therefore took this court action,&#8221; <a href="http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/">FACT</a> told TF.</p>
<p class="alignfull"><a href="media/174bfb28.viooz.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/viooz.jpg"><img src="media/174bfb28.viooz.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/viooz.jpg" alt="viooz" width="750" height="553" size-full wp-image-85039"></a></p>
<p>The court order, which has yet to be made public, is believed to be similar to the orders against Firstrow, Solarmovie and Tubeplus which were handed down last year. </p>
<p>In that verdict the Court clarified that even when a website uses external &#8220;hosts&#8221; for the infringing content, the linking sites could still be guilty of making content available.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even where the content could be accessed from the host sites, the Websites make it much easier for members of the public to find what they want. Viewed from the perspective of the user, the Websites do in a very real sense make the content available to the public,&#8221; Justice Arnold <a href="http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2013/3479.html&#038;query=solarmovie&#038;method=boolean">wrote</a>. </p>
<p>Virgin Media confirmed that their received the court order which they will implement in the near future. “We obey court orders when addressed to the company.” spokesperson Emma Hutchinson told us.</p>
<p>The MPA <a href="http://recombu.com/digital/news/megashare-viooz-watch32-zmovies-bt-sky-virginmedia-talktalk-ee_M12921.html">told</a> Recombu that the new Megashare, Viooz, Watch32 and Zmovie blockades are expected to go into effect this week. Speaking with TorrentFreak, FACT says  that the aim is to steer more people towards legal options, if those are available.</p>
<p>“The growth of the legal online market is held back by illegitimate sites,&#8221; a FACT spokesperson told TF. </p>
<p>&#8220;We want an internet that works for everyone, where the creative property of artists and creators is protected along with the privacy and security of all users. The internet must be a place for investment, innovation and creativity and today’s verdict represents a step towards realizing this,” FACT concludes. </p>
<p>Whether the present blocks will be more than a drop in the ocean has yet to be seen. There are many other streaming portals that are still available, which means that the movie studios will probably be back in court later this year.</p>
<p>&#8212;-</p>
<p>The full list of sites that are currently blocked in the UK is as follows:</p>
<p><em>Megashare, Viooz, Watch32, Zmovie, Solarmovie, Tubeplus, Primewire, Vodly, Watchfreemovies, Project-Free TV, Yify-Torrents, 1337x, Bitsnoop, Extratorrent, Monova, Torrentcrazy, Torrentdownloads, Torrentreactor, Torrentz, Ambp3, Beemp3, Bomb-mp3, Eemp3world, Filecrop, Filestube, Mp3juices, Mp3lemon, Mp3raid, Mp3skull, Newalbumreleases, Rapidlibrary, EZTV, FirstRowSports, Download4all, Movie2K, KickAssTorrents, Fenopy, H33T and The Pirate Bay.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85086
title: Canadian Movie & Music Pirates to Be ‘Fined’ Without Court Orders
uri: Canadian-Movie-Music-Pirates-to-Be-Fined-Without-Court-Orders
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1lK4Cn4DBCw/
content:
<p><img class="alignright" alt="" src="media/c89c2205.canada.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/canada.jpg" width="222" height="165">Despite <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-piracy-availability-pricing-problem-140310/">clear indications</a> that the best way to discourage people away from pirate sources is by offering legitimate content at a fair price, this carrot is still being rejected in favor of the stick.</p>
<p>Companies such as Voltage Pictures favor very big sticks indeed, suing tens of thousands of file-sharers for thousands of dollars each, both in the United States and Canada.</p>
<p>US-based Rightscorp, on the other hand, favor a smaller stick, sending settlement demands to alleged file-sharers for relatively smaller amounts per infringement. Until recently they were confined to the United States, but all that is about to change.</p>
<p>In a move to expand its <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-chief-patents-pay-up-or-disconnect-scheme-121217/">business model</a> north of the border, Rightscorp has retained Susan Abramovitch, a partner at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, one of Canada&#8217;s largest lawfirms. Based in the company&#8217;s Toronto office, Abramovitch is described as a leading entertainment lawyer covering disputes in the music, film, television and videogaming industries, among others.</p>
<p>Rightscorp says that Canada represents a new market for its business model and an important step in the company&#8217;s international expansion plans. Implying that settlements are now accepted practice in Canada, the company references the recent Voltage Pictures case involving Teksavvy, which saw the ISP ordered to hand over the details of 2,000 alleged file-sharers.</p>
<p>However, while the Voltage case resulted in protracted legal argument and was ultimately subjected to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-court-slaps-restrictions-on-copyright-trolling-140221/">court-ordered</a> constraints, Rightscorp&#8217;s settlement demands are designed to circumvent controversial disclosure issues. Alleged infringers are reached via settlement notices attached to regular DMCA-style notices forwarded to them by their ISPs.</p>
<p>In the US, Charter Communications passes on Rightscorp cash demands, but <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-kills-business-model-of-piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-131206/">Comcast does not</a>. Will Canadian ISPs comply?</p>
<p>To get a broader idea of how this kind of business model might play out in Canada, TorrentFreak spoke with Canadian law professor Michael Geist.</p>
<p><a href="media/03f19a42.geist.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/geist.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-85100" alt="geist" src="media/03f19a42.geist.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/geist.jpg" width="180" height="180"></a>&#8220;Canada has established a notice-and-notice system that allows rights holders to have their notices forwarded to subscribers. However, that system has yet to take effect,&#8221; Geist told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the moment, there would be no legal obligation on the ISP to forward the notice to the subscriber, though that is likely to change in the coming months.&#8221;</p>
<p>When that notice-and-notice system does take effect, Geist says that Canadian law may specify the form notice letters must take.</p>
<p>&#8220;The law already identifies specific information to be included in the notice. There is no reference to settlement information or legal demands. If the Canadian government objects to [Rightscorp's] approach, it could use regulations to stop the inclusion of settlement demands in notice letters,&#8221; Geist explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even if it doesn&#8217;t, there will be a question of whether the notices are in the proper form if they include information beyond that found in the statute.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since local ISP Teksavvy is at the core of the Canadian Voltage Pictures case, TorrentFreak spoke with the company to gauge its reaction to the news that Rightscorp might soon come knocking. Stopping short of an official comment on the business model, the ISP essentially echoed Michael Geist&#8217;s sentiments.</p>
<p>&#8220;TekSavvy would be within its rights to insist, and would insist, that any notice conform with Canadian law and not over reach the stated guidelines,&#8221; the ISP told TF.</p>
<p><a href="media/59c711ef.rightscorp-real.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp-real.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-84007" alt="rightscorp-real" src="media/05460420.rightscorp-real.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp-real.jpg" width="222" height="151"></a>Clearly, the main idea of the Rightscorp notices is to generate revenue for both the company and rightsholders, but in passing the notices on ISPs are also incurring costs, which raises other issues.</p>
<p>&#8220;The notice-and-notice law permits the government to set a fee for sending a notice that an ISP can charge. At the moment, it does not look like the government will establish a fee, preferring to wait to see how the system develops. Were this [business model] to come to Canada, the government might face increased pressure from ISPs to allow them to charge for their participation in the process,&#8221; Geist concludes.</p>
<p>TF approached Rightscorp lawyer Susan Abramovitch who did not immediately respond to our request for comment. The signs are, however, that she could be busy with this work during the months to come.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/huskyte/7512877940/">Michael Theis</a></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85115
title: Dallas Buyers Club Sues BitTorrent Pirates Citing Oscar Wins
uri: Dallas-Buyers-Club-Sues-BitTorrent-Pirates-Citing-Oscar-Wins
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-Buto5LEXgQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/4270b5a2.dallas.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dallas.jpg"><img src="media/d45c68ed.dallas.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas.jpg" alt="dallas" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-83513"></a>Movie studio Voltage is no stranger to suing BitTorrent users.</p>
<p>The company has pioneered mass-BitTorrent lawsuits in the United States and is estimated to have made a lot of money doing so.</p>
<p>Most recently it has filed lawsuits against alleged downloaders of Dallas Buyers Club. The <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/downloaded-dallas-buyers-club-the-piracy-lawsuits-are-coming-140207/">first lawsuits</a> were filed on behalf of Voltage, and this week they were followed by two mass-BitTorrent suits &#8220;Dallas Buyers Club, LLC&#8221; filed with an Illinois federal court. </p>
<p>The two lawsuits target 107 individuals who allegedly shared a pirated copy of the film from their home connections late January. While most of the language in the complaint is standard, the filmmakers appear to have waited for the Academy Awards, as the recent Oscar wins are prominently featured.</p>
<p>&#8220;Dallas Buyers Club recently received six Academy Award nominations including Best Motion Picture of the Year and was awarded Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Matthew McConaughey) and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Jared Leto),&#8221; one of the complaints <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/212012414/dallas19f79ebd2-f397-4603-a3c3-5524f5d06c25">reads</a>. </p>
<p>In addition to the two Oscars, the makers also mention the Golden Globes and several other awards the Dallas buyers Club has won recently, stressing that the film &#8220;has significant value&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>The complaint</center></strong>
<p class="alignfull"><a href="media/c53ba594.dallas-oscar.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas-oscar.jpg"><img src="media/c53ba594.dallas-oscar.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas-oscar.jpg" alt="dallas-oscar" width="700" height="420" size-full wp-image-85127"></a></p>
<p>TF reached out the Dallas Buyers Club&#8217;s lawyers to ask if more lawsuits are queued up but we haven&#8217;t received a response thus far. </p>
<p>As with all other mass-BitTorrent lawsuits the end game is not a full trial, but to reveal the identities of the alleged downloaders so they can be encouraged to settle. To accomplish this the movie studio asked the court to grant a subpoena so they can order associated ISPs to give up their customers’ details.</p>
<p>The cased filed in Illinois this week almost exclusively targets Comcast subscribers. For defendants who are named later on, it&#8217;s wise to contact an attorney. Alternatively, <a href="http://dietrolldie.com/2014/02/07/voltage-pictures-nicolas-chartier-tcyk-llc-dismissed-in-tn-go-back-to-tx/">DTD points</a> out that there is a standard <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/images/answer_template_00248TX.doc">template</a> that can be used to respond to the accusation. </p>
<p>The current defendants all downloaded the movie before it won the Oscars. However, it&#8217;s worth noting that the number of active downloaders of Dallas Buyers Club quadrupled the day after the Academy awards, resulting in roughly 100,000 extra downloads.</p>
<p>Even today Dallas Buyers Club is still downloaded by tends of thousands of people, which means that the pool of potential targets for these lawsuits is far from exhausted. </p>
<p><center><strong>Dallas Buyers Club downloaders</strong><br></br></center>
<p class="alignfull"><a href="media/c5cfef13.dallasdl.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dallasdl.png"><img src="media/3b7f2967.dallasdl.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallasdl.png" alt="dallasdl" width="694" height="272" size-full wp-image-85135"></a></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85143
title: Popcorn Time Deleted By Dotcom’s Mega, MPAA Lawsuit Pending?
uri: Popcorn-Time-Deleted-By-Dotcom-s-Mega-MPAA-Lawsuit-Pending
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gX8C3dO5gs4/
content:
<p><img src="media/16c6d12b.popcorn-time.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-time.png" width="228" height="99" class="alignright">After a decade of seemingly constant innovation in the public file-sharing space, the past few years have seen a relative decline in new ideas.  This means that well presented and well thought out file-sharing solutions stand out a mile.</p>
<p>One such tool, the recently unveiled <a href="http://getpopcornti.me/">Popcorn Time</a>, ticks all the boxes. Based on BitTorrent technology, the software hides all the complexities away and presents high-quality video content to the user in a way familiar to any user of Netflix.</p>
<p>Since piracy often drives the consumer solutions of the future, Popcorn Time&#8217;s elegance definitely warranted <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/open-source-torrent-streaming-a-netflix-for-pirates-140308/">an article here on TF last weekend</a> and in the days that followed dozens more appeared, all singing the praises of what is probably the most beautifully simple (yet unofficial) movie viewing solution of recent times.</p>
<p>But despite the rave reviews, those looking to jump on the Popcorn Time bandwagon today will find themselves disappointed.</p>
<p>Since its launch the software has been distributed via getpopcornti.me but the actual installer has been hosted as a public download (encryption key included) on Kim Dotcom&#8217;s Mega.co.nz. Today, however, all that came to a halt. Visitors to the <a href="https://mega.co.nz/#!cB4FxL6a!uZWeXJ--13XzxIgclRV2K9ShT5TuH42G_qnj05zCip4">previously published link</a> are greeted by the following page.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c4e04c1c.pocornmega.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pocornmega.png" alt="PopcornMega"></center></p>
<p>What we know for sure is that the developers didn&#8217;t delete their own file. Speaking with TF a few moments ago, a Popcorn Time dev team member said that the file had been removed by Mega.</p>
<p>To try and find out more, TF contacted Kim Dotcom himself to see if he could shine some light on developments. At least for now (its night-time in New Zealand) Dotcom is maintaining radio silence.</p>
<p>The entrepreneur certainly knows about the software. Yesterday he <a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/443619937345495040">tweeted</a> about TechCrunch&#8217;s coverage of the original TF article, alongside a note directed at the MPAA with a cheeky &#8216;wink&#8217; emoticon at the end.  Whether he was aware at the time that Mega.co.nz was hosting the software is unknown, but it&#8217;s unlikely the gesture would&#8217;ve been appreciated in Hollywood.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s strange, yesterday Kim Dotcom tweeted about us. He seemed ironic and happy. Bad luck he removed the link,&#8221; Popcorn Time&#8217;s Sebastian told TF.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/b6e2d9bd.techpop.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/techpop.png" alt="TechPop"></center></p>
<p>The big question is why Mega deleted the file. Thus far the MPAA hasn&#8217;t answered our questions on Popcorn Time, but the Popcorn Time team told us that they have been given a headsup that the MPAA is preparing a lawsuit to take the project down. </p>
<p>Whether that is really the case remains to be seen, but a formal takedown demand to Mega would be a predictable prelude to a lawsuit, should the MPAA choose that route.</p>
<p>So what now for the biggest app of the year so far? Obviously any lawsuit could hinder the software&#8217;s development but being open source, alternative routes could conceivably be found. </p>
<p>That said, speaking off-the-record with someone else closely familiar with the project, TF has today learned that a plan had previously been put in place to strengthen distribution of Popcorn Time in a way that doesn&#8217;t involve relying on third-party hosting companies such as Mega.</p>
<p>So, will Popcorn Time quickly return to poke Hollywood in the eye with its considerable beauty and simplicity, or are things about to get ugly?</p>
<p>&#8220;We are discussing  our next step,&#8221; Popcorn Time&#8217;s Sebastian informs TF. &#8220;This could be the end of Popcorn Time (not the community, its open source!) but maybe our goodbye as a team.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Kim Dotcom wrote to us at 03:50 local time. Obviously the Mega offices are closed.</p>
<p>&#8220;No idea what happened,&#8221; he told TF. &#8220;I&#8217;m not involved in Mega&#8217;s day-to-day business since I resigned from Management to work on an alternative Internet concept called Meganet, Baboom and the Internet Party.&#8221;</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll post additional thoughts from Kim in the hours to come.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Strangely enough the installer is still available to MEGA users who are logged in to their account.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85177
title: Three Strikes ISP: No Pirates Disconnected in Four Years
uri: Three-Strikes-ISP-No-Pirates-Disconnected-in-Four-Years
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SM77vbWWGCY/
content:
<p><a href="media/79ceb7a2.piratesaint.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratesaint.jpg"><img src="media/62a13a20.piratesaint.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratesaint.jpg" alt="piratesaint" width="180" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-73755"></a>According to the music and movie industries, three strikes-style regimes are needed to bring the pirating Internet masses into line. Receive three strikes/complaints (six in the United States) and then some punitive deterrent measure has to kick in.</p>
<p>Legislation has compelled many ISPs to participate in such programs. In 2009, South Korean ISPs became the first in the world to implement a so-called graduated response scheme and 2011&#8242;s Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act brought the mechanism to New Zealand. The HADOPI legislation introduced a similar program to the French.</p>
<p>However, not all participation has been forced by law. The United States&#8217; &#8220;six-strikes&#8221; program was introduced voluntarily last year but by that time the Irish had already gained several years&#8217; experience of a self-imposed regime.</p>
<p>In 2009, Eircom, the country&#8217;s largest ISP, prepared its own <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-document-reveals-eircom-deal-with-irish-riaa-090808/">three-strikes program</a> following a deal with the major recording labels, a package which allowed Eircom to disconnect persistent infringers. So now, four years since its introduction in 2010, how many people has Eircom disconnected? A hundred? One thousand? Five?</p>
<p>According to the ISP &#8211; not even one.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are continuing to implement the graduated response process,&#8221; a spokesman <a href="http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/three-strikes-but-not-out-of-eircom-yet-30088323.html">said</a> today. &#8220;We haven&#8217;t, as yet, disconnected anyone.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://pressroom.eircom.net/press_releases/article/eircom_Statement_on_Illegal_File_Sharing/">Eircom&#8217;s system</a> allows the user two notices of infringement before a third notice triggers a seven-day disconnection. A further notice means disconnection for a year. Considering the cries of rampant piracy from the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), the notion that not a single subscriber from Eircom&#8217;s 700,000 customer pool has been caught file-sharing more than twice is certainly going to raise eyebrows.</p>
<p>Several years ago the ISP said it was sending out at least 1,000 notices per week, but now the company apparently doesn&#8217;t want anyone to know how many are going out.</p>
<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t share details on the number of letters issued,&#8221; a spokesman said.</p>
<p>Independent.ie cites a source close to Eircom who states that many of those who received letters are &#8220;believed to have desisted from suspected filesharing&#8221; but with no figures being released on the number of warnings being sent, it&#8217;s impossible to draw any conclusions. Of course, it&#8217;s also just as easily said that those who were caught originally simply went underground with their downloading habits.</p>
<p>For their part, IRMA clearly thinks that the Eircom program is working. The music group is currently <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-ask-court-to-force-isp-to-disconnect-music-pirates-130212/">taking legal action</a> to force ISP UPC to Eircom in promising to disconnect pirating customers.</p>
<p>If UPC loses and then follows Eircom&#8217;s example, that will presumably amount to zero subscribers by 2018.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85229
title: Time to Punish DMCA Takedown Abusers, WordPress Owners Say
uri: Time-to-Punish-DMCA-Takedown-Abusers-WordPress-Owners-Say
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/kI9bSPAcbEI/
content:
<p><a href="media/b997f7ba.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg"><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211"></a>Although deceptively small considering its impact, Automattic is a company that touches hundreds of millions of Internet users every day. The company, best known for being behind the WordPress blogging and publishing platform, currently hosts more than 48 million sites on WordPress.com.</p>
<p>Servicing 400 million visitors accessing 13.1 billion pages each month is no mean feat, and with so much user-generated content on-board it&#8217;s obvious why the company has a keen interest in the DMCA and the protections it offers service providers.</p>
<p>Speaking today during a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#512">Section 512 of Title 17</a>, Automattic General Counsel Paul Sieminski spoke about his company&#8217;s experiences with the notice and takedown provisions of the DMCA. Noting that the process works well overall, Sieminski said that shortcomings in the system negatively affect freedom of expression and adversly impact companies like Automattic.</p>
<p>Sieminski says that significant resources are being diverted away from product development at Automattic in order to deal with overbroad and abusive DMCA takedown notices. On the one hand the company wants to ensure freedom of speech, but balancing that with its legal commitments under the DMCA is not an easy task.</p>
<p>&#8220;At Automattic, we’ve seen an increasing amount of abuse of the DMCA’s takedown process. The DMCA’s takedown process provides what can be an easy avenue for censorship: simply send in a DMCA notice claiming copyrights in a piece of content that you don’t agree with. Regardless of whether you own the copyright, the service provider that hosts the content must take it down or risk being out of compliance with the DMCA,&#8221; the lawyer explained.</p>
<p>Sieminski went on to detail several cases where the DMCA had been abused to stifle speech, including one elaborate scam in which someone tried to undermine the work of science journalists by copying their work, backdating it, and claiming copyright in order to take down the original content. Although the journalists filed a counter-notice, it took the full 10 days mandated by the DMCA to get it put back online.</p>
<p>Another case involved a UK-based journalist who reported on a freely-given press statement. The source of the press release changed his mind on having it published, claimed copyright, and had the journalist&#8217;s work taken down under the DMCA. Concerned about submitting to the jurisdiction of a US court (those submitting a counter-notice are required to reveal their name and address and agree to be sued in federal court), the journalist chose to back down. His report remains censored to this day.</p>
<p>As reported here on TF on many occasions, wrongful DMCA notices are sent on a daily basis, many the product of automated systems that lack the finesse to correctly identify infringement, much less consider fair use situations. Add these notices to the millions already being sent and they often go undetected, taken down by nervous service providers wary of becoming liable for the infringements of others.</p>
<p>According to Automattic, a solution needs to be found.</p>
<p>&#8220;The DMCA system gives copyright holders a powerful and easy-to-use weapon: the unilateral right to issue a takedown notice that a website operator (like Automattic) must honor or risk legal liability,&#8221; Sieminski explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;The system works so long as copyright owners use this power in good faith. But too often they don’t, and there should be clear legal consequences for those who choose to abuse the system. I’d urge the Committee to add such penalties to the DMCA to deter and punish these types of abuses,&#8221; the lawyer concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85191
title: Pirate Bay Sees Surge in High-Definition Downloads
uri: Pirate-Bay-Sees-Surge-in-High-Definition-Downloads
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BMyg2QGyECM/
content:
<p><a href="media/fd06f581.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg"><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="pirate bay" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470"></a>Despite numerous legal setbacks and continued pressure from copyright holders, The Pirate Bay is still here. In recent years the notorious torrent site <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-fails-to-halt-u-s-pirate-bay-growth-130903/">expanded its reach</a> with millions of users, each looking for the latest multimedia content. </p>
<p>The site&#8217;s status as one of the largest online media libraries has also piqued the interest of researchers, who are closely following what people are sharing. </p>
<p>Previously we documented how the number of files uploaded to The Pirate Bay <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-uploads-surge-50-in-a-year-despite-anti-piracy-efforts-131230/">increased 50%</a> in just a year, and that <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/35-of-all-pirate-bay-uploads-are-porn-140124/">more than one-third</a> of the uploads are adult content.</p>
<p>A new <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6678931">study</a>, conducted by researchers from the Institut Mines-Télécom in Paris and Madrid&#8217;s Universidad Carlos III, confirms the Pirate Bay&#8217;s expansion and adds several new insights. The researchers looked at large samples of torrents from various Pirate Bay categories, and polled the active sharers at various points in time.</p>
<p>&#8220;To the best of our knowledge it is the first study that weights several factors related to BitTorrent over a two years window,&#8221; researcher Reza Farahbakhsh tells TF.</p>
<p>From their data samples, which span from 2009 to 2012, the researchers draw three main conclusions. </p>
<ul>
<li>The number of high-definition video torrents on The Pirate Bay increased more than 500%.</li>
<li>The median file-size of all torrents has doubled.</li>
<li>Between 40-50% of all torrents point to video content and 80% of the total downloads come from these torrents. </li>
</ul>
<p>During the latest measurement in 2012, high-definition video torrents accounted for 8.2% of the total, up from a mere 1.5% in 2009. As a result, the number of people downloading these files also surged, now making up nearly 10% of all downloads.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The popularity of High-resolution PORN and VIDEO content follows the increasing availability of this type of content. While it only attracted 1.87% of the downloads in 2010, it has increased its popularity 5 times by receiving 9.62% of the downloads in 2012,&#8221; the researchers write.</p>
<p>Another result of the increased availability of high-definition videos is that the median size of all content indexed by The Pirate Bay has doubled over the years.</p>
<p>&#8220;The median value of the content size in 2009 was 223MB <a href="media/e398b6a9.torrent-size.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrent-size.png"><img src="media/e398b6a9.torrent-size.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrent-size.png" alt="torrent-size" width="315" height="259" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85197"></a>and increased by 53% (to 341MB) in the next five months, and it kept growing up to 370MB and 458MB in 2011 and 2012 respectively,&#8221; the researchers write.<br>
The researchers&#8217; data could act as a warning signal to Internet providers, who need to make sure they can handle further increases in their network usage. Not just with BitTorrent in mind either, but also other pirate sources such as cyberlockers where similar patterns may emerge.</p>
<p>&#8220;These findings are useful to those Internet players (i.e. ISPs, CDN operators) involved in the content distribution business in order to update their infrastructures, resources and algorithms to efficiently distribute and serve multimedia content,&#8221; the researchers conclude. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see how the demand for high-definition content develops. With increasing broadband penetration and bigger screen sizes, the upward trend is expected to continue in the years to come.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85218
title: RIAA Wants Google to End Piracy “Whack-A-Mole”
uri: RIAA-Wants-Google-to-End-Piracy-Whack-A-Mole
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/PjhzkXNjMJk/
content:
<p><a href="media/7c6b9504.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg"><img src="media/3a6fa524.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg" alt="google-bay" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21875"></a>In a written statement to a House Judiciary Subcommittee <a href="http://www.judiciary.house.gov/index.cfm/hearings?ID=3A1D170D-D431-486F-AEFA-3724B0D95AE9">hearing</a> on the DMCA takedown system, RIAA CEO Cary Sherman informed lawmakers about the ongoing struggle against online piracy.</p>
<p>According to Sherman the current takedown system is not sufficient to deal with the problem. One of the main issues is that several foreign websites simply ignore takedown notices, or put the links back under a slightly modified URL.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Pirate Bay website, for example, simply ignores takedown notices. Mp3skull, we believe, immediately repopulates, with modest changes in the address, all of its links that are contained within our takedown notices,&#8221; Sherman explains. </p>
<p>For the RIAA and other copyright holders there are no legal options to deal with these rogue sites. However, the music industry group believes that Google and other search engines can do more to prevent people from accessing pirate sites through their services.</p>
<p>Sherman explains that Google deserves credit for processing takedown notices swiftly, but since the search engine limits the number of takedown requests copyright holders can send, it&#8217;s impossible for them to target piracy properly.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google places a numerical limit on the number of search queries we can make to find the infringing content and, as a result, we can only take down a tiny fraction of the number of infringing files on each pirate site, let alone on the Internet generally,&#8221; Sherman notes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Google claims that they &#8216;receive notices for far less than 1% of everything hosted and indexed by Google.&#8217; Well, that’s largely because their search query limitations provide us with a bucket to address an ever-replenishing ocean of infringement,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether Google ups its limits, the DMCA takedown process is still not sufficient for the RIAA. Sherman explains that several sites simply change the links, which are then available through Google and other search engines a day later.</p>
<p>&#8220;All those links to infringing music files that were automatically repopulated by each pirate site after today’s takedown will be re-indexed and appear in search results tomorrow. Every day we have to send new notices to take down the very same links to illegal content we took down the day before. It’s like &#8216;Groundhog Day&#8217; for takedowns,&#8221; Sherman says.</p>
<blockquote class="pullquote"><p>&#8220;Every day we have to send new notices to take down the very same links to illegal content we took down the day before. It’s like &#8216;Groundhog Day&#8217; for takedowns.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>The RIAA believes that it&#8217;s time for search engines to strike a deal with copyright holders to address this issue. The industry group wants Google to end the piracy “whack-a-mole&#8221; by going beyond the legal takedown requirements.</p>
<p>”Ensure that when links to content are taken down, the same content on the same site is not continuously re-indexed when repopulated by the pirate site, rendering the takedown process useless,&#8221; RIAA&#8217;s CEO suggests.</p>
<p><center><strong>RIAA&#8217;s checkboxes</strong><img src="media/b24578e1.Uh7uxjt.png" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/Uh7uxjt.png" alt=""></center></p>
<p>In addition the RIAA wants Google to lift all takedown limits, push down pirate sites in search results, promote legal sites and services, remove pirate terms from Autocomplete and completely remove &#8220;repeat infringers&#8221; from their search index.</p>
<p>Google, however, clearly disagrees with the RIAA. </p>
<p>Katherine Oyama, Google&#8217;s Senior Copyright Policy Counsel, appeared before the House Judiciary Subcommittee yesterday and stressed that the DMCA process is working just fine. She noted that some copyright holders abuse the process, but in general it works. </p>
<p>Bouncing the ball back into the RIAA&#8217;s court, Oyama noted that copyright holders should consider better SEO if they want to improve their search rankings. Other than that, they should focus on offering consumers what they want; decent legal alternatives.</p>
<p>&#8220;The best way to battle piracy is with better, more convenient, legitimate alternatives to piracy, as services ranging from Netflix to Spotify to iTunes have demonstrated. The right combination of price, convenience, and inventory will do far more to reduce piracy than enforcement can,&#8221; Oyama said. </p>
<p>If anything, the above shows that Google and industry group such as the RIAA have a long way to go before they are on the same page. Both would like to address online piracy issues without new legislation, but in the near future they are not expected to reach consensus on the measures to take.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85252
title: Companies Withdraw Blu-ray Rippers Following DVDFab Lawsuit
uri: Companies-Withdraw-Blu-ray-Rippers-Following-DVDFab-Lawsuit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/k0c023V-wCc/
content:
<p><a href="media/b2ae96d8.dvdfabsmall.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dvdfabsmall.jpg"><img src="media/b2ae96d8.dvdfabsmall.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dvdfabsmall.jpg" alt="dvdfabsmall" width="180" height="159" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85274"></a>As <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-court-orders-seizure-dvdfab-domain-names-funds-140310/">reported</a> earlier this week, a New York federal court has granted the seizure of domain names, bank funds and social media accounts belonging to ripping software outfit DVDFab.</p>
<p>The decision follows legal action taken by AACS, the decryption licensing group founded by movie and technology partners including Warner Bros, Disney, Microsoft and Intel. The companies say that the Chinese company behind DVDFab violates the DMCA’s anti-circumvention clause by selling tools that can bypass their DVD encryption.</p>
<p>The orders of Judge Broderick, handed down after a DVDFab no-show, will see the company lose several domains, its social media accounts, bank account funds and payment processing options. Now, several days later, the effects of the ruling are being felt by other companies offering similar products.</p>
<p>First up Aiseesoft, another Chinese-based company behind a suite of video and ripping tools. The company was singled out in February&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/us-government-targets-pirate-bay-notorious-sites-140212/">USTR &#8220;rogue site&#8221; report</a> for offering products that &#8220;allow users to circumvent technical protection measures and view video content in an unauthorized manner.&#8221;</p>
<p><img src="media/09fa6d0a.ustr.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ustr.jpg" width="175" height="175" class="alignright">Despite DVDFab never appearing on the &#8220;rogue&#8221; list, that company was targeted first, something that has clearly unsettled Aiseesoft. As reported by a Myce user, this week following the DVDFab ruling the company began sending out emails to its users, <a href="http://club.myce.com/f196/aiseesoft-no-longer-selling-dvd-blu-ray-programs-335648/#post2722278">announcing</a> its exit from the ripping market.</p>
<p>&#8220;Here I would like to represent our Company, Aiseesoft to inform all of you that as Aiseesoft settles a new product development plan, in which Aiseesoft will no longer sell software that rip or copy Blu-ray/DVD Videos,&#8221; the broken English email begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;According to that, we will remove some products that are relevant to Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow (20140314), which means you and your visitors will lose the access to any products that involved. It is a hard decision for us to make. But we have to focus attention on products that are promising.&#8221;</p>
<p>As can be seen from the <a href="http://www.aiseesoft.com/">Aiseesoft website</a>, all DVD and Blu-ray ripping software has now been removed. While the company will no doubt be seeking its deletion from the USTR&#8217;s notorious markets list next time round, others not on the list are also seeing the writing on the wall.</p>
<p>Canada-based <a href="http://lgsoftwareinnovations.com">LG Software Innovations</a> has also announced that it will discontinue its 1CLICK BLURAY COPY software.</p>
<p>Citing issues with the Cinavia Blu-ray protection mechanism, the lawsuit against DVDFab, and the apparent inability of companies outside the US to escape the jurisdiction of US courts, the company said that its forthcoming Blu-ray product will be shut down.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, in light of recent events, we will not be releasing a final Blu-ray copy product for sale,&#8221; the company said.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was once thought that companies that were situated outside the U.S. could operate with impunity; this no longer appears to be the case. We do not wish to take any risks that could jeopardize our ability to continue to provide support and updates to our loyal 1CLICK users.&#8221;</p>
<p>But just as others exit the market, DVDFab says it is making every effort to undermine the actions taken against it, with new domains, a new support site, prize giveaways, product discounts and even protest graphics.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7e919464.dvdfablarge.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dvdfablarge.jpg" alt="DVDFabLARGE"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;In order to protect the interests of our existing customers, we have already recovered all the normal businesses to www.dvdfab.cn. At the same time, we promise to reverse the situation through every possible effort,&#8221; the company said on its new support site, <a href="http://www.ilikedvdfab.com/">ILikeDVDFab.com</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;DVDFab Team as a whole, will stick to the same mission in the years to come, to better your entertainment life. We shall not perish from this earth!&#8221;</p>
<p>In the meantime Slysoft, the business behind the famous AnyDVD software, remains on the USTR&#8217;s rogue list. The company, reportedly based in Antigua and Barbuda, has shown no public reaction to the DVDFab decision and continues to offer its products as normal.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85328
title: Popcorn Time Shuts Down, Then Gets Resurrected by YTS (YIFY)
uri: Popcorn-Time-Shuts-Down-Then-Gets-Resurrected-by-YTS-(YIFY)
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/kJpKQPbh9xA/
content:
<p><a href="media/eca8c94b.popcorn-time.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-time.png"><img src="media/16c6d12b.popcorn-time.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-time.png" alt="popcorn-time" width="228" height="99" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84917"></a>Last Saturday TF <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/open-source-torrent-streaming-a-netflix-for-pirates-140308/">reported</a> on the now-controversial torrent streaming app Popcorn Time, a piece that was followed by dozens of mainstream articles in the week that followed. It quickly became evident that this software had broken new ground with its beauty and simplicity.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the first signs of trouble were not far away. During the middle of the week the software was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-deleted-by-dotcoms-mega-mpaa-lawsuit-pending-140312/">removed from Mega.co.nz</a>. It&#8217;s still unclear if that action was taken by Mega under its own steam or after it was prompted by Hollywood, but with the Popcorn Time developers confirming they had nothing to do with it, one or the other must be to blame.</p>
<p>But after a stormy week, with the software receiving critical acclaim, last night the veils were being drawn over the project. In a long announcement on the tool&#8217;s website, the Popcorn Time team confirmed they were stepping down.</p>
<p>&#8220;Popcorn Time is shutting down today. Not because we ran out of energy, commitment, focus or allies. But because we need to move on with our lives,&#8221; the team <a href="http://getpopcornti.me/">explained</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our experiment has put us at the doors of endless debates about piracy and copyright, legal threats and the shady machinery that makes us feel in danger for doing what we love. And that’s not a battle we want a place in.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Argentina-based team added that piracy is not a people problem, it&#8217;s one based around service created by an industry that &#8220;portrays innovation as a threat to their antique recipe to collect value.&#8221;</p>
<p>But just as another flood of articles hit the mainstream press, each waving goodbye to Popcorn Time before moving on to something else, there&#8217;s important news yet to report.</p>
<p>Popcorn Time is not dead and will live on, seamlessly.</p>
<p><img src="media/33244c51.yts.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/yts.jpg" width="180" height="94" class="alignright">Speaking with TorrentFreak, YTS (formerly YIFY-Torrents) developer Jduncanator has confirmed that Popcorn Time will not die with the withdrawal of its founding team. Instead, YTS will pick up the baton and run.</p>
<p>&#8220;The YTS team will now be picking up the Popcorn Time project and continuing on like previously. We are in a better position copyright wise as for us, because it&#8217;s build on our API, it&#8217;s as if we have built another interface to our website. We are no worse off managing the project than we would be just supplying the movies,&#8221; the dev explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s our vision at YTS that we see through projects like these and that just because they create a little stir in the public, it doesn&#8217;t mean they are shut down. That stir is exactly what the public needs and it&#8217;s already evident that people are becoming more aware of copyright-related issues.&#8221;</p>
<p>The project, which can now be found <a href="https://github.com/yify">here</a>, is open to all former developers who will be given contributor access upon request. The Popcorn Time installer will be made available shortly.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> Since our interview with the YTS developer, YTS have given us a new statement which effectively distances them from the Popcorn Time project.</p>
<p>&#8220;Popcorn Time is a community driven project, not owned nor maintained by a single person or entity,&#8221; the site said.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85262
title: Which VPN Services Take Your Anonymity Seriously? 2014 Edition
uri: Which-VPN-Services-Take-Your-Anonymity-Seriously-2014-Edition
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/R-zaXltJR3o/
content:
<p><a href="media/29b4878c.boxed.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/boxed.jpg"><img src="media/70f2a6a6.boxed.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/boxed.jpg" alt="boxed" width="222" height="178" class="alignright size-full wp-image-36576"></a>By now most Internet users are well aware of the fact that pretty much every step they take on the Internet is logged or monitored. </p>
<p>To prevent their IP-addresses from being visible to the rest of the Internet, millions of people have signed up to a VPN service. Using a VPN allows users to use the Internet anonymously and prevent snooping.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, not all VPN services are as anonymous as they claim.  </p>
<p>Following a high-profile case of an individual using an &#8216;anonymous&#8217; VPN service that turned out to be not so private, TorrentFreak decided to ask a selection of VPN services some tough questions.</p>
<p>By popular demand we now present the third iteration of our VPN services &#8220;logging&#8221; review. In addition to questions about logging policies we also asked VPN providers about their stance towards file-sharing traffic, and what they believe the most secure VPN is. </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>1. Do you keep ANY logs which would allow you to match an IP-address and a time stamp to a user of your service? If so, exactly what information do you hold and for how long? </p>
<p>2. Under what jurisdictions does your company operate and under what exact circumstances will you share the information you hold with a 3rd party?</p>
<p>3. What tools are used to monitor and mitigate abuse of your service?</p>
<p>4. In the event you receive a DMCA takedown notice or European equivalent, how are these handled?</p>
<p>5. What steps are taken when a valid court order requires your company to identify an active user of your service?</p>
<p>6. Is BitTorrent and other file-sharing traffic allowed on all servers? If not, why?</p>
<p>7. Which payment systems do you use and how are these linked to individual user accounts?</p>
<p>8. What is the most secure VPN connection and encryption algorithm you would recommend to your users? </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>What follows is the list of responses from the VPN services, in their own words. Providers who didn&#8217;t answer our questions directly or failed by logging everything were excluded. Please note, however, that several VPN companies listed here do log to some extent. The order of the lists holds no value. </p>
<h2><a href="http://bit.ly/privateinternet">Private Internet Access</a></h2>
<p><a href="media/d2a1e068.pia.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pia.png"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-41039" title="torrentprivacy" src="media/d2a1e068.pia.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pia.png" alt="" width="180" height="40"></a>1. We absolutely do not log any traffic nor session data of any kind, period. We have worked hard to meticulously fork all daemons that we utilize in order to achieve this functionality. It is definitely not an easy task, and we are very proud of our development team for helping Private Internet Access to achieve this unique ability.</p>
<p>2. We operate out of the US which is one of the few, if only, countries without a mandatory data retention law. We explored several other jurisdictions with the help of our professional legal team, and the US is still ideal for privacy-based VPN services.</p>
<p>We severely scrutinize the validity of any and all legal information requests. That being said, since we do not hold any traffic nor session data, we are unable to provide any information to any third-party. Our commitment and mission to preserve privacy is second to none.</p>
<p>3. We do not monitor any traffic, period. We block IPs/ports as needed to mitigate abuse when we receive a valid abuse notification.</p>
<p>4. We do not host any content and are therefore unable to remove any of said content. Additionally, our mission is to preserve and restore privacy on the Internet and society. As such, since we do not log or monitor anything, we&#8217;re unable to identify any users of our service.</p>
<p>5. Once again, we do not log any traffic or session data. Additionally, unlike the EU and many other countries, our users are protected by legal definition. For this reason, we&#8217;re unable to identify any user of our service. Lastly, consumer protection laws exist in the US, unlike many other countries. We must abide by our advertised privacy policy.</p>
<p>6. We do not discriminate against any kind of traffic/protocol on any of our servers, period. We believe in a free, open, and uncensored internet.</p>
<p>7. Bitcoin, Ripple, PayPal, Google Play (Mobile), OKPay, CashU, Amazon and any major Gift Card. We support plenty of anonymous payment methods. For this reason, the highest risk users should definitely use Bitcoin, Ripple or a major gift card with an anonymous e-mail account when subscribing to our privacy service.</p>
<p>8. We&#8217;re the only provider to date that provides a plethora of encryption cipher options. We recommend, mostly, using AES-128, SHA1 and RSA2048. </p>
<p><a href="http://bit.ly/privateinternet">Private Internet Access website</a> </p>
<h2><a href="http://btguard.com/?a=discounts">BTGuard</a></h2>
<p><img src="media/6b5ea0f4.btguard2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/btguard2.jpg" align="right" alt="btguard">1. We do not keep any logs whatsoever.</p>
<p>2. The jurisdiction is Canada. Since we do not have log files, we have no information to share. We do not communicate with any third parties. The only event in which we would even communicate with a third-party is if we received a court order. We would then be forced to notify them we have no information. This has not happened yet.</p>
<p>3. If serious abuse is reported we enable tcpdump to confirm the abuse and locate the user. These dumps are immediately removed. If the user is abusing our service they will be terminated permanently but we have never shared user information with a 3rd party. </p>
<p>4. We do not have any open incoming ports, so it’s not possible for us to “takedown” any broadcasting content.</p>
<p>5. We take every step within the law to fight such an order.</p>
<p>6. Yes, all types of traffic our allowed with our services.</p>
<p>7. We accept PayPal and Bitcoin. All payments are linked to users accounts because they have to be for disputes and refunds.</p>
<p>8. 256-bit AES is the most secure. However 128-bit blowfish is plenty good. If you&#8217;re concerned about surveillance agencies such as the NSA, their capabilities are shrouded in secrecy and claiming to be able to protect you is offering you nothing but speculation. As far as what&#8217;s publicly available for deciphering encryption, both of the encryptions I mentioned are more than sufficient.</p>
<p><a href="http://btguard.com/?a=discounts">BTGuard website</a></p>
<h2><a href="http://bit.ly/torguardvpn">TorGuard</a></h2>
<p><a href="media/b1060a22.torguard.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torguard.png"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-50163" title="torguard" src="media/b1060a22.torguard.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torguard.png" alt="" width="180" height="59"></a>1. TorGuard does not store any IP address or time stamps on any VPN and proxy servers, not even for a second. Further, we do not store any logs or time stamps on user authentication servers connected to the VPN. In this way it is not even possible to match an external time stamp to a user that was simultaneously logged in. Because the VPN servers utilize a shared IP configuration, there can be hundreds of users sharing the same IP at any given moment further obfuscating the ability to single out any specific user on the network.</p>
<p>2. TorGuard is a privately owned company with parent ownership based in Nevis and our headquarters currently located in the US. Our legal representation at the moment is comfortable with the current corporate structuring however we wouldn’t hesitate to move all operations internationally should the ground shift beneath our feet. We now offer VPN access in 23+ countries worldwide and maintain all customer billing servers well outside US borders.</p>
<p>We would only be forced to communicate with a third-party in the event that our legal team received a court ordered subpoena to do so. This has yet to happen, however if it did we would proceed with complete transparency and further explain the nature of TorGuard’s shared VPN configuration. We have no logs to investigate, and thus no information to share.</p>
<p>3. Our network team uses commercial monitoring software with custom scripts to keep an eye on individual server load and service status/uptime so we can identify problems as fast as possible. If abuse reports are received from an upstream provider, we block it by employing various levels of filtering and global firewall rules to large clusters of servers. Instead of back tracing abuse by logging, our team mitigates things in real-time. We have a responsibility to provide fast, abuse-free VPN services for our clients and have perfected these methods over time.</p>
<p>4. In the event of receiving a DMCA notice, the request is immediately processed by our abuse team. Because it is impossible for us to locate which user on the server is actually responsible for the violation, we temporarily block the infringing server and apply global rules depending on the nature of the content and the server responsible. The system we use for filtering certain content is similar to keyword blocking but with much more accuracy. This ensures the content in question to no longer pass through the server and satisfies requirements from our bandwidth providers.</p>
<p>5. Due to the nature of shared VPN services and how our network is configured, it is not technically possible to effectively identity or single out one active user from a single IP address. If our legal department received a valid subpoena, we would proceed with complete transparency from day one. Our team is prepared to defend our client’s right to privacy to the fullest extent of the law.</p>
<p>6. BitTorrent is only allowed on select server locations. TorGuard now offers a variety of protocols like http/socks proxies, OpenVPN, SSH Tunnels, SSTP VPN and Stealth VPN (DPI Bypass), with each connection method serving a very specific purpose for usage. Since BitTorrent is largely bandwidth intensive, we do not encourage torrent usage on all servers. Locations that are optimized for torrent traffic include endpoints in: Canada, Netherlands, Iceland, Sweden, Romania, Russia and select servers in Hong Kong. This is a wide range of locations that works efficiently regardless of the continent you are trying to torrent from. </p>
<p>7. We currently accept payments through all forms of credit or debit card, PayPal, OKPAY, and Bitcoin. During checkout we may ask the user to verify a billing phone and address but this is simply to prevent credit card fraud, spammers, and keep the network running fast and clean. After payment it is possible to change this to something generic that offers more privacy. No VPN or Proxy usage can be linked back to a billing account due to the fact we hold absolutely no levels of logging on any one of our servers, not even timestamps! </p>
<p>8. For best security we advise clients to choose OpenVPN connections only, and if higher encryption is called for use AES256 bit. This option is available on many locations and offers excellent security without degrading performance. For those that are looking to defeat Deep Packet Inspection firewalls (DPI) like what is encountered in countries such as China or Iran, TorGuard offers “Stealth” VPN connections in the Netherlands, UK and Canada. Stealth connections feature OpenVPN obfuscation technology that causes VPN traffic to appear as regular connections, allowing VPN access even behind the most strict corporate wifi networks or government regulated ISPs.</p>
<p><a href="http://bit.ly/torguardvpn">TorGuard website</a> </p>
<h2><a href="https://privacy.io/">Privacy.io</a></h2>
<p><a href="media/43201b6b.privacyio.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/privacyio.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-41044" title="privacy" src="media/43201b6b.privacyio.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/privacyio.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="50"></a>1. We do not log any information on our VPN servers. The only scenario is if a technical issue arises, but we request permission from the user first, and we only do it for the duration of the job, and then it is removed.</p>
<p>2. We are in the process of moving jurisdictions away from Australia at present as we are unsure what our current government plans to do in regards to our privacy. We have not decided where yet.</p>
<p>3. Only SMTP port 25 is filtered to mitigate spam, but we are working on some tools to make it easier for users to send mail.</p>
<p>4. Any DMCA request is ignored, as we have no logs to do anything about them.</p>
<p>5. Same as above, as we do not log, so we are unable to provide any information. If the law attempts to make us do such things, we will move our business to a location where that cannot occur, and if that fails we will close up shop before we provide any information.</p>
<p>6. All protocols are allowed with our service, with the only exception of SMTP port 25 currently being filtered.</p>
<p>7. At present we only accept PayPal and CC (processed by PayPal), but we are looking into alternative types of payments. We go out of our way to make sure that PayPal transactions are not linked to the users, we generate a unique key per transaction to verify payment for the account is made, and then nuke that unique key. Bitcoin and Litecoin are also on the agenda.</p>
<p>8. At present we offer 128 bit for PPTP and 256 bit for OpenVPN, We plan to offer stronger encryption for the security conscious.</p>
<p><a href="https://privacy.io/">Privacy.io website</a></p>
<h2><a href="http://vikingvpn.com/">VikingVPN</a></h2>
<p><img src="media/345cb436.vikingvpn.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vikingvpn.jpg" alt="vikingvpn" width="180" height="203" class="alignright size-full wp-image-74962">1. No. We run a zero knowledge network and are unable to tie a user to an IP address.</p>
<p>2. United States, they don&#8217;t have data retention laws, despite their draconian surveillance programs. The only information we share with anyone is billing information to our payment gateway. This can be anonymized by using a pre-paid anonymous card. If asked to share specific data about our users and their habits, we would be unable to do so, because we don&#8217;t have any logs of that data.</p>
<p>3. That is mostly confidential information. However, we can assure our users that we do not use logging to achieve this goal.</p>
<p>4. In the event of a DMCA notice, we send out the DMCA policy published on our website. We haven&#8217;t yet received a VALID DMCA notice.</p>
<p>5. We exhaust all legal options to protect our users. Failing that, we would provide all of our logs, which do not actually exist. If required to wiretap a user under a National Security Letter, we have a passively triggered Warrant Canary. We would also likely choose to shut down our service and put it up elsewhere.</p>
<p>6. Yes. Those ports are all open, and we have no data caps.</p>
<p>7. We currently only take credit cards. Our payment provider is far more restrictive than we ever imagined they would be. We&#8217;re still trying to change payment providers. Fortunately, by using a pre-paid credit card, you can still have totally anonymous service from us.</p>
<p>8. A strong handshake (either RSA-4096+ or a non-standard elliptic curve as the NIST curves are suspect). A strong cipher such as AES-256-CBC or AES-256-GCM encryption (NOT EDE MODE). At least SHA1 for data integrity checks. SHA2 and the newly adopted SHA3 (Skein) hash functions are also fine, but slower and provide no real extra assurances of data integrity, and provide no further security beyond SHA1. The OpenVPN HMAC firewall option to harden the protocol against Man-in-the-Middle and Man-on-the-Side attacks.</p>
<p><a href="http://vikingvpn.com/">VikingVPN website</a> </p>
<h2><a href="http://www.ivpn.net/">IVPN</a></h2>
<p><a href="media/a656cf52.ivpn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ivpn.png"><img src="media/a656cf52.ivpn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ivpn.png" alt="ivpn" width="150" height="69" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85390"></a>1. IVPN&#8217;s top priority is the privacy of its customers. We use non-persistent logs (stored in memory) which are deleted after 10 minutes. That tiny window gives us the ability to troubleshoot connection issues, whilst still making it practically impossible for any 3rd party to match an IP to a time-stamp.</p>
<p>2. IVPN is incorporated in Malta. We would ignore any request to share data unless it was served by a legal authority with jurisdiction in Malta in which case we would inform them that we don&#8217;t have the data to share. If we were served a subpoena which compelled us to log traffic we would find a way to inform our customers and relocate to a new jurisdiction.</p>
<p>3. We use a tool called PSAD to mitigate attacks originating from customers on our network. We also use rate-limiting in iptables to mitigate SPAM.</p>
<p>4. We ensure that our network providers understand the nature of our business and that we do not host any content. As a condition of the safe harbor provisions they are required to inform us of each infringement which includes the date, title of the content and the IP address of the gateway through which it was downloaded. We simply respond to each notice confirming that we do not host the content in question.</p>
<p>5. Assuming the court order is requesting an identity based on a timestamp and IP, our legal department would respond that we don&#8217;t have any record of the user&#8217;s identity nor are we legally compelled to do so.</p>
<p>6. We &#8216;allow&#8217; BitTorrent on all servers except gateways based in the USA. Our USA network providers are required to inform us of each copyright infringement and are required to process our response putting undue strain on their support resources (hundreds per day). For this reason providers won&#8217;t host our servers in the USA unless we take measures to mitigate P2P activity.</p>
<p>7. We currently accept Bitcoin, Cash and PayPal. No information relating to a customers payment account is stored with the exception of automated PayPal subscriptions where we are required to store the subscription ID in order to assign it to an invoice (only for the duration of the subscription after which it is deleted). Of course PayPal will always maintain a record that you have sent funds to IVPN but that is all they have. If you need to be anonymous to IVPN and don&#8217;t wish to be identified as a customer then we recommend using Bitcoin or cash.</p>
<p>8. We recommend and offer OpenVPN using the strongest AES-256 cipher. For key exchange and authentication 2048-bit RSA keys are used (which RSA claims are sufficient until 2030).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ivpn.net/">IVPN website</a></p>
<h2><a href="https://www.privatvpn.se/en/">PrivatVPN</a></h2>
<p><a href="media/3f4973e2.privatvpn.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/privatvpn.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-41044" title="privatvpn" src="media/3f4973e2.privatvpn.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/privatvpn.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="53"></a>1. We don’t keep ANY logs that allow us or a 3rd party to match an IP address and a time stamp to a user our service. The only thing we log are e-mails and user names but it’s not possible to bind an activity on the Internet to a user.</p>
<p>2. We operate in Swedish jurisdiction. Since we do not log any IP addresses we have nothing to disclose. Circumstances doesn&#8217;t matter in this case, we have no information regarding our customers’ IP addresses and activity on the Internet. Therefore we have no information to share with any 3rd party.</p>
<p>3. If there&#8217;s abuse, we advise that service to block our IP in the first instance, and second, we can block traffic to the abused service.</p>
<p>4. This depends on the country in which we’re receiving a DMCA takedown. For example, we’ve received a DMCA takedown for UK and Finland and our response was to close P2P traffic in those countries.</p>
<p>5. If we get a court order to monitor a specific IP then we need to do it, and this applies to every VPN company out there.</p>
<p>6. Yes, we allow Torrent traffic.</p>
<p>7. PayPal, Payson and Plimus. Every payment has an order number, which is linked to a user. Otherwise we wouldn&#8217;t know who has made a payment. To be clear, you can&#8217;t link a payment to an IP address you get from us.</p>
<p>8. OpenVPN TUN with AES-256. On top is a 2048-bit DH key.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.privatvpn.se/en/">PrivatVPN website</a></p>
<h2><a href="http://www.prq.se/?p=tunnel&amp;intl=1">PRQ</a></h2>
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-49734" title="prq" src="media/ca58720b.prq.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/prq.png" alt="" width="129" height="102">1. No. Wo do not log anything and we only require a working e-mail address to be a customer.</p>
<p>2. Swedish. We do not share information with anyone.</p>
<p>3. Not disclosed.</p>
<p>4. Put it in the trash where it belongs!</p>
<p>5. None, since we do not have any customer information and no logs.</p>
<p>6. We host anything as long as it&#8217;s not SPAM related or child porn.</p>
<p>7. Visa/Mastercard, Bitcoin, PayPal. No correlation between payment data and customer data.</p>
<p>8. We provide OpenVPN services (along with dedicated servers and other hosting services).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.prq.se/?p=tunnel&amp;intl=1">PRQ website</a></p>
<h2><a href="http://www.tigervpn.com/en/home">tigerVPN</a></h2>
<p><a href="media/7a985cb0.tigervpn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tigervpn.png"><img src="media/7a985cb0.tigervpn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tigervpn.png" alt="tigervpn" width="180" height="73" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85421"></a>1. Absolutely not! We built tigerVPN to purge all data once the transmission of a IP package was completed successfully. Its impossible to trace back any customer. On top of that we decided to use shared IPs in order to further randomize and anonymize our customers. The combination of having absolutely no logs at all and multiple customers per IP, wipes our customers digital footprint</p>
<p>2. We are a limited liability company in Slovakia.  Slovakia does not have any data retention programs and furthermore encourage ISP’s to protect their customers privacy on the net. We are not required to share any information with 3rd party hence it would be illegal thanks to the law of telecom secrecy. </p>
<p>3. Since we don’t keep logs, we can&#8217;t monitor abusive behavior, which is the price for building a customer secure environment!</p>
<p>4. We can’t comply since we can’t identify customers, therefore it’s pointless to follow any requests. We have a specific folder for these eMails ;-)</p>
<p>5. Same as above. We seriously can’t tell which customer did what, when, where, at any given time.</p>
<p>6. It’s allowed on all servers although we gently ask our customers to use either Romania or Netherlands. Some infrastructure service providers do not want file sharing so it happened to us that we were asked to move our servers due to file sharing. We found some reliable partners in Romania and Netherlands which tolerate p2p so we kindly ask our customers to use these server parks.</p>
<p>7. Customers can pay with Visa, Mastercard and Debit. On top of that we also use PayPal. We use hash keys and tokens to identify a payment but it’s not logged or linked to the customer. We had to do this anyway hence we are a PCI Level 1 compliant merchant. Therefore we are not allowed to store any card or payment data with the records of our customers. These keys are pointless for anyone else so there is no chance to build a connection.</p>
<p>8. We offer PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN, while out of nature OpenVPN comes with the highest encryption and algorithm. L2TP and OpenVPN are 256bit SSL  encrypted while PPTP comes with a solid 128bit. Although our customers are individual and have their own sense of why and what to use, we recommend L2TP as solid protocol. It’s less geeky and more secure than PPTP, but our customers can pick any of them in all the 47 network nodes around the globe.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tigervpn.com/en/home">tigerVPN website</a></p>
<h2><a href="http://mullvad.net/en">Mullvad</a></h2>
<p><a href="media/032a295b.mullvad.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mullvad.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-41059" title="mullvad" src="media/032a295b.mullvad.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mullvad.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="37"></a>1. No. This would make both us and our users more vulnerable so we<br>
certainly don&#8217;t. To make it harder to watch the activities of an IP address from the outside we also have many users share each address, both for IPv4 and our upcoming IPv6 support.</p>
<p>2. Swedish jurisdiction. Under no circumstance we will share information with a third-party. First of all we take pains to not actually possess information that could be of interest to third parties, to the extent possible. In the end there is no practical way for the Swedish government to get information about our users from us.</p>
<p>3. We don&#8217;t monitor our users. In the rare cases of such egregious network abuse that we can&#8217;t help but notice (such as DoS attacks) we stop it using basic network tools.</p>
<p>4. There is no such Swedish law that is applicable to us.</p>
<p>5. We make sure not to store sensitive information that can be tied to publicly available information, so that we have nothing to give out. We believe it is not possible in Swedish law to construct a court order that would compel us to actually give out information about our<br>
users. Not that we would anyway. We started this service for political reasons and would rather discontinue it than having it work against its purpose.</p>
<p>6. Yes.</p>
<p>7. Bitcoin (we were the first service to accept it), cash (in the mail), bank transfers, and PayPal / credit cards. Payments are tied to accounts but accounts are just random numbers with no personal information attached that users can create at will. With the anonymous payments possible with cash and Bitcoin it can be anonymous all the way.</p>
<p>8. We use OpenVPN. We also provide PPTP because some people want it but we strongly recommend against it. Encryption algorithms and key lengths are important but often get way too much attention at the expense of other important but harder to measure things such as leaks and computer security.</p>
<p><a href="http://mullvad.net/en">Mullvad website</a></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85248
title: Copyright Group: Chilling Effects DMCA Archive is “Repugnant”
uri: Chilling-Effects-DMCA-Archive-is-Repugnant-Copyright-Group-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/o_X9R_PjwxA/
content:
<p><a href="media/67e48438.chilling.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chilling.jpg"><img src="media/67e48438.chilling.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chilling.jpg" alt="chilling" width="180" height="110" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85304"></a>Thanks to Google&#8217;s Transparency <a href="https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/">Report</a> we have the clearest picture yet of the battle taking place between content owners and the indexing and linking of allegedly infringing content online. The search engine takes down millions of URLs every week, a not insignificant amount by any standard.</p>
<p>Fortunately we don&#8217;t simply have to take Google&#8217;s statistics at face value. The notices received by the company are processed and later sent to the <a href="http://chillingeffects.org">Chilling Effects Clearinghouse</a>. There they are input into a searchable database so that the public can cross reference Google&#8217;s reports (along with others from companies such as Twitter) with the actual takedown notices, thus bringing accountability to the process.</p>
<p>It is through both of these database that TorrentFreak has been able to unearth <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/?s=chilling+effects">dozens of serious errors</a> and abuses carried out by the automated takedown systems operated by the world&#8217;s largest copyright holders. While there can be little doubt that Chilling Effects is an invaluable resource for those reporting on piracy issues or tracking DMCA abuses, not everyone is happy with the service being offered by the site.</p>
<p>As detailed in our previous reports (<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-wants-google-end-piracy-whack-mole-140314/">1</a>,<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/time-to-punish-dmca-takedown-abusers-wordpress-owners-say-140313/">2</a>), this week various rightsholders and service providers have been giving statements on the effectiveness of the DMCA. Among them was the <a href="http://copyrightalliance.org">Copyright Alliance</a>, an organization that counts the MPAA, NBC, Viacom and TimeWarner among its members. The theme running through CEO Sandra Aistars&#8217; statement is that the takedown provisions of the DMCA don&#8217;t work, whether you&#8217;re a creator or a website drowning in notices. Surprisingly, Aistars also took aim at Chilling Effects</p>
<p><a href="media/2804be58.aistars.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aistars.jpg"><img src="media/2804be58.aistars.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aistars.jpg" alt="aistars" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85306"></a>The project is operated by a selection of <a href="http://chillingeffects.org/about#contact">law school clinics</a> and the EFF with the aim of supporting lawful online activity against the chill of unwarranted legal threats, but the Copyright Alliance CEO says the site helps bully artists who stand up for their rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;The activities of chillingeffects.org are repugnant to the purposes of Section 512 [of the DMCA],&#8221; Aistars reported to the House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing.</p>
<p>&#8220;Data collected by high-volume recipients of DMCA notices such as Google, and senders of DMCA notices such as trade associations representing the film and music industries demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of DMCA notices sent are legitimate, yet the site unfairly maligns artists and creators using the legal process created by Section 512 as proponents of censorship.&#8221;</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Chilling Effects Project Leader Wendy Seltzer said that the repository exists for informational and research purposes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Many of the Chilling Effects participants filed an amicus brief (<a href="media/e954db96.P10_Chilling_Effects_Amicus20Brief.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/Perfect10_v_Google/P10_Chilling_Effects_Amicus%20Brief.pdf">pdf</a>) in the 9th Circuit a few years ago, in which we describe Chilling Effects&#8217; public purpose at length, and cite 25+ research works that, even in 2010, had been written using Chilling Effects data,&#8221; Seltzer explained.</p>
<p>However, continuing her criticism, Aistars told the hearing that by publishing DMCA notices intact, thereby revealing their senders, Chilling Effects had helped subject creators to &#8220;harassment and personal attacks for seeking to exercise their legal rights.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="media/ba3184d8.seltzer.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/seltzer.jpg"><img src="media/ba3184d8.seltzer.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/seltzer.jpg" alt="seltzer" width="150" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85339"></a>Seltzer, a Fellow with Princeton University&#8217;s Center for Information Technology Policy who sits on the boards of both the Tor Project and of World Wide Web Foundation, dismisses the allegations.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Chilling Effects] has always had policies of redacting unnecessary personally identifying information, while preserving the information needed for researchers, including members of the Internet-using public, to determine who filed takedown notices and what content they requested removal.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, in a not unexpected development, the Copyright Alliance CEO said that due to Chilling Effects publishing DMCA notices in their entirety, its database had grown into a huge list of pirate content links.</p>
<p>&#8220;Finally, because the site does not redact information about the infringing URLs identified in the notices, it has effectively become the largest repository of URLs hosting infringing content on the internet,&#8221; Aistars concludes.</p>
<p>While copyright holders may not like what Chilling Effects does, the site brings much-needed accountability to those using and abusing the DMCA takedown process. Without it the entire process would exist in the dark, and content wrongfully disappeared from search engines and other sites would remain unaccounted for. The site is one of, if not the most important DMCA-related resource online today, and long may that continue.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85370
title: Copyright Collecting Societies A Morass Of Bad Incentives
uri: Copyright-Collecting-Societies-A-Morass-Of-Bad-Incentives
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2YdMGmwe0cs/
content:
<p><a href="media/b997f7ba.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg"><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211"></a>In the America, Europe and elsewhere there is a copyright-monopoly-related system with &#8220;collecting societies&#8221;. </p>
<p>These organizations, which have a practical monopoly on what they do, are tasked with collecting royalties for music performances in various forms, and redistributing those royalties to the artists that were played.</p>
<p>With the support of law, this activity takes place at a best-effort level. More often than not, these organizations don&#8217;t actually measure what was played in every individual case, but use a number of formulas to estimate what has been played &#8211; like playlists on the top radio stations &#8211; and assume a distribution from that data. It&#8217;s easy to see how this can be justified as a good enough approximation. This leads to bizarre incentive structures.</p>
<p><strong>So, let&#8217;s zoom out a bit and see what has happened here. We have given a private organization an authority-like mandate to collect tax-like fees in the billions backed by threat of force, and tasked them with finding the appropriate receiver of the collected funds. If they don&#8217;t find the receiver, with no formal requirement of actual effort to do so, they get to keep the money for themselves. What could possibly go wrong here?</strong></p>
<p>If somebody in the private sector had negotiated a deal like this, they would just not be fired on the spot; they would be sued in civil court for gross negligence for the billions lost by this construction.</p>
<p>Admittedly, the EU directives on the matter changed just slightly this year. Still, there has been decades of this incentive in effect, creating a total morass of a culture in these organizations. The sense of entitlement has become pervasive and the larger mission lost.</p>
<p>The German collecting society GEMA has had no problem <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/music-royalty-society-collects-money-for-fake-artists-bathroom-equipment-and-food-110308/">demanding</a> royalties for performances that are explicitly royalty-free through Creative Commons licenses or similar, effectively running a large-scale organized criminal operation in that aspect.</p>
<p>The Belgian collecting society SABAM, meanwhile, doesn&#8217;t limit itself to collecting royalties for music. When asked, it <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/music-royalty-society-collects-money-for-fake-artists-bathroom-equipment-and-food-110308/">confirmed</a> that it represented various names (that were actually household brands for everything from kitchenware to restroom equipment) and asserted that these were &#8220;100% protected&#8221;, and that anybody playing &#8220;music&#8221; from a kitchen wok must pay money to SABAM.</p>
<p>GEMA again, meanwhile, has accomplished Germany as the <a href="http://datenjournalist.de/ueber-unsere-app-gema-vs-youtube/">most-censored country</a> on the planet from YouTube&#8217;s point of view. Not exactly flattering for a country aspiring to Western freedom-of-expression standards. Out of popular videos on YouTube, GEMA has demanded that over 60% of them be censored to the German public.</p>
<p>Following a complaint filed by an artist back in 2004, a judge began investigating SABAM&#8217;s finances. His <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/sabam-charged-with-copyright-fraud-embezzlement-money-laundering-120218/">findings</a> mean that SABAM will now face court accused of falsifying accounts to cover up bribe payments, abuse of trust, copyright monopoly fraud and embezzlement.</p>
<p>When looking out across Europe on the behavior of these organizations, it becomes clear that these examples are the norm and not exceptions.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s also the matter on how these collecting societies fraudulently claim that they &#8220;represent artists&#8221;. While it is true that musicians have signed up with the collecting societies, that is because they don&#8217;t have a choice in the matter. Cartel-like constructions made sure, for example, that they were not allowed to manufacture music CDs at all unless they were members of these collecting societies, and by signing up as members, they are forced to agree to be represented. They&#8217;ve effectively been prohibited from trade in a practically medieval guild-like construction unless they give up rights to representation, business models, and their own political opinions.</p>
<p><strong>To make things even worse, the collecting societies have rights to collect fees on behalf of artists that haven&#8217;t even signed up with them, just &#8220;in case they would&#8221;. This has led to bizarre situations where entrepreneurs can&#8217;t play their self-composed and self-performed music in their own hair salon without paying copyright monopoly fees for it to the artist &#8211; that is, themselves &#8211; because they &#8220;may sign up later&#8221;. But they&#8217;re not getting anything of those fees, as they haven&#8217;t signed up.</strong></p>
<p>It&#8217;s a complete morass.</p>
<p>At this point, the collecting societies have gathered so much money they&#8217;re a vested interest that can pull a lot of weight to preserve themselves; self-preservation has become a much more important goal than fulfilling their tasked duty, as is the case with anything that institutionalizes. The only clean and easy way to solve this problem may be to restore copyright monopoly legislation to its original reasonable requirements of originality, which was a book-size work or up. That would effectively exclude musical works from copyright monopolies altogether, which would eliminate the monopolized mandate from the collecting societies in one much easier stroke than trying to regulate them more. Fortunately, such a move would not hurt modern artists in particular, who have already moved away from copyright-monopoly-based business models.</p>
<p>Of course, the collecting societies would claim &#8211; no, scream loudly &#8211; that such a move would be a &#8220;blow against the artists&#8221;, and throw out numbers on how many artists they &#8220;represent&#8221;. At this point, it helps to remember what choice the actual artists had in the matter due to the decades-long cartelization that has taken place.</p>
<p><strong>The only difference between collecting societies and organized crime is that the actions of collecting societies aren&#8217;t, technically speaking, criminal. They would be by a landslide if they were in any other industry, but they&#8217;re not. That&#8217;s a sign that the entire copyright industry is fundamentally broken.</strong></p>
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<h3 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:10px">
<div style="float:right;height:130px;width:39px;margin-left:20px;margin-right:10px"><img src="media/98818a80.Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" data-original-source="http://falkvinge.net/wp-content/themes/WpNewspaper/images/falkvinge/Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" style="border:none;-moz-box-shadow:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none" class="quimby_search_image"></div>
<p><span style="color:#3F3F3F;font-size:125%">About The</span> <span style="color:#FF3C78;font-size:125%">Author</span></p>
</h3>
<p style="font-family:PTSansRegular,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-weight:400;line-height:150%;margin-bottom:14px"><small>Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at <a href="http://falkvinge.net">falkvinge.net</a> focuses on information policy.</small></p>
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<p><small>Book Falkvinge <a href="http://falkvinge.net/keynotes/">as speaker</a>?</small></p>
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<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85369
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 03/17/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-03-17-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3O9GyYSJhaw/
content:
<p><a href="media/123b6ec5.wolf.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/wolf.jpg"><img src="media/d69de388.wolf.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wolf.jpg" alt="wolf" width="300" height="205" class="alignright size-full wp-image-82125"></a>This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Oscar winner 12 Years A Slave is the most downloaded movie this week. </p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-140310/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wolf_of_wall_street_2013/">The Wolf Of Wall Street</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993846/">8.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pabEtIERlic">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/anchorman_2_the_legend_continues/">Anchorman 2</a> (Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229340/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VdGI5-z_hg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/12_years_a_slave/">12 Years A Slave</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024544/?">8.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02Ie8wKKRg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_country_2014/">Bad Country</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2350892/">?.?</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3_15U0d2oo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frozen_2013/">Frozen</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/">8.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQm5doF_Uc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avengers_confidential_black_widow_and_punisher/">Avengers Confidential Black Widow And Punisher</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3482378/">5.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KVnRR5QIus">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/delivery_man/">Delivery Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2387559/">6.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGAktL45XNQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/47_ronin/">47 Ronin</a> (Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1335975/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwYhrgDc1uE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gravity_2013/">Gravity</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/">8.2</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiTiKOy59o4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_hustle/">American Hustle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1800241/">7.6</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST7a1aK_lG0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85402
title: ‘X-Art’ Movie Pirate Ordered to Pay $40,500 Damages
uri: X-Art-Movie-Pirate-Ordered-to-Pay-40-500-Damages
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UhibIJS_PMo/
content:
<p><a href="media/790178e8.x-art.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/x-art.png"><img src="media/790178e8.x-art.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/x-art.png" alt="x-art" width="200" height="81" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85407"></a>Malibu Media, the Los Angeles based company behind the &#8216;X-Art&#8217; adult movies, is one of the most active copyright trolls in the United States. This year alone they have filed 288 separate cases involving one or in some cases dozens of defendants.</p>
<p>Day in and day out the company scours the Internet for people sharing their movies via BitTorrent. They then collect the associated IP-addresses, and ask courts all over the country to help them find the perpetrators.</p>
<p>Nearly all of these cases end up being settled for a few thousand dollars each. However, every now and then a defendant fails to respond, giving Malibu Media the opportunity to obtain a default judgment. </p>
<p>This happened to L. Sagala from Muskegon, Michigan, who was found guilty of willful copyright infringement by a federal court last week.</p>
<p>Malibu Media found that the IP-address registered to Sagala was used to share several X-Art movies and <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/212858112/Malibu-Motion">asked</a> the court to award $40,500.00 in statutory damages. A bargain, according to Malibu Media, who claim that the real damages are even higher. </p>
<p>&#8220;Despite the fact of Defendant’s willful infringement, Plaintiff only seeks an award of $40,500.00 in statutory damages. This amount is reasonable when considering that Plaintiff’s actual damages far exceed this sum,&#8221; Malibu Media&#8217;s lawyers write. </p>
<p>&#8220;To explain, Defendant materially aided each of the other participants in the BitTorrent swarm of infringers. This swarm contained thousands of peers and continues to grow. Plaintiff’s actual damages are the lost sales of its content to those thousands of infringers. In the aggregate, these lost sales far exceed $40,500.00,&#8221; they add. </p>
<p>In an order filed before the weekend, District Court Judge Robert Jonkert grants Malibu Media&#8217;s damages request, as well as $1,649.40 for attorneys’ fees and costs. As Sagala failed to defend himself the verdict doesn&#8217;t come as a surprise. However, the relatively high damages award is not something we see every day.  </p>
<p><center><strong>The Order</strong><a href="media/c72fb8b3.default-order-40k.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/default-order-40k.png"><img src="media/c72fb8b3.default-order-40k.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/default-order-40k.png" alt="default-order-40k" width="655" height="202" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85405"></a></center></p>
<p>Over the past few months Malibu Media has scored several similar default &#8220;victories&#8221; and there is no sign that they will be stopping anytime soon. Together with numerous settlements, which are worth up to thousands of dollars each, the company and its lawyers are estimated to have made millions of dollars. </p>
<p>Malibu Media&#8217;s legal action against alleged BitTorrent pirates initially started in 2012, when it followed in the footsteps of several other adult entertainment outfits. Since then, the company has filed a total of 1,894 lawsuits. It&#8217;s pretty safe to say that in addition to its x-rated activities, Malibu Media has also perfected the &#8216;art&#8217; of copyright trolling.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=85285
title: Dotcom: Popcorn Time Shows Where Road Ends for Hollywood
uri: Dotcom-Popcorn-Time-Shows-Where-Road-Ends-for-Hollywood
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Q3NG4I25ouo/
content:
<p><a href="media/eca8c94b.popcorn-time.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-time.png"><img src="media/16c6d12b.popcorn-time.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-time.png" alt="popcorn-time" width="228" height="99" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84917"></a>Last week <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/open-source-torrent-streaming-a-netflix-for-pirates-140308/">Popcorn Time burst onto the scene</a>, offering content to be found on dozens of other sites but sitting head and shoulders above the rest in simplicity and presentation. But after a dream start and dozens of news articles, it was all over.</p>
<p>Pressure had been building within the project and rather than let things get completely out of hand, a decision was taken to move away. At the start of the weekend the Popcorn Time team called it quits and interest in the project <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-shuts-down-then-gets-resurrected-by-yts-yify-140315/">expressed by a dev at YTS</a> was later withdrawn by the site&#8217;s operator.</p>
<p>Earlier in the week there had been other complications too, including <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-deleted-by-dotcoms-mega-mpaa-lawsuit-pending-140312/">the removal</a> of the Popcorn Time installer from Mega.co.nz, the hosting service chosen by the software&#8217;s devs. So what did Kim Dotcom know about that?</p>
<p>&#8220;I just woke up. No idea what happened,&#8221; Dotcom told TF at 03:50am local time Thursday. &#8220;I&#8217;m not involved in Mega&#8217;s day-to-day business since I resigned from Management to work on an alternative Internet concept called Meganet, Baboom and the Internet Party.&#8221;</p>
<p>Days later we&#8217;re still no closer to discovering why the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-deleted-by-dotcoms-mega-mpaa-lawsuit-pending-140312/">files were taken down</a>, whether that was due to Mega&#8217;s own decision based on a ToS violation or if the hosting service was pressured by the MPAA. What is clear, however, is that Popcorn Time, the most elegant unofficial movie-viewing application of recent times, has underlined that the destruction of Mega did little to ease Hollywood&#8217;s plight.</p>
<p><a href="media/57d13949.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg"><img src="media/5b2669f1.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg" alt="dotcom-laptop" width="233" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-76556"></a>&#8220;I support innovation,&#8221; Dotcom told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Popcorn Time and countless similar applications show where the road ends for Hollywood. Ultimately it&#8217;s a cat-and-mouse game Hollywood can&#8217;t win by force but only with smarter Internet offerings.&#8221;</p>
<p>Interestingly, it seems that the people behind Popcorn Time actually understand where Dotcom is coming from.</p>
<p>In a file-sharing world dominated by the likes of The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents, Popcorn Time came along this week and took what <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/cord-cutters-rejoice-xbmc-now-sets-itself-up-with-a-couple-of-clicks-130101/">XBMC has being doing</a> for some time and amped it up to eleven. They took the same content being offered by everyone else and made it more accessible and desirable.</p>
<p>Dotcom says this is what Hollywood should be doing, but instead their anti-piracy fixation remains.</p>
<p>&#8220;The destruction of Megaupload did nothing for Hollywood. Piracy is bigger than ever, despite overreaching law enforcement action &#038; efforts by the MPAA and Chris Dodd to buy aggressive copyright laws and treaties. Hollywood made a mistake when they hired a powerful former Senator to run the MPAA in an attempt to fix their Internet problems with a sledgehammer,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>While Popcorn Time was hardly stealth with its public torrent sources and open source format, Dotcom says that the worst is yet to come.</p>
<p>&#8220;The innovators of today are working on fully encrypted parallel Internets which don&#8217;t rely on IPs. They are fluid oceans of homeless data that can&#8217;t be controlled by anybody. I know of several projects that will make it extremely difficult for Hollywood. How do you take things down that can&#8217;t be taken down?&#8221; he questions.</p>
<p>&#8220;Combine that with apps and sites that provide a no-takedown one-click high-speed content experience and Hollywood&#8217;s nightmare is complete.&#8221;</p>
<p>The signs indeed point to things getting worse. This week TF spoke to a developer who told us that work is already underway to bring a Popcorn Time-style experience to smart TVs, showing that not only is innovation far from dead, but soon even the likes of The Pirate Bay will have to do something to catch up.</p>
<p>According to Dotcom, however, there&#8217;s still time for Hollywood to properly open up.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not to late for Hollywood to embrace the Internet and offer more appealing services than those unauthorized services out there. Within three years Hollywood could double global income with an ingenious new online content service I have created. It&#8217;s so good that International license holders of content would join this offering in a heartbeat. I have offered my help in an open letter to Hollywood some time ago. They still prefer the sledgehammer,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hollywood has built a fortune on stories with happy endings, yet they don&#8217;t get it in the real world. The Internet has the potential to be the biggest happy ending for Hollywood &#8211; and I know how,&#8221; Dotcom concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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