# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158629
title: Movie & TV Giants Apply For Broadest Ever Piracy Blocking Injunction
uri: Movie-TV-Giants-Apply-For-Broadest-Ever-Piracy-Blocking-Injunction
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VY6haC7AkV8/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b97a33a.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg"><img src="media/f6cbbbd7.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143825"></a>As the battle against online piracy continues, entertainment industry companies are persisting with their site-blocking strategy.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s some doubt as to whether blockades work but the companies behind them appear happy to commit significant legal resources to have them implemented wherever legislation allows.</p>
<p>Australia is one of the few regions where site blocking is specifically baked into local law so it&#8217;s no surprise that once entertainment groups got going with successful applications, they would be difficult to rein back.</p>
<p>In a new show of force, Village Roadshow Films and Hollywood partners Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Universal, Warner Bros have been joined by Hong Kong-based Television Broadcasts Limited and Aussie distributor Madman Entertainment Pty Limited.</p>
<p>Together the companies have filed the broadest-ever blocking injunction at the Federal Court. If it succeeds &#8211; and there&#8217;s nothing thus far to suggest that the application won&#8217;t be successful &#8211; it will compel Australia&#8217;s ISPs to block a record-setting 151 domains related to 77 &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/643895/entertainment-companies-join-forces-major-push-block-pirate-sites/">ComputerWorld</a>, which first reported the news, notes that Telstra, Optus, Vocus, TPG and their subsidiaries are named as respondents in the case. In addition, Vodafone becomes a respondent in a blocking case for the first time, after confirming its entry to the fixed-line broadband market.</p>
<p>The injunction application seeks to protect many high-profile movies and TV shows owned by the entertainment companies including The Lego Movie, Dunkirk, Tron: Legacy, and Kingsman: The Secret Service, to The Big Bang Theory and Shameless.</p>
<p>Aside from Madman Entertainment Pty, all of the other companies involved in the current coalition have previously filed for blocking injunctions of their own.</p>
<p>In addition to several successful previous actions, Village Roadshow and several Hollywood studios <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/aussie-federal-court-orders-isps-to-block-pirate-iptv-service-180427/">won a blocking injunction</a> in April against a pirate IPTV service.</p>
<p>Hong Kong-based Television Broadcasts Limited is currently tied up in a case of its own after applying for a blocking injunction last year against several unauthorized IPTV services.</p>
<p>Under the Copyright Act, the broadcaster asked the Federal Court to order ISPs including Telstra, Optus, Vocus, and TPG plus their subsidiaries to block access to seven Android-based services named as A1, BlueTV, EVPAD, FunTV, MoonBox, Unblock, and hTV5. However, the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-iptv-blocking-case-is-no-slam-dunk-says-federal-court-judge-180502/">application is complex</a> and a final decision is still pending.</p>
<p>After fighting their corners for years, the ISPs targeted in these actions now let these applications go unchallenged. None appear in court and are happy for Australia&#8217;s custom site-blocking legislation to do its work. The ISPs are left with the choice of how to block (DNS and/or IP address blocking, for example) and are given AUS$50 per domain to help with costs.</p>
<p>As a side note, 2018 marks the 10-year anniversary of Aussie ISPs being dragged into the copyright wars. In 2008, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-join-forces-to-sue-isp-over-bittorrent-081120/">iiNet was sued</a> by Village Roadshow and the Hollywood companies behind the current blocking application.</p>
<p>They argued that the ISP was responsible for the infringements of its customers but after an epic battle, that eventually ended up at the High Court, the studios <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/iinet-isp-not-liable-for-bittorrent-piracy-high-court-rules-120420/">lost their case</a>.</p>
<p>With ISPs presumably safe and suggestions that users could be sued <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/healthy-aussie-pirates-set-to-face-cash-fines-poor-sick-should-be-ok-170821/">still sitting in the background</a>, site-blocking is currently the preferred anti-piracy measure Down Under.</p>
<p>In February, the Australian government <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/australian-government-launches-pirate-site-blocking-review-180214/">launched a review</a> of its pirate site-blocking laws, with the Department of Communications seeking feedback on the effectiveness of the mechanism, from initial injunction application through to website blocking itself.</p>
<p>While no major changes are expected as a result of the review, a tune-up here and there, to further assist rightsholders, is the most likely outcome longer term.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158601
title: Pirates Punish Denuvo-Protected Games With Poor Ratings
uri: Pirates-Punish-Denuvo-Protected-Games-With-Poor-Ratings
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pFJ6kDYwPI4/
content:
<p><img src="media/fe5f698e.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg" alt="" width="210" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116067">The <a href="https://denuvo.com/">Denuvo</a> anti-piracy system has been a sworn enemy of many gaming pirates for years. </p>
<p>Early on, the anti-tampering system appeared to be unbreakable. While it&#8217;s getting cracked <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-crisis-after-total-warhammer-2-gets-pirated-in-hours-170929/">more easily nowadays</a>, it&#8217;s still seen as a major roadblock. </p>
<p>Denuvo leaves the average game pirate powerless. While they wait for crackers to find a patch, there&#8217;s little they can do, aside from bickering and complaining perhaps, which is quite common and not without consequence. </p>
<p>According to new research published by <a href="https://www.rsm.nl/people/zike-cao/">Dr. Zike Cao</a> of the Erasmus University&#8217;s Rotterdam School of Management, game pirates are retaliating against Denuvo-protected games by posting fake negative ratings.</p>
<p>In a paper titled &#8220;Revenge after &#8216;Freebies&#8217; Are Gone? Effects of Curbing Piracy on Online User Ratings&#8221; Cao researched the effect of Denuvo protection on user comments posted on the review site Metacritic. The results suggest that Denuvo protection leads to significantly lower ratings across the board.</p>
<p>The researcher compared reviews of protected PC games with non-Denuvo protected console versions of the same games, showing that the former get a significantly lower rating on average. </p>
<p>After ruling out several alternative explanations, including the suggestion that Denuvo hurts gameplay, he sees only one explanation for this finding.</p>
<p>&#8220;In summary, the results from multiple identification tests consistently point to one conclusion: The decreases in mean PC user ratings of Denuvo games are likely due to deliberate posting of extremely negative ratings from illegal gamers out of retaliation for being deprived of the opportunity to play free cracked games.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;Moreover, those retaliating illegal gamers are more likely to write textual comments along with the extremely negative ratings, but they seem to write significantly shorter than genuine reviewers do,&#8221; Cao adds.</p>
<p><center><strong>Denuvo vs non-Denuvo</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/e480d770.reviewcomparison-e1531816976955.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/reviewcomparison-e1531816976955.png" alt="" width="600" height="306" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158647"></center></p>
<p>The decrease in ratings is quite substantial. The estimates suggest that a Denuvo-protected game suffers, on average, a decrease of 0.5 to 0.9 points on a ten point scale. This difference is mostly driven by extremely negative reviews, where &#8216;users&#8217; rate games with a 0 or 1. </p>
<p>This negative effect remains and is even more pronounced when reviews from professional critics (Metascores) are exactly the same for Denuvo-protected (PC) and unprotected (console) versions. </p>
<p>&#8220;Interestingly, the estimate using the 100 titles with identical Metascores across platforms indicates the effect of Denuvo adoption is notably larger,&#8221; Cao writes. </p>
<p>The paper suggests, following a battery of additional tests, that these ratings are purely driven by revenge. In other words, pirates who are frustrated by the fact that they can&#8217;t play the game for free because there&#8217;s no working crack available.</p>
<p>Dr. Cao notes that this is the first empirical evidence which reveals this revenge strategy. Going forward, this may be something both developers and review sites may want to pay close attention to.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The findings thus offer digital-good providers a caveat to adopt advanced anti-piracy technologies to crack down on piracy in a hard way,&#8221; Cao writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;More importantly, the study documents, to my knowledge, the first piece of empirical evidence that online user-generated content can be significantly distorted by user sabotage out of revenge.&#8221; </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>The full copy of Dr. CAO&#8217;s paper is <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3200465">available here</a>. </em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158678
title: Flipkart Dismisses FIFA 18 PC Piracy Report as “Irrelevant Question”
uri: 2018-07-18-
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XgBa3SB3pHI/
content:
<p><a href="media/a035d672.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png"><img src="media/0a6858fb.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" alt="" width="222" height="157" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108110"></a>The name Flipkart probably doesn&#8217;t ring too many bells in the United States but if all goes to plan, one of the country&#8217;s major retailers will soon be a 77% owner.</p>
<p>Flipkart is India&#8217;s largest online retailer and according to a report published in 2017, it controls almost 40% of the entire market.</p>
<p>That prompted Walmart and <a href="https://www.cnbctv18.com/retail/amazon-makes-formal-offer-to-buy-flipkart-48847.htm">Amazon to file bids</a> for Flipkart, with the former coming out on top with a $16 billion offer for what <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/11/investing/amazon-walmart-flipkart-india-what-next/index.html">CNN describes</a> as &#8220;the most valuable startup in India.&#8221;</p>
<p>Like all successful online retailers, Flipkart offers a wide range of genuine and authentic products to its consumers. However, like rivals Amazon, it does have an issue with some sellers attempting to sell pirated and counterfeit products via its virtual shelves.</p>
<p>As can be seen in the image below, Flipkart offers PC games for sale, many at heavily discounted prices. However, those listed for &#8220;offline use only&#8221; raise alarm bells.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/ad9b546d.flip1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/flip1.png"><img src="media/6dfe539c.flip1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flip1.png" alt="" width="600" height="364" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-158688"></a></center></p>
<p>One particular listing for a PC game caught the eye of <a href="https://twitter.com/SahniSpeaks">Vidit Sahni</a>, a resident of New Delhi in India. While browsing Flipkart he came across an advert for EA&#8217;s FIFA 18, which was offered for the princely sum of 799 rupees &#8211; around US$11.66. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.flipkart.com/jbd-fifa-18-ea-sports-offline-pc-game/p/itmf742fyzgdxz7t?pid=GAMF73WHZDK8JDXE&#038;lid=LSTGAMF73WHZDK8JDXEJ2EEKF&#038;marketplace=FLIPKART&#038;srno=s_1_1&#038;otracker=search&#038;fm=SEARCH&#038;iid=8e615d8f-2981-4e38-a792-d2d5d587728f.GAMF73WHZDK8JDXE.SEARCH&#038;ppt=Homepage&#038;ppn=Homepage&#038;ssid=4id59myhrk0000001531900372351&#038;qH=534bf55a8b89e249">listing highlights</a> that the game has 50% off its retail price and potential buyers should hurry since there&#8217;s only a few left. However, a closer look shows that the seller probably has access to an unlimited supply.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/eca9dfdd.flip2-e1531904711431.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flip2-e1531904711431.png"><img src="media/eca9dfdd.flip2-e1531904711431.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flip2-e1531904711431.png" alt="" width="600" height="388" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-158692"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;NOTE: THERE IS A CRACK ONLY NO DIGITAL CODE,&#8221; the tell-tale text on the bottom right corner of the listing warns.</p>
<p>&#8220;Before installation the game first off your internet and antivirus. 1. All CD file copy in your pc 2. Setup File Click 3. Install the game 4. Install finish and open the game and enjoy your game,&#8221; it adds in broken English.</p>
<p>The fact that Flipkart is openly selling pirated software prompted Vidit Sahni to contact the company using the &#8216;Post Your Question&#8217; option listed next to the &#8216;Have doubts regarding this product?&#8217; notice.</p>
<p>&#8220;Why is Flipkart selling pirated products,&#8221; Sahni asked the retailer. &#8220;The product description itself shows that the game is installed using a crack. Isn&#8217;t it a serious oversight? And this is not the only game.&#8221;</p>
<p>Flipkart customer support did eventually respond to Sahni&#8217;s concerns but the answer was not what he expected.</p>
<p>&#8220;We noticed that your question on JBD FIFA 18 EA SPORTS {Offline} PC Game does not fully conform to our internal guidelines. We request you to submit your question again as per our guidelines. We will review it and then make it live on Flipkart,&#8221; the company responded.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s certainly possible that the company wanted the complaint filed in a different way, there&#8217;s no taking away from the clear message on the item. However, it was the reason given for the rejection that seems to have upset Sahni most.</p>
<p>&#8220;Reason for not-approving the question: Irrelevant question,&#8221; Flipkart advised.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/c60ace45.DiXwLACVMAAVrb--e1531905367873.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/DiXwLACVMAAVrb--e1531905367873.jpg"><img src="media/c60ace45.DiXwLACVMAAVrb--e1531905367873.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/DiXwLACVMAAVrb--e1531905367873.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="1067" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-158695"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;@flipkartsupport sucks!&#8221; Sahni wrote in response on Twitter.</p>
<p>&#8220;They shunned down my question on piracy of the product to them as &#8216;irrelevant&#8217; Find the screenshot! Don&#8217;t buy from Flipkart! They promote Piracy!&#8221;</p>
<p><center><a href="media/a7ea2fe8.flip-complaint.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/flip-complaint.png"><img src="media/68a63974.flip-complaint.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flip-complaint.png" alt="" width="585" height="555" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-158697"></a></center></p>
<p>Flipkart does have a <a href="https://seller.flipkart.com/fiv?otracker=undefined_footer_navlinks">section of its site</a> that&#8217;s dedicated to the protection of intellectual property rights. However, it&#8217;s targeted at entities whose rights have been infringed, meaning that companies like EA would need to file a complaint rather than members of the public like Sahni.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted Flipkart who responded with an automated message saying that our query had been noted and would be answered within 24 hours.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158668
title: Former Pirate Bay Cyberlocker ‘Bayfiles’ Makes a ‘Comeback’
uri: Former-Pirate-Bay-Cyberlocker-Bayfiles-Makes-a-Comeback
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1_CO1zlq_wg/
content:
<p><img src="media/8ea79225.bayfiles-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bayfiles-1.png" alt="" width="250" height="217" class="alignright size-full wp-image-158672">In 2011, Pirate Bay founders Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bayfiles-the-pirate-bay-founders-launch-file-hosting-site-110829/">launched Bayfiles</a>, a new file-sharing venture.</p>
<p>Instead of relying on torrents, which had previously made TPB a huge success, Bayfiles allowed users to upload and download large files directly. </p>
<p>With its no-nonsense sharing approach, the site swiftly accumulated a steady user base. However, that ended when the site was abruptly pulled offline, following a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-what-raid-police-never-got-our-servers-150921/">raid in 2014</a>. Bayfiles probably wasn&#8217;t the primary target, but the site never returned.</p>
<p>While most users had given up on Bayfiles, an anonymous group of &#8216;privacy-oriented&#8217; people played with the idea of relaunching it. They missed the old Bayfiles and thought that it would be great to have it make a comeback. This idea <a href="https://bayfiles.com/">became reality this week</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://bayfiles.com/">new Bayfiles</a> team informs TorrentFreak that it bought the domains and logotype from TPB co-founder Fredrik Neij, aka TiAMO. The price was a symbolic fee, covering a few years of domain registrations and a couple of beers for good measure.</p>
<p>Fast forward a few weeks and Bayfiles is back in action. The team says that it noticed a decrease in simple &#8220;one-click&#8221; file hosts in recent years, and hopes that Bayfiles will fill this gap.</p>
<p>All the old data are gone so the site and its potential users will have to start from scratch. There is no requirement to register an account and with a lenient retention policy, no download throttling, and an upload limit of 10GB per file, there are few restrictions.</p>
<p>The site is free to use by anyone, but those who create an account can use it to keep track of their files. The accounts come with 1TB storage. This is free for the first 30 days and after that it&#8217;s between 3.5 and 5 euro per month, depending on the length of the subscription.</p>
<p>&#8220;Registering an account is, of course, optional and only for you to keep track of your own files, and there are no download caps or speed limits for anonymous users,&#8221; the new Bayfiles team tells us.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ads tend to be annoying and that doesn’t rhyme with our principles of having a clean site, so we will try our best to keep the service afloat through the subscription model.&#8221; </p>
<p>The payments are all handled in cryptocurrencies. This is something the Bayfiles team learned from the past, as many payment processors have previously banned the site. </p>
<p>The goal is to make sharing as fast and easy as possible, and the built-in video and audio players certainly help with this. &#8220;Most browsers are capable of playing MP4, MP3, etc so we thought ‘why not’. If your browser supports it, it will play,&#8221; the Bayfiles team says.  </p>
<p><center><strong>Streaming a file from Bayfiles</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/095e5bd5.baystream.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/baystream.png" alt="" width="574" height="425" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158681"></center></p>
<p>Aside from a few small changes, Bayfiles hopes to keep its old vibe alive. </p>
<p>&#8220;The fast download speeds combined with the &#8216;Bay attitude&#8217; Bayfiles got from the founders of TPB. I guess we share the same stance and attitude since we are from the same era when TPB got started.</p>
<p>&#8220;The site will continue with the values it had prior to the raid in 2014, and we’ll add features and improve the service as we collect feedback from our users,&#8221; the Bayfiles team notes.  </p>
<p>While Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij is not involved in the new project, he doesn&#8217;t mind seeing the Bayfiles domain names being put to good use after a three-year &#8216;break.&#8217; </p>
<p>&#8220;The domain names were just gathering dust in my domain collection. Now people can at least use it for sharing,&#8221; Neij tells us. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158713
title: Premier League Obtains Piracy Blocking Order For 2018/19 Season
uri: Premier-League-Obtains-Piracy-Blocking-Order-For-2018-19-Season
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fc3SEgRpl1c/
content:
<p><img src="media/28facc52.premierleague.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/premierleague.jpg" width="250" height="199" class="alignright size-large">Top tier football broadcast licensing in the UK is handled by the Premier League but like all content owners, it faces a threat from unauthorized providers.</p>
<p>Instead of paying significant monthly subscriptions to broadcasters such as Sky and BT Sport, large numbers of fans are turning to piracy-enabled set-top boxes for their fix. While not as sleek as their official counterparts, they can provide a cheap alternative for those on a budget.</p>
<p>Often Kodi-powered, these devices are augmented with third-party addons that facilitate access to streams freely available online or the more select offerings of organized IPTV providers. They also allow fans to access games during the 3pm &#8216;blackout&#8217; period when no official broadcaster is allowed to transmit live football.</p>
<p>In an effort to reduce this threat, March last year the Premier League obtained a blocking injunction from the High Court which compelled ISPs including BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-uk-kodi-piracy-blocking-injunction-is-a-pretty-scary-beast-170314/">block unauthorized streams in real-time</a>.</p>
<p>Granted under Section 97a of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, the order gave the Premier League <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/premier-league-obtains-intriguing-injunction-to-tackle-pirate-streams-170309/">the ability</a> to &#8220;target the suppliers of illegal streams to IPTV boxes, and the internet, in a proportionate and precise manner.&#8221;</p>
<p>Figures subsequently released by the football organization revealed that under the injunction it was able to block 5,000 server IP addresses that were streaming its content illegally. That success encouraged the league to apply for a fresh injunction for the 2017-18 season.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/premier-league-wins-new-stream-blocking-injunction-to-fight-piracy-170727/">second order</a> was handed down by the High Court in July 2017 and quickly began <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-premier-league-blocking-disrupts-pirate-iptv-providers-170814/">producing results</a> for the Premier League.</p>
<p>It ran from August 12, 2017 to May 13, 2018 but contained a clause which gave the Premier League the right to apply for an extension for a further season.  That application was made a little while ago and has now been granted by the High Court.</p>
<p>The extended order affects BT, EE, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, meaning that all customers of these ISPs attempting to watch live &#8216;pirate&#8217; Premier League football via the Internet could be suddenly subjected to a block. There are no consequences for users caught up in the blocking efforts, other than to have their big game enjoyment curtailed.</p>
<p>The extended order, which was signed by Mr. Justice Arnold after being considered &#8216;on paper&#8217;, notes that the ISPs were split on whether to support or simply not oppose the order. No names are detailed but it&#8217;s likely that ISPs with a vested interest in airing live sports &#8211; notably BT, Sky and Virgin &#8211; were the ones in favor.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s important to note that no ISP objected to the application or was represented in Court. Nevertheless, Justice Arnold said that despite the lack of opposition, he still needed to be satisfied the proposed blocking would be proportionate before granting the order.</p>
<p>Citing evidence provided by the Premier League, the Judge said that the second order handed down in 2017 was &#8220;very effective in achieving the blocking of access to the Target Servers during Premier League matches&#8221; and that there was no evidence of over-blocking.</p>
<p>Many aspects of the second order granted last year were kept secret by the High Court and this year&#8217;s extension is no different. The only public details are that the order &#8220;enlarges the subset of infringing streaming servers to be blocked&#8221; and also modifies the way in which hosts are notified of infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he requirement to notify hosting providers is made subject to a short delay. This is in order to prevent the order being circumvented. The evidence filed by FAPL in support of the application demonstrates that there have been attempts to circumvent the Second Order, and therefore this concern is a very real one,&#8221; Justice Arnold writes.</p>
<p>All things considered, the Judge appeared to have no problem granting the order, noting that his reasons for doing so remain largely unchanged from those relied upon when granting the original order in March 2017.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158726
title: NetEase Refutes PUBG’s Copyright Infringement Claims in Court
uri: NetEase-Refutes-PUBG-s-Copyright-Infringement-Claims-in-Court
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/llcZjhUPSt8/
content:
<p><img src="media/2cf4a60c.pubg2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pubg2.jpg" alt="" width="299" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156291">When PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) was first released last year, it became an instant hit.</p>
<p>This success earned the company hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, but according to PUBG, this could have been much more if others hadn’t copied their work.</p>
<p>The general theme of PUBG is now used by many games, which is a thorn in the side of the developer. To protect its financial interests, the company, therefore, decided to take the developer of two alleged spinoffs to court. </p>
<p>In April, PUBG <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pubg-files-copyright-lawsuit-to-shut-down-competition-180405/">filed a lawsuit</a> against NetEase, the makers of &#8216;Rules of Survival&#8217; and &#8216;Knives Out&#8217;, accusing it of copyright infringement. </p>
<p>A 155-page complaint documented a long summary of elements that PUBG believes are infringing on its copyrighted works. This includes buildings, landscapes, vehicles, weapons, clothing, the pre-play area, the shrinking gameplay area, and even the iconic “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” salute.</p>
<p>NetEase clearly disagrees with these accusations. In a new filing this week, the company asks the court to dismiss the entire case. It refutes PUBG&#8217;s accusations and stresses that &#8220;ideas&#8221; and &#8220;gameplay mechanics&#8221; have no copyright protection.</p>
<p>&#8220;This litigation is a shameless attempt by the PUBG Plaintiffs to monopolize the “battle royale” genre of video games and inhibit legitimate competition,&#8221; NetEase writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs’ copyright claim is premised on alleged similarities in ideas, merger of ideas and expression, scenes a faire, and game rules and mechanics. Copyright does not protect any of these aspects of PUBG’s game.&#8221; </p>
<p>NetEase admits that its games fall into the same genre and share several similarities. However, the idea of displaying a &#8220;health bar&#8221; and other basic elements is not copyright infringement, the company argues.</p>
<p>&#8220;The idea of a &#8216;health&#8217; status bar, as well as energy &#8216;boosts,&#8217; and the ability of human characters to &#8216;stand, walk, run, take a prone position, crawl in a prone position or take a kneeling position&#8217; in a combat situation, are all simply mechanics that flow from the idea of forcing players to kill each other,&#8221; the company notes. </p>
<p>PUBG itself has admittedly copied several real-world objects such as guns. In order to argue that NetEase expressions of these are virtually identical, and thus infringing, these real-world similarities have to be filtered out. According to NetEase, there&#8217;s no real claim left after that.</p>
<p>&#8220;As shown, PUBG’s gun has appropriated the design and configuration of the sight, barrel, grip, magazine, and numerous other features from a century-old gun design; once those elements are removed, there is no virtual identity.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Infringing Thompson submachine gun?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/fe588193.pubnete.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pubnete.png" alt="" width="580" height="235" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158729"></center></p>
<p>In addition, NetEase also refuted PUBG&#8217;s claim to the iconic &#8220;Winner winner chicken dinner&#8221; salute, which is displayed to the winner of the game. Citing jurisprudence, it stresses that short phrases are not protectable elements, even when they are unique.</p>
<p>&#8220;The short phrase &#8216;Winner winner chicken dinner&#8217; is therefore unprotectable,&#8221; NetEase argues. </p>
<p>Based on these and other arguments, NetEase concludes that PUBG&#8217;s copyright infringement, Lanham Act infringement, and unfair competition claims fall flat. The case should, therefore, be dismissed in its entirety, it notes.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of NetEase&#8217;s motion to dismiss is available <a href="media/82299dbb.neteasedismiss.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/neteasedismiss.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em> </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158777
title: SEGA Accused of “Anti-Consumer” Behavior With “Rushed” Sonic Mania Plus Protection
uri: SEGA-Accused-of-Anti-Consumer-Behavior-With-Rushed-Sonic-M
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DIwozxPDFY4/
content:
<p><a href="media/05d838b7.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg"><img src="media/fe5f698e.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg" alt="" width="210" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116067"></a>Since their aim is to prevent people from copying titles and playing them for free, no anti-piracy technologies are popular with pirates.</p>
<p>Underlying this emotion is a kind of unofficial &#8216;hate-scale,&#8217; in which the level of a dislike for a particular system increases proportionately to its success on the ground. Denuvo, one of the most prominent and difficult to crack anti-piracy technologies, is hated most of all.</p>
<p>Denuvo isn&#8217;t undefeatable, various groups and individuals have proven that. However, there are persistent claims, denied by its makers, that the technology not only slows down pirates but can also negatively affect the gaming experience of people who actually buy protected games.</p>
<p>The latest accusations come from Voksi, a cracker in his early twenties, who <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/latest-denuvo-anti-piracy-protection-falls-cracker-voksi-on-fire-180706/">recently cracked</a> the latest variant of the anti-tamper technology. Yesterday he released a <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/8zx36n/sonicmaniaplusvoksi/">cracked version</a> of Sonic Mania Plus just a day after release and says SEGA did a poor job of implementing the system.</p>
<p>&#8220;SEGA rushed to implement the newest Denuvo in the new update of Sonic Mania and did a poor job of it, causing many issues and game slowdowns for legit users,&#8221; he informs TF while accusing SEGA of being &#8220;anti-consumer&#8221;.</p>
<p>Voksi describes the release as having &#8220;an insane amount of bloated Denuvo code,&#8221; compared to the previous version, &#8220;which can cause all kinds of issues if not handled properly.&#8221; </p>
<p>Those issues, Voksi says, are being reported by users on Steam&#8217;s Community forum, who bought the game yet are still experiencing problems. One report, in particular, caught Voksi&#8217;s eye.</p>
<p>&#8220;My game runs slow whenever I enter the Replays menu in time attack mode, and the time attack level select too for some reason, and it continues even after leaving both,&#8221; user &#8216;Crashed&#8217; <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/app/584400/discussions/0/1709564118758872270/#c1709564118759844072">reports</a>.</p>
<p>This problem with Sonic Mania Plus running slowly at this point in the game rang a bell with Voksi. TF asked him to explain what causes the problem and why it&#8217;s so serious.</p>
<p>&#8220;The issue is serious because it directly impacts legit users,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>&#8220;This particular <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/908pg1/sega_rushes_the_new_denuvo_in_new_sonic_manias/">issue</a> is that the game triggers Denuvo, but it doesn&#8217;t close the trigger properly. Denuvo keeps writing and writing into the game&#8217;s memory, causing additional stress to the game, which might be handled by a stronger CPU, but those who have a weaker CPU can experience massive slowdowns.&#8221;</p>
<p>Another Steam user, who complained that he couldn&#8217;t get past the game&#8217;s menu screen, also sounded familiar to Voksi. He says that he found Denuvo code affecting that part of the game when working on his crack.</p>
<p>&#8220;One person even <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/app/584400/discussions/0/1709564118759281238/">couldn&#8217;t load the game</a>. It stuck for him in the loading screen right before the menu, which is an anti-tamper trigger I&#8217;ve encountered while I was cracking the game, which did exactly the same thing as described. I don&#8217;t know what is the reason to trigger for this person on a legit copy, but nothing can surprise me anymore,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>While Voksi isn&#8217;t sure why Denuvo is acting this way, the solution to the menu screen issue published on Stream forums points the finger at the anti-tamper technology. In a <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/app/584400/discussions/0/1709564118759281238/?ctp=2#c1709564118761785862">post</a> by Aemony, people with the issue are advised to &#8220;remove the offline token for Denuvo&#8221;, something that reportedly worked for previous iterations of the game.</p>
<p>For both Denuvo and SEGA, the situation isn&#8217;t particularly good. Eight days ago and just two days after SEGA released Shining Resonance Refrain (also Denuvo-protected), Voksi released a cracked version of the game. He believes the quick turnaround on his part prompted SEGA to rush in to further protect Sonic Mania Plus but without doing the job properly.</p>
<p>&#8220;The truth is after my Shining Resonance Refrain <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/8y2lpb/shiningresonancerefrainvoksi/">crack</a> that I did on day 1 (which also had the latest Denuvo), it seems that SEGA got scared. It tried to rush the implementation of an even more bloated variant of the latest Denuvo with all protection features and this is the result,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>In common with all previous instances of claims that Denuvo affects legitimate players, it&#8217;s likely that those behind the technology will stay silent or insist there isn&#8217;t an issue. Nevertheless, <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/app/584400/discussions/0/1709564118760238377/">long discussions</a> on Steam not only suggest that Denuvo isn&#8217;t liked, but is also failing in its mission to protect games for even a short period of time.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/641ef520.denuvo-sonic-e1532072814827.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo-sonic-e1532072814827.png"><img src="media/641ef520.denuvo-sonic-e1532072814827.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo-sonic-e1532072814827.png" alt="" width="600" height="575" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-158785"></a></center></p>
<p>Earlier this week new research <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-punish-denuvo-protected-games-with-poor-ratings-180717/">revealed</a> that due to their dislike of Denuvo, pirates are sabotaging reviews of Denuvo-protected games. While this could have some effect on sales, it will take legitimate buyers to vote with their wallets before anything is done about the problem. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158812
title: Steal This Show S04E02: Crypto & The Beyond
uri: Steal-This-Show-S04E02-Crypto-The-Beyond
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rLCTRiuuMgo/
content:
<p><img src="media/d01749d9.stslogo180.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stslogo180.png" alt="" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-113928">In this episode, we meet Primavera De Filippi, author of the recently published &#8216;<a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674976429">Blockchain and the Law</a>&#8216;, from Harvard University Press (co-authored with Aaron Wright). </p>
<p>Primavera is interested in how the law will change to accommodate blockchain &#8212; and how blockchain might replace parts of the law. </p>
<p>We&#8217;ve already seen how P2P filesharing strained the world&#8217;s copyright law: what changes will P2P money bring? </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><a href="https://stealthisshow.com">Steal This Show</a> aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing crypto, privacy, copyright and file-sharing developments. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary, and analysis. </p>
<p><strong>Host:</strong> Jamie King</p>
<p><strong>Guest:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/yaoeo?lang=en">Primavera De Filippi</a></p>
<p><center><iframe width="100%" height="180px" src="//stealthisshow.com/?lpe-frame=1&#038;lpe-season=4&#038;lpe-episode=02" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p><strong><sup><em>If you enjoy this episode, consider becoming a patron and getting involved with the show. <a href="https://patreon.com/user?u=4275705">Check out Steal This Show&#8217;s Patreon campaign</a>: support us and get all kinds of&nbsp;fantastic benefits!</em></sup></strong></p>
<p><strong>Produced </strong> <em>by </em>Jamie King<br>
<strong>Edited &#038; Mixed</strong> <em>by</em> Lucas Marston<br>
<strong>Original Music</strong> <em>by</em> David Triana<br>
<strong>Web Production</strong> <em>by</em> Eric Barch</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158349
title: Two Years On, Alleged KAT Founder Continues to Fight Extradition
uri: Two-Years-On-Alleged-KAT-Founder-Continues-to-Fight-Extradition
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0leywxGftc0/
content:
<p><img src="media/0e04fa00.kickasstorrents_500x5001-e1485445713871.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x5001-e1485445713871.png" alt="" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-99785">During the summer of 2016 the torrent community went into shock when KickassTorrents (KAT) disappeared offline. </p>
<p>Polish law enforcement officers <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/feds-seize-kickasstorrents-domains-charge-owner-160720/">apprehended</a> Artem Vaulin, the site&#8217;s alleged founder, at a local airport and around the same time the site went dark</p>
<p>The arrest was part of a U.S. criminal case which also listed two other men as <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-alleged-top-men-behind-kickasstorrents-160826/">key players</a>. At the time, KAT was the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">most-used torrent site</a> around, so the authorities couldn&#8217;t have hit a more prominent target.</p>
<p>The criminal case meant the end of the torrent site, but also the start of a slowly progressing legal battle for the defendants. Vaulin was held in a Polish prison cell for months. While he was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/alleged-kickasstorrents-founder-released-on-bail-170523/">released on bail</a> last year, the final decision in the extradition proceedings is still pending.</p>
<p>Previously, a Polish court ruled that the alleged owner of KickassTorrents can be extradited to the United States. However, this ruling was just the first of two in an ongoing extradition process.</p>
<p>In recent months there haven&#8217;t been any public updates from the defense team and our inquiries have remained unanswered. However, a recent status report filed by John R. Lausch Jr, US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, shows that there&#8217;s still no final decision.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant is still undergoing extradition proceedings in Poland, and the parties are not currently aware of a timetable for a resolution of those proceedings,&#8221; Lausch informed the US Federal Court earlier this month.</p>
<p><center><strong>From the status report</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/f9cc4ff1.vaulinagreedstatus.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vaulinagreedstatus.png" alt="" width="600" height="227" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158749"></center></p>
<p>The case&#8217;s status hearing, which was planned last week, has now been postponed until October, but it&#8217;s unclear whether there will be any progress by then.</p>
<p>While two years is a long time, it pales in comparison with Kim Dotcom&#8217;s extradition battle, which remains in progress after more than six years.</p>
<p>Through his legal team, Artem Vaulin previously indicated that he would be open to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/alleged-kickasstorrents-owner-considers-voluntary-surrender-to-the-us-170616/">surrendering voluntarily</a> under the right conditions. However, there are no signs that this was seriously considered.</p>
<p>The defense team also submitted a motion to dismiss the entire case. Among other things, it argued that torrent files themselves are not copyrighted content. The court decided, however, that the US Government&#8217;s case is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-wont-drop-case-against-alleged-kickasstorrents-owner-170804/">strong enough</a> to continue.</p>
<p>Vaulin previously <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/alleged-kickasstorrents-founder-released-on-bail-170523/">denied</a> any wrongdoing and said that he always asks for legal advice when starting a new venture.</p>
<p>“I’m a businessman. When I start a business I consult lawyers. I was never told that anything I was involved in was against the law,” Vaulin <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/23/15681160/kickasstorrents-founder-artem-vaulin-interview-bittorrent">told</a> The Verge last year.</p>
<p>“I’m not crazy. If someone came to me to tell me the United States was angry with something I do, whatever it was, I would stop,” he added.</p>
<p>KickassTorrents, meanwhile, is now a distant memory to most people. While several copycats and KAT -inspired sites are still around, including one operated by former staffers, the real torrent juggernaut is gone.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158819
title: Nintendo Sues Console ROM Sites For ‘Mass’ Copyright Infringement
uri: Nintendo-Sues-Console-ROM-Sites-For-Mass-Copyright-Infringement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Mdd_7a7psUc/
content:
<p><img src="media/f24e33a6.nintendologo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nintendologo.png" alt="" width="250" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-121992">Emulators are handy tools for people who want to play games on platforms other than the usual console they&#8217;re intended for. </p>
<p>These are particularly useful for retro games and consoles, which are no longer sold, allowing users to enjoy the games they were hooked on decades ago. </p>
<p>However, many game publishers are less content with this practice. Nintendo, in particular, has repeatedly called out ROMS and emulator sites, both in and outside the United States. </p>
<p>This week, Nintendo took two of these sites to court. In a complaint filed at a federal court in Arizona, the game publisher sues <a href="https://www.loveroms.com/">LoveROMS.com</a> and <a href="https://www.loveretro.co/">LoveRETRO.co</a> for copyright and trademark infringement.</p>
<p>Both sites are believed to be operated by Jacob Mathias and his Arizona company Mathias Designs LLC. They offer access to a wide variety of ROMs, including many Nintendo games.</p>
<p>&#8220;The LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites are among the most open and notorious online hubs for pirated video games,&#8221; Nintendo writes in the complaint.</p>
<p>&#8220;Through the LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites, Defendants reproduce, distribute, publicly perform and display a staggering number of unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video games, all without Nintendo’s permission.&#8221; </p>
<p>In addition to the copyrighted games, the sites also distribute proprietary BIOS software, while using trademarked logos and characters, Nintendo notes. </p>
<p>While some ROMs sites may be hobby projects, Nintendo sees these two sites as professional operations that profit from its works.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants are not casual gamers but are instead sophisticated parties with extensive knowledge of Nintendo’s intellectual property and the video game industry more generally,&#8221; the company notes. </p>
<p><center><strong>LoveROMS complaint</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/726900e4.loveroms.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/loveroms.png" alt="" width="600" height="427" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158826"></center></p>
<p>Through the lawsuit, which also lists a count of unfair competition, Nintendo hopes to shut both sites down. The company requests statutory damages of $150,000 per infringing Nintendo game and up to $2,000,000 for each trademark infringement. </p>
<p>This means that, with more than 140 copyrighted titles and 40 trademarks on the record, theoretical damages could go up to a staggering $100 million.</p>
<p>Nintendo further requests a permanent injunction ordering the sites to stop their infringing activities while handing over domain names to the game publisher. At the same time, Nintendo wants the operator of the sites to reveal the sources for the infringing ROMs.</p>
<p>The defendant has yet to respond publicly to the allegations and at the time of writing both LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co remain online.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Nintendo&#8217;s complaint, obtained by TorrentFreak, is available <a href="media/0145b3a8.nintendo-loveroms.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/nintendo-loveroms.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158775
title: Copyright Troll Law Firm Broke Copyright Law, Disciplinary Board Finds
uri: Copyright-Troll-Law-Firm-Broke-Copyright-Law-Disciplinary-Board-Finds
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/uLtSRQXBtxU/
content:
<p><a href="media/63402876.finland1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/finland1.jpg"><img src="media/5451b1e2.finland1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/finland1.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="143" class="alignright size-full wp-image-25779"></a>So-called copyright trolling in the file-sharing space involves copyright holders claiming their rights have been infringed before heading to court to demand the identities of subscribers behind IP addresses.</p>
<p>Once these identities have been obtained, law firms affiliated with trolls write to the person whose name appears on the ISP bill in order to demand cash settlements to make supposed lawsuits go away. It&#8217;s a lucrative but extremely controversial practice.</p>
<p>This type of activity got underway in Finland during 2013, taking <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/file-sharing-copyright-trolls-invade-finland-140326/">hold during 2014</a>, with a notable escalation <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-trolls-begin-taking-finnish-pirates-to-court-151026/">in 2015</a> and 2016.</p>
<p>Early 2017, local media sources reported that up to 60,000 people could be in line to receive cash demands from Helsinki-based law firm Hedman Partners, something which prompted the government to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/finnish-government-investigates-as-tens-of-thousands-face-piracy-fines-170126/">conduct an investigation</a> <em>(<a href="media/66ad5d88.OKM_2_2018.pdf" data-original-source="http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/160506/OKM_2_2018.pdf">pdf</a>)</em> with help from the authorities.</p>
<p>Now, however, Hedman Partners have a related matter to deal with, one that&#8217;s seen a lawyer at the firm accused of misconduct due to the way some private Internet subscriber data was obtained from ISPs and subsequently handled.</p>
<p>According to the Finnish Bar Association, lawyer Joni Hatanmaa and Hedman Partners applied to the Market Court for access to data held by ISPs, to enable it to send settlement letters to Internet users. The Copyright Act allows rightsholders and their representatives to apply for this right on a case-by-case basis.</p>
<p>However, it appears that after applying to obtain personal information on behalf of one client, Hatanmaa and Hedman Partners then used that same information to identify subscribers who had allegedly infringed the rights of other clients also managed by the law firm.</p>
<p>This means that when an IP address appeared on lists of those sharing multiple clients&#8217; copyright works, the law firm made only one application to obtain the alleged infringer&#8217;s personal details instead of starting a new disclosure process for each client.</p>
<p>When ISP subscriber data is handed over to a third-party, it is delivered on the basis that it will be used in a very narrow set of circumstances and certainly not for the benefit of many entertainment industry groups scouring the web for infringement.</p>
<p>This breach of copyright law, the Board found, was not in keeping with the standards expected by the Bar. But, according to Joni Hatanmaa himself, the problems actually arose due to different interpretations of the law.</p>
<p>&#8220;In this case, the Board of Supervisors considered that the application process should have been handled in a different way under copyright law,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000005756306.html">told</a> Helsingin Sanomat.</p>
<p>&#8220;The decision has made it clear that the law has the potential for a wide range of interpretations.&#8221;</p>
<p>In any event, the lawyer says, the cases against infringers will continue. Plenty are still underway and the project continues to expand.</p>
<p>&#8220;If copyright infringement has been violated in peer-to-peer networks, those responsible are still liable. The remark was purely a matter of interpreting the law in the application process as to how the application should be made in order to give people full responsibility,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>A second complaint against the law firm, in respect of wording in letters sent to alleged infringers, was also considered by the Board but was deemed to be low priority.</p>
<p>The decision of the Disciplinary Board is not yet final and can be taken to the Helsinki Court of Appeal. Meanwhile, it seems that the threat-letter model will continue. Ahto Apajalahti, a board member at digital rights group <a href="https://effi.org/">Electronic Frontier Finland</a>, informs TF that a change in the law is required to bring &#8216;trolling&#8217; to an end.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Ministry of Education and Culture doesn&#8217;t want to change the law. However, both the Ministry and the Market Court are uneasy about the vast scope of these activities. The peak year so far for these letters was 2016, when letters were sent to tens of thousands of people,&#8221; Apajalahti explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;This unease has been reflected in the decisions by the Market Court in 2017 and 2018 which established some limits. Basically it is now more difficult for Hedman Partners and others to get people&#8217;s contact information. They have to show more evidence than before and as a result they get far fewer contact details than they apply for.&#8221;</p>
<p>In a recent case, Hedman requested the identities behind 1,860 IP addresses but got only 30. Still, the company continues to send letters to those whose details were obtained in 2017 and 2016 so the company still has plenty to go at, regardless of the negative ruling from the Finnish Bar Association.</p>
<p>&#8220;This violation case where Hedman was reprimanded is mostly a technical matter and I don&#8217;t think it changes the situation at all. Hedman just have to change their working procedures a bit,&#8221; Apajalahti concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158710
title: ‘Piracy Audiences Are Untapped Pools of Wealth’
uri: Piracy-Audiences-Are-Untapped-Pools-of-Wealth
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/m_W25d3ecGY/
content:
<p><img src="media/a585da8e.piratemusiccasset.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratemusiccasset.png" alt="" width="234" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135510">Anti-piracy firms often portray copyright infringers as thieves that must be stopped or eradicated. </p>
<p>However, the people at UK firm <a href="https://www.muso.com/">MUSO</a> have a different take on the piracy problem. With funding from the local Government, they&#8217;re offering classic takedown tools, but the company prefers to frame piracy as an opportunity rather than a threat.</p>
<p>This became apparent once again when UK telecoms regulator <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/features-and-news/streaming-overtakes-pay-tv">OFCOM</a> released new figures this week. According to the agency, online subscription services including Netflix and Amazon Prime have, for the first time, overtaken satellite and cable TV. </p>
<p>This shows once again that the Internet is transforming the way people consume media. Moving from linear viewing to an on-demand model is something many &#8216;torrenters&#8217; already <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tioti-preview-the-tv-torrent-evolution/">envisioned</a> more than a decade ago.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a landmark change that certainly shouldn&#8217;t be ignored. This is something Chris Anderson, MUSO&#8217;s Head of Film &#038; TV, wholeheartedly agrees with, albeit with a major footnote.</p>
<p>&#8220;Technology has completely transformed the way people are able to watch TV and the days of being tied to a TV schedule are well and truly behind us, with streaming services now officially the preference for the majority of viewers,&#8221; he says. </p>
<p>&#8220;The word &#8216;officially&#8217; is key &#8211; because what these figures from Ofcom don&#8217;t take into account is the many hundreds of thousands of people who are streaming TV in the UK through unlicensed services and sites.&#8221;</p>
<p>When piracy is taken into account, online streaming overtook traditional TV viewing a long time ago.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s a general idea that legitimate streaming services are driving people away from pirate sites. However, that&#8217;s a misperception. While more and more pirates have a Netflix subscription, piracy remains alive and well.</p>
<p>&#8220;The idea that services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime have eradicated piracy is a fallacy. Our figures show that global piracy has increased year-on-year, in spite of the rise of streaming services. The UK had 4,776,616,717 total visits to film and TV piracy sites in 2017 alone,&#8221; Anderson says.</p>
<p>MUSO encourages UK broadcasters not to fixate on the competition from legitimate streaming services alone, but to consider the potential pirate audience as well. </p>
<p>&#8220;Piracy audiences are one of the great untapped pools of wealth &#8211; they have extremely high intent to access content but are often simply unable to. Finding ways to access this audience could be the secret bringing higher profits back to broadcasting,&#8221; the company adds.</p>
<p>Of course, MUSO doesn&#8217;t make these comments without having a stake in the matter. The company previously launched a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-company-explores-new-ways-to-convert-pirates-160206/">piracy marketing platform</a>, which helps content creators to connect with and convert pirates.</p>
<p>That said, it&#8217;s a refreshing message compared to the usual stream of legal threats, crime reports and malware warnings.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158651
title: Russia Has Permanently Blocked 3,400 Pirate Resources
uri: Russia-Has-Permanently-Blocked-3-400-Pirate-Resources
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NQl5p4WxXBQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b97a33a.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg"><img src="media/f6cbbbd7.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143825"></a>After years of criticism from both international and local rightsholders, in 2013 the Russian government decided to get tough on Internet piracy.</p>
<p>Sites engaged in Internet piracy can now find themselves blocked by ISPs, who render them inaccessible to local citizens.</p>
<p>Several years on, Russia is still grappling with a huge piracy problem that refuses to go away. It has been blocking thousands of sites that allegedly engage in copyright infringement. Some of the blocks are lifted when sites comply but for those that repeatedly flaunt the rules, tougher punishment lies in wait.</p>
<p>Sites that continuously offer unauthorized content or links to that content can now be subjected to what is known locally as the &#8220;permanent lock&#8221;. Infamous torrent site RuTracker, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/russias-rutracker-blockade-has-just-seriously-backfired-160126/">for example</a>, has been permanently blocked in Russia for some time but ever since its addition the list has been growing exponentially. This week the scale of the effort was revealed.</p>
<p>According to local telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor, more than 3,400 online resources where &#8220;multimedia content was repeatedly and improperly placed in violation of copyright&#8221; have been placed on Russia&#8217;s national Internet blacklist.</p>
<p>The sites and services have been blocked on the orders of two authorities, the Moscow City Court and the Ministry of Communications.</p>
<p>The Court, which handed down 302 blocking decisions, deals with cases against torrent trackers, streaming sites and music services based on complaints from rightsholders. When sites are determined to be non-compliant and/or repeat infringers, they are ordered to be blocked.</p>
<p>The Ministry, which handed down 2,286 decisions, deals with mirror and clones of sites that have been previously blocked by the City Court. Whenever such a site appears, to facilitate access to RuTracker, for example, it can be dealt with relatively swiftly.</p>
<p>The 3,400 permanently blocked resources are also <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/search-engines-will-open-systems-to-prove-piracy-vpn-blocking-170901/">forbidden</a> from appearing in search results, a point highlighted by Roscomnadzor.</p>
<p>&#8220;The search engines Yandex, Mail.ru, Rambler, Sputnik and Google that have been operating in Russia have stopped issuing information about pirated Internet resources blocked on an ongoing basis,&#8221; the telecoms watchdog announced.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Roscomnadzor revealed that efforts to block pirate resources increased in 2018, with the watchdog acting upon hundreds of decisions from the Moscow City Court.</p>
<p>&#8220;During the first half of 2018, Roscomnadzor received 791 decisions of the Moscow City Court on the adoption of preliminary provisional measures [blocking] aimed at protecting copyright and related rights of rights holders on the Internet,&#8221; Roscomnadzor revealed.</p>
<p>This represents an increase of 36% over the same period in 2017, where 507 decisions were handed down. Thus far this year, 567 decisions have concerned movies with 89 relating to protecting the rights of TV companies.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158765
title: LimeTorrents Fights Blocking Efforts With New Domain and Homepage
uri: LimeTorrents-Fights-Blocking-Efforts-With-New-Domain-and-Homepage
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/drozMJ8SG8M/
content:
<p><img src="media/a3d3157b.limel.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/limel.png" alt="" width="250" height="110" class="alignright size-full wp-image-158773">Founded in 2009, LimeTorrents has been a familiar name in the torrent ecosystem for nearly a decade. </p>
<p>The site is regularly listed as one of the ten <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">most-visited torrent sites</a> on the Internet. However, as a prime source of pirated content, it has also seen plenty of trouble over the years.</p>
<p>During the site&#8217;s early days, music group IFPI seized its servers, for example, and a few years later the site&#8217;s operator got dragged into a lawsuit by Lionsgate over the Expendables 3 leak. </p>
<p>Despite these issues, the site remains alive and well. That said, running a torrent site isn&#8217;t exactly getting any easier. </p>
<p>Earlier this week LimeTorrents switched to a new domain, <a href="https://www.limetorrents.io/">limetorrents.io</a>, with a new homepage. This is a direct response to the ISP blocking efforts around the world. In addition, the new domain should also get the site&#8217;s homepage back in Google&#8217;s search index.</p>
<p>&#8220;We changed our domain to .io because [the site is] blocked in many countries like India, UK, Australia, and also because our old homepage was removed from Google&#8217;s search index,&#8221; LimeTorrents&#8217; operator tells TF.  </p>
<p>The new version of the homepage no longer lists direct links to pirated material. This means that copyright holders have no reason to ask Google to remove it from the search index, as previously happened with the old version. </p>
<p><center><strong>The new homepage</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/48bc2f50.limefull.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/limefull.png" alt="" width="600" height="411" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158772"></center></p>
<p>With this new look and domain, LimeTorrent hopes to set itself apart from the many copycats that have appeared. According to the operator, there are several &#8220;fake&#8221; LimeTorrents copies trying to steal traffic, only to generate revenue for themselves.</p>
<p>People who can&#8217;t use the official domains can use the official proxies Limetorrents.info, Limetorrents.asia, Limetorrents.zone, the site&#8217;s operator says, but he cautions users who choose other sites.</p>
<p>In addition to the torrent index, the operator also runs the torrent cache itorrents.org, which many other sites rely on. ITorrents hosts torrents without a search interface and is used by other torrent sites such as 1337x.to and the mobile version of The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>LimeTorrents&#8217; operator tells us that iTorrents currently stores over 20 million unique torrents and many more are added every day. </p>
<p>While this may sound positive, operating a torrent site certainly hasn&#8217;t become any easier. It gets harder and harder to make revenue, and income has dropped drastically since the early years.</p>
<p>&#8220;Earnings dropped around 60 to 70% because affiliate sites are no longer paying webmasters well. Popups and ads are not working either because of ad-blockers,&#8221; LimeTorrents&#8217; operator says. </p>
<p>&#8220;We keep the sites running because we have some traffic. It&#8217;s covering the hosting costs and brings in some extra bucks for other expenses.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also become harder to find stable hosting, which is likely the result of increased enforcement. However, there is a threat from within the piracy ecosystem as well. </p>
<p>Ten years ago torrent sites were dominating the piracy landscape but today more and more traffic is flowing to streaming sites.</p>
<p>That being said, LimeTorrents&#8217; operator says that people know where to come when they want to get content first, noting that many streaming sites use torrent portals as their source. </p>
<p>&#8220;People who know how to find things know where it comes first. If torrent sites die, streaming sites will also be hit hard because they can&#8217;t find content to upload to their sites, as torrent sites are their source,&#8221; the operator tells us.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158885
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 07/23/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-07-23-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/N2In_jAn1v8/
content:
<p><img src="media/269e5b17.escape.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/escape.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="194" class="alignright size-full wp-image-158889">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Escape Plan 2: Hades is the most downloaded movie again.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-07-16-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">Escape Plan 2: Hades</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">3.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q7vVt-MeXk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231461/">Rampage</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231461/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOKvrsmQiI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5610554/">Tully</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5610554/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5D3O4yCmCg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">Ready Player One</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSp1dM2Vj48&#038;t=2s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1563742/">Overboard</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1563742/">5.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLAJ0ooorDU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">Avengers: Infinity War</a> (HDCam)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">9.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwievZ1Tx-8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5246700/">How It Ends</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5246700/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJyyJ7lexnM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom </a> (HDTC)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn9mMeWcgoM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">A Quiet Place</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7cc5t7tv8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6452574/">Sanju</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6452574/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J76wN0TPI4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158869
title: Nintendo Asks GitHub to Shut Down Game Boy Emulator
uri: Nintendo-Asks-GitHub-to-Shut-Down-Game-Boy-Emulator
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/E-pMH8P8YXk/
content:
<p><img src="media/a05f14e0.gameboyemulator.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gameboyemulator.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="172" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108034">Playing games through browser-based emulators is a niche pastime of some of the most dedicated gamers.</p>
<p>For Game Boy Advance fans there are a few websites that offer this option, albeit without permission.</p>
<p>Nintendo is not pleased with these unsanctioned projects which they see as clear copyright infringement. A few days ago, the company took action against a popular JavaScript-based Game Boy Advance emulator that was hosted on the developer platform GitHub.</p>
<p>&#8220;The files located at the repository link https://jsemu3.github.io/gba/ contain unauthorized copies of Nintendo&#8217;s video game software in violation of the law and GitHub&#8217;s Terms of Service,&#8221; Nintendo <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/commit/fca0a199638d85b3563318c63c7db01376a7dd53">writes</a>.</p>
<p>The repository in question offered JavaScript-powered versions of many popular titles including Advance Wars, Dragon Ball Z, Super Mario Advance, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, and Legend of Zelda.</p>
<p>The DMCA notice was filed late last week and GitHub removed the allegedly infringing files soon after. </p>
<p><center><strong>Repository offline</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/911bb911.githubdown1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/githubdown1.png" alt="" width="600" height="399" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158880"></center></p>
<p>The request came around the same time as the lawsuit that was filed <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-sues-console-rom-sites-for-mass-copyright-infringement-180720/">against the LoveROMS and LoveRETRO</a> emulator sites. While we can&#8217;t see an apparent connection between the two cases, Nintendo says that it is also considering legal action against the owner of the infringing GitHub repository.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are considering action regarding those matters but are not including them in this notice,&#8221; Nintendo writes. </p>
<p>Interestingly, this isn&#8217;t the first time that Nintendo has gone after an infringing Game Boy emulator. A few years ago the company targeted a similar repository, with a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-shuts-down-javascript-gameboy-emulator-150712/">similar name</a>. And it may have more work on its hands, as there are several <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Agithub.io%2Fgba%2F&#038;oq=site%3Agithub.io%2Fgba%2F">similar emulators</a> still hosted on GitHub.</p>
<p>One thing is quite clear though. Sites that offer emulators and ROMs are not welcomed by Nintendo, even those that don&#8217;t have a clear profit motive.</p>
<p>As for the two sites that were sued last week. LoveRETRO took its site down &#8220;<a href="https://www.loveretro.co/">until further notice</a>&#8221; over the weekend, while its partner site <a href="https://www.loveroms.com/">LoveROMS</a> removed all Nintendo titles. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158904
title: Music Industry Lawyer Calls For Criminal Investigation Over Article 13 Vote
uri: Music-Industry-Lawyer-Calls-For-Criminal-Investigation-Over-Article-13
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7iA86FTUQRI/
content:
<p><a href="media/853173b5.googlepop.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/googlepop.jpg"><img src="media/c6c36e0a.googlepop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlepop.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="141" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106435"></a>With YouTube now a major force when it comes to online music distribution, recording labels and artists are striving for a better deal.</p>
<p>While YouTube compensates labels for views of authorized content, the labels say the existence of unlicensed content uploaded by users means that the Google-owned video giant gains an unfair negotiating position.</p>
<p>In an effort to tighten the noose on YouTube and owners Google, the music industry lobbied hard for new EU legislation (Article 13) that would see user-uploaded content platforms compelled to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/judgment-day-nears-for-eus-piracy-filters-180604/">install filters</a> to detect infringing content before it gets made available to the public.</p>
<p>Earlier this month and after <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/article-13-lobbying-efforts-clash-before-crucial-copyright-filters-vote-180703/">much heated debate</a>, the wind was taken out of the music industry&#8217;s sails when the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-parliament-sends-upload-filters-back-to-the-drawing-board-180705/">European Parliament said &#8220;no&#8221;</a> to the Copyright Directive mandate.</p>
<p>The debate leading up to the vote was messy, with extremist claims on both sides doing little for the quality of the discussion, particularly on social media. As the vote neared, however, claims that somehow the campaign wasn&#8217;t being fought fairly came to the fore.</p>
<p>Two days before the vote, UK Music CEO Michael Dugher <a href="https://www.ukmusic.org/news/uk-music-chief-slams-google-as-corporate-vultures-as-figures-show-googles-3">launched a scathing attack</a>, describing Google as a &#8220;corporate vulture feeding off the creators and investors&#8221; while claiming the search giant had pumped €31 million into lobbying against the legislation.</p>
<p>“These new figures expose the fact that Google is acting like a monolithic mega-corp trying to submerge the truth under a tsunami of misinformation and scare stories pedaled by its multi-million propaganda machine,&#8221; Dugher said.</p>
<p>“Instead of mounting a cynical campaign, motivated entirely out of its self-interested desire to protect its huge profits, Google should be making a positive contribution to those who create and invest in the music. MEPs should ignore the big money lobbying from big tech and back fair rewards for creators.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whether Google&#8217;s lobbying efforts amounted to unfair practice will be for history to decide but if music industry veteran Chris Castle has his way, no stone should be left unturned in establishing the facts.</p>
<p>Castle is probably best known online for editing the <a href="https://musictechpolicy.com/about/">MusicTechPolicy</a> blog but he&#8217;s also the founder of his own law firm and has held lofty positions at Sony and A&#038;M. This busy industry man has little time for Google and its practices.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]here have been incredible and probably illegal uses of the Internet to overwhelm elected officials with faux communications that reek of Google-style misinformation and central planning in the hive mind of the Googleplex,&#8221; he <a href="https://musictechpolicy.com/2018/07/17/factiness-eu-style-a-dedicated-group-of-like-minded-people-carpet-bombs-the-european-parliament/">writes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We saw this again with the Article 13 vote in Europe last week with what clearly seems to be a Google-backed attack on the European Parliament for the purpose of policy intimidation.  </p>
<p>&#8220;That’s right – an American-based multinational corporation is trying to intimidate the very same European government that is currently investigating them for anticompetitive behavior and is staring down a multi-billion dollar fine. Vindictive much?&#8221;</p>
<p>Last week the EU Commission did indeed <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4581_en.htm">fine Google €4.34 billion</a> regarding the use of Android mobile devices to strengthen dominance of its search engine (a matter it reportedly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-22/the-story-behind-google-s-secret-offer-to-settle-android-probe">tried to settle</a>), but what about this attack on the EU Parliament?</p>
<p>Castle doesn&#8217;t go into much detail on the precise mechanics of what Google is supposed to have done but he describes the company as engineering &#8220;DDOS-type stunts capitalizing on what seems to be the element of surprise.&#8221;</p>
<p>This appears to be a reference to the numerous automated web-based forms that were made available online by various organizations, which enabled the public to make their voices heard by the decision makers about to tackle Article 13.</p>
<p>The forms were used, apparently a lot, to send messages to MEPs but whether this was simply a passionate and genuine response or more cynical organized chaos will be a matter for the parties to argue over.</p>
<p>In the meantime, Castle strongly feels there is a case to answer. The lawyer believes that Google is using its dominant position online to gain an unfair advantage in what should be a democratic process.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he most important thing for the European Commission to take into account is that a company that is the target of multiple investigations is using the very market place monopoly that caused the competition investigations to intimidate the European government into bending to its will on Article 13,&#8221; he writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The European Commission needs to launch a full-blown criminal investigation into exactly what happened on Article 13, particularly since there is another vote on the same subject coming in September. Properly authorized law enforcement acting swiftly can set sufficient digital snares to track the next attack which surely is coming while they forensically try to figure out what happened.&#8221;</p>
<p>It remains to be seen whether these strong words from Chris Castle and those who share his sentiments will have any effect on the ground but the fact that these accusations are now being made openly is likely to throw more fuel on an already super-heated debate.</p>
<p>Finally, it&#8217;s perhaps worth noting that the companies and groups in the image below, which together claim to &#8220;represent 4.5% of EU GDP and 12 million European jobs&#8221; (and were in favor of Article 13), were apparently outgunned by Google.</p>
<p>Or, perhaps they were simply outgunned by people who just didn&#8217;t like the idea of Article 13? Only a couple of months left for round two &#8211; it could be a bumpy ride.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/ee2d16e9.port-Mandate-Call-from-Cultural-Creative-S...-e1530603517509.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/Copyright-Directive-Support-Mandate-Call-from-Cultural-Creative-S...-e1530603517509.jpg" width="600" height="338" class="aligncenter size-large"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158937
title: BitTorrent Inc. Officially Confirms Acquisition by TRON Foundation
uri: BitTorrent-Inc-Officially-Confirms-Acquisition-by-TRON-Foundation
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yLLWBdv1Qio/
content:
<p><img src="media/63ae51b5.bittorrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent.png" alt="" width="263" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156117">In May, TF broke the news that Justin Sun, the entrepreneur behind the popular cryptocurrency <a href="https://tron.network/index?lng=en">TRON</a>, was in the process of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tron-founder-plans-to-buy-bittorrent-inc-180525/">acquiring BitTorrent Inc</a>. </p>
<p>The San-Francisco based file-sharing company confirmed the interest from Sun and while details leaked here and there, there was no official confirmation from the parties involved. That changed today. </p>
<p>This morning both BitTorrent Inc. and the <a href="https://tron.network/">TRON</a> Foundation <a href="http://blog.bittorrent.com/2018/07/23/its-official-bittorrent-is-now-part-of-tron/">confirmed</a> the acquisition. This means that the file-sharing company, with uTorrent as its flagship software, will be part of the TRON team going forward. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are excited to announce that TRON has officially closed its acquisition of BitTorrent,&#8221; BitTorrent Inc. just announced. </p>
<p>&#8220;With this acquisition, BitTorrent will continue to provide high quality services for over 100M users around the world. We believe that joining the TRON network will further enhance BitTorrent and accelerate our mission of creating an Internet of options, not rules.&#8221;</p>
<p>BitTorrent will keep its current product line intact and will be operating from TRON&#8217;s San Francisco office going forward. Both teams will merge and together they plan to take the technology behind TRON to a new level. </p>
<p><center><strong>BitTorrent + TRON</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/20cc23fc.trontorrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trontorrent.png" alt="" width="600" height="163" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158943"></center></p>
<p>TRON&#8217;s Justin Sun sees BitTorrent as a great fit for the foundation&#8217;s goal to decentralize the web. The legacy BitTorrent protocol will remain, but TRON hopes to bring new life to it.</p>
<p>&#8220;The BitTorrent acquisition embodies TRON’s &#8216;All-In Decentralization&#8217; strategy. TRON and BitTorrent share the same vision for a decentralized Web. I believe BitTorrent will gain new life from integrating into the TRON ecosystem, and TRON will continue BitTorrent’s protocol legacy.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear how BitTorrent technology will be integrated into the TRON network. No concrete details have been announced but both parties have decentralization as their main pillars, and that won&#8217;t change. </p>
<p>&#8220;With the integration of BitTorrent, TRON aims to liberate the Internet from the stranglehold of large corporations, give data rights back to the individual, and reignite the early 21st century vision of a free, transparent, decentralized network to connect the world, because the internet belongs to the people,&#8221; <a href="https://medium.com/@Tronfoundation/letter-to-the-community-bittorrent-acquisition-ae325875e6b9">Sun notes</a>.</p>
<p>No financial details relating to the acquisition have been released but it was previously reported that Sun had agreed to pay $140 million for BitTorrent Inc. and its assets.</p>
<p>While the acquisition has been causing shockwaves in the already volatile crypto market, BitTorrent&#8217;s users have been relatively quiet. Aside from a few confused uTorrent users, who feared that their clients would turn into cryptocurrency miners, the issue has not been widely discussed. </p>
<p>Those worried users can rest assured, though, as the uTorrent team stresses that they have no intention to change, or mine.</p>
<p>&#8220;We wish to reiterate that BitTorrent has no plans to change what we do or charge for the services we provide. We have no plans to enable mining of cryptocurrency now or in the future,&#8221; the uTorrent team said previously. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158939
title: MPAA: Doing Nothing About Online Lawlessness Chills Free Speech
uri: MPAA-Doing-Nothing-About-Online-Lawlessness-Chills-Free-Speech
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/EXm4QnOWvi0/
content:
<p><a href="media/cdeb3942.mpaa-new.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-new.png"><img src="media/aef711a6.mpaa-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-new.png" alt="" width="252" height="182" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-158950"></a>Early June, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency that acts as the President&#8217;s principal adviser on telecommunications policies, <a href="https://www.ntia.doc.gov/federal-register-notice/2018/notice-inquiry-international-internet-policy-priorities">requested comments</a> for its Inquiry on International Internet Policy Priorities.</p>
<p>&#8220;Recognizing the vital importance of the Internet and digital communications to U.S. innovation, prosperity, education, and civic and cultural life, NTIA has made it a top priority to encourage growth and innovation for the Internet and Internet-enabled economy,&#8221; NTIA wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;Towards that end, NTIA is seeking comments and recommendations from all interested stakeholders on its international Internet policy priorities for 2018 and beyond. These comments will help inform NTIA to identify priority issues and help NTIA effectively leverage its resources and expertise to address those issues.&#8221;</p>
<p>The MPAA has responded with a 38-page document detailing what it believes to be key issues facing the Internet and its users. It makes for interesting reading.</p>
<p><strong>Increased cooperation from online platforms</strong></p>
<p>The first issue, to which the movie group dedicates close to half of its response, centers on online platforms being shielded from responsibility for harms stemming from use of their services &#8220;even though most other businesses can be held culpable for such harms in similar circumstances.&#8221;</p>
<p>The MPAA doesn&#8217;t mention any particular platforms by name but it can be safely assumed that Google, YouTube, Facebook and similar services are in the crosshairs when it says that positive aspects of these sites are &#8220;increasingly clouded&#8221; by bad actors using them as &#8220;powerful tools for harmful and illicit ends.&#8221;</p>
<p>So what can be done? The MPAA says it&#8217;s not advocating for any particular solution but notes that it could be as simple as platforms agreeing to become more accountable while dealing with abuse on a voluntary basis.</p>
<p>Claiming that dominant online platforms are facilitating everything from intellectual property theft to malware propagation, cyberespionage, sales of drugs and trafficking of minors, the MPAA says that platforms themselves are best placed to get their own houses in order.</p>
<p>&#8220;The rationale is that the responsibility for harm prevention is more appropriately borne by the businesses than the customers who might be harmed, or that the businesses should at least take a prominent role in mitigating risk,&#8221; the MPAA notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Often, businesses that serve as &#8216;platforms&#8217; for illegal activity are better situated — and have more expertise and resources — to identify potential problems and take precautionary or remedial measures.</p>
<p>&#8220;They can more readily avoid what could be catastrophic consequences for the individuals, as well as help absorb what could also be catastrophic costs. And since the businesses are profiting from the public marketing of goods and services, there is an equity in expecting them to take on certain responsibilities and act with a requisite amount of care.&#8221;</p>
<p>Given past criticisms, the MPAA&#8217;s submission seems keen to dispel what it sees as the misconception that online enforcement is incompatible with free speech and the free flow of information.</p>
<p>Tackling the illegal activities detailed above is no more a violation of free expression online as it is in the physical world, the group notes, adding that platforms that refuse to deal with these problems are actually operating counter to these ideals.</p>
<p>&#8220;In fact, curbing such illicit activity promotes free expression by creating a safer, virtual forum where individuals feel comfortable to engage and communicate. In this sense, it is leaving lawlessness and bullying unchecked that is chilling free speech,&#8221; the MPAA adds.</p>
<p><strong>Restrictions on domain name use for illegal sites, better WHOIS access</strong></p>
<p>Most websites benefit from having a memorable domain name and pirate sites are no different. The MPAA believes that illegal sites shouldn&#8217;t have access to domain names and asks the NTIA to do whatever it can to prevent that from happening in future.</p>
<p>&#8220;[W]e hope the NTIA will help ensure ICANN, registries, and registrars are enforcing obligations that prohibit domain holders from using domain names in connection with illicit conduct. Doing so is critical to ensuring the multistakeholder model maintains the security, stability, and resiliency of the internet domain name system,&#8221; the MPAA writes.</p>
<p>The Hollywood group says that the contractual obligations for this to happen already exist, created through the multistakeholder process, in some cases as far back as 2001. Mechanisms are in place to prohibit domain name holders from using domains for unlawful activity, including via suspensions after a review process.</p>
<p>&#8220;Failing to enforce these provisions jeopardizes the credibility and accountability of ICANN and the multistakeholder governance model, and invites government intervention,&#8221; the MPAA warns.</p>
<p>Another thorn in the side of the MPAA is the current state of access to WHOIS data. The group urges the NTIA to advise Congress on legislation that will ensure the collection of accurate WHOIS data while providing access to such information in appropriate circumstances. The MPAA says that WHOIS data is a &#8220;cornerstone of online accountability&#8221;, one which assists with public safety, consumer protection, dispute resolution, and enforcement of rights.</p>
<p>Access to this data is currently under threat, not least due to the requirements of the EU&#8217;s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The MPAA reports that its inquiries into 30 pirate site related domains in June yielded WHOIS data for just one, with all others denied, refused without a court order, or hindered by a domain privacy service.</p>
<p>&#8220;Except for the data behind privacy proxies, this information would ordinarily have been public, and even in privacy proxy cases, we sometimes had agreements in place to gain access to the underlying information to address piracy issues,&#8221; the MPAA says.</p>
<p>In conclusion, the Hollywood group is calling for a GDPR-compliant framework that allows access to WHOIS records for legitimate purposes such as intellectual property rights enforcement.</p>
<p><strong>Criminal enforcement actions to deter the distribution of illicit streaming devices</strong></p>
<p>The rise of illicit online streaming is showing few signs of slowing down so it&#8217;s no surprise that the MPAA is seeking assistance from the NTIA on this front. Specifically, the MPAA wants to see strong measures taken against those who promote and/or distribute so-called &#8220;fully loaded&#8221; set-top devices that are pre-configured for infringing purposes.</p>
<p>Given its track record of equating online piracy with other crime, it&#8217;s no surprise that the MPAA leads with the claim that pirate sites help to spread malware &#8220;into living rooms&#8221; due to the prevalence of streaming piracy devices.</p>
<p>&#8220;The issues relating to illegal streaming sites, devices, and applications — as well as the surrounding piracy ecosystem more generally — are thus closely linked to broader issues of cybersecurity. Combatting the former may well make significant contributions toward the latter,&#8221; the MPAA advises.</p>
<p>Highlighting the only <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/malicious-subtitles-threaten-kodi-vlc-and-popcorn-time-users-researchers-warn-170523/">major security event</a> in recent memory (which was quickly fixed, incidentally), the MPAA makes much of an exploit that targeted how some media players handled subtitles. Last month the MPAA&#8217;s affiliates <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rampant-kodi-malware-its-time-to-either-put-up-or-shut-up-190610/">promised to detail</a> more security issues but thus far has failed to deliver.</p>
<p>But aside from the somewhat transparent effort to paint pirate consumers as vulnerable victims, it&#8217;s clear that the main aim of the MPAA is to starve pirate operations of both cash and exposure by targeting everyone from sellers, payment processors and advertisers, to domain and hosting providers.</p>
<p>On top, it also wants some heavy-duty action by the authorities. The suggested targets are likely to send a shiver down the spines of many involved in the third-party Kodi addon community.</p>
<p>&#8220;Combatting the growth of streaming piracy requires coordination among all parties in a position to make a difference, including civil and criminal actions against creators of pirate add-on software and the repository websites that host them, against distributors of the preloaded devices, and against the entities streaming the content.&#8221;</p>
<p>As part of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, the MPAA is already undertaking civil action against various pirate box vendors. However, what it really wants is for the government to bring deterrent criminal prosecutions in order to shock some offenders away from the market.</p>
<p>Citing the shutdown of Megaupload and a reported 6.5 to 8.5 percent increase in digital sales for three major studios in its wake, the MPAA says that similar results could be achieved if the government took a more active role against players in the streaming market.</p>
<p>&#8220;We would welcome the NTIA’s voice in urging its sister agencies to bring criminal actions, as well as its consulting with the Customs and Border Patrol about the possibility of interdiction of illicit streaming devices entering the country from abroad,&#8221; the MPAA concludes. </p>
<p>The MPAA&#8217;s submission to the NTIA can be found here <em>(<a href="media/d73121ff.180717-MPAA-response-to-NTIA-internet-priorities-inquiry.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/180717-MPAA-response-to-NTIA-internet-priorities-inquiry.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158988
title: Infamous Denuvo Cracker Disappears, Site Diverts to Government Portal
uri: Infamous-Denuvo-Cracker-Disappears-Site-Diverts-to-Government-Portal
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7MeSHW1bU_Y/
content:
<p><a href="media/c68e11dc.shadow.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/shadow.jpg"><img src="media/fd473730.shadow.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/shadow.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128967"></a>Late last week, the now-infamous cracker known as Voksi hit the headlines <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sega-accused-of-anti-consumer-behavior-with-rushed-sonic-mania-plus-protection-180720/">once again</a> after defeating the latest variant of the Denuvo anti-tamper technology.</p>
<p>The 21-year-old Bulgarian has made it a personal mission to bring down the world&#8217;s most hated anti-piracy system and regularly sets to work when a protected game is released. Last week&#8217;s successful attack on Sonic Mania Plus was an important step but those who know Voksi best understand the guy rarely rests.</p>
<p>Soon after he cracked the Denuvo protection on Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, the latest updates of Tekken 7 and Injustice 2, and delivered a new crack for Prey and its latest DLC.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is no point of using Denuvo anymore,&#8221; he told us late last week.</p>
<p>This unprecedented level of activity has led some to joke that Voksi&#8217;s not a human but some kind of robot that&#8217;s around all the time and doesn&#8217;t need to sleep. However, throughout the course of yesterday concerns have been mounting that all is not well in Bulgaria.</p>
<p>Voksi was last seen online very early yesterday morning. He&#8217;s not been seen in any of his usual hangouts since and no one we&#8217;ve spoken to has heard or seen any news. While this isn&#8217;t alarming in itself, other developments seem more serious.</p>
<p>Voksi is the leader of cracking group REVOLT which has its home at the Revolt.group forum. Yesterday and seemingly coinciding with Voksi&#8217;s disappearance, the REVOLT forum disappeared without warning. Again, this isn&#8217;t extraordinary when taken on its own but real concern is building over what appears to have replaced it.</p>
<p>Instead of being greeted by the familiar forum, visitors to Revolt.group (RVT) are now being redirected to mvr.bg, the domain that identifies the website of Bulgaria&#8217;s Ministry of the Interior. Obviously, this link with the authorities is not what most people hope to see when they try to visit Voksi&#8217;s home.</p>
<p><center><strong>Definitely not the Revolt forum</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/8d795ef0.ministry-revolt.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ministry-revolt.png"><img src="media/6d1c7bd0.ministry-revolt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ministry-revolt.png" alt="" width="600" height="345" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159034"></a></center></p>
<p>While domain redirects in the case of coordinated anti-piracy busts are fairly common, they are usually more informative than simply linking to the homepage of a government site. They tend to point to a specific message which can be both informative and a means to inform visitors that the game is up.</p>
<p>The way things stand, that doesn&#8217;t appear to be the case here. As far as we can see, the Ministry of the Interior site doesn&#8217;t carry any message or announcement that can be in anyway connected with some kind of raid or bust so it&#8217;s possible that something else is going on.</p>
<p>Previously, the Revolt.group domain pointed to an IP address in Sofia, Bulgaria. Now, however, it redirects to an IP address/server registered to SoftLayer in the  United States which appears to be responsible for the redirect to the Ministry of the Interior. When taken together, none of this fits any expected patterns.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak has spoken with individuals concerned about Voksi&#8217;s whereabouts but all say (including some close to him) that they have no idea what has happened to him or the Revolt forum. Directly, we have two key ways of contacting the cracker and thus far, neither has been met with any success.</p>
<p>So, for now at least, it looks like a waiting game. We can confirm that Voksi is a real person so it&#8217;s possible he&#8217;s taken a break from his 24/7 cracking activities to recharge his batteries. Sadly, that doesn&#8217;t explain the issue with the forum. Other possibilities are also under consideration, including some kind of hack, hoax, or pending surprise reveal. Only time will tell.</p>
<p><em>Updates as we get them</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158960
title: Mozilla: Copyright Laws Stifle Creativity and Innovation
uri: Mozilla-Copyright-Laws-Stifle-Creativity-and-Innovation
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/oRlU95S0cw8/
content:
<p><img src="media/7f5e90ee.mozilla-e1532439823887.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mozilla-e1532439823887.png" alt="" width="222" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-158964">Last month, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) asked the public for input for its International Internet Policy Priorities.</p>
<p>The NTIA has an important role in President Trump&#8217;s administration, acting as a principal adviser on telecommunications policies.</p>
<p>In recent weeks various stakeholders submitted their input. Yesterday, for example, we highlighted the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-doing-nothing-about-online-lawlessness-chills-free-speech-180724/">MPAA&#8217;s submission</a> which argued that action  is required as the current &#8220;lawless&#8221; Internet chills free speech. </p>
<p>However, not everyone agrees with this stance. Mozilla, the creators of the Firefox browser, sees regulation and copyright legislation in particular, as one of the largest threats to an open Internet. </p>
<p>In its submission, Mozilla&#8217;s Senior Policy Manager Heather West asks the NTIA to help preserve the Internet&#8217;s openness. </p>
<p>&#8220;One of the key elements that makes the internet an incredible global resource is its openness. &#8216;Open&#8217; means that anyone can publish or invent online without asking for permission, and that the technologies used to run the Web are transparent and understandable.&#8221;</p>
<p>More restrictions are a threat to the open Internet, Mozilla argues. It specifically highlights intellectual property laws, which include copyright, as one of the dangers.</p>
<p>These laws restrict people from using the full potential of the Internet. Instead of more restrictions, Mozilla promotes the idea of a more flexible approach, such as Creative Commons licenses.</p>
<p>&#8220;Intellectual property laws stifle creativity and innovation if they are too restrictive about sharing and remixing &#8211; particularly for educational and non-profit use, which would be permitted under &#8216;fair use&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to reform laws that are outdated, and support the growth of licensing alternatives like the Creative Commons,&#8221; Mozilla adds.</p>
<p>Mozilla agrees with the MPAA that copyright legislation in the US and abroad hasn&#8217;t kept up with the pace with the Internet. However, both groups clearly have different ideas on how to move forward.</p>
<p>Where MPAA and other pro-copyright groups want stricter copyright regulation, Mozilla wants fewer restrictions, and both ask the Government for support.</p>
<p>&#8220;Internationally, the NTIA and Department of Commerce should support efforts to keep the internet open. Open innovation on the internet is threatened by bad policies, the devaluation of common standards, and the fragmentation of the global internet.&#8221; </p>
<p>As an example of present threats, Mozilla mentions the EU&#8217;s copyright modernization proposals, which would increase liability for online services and introduce a so-called &#8216;link tax&#8217;.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is clear that leadership is necessary; the EU is currently in the final stages of negotiation on a copyright proposal that would threaten the future of the internet,&#8221; Mozilla warns. </p>
<p>Mozilla notes that the challenges &#8216;we&#8217; face are complicated, but that they can be tackled if all stakeholders collaborate to find the right solutions. However, if the NTIA submissions show anything, it&#8217;s that this will be nearly impossible. </p>
<p>On one side there are groups such as Mozilla, EFF, Public Knowledge,  Center for Democracy &#038; Technology, the Internet Association, Cloudflare, and Google, warning against the adverse effects of restrictive regulation. </p>
<p>On the other, there are copyright holder groups such as the MPAA, RIAA, The Software Alliance, the Copyright Alliance, and others, urging for better protection for creators. </p>
<p>Both argue that they want to protect freedom of expression and the free flow of information, but they differ greatly in how this goal should be achieved. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>An overview of all NTIA responses is <a href="https://www.ntia.doc.gov/federal-register-notice/2018/comments-international-internet-policy-priorities">available here</a>.<br>
</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159051
title: Voksi Retires: Cyberpolice Raid Cracker After Denuvo Criminal Complaint
uri: Voksi-Retires-Cyberpolice-Raid-Cracker-After-Denuvo-Criminal-Complain
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ujsqEM3AQ7M/
content:
<p><a href="media/05d838b7.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg"><img src="media/fe5f698e.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg" alt="" width="210" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116067"></a>Yesterday morning we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/infamous-denuvo-cracker-disappears-site-diverts-to-government-portal-180725/">reported</a> how concern was mounting for infamous games cracker &#8216;Voksi&#8217; after he uncharacteristically failed to appear online.</p>
<p>Fears only increased when his REVOLT forum began diverting to the Ministry of the Interior in Bulgaria. While some of his fans thought it was some kind of elaborate joke, those closest to him suspected that something had gone terribly wrong.</p>
<p>And it had.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak last evening, an obviously emotional Voksi told us that early Tuesday morning he received unexpected visitors to his home in southern Bulgaria.</p>
<p>Five or six officers, including two from Bulgaria&#8217;s General Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime (GDBOB) and others from a local police station, appeared at his door. They clearly had one thing in mind &#8211; his anti-Denuvo activities.</p>
<p>It appears that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-has-been-sold-to-global-anti-piracy-outfit-irdeto-180123/">Denuvo&#8217;s new owner</a>, anti-piracy outfit Irdeto, had filed a criminal complaint against Voksi with Bulgarian authorities. How police found him isn&#8217;t clear but Voksi told TF that he had at least one piece of loose information out there that would&#8217;ve made it easy.</p>
<p>Perhaps surprisingly given the powerful response, Voksi wasn&#8217;t arrested at his home. He had equipment seized (his main PC and a server) but even when he attended the local police station to make a statement later in the day, he remained &#8216;free&#8217;.</p>
<p>Clearly concerned about what will happen next, Voksi didn&#8217;t want to go into too much detail about his statement. However, we get the impression that he didn&#8217;t make it difficult for authorities and was as straightforward as possible with what probably amounts to a confession. </p>
<p>Voksi also wasn&#8217;t clear on what the charges against him might be, if there are any. He knows that the police spoke about the damage he had done to Denuvo but beyond that, details in respect of specific laws aren&#8217;t readily available.</p>
<p>Voksi also told us that during Tuesday he took the opportunity to contact Denuvo with some kind of offer to bring the whole situation to a peaceful conclusion.</p>
<p>The Bulgarian didn&#8217;t want to go into details on how the discussion went or what was said but he suggested that Denuvo felt the final decision might not be entirely theirs, considering the local prosecutor is now in charge of the case.</p>
<p>What happens to Voksi in the immediate future isn&#8217;t known but it&#8217;s clear that he won&#8217;t be continuing with his cracking work. For his REVOLT forum, the game is also over. Voksi informs TF that the authorities have already seized the domain so the site won&#8217;t be coming back. </p>
<p>Finally, Voksi has had zero representation so far. We double checked &#8211; no lawyer was provided to him before, during, or after questioning. He&#8217;ll be needing someone to help out in southern Bulgaria, close to the city of Plovdiv.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you are a lawyer or someone who wants to fight, or just someone who wants to express his feelings, you can contact me currently over the RVT Discord or personally on Discord &#8211; Voksi#3486,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159078
title: Sony, Universal and Warner Ask Sky to Disconnect Pirate Subscribers
uri: Sony-Universal-and-Warner-Ask-Sky-to-Disconnect-Pirate-Subscribers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pn4pGCjdOf8/
content:
<p><a href="media/a991455e.cord-cutting.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cord-cutting.png"><img src="media/65e7c4f0.cord-cutting.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cord-cutting.png" alt="" width="200" height="160" class="alignright size-full wp-image-54112"></a>At the turn of the last decade, the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) ended legal action against local ISP Eircom when the provider agreed to implement a so-called “three strikes” regime.</p>
<p>The agreement saw member labels including Sony, Universal, and Warner tracking allegedly-infringing Eircom subscribers online and Eircom forwarding infringement notices. Those caught three times would be eligible for disconnection from the Internet.</p>
<p>Under an agreement to give Eircom a level playing field, the labels targeted another ISP, UPC (later taken over by Virgin), with a demand to implement the same scheme. UPC dug in its heels and the case dragged on through the legal system.</p>
<p>In 2015, the High Court ruled in favor of the labels, rejecting complaints from UPC that it’s not an ISP’s job to police its subscribers’ activities online.</p>
<p>Now, more than three years later, the labels are back again with a renewed effort to have the graduated response scheme introduced more widely in Ireland. This time around, Sony, Warner and Universal are targeting Sky Ireland.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/music-firms-to-seek-order-against-sky-over-three-strikes-piracy-policy-1.3576464">Irish Times</a>, Sky has told the labels it will comply with their demands but has asked that they obtain a court order first.</p>
<p>Sky, which is already collaborating with the Premier League to block infringing streams, said that it was &#8220;actively working&#8221; with the industry to deal with online piracy.</p>
<p>“It’s therefore important that companies like ours do what they can, alongside the Government and the rest of the media and technology industries, to help protect copyright,” Sky said.</p>
<p>“Copyright holders who believe broadband users have unlawfully shared content online have the option of taking their cases to court. If the order is granted, the service provider must comply and Sky would, of course, comply with any such order.”</p>
<p>Asking for a court order to be produced is standard form in such cases but given Sky&#8217;s track record in such matters, it probably won&#8217;t be putting up much of a fight. The issue of costs is likely to be a matter for dispute but putting the regime in place is unlikely to be a sticking point.</p>
<p>In response, the labels (under the Irish Recorded Music Association umbrella) initiated a claim in the High Court this week, with supporting papers filed by IRMA chief Willie Kavanagh.</p>
<p>IT reports that IRMA is also in talks with Vodafone Ireland to implement the same anti-piracy scheme but the ISP has &#8220;raised technical concerns and sought more time.&#8221; In any event, Vodafone is extremely unlikely to begin disconnecting customers without a legal basis so a court order will be required in this case too.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158905
title: RIAA Wants to Uncover The ‘Music Mafia’ Pirates
uri: RIAA-Wants-to-Uncover-The-Music-Mafia-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YEW-cSRHyfg/
content:
<p><img src="media/8cd3a93e.musicmafia-e1532505130392.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/musicmafia-e1532505130392.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="98" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159029">From BBSs, through Napster, torrent sites, and stream rippers, there&#8217;s been no shortage of targets over the past decades.</p>
<p>Despite efforts from the music industry to counter these ever-emerging threats, people who want to access music for free now have more options than ever.</p>
<p>While piracy is bad enough, there&#8217;s one thing that music insiders fear even more; pre-release leaks. So, when a website trades in these kinds of leaks in the open, alarm bells go off. </p>
<p>This was the case around a year ago when the mysterious &#8220;<a href="http://musicmafia.to/">Music Mafia</a>&#8221; group entered the stage. The group gained mainstream attention when two unreleased Kanye West tracks appeared online, way ahead of schedule. </p>
<p>The tracks soon made their way to YouTube, with many <a href="https://www.spin.com/2017/06/music-mafia-kanye-west-drake-hacks/">pointing</a> out Music Mafia as the source. </p>
<p>More than a year has passed and the Music Mafia site is still up and running. In exchange for Bitcoin, it auctions and sells unreleased tracks, demos, and unreleased music videos. Even email addresses and phone numbers of artists are on the menu.</p>
<p>In the site&#8217;s &#8220;assortment&#8221; you&#8217;ll find popular names such as Beyonce, Coldplay, Drake, Hardwell, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. The list of unreleased material is impressive as well, with dozens of records from David Guetta, Kanye West, and Travis Scott, among others.</p>
<p>Some of the unreleased tracks are auctioned off on a regular basis while others can be bought directly. The most exclusive releases are sold behind the scenes, all traded for Bitcoin. </p>
<p><center><strong>Buy now</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/496cc32f.mm.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mm.png" alt="" width="600" height="482" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159017"></center></p>
<p>The music industry sees the anonymous group as a severe threat, something which pushed it onto the RIAA&#8217;s radar. </p>
<p>A few weeks ago the music group obtained a DMCA subpoena (<a href="media/8a8a52f4.musicmafia.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com//images/musicmafia.pdf">pdf</a>) from a federal court in the District of Columbia ordering Tonic Domains Corp, the registry of Music Mafia&#8217;s .to domain, to identify the associated registry.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have determined that a user of your system or network has infringed our member record companies’ copyrighted sound recordings,&#8221; RIAA wrote to the registry, requesting information.</p>
<p>&#8220;As is stated in the attached subpoena, you are required to disclose to the RIAA information sufficient to identify the infringer. This would include the individual’s name, physical address, IP address and e-mail address.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whether Tonic Domains Corp complied with the request is unknown. However, a few weeks have passed now and MusicMafia.to is still up and running as usual, trading unreleased music for Bitcoin. </p>
<p>One of the most intriguing questions is where this group gets its booty. Is it connected to rogue music industry insiders? Are they skilled hackers who get their treasure through digital means?</p>
<p>There are some hints that support the hacker theory. For example, last year Drake posted Music Mafia&#8217;s website address on Twitter. This tweet was swiftly removed and some suggested that the account had been hijacked. </p>
<p>Without more details, it&#8217;s hard to tell what&#8217;s going on precisely. What is clear, however, is that they are not bluffing. But neither is the RIAA&#8230;</p>
<p><center><strong>Drake&#8217;s tweet, via <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/2017/06/two-kanye-west-tracks-with-young-thug-migos-asap-rocky-surface">Complex</a></strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/557a1d69.drake-e1532504801825.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/drake-e1532504801825.png" alt="" width="600" height="260" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159021"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159109
title: Sky Blocks Pirate Sites With Traffic Analysis and Google Cloud
uri: Sky-Blocks-Pirate-Sites-With-Traffic-Analysis-and-Google-Cloud
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/LWBSIUJDf3Q/
content:
<p><a href="media/2dae909e.skylogo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo.png"><img src="media/049adc7a.skylogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo.png" alt="" width="222" height="129" class="alignright size-full wp-image-124729" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo.png 222w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo-220x129.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px"></a>During March 2017, the Premier League obtained a blocking injunction from the High Court which compelled ISPs including BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media to block &#8216;pirate&#8217; football streams in real-time.</p>
<p>Due to its reported success, the Premier League applied for a second order which was handed down in July 2017. It ran from August 12, 2017 to May 13, 2018 and contained a renewal clause. The Premier League was successful in its latest application, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/premier-league-obtains-piracy-blocking-order-for-2018-19-season-180719/">obtaining a new order</a> from the High Court last week.</p>
<p>This extension applies to BT, EE, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, with all of the ISPs required to work with the Premier League to stop pirate content from reaching their subscribers. While all will do so, it&#8217;s clear that some are a little keener than others.</p>
<p>Sky, BT, and Virgin are all football broadcasters in their own right, so have a vested interest in complying with the High Court order. How they go about that has never been revealed in public but a new report from <a href="https://www.computerworlduk.com/data/sky-turns-machine-learning-shut-down-premier-league-pirate-sites-3681318/">ComputerWorldUK</a> shows how much effort Sky are prepared to put in.</p>
<p>Speaking during Google Cloud Next in San Francisco this week, Mohamed Hammady, CTO at Sky UK revealed that his company spends close to $8 billion a year on content, with broadcasting rights of the Premier League ($1.6 billion) representing the &#8220;crown jewel&#8221; of its sports spending.</p>
<p>To protect that investment (while complying with the Premier League&#8217;s High Court order), Sky has turned to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cloud_Platform">Google Cloud</a> technology.</p>
<p>Hammady said that the team at Sky collected its NetFlow traffic information as a means of &#8220;sampling the traffic on our core network.&#8221; This sampling produced 500 billion data records in a year, a volume best handled by the professionals.</p>
<p>&#8220;Using BigQuery and an in-house algorithm &#8211; which cost $10,000 (£7,500) to develop &#8211; we are now able to continuously study traffic patterns with an always up to date list of suspect pirate sites,&#8221; Hammady said as quoted by CWUK. &#8220;Once they have been confirmed as illegal they are shut down.</p>
<p>Hammady said running a query on Google Cloud takes Sky less than 30 seconds and costs the company just 23 cents, a good deal according to the Sky CTO.</p>
<p>&#8220;The result is a phenomenal reduction in pirate sites in the UK,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>While the High Court order was obtained by the Premier League and Sky was a defendant in that case, it&#8217;s clear that rather than opponents, these content companies are working hand-in-hand to reduce piracy.</p>
<p>Also, from the little we know, it seems that Sky is also happy to obtain data from the network traffic generated by its customers in order to target pirate sites.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a somewhat unusual situation to hear discussed in public, given that most ISPs prefer to be seen as content agnostic &#8220;dumb pipes&#8221; that seek no control (or awareness) of what their customers might be doing online.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158871
title: Record Labels Are Willing to Settle ‘Repeat Infringer’ Case with ISP
uri: Record-Labels-Are-Willing-to-Settle-Repeat-Infringer-Case-with-I
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yJpfFKFvoFc/
content:
<p><img src="media/ec1448ed.grandecomm.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grandecomm.png" alt="" width="234" height="116" class="alignright size-full wp-image-140705">Last year several major record labels, represented by the RIAA, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-sues-isp-grande-communications-for-failing-to-disconnect-pirates-170422/">filed a lawsuit</a> against ISP Grande Communications accusing it of turning a blind eye to pirating subscribers.</p>
<p>According to the labels, the Internet provider knew that some of its subscribers were frequently distributing copyrighted material, but failed to take any meaningful action in response.</p>
<p>Grande refuted the accusations and filed a motion to dismiss the case. The ISP <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-books-partial-victory-against-riaa-in-piracy-lawsuit-180405/">partially succeeded</a> as the claims against its management company Patriot were dropped. The same was true for the vicarious infringement allegations, as the court saw no evidence that the ISP had a direct financial interest in the infringing activity. </p>
<p>The labels disagreed, however, and were not ready to let any claims go. In May they submitted a motion for leave to file an amended complaint including new evidence obtained during discovery. Among other things, they argued that Grande willingly kept pirating subscribers abroad, to generate more revenue. </p>
<p>While both sides were going head to head in court, the labels also attempted a peace offering. Court documents submitted this week show that the record labels offered a settlement agreement to the ISP two months ago. </p>
<p>Per the court&#8217;s scheduling order, Grande was required to respond to the offer within a month, but thus far a response has yet to come in. In a new status report submitted his week, the labels say they are still open to a settlement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs remain ready and willing to participate in a meaningful attempt to resolve the case without further litigation, including through a mediation, which Plaintiffs previously proposed to Grande and Patriot Media Consulting, LLC,&#8221; the labels write. </p>
<p>&#8220;Otherwise, if Grande and Patriot have no interest in discussing settlement, Plaintiffs will continue vigorous prosecution of this case to recover damages for Grande’s and Patriot’s extensive and harmful infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted sound recordings.&#8221;</p>
<p>The details of the settlement offer remain unknown, but it&#8217;s likely that they will come at a cost for the ISP. Grande&#8217;s attorney informed the labels that more time was needed to prepare a thorough response, something the company also told the court this week.</p>
<p>&#8220;Due to the nature of Plaintiffs’ written offer of settlement, Grande notified Plaintiffs that it would require additional time to prepare and transmit its official written response.&#8221; Grande’s attorney notes.</p>
<p>The ISP now expects to have its response to the settlement offer ready next week. Given that it took nearly two months to reply, this will likely be more complex than a simple yes or no.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>The record labels&#8217; letter is available <a href="media/a4abd3bb.riaasettlement.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/riaasettlement.pdf">here (pdf)</a>, and Grande&#8217;s response can be found <a href="media/b263d95a.grandesettleresponse.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/grandesettleresponse.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.<br>
</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158979
title: Court: UEFA Can Expand Its Pirate Stream Blocking Efforts
uri: Court-UEFA-Can-Expand-Its-Pirate-Stream-Blocking-Efforts
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VJ3RIJe8Djc/
content:
<p><img src="media/86f726c0.uefa.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uefa.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="179" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159001">Now that the World Cup is over, football teams in Europe are slowly starting to get ready for the new season. </p>
<p>This is also true for UEFA, the international body that governs football throughout Europe. These preparations take place on the pitch, but also in the online arena and the courts. </p>
<p>In the UK, UEFA successfully applied for an extension and expansion of the pirate stream blocking order the High Court handed down late <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uefa-obtains-high-court-injunction-to-block-live-soccer-streaming-171226/">last year</a>. Under this order, ISPs are required to block pirate streams of several of the most popular games. </p>
<p>The order for the upcoming season was issued by High Court Justice Arnold. It received no opposition from the ISPs and some, likely those who have skin in the game, supported the renewal. </p>
<p>The evidence provided by UEFA convinced the High Court that the initial blocking order was a success, without it resulting in any meaningful collateral damage.</p>
<p>&#8220;The evidence filed by UEFA in support of this application demonstrates that the First Order was very effective in achieving the blocking of access to the Target Servers during UEFA matches,&#8221; Justice Arnold <a href="http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2018/1900.html">writes</a>. </p>
<p>&#8220;Moreover, no evidence has been found of overblocking despite checks having been undertaken. There was one incident on which a stream was erroneously blocked, but it was not a case of overblocking because it was in fact an infringing stream although not covered by the terms of the First Order.&#8221;</p>
<p>As with the Premier League blocking renewal, which was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/premier-league-obtains-piracy-blocking-order-for-2018-19-season-180719/">issued last week</a>, there are also some small changes. The number of targeted streaming servers has expanded, for example, and there&#8217;s a shorter delay in notifying the affected hosting provider to prevent the targets from circumventing the measures. </p>
<p>In addition, UEFA was also granted permission to expand its blocking efforts to protect additional UEFA competitions. </p>
<p>The affected streaming servers and competitions are not mentioned by name in the order. It&#8217;s likely, however, that several major competitions such as the Champions League and the Europa League are covered.</p>
<p>The blocking extension and expansion covers all the major UK ISPS including BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media and will remain in place for the months to come. If it remains successful, UEFA is likely to request another update after that.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159046
title: No, Pirate Sites Are Not the #1 Online Source For Malware
uri: No-Pirate-Sites-Are-Not-the-1-Online-Source-For-Malware
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-efRqj5QW1U/
content:
<p><a href="media/a2ae49fc.malwaremeet.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/malwaremeet.jpg"><img src="media/aa559623.malwaremeet.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/malwaremeet.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="195" class="alignright size-full wp-image-150970"></a>Protecting children in our society is one of the noblest things one can do. In both the physical and digital worlds, children need high-quality guidance.</p>
<p>While most of this support should come from parents and others closely involved with a child&#8217;s upbringing, groups like UK non-profit Internet Matters are there to provide advice when the adults around need help themselves.</p>
<p>This week the London-based group teamed up with the Mumsnet website to publish a guide titled &#8220;Internet safety and the dangers of digital piracy.&#8221; Perhaps unsurprisingly given recent trends, the report focuses on the apparent threats posed by &#8220;fully-loaded&#8221; set-top boxes running Kodi and similar applications.</p>
<p>&#8220;[I]f your children stream illegal content online, also known as digital piracy, it can expose them and you to cyber threats, disturbing pop-ups and unexpected harmful content,&#8221; the guide notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The risks typically associated with digital piracy can take place on dodgy websites and preloaded streaming devices, sometimes known as Kodi boxes, but they can also occur through any number of illegitimate apps on mobiles, tablets or smart TVs.&#8221; </p>
<p>While some of the claims made in the guide are overly generic, it does make some very good points. Accessing content from illegal streaming sites rarely comes with the age restrictions available on services such as Netflix, for example, so parents should always be aware of the risks and act in a supervisory role.</p>
<p>&#8220;Explicit adverts may pop up and there’s no standard organization of age-restricted content, meaning 18+ films like Fifty Shades can sit right next to U-rated content such as Finding Nemo,&#8221; the guide notes.</p>
<p>The guide also correctly states that some fully-loaded devices can come with porn apps installed. Again, it&#8217;s the responsibility of the parent to ensure that their children aren&#8217;t left unsupervised to use such a device, particularly (given their child&#8217;s age) they were probably the one to buy it.</p>
<p>There are few complaints when it comes to the guide&#8217;s legal advice either. As part of the EU, streaming copyrighted content in the UK is illegal, as is marketing and selling pre-loaded devices configured for piracy. All ok so far, but then the guide mixes apples and oranges to spook the unknowledgeable reader.</p>
<p>&#8220;Whilst families haven’t yet been the target of police investigations, the consequences<br>
of watching pirated content should be considered, both from a legal standpoint<br>
and the inappropriate content children could be exposed to,&#8221; the guide notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;For example, a man was recently hit with an £85,000 demand for sharing his stream of a pay-to-view boxing match on Facebook with over 4,250 people.&#8221;</p>
<p>The kind of person who can get value from this kind of basic guide isn&#8217;t going to appreciate the differences between someone who streams to the public and someone who watches a stream at home. Simply reading &#8220;£85,000 demand&#8221; might be enough for them to throw their device in the trash (which may have been the intention), but perhaps we&#8217;re being a little bit picky here.</p>
<p>Statements like these, however, deserve no such leeway.</p>
<p><center><br></br></center><center><a href="media/909c05a3.malware-no1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/malware-no1.png"><img src="media/d67b8411.malware-no1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/malware-no1.png" alt="" width="597" height="273" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159093"></a></center></p>
<p>Like the majority of claims in the guide, this statement is offered without citing a source. So, we contacted Internet Matters to ask where this information had been obtained. Unfortunately (and despite having several days to do so) they didn&#8217;t respond. </p>
<p>The reason we asked is simple: we don&#8217;t believe either element of the claim is true. So, we approached some experts for their opinions. We asked two questions based on the precise wording of the Internet Matters claim.</p>
<p><em>1. Are pirate sites the most common source of malware infection? If not, what is the most common source/vector?</p>
<p>2. Does streaming pirated media put devices at direct risk of infection?</em></p>
<p>The first responses came back from respected security expert <a href="https://mikko.hypponen.com/">Mikko Hypponen</a> from F-Secure.</p>
<p>&#8220;Pirate sites are not the most common source for infections, and it hasn&#8217;t been since the early 1990s. Today, the most common ways of getting infected are via malicious email attachments, browser plugins and extensions and web exploit kits,&#8221; he told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;Streaming pirated media is not a security risk, as long as the user does not install additional applications, browser plugins or codecs to stream.&#8221;</p>
<p>We also received a detailed response from Luis Corrons, Security Evangelist at <a href="https://www.avast.com/en-gb/index#pc">Avast</a>, who told us that the Internet overall is the most common source of malware, but websites are not the sole driver.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we look at some of the biggest malware outbreaks, like SQLSlammer, Blaster or the recent WannaCry attack, they all are network worms that have infected millions of computers without having to visit any webpage,&#8221; Corrons explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;The problem with pirate sites is that it’s hard to know who is behind them. If you visit YouTube or Vimeo, most people are familiar with their parent companies. But in the case of some obscure websites, there’s a chance they could have been built by cybercriminals looking to infect visitors, steal credentials and personal information.&#8221;</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s certainly possible that pirate sites can be a source of malware, <a href="https://labs.bitdefender.com/author/bbotezatu/">Bogdan Botezatu</a>, Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender, told us it is extremely difficult to assess the amount of malware on pirate sites, not least since many sites come and go on a regular basis.</p>
<p>However, he did indicate that when content from pirate sites is consumed via set-top devices, there&#8217;s less of a risk than when people access it via a web browser.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since these web services offer streaming through Kodi add-ons, the user never really get to interact with their home page, but rather with the Kodi dashboard. Most of these addons load content from [pirate] websites and stream it via Kodi. This dramatically minimizes the chances of the user interacting with rogue ads or deceptive links,&#8221; Botezatu explained. </p>
<p>So does Botezatu agree with Internet Matters when they claim that streaming pirated media itself &#8220;puts devices at direct risk of infection&#8221;?</p>
<p>&#8220;No, not directly, although I would not recommend anyone to resort to this,&#8221; Botezatu said.</p>
<p>&#8220;With extremely few exceptions where some vulnerabilities in the user’s video player could be exploited to run arbitrary code, media streaming is safe. I am unaware of any campaigns that use movie files for malware dissemination other than the Wimad Trojan back in 2012.&#8221;</p>
<p>The stance that streaming media is not inherently dangerous is shared by Corrons at AVAST.</p>
<p>&#8220;Streaming media does not pose any particular risk level of infection. It doesn’t matter if the media is pirated or not,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s a bit of a shame that Internet Matters had to claim things that aren&#8217;t true to drive its point home, they&#8217;re by no means the only organization to do so.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the Industry Trust for IP Awareness made a similar claim, noting that “Illegal streaming websites are now the number one propagation mechanism for malicious software as 97% of them contain malware.”</p>
<p>With assistance from Adam Kujawa, Director of Malware Intelligence at Malwarebytes, we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-video-scares-kids-with-fake-malware-info-180206/">debunked that statement</a> back in February. It&#8217;s disappointing but not entirely surprising we&#8217;ve having to do so again several months later.</p>
<p>There are plenty of valid reasons for not letting kids loose with piracy-configured boxes, not least since they could see content that adults might prefer them not to. Notably, however, the exact same thing can be said about YouTube and Facebook, or even the Internet in general.</p>
<p>When anyone uses the Internet for <em>anything</em> there are security risks, so parents should always tell their kids to be cautious when they&#8217;re online, no matter what the device or content being consumed.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, the Internet Matters report &#8211; which has a strong focus on malware &#8211; doesn&#8217;t even mention installing anti-virus or anti-malware software to protect devices. Concerned parents should note that both can be obtained for free and are easy to install.</p>
<p>The Internet Matters guide (which despite the criticism does contain great advice on parental responsibility) is available here <em>(<a href="https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/internet-safety-and-the-dangers-of-digital-piracy/">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158957
title: DI.FM Thwarts Pirates But Prefers to Focus on Great Electronic Music
uri: DI-FM-Thwarts-Pirates-But-Prefers-to-Focus-on-Great-Electronic-Music
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rTF-wgO7xgg/
content:
<p><a href="media/35e1a418.di-fm.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/di-fm.jpg"><img src="media/7042626d.di-fm.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/di-fm.jpg" alt="" width="195" height="191" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159041"></a>Anyone with a keen interest in electronic music styles will probably be aware of <a href="https://www.di.fm/">DI.FM</a>, aka Digitally Imported. The service, which offers close to 100 channels of curated content, is a goldmine of classics and upcoming tracks covering every conceivable genre.</p>
<p>From Chiptunes to Deep House, from Bassline to Drum and Bass, DI has something for everyone. It&#8217;s available for free, ad-supported, or premium if people want zero adverts and high-quality streaming. Of course, premium models tend to attract pirates and DI&#8217;s experience is no different.</p>
<p>For several years, a Russia-based service known as DiForFree has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been offering DI.FM for free. All of DI&#8217;s channels were mirrored by the service, pumping out 320K audio via a web interface and an Android app. It&#8217;s unclear how many people used the pirate product but it&#8217;s safe to say that those who used it, loved it.</p>
<p>Back in May, however, DiForFree began to break down. At first, it was unclear why channels were disappearing from the service but a policy change at DI itself provided an explanation.</p>
<p>DI previously offered free premium trials via its site, a feature that was leveraged by DiForFree to obtain access to DI&#8217;s high-quality channels. With a switch to free trials only being offered via DI&#8217;s iOS and Android apps, DiForFree lost its source for accounts. On May 21, the pirate service announced that it may not be able to continue but was looking for solutions.</p>
<p><center><strong>The real DI.FM</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/f7c29bd1.di-large.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/di-large.png"><img src="media/c6b454a8.di-large.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/di-large.png" alt="" width="600" height="339" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159043"></a></center></p>
<p>After a period of literal radio silence, in recent weeks DiForFree began to come back to life. It seemed that they&#8217;d solved the trial problem and last week, most if not all channels were working again. Then, during the past few days, everything shut down in a more dramatic way than before.</p>
<p>&#8220;You probably already noticed that nothing works. So, we were amused here on all fronts,&#8221; DiForFree told its users.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since May 25, we have been working on a paid subscription, but now they have an account that is automatically blocked when a certain number of connections are exceeded.&#8221;</p>
<p>Adding insult to injury, DiForFree reported that DI had discovered the IP address of the server it had been using to extract content. After that was blocked, nothing worked.</p>
<p>&#8220;Most likely this is the end. If we do not come up with anything, then the service will be closed, the code will be published on GitHub or somewhere else, and the domain will be sold and forgotten,&#8221; DiForFree said this week.</p>
<p>With things looking pretty final, TF spoke with DI founder and CEO Ari Shohat to find out more about the service and the issues raised by rogue services tapping its content.</p>
<p>&#8220;I started DI.FM (then called Digitally Imported) back in 1999. I was in college, and all I wanted to do was to share good music with others,&#8221; Shohat informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;It started with one channel, and evolved into what is now over 90 channels. We also plan on launching a Playlists section as well in the near future, further providing more varieties and combinations of great electronic music.&#8221;</p>
<p>So has a war been raging behind the scenes between DI and DiForFree? According to Shohat, not really.</p>
<p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t been waging any war. We&#8217;ve just finally been getting around to plugging a few inefficiencies of which we were always aware,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;All the methods that [DiForFree] (and others) have used in the past, we were aware of them from day one. They and some others started with abusing our free trial system, scripting things to start automatic seven-day trials, among other things. It&#8217;s just that to dedicate our limited resources on working around this would bring in diminishing returns, if any at all.&#8221;</p>
<p>Shohat says that while winning a battle here and there is possible, losing the war is a likely scenario since there are always people intent on getting something for free. So, instead of spending disproportionate resources on dealing with pirates, the company chose to do what it does best &#8211; service its legitimate customers.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were focusing on our needs and other development items for actual real users who were happy to use our service as it was, rather than go on a wild chase wasting time. I wish the music industry back in the day took this approach as well, to let pirates do what they do without making a big stink and just work to make different services better and more available for all, to compete with piracy,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Recently we found a bit more time, and finally did some of the changes we planned all along which we knew would limit this activity. As everyone knows, this is a constant &#8216;tug of war&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
<p>Shohat told us that he&#8217;s not pro-piracy and from a business perspective he doesn&#8217;t want people short-cutting his premium offer. That being said, he did hint at a grudging admiration for the persistence of pirates and assumes there are some really talented people behind operations like DiForFree.</p>
<p>On the piracy front overall, Shohat acknowledges that it&#8217;s not going away anytime soon but believes that a reluctance to innovate years ago fanned the flames under a problem that persists today.</p>
<p>&#8220;My outlook on these things is definitely through the prism of what happened in the Napster era. The record industry, it seemed to me, did everything it could to prolong its days of selling CDs rather than evolve digital. And so this meant going to war with &#8216;pirates&#8217;,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;But I saw that so many of the people who pirated only did so because there were no legal alternatives &#8211; you could have your wallet open and there was no legal and/or good service which could serve your needs. Not only that, it seemed like until Apple they did everything they could to limit innovation and wouldn&#8217;t even work on making it happen. And even then they reluctantly went along with Apple. That is what pissed me off most of all.&#8221;</p>
<p>Shohat says that in respect of digital services, the landscape today is very different from the one back then. Digital revenues are on the rise but the turnaround could&#8217;ve happened so much sooner if the record industry had reacted earlier.</p>
<p>&#8220;In my opinion, this could have happened a decade earlier would they just focus on innovation and giving the users what they wanted rather than fighting piracy, which in the end turned out to be not that big a deal once good legal options existed.</p>
<p>&#8220;One way to look at piracy is like the canary in the coalmine, if you have a big piracy problem then something is wrong with what you are doing &#8211; either your process sucks, you have leaky buckets, or your service sucks and people go elsewhere to get what they want or how they want it.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a bit like those who short stocks when they feel a company is going to have bad times &#8211; it should be a signal to do something different, not to point fingers and blame them for creating a problem,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>DI.FM is available <a href="https://www.di.fm/">here</a> for free but at just a few bucks a month, its <a href="https://www.di.fm/premium">premium offer</a> is well worth the money. Android and iOS users can also get a <a href="https://www.di.fm/apps">month free trial</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=158437
title: Google Categorically Refuses to Remove The Pirate Bay’s Homepage
uri: Google-Categorically-Refuses-to-Remove-The-Pirate-Bay-s-Homepage
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/h6JPXOyTg6U/
content:
<p><img src="media/3c5b1a66.googlepiratebay.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlepiratebay.png" alt="" width="267" height="257" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128445">In recent years, Google has had to process an incredible number of takedown requests, aimed at &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites in search results.</p>
<p>While most of these notices do indeed list links to copyright-infringing content, not all are. </p>
<p>There are the obvious errors, where Wikipedia, Justice.gov, or NASA are targeted, for example. But even sites with a clear pirate stigma have pages that are not directly infringing. </p>
<p>Take The Pirate Bay&#8217;s homepage, which contains the iconic pirate ship logo, a search box, as well as some other links. However, there is no direct mention of copyright-infringing content that warrants a &#8216;takedown.&#8217; </p>
<p>That doesn&#8217;t prevent copyright holders and various reporting agencies from trying to remove it from Google though. Data provided by the <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/">Lumen team</a>, which maintains an archive of all the DMCA notices Google search receives, shows that Pirate Bay&#8217;s homepage has been targeted dozens of times.</p>
<p>This year alone, at least 15 separate takedown notices ask Google to remove ThePirateBay.org from its index. Most of these are sent by the reporting agency Digimarc, on behalf of book publishers such as  Penguin Random House, Kensington Publishing, and Recorded Books. </p>
<p>The most recent was sent just a <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/82420">few days ago</a>, accusing TPB&#8217;s homepage of hosting or linking to an infringing copy of &#8220;Star Wars: The Original Radio Drama.&#8221; A few days earlier a <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/16831653">similar notice</a> accused the same page of linking to the French version of Stephen King&#8217;s The Running Man.</p>
<p>These notices also list other totally unrelated links which are hard to explain, as the image below shows. However, we won&#8217;t dwell on that here.</p>
<p><center><strong>One of the takedown attempts</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/2554f086.tpbdown.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbdown.png" alt="" width="600" height="542" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158757"></center></p>
<p>Over the years, The Pirate Bay&#8217;s homepage has been targeted more than 70 times. And even then we&#8217;re only counting the official domain names, ThePirateBay.org and ThePirateBay.se. </p>
<p>The oldest <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/82420">public notice</a> we could find was sent by the American sports promotion company Zuffa. In January 2013 the company identified several infringing Pirate Bay links, but also added in the site&#8217;s homepage. </p>
<p>While there&#8217;s no shortage of reports, TPB&#8217;s homepage is still in Google&#8217;s index.</p>
<p>Since TPB&#8217;s homepage is not infringing, Google categorically refuses to remove it from its search results. While the site itself has been downranked, due to the high number of takedown requests Google receives for it, ThePirateBay.org remains listed.</p>
<p>Google did remove The Pirate Bay&#8217;s homepage in the past, by accident, but that was swiftly corrected. </p>
<p>&#8220;Google received a (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) take-down request that erroneously listed Thepiratebay.org, and as a result, this URL was accidentally removed from the Google search index,&#8221; Google <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-removes-pirate-bay-frontpage-from-search-results-091002/">said at the time</a>. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are now correcting the removal, and you can expect to see Thepiratebay.org back in Google search results this afternoon,&#8221; the company added.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159154
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 07/30/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-07-30-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pKU3njksI3Y/
content:
<p><img src="media/696aa960.jurassic.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jurassic.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159158">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-07-23-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom </a> (subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn9mMeWcgoM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">Escape Plan 2: Hades</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">3.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q7vVt-MeXk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>10)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6452574/">Sanju</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6452574/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J76wN0TPI4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231461/">Rampage</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231461/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOKvrsmQiI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5610554/">Tully</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5610554/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5D3O4yCmCg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3201640/">Extinction</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3201640/">5.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ePDPGXkvlw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">Avengers: Infinity War</a> (HDCam)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">9.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwievZ1Tx-8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">Ready Player One</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSp1dM2Vj48&#038;t=2s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7098658/">Raazi</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7098658/">7.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjMSttRJrhA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">Deadpool 2</a> (Subbed Rip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D86RtevtfrA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159152
title: German Supreme Court: WiFi Operators Not Liable For Pirating Users
uri: German-Supreme-Court-WiFi-Operators-Not-Liable-For-Pirating-Users
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Jzb8p5DoqNE/
content:
<p><img src="media/4d91a498.pirate-wifi.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-wifi.jpg" width="150" height="136" class="alignright size-large"> In many jurisdictions it’s common for those who commit wrongs online to be responsible for their own actions. In Germany, things haven&#8217;t been so straightforward.</p>
<p>Due to a legal concept known as ‘Störerhaftung’ (‘interferer liability’), a third party who played no deliberate part in someone else&#8217;s actions can be held responsible for them.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, this legal quirk has made itself known in a number of file-sharing cases where customers have used someone else&#8217;s WiFi to commit infringements.</p>
<p>While this was convenient enough for copyright holders (there was always someone to blame), it meant that few people wanted to operate open WiFi. This stood in stark contrast to the situation in many other EU countries where open WiFi networks are both ubiquitous and good for trade.</p>
<p>In 2016, the German government <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/germany-to-rescind-piracy-liability-for-open-wifi-operators-160511/">promised</a> to do something about the problem by<br>
ensuring places like cafes and hotels would exempt from costs for court proceedings when people use their infrastructure for things such as infringement.</p>
<p>In 2017, regulation was put in place to help facilitate greater access to open WiFi but the environment remained chilled. Despite assurances operators wouldn&#8217;t be prosecuted under German law, many believed that EU law might still hold them liable.</p>
<p>Last week, however, an important step was taken when Germany&#8217;s supreme court upheld the 2017 amendments to the Telemedia Act. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) decided that the legislation is indeed compatible with EU regulations.</p>
<p>The case relates to an incident back in 2013 when a man challenged a company attempting to fine him for sharing a game online. DW <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/top-german-court-clears-way-for-free-wi-fi/a-44839186">reports</a> that the IT worker had been running several open WiFi networks and Tor servers, one of which was used to download and share the game Dead Island.</p>
<p>In common with many copyright-troll style cases, game owner Deep Silver, a subsidiary of Koch Media, demanded that the man pay 1,000 euros to make a supposed lawsuit go away.</p>
<p>Acknowledging there should be a means for incidents of copyright infringement to be dealt with, the BGH found that WiFi providers can be told to prevent access to file-sharing services and even block entire websites, something which helps copyright holders prevent sharing of their works.</p>
<p>In 2016, in a case involving Pirate Party member Tobias McFadden, the European Court of Justice previously <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-court-open-wifi-operator-not-liable-for-pirate-users-160916/">ruled</a> that WiFi providers cannot be held liable for third-party infringements providing local courts or authorities can order WiFi providers to take measures to stop repeat incidents of infringement.</p>
<p>“[T]he directive does not preclude the copyright holder from seeking before a national authority or court to have such a service provider ordered to end, or prevent, any infringement of copyright committed by its customers,” the Court found.</p>
<p>The case ruled upon last week is now likely to head off to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a final decision.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159147
title: EA Takes Down ‘Open Source’ SimCity 2000 Remake
uri: EA-Takes-Down-Open-Source-SimCity-2000-Remake
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jNI5WIF3aGE/
content:
<p><img src="media/fab4d5db.simciry200.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/simciry200.png" alt="" width="301" height="217" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159161"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity_2000">SimCity 2000</a> is without a doubt one of the most iconic games in history, one that paved the way for hundreds of other &#8216;building&#8217; titles. </p>
<p>The game was first released in 1993 for Apple computers, but it later made its way to the PC and several gaming console platforms as well. </p>
<p>After more than a quarter-century, SimCity 2000 still receives plenty of interest from nostalgic gamers who like to relive their early gaming experiences. This is likely one of the reasons why developer <a href="https://github.com/rage8885">Nicholas Ochoa</a> decided to code a remake using the Electron framework. </p>
<p>The game, titled <a href="https://github.com/rage8885/OpenSC2K">OpenSC2K</a>, was released on GitHub earlier this year and received quite a bit of attention on sites such as Reddit and <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16306744">Hacker News</a>. </p>
<p>While it is billed as an &#8220;open source&#8221; version, the remake did include original artwork, belonging to Electronic Arts. These images and sounds are definitely not free to use, something the developer is fully aware of now. </p>
<p>A few days ago Electronic Arts sent a DMCA takedown notice to GitHub asking the platform to remove the infringing repository from its site.</p>
<p>&#8220;Assets from the game SimCity 2000 are being infringed upon,&#8221; <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/commit/de4a3b65d93776dbf9131aa3a4353abd225c3c2c">EA writes</a>. The company points out that the game can be purchased legally <a href="https://www.origin.com/nld/en-us/store/simcity/simcity-2000/interstitial">through Origin</a> where it&#8217;s still being sold for a few dollars.</p>
<p>While OpenSC2K is far from a full remake, Electronic Arts makes it clear that the SimCity 2000 assets are not for public use.</p>
<p>&#8220;The current audiovisual output of the repository creates content that infringes on Electronic Arts copyright. As long as that continues to happen, no other changes other than removal is sufficient to address the infringement,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>Soon after this DMCA notice was submitted, OpenSC2K was indeed taken offline, replaced with GitHub&#8217;s standard DMCA notification. </p>
<p>The takedown effort shouldn&#8217;t come as a complete surprise to the developer. When he announced the project earlier this year, several people pointed out the potential copyright issues. </p>
<p>This is also the reason why the developer came up with an asset conversion tool early on. That would make it possible to replace the original artwork with open source content, however, due to some code changes and other priorities, this hasn&#8217;t happened yet. </p>
<p>&#8220;The assets are not freely licensed but are currently being included. I have a working asset conversion tool that can pull the original game art from the game files, but I&#8217;ve since pushed out a complete rewrite of the engine that broke a few things,&#8221; the developer <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comments/7vboyl/opensc2k_initial_release_open_source_simcity_2000/dv0lm7q/">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to the developer to ask whether he&#8217;s considering bringing the game back without the infringing artwork but at the time of publication, we were yet to hear back. </p>
<p>What remains, for now, are a few screenshots and YouTube videos of the remake in action.</p>
<p><center><strong>OpenSC2K</strong><br></br></center><center></p>
<style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }</style>
<div class='embed-container'><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/0tk_W7ox-gM' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159143
title: Tron Wants to Give BitTorrent Users Financial Incentives to Seed
uri: Tron-Wants-to-Give-BitTorrent-Users-Financial-Incentives-to-Seed
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fcw6N1v-EW4/
content:
<p><a href="media/5c2b692b.tron-bittorrent.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tron-bittorrent.png"><img src="media/cbed410f.tron-bittorrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tron-bittorrent.png" alt="" width="270" height="237" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159222"></a>Late May, TorrentFreak <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tron-founder-plans-to-buy-bittorrent-inc-180525/">learned</a> that Justin Sun, the entrepreneur behind the popular cryptocurrency <a href="https://tron.network/">TRON</a>, was about to acquire BitTorrent Inc, the company behind the uTorrent and BitTorrent Mainline torrent clients.</p>
<p>BitTorrent Inc. acknowledged that negotiations were underway but few official details became available until last week when both BitTorrent Inc. and the TRON Foundation <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-confirms-acquisition-by-tron-foundation-180724/">confirmed</a> the acquisition had taken place.</p>
<p>“We are excited to announce that TRON has officially closed its acquisition of BitTorrent,” BitTorrent Inc. announced.</p>
<p>“With this acquisition, BitTorrent will continue to provide high quality services for over 100M users around the world. We believe that joining the TRON network will further enhance BitTorrent and accelerate our mission of creating an Internet of options, not rules.”</p>
<p>The joining of the TRON network and in excess of 100 million BitTorrent users is an intriguing proposition but precisely how the pair will mesh and provide value to each other is yet to be revealed. Following a new announcement from Sun, however, we have an early sign that the bandwidth of at least some BitTorrent users could eventually become monetized.</p>
<p>Under the current arrangement, BitTorrent users in public torrent swarms are left to make their own decisions about what content they obtain, where from, and for how long they choose to share that content (seed) once they have it on their own machines. It&#8217;s a personal choice that has few motivations beyond basic altruism.</p>
<p>This system has worked exceptionally well for more than 15 years but it now appears that Sun has plans to introduce financial incentives into the equation, a move that he believes will improve the quality of the BitTorrent sharing experience.</p>
<p>&#8220;Currently, we are exploring the possibility of using the TRON protocol to improve the BitTorrent protocol, in order to make BitTorrent protocol faster and lengthen the lifespan of BitTorrent swarms. I hope the integration of TRON and BitTorrent will allow both parties to work better as one in the future,&#8221; Sun says.</p>
<p>&#8220;By integrating the TRON network into Bittorrent, we aim to improve on the currently existing altruism. At this point, there are no incentives for peers who have completed downloading to continue to seed. We intend to extend rewards to peers who seed torrents, infusing more resources into the torrent ecosystem.&#8221;</p>
<p>The common sense conclusion is that Sun envisions a system in which BitTorrent users can earn TRON (TRX) by sharing content with other BitTorrent users. This appears to be based on the theory that people will share more and for longer when they&#8217;re being rewarded financially for doing so.</p>
<p>If people are able to be incentivized in this manner, the knock-on effect should be a greater number of seeders overall and a corresponding increase in upload bandwidth availability. In theory, at least, this should not only translate to faster downloads but also greater content retention.</p>
<p>&#8220;The TRON network will serve as the underlying protocol of the Secret Project. Hundreds of millions of BT users across the globe will become a part of the TRON ecosystem,&#8221; Sun notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;BT will be the largest application on the TRON network, which will allow TRON [to] surpass Ethereum on daily transactions and become the most influential public blockchain in the world.&#8221;</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s clear that Sun envisions BitTorrent users having the ability to get paid for seeding, it&#8217;s unclear who will be picking up that bill. The most obvious conclusion is that the people who utilize that extra bandwidth (downloaders) will have to pay to access it, but that part of the puzzle is currently up in the air.</p>
<p>The other interesting possibility is that given BitTorrent users&#8217; ability to get paid for seeding (and presumably downloaders being charged for downloading) there is the opportunity for a legitimate content market operating with a twist on traditional buy/sell lines. Sun hints at that within his announcement.</p>
<p>&#8220;The integration of BitTorrent and TRON will offer new possibilities to global payment and settlement of online content. The creators of this content could reach hundreds of millions of global users through this decentralized network without any intermediaries,&#8221; he writes.</p>
<p>There can be little doubt that the monetization of the BitTorrent ecosystem has the potential to startle those who have become accustomed to an entirely altruistic system. However, Sun is offering a number of assurances, including that his &#8220;Secret Project&#8221; will not associate itself with any mining projects, meaning that torrent clients themselves won&#8217;t become slaves to the system.</p>
<p>&#8220;Various industries will be significantly affected by these changes. Secret Project will not associate itself with any mining projects, nor will it have any negative impact on BT user experience,&#8221; Sun <a href="https://medium.com/@Tronfoundation/an-open-letter-to-the-community-on-tvm-beta-launch-73223a3d49f6">adds</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;For BT users, Secret Project is only going to strengthen the current BT protocol and make it stronger and more competent.&#8221;</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s early days, these words should be of some comfort to those who fear that the entire system could eventually become monetized to the detriment of free users who&#8217;ve supported the system for many years. That would be a nightmare scenario for millions of users and would almost guarantee an exodus.</p>
<p>However, acting as a behavior regulator is the ability of BitTorrent users to adopt whichever torrent client they like if uTorrent or BitTorrent Mainline prove too restrictive or unpalatable. Given that keeping user numbers up is probably one of the main priorities, people shouldn&#8217;t expect anything too drastic in the short term.</p>
<p>Finally, it&#8217;s worth pointing out that the idea of paid seeding isn&#8217;t new. Back in 2015, we reported on <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/can-bittorrent-be-better-with-bitcoin-150627/">JoyStream</a>, a torrent client that aimed to improve BitTorrent by facilitating Bitcoin payments in exchange for upload bandwidth – or content, whichever way one prefers to look at it.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159235
title: Piracy Boosts Concert Ticket Sales, Hurts Box Office Revenue
uri: Piracy-Boosts-Concert-Ticket-Sales-Hurts-Box-Office-Revenue
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/O_2Jk3l3G9I/
content:
<p><img src="media/a585da8e.piratemusiccasset.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratemusiccasset.png" alt="" width="234" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135510">Over the past decade there have been dozens of detailed reports researching the prevalence and effects of piracy. </p>
<p>With a wide array of results, it&#8217;s hard to draw uniform conclusions but as the research adds up, stable patterns start to emerge.  </p>
<p>The Global Online Piracy Study, published by the University of Amsterdam&#8217;s Institute for Information Law (<a href="http://www.uva.nl/en/shared-content/organisatiegids/en/university-of-amsterdam/faculties/faculty-of-law/institute-for-information-law/institute-for-information-law.html">IViR</a>) today, is an important contribution to this field. </p>
<p>The research is the result of extensive consumer surveys among 35,000 respondents, including over 7,000 minors, in 13 countries. Combined with similar data collected in 2014, it shows how online piracy habits are changing. </p>
<p>One of the main conclusions is that the number of online pirates is decreasing in most of Europe. This decline is visible in France, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. Of all surveyed countries, only Germany saw a slight increase in the number of pirates. </p>
<p>In the surveyed countries across Europe, the piracy rate among Internet users is the highest in Spain, but this is topped by Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia in the full sample. </p>
<p><center><strong>Number of Internet users accessing content illegally</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/7e5a037b.illegally-e1533040594732.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/illegally-e1533040594732.png" alt="" width="600" height="365" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159243"></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke to Dr. Joost Poort, one of the authors of the report, who notes that pirates and legal users are largely the same people. In fact, roughly 95% of all pirates also consume content legally, and they typically spend twice as much as their non-pirating counterparts.  </p>
<p>This doesn&#8217;t mean that pirates are rich, of course. In fact, the research shows that a higher per capita income is linked to a lower number of pirates per legal users. In other words, &#8216;poorer&#8217; countries have relatively more pirates. </p>
<p><center><strong>Lower income = more pirates</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/ad270214.piratescap-e1533043090772.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratescap-e1533043090772.png" alt="" width="600" height="416" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159247"></center></p>
<p>When people are asked about the reason why they pirate, the cost factor is also frequently mentioned. Pirating is free which is convenient for those who have little to spend. But does that mean that it also leads to a decrease in sales? Is piracy hurting revenues?</p>
<p>According to the research, there&#8217;s an overall negative effect of piracy on media sales. However, this doesn&#8217;t apply to minors. The latter makes sense, as that group has relatively little to spend anyway. </p>
<p>&#8220;This study confirms earlier studies in finding statistical evidence that illegal consumption of music, books, and games displaces legal consumption,&#8221; the report reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;However, the displacement coefficients are surrounded with substantial uncertainty. Separating these results between minors and adults suggests that displacement occurs for adults and not for minors.&#8221;</p>
<p>What&#8217;s also worth highlighting is that piracy doesn&#8217;t affect all media and entertainment types the same. It even benefits some revenue streams. </p>
<p>For example, the data suggest that every ten music albums pirated leads to three extra concert or festival visits. However, at the same time, it leads to a significant drop in physical album sales and digital downloads, while music streaming remains unaffected. </p>
<p>For video content, including movies, online piracy doesn&#8217;t appear to affect sales of physical copies or digital downloads. Here, however, cinema visits and online streams are severely impacted.  </p>
<p>&#8220;For live concerts and music festivals, a positive sampling effect is found. For audio-visual content, no such sampling seems to occur for the cinema, which suffers from statistically significant displacement, as do digital streams.&#8221;</p>
<p>To give an illustration, the data suggest that ten downloaded movies would in general lead to four missed cinema visits.  </p>
<p>While the research provides evidence for the negative effects of piracy, the authors don&#8217;t see any evidence that stricter copyright laws or enforcement against individuals are a good solution.</p>
<p>Instead, legal content providers should focus on making their work readily available for a good price.</p>
<p>&#8220;In terms of policy, obviously hunting down the industry’s largest customers is not the best of ideas. Rather, push for better availability, affordability, and findability of legal content. Affordability of large platforms in lower-income countries is certainly an issue,&#8221; Poort tells us.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you must do something in terms of enforcement, website blocking seems to be a much better strategy than going after consumers. There is some solid looking evidence for effectiveness in the UK.&#8221; </p>
<p>Finally, it is worth noting that this is a follow-up to a controversial EU-funded study. That report made headlines last year because the European Commission <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-piracy-report-suppression-raises-questions-transparency-170922/">held it back</a>. The latest version is funded by Google which had no such restrictions.</p>
<p>&#8220;This builds on the EU study that caught some traction because the commission was very reluctant to publish it. This time, Google financed it and respected our academic interests and independence so much better than the Commission did&#8230;,&#8221; Poort says.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Global Online Piracy Study is available <a href="media/1e38ae86.global-online-piracy.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/global-online-piracy.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159267
title: Nintendo Brings Killer Switch Anti-Piracy Protection to 3DS
uri: Nintendo-Brings-Killer-Switch-Anti-Piracy-Protection-to-3DS
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RwKb3-TCn-M/
content:
<p><a href="media/ddf74f44.nintendologo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/nintendologo.png"><img src="media/f24e33a6.nintendologo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nintendologo.png" alt="" width="250" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-121992"></a>With 2018 just beyond its midpoint, the year is proving to be a rollercoaster ride for Nintendo pirates.</p>
<p>News of exploits to allow the running of both pirate and homebrew code gave hope to tinkerers and buccaneers alike, but the fun has rarely lasted long.</p>
<p>It began when hacking veterans Team-Xecutor revealed that they’d developed a kernel hack for the Nintendo Switch. That led to news of a hardware solution that exploited a fundamental flaw in the Switch system, one that Nintendo would be unable to stop. </p>
<p>Or at least that was the theory.</p>
<p>In June, hacker SciresM <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-switch-piracy-is-unstoppable-until-people-go-online-180621/">announced</a> that Nintendo had implemented tough anti-piracy measures that are able to detect whether a digital copy of a game has been purchased legitimately.</p>
<p>In basic terms, when people attempt to go online with a game, their Switch checks whether it can get a device authorization token from Nintendo. If a token is granted, the console can then obtain an application authorization token for the specific title being played. If Nintendo doesn’t like what it sees, it can prevent a console from going online.</p>
<p>Among potential pirates on the Switch platform, the news was met with huge disappointment. Online access is a massive part of today&#8217;s gaming world and killing it is a significant move from Nintendo. Unfortunately, the bad news isn&#8217;t going to stop with Switch measures.</p>
<p>On July 30, Nintendo <a href="https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/231/p/430">released</a> a software update (11.8.0) for the 3DS which on the surface didn&#8217;t appear to offer much.</p>
<p>&#8220;Further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience,&#8221; Nintendo promised.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/339cb6d2.3ds-update.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/3ds-update.png"><img src="media/484c0e43.3ds-update.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/3ds-update.png" alt="" width="600" height="195" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159268"></a></center></p>
<p>However, it now transpires that Nintendo isn&#8217;t being completely open about what this update can do. Yet again, it&#8217;s been left to SciresM to make matters public.</p>
<p>&#8220;Looks like 11.8.0 backports the Switch&#8217;s aauth ideas to 3ds &#8212; network comms now send an encrypted(?) copy of app ticket to the server,&#8221; he <a href="https://twitter.com/SciresM/status/1024327784892530689">reveals</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;They may not act on it immediately, but like on Switch this lets [Nintendo] perfectly detect pirate accesses vs normal ones, and ban however they like.&#8221;</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Looks like 11.8.0 backports the Switch&#39;s aauth ideas to 3ds &#8212; network comms now send an encrypted(?) copy of app ticket to the server.</p>
<p>They may not act on it immediately, but like on Switch this lets N perfectly detect pirate accesses vs normal ones, and ban however they like.</p>
<p>&mdash; Michael (@SciresM) <a href="https://twitter.com/SciresM/status/1024327784892530689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>In basic terms, this means that Nintendo has brought its formidable Switch-based anti-piracy system to 3DS, meaning that users of both gaming devices now risk being banished to the offline gaming wilderness if they go online after sailing the piracy high seas.</p>
<p>While anti-piracy measures are commonplace and are often defeated by determined hackers, SciresM isn&#8217;t confident that people will find a way to defeat this system. In response to a user on Twitter who asked about a potential workaround, SciresM was pretty clear.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is not possible to do anything about,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>The latest update for 3DS is just the latest setback for Nintendo hackers. Earlier this month, SciresM <a href="https://twitter.com/SciresM/status/1016724847504736256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1016724847504736256&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techradar.com%2Fnews%2Fnintendo-switch-hardware-patch-reportedly-found-in-brand-new-units">revealed</a> that some Switch consoles discovered in the wild were not vulnerable to the supposedly unstoppable exploit found earlier in the year. This, thanks to Nintendo tinkering with the Switch processor via so-called &#8216;iPatches&#8217;.</p>
<p>However, in the back-and-forth world of console hacking, victories for console makers are often countered by hackers. In an announcement this week, Team-Xecuter revealed that the modified Switch units were on its radar and they too will fall.</p>
<p>&#8220;So don&#8217;t fear: we will deliver a solution for these new &#8216;unhackable&#8217; switches in due time!&#8221; the team <a href="https://www.maxconsole.com/threads/team-xecuter-versus-the-unhackable-switch.46981/">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159169
title: Mastercard and Visa Under Pressure for ‘Enabling’ IPTV Piracy
uri: Mastercard-and-Visa-Under-Pressure-for-Enabling-IPTV-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7mI9-l7EapU/
content:
<p><img src="media/c579e316.pirate-card.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="210" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86520">With help from dedicated hardware boxes, live streaming piracy has seen a massive user growth in recent years. </p>
<p>While there are hundreds of free live streaming sites and tools, there&#8217;s also a huge market for paid pirate services, which charge a fraction of the cost of their legal counterparts. </p>
<p>One company that has kept a close eye on these developments is Irdeto. The anti-piracy outfit has assisted copyright holders and law enforcement on several occasions and has helped bring down some of the largest offenders.</p>
<p>However, the problem isn&#8217;t going away, not even when criminal law enforcement gets involved. One of the problems is that it&#8217;s relatively easy for pirate IPTV providers to operate in the open, helped by reputable payment processors such as Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.</p>
<p>This is one of the main conclusions of research published by <a href="https://irdeto.com/">Irdeto</a> this week. </p>
<p>Irdeto, which works with prominent clients including Comcast, Foxtel, ITV, and Maxdome, looked at 400 pirate IPTV streaming supplier sites. They found that the majority of these, 76 percent, openly advertise their payment options. Visa and Mastercard were most mentioned, followed by PayPal.</p>
<p>&#8220;What this data confirms is that pirates depend heavily on leading payment platforms to help them gather subscription and pay per view revenue,&#8221; Mark Mulready,<br>
Irdeto&#8217;s VP of Cybersecurity Services, notes.</p>
<p>The data released by Irdeto is presented in a somewhat confusing pie chart. This shows that Visa and Mastercard each account for 21 percent of all payment methods advertised. PayPal is listed at 9 percent and cryptocurrencies are far less popular, coming in at just 4 percent.</p>
<p>Since IPTV providers offer multiple payments options, the percentage of sites that use each of these services is probably much higher, but unfortunately, Irdeto doesn&#8217;t have this information available for us. </p>
<p><center><strong>Payment methods (<a href="https://blog.irdeto.com/2018/07/30/time-to-turn-up-the-heat-on-payment-platforms-that-enable-piracy/">Irdeto</a>)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/72d274ef.payment-methods-pie-chart-768x547-e1533028410626.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/payment-methods-pie-chart-768x547-e1533028410626.png" alt="" width="600" height="427" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159231"></center></p>
<p>Irdeto&#8217;s research comes with a rather strong message. The company suggests that media companies, who often use the same payment services, might want to reconsider who they do business with. </p>
<p>&#8220;Surely, it’s time for the payment platforms to support legitimate media organizations by conducting better due diligence and stopping support for these pirate IPTV streaming sites?&#8221; Mulready writes.</p>
<p>At the moment, payment processors have few incentives to drop pirate IPTV clients, Irdeto notes, but when media companies threaten to cut their ties with these companies, they may take action.</p>
<p>&#8220;If media organizations threaten to vote with their feet against payment platforms that enable piracy, it’ll be fascinating to see who blinks first,&#8221; Mulready concludes.</p>
<p>Piracy related pressure on payment providers is nothing new. A few years ago there were similar calls urging the same companies to stop doing business with rogue cyberlockers. This eventually paid off, as more and more services were cut off. </p>
<p>Whether public threats are a good tactic is up for debate though. We doubt that Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal are willing to team up with pirate IPTV services. Perhaps educating the compliance departments on these services may work just as well as issuing threats, or even better.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159332
title: Movie & TV Show Companies Want Subtitle Sites Blocked Down Under
uri: Movie-TV-Show-Companies-Want-Subtitle-Sites-Blocked-Down-Under
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NBHx7GoY8_8/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b97a33a.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg"><img src="media/f6cbbbd7.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143825"></a>After several successful previous applications, last month Village Roadshow Films and Hollywood partners Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Universal, Warner Bros teamed up with Hong Kong-based Television Broadcasts Limited and Aussie distributor Madman Entertainment Pty Limited.</p>
<p>Together the companies filed an application for the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-tv-giants-apply-for-broadest-ever-piracy-blocking-injunction-180717/">broadest-ever blocking injunction</a> at the Federal Court in Australia. If successful, it would compel Australia’s ISPs to block a record-setting 151 domains related to 77 ‘pirate’ sites.</p>
<p>The list of ISPs in the case is familiar. Telstra, Optus, Vocus, TPG and their subsidiaries are all named as respondents in the case with the addition of Vodafone, which was added after recently entering the fixed-line broadband market.</p>
<p>As obtained by <a href="https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/644676/entertainment-companies-seek-block-subtitle-download-sites/">ComputerWorld</a>, the list of sites involved is now confirmed as follows:</p>
<p><em>2ddl; 8maple.ru; 9anime.is; Addic7edAnilinkz; Animefreak; Animeshow; Avxhm; azmaple.com; Bilutv; Bt-scene; Cartooncrazy; Cmovieshd; Ddlvalley; Dnvod; dramacity.io; dramahk.me; Fmovies.io; Glodls; Gogoanime; Hdpopcorns; hindilinks4u.to; hkfree.co; icdrama.se; icdramase; ilovehks.com; IPTorrents; Kantv; Kimcartoon; Kissanime; kisscartoon.ac; m4ufree.com; Masterani.me; Myanimeseries; Nyaa; Nzbplanet; Ondarewatch; Openloadmovies; Opensubtitles.org; Otakustream; Phimbathu; Putlocker.ac; Putlockerhd.co; qooxi.net; Rmz; Rutracker.org; Scnsrc; Seasonvar; Seriesfree; Solarmoviez; Soul-anime; streamtvb.com; Subscene; Subsmovies; Torrentday; Torrentfunk; Torrentmovies; Tvbox; Tw116; Two-movies; Ultra-vid; Usabit; VexMovies; viewasian.tv; Vkool; Vmovee; Watchanimeonline.me; Watchcartoononline.com; Watchcartoononline.io; Watchonlinemovies; Watchseries-online; woaikanxi.cc; Yify-movies; Yifysubtitles; Ymovies.tv; Zimuzu; Zooqle.</em></p>
<p>What is notable about the list is the inclusion, for the first time, of sites such as Subscene, Subsmovies, YIFYSubtitles. As their names suggest, these platforms offer subtitles for the latest movies and TV shows, something that doesn&#8217;t sit well with any of the companies involved but particularly Madman Entertainment which specializes in Japanese anime.</p>
<p>“People unknown have recorded from the motion pictures … then translated the words into different languages and then those websites make available files that contain the subtitles in those languages,” counsel for the applicants told the Federal Court this morning, as reported by CW.</p>
<p>While most previous cases have passed the scrutiny of the Court relatively easily, this case &#8211; with the inclusion of subtitle sites &#8211; represents new ground. While the standard for infringement of video copyrights has been well tested in earlier applications, literary copyrights (in what are effectively scripts) are now under consideration for the first time.</p>
<p>As a result, the ever precise Justice Nicholas told the parties to ensure that no stone is left unturned in preparing evidence for the Court.</p>
<p>“You better make sure your evidence in relation to that is particularly thorough,” the Judge said.</p>
<p>“There’s some creep here occurring – I don’t say that critically&#8230; [but] it’s a new angle so I’ll need to look at that closely.”</p>
<p>Justice Nicholas won&#8217;t be short of source material for his studies. There are instances of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-isps-to-block-popcorn-time-subtitle-websites-171113/">subtitles sites being blocked</a> in other jurisdictions and several cases where site operators have been successfully targeted (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/student-fined-for-running-movie-tv-show-subtitle-download-site-120608/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/unauthorized-subtitles-for-movies-tv-shows-are-illegal-court-rules-170421/">2</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/founder-of-subtitle-site-convicted-for-copyright-infringement-170914/">3</a>) in legal action.</p>
<p>In common with most recent hearings, none of the ISPs listed as defendants in the case turned up for today&#8217;s case management hearing. The case itself is scheduled to be heard on September 7.</p>
<p>In parallel, Television Broadcasts Limited is currently tied up in a case of its own after applying for a blocking injunction last year against several unauthorized IPTV services. The case against A1, BlueTV, EVPAD, FunTV, MoonBox, Unblock, and hTV5 is seen as more <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-iptv-blocking-case-is-no-slam-dunk-says-federal-court-judge-180502/">complex</a> by the Court, so a final decision is still pending.</p>
<p><em>The full list of sites and more than 150 associated URLs can be found <a href="media/02e6abf2.siteblock.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/siteblock.pdf">here</a> courtesy of Rohan Pearce.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159364
title: Record Labels File ‘Billion Dollar’ Piracy Lawsuit Against ISP COX
uri: Record-Labels-File-Billion-Dollar-Piracy-Lawsuit-Against-ISP-COX
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hLvKyXuHtaA/
content:
<p><img src="media/472c3690.coxcomms.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/coxcomms.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="174" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128587">For more than a decade, copyright holders have been sending takedown notices to ISPs to alert them that their subscribers are sharing copyrighted material.</p>
<p>Under US law, providers must terminate the accounts of repeat infringers “in appropriate circumstances” and increasingly they are being held to this standard.</p>
<p>Cox Communications has been one of the prime targets thus far. A federal court previously ordered the ISP to pay <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/cox-is-liable-for-pirating-subscribers-ordered-to-pay-25-million-151217/">$25 million</a> in damages to music publisher BMG. While this was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/appeals-court-throws-out-25-million-piracy-verdict-against-cox-doesnt-reinstate-safe-harbor-180201/">overturned</a> on appeal, where a retrial was issued, it&#8217;s not in safe waters yet. </p>
<p>This week Cox&#8217;s problems doubled after a group of high profile record labels filed a new piracy liability lawsuit against the Intenet provider. Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music, Universal Music, Warner Bros Records, and several others accuse the company of turning a blind eye to pirating subscribers. </p>
<p>The labels argue that Cox has knowingly contributed to the piracy activities of its subscribers and that it substantially profited from this activity. All at the expense of the record labels and other rightsholders.</p>
<p>&#8220;Indeed, for years, Cox deliberately refused to take reasonable measures to curb its customers from using its Internet services to infringe on others’ copyrights — even once Cox became aware of particular customers engaging in specific, repeated acts of infringement,&#8221; the complaint reads. </p>
<p>To stop the infringing activities, the music companies sent hundreds of thousands of notices to the Internet provider. This didn&#8217;t help much, they claim, noting that Cox actively limited the number of notices it processed.</p>
<p>&#8220;Rather than working with Plaintiffs to curb this massive infringement, Cox unilaterally imposed an arbitrary cap on the number of infringement notices it would accept from copyright holders, thereby willfully blinding itself to any of its subscribers’ infringements that exceeded its &#8216;cap&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
<p>Cox has previously stressed that it implemented a “thirteen-strike policy” to deal with the issue. According to the labels, however, the BMG lawsuit has already shown that this was a sham.</p>
<p>The labels stress that the ISP never permanently terminated any subscribers. Instead, it would apply a so-called &#8220;soft termination&#8221; where subscribers&#8217; accounts were reinstated swiftly after they were disconnected.</p>
<p>&#8220;The reason for this is simple: rather than stop its subscribers’ unlawful activity, Cox prioritized its own profits over its legal obligations. Cox’s profits increased dramatically as a result of the massive infringement that it facilitated, yet Cox publicly told copyright holders that it needed to reduce the number of staff it had dedicated to anti-piracy for budget reasons,&#8221; the complaint notes.</p>
<p>Since the case revolves around repeat copyright infringers, the labels only sue over tracks and compositions that were infringed by subscribers who&#8217;ve been warned before.  The complaint further notes that at least 20,000 Cox subscribers can be categorized as blatant repeat infringers, some of whom have been &#8216;warned&#8217; more than 100 times.</p>
<p><center><strong>Repeat warnings</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/ed5db398.repeatwarn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/repeatwarn.png" alt="" width="600" height="217" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159367"></center></p>
<p>According to the record labels, it is clear that Cox intentionally ignored these repeated copyright infringements. As such, they believe that the ISP is liable for both contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. </p>
<p>As compensation for the claimed losses, the companies demand statutory or actual damages, as well as coverage for their attorney fees and other costs. </p>
<p>This could get quite expensive. The complaint lists well over 10,000 musical works, which means that the potential claim is immense. With a statutory maximum of $150,000 per work, the case could, in theory, cost Cox more than $1.5 billion.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the complaint filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is available <a href="media/126f47c0.recordcox.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/recordcox.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159383
title: Reformed Music Pirates Increasingly Choose Legal Streaming Services
uri: Reformed-Music-Pirates-Increasingly-Choose-Legal-Streaming-Services
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/S_JYUBH9L_E/
content:
<p><a href="media/1e966c9f.piracydown.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piracydown.jpg"><img src="media/198e8dc2.piracydown.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracydown.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="162" class="alignright size-full wp-image-73866"></a>As one of the most popular consumer items in the whole world, music is important to billions of citizens globally. It&#8217;s also surrounded by a giant industry that for years has complained bitterly about online piracy.</p>
<p>More recently, however, there have been signs that illegally grabbing music from the Internet is not as prevalent as it once was. A new report from market research and data analytics firm YouGov only adds weight to that apparent shift.</p>
<p>The headline stat from the company&#8217;s Music Report is that just one in ten Brits are currently downloading music illegally. That&#8217;s down from almost double (18%) that figure five short years ago.</p>
<p>While this is already a decent reduction, YouGov says that the 10% figure is set to further decrease in the years to come.</p>
<p>More than six out of ten (63%) illegal music downloaders predict they&#8217;ll still be pirating in five years&#8217; time but a significant 22% believe they won&#8217;t. Just over a third (36%) acknowledge that using unofficial sources for music is becoming more difficult but the summary doesn&#8217;t offer reasons why.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/ff56ed7c.image001.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/image001.png"><img src="media/e6508c61.image001.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/image001.png" alt="" width="602" height="417" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159384"></a></center></p>
<p>YouGov reports that the decrease in piracy can in part be attributed to the rise of legal streaming services such as Spotify. Indeed, its survey reveals that more than six out of ten (63%) former Brit music pirates now rely on a legal streaming service for their fix.</p>
<p>“It is now easier to stream music than to pirate it. And the cost is not prohibitive,&#8221; one respondent said. &#8220;Spotify has everything from new releases to old songs, it filled the vacuum, there was no longer a need for using [an] unverified source,&#8221; added another.</p>
<p>While the shift to legal services is certainly encouraging for the labels, millions of music consumers still obtain their content illegally.</p>
<p>According to YouGov, just over half of this group (51%) say that &#8220;exclusives&#8221; restricted to a single platform are an irritating factor with 44% claiming that they only download illegally when they can&#8217;t find the content elsewhere.</p>
<p>“While illegal downloads still present a significant challenge to the music industry, there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel,&#8221; says Justin Marshall, Associate Director, YouGov. </p>
<p>&#8220;Our research reveals a change in behavior, with those that previously attained music by unlawful means now being enticed by the low costs and ease of use associated with streaming.&#8221;</p>
<p>Marshall says that since consumers are increasingly satisfied with legal services, trawling the Internet for illegal copies is no longer high on their agenda.</p>
<p>&#8220;Whether or not streaming is what finally banishes illegal downloads remains to be seen, but there are encouraging signs,” he concludes.</p>
<p>In an effort to appreciate the nuances behind the figures, TorrentFreak asked YouGov for a copy of the report. Sadly we were told that it won&#8217;t appear publicly since it&#8217;s part of a wider study being made available to clients.</p>
<p>That leaves the question of how &#8220;stream-ripping&#8221; (downloading music from sites like YouTube onto a user&#8217;s machine) fits into this overall decrease in music piracy. While the record labels once considered file-sharing sites and services as the work of the devil, today they&#8217;re much more likely to be heard complaining about stream-ripping and how this affects revenues.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not clear whether stream-ripping is considered an illegal download as far as the report goes. However, there are plenty of signs that downloading music in this manner is gaining traction among younger people for whom YouTube is often the default music source. The labels are extremely keen to bring this kind of activity to an end.</p>
<p>All that said and despite the persistent piracy problem, the popularity of legal services, especially among pirates, cannot be ignored.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-are-valuable-customers-not-the-enemy-180606/">report</a> released by MUSO found that 91% of all pirates already have a streaming subscription, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify or Apple Music. That&#8217;s a higher rate than their non-pirating counterparts, of which less than 80% subscribe to legal services.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159265
title: After Five Years of Blocking Sites, Russia’s No Closer to Beating Piracy
uri: After-Five-Years-of-Blocking-Sites-Russia-s-No-Closer-to-Beating-Pi
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/egjZFW0jE2o/
content:
<p><a href="media/9eb9cac7.pageblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg"><img src="media/a70e19c9.pageblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147564" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg 275w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px"></a>For reasons best known to rightsholders internationally, site-blocking is now one of the most favored anti-piracy mechanisms.</p>
<p>Five years ago, Russia decided that it too would join the movement, hoping to put a dent in rampant online sharing of copyrighted content.</p>
<p>August 1, 2013, new legislation came into force which allowed rightsholders to block video content that had been posted online illegally. A year later, the same protections were extended to other kinds of intellectual property, excluding photographic works.</p>
<p>In the months that followed, it became clear that some sites were being reported for copyright infringement on multiple occasions. This led to calls for repeat offenders to receive special treatment from the courts. On May 1, 2015, new rules made it possible for sites to be permanently blocked. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/russia-has-permanently-blocked-3400-pirate-resources-180722/">Thousands of platforms</a> have been affected.</p>
<p>Last October yet more legislative amendments came into force. These allowed rightsholders to target so-called &#8216;mirrors&#8217;, platforms that are functionally similar to sites that have already been blocked but manage to evade that fate. According to figures supplied by telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor and published by Russia&#8217;s <a href="https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/31/07/2018/5b5dfe8d9a79479f3455f546">RBC</a>, 2,421 mirror sites have been blocked under the legislation.</p>
<p>Just a month later during November 2017, Russia tightened the law up once again, this time targeting VPN and anonymizer services that provide access to blocked sites. These must now connect to a national register of blocked sites to ensure they don&#8217;t facilitate access to such platforms. If they fail to do so, they can also be blocked.</p>
<p>Search engines haven&#8217;t escaped the clutches of the authorities either. They too must interface with government systems listing blocked sites in order to prevent any from appearing in search engine results. After a period of uncertainty as to how this should be carried out, search engines should be fully compliant by the end of September.</p>
<p>During the five years between Aug 1, 2013 and Aug 1, 2018, Roscomnadzor reports that it received 3,702 blocking orders from the Moscow City Court following 8,454 complaints by rightsholders.</p>
<p>&#8220;In total, the Moscow City Court&#8217;s rulings and applications by rightholders concerned 116,298 sites or pages of websites,&#8221; the watchdog reports.</p>
<p>&#8220;After receiving a notification from Roskomnadzor to prevent violation of the law, the vast majority of Internet resources remove pirated copies of films, music, etc.&#8221;</p>
<p>Roscomnadzor says that access is currently limited to around 8% (5,058) of web pages that previously had measures taken against them. The owners of 60,834 other web pages independently took measures to restrict access to pirated content, without waiting to be blocked by the authorities.</p>
<p>According to RBC, the Gazprom-Media owned channel TNT was the most active rightsholders over the past five years. The broadcaster filed 447 applications at the Moscow City Court for interim measures and 489 full claims.</p>
<p>The majority of respondents in cases handled by the Court were foreign hosting companies. However, getting these companies to appear in Russia seems to have proven impossible in the majority of cases.</p>
<p>&#8220;Neither foreign hosting providers, nor the overwhelming majority of their domestic colleagues bothered to attend the sessions of the Moscow City Court. For example, from August 2013 to August 2014, only three cases were recorded, when the defendant appeared in court,&#8221; RBC reports.</p>
<p>The defendant listed on most occasions in connection with blocking efforts was US-based CDN company Cloudflare. The company was named in 554 lawsuits with a further 300 relating to Russia-based hoster, uCoz and British Virgin Islands-based Compubyte. Hosting provider Inferno Solutions appeared in third place.</p>
<p>But despite many thousands of actions, it appears that copyright holders remain unhappy with the system.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are results, but there is no effectiveness,&#8221; says Dmitry Sychugov, general director of Amedia TV, a company that filed 169 applications for interim measures plus 60 lawsuits.</p>
<p>&#8220;In technical terms, [tools for rightsholders] are far behind the advanced solutions of pirates. The majority of users still turn to pirated sites for viewing video content.&#8221;</p>
<p>With other rightsholders describing the current system as effective as a &#8220;sieve&#8221;, Roscomnadzor is trying to remain upbeat.</p>
<p>&#8220;For five years anti-piracy legislation was supplemented by new norms, the implementation of which increased the effectiveness of copyright protection on the Internet,&#8221; the watchdog concludes.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s interesting to note that despite Russia&#8217;s site and content blocking system being one of the toughest in the world, rightsholders still aren&#8217;t happy. Whether additional legislative measures will move into place during the next five years will remain to be seen but until then, content will continue to leak through the mesh, at pace.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159301
title: U.S. Wraps Up Criminal Prosecution of Pirate App Store Operators
uri: U-S-Wraps-Up-Criminal-Prosecution-of-Pirate-App-Store-Operators
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jp9bu7sP2Hc/
content:
<p><img src="media/21abd508.snappz.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/snappz.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="158" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86897">During the summer of 2012, the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/fbi-seizes-pirate-android-app-domains-120822/">FBI took down</a> Appbucket, Applanet, and SnappzMarket, some of the largest pirate app stores at the time. </p>
<p>In the years that followed several people connected to the Android app sites were arrested and indicted, resulting in prison sentences for some.</p>
<p>Aside from the initial announcement, the cases have been handled relatively quietly by the US Government. We can report, however, that after six years all cases that we know of have now been closed. </p>
<p>The last remaining case was that of Gary Sharp, who was indicted in two separate cases. </p>
<p>The Massachusetts man, who&#8217;s now in his early thirties, worked as “super moderator” on Applanet’s servers and Facebook page, for which he received a video game as compensation. At SnappzMarket he had a more important role, dealing with finances and the administrative side of the operation.</p>
<p>Sharp never denied his involvement with any of these sites and pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement in both cases. In addition, he provided the FBI with detailed background information and testified in the trial of another defendant.</p>
<p>Based on this cooperative stance, Sharp&#8217;s attorney requested a lower sentence, which was granted. A few weeks ago, he was <a href="media/1d9daf70.sharpsent.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sharpsent.pdf">sentenced</a> to a six months prison term, which started on July 14th. </p>
<p>This means that, without any appeals, all pirate app store cases have now been closed. </p>
<p>While the enforcement efforts led to convictions in most instances, the Department of Justice isn&#8217;t publicly celebrating. Perhaps that&#8217;s due to the stories of the defendants being littered with personal problems and them being far from the hardcore criminals some might expect. </p>
<p>The convicts did, however, help to distribute hundreds of thousands of pirated apps. And while they haven&#8217;t made millions, the Government found that they caused substantial losses to the respective copyright holders. </p>
<p>For example, a defendant in Appbucket case, Mr. Blocker, earned $7,222 from his involvement with the site. However, he was held liable for over $750,000 in damages. The defendant faced years in prison, but he eventually received a sentence of two years probation earlier this year. </p>
<p>Two other operators of Appbucket were also sentenced to probation this year, while the founder received a prison sentence of a year and a day. Two Applanet defendants <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-android-app-store-operator-avoids-prison-180413/">walked</a> <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-drops-indictment-against-alleged-operator-of-pirate-app-store-180616/">free</a>, while two Snapzmarket operators previously received prison sentences of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-app-store-operator-jailed-for-criminal-copyright-infringement-170710/">16</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-android-app-store-member-jailed-for-46-months-160831/">46 months</a>.</p>
<p>Most cases ended in successful convictions which will likely deter others from starting similar sites. However, as is often the case with pirate ventures, there will always be people still willing to take the risk.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159263
title: ‘Depraved’ City Builder on Steam Features ‘Pirate Hat’ DRM
uri: Depraved-City-Builder-on-Steam-Features-Pirate-Hat-DRM
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xuybj7Yf1RU/
content:
<p><a href="media/aeccce3e.header-e1533110494511.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/header-e1533110494511.jpg"><img src="media/aeccce3e.header-e1533110494511.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/header-e1533110494511.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="122" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159274"></a>For as long as computer software has existed in commerical form, pirates have been keen to reap the benefits without handing over cash.</p>
<p>This is particularly true for video games which have been enthusiastically copied for several decades no matter whether they&#8217;ve been made available on tape, floppy discs, CDs, DVDs or digital downloads.</p>
<p>Stopping pirates is no easy task although that doesn&#8217;t stop companies from trying. Denuvo is perhaps the most recognizable system and one of the most fiendish. However, there are other ways of stopping pirates in their tracks without completely alienating your customer base.</p>
<p>Earlier this week TF received a tip about a torrent on The Pirate Bay. It links to the city builder game &#8216;<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/762650/Depraved/">Depraved</a>&#8216; which is ordinarily available on Steam. Interestingly, the top comment on the torrent indicates that the release may not work as intended.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/e9ee7d37.depraved-tpb-e1533111106205.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/depraved-tpb-e1533111106205.png"><img src="media/e9ee7d37.depraved-tpb-e1533111106205.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/depraved-tpb-e1533111106205.png" alt="" width="600" height="444" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159275"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;This copy contains the developers DRM whereby after building a warehouse, it will start to slowly fill up with pirate hats which are irremovable thereby making the warehouse slowly useless,&#8221; the comment reads.</p>
<p>Depraved is created by Germany-based development team <a href="https://evilbite.com/">Evil Bite</a>, which was founded in 2015 and consists of just two individuals, Danilo and David Tondl.</p>
<p>Speaking with TF, Evil Bite confirms that the claimed &#8216;pirate hat&#8217; DRM does indeed exist.</p>
<p>&#8220;The pirate hats protection is real. It is a really cheap protection, but what can I say, it works,&#8221; Danilo says.</p>
<p>&#8220;We wanted to give the player a kind of demo. So the game works a bit until the pirate hats appear with a nice tooltip &#8216;Please support our 2 man development team&#8217;.&#8221; </p>
<p>Despite describing the protection as &#8220;cheap&#8221;, Danilo doesn&#8217;t want to reveal too much about how it works. However, the idea wasn&#8217;t to completely stop pirates but to let them get to a point where they&#8217;ve at least had a chance to test the game, hopefully in advance of a genuine purchase. This also involved fooling those who remove the protection from games.</p>
<p>&#8220;The protection waits in the background and &#8216;blocks&#8217; or informs the player later in the game. That way the cracker thinks: &#8216;oh, ok it is working&#8217; and moves on to the next title. I guess no cracker has time to play the game a couple of hours to test if there is some other protection,&#8221; he reveals.</p>
<p>The practice of using copy protection to convert potential pirates is probably the only type of DRM that isn&#8217;t universally pilloried by legitimate and pirate players alike. Evil Bite is pragmatic about the situation and hopes that its light-hearted approach is able to win over those considering a purchase.</p>
<p>&#8220;We really believe that there are people in the world who don&#8217;t have the money for such a game but on the other side there are people have the money but never bought a game because it is so easy to &#8216;steal&#8217; it and in the end of the day it is our money we are losing,&#8221; Danilo notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;For us this DRM is more a joke than a real DRM and &#8216;money saver&#8217;. And like I said earlier, it is more like a demo. A lot of pirates want to test a game first before they buy it even with the Steam refund system.</p>
<p>&#8220;Is it worth it? I don&#8217;t know. We had at least one player who thought it was funny and bought the game because of it,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Danilo is the first to admit that the concept of dropping some pranks into a copy-protection method isn&#8217;t new. Several other developers have done similar things in the past, with varying levels of success (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/game-pirates-whine-about-piracy-in-game-dev-simulator-130429/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/garrys-mod-creator-trolls-pirates-with-prank-drm-110413/">2</a>).</p>
<p>What&#8217;s absolutely certain, however, is that this kind of approach towards copy-protection is generally better tolerated than that taken by the infamous Denuvo.</p>
<p>With the system criticized for reportedly being <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sega-accused-of-anti-consumer-behavior-with-rushed-sonic-mania-plus-protection-180720/">resource-hungry</a>, the company behind Denuvo recently resorted to filing a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/voksi-retires-cyberpolice-raid-cracker-after-denuvo-criminal-complaint-180726/">criminal complaint</a> against Bulgaria-based cracker Voksi.</p>
<p>Until last week, Voksi had been dismantling Denuvo&#8217;s efforts with relative ease so if nothing else, the company&#8217;s actions suggest that there is actually no technological solution to the piracy problem. It also means that its piracy problems are likely to return, sooner rather than later.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4eZmYBmmWEY" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159204
title: Sci-Hub Proves That Piracy Can be Dangerously Useful
uri: Sci-Hub-Proves-That-Piracy-Can-be-Dangerously-Useful
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/D9PVKoosIWY/
content:
<p><img src="media/398ad51b.scilogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/scilogo.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-118526">Sci-Hub has often been referred to as “The Pirate Bay of Science,” but that description really sells the site short.</p>
<p>While both sites are helping the public to access copyrighted content without permission, Sci-Hub has also become a crucial tool that arguably helps the progress of science. </p>
<p>The site allows researchers to bypass expensive paywalls so they can read articles written by their fellow colleagues. The information in these &#8216;pirated&#8217; articles is then used to provide the foundation for future research.</p>
<p>What the site does is illegal, according to the law, but Sci-Hub is praised by thousands of researchers and academics around the world. In particular, those who don&#8217;t have direct access to the expensive journals but aspire to excel in their academic field.</p>
<p>While publishers such as Elsevier <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-ordered-to-pay-15-million-in-piracy-damages-170623/">convinced the courts that Sci-Hub is a force of evil</a>, many scientists see it as an extremely useful tool. They don&#8217;t want research locked up behind paywalls, they want it to be read, to inspire.</p>
<p><center><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/mshunshin/status/1023586774352838656">Pro tip</a></strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/9a41c85b.protip.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/protip.png" alt="" width="540" height="494" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159353"></center></p>
<p>Under the current system these researchers are often put in a position where they have to give up their copyrights, so large publishers such as Elsevier can exploit them. The researchers don&#8217;t see a penny of this money. What they see is their hard work ending up behind a paywall, out of public view.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s this system that prompted Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakyan to start Sci-Hub. She believes that it&#8217;s wrong to use copyright as a tool to shield important research from the public and hopes to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-tears-down-academias-illegal-copyright-paywalls-150627/">tear down the paywalls</a>. </p>
<p>&#8220;When Sci-Hub became known, I thought that it will provide a good case against copyright law. When the law prevents science to develop, that law must be repealed,&#8221; Elbakyan <a href="https://engineuring.wordpress.com/2018/07/07/why-sci-hub-is-illegal-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/amp/">wrote</a> in a recent blog post.</p>
<p>However, this was easier said than done. With hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, the publishers fought back. </p>
<p>&#8220;Instead, Sci-Hub was quickly banished as an ‘illegal’ solution and projects like Unpaywall emerged and started promoting themselves as a ‘legal’ alternatives to Sci-Hub.&#8221;</p>
<p>Unpaywall is a useful search tool that helps researchers to find articles that are already freely accessible. However, this is not a Sci-Hub alternative, according to Elbakyan, as it does nothing to free the locked up research</p>
<p>Real change can only come when copyright law changes, she argues. </p>
<p>On closer inspection that may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. According to the US Constitution, copyright is meant to aid the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Clause">progress of arts and science</a>. Some would argue that Sci-Hub does exactly that. However, the US courts disagree. </p>
<p>Elbakyan is not giving up though. She wants the law to change and encourages anyone to support this goal, by supporting their local Pirate party, for example. </p>
<p>&#8220;Sci-Hub always intended to be legal, and advocated for the copyright law to be repealed or changed, so that it will not prohibit the development of science,&#8221; she notes.</p>
<p>While Sci-Hub&#8217;s call might not sway lawmakers right away, the platform continues to make an impact. Every month, the site helps researchers to access millions of articles, which are used as the building blocks for new researchers. </p>
<p>These researchers publicly share the latest working Sci-Hub domain names among each other and gladly pass on Sci-Hub links to those in need. </p>
<p>In fact, Sci-Hub has become such a commonly used tool for some scientists that they include Sci-Hub URLs in the references sections of their published papers. Ironically, there are even links to Sci-Hub in papers published by Elsevier, showing how dangerously useful it is. </p>
<p>To circle back to the Pirate Bay comparison, that would be the same as Netflix linking to copyright infringing torrents of other films in their movie descriptions&#8230;</p>
<p><center><strong>Sci-Hub references on Elsevier&#8217;s ScienceDirect&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/69ea83c0.scihubels.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/scihubels.png" alt="" width="600" height="327" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159354"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159308
title: BitTorrent / TRON Partnership Raises Important Questions For File-Sharers
uri: BitTorrent-TRON-Partnership-Raises-Important-Questions-For-File-Shar
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MXsWWxVUnCw/
content:
<p><a href="media/5c2b692b.tron-bittorrent.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tron-bittorrent.png"><img src="media/cbed410f.tron-bittorrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tron-bittorrent.png" alt="" width="270" height="237" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159222"></a>Last month it was confirmed that BitTorrent Inc., the company behind the uTorrent and Mainline clients, had been acquired by TRON. </p>
<p>This week TRON founder Justin Sun revealed that he&#8217;s considering building some kind of system, presumably into his uTorrent and Mainline clients, that will <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tron-wants-to-give-bittorrent-users-financial-incentives-to-seed-180731/">reward people</a> if they&#8217;re sharing particularly well.</p>
<p>The theory is that if people are incentivized to seed for longer, they will share more and content will stay available for much longer. The big question is whether things will turn out that way once currency starts flying around.</p>
<p>Right now, the vast amount of sharing carried out on public BitTorrent networks is motivated by very little other than obtaining content. This is because large volumes of users jump onto torrents with the intention of getting whatever content they need and deleting the torrent soon after it reaches 100%.</p>
<p>Of course, they can&#8217;t do this alone, so other people just like them assist by default, with everyone&#8217;s BitTorrent clients busily uploading at the same time as they&#8217;re downloading. Others in the swarm, the rarer &#8216;hardcore&#8217; seeders, stick around much longer than everyone else, making sure that the content is shared among all and then staying after everyone else has gone home.</p>
<p>So what happens one day, when these generous guys turn on their torrent clients and find a button saying: &#8220;Get your sharing benefits here&#8221;? Once they realize that there&#8217;s money (virtual or otherwise) to be made, it&#8217;s likely that many &#8211; if they can benefit anonymously &#8211; will take the opportunity. Why wouldn&#8217;t they? It&#8217;s absolutely free.</p>
<p>But there are issues. The happy volunteer &#8211; who up until now didn&#8217;t ask for a penny &#8211; is now signed up to a business relationship with this torrent client. He seeds a lot and he gets paid, but suddenly he has a robot boss counting the beans. It&#8217;s a significant shift in culture for what is currently a casual, altruistic, and effective system.</p>
<p>But let&#8217;s forget all that for a moment. Anyone can get paid for seeding you say? Right, let&#8217;s crunch numbers because this might be a decent business proposition. I&#8217;m awful with figures but shall we just get a couple of dozen fat-piped seedboxes on the case for the first month and see how this goes?</p>
<p>The point is that if there is money to be made, every man and his dog will want a piece of the action. Sadly, however, it&#8217;s likely that many will leave disappointed after being bullied out by the serious players with the heavy bandwidth artillery.</p>
<p>A similar phenomenon can be witnessed on some smaller private trackers when a few big guns step in with their fast seedboxes and no one with a regular connection is able to build a decent sharing ratio due to a shortage of leechers. Of course, public swarms are bigger but that just means more bandwidth for the professionals to supply.</p>
<p>This problem could be countered by not paying seeders too much but if the rewards aren&#8217;t useful, people might not bother to sign up in the first place. It will be a delicate balancing act for sure.</p>
<p>A more important question, perhaps, is how the introduction of financial incentives will affect the mindset of the regular user. Of course, some will try to jump aboard the paid seeding scheme too, but of those who don&#8217;t, what will their perception of the rewards system be?</p>
<p>Will they simply ignore it while grabbing content and seeding as usual, or will they suddenly perceive seeding as a business arrangement and therefore justification for ending all of their &#8216;unpaid&#8217; torrents at 100%? After all, people are professionally seeding now while getting rewarded, so why bother to contribute?</p>
<p>Beyond the few details announced this week, we have no idea what plans TRON has for BitTorrent but considering its focus on currency, you can be sure that any plan involves generating wealth at some point. Until now, BitTorrent Inc. has done that too but they have never put the act of sharing at the heart of the action.</p>
<p>That the torrent sharing mechanism itself is being touted as part of TRON&#8217;s plans has the potential to stir up a hornets&#8217; nest, particularly among &#8216;free&#8217; file-sharing advocates. Not to mention that the protocol wasn&#8217;t designed with financial benefits complicating the formula in mind.</p>
<p>Then there&#8217;s the monitoring. If people are to get paid, their contribution to the TRON/BitTorrent ecosystem will need to be tracked and reported back to the TRON system. Only when all this data gathering has been carried out will anyone get paid, even if it is in an experimental currency. Is this the kind of intrusion most BitTorrent users expect?</p>
<p>The final big question relates to where this business model goes after paid sharing. If enough users can be incentivized to earn TRX tokens by seeding, isn&#8217;t it logical to presume they&#8217;ll want to start spending them too?</p>
<p>Sun has already hinted at the possibility of some kind of content marketplace where currency could presumably get spent. However, is anyone confident that these tokens won&#8217;t, at some point, be handed over in exchange for faster download speeds or other file-sharing features?</p>
<p>There seems to be a real risk that the introduction of financial reward into a previously free sharing equation will only encourage selfish behavior among others. That&#8217;s the last thing that the BitTorrent ecosystem needs so TRON will need to be careful where they take this and how quickly.</p>
<p>Of course, if things get too restrictive people will be free to jump ship onto other clients such as qBittorrent or Deluge, which will still work no matter what TRON decides to do. But could there be issues there too?</p>
<p>If one chooses to be alarmist and take a worst case scenario, there&#8217;s always the prospect of future changes that might see uTorrent favoring other uTorrent clients over those offered by outsiders. Hopefully, that will never happen, but few people believed that getting paid for seeding would ever be a thing either, so all options are open.</p>
<p>Finally, (and being rather more positive for a moment) there&#8217;s always the possibility that TRON is the shot in the arm BitTorrent needed. Perhaps it&#8217;ll be a roaring capitalist success with none of the downsides of other financially-motivated markets. We&#8217;ll have to wait to find out.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156401
title: ‘Impostors’ Manipulate Google With Fake Takedown Request
uri: Impostors-Manipulate-Google-With-Fake-Takedown-Request
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FqPWvyddU1w/
content:
<p><img src="media/7987a7c7.googlega.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlega.png" alt="" width="300" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-157410">Over the past few years, we&#8217;ve featured our fair share of bizarre DMCA takedown articles. </p>
<p>Most of these boil down to mistakes by automated bots or plain incompetence. More recently, however, we&#8217;ve started to notice an influx of more coordinated DMCA abuse. </p>
<p>Scammers, posing as legitimate rightsholders and reporting agencies, are asking Google to remove hundreds of thousands if not millions of URLs. Many of these links do indeed point to pirate sites, but copyright enforcement is not the main reason why they&#8217;re sent. </p>
<p>Instead, these takedown requests appear to be generated with the sole purpose of downranking &#8216;competitors.&#8217; </p>
<p>While many of these notices are seemingly sent on behalf of well-known companies, there are some clear red flags. They use variations of names that have not been used before, such as &#8216;Walt Disney LTD,&#8217; and generate confusing entries in Google&#8217;s transparency report. </p>
<p>For example, Walt Disney Company reportedly sent a <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/16639510">takedown notice</a> on behalf of the Russian company <a href="http://web-control.ru/">WebControl</a>, instead of the other way around. This notice states that the reported links infringe the copyrights of the film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking_Glass_(film)">Looking Glass</a>, which as far as we know is not linked to Disney.  </p>
<p>There are thousands of these scammy reports where &#8220;impostors&#8221; pretend to be copyright holders and reporting agencies. Quite a few are targeted at Russian domains and sites and are apparently sent from Russia, but the problem goes further than that. </p>
<p>There are also notices that list one allegedly pirated film and then ask Google to remove <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/16721210">dozens</a> or <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/16906345">hundreds</a> of URLs from a single site.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s sometimes hard to distinguish between legitimate and scam requests, something clearly looks off. </p>
<p><center><strong>Suspicious notice</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/9d0279dd.suspiciousnotice-e1533200021805.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/suspiciousnotice-e1533200021805.png" alt="" width="600" height="529" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159350"></center></p>
<p>These seemingly fake notices haven&#8217;t gone unnoticed. There is a thread in the Russian Google <a href="https://productforums.google.com/forum/?hl=ru#!topic/webmaster-ru/Q0_7MOf2_Y0;context-place=forum/webmaster-ru">webmaster forum</a> where site owners discuss this, calling out numerous alleged scammers. </p>
<p>Many of the victims are pirate sites, which makes it a sensitive issue. However, we&#8217;ve seen a complaint from a furniture store as well, accusing a competitor of <a href="https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/16751542">taking down</a> its links, and those of other colleagues. </p>
<p>While many of the affected sites are Russian, we also noticed various <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/reporters/200863">suspicious notices</a> supposedly sent by UK anti-piracy group MUSO. We reached out to the company for clarification, and <a href="https://www.muso.com/">MUSO</a> informed us that these are indeed fake.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Google advises that as they identify these submissions as impersonations, no action is taken by them on any of the URLs submitted. Further information may be requested of them for specific claims via a formal legal process,&#8221; MUSO told us.</p>
<p>Another reporting agency that confirmed the fake notices is the French-based company <a href="http://www.blue-efficience.com/en/">Blue Efficience</a>. In particular, they noticed an influx of fake reports in the name of &#8220;Anti-piracy net&#8221; but their own name is being abused as well now. </p>
<p>For example, this notice they supposedly sent on <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/request/6458518">behalf of Netflix</a> is fake, so is this <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/request/6459143">Paramount Pictures notice</a>, this one from <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/request/6456708">20th Century Fox</a>, and many, many more.</p>
<p>&#8220;Recently some people started to send notifications using our company name, and we suspect that these impersonators are the same people who were using the name &#8216;Anti-piracy net&#8217;,&#8221; Blue Efficience&#8217;s managing Director Thierry Chevillard tells us.</p>
<p>While Google is aware of the problem and flags some of these notices as fake, not all are recognized as such. This means that potentially millions of URLs are removed by scammers who don&#8217;t own any of the copyrighted content but are just looking to downrank sites of competitors. </p>
<p>In recent weeks the issue also made its way to the international webmaster forums. The owner of iKinoHD.cc <a href="https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/webmasters/XVyYYCgljL4;context-place=forum/webmasters">flagged</a> several problematic submissions in his best English. </p>
<p>&#8220;Dear webmasters and the administration of googles I ask for help, in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan. Mosquitoes abuse the name of DMSA and remove all references from competitors from the [search results],&#8221; the webmaster writes, adding that &#8220;this has already been going on since February.&#8221;</p>
<p>The site owner says he even contacted the copyright holder, who reportedly confirmed that scammers were responsible. </p>
<p>The thread in question turned into a discussion as to whether alleged pirate sites should be able to complain about false takedown notices. However, there has been no official response from Google yet. One top contributor in the forums notes that &#8220;law in the US is what it is&#8221; and advises people who are affected to file a counter-notice. </p>
<p>We have also reached out to Google for a comment but after more than a week we have yet to hear back. Meanwhile, the issue persists. And while Google does flag some imposters, many others still get through.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159439
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 08/06/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-08-06-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/IZ6lhscrf0c/
content:
<p><img src="media/6ab2bfeb.aveng-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aveng-1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-155058">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Avengers: Infinity War, released in a high quality format last week, is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-07-30-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">Avengers: Infinity War </a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">8.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfuNTqbHE8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom </a> (subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn9mMeWcgoM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231461/">Rampage</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231461/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOKvrsmQiI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">Escape Plan 2: Hades</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">3.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q7vVt-MeXk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6452574/">Sanju</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6452574/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J76wN0TPI4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1563742/">Overboard</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1563742/">7.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLAJ0ooorDU&#038;t=16s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">Deadpool 2</a> (Subbed Rip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D86RtevtfrA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">Ready Player One</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSp1dM2Vj48&#038;t=2s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7098658/">Raazi</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7098658/">7.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjMSttRJrhA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6053438/">First Reformed</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6053438/">7.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCF5Y8dQpR4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159423
title: Major Labels Sue More YouTube Ripper Sites
uri: Major-Labels-Sue-More-YouTube-Ripper-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hETFkQPQfmM/
content:
<p><a href="media/b9f3b5ba.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg"><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196"></a>While there are <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/reformed-music-pirates-increasingly-choose-legal-streaming-services-180803/">encouraging signs</a> for the recording industry that piracy is being brought under control, there is no shortage of unlicensed music online.</p>
<p>This content is obtained in a number of ways but some of the key sources are effectively right under record labels&#8217; noses.</p>
<p>Sites including YouTube, Spotify and Deezer are all exploitable and with the right know-how, music can be downloaded from them and permanently stored on users&#8217; devices.</p>
<p>This escalating &#8216;ripping&#8217; phenomenon is now viewed as a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/stream-ripping-piracy-goes-from-bad-to-worse-music-industry-reports-170919/">more serious threat</a> to the industry than traditional piracy, mostly since it eats away at streaming revenues. On that basis, it&#8217;s no surprise that fresh legal action is underway in the United States.</p>
<p>A lawsuit reportedly filed Friday (but not yet publicly available at the time of writing) has Universal, Warner Bros, Sony and other major record labels targeting FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8468658/major-labels-team-up-to-sue-websites-ripping-audio-from-youtube-videos">Billboard</a> reports.</p>
<p>That these two portals have effectively become targets for the RIAA isn&#8217;t much of a surprise. Last year the music group submitted its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-identifies-top-youtube-mp3-rippers-and-other-pirate-sites-171006/">list</a> of &#8220;notorious&#8221; piracy websites to the U.S. Government, noting that it&#8217;s tracking 70 &#8216;ripping&#8217; sites while detailing several, FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com included.</p>
<p>“The overall popularity of these sites and the staggering volume of traffic it attracts evidences the enormous damage being inflicted on the U.S. record industry,” the RIAA wrote.</p>
<p>The RIAA&#8217;s claim that these sites generate huge volumes of traffic is beyond dispute. According to SimilarWeb data, FLVTO.biz is a monster attracting more than 94 million visits per month, making it the #322 most popular site in the world. With almost 12% of that traffic coming from the United States, it&#8217;s no wonder the RIAA is concerned.</p>
<p>While 2conv.com is a smaller site, it too is extremely successful. Every month the site pulls in around 23 million visitors, giving it a global ranking of #1,021. Unlike FLVTO, 2conv is more popular in Poland, Brazil, and Italy than it is in the United States.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s reported that both sites are operated out of Russia but according to a report filed by the IIPA earlier this year, they&#8217;re actually connected and serving MP3s to the public from servers in Germany.</p>
<p>&#8220;The recording industry also notes many stream-ripping services believed to be sourced from Russia including Flvto.biz, 2Conv and Fly2mp3.org (all three are essentially the same service operating from different domains). The sites provide downloads of converted YouTube videos to users as MP3 audio files (from servers in Germany),&#8221; the IIPA <a href="media/283f51d4.IIPA_2018_Special_301_Review_Comments.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/IIPA_2018_Special_301_Review_Comments.pdf">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>The hosting position doesn&#8217;t appear to have changed much since the IIPA report was filed in February. FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com are hosted on consecutive IP addresses handled by German-based hosting company Hetzner Online GmbH.</p>
<p>Supporting the claim that they&#8217;re connected by infrastructure, both sites provide the same email address in the event copyright holders want to get in touch. It&#8217;s reported that both the RIAA and IFPI did that but without success.</p>
<p>“These sites have no place in today’s music market where fans have access to millions of songs from dozens of legitimate services that pay creators and value their work, all at the tap of a finger,&#8221; the RIAA said in a comment.</p>
<p>&#8220;This action should serve as an unmistakable warning to operators of similar sites that schemes to rob music creators and profit from the theft of their music will not be tolerated.”</p>
<p>How these platforms will respond to the filing of a lawsuit in the United States isn&#8217;t clear. In their respective &#8216;Copyright Claims&#8217; sections (which are identical), both point out that their cooperation under the DMCA is purely voluntary.</p>
<p>&#8220;Although we are not subject to United States law, we voluntarily comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Pursuant to Title 17, Section 512(c)(2) of the United States Code, if you believe that any of your copyrighted material is being infringed on the Website, we have designated an agent to receive notifications of claimed copyright infringement,&#8221; the sites state.</p>
<p>Perhaps surprisingly, both also have repeat infringer policies which note (in block capitals and in bold) that &#8220;any user for whose material we receive three good-faith and effective complaints within any contiguous six-month period will have his grant of use of the website terminated.&#8221;</p>
<p>Despite the major labels filing a copyright infringement suit against YouTube-MP3 in 2016, a YouTube-ripper case has never gone to trial in the United States. That case was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-mp3-settles-with-riaa-site-will-shut-down-170904/">settled confidentially</a>, with YouTube-MP3 handing over its domain to the RIAA.</p>
<p>This lack of legal clarity previously prompted the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to inform the USTR that not all stream ripping sites facilitate copyright infringement by definition.</p>
<p>“RIAA’s discussion of ‘stream-ripping’ websites misstates copyright law. Websites that simply allow users to extract the audio track from a user-selected online video are not ‘illegal sites’ and are not liable for copyright infringement, unless they engage in additional conduct that meets the definition of infringement,” the EFF <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mp3-stream-rippers-are-not-illegal-sites-eff-tells-us-government-171021/">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>While the case never went to trial, it seems unlikely that YouTube-MP3 would have survived the claims of direct infringement leveled at it. It was reported that YouTube-MP3 stored converted MP3 files on its servers long term so while the ripping and conversion may have resided in a gray area, the storage of infringing files would have been tougher to defend.</p>
<p>At the time of writing, both FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com remain online.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159437
title: BBC Wants Microsoft to Expose ‘Doctor Who’ Leaker
uri: BBC-Wants-Microsoft-to-Expose-Doctor-Who-Leaker
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5ErjYBU4HlY/
content:
<p><img src="media/2a09ced2.drwho.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/drwho.png" alt="" width="277" height="157" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159445">Doctor Who fans all around the world are looking forward to the upcoming season, which will be the first to have a female lead.</p>
<p>While the debut is still a few months away, leaked footage of the first episode recently started to appear. </p>
<p>A short unfinished clip of the new season surfaced in several places. This frustrated some fans, who prefer not to see any spoilers, as well as the BBC which doesn&#8217;t want unapproved teasers of their hit show to be circulating online. </p>
<p>In an effort to track down the source of the leak the BBC has taken the matter to the US courts. Last month it obtained a DMCA subpoena from a California federal court, ordering the forum tool Tapatalk to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-44691612">identify the source</a> of an infringing post. </p>
<p>Whether this resulted in any useful information is unknown, but a few days ago it became clear that BBC is still investigating the matter. </p>
<p>In a separate effort, BBC Studios have filed a request for a DMCA subpoena at a Federal court in Washington. This time it&#8217;s directed at Microsoft. According to the BBC, a user of Microsoft&#8217;s OneDrive stored and shared a copy of the leaked file, titled &#8216;IMG_ l563.TRIM.MOV.&#8217;</p>
<p>&#8220;The infringing material includes, without limitation, an unauthorized copy of copyrighted video content from Season 11, Episode 1 of Doctor Who, for which BBC Worldwide Limited t/a BBC Studios (Distribution) is the exclusive licensee,&#8221; the BBC writes.</p>
<p>According to the BBC, the footage in question was stolen from the studio. Through the subpoena, the company hopes to find out more about the source of this leak, to prevent similar situations going forward. </p>
<p>It asks Microsoft to hand over any relevant information that can help to identify the account holder who uploaded the video, which was added to OneDrive back in June.</p>
<p>This includes &#8220;any name, account name, address, telephone number, email address, birth date, profile photo, device information, browser info1mation, location information, information from others (e.g., Facebook or Google+) and time posted.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Requested information</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/40d2c401.whosubpoe.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/whosubpoe.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="372" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159447"></center></p>
<p>This is not the first time that the BBC has dealt with a Doctor Who leak. In 2014 a heavily watermarked and unfinished copy of Doctor Who <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/leaked-dr-who-episode-appears-on-the-pirate-bay-140714/">appeared on The Pirate Bay</a> months before the official premiere. </p>
<p>That was later followed by leaked scripts and episodes. The latter was not the work of skilled hackers, but rather the result of a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/doctor-who-enter-the-dalek-workprint-fully-leaks-online-140812/">catastrophic error</a> at a BBC office in Miami.</p>
<p>According to the court records, it&#8217;s not clear whether the subpoena against Microsoft has been issued. However, DMCA subpoenas are generally signed off by a court clerk without any oversight from a judge, so this should be relatively straightforward. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the BBC&#8217;s DMCA subpoena request is available <a href="media/8ac59ede.bbcwho.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bbcwho.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159421
title: Snapchat Source Code Leaked Then Taken Down From Github
uri: Snapchat-Source-Code-Leaked-Then-Taken-Down-From-Github
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SgK1M0WiN8M/
content:
<p><a href="media/d1fbe7c5.snapchat.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/snapchat.png"><img src="media/c7257e6b.snapchat.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/snapchat.png" alt="" width="250" height="240" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159472"></a>Many millions of DMCA notices are filed every week with the aim of reducing the amount of infringing content and links available online.</p>
<p>Most notices target the unauthorized sharing of movies, music, video games, and other entertainment media, but every now and again something more unusual is thrown into the mix.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s particularly true in respect of a DMCA notice that was recently filed with development platform Github. Sent by Snap Inc., it targets the unauthorized publication and distribution of Snapchat&#8217;s source code.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am [redacted] at Snap inc., owner of the leaked source code,&#8221; the <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/commit/7f359b0798e924363ac16910514b1f0e5a9d6fa1">notice</a> sent last week reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;[I]t was leaked and a user has put it in this Github repo. [T]here is no url to point to [detailing the original content] because Snap Inc. doesn&#8217;t publish it publicly.&#8221;</p>
<p>In common with all ostensibly valid DMCA claims, Github responded by completely removing the Github repository in question. The site will not restore it unless a valid counter-claim is filed by its owner but at this stage, that seems unlikely to happen.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/92f69018.snap-repo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/snap-repo.png"><img src="media/dfc6e5d4.snap-repo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/snap-repo.png" alt="" width="600" height="344" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159475"></a></center></p>
<p>It&#8217;s unknown how the Github user obtained Snapchat&#8217;s source code or what aspect of the service the code relates to. No details are provided in the complaint so everything from Android and iOS apps to other company assets remain a possibility.</p>
<p>What seems relatively clear is that the user (listed on Github as &#8216;i5xx&#8217;) created the repository for the purpose of uploading the code. Nothing else has been uploaded to the account, before or since.</p>
<p>In his profile, user &#8216;i5xx&#8217; claims to be from Tando Bago, which is a small village in Pakistan. The profile also links to a website which shares the same name as the user (<a href="https://i5xx.store">https://i5xx.store</a>). The site offers various phone programming services and what appears to be modified software, Snapchat included, while claiming a presence in Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>Nothing else is known about the uploader and at least as far as Snapchat is making it known, the only information the company has on this source code leaker is his Github name and website URL.</p>
<p>This is not the first time that a prominent technology company has had its source code leaked on Github. Back in February, it was <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a34g9j/iphone-source-code-iboot-ios-leak">reported</a> that Apple had filed a takedown notice with the site in response to the unauthorized uploading of source code for a core component of the iPhone’s operating system.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159540
title: Steal This Show S04E03: ‘Printing A New Reality’, with Cory Doctorow
uri: Steal-This-Show-S04E03-Printing-A-New-Reality-with-Cory-Doctor
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5Uc2z9Hvib4/
content:
<p><img src="media/d01749d9.stslogo180.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stslogo180.png" alt="" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-113928">Cory’s most recent book, Walkaway, is a story of refusing a life of surveillance and control under a high-tech oligarchy and the struggle to live in a post-scarcity gift economy where even death has been defeated.</p>
<p>Over this one hour plus interview we discuss:</p>
<p>&#8211; Whether file-sharing &#038; P2P communities have lost the battle to streaming services like Netflix and Spotify, and why the ‘copyfight’ is still important<br>
&#8211; How the European Copyright Directive eats at the fabric of the Web, making it even harder to compete with content giants<br>
&#8211; Why breaking up companies like Google and Facebook might be the only way to restore an internet — and a society — we can all live with.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><a href="https://stealthisshow.com">Steal This Show</a> aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing crypto, privacy, copyright and file-sharing developments. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary, and analysis. </p>
<p><strong>Host:</strong> Jamie King</p>
<p><strong>Guest:</strong> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Doctorow">Cory Doctorow</a></p>
<p><center><iframe width="100%" height="180px" src="//stealthisshow.com/?lpe-frame=1&#038;lpe-season=4&#038;lpe-episode=03" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p><strong><sup><em>If you enjoy this episode, consider becoming a patron and getting involved with the show. <a href="https://patreon.com/user?u=4275705">Check out Steal This Show&#8217;s Patreon campaign</a>: support us and get all kinds of&nbsp;fantastic benefits!</em></sup></strong></p>
<p><strong>Produced </strong> <em>by </em>Jamie King<br>
<strong>Edited &#038; Mixed</strong> <em>by</em> Lucas Marston<br>
<strong>Original Music</strong> <em>by</em> David Triana<br>
<strong>Web Production</strong> <em>by</em> Eric Barch</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159080
title: Wrongfully Accused ‘Pirate’ Wants $62,818 Compensation
uri: Wrongfully-Accused-Pirate-Wants-62-818-Compensation
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xbeOJak9NBE/
content:
<p><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977">For more than a decade, file-sharers around the world have been pressured to pay significant settlement fees, or face worse in court.</p>
<p>The practice is particularly common in the United States. While there is only a small group of independent companies involved, thousands of people are taken to court each year. </p>
<p>These efforts, often characterized as &#8220;copyright trolling,&#8221; share a familiar pattern. After the film companies acquire a subpoena to get the personal details of an alleged pirate, they contact this person with a settlement request. </p>
<p>These cases are not intended to go to trial, however. Instead, the copyright holders often drop their complaint when the accused person fights back. </p>
<p>This was the case when Darren Brinkley was sued in a Utah federal court last year. In a complaint filed by Criminal Productions, he and 31 others were accused of illegally sharing a copy of the movie <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3014866/">Criminal</a>. </p>
<p>Brinkley denied these claims and rejected the settlement offer but the film company still didn&#8217;t back off.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff persisted, forcing Defendant to retain counsel and incur significant attorneys’ fees and costs. Yet Plaintiff had no intention of litigating its claims,&#8221; Brinkley&#8217;s lawyers write. </p>
<p>&#8220;Rather, these filings are shameless efforts to extort inflated settlements from infringers and non-infringers alike.&#8221; </p>
<p>The above is quoted from a recent motion for attorney fees, because things changed significantly when Brinkley lawyered up. While Criminal Productions initially refused to let the case go, recently it voluntarily dismissed the case. </p>
<p>According to Brinkley&#8217;s lawyers, the film company dropped the case like a hot potato when it discovered that the defendant was attempting to look into its business.</p>
<p>&#8220;As expected, when Plaintiff realized a Motion to Compel discovery was in draft, Criminal sought voluntary dismissal of both its affirmative claims and Brinkley’s counterclaims, which this Court granted, with prejudice, on July 6, 2018.&#8221;</p>
<p>The dismissal came after nearly a year and all this time Criminal Productions failed to produce any evidence. The defense argues that, while the filmmakers had no intention to litigate the &#8220;baseless suit,&#8221; their client was forced to run up significant costs. </p>
<p>The same also happened in other cases, where so-called copyright trolls quickly bailed out when defense attorneys sought discovery. Brinkley&#8217;s attorneys see this as a typical example of &#8220;cut and run&#8221; litigation, and argue that Criminal Productions must  pay their client&#8217;s legal bill. </p>
<p>&#8220;These tactics should at minimum require that Defendant Brinkley be made whole for Plaintiff’s filing of litigation it clearly had no intention of pursuing and that may have had no basis in the first instance. This is the very definition of &#8216;cut and run&#8217; litigation,&#8221; the motion reads. </p>
<p>The defendant requests compensation for the attorneys&#8217; fees and costs to the tune of $62,818.35, providing a detailed accounting of the costs it made. </p>
<p><center><strong>Fees and costs</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/c0288ff4.fees.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fees.png" alt="" width="600" height="182" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159498"></center></p>
<p>This request is warranted and not unprecedented, the defense team states, pointing to a recent order in the District of Nevada where a defendant was awarded more than $48,000 compensation in a similar case filed by this same movie outfit.</p>
<p>Finally, the attorneys add that they see this case being part of the larger &#8220;BitTorrent litigation model,&#8221; noting that Criminal Productions had no basis for the lawsuit. </p>
<p>Companies such as Criminal Productions are “special purpose entities” (SPE) which are allegedly used to shield the true beneficiaries. The lawsuits are presumably being run by the German investigating firm Guardaley and the lawyers.</p>
<p>In a separate testimony, defense attorney Lisa Clay writes that Guardaley and the lawyers are the ones that benefit financially from these cases.</p>
<p>&#8220;In short, if this case had continued, Defendant is confident it would have established that Plaintiff lacked a good faith basis for its filing in the first instance, and that the claims were brought in bad faith,&#8221; the motion concludes.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the motion for attorneys&#8217; fees and costs is available <a href="media/fb21d401.brinkley-1.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/brinkley-1.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159547
title: Vodafone Blocks Libgen Following Elsevier, Springer & Macmillan Injunction
uri: Vodafone-Blocks-Libgen-Following-Elsevier-Springer-Macmillan-Injunc
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mRSDXAAQiPo/
content:
<p><a href="media/346fe9c0.libgen2.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/libgen2.png"><img src="media/b5a2f407.libgen2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/libgen2.png" alt="" width="250" height="119" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159558"></a>While mainstream sharing of movies, TV shows, video games, software and eBooks grabs the most headlines, there&#8217;s an area of unlawful content consumption that is in some ways more controversial.</p>
<p>Most top academic articles are published in journals that can only be accessed legally through expensive paywalls. This means that those who wish to be enriched by that knowledge must pay for the privilege. That doesn&#8217;t sit well with those who believe that free access to information is a positive for the planet.</p>
<p>One of the sites that has continuously challenged the notion that knowledge should be available at a price is the Library Genesis project. More commonly known as Libgen, the site has torn up the rule book by hosting pirated copies of scientific publications and other books, offering them to the public for free.</p>
<p>For many, Libgen is offering a great service to people hungry for knowledge but for the major publishers that have a huge financial reliance on access fees, it&#8217;s a pirate site that needs to be stopped, just like any other. Publishers, notably Elsevier, have had the platform in their crosshairs for some time.</p>
<p>This week, Germany-based publication <a href="https://tarnkappe.info">Tarnkappe</a> discovered that local access to Libgen appears to have been limited. Users of Vodafone told the publication that attempts to access the site via gen.lib.rus.ec and the newer libgen.io domains were proving fruitless.</p>
<p>Those who try to access the site via its regular domains are met with the following message (translated into English).</p>
<p><center><a href="media/d6f4a427.voda-libgen.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/voda-libgen.png"><img src="media/a28d4740.voda-libgen.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/voda-libgen.png" alt="" width="600" height="205" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159568"></a></center></p>
<p>After contacting the ISP, Tarnkappe was informed that Vodafone is indeed blocking subscriber access to Libgen. The service provider says it is complying with instructions handed down by a local court.</p>
<p>&#8220;Due to a temporary injunction issued by various scientific publishers, Elsevier, Springer and Macmillan, which was issued by the Munich Regional Court on 18 July 2018, Vodafone has been requested to immediately implement a network ban,&#8221; Vodafone spokesperson Heike Koring <a href="https://tarnkappe.info/vodafone-muss-library-genesis-sperren/">explained</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The preliminary injunction deals with the copyright claims of scientific publishers that have been infringed by third parties. The block was implemented by Vodafone.&#8221;</p>
<p>At this stage, it&#8217;s unclear whether the ISP blockade is limited to Vodafone or whether other ISPs will be required to block Libgen in due course. Copyright holders believe that blockades are more effective when they&#8217;re applied across many service providers so the prospect of an expansion to additional ISPs is likely.</p>
<p>Elsevier&#8217;s problems with Libgen date back many years. In June 2015, the billion-dollar publisher <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/elsevier-cracks-down-on-pirated-scientific-articles-150609/">filed a complaint</a> at a New York District Court, hoping to shut down the project. The site <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/libgen-goes-down-as-legal-pressure-mounts-150622/">went down</a> shortly after but the absence was only temporary.</p>
<p>Just a few short months later in November 2015, the Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-shutdown-of-libgen-bookfi-and-sci-hub-151102/">granted Elsevier&#8217;s request</a> for a preliminary injunction against Libgen and several other similar sites including Sci-Hub.org, Bookfi.org, and Elibgen.org.</p>
<p>After initially disappearing, the game of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-and-libgen-resurface-after-being-shut-down-151121/">site whac-a-mole began</a>, with the sites fighting back with multiple domain switches and other evasion techniques.</p>
<p>In June 2017, Libgen and Sci-Hub were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-ordered-to-pay-15-million-in-piracy-damages-170623/">ordered to pay millions of dollars</a> in damages to Elsevier after a New York District Court granted the publisher&#8217;s request for a $15 million default judgment. The judgment doesn&#8217;t appear to have made much difference on the ground though, with both sites still going strong.</p>
<p>Blocking of pirate sites is in its infancy in Germany. In 2015 the Supreme Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/supreme-court-opens-door-for-pirate-site-blockades-in-germany-151126/">ruled</a> that ISPs can be required to block pirate websites if copyright holders fail to identify their operators or hosting providers.</p>
<p>However, it took until February 2018 for the first blockade to be put in place. Following a complaint from a German movie distribution company, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-site-blockades-enter-germany-with-kinox-to-as-first-target-180213/">Vodafone was ordered</a> to block subscribers from accessing the popular pirate streaming portal Kinox.to.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159504
title: P2P Piracy Is Alive and Growing, Research Suggests
uri: P2P-Piracy-Is-Alive-and-Growing-Research-Suggests
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_n8UVHDiKbE/
content:
<p><img src="media/347bc784.irdetowebb.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/irdetowebb.jpg" alt="" width="280" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159560">In recent years Hollywood and other entertainment sources have focused their enforcement efforts on pirate streaming sites and services. </p>
<p>According to several reports, streaming sites get more traffic than their P2P counterparts, with the latter being almost exclusively BitTorrent related. </p>
<p>While the rise of online streaming sites can&#8217;t be denied, a new research report from anti-piracy outfit <a href="https://irdeto.com/">Irdeto</a> shows that P2P remains very relevant. In fact, it&#8217;s still the dominant piracy tool in many countries. </p>
<p>Irdeto researched site traffic data provided by an unnamed web analytics partner. The sample covers web traffic to 962 piracy sites in 19 countries where P2P was most used. This makes it possible to see how P2P site visits compare to those of pirate streaming sites.</p>
<p>The data reveal that there are massive differences in the relative use of P2P versus streaming sites between countries. </p>
<p>In Russia, for example, only 2% of the visits go to streaming sites, while the rest of the traffic goes to P2P portals. P2P also outperforms streaming in other countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, and India. </p>
<p>This pattern is reversed in Germany, where 88% of all visits go to pirate streaming sites. Similarly, streaming is also the dominant web piracy tool in the United States, France, Spain and other countries.</p>
<p>Additional research in eight countries shows that piracy traffic has grown during the course of 2017. This growth also applies to P2P sites, in all but one country, Germany. </p>
<p>Looking at the sample as a whole, Iredeto notes that 70% of all pirate traffic goes to P2P sites, which appears to run counter to the popular narrative that streaming is more dominant today.</p>
<p>“While many expect P2P piracy to be taken over by streaming and direct downloads, it’s clear that this has not happened yet. P2P piracy is still a big threat to the industry, in which the overall piracy problem is growing,” Peter Cossack, Irdeto&#8217;s VP of Cybersecurity Services says. </p>
<p>“While the increase in bandwidth and social media has facilitated growth in content redistribution piracy, particularly around live sporting events, it is clear that other forms of piracy are not going away any time soon.”</p>
<p><center><strong>Irdeto&#8217;s non-weighed data</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/1522d06e.irdetovisits.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/irdetovisits.jpg" alt="" width="455" height="506" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159562"></center></p>
<p>While the data provide an interesting look at the regional differences it should be interpreted with caution. First, the sample only includes desktop visits. This might be a problem since streaming sites are arguably more popular on mobile platforms.</p>
<p>Also, the 19 countries were selected because they had the highest number of P2P downloads. That&#8217;s a significant selection bias that favors P2P sites. </p>
<p>Finally, and perhaps more problematically, the traffic data are not weighed. For example, nearly half of all visits in the sample come from Russia, which is significantly overrepresented. </p>
<p>That means that visits can&#8217;t simply be added to draw overall conclusions, something Iredto seems to do.  </p>
<p>The company does make a few solid points though. With an estimated 800 million global monthly downloads from P2P sites in 2017, BitTorrent should not be disregarded. </p>
<p>The report also notes that P2P sites are mostly visited by “committed pirates” who don&#8217;t use legal streaming sites, while about half of the visits to pirate streaming are from &#8220;casual pirates.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, Irdeto points out that P2P sites are &#8216;content&#8217; suppliers too. They often act as a source for streaming sites. In other words, the videos people watch on streaming portals were taken from P2P sources, which underlines that these play a vital role in the piracy ecosystem. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Irdeto&#8217;s report is <a href="https://irdeto.com/news/global-movie-and-tv-piracy-on-the-rise-as-web-video-piracy-growth-adds-to-peer-to-peer-piracy.html">available here</a>. We asked the company several questions about the methodological issues we found, but at the time of writing we haven&#8217;t heard back.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159623
title: Nintendo ROM Fallout: EmuParadise Terminates All Game Downloads
uri: Nintendo-ROM-Fallout-EmuParadise-Terminates-All-Game-Downloads
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YchMZpBmPls/
content:
<p><a href="media/a3b5c7db.eplogo-tag-e1533749765720.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eplogo-tag-e1533749765720.jpg"><img src="media/a3b5c7db.eplogo-tag-e1533749765720.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eplogo-tag-e1533749765720.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="127" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159642"></a>Retro gaming is a pastime and passion for countless thousands of nostalgia freaks all over the world but for gaming giant Nintendo, it&#8217;s a huge problem &#8211; apparently.</p>
<p>Last month, the Japanese company flexed its muscles by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-sues-console-rom-sites-for-mass-copyright-infringement-180720/">filing a complaint</a> at a federal court in Arizona, targeting LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co for copyright and trademark infringement.</p>
<p>The sites, believed to be operated by Jacob Mathias and his company Mathias Designs LLC, offered access to a wide variety of ROMs, including those relating to many Nintendo games.</p>
<p>“The LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites are among the most open and notorious online hubs for pirated video games,” Nintendo wrote in its complaint.</p>
<p>“Through the LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites, Defendants reproduce, distribute, publicly perform and display a staggering number of unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video games, all without Nintendo’s permission.”</p>
<p>Both sites are currently down and displaying messages indicating they probably won&#8217;t be back. This development was met with disappointment from the emulator community but now there&#8217;s the inevitable problem of fallout and yet more bad news for retro fans.</p>
<p>In an announcement Wednesday, <a href="https://www.emuparadise.me">EmuParadise</a>, one of the web&#8217;s longest standing emulator and ROM download portals, revealed that it will no longer be offering game ROMs for download. The news came in a heartfelt announcement by its founder MasJ, who explained that he&#8217;d pumped nearly two decades of his life into the project.</p>
<p>&#8220;Many of you are aware that the situation with regards to emulation sites has been changing recently. What you probably don&#8217;t know is that we at EmuParadise have been dealing with similar issues for all 18 years of our existence,&#8221; he wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;From receiving threatening letters in the early days to our hosts suddenly shutting down our servers due to complaints, we&#8217;ve seen it all. We&#8217;ve always complied with takedown requests but as you can see, that is no guarantee of anything.&#8221;</p>
<p>MasJ says that having grown up in India, he never got to play any retro games. However, his love for the genre meant that he wanted others to join in, something which led to the creation of EmuParadise and the building of a like-minded team around the platform.</p>
<p>While the legal eagles out there might argue that ROM sites are illegal, this clinical view mostly fails to factor in the allure of retro games &#8211; many of them abandoned, many long forgotten &#8211; and the passion they generate among the faithful. MasJ highlights some of the feedback he&#8217;s had over the years and how people have been positively affected by his site.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve received thousands of emails from people telling us how happy they&#8217;ve been to rediscover and even share their childhood with the next generations in their families,&#8221; he writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve had emails from soldiers at war saying that the only way they got through their days was to be lost in the retro games that they played from when they were children. We&#8217;ve got emails from brothers who have lost their siblings to cancer and were able to find solace in playing the games they once did as children. There are countless stories like these.&#8221;</p>
<p>But now, thanks to gaming giants choosing to protect often decades-old games that a minority play, the ride at EmuParadise is over. MasJ says that despite his passion for retro gaming, he&#8217;s not prepared to risk the futures of his team members by continuing.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not worth it for us to risk potentially disastrous consequences. I cannot in good conscience risk the futures of our team members who have contributed to the site through the years,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Thus, we have decided to make a new start. We will continue to be passionate retro gamers and will keep doing cool stuff around retro games. But you won&#8217;t be able to get your games from here for now.&#8221;</p>
<p>There are still plenty of reasons to visit EmuParadise, not least the buzzing community that has grown with it over the past 18 years. And of course, many site members will undoubtedly have every game EmuParadise ever had, squirreled away somewhere, waiting for that inevitable rainy day.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159655
title: Aussie Pirates Consume More, Site Blocking or Not
uri: Aussie-Pirates-Consume-More-Site-Blocking-or-Not
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nE-HSUdM9k0/
content:
<p><img src="media/a70e19c9.pageblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147564" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg 275w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px">In recent years, entertainment industry insiders have often portrayed Australia as a piracy-ridden country. </p>
<p>To see if these statements hold true, the Government conducts annual consumer surveys to study local piracy habits. In recent years, this has revealed a steady decline in piracy.</p>
<p>The latest online copyright infringement report, <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/departmental-news/new-online-copyright-research-released-2018">released</a> this week, shows that there&#8217;s been a decrease in the number of people who consume music, movies, and TV shows illegally, compared to the year before. </p>
<p>The only category where the percentage of pirates has increased is games, but the overall trend is clearly downward. In 2018, two-thirds of all Aussies consumed content through legal channels, compared to 57% three years ago.</p>
<p><center><strong>Lawful, unlawful or both?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/08ff1ad7.habitschange1-e1533803210288.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/habitschange1-e1533803210288.png" alt="" width="600" height="264" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159662"></center></p>
<p>Interestingly, this pattern doesn&#8217;t automatically translate to higher spending. In fact, those who pirate and buy tend to spend much more on average, compared to those who purchase content 100% legally. </p>
<p>This is consistent with previous research indicating that &#8220;hybrid&#8221; consumers (who pirate and buy) are bringing in the most money, probably because they are the most content-hungry consumers.</p>
<p>Also, while fewer Aussies are pirating in 2018, they&#8217;re pirating more. The volume of illegally consumed digital content has grown across all measured categories, which includes music, games, movies, and TV shows. </p>
<p>&#8220;When the proportion of lawful and unlawful digital consumption is applied across the Australian population, it can be seen that the proportion of unlawful consumption has increased across all four content types from 2017 to 2018,&#8221; the Government concludes.</p>
<p>In other words, there are less Aussie pirates, but they&#8217;re pirating more.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/84f10223.piratevolume.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratevolume.png" alt="" width="729" height="391" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159675"> </center></p>
<p>Another noteworthy finding deals with the recent pirate site blockades ordered by Australian courts. The entertainment industry argues that these will decrease piracy, and the report appears to back this up. </p>
<p>Of all respondents, only 7% say they will bypass a blocked site if they encounter one. An impressive statistic, but also very misleading.  </p>
<p><center><strong>Blocking response</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/87990589.blockresp-e1533803269708.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blockresp-e1533803269708.png" alt="" width="600" height="338" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159663"></center></p>
<p>The 7% refers to all the people that were questioned. This also includes the 76% that don&#8217;t use pirate sites at all, who obviously have little reason to bypass a blockade. In addition, the graphic also leaves out the 10% who would find alternative pirate services.</p>
<p>In other words, of ALL respondents, 17% would continue to pirate. This is quite significant, considering that little over 23% of all respondents are pirates.</p>
<p>Finally, it&#8217;s worth looking at how Aussies would plan to bypass a blocked site. Among those who said they would, 30% would go for a VPN while 21% would opt for proxy sites. Google Translate, surprisingly, is the third most favored option with 15%. </p>
<p>Whether these people will actually do this remains to be seen. The survey also asked those who encountered a blockade what their response was, and less than 1% said they&#8217;d bypass the block. Finding other pirate sources was a more popular option.</p>
<p>All in all the report provides a good overview of recent media consumption trends, particularly where they apply to piracy. It shows that, increasingly, Australians are transforming into legal customers. The blocking efforts are somewhat effective as well, even though total piracy volumes have increased. </p>
<p>Blocking aside, it appears that a lot of progress can still be made on the supply side. Most pirates indicate that they would stop if lawful services were cheaper, if the content they&#8217;re interested in is available legally, and if legal services were better.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159478
title: Google Boots Open Source Anti-Censorship Tool From Chrome Store
uri: Google-Boots-Open-Source-Anti-Censorship-Tool-From-Chrome-Store
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lD9KLM8ls6E/
content:
<p><a href="media/7dabb3f0.censored.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/censored.jpg"><img src="media/f05b8357.censored.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/censored.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="173" class="alignright size-full wp-image-35000"></a>Last December, TF reported on <a href="https://sitesbloqueados.pt/">SitesBloqueados</a> (Blocked Sites) a web portal run by Revolução dos Bytes (Bytes’ Revolution), a group of anti-censorship activists in Portugal.</p>
<p>Internet censorship is common in the country, with more than 1,700 sites banned from regular Internet access for reasons ranging from copyright to gambling. The process does not require intervention from the courts so Revolução dos Bytes decided to keep an eye on things with its Ahoy! Chrome and Firefox extension.</p>
<p>“Ahoy! basically bypasses any traffic to a blocked site through our own proxies, allowing the users to navigate in a free, uncensored internet,” team member Henrique Mouta <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/massive-site-blocking-measures-countered-by-100k-browser-addon-users-171231/">previously told TF</a>.</p>
<p>Not only is Ahoy! able to unblock sites, it can also detect newly blocked domains and feed information back, so that its unblocking abilities are always up to date. </p>
<p>Things had been going well. After servicing 100,000 users last December, Ahoy! grew to almost 185,000 users this year. However, progress and indeed the project itself is now under threat after arbitrary action by Google.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google decided to remove us from Chrome&#8217;s Web Store without any justification&#8221;, Henrique informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;We always make sure our code is high quality, secure and 100% free (as in beer and as in freedom). All the source code is open source. And we&#8217;re pretty sure we never broke any of the Google&#8217;s marketplace rules.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Users being to plumment after Google takedown</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/images/u0uiqvk4-e1533885511495.bmp"><img src="http://torrentfreak.com/images/u0uiqvk4-e1533885511495.bmp" alt="" width="600" height="135" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159711"></a></center></p>
<p>Henrique says he&#8217;s tried to reach out to Google but finding someone to help has proven impossible. Even re-submitting Ahoy! to Google from scratch hasn&#8217;t helped the situation.</p>
<p>&#8220;I tried and resubmitted the plugin but it was refused after a few hours and without any justification,&#8221; Henrique says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google never reached us or notified us about the removal from Chrome Web Store. We never got a single email justifying what happened, why have we been removed from the store, or/and what are we breaching and how can we fix it.&#8221;</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Google asking why this anti-censorship tool has been removed from its Chrome store. Despite multiple requests, the search giant failed to respond to us or the Ahoy! team.</p>
<p>The negative effect on the project following removal by Google has been swift. Before the takedown, Ahoy! had around 185,000 users with around 500 installations per day. That progress has now been reversed.</p>
<p>&#8220;Right now, we have 174k active users on Chrome, quickly dropping (around 500 each day). We are being contacted every day by our users asking where they can now download the Chrome version, and asking what happened. I can tell you that we&#8217;ve noticed a web traffic drop on our API of about ~25%,&#8221; Henrique says.</p>
<p>Whatever problem Google has with the Chrome version of Ahoy!, the same cannot be said of its Firefox variant. The extension is <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/pt-PT/firefox/addon/ahoy/?src=recommended">living happily</a> on that platform and no ToS breach has been advised.</p>
<p>That seems to suggest the team has done little wrong but with Google refusing to provide an explanation, they have no chance of fixing an issue, if one exists.</p>
<p>&#8220;The source code is 100% <a href="https://github.com/revolucaodosbytes/ahoy-chrome">open source</a>, so it&#8217;s easy to see that we&#8217;re not doing anything sketchy, we really care about our users&#8217; privacy and security. If we&#8217;re doing something wrong, we don&#8217;t know what,&#8221; Henrique complains.</p>
<p>The issue is critical, not least since 98% of Ahoy! users access it via Chrome. So, until Google provides some kind of explanation, Chrome users will have to install the extension manually via a <a href="https://download.ahoy.pro/">new site</a> set up for the purpose.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have many users asking what happened and how can they download this extension [from the Chrome Store] and I have no answers for them. We&#8217;re losing our user base every day, and if we don&#8217;t find a solution our project will probably die,&#8221; Henrique concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159200
title: The Pirate Bay Turns 15 Years Old
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-Turns-15-Years-Old
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Z0jqexos6S4/
content:
<p><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470">Todayish, The Pirate Bay turns 15 years old, which is quite an achievement considering the immense legal pressure it has faced over the years.</p>
<p>While the exact launch date is a bit of a mystery, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-celebrates-5th-anniversary-081126/">even to the site&#8217;s founders</a>, August 10 was previously <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-turns-10-years-old-the-history-130810/">chosen</a> as its anniversary.</p>
<p>What we do know is that the site was brought online in 2003 by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-founding-group-piratbyran-disbands-100623/">now-disbanded</a> pro-culture organization Piratbyrån, which is Swedish for Bureau of Piracy.</p>
<p>The group was formed by political activists and hackers in the same year, many of whom had already launched other web projects challenging political, moral, and power structures.</p>
<p>One of the group’s unwritten goals was to offer a counterweight to the propaganda being spread by local anti-piracy outfit Antpiratbyrån. With BitTorrent as the up-and-coming file-sharing technology, they saw fit to start their own file-sharing site to promote sharing of information.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay first came online in Mexico where Gottfrid Svartholm, aka Anakata, hosted the site on a server owned by the company he was working for at the time. </p>
<p>After a few months, the site moved to Sweden where it was hosted on a Pentium III 1GHz laptop with 256MB RAM. This one machine, which belonged to Fredrik Neij, aka TiAMO, kept the site online and included a fully operational tracker.</p>
<p><center><strong>The Pirate Bay server</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/fb95ff8d.tpb-laptop1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-laptop1.jpg" alt="tpb classic"></center></p>
<p>The original idea of Piratbyrån was to create the first public file-sharing network in Sweden, but in the years that followed the site grew out to become a global file-sharing icon.</p>
<p>While The Pirate Bay team was proud of this success, it was not without consequence. Initially, various takedown messages from copyright holders were met with mocking responses, but the legal pressure became a heavy burden. </p>
<p>Behind the scenes, the US Government applied <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/how-the-us-pushed-sweden-to-take-down-the-pirate-bay-171212/">pressure on Sweden</a>, urging the country do something about the taunting pirate site. At the same time, the site&#8217;s founders noticed that they were being shadowed by private investigators, who smelled blood. </p>
<p>The pressure eventually reached its first peak when The Pirate Bay&#8217;s infrastructure was raided. </p>
<p>May 31, 2006, less than three years after The Pirate Bay was founded, 65 Swedish police officers <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-piratebay-is-down-raided-by-the-swedish-police/">entered a datacenter</a> in Stockholm. The policemen had instructions to shut down the Pirate Bay&#8217;s servers, which was exactly what happened.</p>
<p><center><strong>Footage from The Pirate Bay raid</strong><br></br></center><center><iframe width="600" height="450" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/30HF-m_I6yY?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Just as the raid was about to go down, Gottfrid noticed that something was up. He warned Fredrik who, as a precaution, decided to make a backup. This turned out to be a pivotal moment in the site&#8217;s history. Because of this backup, Fredrik and the rest of the Pirate Bay team managed to resurrect the site within three days.</p>
<p>The swift and deviant comeback turned the site&#8217;s founders into heroes for many. The site made headline news around the world and in Stockholm, people were waving pirate flags in the streets, a sentiment that benefited the newly founded Pirate Party as well. </p>
<p>There was also a major downside, however. The raid was the start of a criminal investigation, which led to a trial, and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-prison-sentences-final-supreme-court-appeal-rejected-120201/">prison sentences</a> for several of the site&#8217;s founders.</p>
<p>This became another turning point. Many of the early Piratbyrån members cut their ties with the site, which was handed over to a more anonymous group. </p>
<p>The outspokenness of the early years eventually gave way to the silent treatment. While the site&#8217;s moderators are easy to reach nowadays, the people who pull the strings at the top remain behind the scenes at all times. </p>
<p>This was made quite obvious when the site disappeared for weeks following another raid at a Stockholm datacenter <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">in 2014</a>. At the time, even the site&#8217;s staffers had no idea what was going on.</p>
<p>The site did eventually return though. And today, fifteen years after it first came online, the site remains one of the top pirate sources. </p>
<p>While the site hasn&#8217;t changed its looks in recent years, in many ways it&#8217;s an entirely different animal than it once was. The activist attitude is pretty much gone and there are few public updates. </p>
<p>Today&#8217;s &#8216;anniversary&#8217; isn&#8217;t even mentioned&#8230;</p>
<p>That said, The Pirate Bay isn&#8217;t going away anytime soon. While it has regularly suffered downtime over the past several years, it keeps coming back, serving torrents to millions of users every day.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159184
title: Bizarre DMCA Takedown Requests Censor EU ‘Censorship’ News
uri: Bizarre-DMCA-Takedown-Requests-Censor-EU-Censorship-News
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/d5UdldsJcKM/
content:
<p><img src="media/7fb31033.censored-china.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/censored-china.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="191" class="alignright size-full wp-image-153780">Last week we reported how <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/impostors-manipulate-google-fake-takedown-request-180805/">impostors abuse the DMCA takedown process</a> to punish rival pirate sites. </p>
<p>Just when we thought we&#8217;d seen it all, an even more bizarre collection of takedown requests appeared. </p>
<p>This time our very own publication is a target, along with several other sites that cover censorship related news and developments. </p>
<p>At the center of the matter is the reporting agency &#8220;<a href="http://toppletrack.com/">Topple Track</a>&#8220;. In a series of takedown requests, the company targets a broad selection of perfectly legitimate sites, sites that have nothing to do with the content for which the notice is sent. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/16954705">this request</a> was sent to Google on behalf of Melbourne artist Gamble Breaux, supposedly listing sites that linked to infringing copies of her song This Time.</p>
<p>However, most, if not all of the links in the notice are completely unrelated. This includes <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popular-torrent-and-streaming-sites-blocked-in-denmark-150327/">our article</a> on pirate site blocks in Denmark, and a Danish news report on the rise of <a href="https://politiken.dk/kultur/filmogtv/art5576491/Flere-streamer-ulovligt-tv-og-film">illegal streaming</a>.</p>
<p><center><strong>Sigh&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/5ae7aa2d.bizarrecensor.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bizarrecensor.png" alt="" width="600" height="537" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159772"></center></p>
<p>Even more bizarrely, perhaps, the same notice also lists several articles about the EU &#8220;upload filter&#8221; and &#8220;link tax&#8221; proposals.</p>
<p>This includes the Savethelink.org <a href="https://savethelink.org/me">campaign site</a>, this article from <a href="https://boingboing.net/2018/06/18/licensing-news.html">Boing Boing</a>, as well as an article from the German news site <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/leistungsschutzrecht-fuer-presseverleger-so-ein-quatschgesetz-a-1212697.html">Der Spiegel</a>, and a post from law firm <a href="https://www.wbs-law.de/urheberrecht/eu-abstimmung-morgen-drohen-bald-upload-filter-und-gebuehren-fuer-links-77566/">Wilde Beuger Solmecke</a>.</p>
<p>Worryingly, the same notice also lists an <a href="https://juliareda.eu/2018/05/censorship-machines-link-tax-finish-line/">article</a> from EU Member of Parliament Julia Reda, which Google has indeed removed from its index. </p>
<p><center><strong>Reda&#8217;s article, gone</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/75c43dad.redsgone.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/redsgone.png" alt="" width="650" height="164" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159775"></center></p>
<p>It can hardly be a coincidence that a DMCA notice for a random music track lists so many &#8220;censorship&#8221; related articles. Especially when it only includes 23 URLs. There&#8217;s some bittersweet irony in there too.</p>
<p>Thus far we only have discussed one takedown notice but there are many more. Digital Rights Group EFF <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/08/topple-track-attacks-eff-and-others-outrageous-dmca-notices">noticed this too</a>, as they themselves are among the targeted sites. </p>
<p>The Topple Track DMCA request where EFF is mentioned has another theme though. Instead of a EU censorship focus, it lists a <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/16954773">variety of pages and articles</a> related to the MP3Tunes case, including this piece <a href="http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2016/11/what-second-circuit-just-got-wrong-about-dmca-emi-v-mp3tunes">from Stanford</a>.</p>
<p>Yet another takedown notice has a <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/16954740">&#8220;YouTube&#8221; theme</a>, targeting various non-infringing news reports from sites such as The Verge, Chip.de, CNET, Ubergizmo, Wikihow and various others. Even the US Government&#8217;s FCC <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/16954649">isn&#8217;t safe</a> from Topple Track&#8217;s notices. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out Topple Track for a comment on the findings. The reporting company admitted that there may have been some inaccurate filings and offered an apology. </p>
<p>&#8220;We will issue retractions for everything affecting your brand and website and will further reach out to EFF.org as well to explain and issue retractions for all links sent there as well. We apologize for how this may have affected you and others,&#8221; the company said.  </p>
<p>The company has put its service in maintenance mode to ensure everything is solved and rectified. After that, they will decide how to move forward.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s clear that mistakes were made, we have to give the company credit for taking responsibility. Hopefully, this will also help to prevent similar issues in the future.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159647
title: Demonoid’s Torrents and Owner Are Missing in Action
uri: Demonoid-s-Torrents-and-Owner-Are-Missing-in-Action
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6s9HCLCQATQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/a6e16bbf.demonoidlargnew-e1504614957760.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/demonoidlargnew-e1504614957760.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-144142">As one of the oldest torrent communities online, the <a href="https://www.demonoid.pw/">Demonoid</a> tracker has gone though many ups and downs.</p>
<p>The site has suffered long stretches of downtime, faced legal threats, dealt with internal struggles, but survived nonetheless.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the tracker processed its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-surpasses-10-million-user-registrations-180325/">ten millionth</a> user registration. Things were relatively calm and the original founder, Deimos, was back in charge, working on several improvements. </p>
<p>“I want to to see the community we had back. Don’t know if it’s possible but that’s my aim,” Deimos <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-hopes-to-return-to-its-former-glory-170910/">told us</a> last year when the site started to recover from a long stint of downtime.</p>
<p>The community indeed started to grow again, but roughly a week ago Demonoid ran into what appears to be a technical issue. Suddenly, the torrents started to &#8216;disappear&#8217; from the site. </p>
<p>Instead of seeing the usual flood of fresh content, users saw a &#8220;no torrents found&#8221; message.</p>
<p></center><center><img src="media/d1ea7be6.notorrents1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/notorrents1.png" alt="" width="433" height="33" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159733"></center></p>
<p>Strangely enough, the top torrents list is working normally. Also, torrents may occasionally appear and disappear after several refreshes, as shown <a href="media/f136a085.demonback.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/demonback.png">here</a>, but there&#8217;s clearly something wrong. </p>
<p>While this could be a relatively simple database issue, there&#8217;s a more serious concern. It&#8217;s not just the torrents that are missing in action, Deimos is also unreachable, even for members of the site&#8217;s staff.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Deimos is nowhere to be found for the last few days and I can&#8217;t reach him,&#8221; Demonoid staffer Phaze1G says, noting that it&#8217;s a major problem. </p>
<p>Phaze1G says he last spoke to Deimos over a week ago and hasn&#8217;t been able to get a hold of him since. Demonoid&#8217;s founder was dealing with some personal issues and a business trip, but the lack of communication is unusual. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak also reached out to Deimos a few days ago through our usual channel, but we haven&#8217;t heard back since.</p>
<p>While there&#8217;s reason for concern, without more information, there&#8217;s no reason to panic. Phaze1G informs us that all torrents are still showing up in the test version of the new design, so they&#8217;re on the servers somewhere. </p>
<p>This means that there&#8217;s likely a small issue that needs to be fixed. However, Deimos is the only person with server-side access, so people must wait for his return. Meanwhile, Phaze1G cautions users not to spread any wild rumors.</p>
<p>&#8220;The site is not hacked, stolen, compromised, FBI / CIA conspiracy, and so on,&#8221; he <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/DemonoidP2P/comments/9505cr/no_torrents_found/">notes</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159586
title: Kodi Addon Repo Operator Shuts Down Following Threats from BREIN
uri: Kodi-Addon-Repo-Operator-Shuts-Down-Following-Threats-from-BREIN
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DOcGCpUqH78/
content:
<p><a href="media/13c1e1a2.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png"><img src="media/8aa05985.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png" alt="" width="256" height="256" class="alignright size-full wp-image-144339"></a>As the battle to prevent unauthorized content getting into the hands of the masses continues, Kodi remains one of the leading platforms for such consumption.</p>
<p>Completely legal as it leaves its official download platform, the Kodi software is easily modified to provide access to pirated movies, TV shows, and live sports. From here on in, usage of such a setup to infringe copyright is illegal in Europe.</p>
<p>With this established, anti-piracy outfit BREIN has been attempting to stem the tide of platforms offering &#8216;pirate&#8217; addons in the Netherlands. One of those was XvBMC-NL, a repository which contained addons including the hugely popular Covenant and live TV addon IPTV Bonanza.</p>
<p>According to a report by BREIN, last month the Dutch developer and administrator of XvBMC-NL received an unwelcome visit to his home by bailiffs sent by the anti-piracy group. BREIN hasn&#8217;t made the precise contents of its message to &#8216;Z&#8217; known but it&#8217;s clear that it views his work as illegal and contrary to copyright law. The developer shut down soon after.</p>
<p><center><b>Convenant as offered by XvBMC</b><a href="media/545b68a2.covenant-xvbmc.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/covenant-xvbmc.png"><img src="media/8c98dfbe.covenant-xvbmc.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/covenant-xvbmc.png" alt="" width="600" height="252" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159604" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/covenant-xvbmc.png 600w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/covenant-xvbmc-500x210.png 500w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;At the end of July, the Dutch developer/administrator Z stopped his Kodi repository XvBMC-NL after the bailiff delivered a summons from BREIN to his home address,&#8221; BREIN explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Facebook and Github sites [relating to XvBMC-NL] state that the closure is &#8216;on the order of BREIN&#8217;. The administrator made an infringement because his repository contained add-ons with access to illegal offerings of films, series, pay channels (including IPTV Bonanza and Covenant) and music.&#8221;</p>
<p>At the time of writing, XvBMC-NL&#8217;s Facebook page is down and its <a href="https://github.com/XvBMC/repository.xvbmc">Github repository</a> carries no mention of BREIN.	</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8216;XvBMC Netherlands&#8217; has decided to shut down this page and lock it (as of 26-07-2018). Also the &#8216;XvBMC Repository&#8217; is also offline, or emptied so that it will no longer be usable,&#8221; it reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;The &#8216;repo&#8217; will only be retained to prevent hijacking in and under our name, in order to prevent possible abuses.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><b>IPTV Bonanza</b><a href="media/09901e0a.iptv-bonanza.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv-bonanza.png"><img src="media/1ecc5693.iptv-bonanza.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv-bonanza.png" alt="" width="600" height="286" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159603"></a></center></p>
<p>While there is no mention of BREIN now, that hasn&#8217;t always been the case. According to a cached copy obtained from Google, the repository&#8217;s Github page previously indicated it had been shut down following BREIN action.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/32caf883.xvbmc-github.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/xvbmc-github.png"><img src="media/387c4dbf.xvbmc-github.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/xvbmc-github.png" alt="" width="600" height="412" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-159597"></a></center></p>
<p>Many addon developers and operators of repositories insist that what they do is legal. They do not place any illegal content online themselves and do not take part in the actual transfer of illegal content among their users.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a stance previously taken by XvBMC-NL but not one that stands up when faced with more recent rulings handed down by Europe&#8217;s highest court, BREIN notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Court of Justice of the EU ruled in its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/selling-piracy-configured-media-players-is-illegal-eu-court-rules-170426/">Filmspeler judgment</a> of 26 April 2017 that the provision of pre-programmed software, such as Kodi with add-ons, infringes copyright if it provides access to unauthorized sources on the Internet,&#8221; BREIN writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;This was the case with the XvBMC repository through add-ons with links to illegal streams and channels. Due to his management of the repository, the manager was aware of this.&#8221;</p>
<p>Supplying addons in the knowledge that they provide access to illicit content is an important piece of the puzzle but as BREIN points out, under EU law the addons themselves are also infringing.</p>
<p>&#8220;The add-ons for the illegal sources are directly infringing and the offer of those add-ons is also directly infringing, i.e it is considered to be unauthorized making available of copyrighted works. This applies not only to the sale of media boxes with illegal add-ons but also to the illegal add-ons themselves and their offerings even without a media box,&#8221; BREIN notes.</p>
<p>While XvBMC now appears to be non-operational, BREIN isn&#8217;t quite done yet. The anti-piracy group wants &#8216;Z&#8217; to sign an abstention agreement (with penalties for breaches) and pay a cash settlement of 2,500 euros. If this compromise can&#8217;t be reached, BREIN says it will launch legal proceedings against &#8216;Z&#8217; with a view to recovering all of its costs.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159501
title: ISP Will Block BitTorrent Traffic on ‘Unlimited’ Mobile Plan
uri: ISP-Will-Block-BitTorrent-Traffic-on-Unlimited-Mobile-Plan
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zG12Onahq68/
content:
<p><img src="media/ef80e733.lemmmon.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lemmmon.png" alt="" width="250" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159517">Access to the Internet is considered a basic need in many modern countries. Ideally, this should come without any content restrictions.</p>
<p>With all the fuss about net neutrality in recent years, most Internet providers have stayed clear from any interference. </p>
<p>In Belarus, however, local ISP <a href="https://www.velcom.by">Velcom</a> is crossing a sensitive line. </p>
<p>The company informed its customers that its summer promotion, which provided subscribers on some plans with &#8220;unlimited&#8221; Internet access, is being limited. </p>
<p>Those who exceeded their regular cap have been able to access the Internet without any restrictions until now, but starting tomorrow BitTorrent traffic will no longer be allowed.</p>
<p>&#8220;From 13.08.2018, the possibility of data transfers using the bittorrent protocol is excluded for subscribers of the Comfort and Comfort + plans, when using the Unlimited Internet package,&#8221; the company writes in its <a href="https://www.velcom.by/ru/about/news/usluga-mobilny-internet-izmeneniya.htm">terms of service</a>. </p>
<p>The restriction was publicly announced by the ISP but no reason for this change was provided. The company does stress, however, that the BitTorrent blockade only applies when the regular limits of the plan are exceeded. </p>
<p>The special &#8220;unlimited&#8221; promotion only runs this summer and will <a href="https://42.tut.by/603303?crnd=85284">end in September</a>, so it&#8217;s effectively a temporary measure.  </p>
<p>Given the fact that the ISP changed the rules during the promotion suggests that many torrenters were using it to their advantage. Perhaps to a degree that it was causing more overhead than the ISP hoped for.</p>
<p>Velcom does not provide any details on how BitTorrent traffic will be detected. However, it&#8217;s probably safe to assume that tech-savvy subscribers can still use a VPN or other tools to remain undetected, to get truly &#8216;unlimited&#8217; Internet access. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159637
title: Why Nintendo Will Never Defeat Retro Gamers
uri: Why-Nintendo-Will-Never-Defeat-Retro-Gamers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fYjwGub815U/
content:
<p><a href="media/bb468901.retro-game.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/retro-game.png"><img src="media/3bd9c62f.retro-game.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/retro-game.png" alt="" width="250" height="160" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159747"></a>The past few weeks have been pretty bad for fans of the retro gaming scene. Following action by Nintendo, two ROM platforms shut down in response to a lawsuit and another, EmuParadise, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-rom-fallout-emuparadise-terminates-all-game-downloads-180809/">voluntarily stopped</a> providing game downloads.</p>
<p>While these events have probably resulted in congratulations being shared among colleagues back in Kyoto, few gamers will join in the celebrations. Quite simply, most don&#8217;t understand why the company chooses to be so aggressively protective.</p>
<p>For the purposes of this discussion, let&#8217;s work on the assumption that distributing and obtaining ROMs in order to play retro games is the same as any other kind of piracy. It breaches the rights of gaming companies and can result in a copyright lawsuit, like the one leveled at <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-sues-console-rom-sites-for-mass-copyright-infringement-180720/">LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co</a>.</p>
<p>Now let&#8217;s view this from the position of the average retro gamer. Obtaining ROMs, in order to play retro games, does no harm. The titles themselves are often decades old, run on obsolete hardware, and have already covered their costs a thousand times over. </p>
<p>With all that in mind and considering many gamers are currently buying new games, they&#8217;ll be wondering what the hell the problem is and why gaming companies are being such assholes?</p>
<p>It is this disconnect, between the positions of gaming companies and fans of their historical creations, that causes so much confusion. Surely, if gaming companies like Nintendo or former arcade giants like Taito or Namco want to exploit their catalogs, they would already be doing so with comprehensive game packs and devices?</p>
<p>Of course, over the years this has happened to a limited extent, with games companies digging into back catalogs to create products like the <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/">NES Classic</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Flashback">Atari Flashback</a>, but these barely scratch the surface of what is already available unofficially.</p>
<p>It cannot be denied that Nintendo has produced some of the greatest games of all time, with titles such as Super Mario 64 guaranteed a spot in history for being both ground-breaking and absolutely magical. But despite its incredible ability to manipulate players&#8217; emotions in ways other developers never have, Nintendo seems to underestimate the emotions experienced by retro gamers every time they play.</p>
<p>This week, when EmuParadise ceased offering downloads, site founder MasJ revealed some of the touching stories emulator fans have shared over the years.</p>
<p>“We’ve had emails from soldiers at war saying that the only way they got through their days was to be lost in the retro games that they played from when they were children,&#8221; he wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;We’ve got emails from brothers who have lost their siblings to cancer and were able to find solace in playing the games they once did as children. There are countless stories like these.&#8221;</p>
<p>As these examples show, classic games from many years ago have the ability to trigger waves of nostalgia that can be beautifully overwhelming. From associating a particular title with a specific time and place in personal history to stirring memories of long-since disappeared yet cherished friendships, the emotions are like nothing else in the gaming world.</p>
<p>“When we experience nostalgia we tend to feel happier, have higher self-esteem, feel closer to loved ones and feel that life has more meaning. And on a physical level, nostalgia literally makes us feel warmer,&#8221; <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/benefits-of-nostalgia_n_4031759.html">explained</a> psychology lecturer Erica Hepper, Ph.D. in a 2013 interview.</p>
<p>One has to understand the power of this emotional attachment to appreciate why retro gamers are so passionate about their pastime. Retro games provide a fix that no modern game &#8211; despite their technical brilliance &#8211; will be able to provide for another 10 or 20 years, until they too become old and soaked with distant memories.</p>
<p>Retro games are able to transport players back in time, from stolen moments in high school to the arcades that first exposed many of us to video games themselves. From the moment they view the intoxicating attract mode on the brilliant <a href="http://hyperspin-fe.com/">Hyperspin</a>, they&#8217;re transported back. And when that first coin hits the virtual slot of any number of emulators, nirvana has truly arrived.</p>
<p>It is this shared appreciation of the beauty of retro gaming that holds communities like the one found at EmuParadise together. While the site no longer offers ROMs, its members have entire libraries of games at their disposal and nothing short of Nintendo physically turning up at their homes will stop them from enjoying them.</p>
<p>&#8220;People absolutely love and adore these games. They are a part of their personality, their childhood, their culture,&#8221; MasJ told TF. &#8220;These tiles are also a part of our shared human history. People will find a way to get their game on.&#8221;</p>
<p>More importantly, perhaps, those players will also share their ROMs with whomever they like which, according to experts, seems more likely when nostalgia is involved.</p>
<p>&#8220;In strongly nostalgic states, individuals are shown to be more likely to commit to volunteering or other expressions of altruism,&#8221; a 2014 piece in the Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/09/look-back-in-joy-the-power-of-nostalgia">notes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;In group situations, those with induced nostalgia not only tend to feel more closely bonded with the group but also more willing to form intimate associations with strangers and to be freer in their thinking.&#8221;</p>
<p>This sounds like the perfect breeding ground for ROM sharing but it&#8217;s just a small taste of what drives communities like EmuParadise. It&#8217;s also important to note that the mindset behind ROM &#8216;piracy&#8217; is unlike that commonly associated with movies, TV shows or music.</p>
<p>While the latter are largely available to potential purchasers, most ROMs only exist in unofficial form. There is no way of paying games companies for the pleasure of playing most of them since they&#8217;re simply not for sale and especially not in the required all-you-can-eat format.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately the video game industry is quite fragmented so unless the big publishers get on board, a Netflix-style system is nigh impossible,&#8221; MasJ says.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, the industry and the technology at this point in time is mature enough and consumers are also primed to pay for something of this sort. The only thing left to do is build it. I&#8217;m pretty sure either Nintendo, or Sega, or anyone else would be successful if they tried to do it.&#8221;</p>
<p>This glaring lack of legal alternatives means that most &#8216;black market&#8217; retro gamers don&#8217;t think they&#8217;re committing a crime, which is a huge stumbling block for enforcement. When there is no respect or support for the law, people have few qualms about breaking it. Indeed, due to the massive time invested in retro gamers&#8217; ROM collections, prising ROMs from players&#8217; cold, dead hands might be the only forceful solution to this problem.</p>
<p>So with three major sites now out of the ROM equation and no sensible legal options available, is it now &#8216;Game Over&#8217; for retro gamers? Will they walk away defeated or will more resources appear to fill in the gaps?</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think ROMs will be harder to find,&#8221; MasJ predicts.</p>
<p>&#8220;Perhaps it&#8217;ll take a while for another reliable resource to come up and become popular but the bottom line is that people want to play these games. So if you don&#8217;t offer than any legal way to do it, they&#8217;ll figure out another way.&#8221; </p>
<p>Unfortunately for companies like Nintendo, retro gamers have grown accustomed to everlasting credits and it won&#8217;t be long before the familiar yet depressing minor key tones associated with character death transform into the chirpy and optimistic tones heralding &#8220;Ready Player One&#8221;.</p>
<p><Center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zdvfz7dfGfY" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159767
title: KickassTorrents Karaoke Pirate Handed Suspended Jail Sentence
uri: KickassTorrents-Karaoke-Pirate-Handed-Suspended-Jail-Sentence
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7bNN7xnx_vk/
content:
<p><a href="media/57ab39a0.city-pipcu.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/city-pipcu.png"><img src="media/7d486e43.city-pipcu.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/city-pipcu.png" alt="" width="270" height="113" class="alignright size-full wp-image-133985"></a>Following a complaint filed by the BPI, City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) launched an investigation into UK-based individuals who uploaded unlicensed karaoke tracks to the Internet.</p>
<p>In February 2015, the BPI carried out test downloads of eight &#8216;pirate&#8217; karaoke albums to which Sunfly Karaoke and Digitop held the rights. In December that year, police <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-diy-karaoke-gang-busted-by-uk-police-151216/">carried out raids</a> in several locations, one of which targeted then 60-year-old Steve Mather.</p>
<p>“The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has dismantled a gang suspected of uploading and distributing tens of thousands of karaoke tracks online, including artists such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue and Kanye West,” PIPCU said in a statement.</p>
<p>Mather was part of Karaoke RG (KRG), a release group specializing in karaoke tracks. On KickassTorrents alone, their account had around 2,150 uploads.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/8881c242.karaokerg-kat.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/karaokerg-kat.jpg" width="650" height="296" class="aligncenter size-large"></center></p>
<p>KRG claimed they were servicing a gap in the market by hand-creating their own karaoke titles that weren&#8217;t commercially available. However, karaoke companies Digitop and Sunfly Karaoke saw things differently, claiming that the release group&#8217;s actions caused them losses of £485,000 and £29,593 respectively.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s taken more than two-and-a-half years but PIPCU now reports that after pleading guilty, 63-year-old Mather of Rochdale, Lancashire, has been handed an eight-month suspended sentence for illegally creating and distributing karaoke tracks without permission</p>
<p>“By making these tracks available to the public, this not only impacts upon the businesses involved, but also upon those who work for them by putting jobs at risk and negatively impacting upon the progress of the company,&#8221; said Acting Detective Chief Inspector, Nick Court of PIPCU.</p>
<p>“Mather has caused these companies to suffer significant financial losses. We take these crimes and the integrity of the UK creative industry very seriously. We put every effort into protecting their work.”</p>
<p>Kiaron Whitehead, BPI General Counsel said that as the leader of KaraokeRG, Mather caused serious harm to legitimate karaoke companies.</p>
<p>“KaraokeRG’s ringleader Steven Mather liked to use the nickname ‘KaraokeKid’.  But, as he has learnt, the internet is not the Wild West,&#8221; Whitehead said.</p>
<p>&#8220;The BPI is pleased to have supported the City of London Police in their investigation into this case – which serves as a further clear warning and deterrent to music pirates that they will not go undetected and unpunished.”</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159844
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 08/13/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-08-13-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/og4VUKrkqRg/
content:
<p><img src="media/6bcd6a6e.deadpool2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deadpool2.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156239">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Deadpool 2, released in a high quality format last week, is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-08-06-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">Deadpool 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D86RtevtfrA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">Avengers: Infinity War </a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">8.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfuNTqbHE8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5758778/">Skyscraper </a> (subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5758778/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9QePUT-Yt8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom </a> (subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn9mMeWcgoM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231461/">Rampage</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231461/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOKvrsmQiI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1563742/">Overboard</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1563742/">7.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLAJ0ooorDU&#038;t=16s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">Escape Plan 2: Hades</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">3.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q7vVt-MeXk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6452574/">Sanju</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6452574/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J76wN0TPI4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">The Meg</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsLk0NPRFAc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7098658/">Raazi</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7098658/">7.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjMSttRJrhA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159896
title: Facebook Bans The Sale of All Kodi Boxes, Legal or Not
uri: Facebook-Bans-The-Sale-of-All-Kodi-Boxes-Legal-or-Not
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/j8yxu_pUc0o/
content:
<p><img src="media/139ebf81.facebook-pirate-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facebook-pirate-1.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="122" class="alignright size-full wp-image-139520">Entertainment companies see streaming piracy as one of the largest threats to the industry. This is true for streaming sites, but also specialized pirate boxes, which are often sold with the popular media player Kodi installed.</p>
<p>While Kodi itself is a neutral platform, third-party add-ons can turn it into a powerful pirate tool. This is why Kodi and piracy are often mentioned in the same breath.</p>
<p>This negative stigma has already resulted in <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-adds-kodi-to-autocomplete-piracy-filter-180328/">Google banning &#8220;Kodi&#8221;</a> from the autocomplete feature of its search engine, among other things. And recently Facebook has piled on with another broad measure.</p>
<p>Facebook <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/facebook-bans-sale-of-piracy-enabling-products-devices-170525/">previously banned</a> the sale of fully-loaded pirate streaming devices, as did Amazon and eBay, but the social network appears to have expanded this to all Kodi-powered hardware now.</p>
<p>This is made clear in the <a href="https://m.facebook.com/policies/commerce/prohibited_content/unauthorized_access_to_digital_media_or_interference_with_electronic_devices">prohibited content section</a> of the company&#8217;s commerce policies, as shown below.</p>
<p>Facebook states that users are no longer allowed to promote &#8220;the sale or use of streaming devices with KODI installed.&#8221; In addition, jailbroken or loaded devices are also banned from the platform.</p>
<p><center><strong>Banned commerce on Facebook</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/f184d516.kodibanfacebook.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodibanfacebook.png" alt="" width="564" height="265" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159901"></center></p>
<p>The issue was first noticed by <a href="https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/facebook-bans-the-sale-of-kodi-boxes-jailbroken-streaming-players/">CordCuttersNews</a> which notes that sellers who violate the policy may have their Facebook accounts banned. </p>
<p>Interestingly, Facebook will still permit the sale of &#8220;add-on equipment for KODI devices,&#8221; including keyboards and remotes. However, selling any devices with the software itself is no longer allowed.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to the Kodi team for a comment on the news, but at the time of publication, we had yet to hear back.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear why Facebook has expanded its previous ban of &#8216;piracy-enabling&#8217; devices to Kodi specifically. Kodi itself is not the problem here, which is something acknowledged by several anti-piracy groups. Perhaps the piracy-stigma is simply too big.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=159911
title: SevenTorrents Shuts Down, Transfers Database to New Torrent Site
uri: SevenTorrents-Shuts-Down-Transfers-Database-to-New-Torrent-Site
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/a-uA4FPbHwQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/f1e423fb.seventorrents-e1534233501915.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/seventorrents-e1534233501915.png"><img src="media/f1e423fb.seventorrents-e1534233501915.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/seventorrents-e1534233501915.png" alt="" width="250" height="101" class="alignright size-full wp-image-159916"></a>Hundreds of torrent sites have come and gone over the years with most disappearing after relatively short periods in action.</p>
<p>Sites like The Pirate Bay, which has just celebrated <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-turns-15-years-old-180810/">15 years online</a>, tend to drown out smaller players on the news front, but several have an impressive history behind them.</p>
<p>Take SevenTorrents, for example. The site has been serving torrents for around 10 years and last year serviced around six million unique visitors. It&#8217;s not a giant by any means but its longevity is notable in a somewhat hostile and oppressive anti-piracy environment.</p>
<p>Now, however, the show is over for this long-term player. In an announcement yesterday, SevenTorrents&#8217; operator said the towel had been thrown in. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have been serving you for near 10 years and served over 40 Million visitors, with all troubles including copyright complaints, limitations, domain bans and &#8230;., we were able to keep this site up and running and make our visitors satisfied,&#8221; the announcement reads.</p>
<p>Indeed, SevenTorrents has weathered the usual storms over the years. In 2014, the site&#8217;s main domain <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-piracy-blocklist-expands-with-demonoid-isohunt-iptorrents-and-more-141127/">was added</a> to the UK&#8217;s ISP blocking system following a complaint from the Motion Picture Association and in 2015, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dozens-of-pirate-domains-quietly-added-to-uk-isp-blocklists-151019/">other domains</a> were added to the list.</p>
<p>Unlike other sites on a downward spiral, no single event appears to have pressured SevenTorrents&#8217; out of existence but they clearly feel the time is right to move on. However, the site&#8217;s decision to hand over its database to another torrent site raises some questions.</p>
<p>&#8220;Today we have decided to retire. But this is not the end for you and we will not let you down, there is a good news for you. We have talked with the owners of our professional friend site WatchSoMuch which is doing same thing as we were doing but in a better way, it has a super fast search and modern and mobile friendly design,&#8221; SevenTorrents says.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have transferred all the data and members to there, please visit and continue using your account in <a href="http://watchsomuch.info/">WatchSoMuch</a> with same password and enjoy.&#8221;</p>
<p>While SevenTorrents is an open index, according to its operator it has around 200,000 members, which means that WatchSoMuch &#8211; a site that only surfaced in June &#8211; now has the details those users signed up with along with any other data gathered along the way.</p>
<p>So, after receiving emails from users and noticing some concern on Reddit and elsewhere, TF contacted SevenTorrents to find out more about the shutdown and the hand over of data to WatchSoMuch. In polite terms, the site doesn&#8217;t believe that there should be any concern whatsoever.</p>
<p>TF was informed that SevenTorrents hasn&#8217;t encountered anyone who is worried about their data being passed to WatchSoMuch and the overwhelming reaction has been sadness at the site closing down.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he <a href="https://www.facebook.com/seventorrents/posts/1966972900025980">announcement on Facebook</a> you can see real people reactions, none of the comments in there nor the emails we received show any worries about their data, except people are sad, and asking us not to close this site,&#8221; we were told.</p>
<p>&#8220;WSM owners are friends of us and very professional, they can be the no #1 movie site in next months because of what they are offering.&#8221;</p>
<p>Highlighting the privacy-conscious nature of current times, we pointed out that some people are indeed concerned about the transfer of data. However, SevenTorrents&#8217; operator is insistent that there&#8217;s nothing for users to be worried about.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes, logically [users] should get nervous, but they [shouldn&#8217;t],&#8221; TF was told.</p>
<p>&#8220;Transferring the user data to a new site should sound like an upgrade to an existing site. It&#8217;s not publishing data or selling it, which many of current torrent sites do without any notice.</p>
<p>&#8220;But we respect those users who don&#8217;t like to join a new site (if there are any) and I will ask new owners to add a delete account option if there isn&#8217;t any.&#8221;</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s impossible for outsiders to know exactly what will happen, we get the impression that SevenTorrents simply wanted to give WatchSoMuch a rolling start at being a success with a community they didn&#8217;t want to tear apart. It won&#8217;t sit well with some but this is a free pirate site we&#8217;re talking about, not Netflix.</p>
<p>&#8220;SevenTorrents will be up for few days but we no longer update this site,&#8221; SevenTorrents says.</p>
<p>&#8220;We promise this event will look like a change of address and layout to you. There is no difference, the data will be better and more complete. All data including movies, torrents, activities, comments have been transferred to WSM so you will feel like home.&#8221;</p>
<p>Indeed, it looks like a large number of former SevenTorrents users have already made the switch. Over the past two days, more than 6,000 are said to have logged in to WatchSoMuch.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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