# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93393
title: Tribler Makes BitTorrent Anonymous With Built-in Tor Network
uri: Tribler-Makes-BitTorrent-Anonymous-With-Built-in-Tor-Network
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Q8b8VK_AYLQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/70f2a6a6.boxed.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/boxed.jpg" alt="boxed" width="222" height="178" class="alignright size-full wp-image-36576">The <a href="http://www.tribler.org/">Tribler</a> client has been around for more nearly a decade already, and during that time it’s developed into the only truly decentralized BitTorrent client out there. </p>
<p>Even if all torrent sites were shut down today, Tribler users would still be able to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/tribler-makes-bittorrent-impossible-to-shut-down-120208/">find and add</a> new content. </p>
<p>But the researchers want more. One of the key problems with BitTorrent is the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/5-ways-to-download-torrents-anonymously/">lack of anonymity</a>. Without a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">VPN or proxy</a> all downloads can easily be traced back to an individual internet connection. </p>
<p>The Tribler team hopes to fix this problem with a built-in Tor network, routing all data through a series of peers. In essence, Tribler users then become their own Tor network helping each other to hide their IP-addresses through encrypted proxies.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Tribler anonymity feature aims to make strong encryption and authentication the Internet default,&#8221; Tribler leader Dr. Pouwelse tells TF.</p>
<p>For now the researchers have settled for three proxies between the senders of the data and the recipient. This minimizes the risk of being monitored by a rogue peer and significantly improves privacy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Adding three layers of proxies gives you more privacy. Three layers of protection make it difficult to trace you. Proxies no longer need to be fully trusted. A single bad proxy can not see exactly what is going on,&#8221; the Tribler team explains. </p>
<p>&#8220;The first proxy layer encrypts the data for you and each next proxy adds another layer of encryption. You are the only one who can decrypt these three layers correctly. Tribler uses three proxy layers to make sure bad proxies that are spying on people can do little damage.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Tribler&#8217;s encrypted Tor routing</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/ecb510b1.wtvTMix.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wtvTMix.png"><img src="media/ecb510b1.wtvTMix.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wtvTMix.png" alt="wtvTMix" width="655" height="409" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93404"></a></center></p>
<p>Today Tribler opens up its technology to the public for the first time. The Tor network is fully functional but for now it is limited to a 50 MB test file. This will allow the developers to make some improvements before the final release goes out next month.</p>
<p>There has been an increased interest in encryption technologies lately. The Tribler team invites interested developers to help them improve their work, which is available <a href="https://github.com/tribler/tribler">on Github</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We hope all developers will unite inside a single project to defeat the forces that have destroyed the Internet essence. We really don’t need a hundred more single-person projects on ‘secure’ chat applications that still fully expose who you talk to,&#8221; Pouwelse says.</p>
<p>For users the Tor like security means an increase in bandwidth usage. After all, they themselves also become proxies who have to pass on the transfers of other users. According to the researchers this shouldn&#8217;t result in any slowdowns though, as long as people are willing to share. </p>
<p>&#8220;Tribler has always been for social and sharing people. Like private tracker communities with plenty of bandwidth to go around we think we can offer anonymity without slow downs, if we can incentivize people to leave their computers on overnight and donate,&#8221; Pouwelse says.</p>
<p>&#8220;People who share will have superior anonymous speeds,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>Those interested in testing Tribler&#8217;s anonymity feature can download the <a href="http://www.tribler.org/">latest version</a>. Bandwidth statistics are also <a href="http://www.tribler.org/tunnel-stats.html">available</a>. Please bear in mind that only the test file can be transferred securely at the moment. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93447
title: Breaking Bad Piracy Surges After Emmy Win, Research Finds
uri: Breaking-Bad-Piracy-Surges-After-Emmy-Win-Research-Finds
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OGFBdDONQIs/
content:
<p><a href="media/978eb06b.bb.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bb.jpg"><img src="media/5ae3f6eb.bb.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bb.jpg" alt="bb" width="250" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-75363"></a>People have many different motivations to pirate TV-shows and other media. Availability is a factor, for example, and price plays a role as well. </p>
<p>Another important driver of piracy is exposure or promotion through traditional media. </p>
<p>The latter is illustrated by new research from piracy monitoring firm CEG TEK, who found that the interest in pirated copies of Emmy nominated TV-shows surged after the award show aired on television.</p>
<p>The company measured the BitTorrent swarms of 50 Emmy-nominated TV-shows and found a big spike in overall piracy rates. </p>
<p>Breaking Bad, winner of the Emmy for best drama series and several individual awards, saw a 412% increase in peers after the award ceremony. </p>
<p>Pirate&#8217;s interest in True Detective, House of Cards, Homeland and The Newsroom also spiked at least 340% the day after the Emmys. These peaks are unusual according to CEG TEK, who note of the 47 of the 50 nominated shows they monitored saw an increase in sharing activity.</p>
<p>&#8220;Typically, piracy peaks on weekends, but of the 50 shows we monitored, 47 were pirated more as a result of the Primetime Emmy Awards broadcast,&#8221; CEG TEK CTO Jon Nicolini says.  </p>
<p>“Clearly, the prestige of the Emmys is alive and well,” he adds.</p>
<p>While an Emmy award is certainly a big win, some people in the TV industry believe that being the most pirated TV-show may do even more to boost a show&#8217;s profile. </p>
<p>Jeff Bewkes, CEO of HBO’s parent company Time Warner, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-piracy-better-than-an-emmy-time-warner-ceo-says-130808/">previously</a> said that Game of Thrones piracy resulted in more subscriptions for his company and that receiving the title of &#8220;most pirated&#8221; show was &#8220;better than an Emmy.&#8221;</p>
<p>So that&#8217;s a double score for the Emmy winners then. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93435
title: In The Fappening’s Wake, 4chan Intros DMCA Policy
uri: In-The-Fappening-s-Wake-4chan-Intros-DMCA-Policy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4hPtgtwq5bg/
content:
<p><a href="media/3dbe7b1f.4chan.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/4chan.png"><img src="media/3dbe7b1f.4chan.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/4chan.png" alt="4chan" width="180" height="72" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93452"></a>Every now and again a phenomenon takes the Internet by storm. They&#8217;re situations that the term &#8216;going viral&#8217; was made for. A couple of weeks ago it was ice buckets, and since the weekend its been leaked celebrity pictures.</p>
<p>The event, which needs little introduction, saw the iCloud accounts of many prominent female celebrities accessed illegally and their personal (in many cases intimately so) photographs leaked online. The FBI are investigating and for the leakers this probably isn&#8217;t going to end well.</p>
<p>But for the users of 4chan this leak, which was rumored to have begun on the board itself, was the gift that just kept on giving. Excited users quickly came up with a portmanteau based on &#8216;happening&#8217; plus &#8216;fapping&#8217; and The Fappening was born, a prelude to taking the Internet by storm.</p>
<p>While the event itself appears to be dying down, the leak and the worldwide attention it bestowed on 4chan may have prompted a surprise decision by the site&#8217;s operator. Whether the leak was directly responsible will become clear in due course (we&#8217;ve reached out to the site for a response), but sometime yesterday 4chan introduced a DMCA policy.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/f33df5a9.4chan-dmca.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/4chan-dmca.jpg" alt="4chan-DMCA"></center></p>
<p>The policy registers a DMCA agent for 4chan, which helps to afford the site safe harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Although not yet listed in the <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/num-syms.html">numerical section</a> of Copyright.gov, the designated agent will now become the point of contact for copyright complaints and DMCA notices when content owners believe that their ownership rights have been violated on 4chan.</p>
<p>While most US-based user-generated content websites should not entertain operating without safe harbor, the way 4chan is set up provides a unique scenario in respect of infringing content being posted by its users.</p>
<p>&#8220;Threads expire and are pruned by 4chan&#8217;s software at a relatively high rate. Since most boards are limited to eleven or sixteen pages, content is usually available for only a few hours or days before it is removed,&#8221; the site&#8217;s <a href="http://www.4chan.org/faq#prunedelete">FAQ</a> explains.</p>
<p>4chan&#8217;s Chris Poole (&#8216;moot&#8217;) previously told the Washington Post his deletion policy was both a necessarily evil and a plus to the site.</p>
<p>“It’s one of the few sites that has no memory. It’s forgotten the next day,” he said.</p>
<p>Despite the board&#8217;s userbase being notoriously rebellious, the deletion policy appears to work well. To date Google&#8217;s Transparency Report <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/domains/4chan.org/">lists</a> takedowns for just 706 URLs.</p>
<p>“I don’t have resources like YouTube to deal with $1 billion lawsuit with Viacom,&#8221; Poole said in 2012. &#8220;Don’t store what you absolutely don’t need. People are pre-disposed to wanting to store everything.”</p>
<p>Of course, it&#8217;s not only companies such as Viacom on the warpath. Yesterday a spokesman for Jennifer Lawrence said that the authorities had been contacted and anyone found posting &#8216;stolen&#8217; photos of the actress online would be prosecuted.</p>
<p>While the scope of that action isn&#8217;t entirely clear, many of the leaked photos were &#8216;selfies&#8217; to which Lawrence has first shout on copyright. They&#8217;re still being posted on hundreds if not thousands of Internet sites even today, so having a DMCA policy in place will help those sites avoid liability, even if in 4chan&#8217;s case the images are only present for a few hours.</p>
<p>In the meantime, sites such as The Pirate Bay who care substantially less about copyright law than 4chan does today are continuing to spread the full currently-available &#8216;Fappening&#8217; archives at a rapid rate. Statistics collected by TorrentFreak suggest that the packs have been downloaded well over a million times.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93427
title: Record Labels Take Down Kim Dotcom’s Official Album… From Mega
uri: Record-Labels-Take-Down-Kim-Dotcom-s-Official-Album-From-Mega
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wlpQzo3uQqY/
content:
<p><a href="media/26f7e181.goodtimes.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/goodtimes.jpg"><img src="media/d25e5afe.goodtimes.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/goodtimes.jpg" alt="goodtimes" width="180" height="179" class="alignright size-full wp-image-82494"></a><a href="http://mega.co.nz">Mega</a>, the cloud hosting service founded by Kim Dotcom, has been growing steadily since its spectacular launch last year. </p>
<p>Considering the controversial reputation of its predecessor Megaupload, copyright holders have been keeping a close eye on the site. Thus far, however, the number of takedown requests received by the company has been relatively small. </p>
<p>Perhaps not completely unexpectedly, among the takedown requests that do come in are many that wrongfully request the takedown of perfectly legitimate files. This was illustrated earlier this week when Kim Dotcom&#8217;s official album Good Times was removed following a complaint. </p>
<p>The album was released by Dotcom earlier this year and he has been sharing it <a href="http://kim.com/">via his website</a> ever since. The link in question points to Mega where people can download it for free, but a few days ago it suddenly disappeared.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/a8960d54.megadown2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megadown2.jpg"><img src="media/a8960d54.megadown2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megadown2.jpg" alt="megadown" width="588" height="205" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93439"></a></center></p>
<p>To find out why the album was removed we contacted Mega for an explanation. The company informed us that music industry group IFPI requested the removal of Dotcom&#8217;s album through a takedown request sent on September 1.</p>
<p>Representing the major record labels, IFPI claimed that the link infringed on the copyrights of one of their artists. IFPI listed several musicians but Kim Dotcom was not one of them.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s clearly an incorrect takedown request,&#8221; Mega&#8217;s Chief Compliance Officer Stephan Hall tells us.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/d8849533.ifpitakedown.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ifpitakedown.png"><img src="media/d8849533.ifpitakedown.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ifpitakedown.png" alt="ifpitakedown" width="504" height="101" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93440"></a></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak also contacted Kim Dotcom, who asked Mega to reinstate the album, which they did. All in all the album was unavailable for about a day.</p>
<p>While a mistake is easily made, this is not the first time that IFPI has tried to remove Dotcom&#8217;s album from Mega. A similar request was sent on August 18, this time claiming that it was a copyright infringement of Kimbra&#8217;s &#8220;The Golden Echo.&#8221;</p>
<p>IFPI&#8217;s actions have been sloppy, to say the least, and Mega&#8217;s Chief Compliance Officer has little faith in the accuracy of the music group&#8217;s other takedown requests.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is an indication that someone at the IFPI is not doing their homework and that their takedown notices in general cannot be trusted,&#8221; Hall tells TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>Unfortunately these kind of mistakes are not an isolated incident. For example, before Kim Dotcom’s Megaupload was shutdown early 2012 the site received many erroneous takedown notices.</p>
<p>“During the Megaupload days over 20% of all takedown notices were bogus,” Dotcom <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-studios-want-google-to-censor-dotcoms-mega-130528/">told us</a> previously.</p>
<p>“We analyzed big samples of notices and most were automated keyword based takedowns that affected a lot of legitimate files. The abuse of the takedown system is so severe that no service provider can rely on takedown notices for a fair repeat infringer policy.”</p>
<p>A policy to punish copyright holders who make repeated mistakes, on the other hand, might be worth considering.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93476
title: Anti-Piracy Outfit Denies DDoS’ing Anime Sites
uri: Anti-Piracy-Outfit-Denies-DDoS-ing-Anime-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-v_ZkwlsGuA/
content:
<p><a href="media/c37cebdc.anime.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/anime.jpg"><img src="media/c37cebdc.anime.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/anime.jpg" alt="anime" width="180" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93485"></a>Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS attacks are a relatively common occurrence in the file-sharing community and something that many <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-hit-by-massive-ddos-attack-140814/">sites are subjected to</a> throughout the course of a year. They disrupt service and can often cost money to mitigate.</p>
<p>Those carrying out the attacks have a variety of motives, from extortion and blackmail to &#8220;<a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-did-it-for-the-lulz">the lulz</a>&#8220;, and a dozen reasons in between. Often the reasons are never discovered.</p>
<p>During the past few days several sites involved in the unauthorized sharing of anime have been targeted by DDoS-style attacks. <a href="http://swaps4.com/why-and-who-is-attacking-anime-related-websites/">Swaps4</a> reported that Haruhichan, Tokyo Toshokan and AnimeTake were under assault from assailants unknown, although all now appear to be back online.</p>
<p>A far more serious situation has played out at NYAA.se, however. The site is probably the largest public dedicated anime torrent index around and after being hit with an attack last weekend it remains offline today. The attack on NYAA had wider effects too.</p>
<p>NYAA and leading fan-subbing site HorribleSubs reportedly shared the same hosting infrastructure so the DDoS attack took down both sites. That&#8217;s significant, not least since at the end of August HorribleSubs reported that their titles had been downloaded <a href="media/8ce79f43.fMheSdP.jpg" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/fMheSdP.jpg">half a billion times</a>.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/d9f14e86.horrible1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/horrible1.png" alt="horrible1"></center></p>
<p>As the image above shows it now appears that HorribleSubs has recovered (and <a href="http://horriblesubs.info/2014/09/were-back/">added torrent magnet links</a>) but the same cannot be said about NYAA. The site&#8217;s extended downtime continues with no apparent end in sight. This has resulted in a backlash from the site&#8217;s fans and somewhat inevitably accusatory fingers are being pointed at potential DDoS suspects.</p>
<p>As far-fetched as it might sound, one of the early suspects was the Japanese government itself. The launch of a brand new <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/japan-to-crack-down-on-anime-and-manga-piracy-140728/">anti-piracy campaign</a> last month in partnership with 15 producers certainly provided a motive, but a nation carrying out this kind of assault seems unlikely in the extreme.</p>
<p>Quickly, however, an announcement from HorribleSubs turned attentions elsewhere.</p>
<p><Center><img src="media/bb50dc09.horriblesubs.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/horriblesubs.jpg" alt="horriblesubs"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Chill down. It&#8217;s not just us. Every famous anime sites [are] getting DDoS attacks, but that doesn&#8217;t mean this is the end,&#8221; the site&#8217;s operator <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Horriblesubs/posts/922201454476688">wrote</a> on Facebook.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have located where DDoS are coming from. It&#8217;s from ‪#‎Crunchyroll‬ and ‪#‎Funimation‬ Employees.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Update: HorribleSubs inform TF that the Facebook page listed is &#8220;in no way managed nor affiliated with HorribleSubs and as such all opinions and views expressed on that page does not reflect the views and opinions of the HorribleSubs management.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Funimation is an US television and film production company best known for its distribution of anime while Crunchyroll is a website and community focused on, among other things, Asian anime and manga. While both could at least have a motive to carry out a DDoS, no evidence has been produced to back up the HorribleSubs claims. That said, HorribleSubs admits that its key motivation is to annoy Crunchyroll.</p>
<p>&#8220;We do not translate our own shows because we rip from Crunchyroll, FUNimation, Hulu, The Anime Network, Niconico, and Daisuki,&#8221; the site&#8217;s <a href="http://horriblesubs.info/about-us/">about</a> page reads, adding: &#8220;We aren’t doing this <strike>for e-penis</strike> but for the sole reason of pissing off Crunchyroll.&#8221;</p>
<p>Shortly after, attention turned to anti-piracy outfit Remove Your Media (RYM). The company works with anime companies Funimation and Viz Media, which includes the sending of <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/reporters/1504/Remove-Your-Media-LLC/">millions of DMCA notices</a> to Google. The spark came when the company published a tweet (now removed) which threatened to send &#8220;thousands&#8221; of warning letters to NYAA users once the site was back online.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/74171fc7.RYM.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/RYM.png" alt="RYM"></center></p>
<p>This doesn&#8217;t seem like an idle threat. A few weeks ago the company posted a screenshot on Twitter containing an <a href="https://twitter.com/removepiracy/status/500755137187835905">unredacted list</a> of Comcast, Charter and CenturyLink IP addresses said to have been monitored infringing copyright. Due to the NYAA downtime, RYM later <a href="https://twitter.com/removepiracy/status/506965697574871040/photo/1">indicated</a> it had switched to warning users of Kickass.to.</p>
<p>This involvement with anime companies combined with the warning notice statement led to DDoS accusations being directed at RYM. TorrentFreak spoke to the company&#8217;s Eric Green and asked if they knew anything about the attacks.</p>
<p>&#8220;The short answer is No. In fact we were waiting for [NYAA] to go back<br>
online to begin monitoring illegal transfers again. Sorry to disappoint but we<br>
had no involvement,&#8221; Green told TF.</p>
<p>Just a couple of hours ago RYM made a new announcement on Twitter, stating that the original tweet had been removed due to false accusations.</p>
<p>&#8220;Nyaa post deleted due to all the Ddos libel directed at this account. Infringement notices continue to ISPs, for piracy, regardless of tracker,&#8221; they <a href="https://twitter.com/removepiracy/status/507397021888946176">conclude</a>.</p>
<p>Although it&#8217;s impossible to say who is behind the attacks, it does seem improbable that an anti-piracy company getting paid to send notices would do something that is a) seriously illegal and b) counter-productive to getting paid for sending notices.</p>
<p>That said, it seems likely that someone who doesn&#8217;t appreciate unofficial anime sites operating smoothly is behind the attack. Who that might be will remain a mystery, at least for now.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93496
title: U.S. Government Wants Kim Dotcom’s Cash and Cars
uri: U-S-Government-Wants-Kim-Dotcom-s-Cash-and-Cars
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fcHCFm_kW2A/
content:
<p><a href="media/818b6dbe.megaupload.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload.jpg"><img src="media/5fd37436.megaupload.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload.jpg" alt="megaupload" width="180" height="154" class="alignright size-full wp-image-30407"></a>Acting on a lead from the entertainment industry, the U.S. Government shut down Megaupload early 2012.</p>
<p>Since then the case hasn&#8217;t progressed much. Kim Dotcom&#8217;s extradition hearing has been delayed until 2015 and most of the recent court proceedings dealt with how the seized assets should be handled. </p>
<p>Dotcom tried to regain his possessions but this effort <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dotcoms-millions-will-remain-frozen-court-decides-140821/">failed</a> last month. Meanwhile, both the MPAA and RIAA have protected <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-protests-movie-and-record-studios-assets-freezing-game-140505/">their claims</a> on the Megaupload millions, and now the U.S. Government has joined in as well. </p>
<p>In a complaint submitted at a federal court in Virginia the Department of Justice asks for a forfeiture of the bank accounts, cars and other seized possessions, claiming they were obtained through copyright and money laundering crimes. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/238645202/TorrentFreak-US-forfeiture">filing</a> starts with a brief summary of the indictment that was brought against Dotcom and his colleagues. According to the Government, Megaupload was a criminal organization set up to profit from copyright infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;The members of the Mega Conspiracy described themselves as &#8216;modern day pirates&#8217; and virtually every aspect of the Mega Sites was carefully designed to encourage and facilitate wide-scale copyright infringement,&#8221; the U.S. attorney writes. </p>
<p>The Government wants the seized properties to be handed over to the authorities, and claims it&#8217;s permitted under U.S. law. This includes the bank account that was used by Megaupload for PayPal payouts.</p>
<p>The account, described as &#8220;DSB 0320,&#8221; had a balance of roughly $4.7 million (36 million Hong Kong Dollars) at the time of the seizure, but processed more than $160 million over the years.</p>
<p>&#8220;Records indicate that from August 2007 through January 2012 there were 1,403 deposits into the DBS 0320 account totaling HKD 1,260,508,432.01 from a PayPal account. These funds represent proceeds of crime and property involved in money laundering as more fully set out herein,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p><center><strong>One of Megaupload&#8217;s bank accounts</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/52ebc7bd.bankkd.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bankkd.png"><img src="media/98371fee.bankkd.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bankkd.png" alt="bankkd" width="600" height="344" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93500"></a></center></p>
<p>More than a dozen bank accounts are listed in total including some of the property they were used for to buy.</p>
<p>The list of assets further includes several luxury cars, such as a 2011 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG with a &#8220;Wow&#8221; license plate, TVs including a 108&#8243; Sharp LCD TV and artwork in the form of Olaf Mueller photographs.</p>
<p>The Government claims that the possessions can be forfeited since they were obtained through criminal copyright infringement and money laundering, but Megaupload&#8217;s lawyer Ira Rothken disagrees.</p>
<p>&#8220;Kim Dotcom and Megaupload will vigorously oppose the US Department of Justice&#8217;s civil forfeiture action,&#8221; Rothken tells TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;The DOJ&#8217;s efforts to use lopsided procedures over substance to destroy a cloud storage company is both offensive to the rights of Megaupload and to the rights of millions of consumers worldwide who stored personal data with the service,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>According to Rothken the U.S. ignores several crucial issues, including the Sony Doctrine and the fact that criminal secondary copyright infringement no longer exists.</p>
<p>&#8220;The DOJ&#8217;s forfeiture complaint ignores the US Supreme Court&#8217;s protection called the Sony Doctrine provided to dual use technologies like cloud storage, ignores substantial non infringing uses of such cloud storage including by DOJ users themselves, and ignores the fact that Congress removed criminal secondary copyright infringement from the copyright statute in 1976,&#8221; Rothken says.</p>
<p>Which side the District Court judge will agree with has yet to be seen, but with so many parties claiming their cut of the Megaupload assets it&#8217;s certainly not getting easier for Dotcom to reclaim his property. </p>
<p>To be continued.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93524
title: Google, Facebook & Microsoft Reject Anti-Piracy Proposals
uri: Google-Facebook-Microsoft-Reject-Anti-Piracy-Proposals
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-KRXGQEAMbk/
content:
<p><a href="media/7c6b9504.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg"><img src="media/3a6fa524.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg" alt="google-bay" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21875"></a>As more of the submissions to the Australian Federal Government&#8217;s call for input on online copyright infringement are published, it&#8217;s becoming clear that the music and movie industries have a battle on their hands.</p>
<p>Hollywood in particular is seeking a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-draft-reveals-hollywoods-anti-piracy-plans-140828/">tightening of the law</a> which would hold ISPs more responsible for the actions of their users, while introducing a graduated response to deal with persistent domestic file-sharers.</p>
<p><strong>Still can&#8217;t agree</strong></p>
<p>In 2012, movie and recording companies fought a bloody battle with tech companies over SOPA in the United States but more than two years on it&#8217;s evident that the divide over what should be done about piracy is as wide as ever.</p>
<p>In a submission to the Government, a group of tech companies including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, eBay, Samsung, Motorola and BT largely oppose the wish-list of the entertainment industries.</p>
<p>Mirroring the tendency of Hollywood to state how important its members are to the economy, the Computer &#038; Communications Industry Association begin by stating that its members employ more than 600,000 workers who generate more than $200 billion in revenue.</p>
<p>Launching its key observations, CCIA say that rather than pushing for the introduction of a so-called graduated response scheme, policy makers could achieve better results by focusing on the issues that encourage people to pirate in the first place.</p>
<p><strong>No graduated response: provide content in a timely manner at a fair price</strong></p>
<p>The group describes &#8220;high prices&#8221; and a &#8220;lack of availability of lawful content&#8221; as key domestic and international market barriers for consuming online content. But the problems don&#8217;t end there.</p>
<p>&#8220;Naturally,  from  this  follows  that  access  to  on-demand/online  content  across territories  becomes  even  more  cumbersome  and  restrictive  due  to  territorial copyright restrictions, licensing conduct, geo-blocking,  price discrimination  holdback and windowing,&#8221; CCIA explains. </p>
<p>Noting that there is &#8220;an inverted relationship&#8221; between lawful and unlawful access to content, the tech group underlines their point with a quote from Kevin Spacey.</p>
<p>&#8220;Audience  wants  the  freedom..  they  want  control&#8230;give  consumers  what  they  want, when they want it and in the format they want it and at reasonable price,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p><strong>Don&#8217;t believe their lies</strong></p>
<p>A couple of points raised by the CCIA will sting their entertainment industry adversaries more than most. Noting that there &#8220;is little or no evidence&#8221; that graduated response schemes are successful (but plenty to the contrary), enforcement policies should be based only on facts, not on the claims of those determined to introduce them.</p>
<p>&#8220;It  is  also  absolutely  essential  that  enforcement debate  and  policy  is  not  based  on  manufactured  claims,  exaggerations  and deceptions  that  will  in  the  long  run  risk  resulting  in  a  negative  public  sentiment concerning intellectual property,&#8221; CCIA writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Empirical  data on  the  impact  of  copyright  infringement over the last two decades is deeply contested and in some cases to such a level that it is<br>
being ridiculed. This is a highly undesirable development for the perception of copyright and by extension intellectual property in general by the broader public.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Copyright is a &#8220;moral hazard&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>In another interesting statement the CCIA suggest that when supported by legislation, companies will fall back on that to maintain business models that are no longer viable.</p>
<p>&#8220;Economists have expressed concerns that copyright has a moral hazard effect on incumbent  creative  firms,  by  encouraging  them  to  rely  on  enforcement  of  the  law rather than adopt new technologies and business models to deal with new technologies,&#8221; the tech firms continue.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hence, enforcement should not become a tool to protect businesses from competition, changing business realities and  changes in consumer exactions, hereby allowing them to continue to hold on to outdated business models.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
<p>Summing up, CCIA director Jakob Kucharczyk says that any new scheme should employ a &#8220;holistic end-to-end approach&#8221; and be coupled with efforts by content providers to give customers the content they need at a fair price.</p>
<p>On the issue of ISPs, the CCIA is clear. There must be a level playing field, legal protection from liability must be enshrined in law, and rightsholders must be held responsible for their actions when making allegations of infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;If all parties are willing to look at equitable, cooperative programs that include a focus on the key issues outlined above, we believe that a better, more balanced and more effective outcome is achievable than that which is likely to result from the Government’s present proposals,&#8221; Kucharczyk concludes.</p>
<p>How the conflicting approaches of the technology companies, ISPs and the entertainment industries can ever be reconciled will be a topic for heated debate in the coming months, not only in Australia, but across the world.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93541
title: Touche: Deadmau5 Accuses Disney of Pirating His Music
uri: Touche-Deadmau5-Accuses-Disney-of-Pirating-His-Music
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OmK4xs2EFZw/
content:
<p><a href="media/adcba04e.mouse.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mouse.png"><img src="media/adcba04e.mouse.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mouse.png" alt="mouse" width="250" height="119" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93543"></a>DJ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadmau5">Deadmau5</a> is known all over the world for wearing an oversized headpiece with mouse ears during his live performances. </p>
<p>The ears have become a trademark for the DJ, whose real name is Joel Zimmerman, and in April he wanted to formalize this through an official trademark application at  the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The logo is already trademarked in dozens of countries, and the U.S. seemed a logical next step. </p>
<p>Disney clearly disagreed and this week the company filed a <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2014/09/deadmau5-disney-face-off-over-mouse-ears-logo.html">171-page opposition</a> to the trademark application, claiming it would hurt the company&#8217;s business.</p>
<p>Deadmau5 wasn&#8217;t impressed by Disney&#8217;s efforts and took his anger to Twitter. The DJ noted that he wouldn&#8217;t give in to &#8220;a money hungry corporation over some bulls&#8211;t,&#8221; and questioned their motives.</p>
<p>&#8220;Disney thinks you might confuse an established electronic musician / performer with a cartoon mouse. That&#8217;s how stupid they think you are,&#8221; he wrote on Twitter.</p>
<p><center><br>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Disney thinks you might confuse an established electronic musician / performer with a cartoon mouse. That&#39;s how stupid they think you are.</p>
<p>&mdash; deadmau5 (@deadmau5) <a href="https://twitter.com/deadmau5/status/507015293088980992">September 3, 2014</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>The mouse fight was on and a few hours ago Deadmau5 retaliated with a rather surprising counter attack. As it turns out, Disney is hosting <a href="http://video.disney.com/watch/ghosts-n-stuff-re-micks-4cc34ca4636bec7bd7bd38a3">a Deadmau5 video</a> on their website, without permission. </p>
<p>Responding to this blatant act of piracy the DJ instructed his legal team to go after the media empire. They sent a cease and desist letter to Disney which Deadmau5 forwarded to the company on Twitter, with a personal note.</p>
<p><center><br>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" lang="en">
<p>&#8230; <a href="https://twitter.com/Disney">@disney</a> sorry heres the second page! Have a magical fucking day! <a href="http://t.co/fGQf6jMOAc">pic.twitter.com/fGQf6jMOAc</a></p>
<p>&mdash; deadmau5 (@deadmau5) <a href="https://twitter.com/deadmau5/status/507663524358017024">September 4, 2014</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>The letter explains that Disney is using Deadmau5&#8242;s work without permission and demands an immediate halt to this infringing behavior. </p>
<p>&#8220;The exclusive rights owned by Zimmerman in the Master are being infringed on the Disney website as of September 4, 2014. Specifically, these rights are being infringed via materials being made available at the <a href=" http://video.disney.com/watch/ghosts-n-stuff-remicks-4cc34ca4636bec7bd7bd38a3">following URL</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Deadmau5 on Disney&#8217;s site</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/d37e01fe.deaddisney.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deaddisney.jpg"><img src="media/d37e01fe.deaddisney.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deaddisney.jpg" alt="deaddisney" width="526" height="451" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93552"></a></center></p>
<p>In addition to copyright infringement, the letter also states that Disney is using Deadmau5&#8242;s trademarks without authorization. The lawyers urge the company to stop this unauthorized exploitation of the DJ&#8217;s name and likeness as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;Disney prominently features the deadmau5 Mark next to the Infringing Video. implying a non-existent endorsement by Zimmerman,&#8221; the letter reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;Again. we are unaware of any license allowing you the right to reproduce, distribute or otherwise exploit the deadmau5 Mark or to exploit Zimmerman’s name and likeness in connection with same.&#8221; </p>
<p>At the time of writing Disney hasn&#8217;t complied with the request, but it seems that they have no other option than to comply. Whether it will change anything in their stance towards the DJ&#8217;s mouse ear trademark application is doubtful though.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="media/1266cd77.FileDeadmau5_d.jpg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deadmau5_d.jpg"><sup>Image credit</sup></a></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93612
title: Police Throw the Book at Alleged Pirate Site Admin
uri: Police-Throw-the-Book-at-Alleged-Pirate-Site-Admin
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SDYpYeb-khU/
content:
<p><img src="media/31176dbb.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg" width="200" height="82" class="alignright">The Intellectual Property Crime Unit operated out of City of London Police were once again flexing their muscles this week with yet another raid in the UK.</p>
<p>PIPCU, as the unit is known, teamed up with police in the north of England to swoop on what is being described as a major sports streaming operation.</p>
<p>Early Monday, some 200 miles away from London, officers teamed with police in Manchester <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-make-third-pirate-streaming-arrest-140902/">to raid a property</a> in Cheetham Hill. Their target was an unnamed 27-year-old said to be providing access to subscription TV services.</p>
<p>In their announcement, police used terms including &#8220;industrial scale&#8221; to describe the size of the operation after seizing 12 computers servers and other equipment. Police withheld the arrested man&#8217;s name and the sites involved.</p>
<p><center><strong>The streaming operation shutdown on Monday</strong><img src="media/adc04515.coolraid.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/coolraid.jpg" alt="Coolimage"><a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/illegal-premier-league-streaming-hq-7705046"></a><em>credit</em></center></p>
<p>Yesterday, however, Zain Parvez of Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester, appeared before Manchester magistrates court charged with running the operation that was shut down earlier in the week.</p>
<p>Things certainly don&#8217;t look good for the 27-year-old. Not only has Parvez been charged with offenses under the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988, he also faces allegations of money laundering, conspiracy to defraud and possessing or controlling an article for use in fraud.</p>
<p>In respect of the names of the sites Parvez allegedly controlled, the pieces have been coming together all week but with no straightforward way of joining the dots. We can now confirm that the domains involved are CoolSport.se, CoolSport.tv and KiwiSportz.tv.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/2bf715eb.kiwisportz.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kiwisportz.jpg" alt="kiwisportz"></center></p>
<p>As can be seen from the Alexa data below, CoolSport.tv dropped off the radar in July with Coolsport.se immediately taking over, a domain switch <a href="https://twitter.com/kiwisportz/status/491261018879066112">that was announced</a> on the site&#8217;s Twitter account.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/e8adfd0b.coolsportstraffic.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/coolsportstraffic.png" alt="coolsport"></center></p>
<p>Parvez, who has been in custody since his arrest, will be further detained until he <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/man-charged-after-raid-computer-7726718">appears</a> before Manchester Crown Court on September 16.</p>
<p>This week&#8217;s arrest is the third involving a streaming site in the UK. Although the sites in previous actions were not announced by police, TorrentFreak previously revealed that the operator of BoxingGuru.co.uk, boxingguru.eu, boxingguru.tv and nutjob.eu was arrested during April in the north of England.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93518
title: MPAA and RIAA Teach Copyright in Elementary Schools, Now With Fair Use
uri: MPAA-and-RIAA-Teach-Copyright-in-Elementary-Schools-Now-With-Fair-Use
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2rLT_vzRNkg/
content:
<p><a href="media/f63530d5.pirate4.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate4.jpg"><img src="media/f63530d5.pirate4.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate4.jpg" alt="pirate" width="300" height="212" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93585"></a>Almost a year ago <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-and-riaa-to-teach-copyright-at-kindergartens-130918/">we questioned</a> a <a href="http://www.copyrightinformation.org/resources-faq/what-do-teachers-need-to-know/">new initiative</a> from the Center for Copyright Information (CCI).</p>
<p>The group, which has the MPAA and RIAA as key members, had just started piloting a kindergarten through sixth grade curriculum on copyright in California schools. </p>
<p>The curriculum was drafted in collaboration with the California School Libraries Association and iKeepSafe, who aim to teach kids the basics of copyright. The lesson materials were rather one-sided, however, often ignoring fair use and the free-to-share copyright licences Creative Commons provides.</p>
<p>These concerns were later picked up by the <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/nov/11/entertainment/la-et-ct-piracy-education-20131111">mainstream press</a>, creating a massive backlash. Responding to the critique the CCI and other partners were quick to state that it was just a pilot and that the final materials would probably be more balanced. </p>
<p>Glen Warren, vice president of the California School Library Association, acknowledged the problems and suggested that the early drafts were coming straight from the content industry. </p>
<p>“We’re moving along trying to get things a little closer to sanity. That tone and language, that came from that side of the fence, so to speak,” Warren <a href="http://www.wired.com/2013/09/mpaa-school-propaganda/">commented</a>.</p>
<p>This week, TorrentFreak <a href="http://www.ikeepsafe.org/download-page-2/">spotted</a> the final version of the curriculum and it&#8217;s clear that the public outcry for more nuance has paid off. </p>
<p>Instead of focusing on enforcement and the things people can&#8217;t do with copyrighted content, it now emphasizes that sharing can be a good thing. Creative Commons licenses are discussed in detail and every lesson plan also informs students about fair use. </p>
<p>For example, in the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/238752490/Grade-2-Copyright-Lesson">old second grade lesson plan</a> the teacher was supposed to say the following sentence: </p>
<p><em>“You’re not old enough yet to be selling your pictures online, but pretty soon you will be. And you’ll appreciate if the rest of us respect your work by not copying it and doing whatever we want with it.” </em></p>
<p>While the above paragraph ignores the fact that some people are happy to share their photos with flexible Creative Commons licenses, it has been completely removed from the <a href="media/775c225d.Grade-2-Lesson-and-Handout1.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.ikeepsafe.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Grade-2-Lesson-and-Handout1.pdf">final version</a>. </p>
<p>The sentence <em>&#8220;we recognize that it’s hard work to produce something, and we want to get paid for our work&#8221;</em> has been completely stripped from the lesson plan too. Instead students are reminded that <em>&#8220;the projects they created are fun / informative / respectful, and so they may want to share them online.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>The sixth grade lesson material has also been thoroughly updated, as well as the accompanying video which doubled in length to explain fair use.</p>
<p>The changes become clear by comparing the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/238750858/Grade-6-Copyright-Lesson">old</a> &#8220;purpose&#8221; and &#8220;key concepts&#8221; with the new one. Below is a copy of the old text, with no reference to fair use and Creative Commons licenses. </p>
<p><center><strong>Old</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/a44e4f5b.grade6old.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grade6old.jpg"><img src="media/a44e4f5b.grade6old.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grade6old.jpg" alt="grade6old" width="776" height="462" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93588"></a></center></p>
<p>And here&#8217;s the new and improved version, with these two concepts included, and without the strong focus on consequences for &#8220;illegal use.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>New</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/8a59739d.grade6new.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grade6new.jpg"><img src="media/8a59739d.grade6new.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grade6new.jpg" alt="grade6new" width="725" height="548" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93589"></a></center></p>
<p>Another positive change is that instead of warning students against using copyrighted images and music from the Internet in Powerpoint presentations, they are now told that this is totally fine, as long as the material is only shown in class. </p>
<p>Similar changes have been made throughout the entire curriculum, which is now much more balanced than the rather strict and biased view that was presented before.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s still one question that lingers in the back of our mind though. Would the curriculum have been as balanced as it is right now if we hadn&#8217;t pointed out the problems in the first place? </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93537
title: Gottfrid Svartholm Trial Starts & Ends Week in Controversy
uri: Gottfrid-Svartholm-Trial-Starts-Ends-Week-in-Controversy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wsfkF3aNul0/
content:
<p><img src="media/2c059aef.gottfrid1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gottfrid1.jpg" width="200" height="248" class="alignright">It&#8217;s been a long time in the making but this week the trial of Gottfrid Svartholm finally got underway in Denmark. The Swede and a still-unnamed 21-year-old co-defendant stand accused of hacking computer mainframes operated by US IT giant CSC in what&#8217;s being described as the largest case of its kind ever seen in the Scandinavian country.</p>
<p><strong>Surprise</strong></p>
<p>The trial began on Tuesday but after less than 25 minutes proceedings had to be halted after the prosecution submitted a 27-page document and 92 slides that the defense claimed not to have seen before. Michael Juul Eriksen, defending the 21-year-old, complained but deputy public prosecutor Anders Riisager said there was no obligation to provide all documents up front.</p>
<p>On top of the surprise documentation, the prosecution also provided a never-seen-before video recorded by police when Gottfrid was arrested in Cambodia during 2012. It reportedly showed the Swede&#8217;s apartment messy and turned upside down. Gottfrid&#8217;s defense lawyer Luise Høj branded the video as &#8220;irrelevant&#8221; and this start to proceedings didn&#8217;t impress Gottfrid&#8217;s mother Kristina either.</p>
<p>&#8220;Such efforts to disorder the defense and affect the jury are, in my opinion, unworthy of a civilized court process,&#8221; Kristina told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;I guess I am very naive in this, but I think that representatives of the community should behave better than that &#8211; justice should be considered more important and be paid more respect to than in the way that the prosecutor behaved to begin with that first day. But maybe Denmark has its own ethics in this respect.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Chat logs</strong></p>
<p>In presenting the case, senior prosecutor Maria Cingali referred to chat logs that took place between two hackers &#8211; one allegedly Gottfrid (My Evil Twin) and the other the 21-year-old (Advanced Persistent Terrorist Threat). A <a href="http://www.thelocal.dk/20140902/prosecution-presents-case-in-hacker-trial">report</a> in The Local said the logs not only contained chats discussing the hacking of CSC&#8217;s database, but also personal details that correspond with those of the 21-year-old.</p>
<p><strong>Remote access</strong></p>
<p>Speaking to the court on Wednesday, Gottfrid continued with the same defense strategy employed in his Swedish case &#8211; that third parties had access to his computer and carried out the hacking from there. The 29-year-old also revealed that he&#8217;d previously given the police four other nicknames  of individuals who had access to his computer. Eraser, Nohyb, RBL and Ripley were reportedly known online as The Lattice Team but Anders Riisager wanted their real names &#8211; Gottfrid refused.</p>
<p>&#8220;I do not want be called a traitor or a snitch,&#8221; he said, going on to criticize the efforts of the prosecution in finding the potential culprits.</p>
<p>&#8220;The motivation to investigate has been equal to zero,&#8221; he <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/140904/the-trial-the-pirate-bay-founder-salacious-youd-expect">added</a>, pointing out that the Danish authorities had been in possession of these names since 2013.</p>
<p>&#8220;There has been every opportunity to find out their names. You have had more than a year to do so,&#8221; Gottfrid noted.</p>
<p><strong>&#8220;Smear&#8221; campaign</strong></p>
<p>In his cross-examination, Riisager invited Gottfrid to comment on an article published on Cambodian forum Khmer440 in 2012 which claimed that the Swede was &#8220;messed up on drugs&#8221; and &#8220;a total recluse&#8221; who made contact only with &#8220;his dealers and landlord.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Swede reacted unfavorably, accusing the prosecution of trying to &#8220;smear&#8221; him. Someone who shares opposition to these allegations is &#8216;John&#8217;, Gottfrid&#8217;s former business partner as revealed in our <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/witness-offered-3-50hr-to-testify-against-pirate-bay-founder-140824/">earlier article</a>. He&#8217;s outraged that the prosecution has used information penned by someone with &#8220;a grudge&#8221; against Gottfrid.</p>
<p>&#8220;I should inform you that Khmer440 has accepted that many of the allegations posted about me and Gottfrid were false and defamatory. I have it in writing (the term they used was &#8216;scurrilous&#8217;,&#8221; John wrote in an email yesterday to Jens Jorgensen of the Danish police.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fact that you have quoted these libelous, provably false accusations written by a man who you know to have a grudge against Gottfrid (and I know that you know, because I personally told you about it during our meeting, and watched you take notes) is absolutely sickening. I can&#8217;t imagine what on earth possessed you to do such a thing.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Did the prosecution edit evidence?</strong></p>
<p>Something else bothering the defense is the authenticity of chat logs provided to the court. The names &#8220;Advanced Persistent Terrorist Threat&#8221; and &#8220;My Evil Twin&#8221; were seen in chat logs provided by the prosecution yet on Internet Relay Chat, where the chats allegedly took place, names with spaces are truncated. This, the defense says, indicates the logs had been modified.</p>
<p>&#8220;The prosecution makes much of the two names. But if you log into this kind of IRC chat with the name ‘Advanced Persistent Terrorist Threat,’ you will just be called ‘Advanced,’ because you cannot include spaces. It simply cannot be done to be called ‘Advanced Persistent Terrorist Threat,’ so it&#8217;s been changed subsequently,&#8221; Michael Juul Eriksen argued.</p>
<p><strong>Lost in translation</strong></p>
<p>Speaking with TF yesterday, Kristina said that while Gottfrid is in good spirits, earlier in the week her son &#8220;lost his temper&#8221; with his interpreter over technical terms not being relayed correctly.</p>
<p>&#8220;Gottfrid and his lawyer have complained about this earlier in court, several months ago &#8211; and now this happens again,&#8221; Kristina said. &#8220;Denmark should use its best interpreters in a task like this &#8211; and the interpreters themselves should refrain from accepting to do the job it if they feel that they can&#8217;t do it well.&#8221;</p>
<p>By Friday morning, however, things had improved.</p>
<p>&#8220;I just saw a report that Gottfrid and [his new interpreter] smiled at each other when she tried to translate some technical terms,&#8221; a good sign, Kristina believes.</p>
<p><strong>The week ends in more drama</strong></p>
<p>The cross-examination of Gottfrid&#8217;s co-defendant had been due to begin Friday afternoon, a highly anticipated event since to date the 21-year-old has refused to give any comment to the police. But thanks to the prosecution producing yet more evidence that had not previously been shared with the defense, <a href="http://politiken.dk/viden/ECE2387684/dansker-naegter-at-udtale-sig-i-hackersag/">the court would have to wait</a>.</p>
<p>Defending the 21-year-old, lawyer Michael Juul Eriksen said he couldn&#8217;t let the questioning go ahead until the information had been read by the defense.</p>
<p>The trial continues next week.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93667
title: Dutch Movie Industry Wants to Monitor and Warn Pirates
uri: Dutch-Movie-Industry-Wants-to-Monitor-and-Warn-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bSpI6KU5jng/
content:
<p><a href="media/5ceed422.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg"><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076"></a>In recent years the movie industry has been pushing hard for voluntary agreements aimed at targeting online piracy. </p>
<p>This has resulted in arrangements with Internet providers in several countries including the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-anti-piracy-scheme-turns-one-year-140225/">United States</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-agree-to-send-out-music-movie-piracy-warnings-140509/">the UK</a>, where unauthorized file-sharers are monitored and warned. </p>
<p>The Dutch movie industry is now calling for a similar scheme. Traditionally the Netherlands has been one of the countries with the highest piracy rates, and without any sign of improvement the movie industry wants to take action.</p>
<p>&#8220;Consumers should be educated. They must understand that it&#8217;s not allowed,&#8221; <a href="http://nos.nl/artikel/695818-filmsector-brief-tegen-downloaden.html?npo_cc_skip_wall=1&#038;npo_cc=na&#038;npo_rnd=777589410">says</a> René van Turnhout, director of film distributor Dutch Filmworks and chairman of trade association NVPI Video.</p>
<p>The Dutch film industry is calling for a warning system modeled after the British <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/how-uk-piracy-warnings-work-140517/">VCAP initiative</a>. This means that accused pirates are sent a series of warning letters, but without any punishments. </p>
<p>While an agreement with ISPs is still miles away Van Turnhout already has a suggestion for what the letters should look like. Aside from alerting pirates to their unauthorized behavior, the notice should include links to legal alternatives.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve found that you have tried to view films from illegal sources. Filmmakers also have to earn money to make a living. We refer you to the following legal alternatives,&#8221; is what the letter could read, according to Van Turnhout. </p>
<p>Just how popular movie piracy is in the Netherlands became apparent last week when Popcorn Time revealed that its application is installed on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-installed-1-4-million-devices-u-s-140901/">1.3 million devices</a> there, trailing only behind the United States but with a population of less than 17 million people.</p>
<p>Convincing Dutch ISPs to participate is going to be quite a challenge though. Traditionally they have been very cautious when it comes to anti-piracy measures. Earlier this year ISPs successfully <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isps-no-longer-have-to-block-the-pirate-bay-dutch-court-rules-140128/">appealed</a> the local Pirate Bay blockade, which they deemed to be ineffective and in violation the their customers&#8217; rights.</p>
<p>The Dutch proposal is in line with increased calls for warning systems around the globe. Among other countries, Australia is also looking into it. Last week local ISPs said there&#8217;s no evidence that these schemes are effective, but that they would be <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isp-alliance-accepts-piracy-crackdown-with-limits-140901/">willing to consider</a> one if the Government desires.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93661
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 09/08/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-09-08-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/So-NFIOEtkc/
content:
<p><a href="media/45c99f8f.howtotrain.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/howtotrain.jpg"><img src="media/45c99f8f.howtotrain.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/howtotrain.jpg" alt="howtotrain" width="300" height="162" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93663"></a>This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>How To Train Your Dragon 2 is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-140901/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_train_your_dragon_2/">How To Train Your Dragon 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646971/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLBmHtI5KfM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/maleficent_2014/">Maleficent</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587310/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XO4XiRop0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_million_ways_to_die_in_the_west/">A Million Ways To Die In The West</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557490/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhGkcOoTlkQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godzilla_2014/">Godzilla</a> (Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831387/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIu85WQTPRc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_fault_in_our_stars/">The Fault in Our Stars</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582846/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ItBvH5J6ss">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/x_men_days_of_future_past/">X-Men: Days of Future Past</a> (HDrip/TS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1877832/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsjtg7m1MMM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/edge_of_tomorrow/">Edge Of Tomorrow</a> (Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUmSVcttXnI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/divergent/">Divergent</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutgWjz10sM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/think_like_a_man_too/">Neighbors</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2004420/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL5c2szf3E4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/captain_america_the_winter_soldier_2014/">Captain America: The Winter Soldier</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843866/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SlILk2WMTI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=90814
title: Oh No! Web Sheriff Targets ‘Pirating’ Reddit Users
uri: Oh-No-Web-Sheriff-Targets-Pirating-Reddit-Users
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jyi7GQX3GVE/
content:
<p><a href="media/b6ecaf06.sheriff1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sheriff1.jpg"><img src="media/b79992c6.sheriff1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sheriff1.jpg" alt="sheriff1" width="300" height="74" class="alignright size-full wp-image-90919"></a>The <a href="http://www.websheriff.com/">Web Sheriff</a>, aka John Giacobbi, has been protecting the Internet from pirates for roughly a decade.</p>
<p>In the early days he became somewhat of a cult figure thanks to his polite style and trademarked <a href="media/c2675b17.web-sheriff-mistake.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/web-sheriff-mistake.jpg">letterhead</a>. This set him apart from other anti-piracy crusaders who usually sent DMCA takedown requests with a more aggressive lawyer-like style.</p>
<p>The Sheriff once had a lively discussion with The Pirate Bay folks, who then sent him <a href="media/7a83966c.interweb.pdf" data-original-source="http://thepiratebay.se/static/interweb.pdf">this invoice</a> fax. Not much later relationships deteriorated even further after Giacobbi announced he would sue the site&#8217;s operators in  the US, France and Sweden, but not much came of that. </p>
<p>In recent years things have quietened down a bit, but The Web Sheriff and his deputies are still active. In recent years they have taken down over half a million URLs from Google alone. Most recently, the Sheriff has been targeting several Reddit.com pages. </p>
<p>In one of the most recent complaints the Sheriff demands the takedown of <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/megalinks/comments/20loav/movienymphomaniac_2013_vol_1_and_2_pt2_in_comments/">a submission</a> in the r/megalinks subreddit, linking to two parts of the movie Nymphomaniac hosted on Mega.co.nz.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/9b265cc7.reddit-websher.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/reddit-websher.png"><img src="media/402084e7.reddit-websher.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/reddit-websher.png" alt="reddit-websher" width="600" height="162" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93635"></a></center></p>
<p>The request for removal was sent to Google last week but the search engine decided not to remove the URLs. It&#8217;s unclear why, but one reason for the inaction may be that the Mega links are no longer active.</p>
<p>Not all links reported by the Web Sheriff are &#8220;infringing&#8221; though. Another recent submission shows that he also tried to get <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/AlanPartridge/comments/1ku0ws/alan_partridge_alpha_papa_has_a_north_american/">this submission</a> take down, which points to a perfectly legitimate news article from Variety.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/67280e43.redd2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/redd2.png"><img src="media/67280e43.redd2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/redd2.png" alt="redd2" width="600" height="184" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93644"></a></center></p>
<p>This year copyright holders have increasingly targeted allegedly infringing Reddit links, Google&#8217;s data shows. The Web Sheriff is currently <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/domains/reddit.com/">ranked second</a> in number of URLs sent, placed after LeakID and before Disney.  </p>
<p>Even the MPAA went after Reddit a few weeks ago. The Hollywood group <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-targets-reddit-movie-piracy-140624/">tried to take down</a> the subreddit r/fulllengthfilms, but failed and drove <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/FullLengthFilms/about/traffic">hundreds of thousands</a> of eyeballs to the page instead. </p>
<p>Thus far the Web Sheriff hasn&#8217;t booked any real successs either, but Reddit users are warned. The Sheriff is watching and will shoot down your submissions whenever he can.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93684
title: BBC: ISPs Should Assume Heavy VPN Users are Pirates
uri: BBC-ISPs-Should-Assume-Heavy-VPN-Users-are-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YoRXimGYccA/
content:
<p><a href="media/9a754751.bbc1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bbc1.jpg"><img src="media/aa3c6858.bbc1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bbc1.jpg" alt="bbc" width="200" height="160" class="alignright size-full wp-image-31596"></a>After cutting its teeth as a domestic broadcaster, the BBC is spreading its products all around the globe. Shows like Top Gear have done extremely well overseas and the trend of exploiting other shows in multiple territories is set to continue.</p>
<p>As a result the BBC is now getting involved in the copyright debates of other countries, notably Australia, where it operates four subscription channels. Following submissions from Hollywood interests and local ISPs, BBC Worldwide has now presented its own to the Federal Government. Its text shows that the corporation wants new anti-piracy measures to go further than ever before.</p>
<p>The BBC begins by indicating a preference for a co-operative scheme, one in which content owners and ISPs share responsibility to &#8220;reduce and eliminate&#8221; online copyright infringement. Educating consumers on both the impact of piracy and where content can be obtained legally online would be supported by improved availability of official offerings.</p>
<p>After providing general piracy statistics, the BBC turn to the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-dr-who-episode-appears-on-the-pirate-bay-140714/">recent leaking</a> of the new series of Doctor Who to file-sharing networks which acted &#8220;as a spoiler&#8221; to the official global TV premiere.</p>
<p>&#8220;Despite the BBC dedicating considerable resources to taking down and blocking access to these Doctor Who materials, there were almost 13,000 download attempts of these materials from Australian IP addresses in the period between their unauthorized access and the expiration of the usual catch-up windows,&#8221; the BBC write.</p>
<p><strong>So what can be done?</strong></p>
<p>In common with all rightsholder submissions so far, the BBC wants to put pressure on ISPs to deal with their errant subscribers via a graduated response scheme of educational messages backed up by punitive measures for the most persistent of infringers.</p>
<p>&#8220;ISPs should warn  any alleged copyright infringers  through a graduated notification system that what they are doing is illegal and, at the same time, educate them about the law, the importance of copyright to funding content and services they enjoy and where they can access the material they want legally. However. if the consumers do not abide by the notifications then more serious action may need to be taken,&#8221; the BBC note.</p>
<p>Those sanctions could lead to a throttling of a users&#8217; Internet connection but should not normally lead to a complete disconnection. However, the BBC doesn&#8217;t rule that out, adding that such measures could be employed &#8220;in the most serious and egregious circumstances, as is the case in the United States.&#8221;</p>
<p>While little in the foregoing presents much of a surprise, the BBC goes further than any other rightsholder submission thus far in suggesting that ISPs should not only forward notices, but also spy on their customers&#8217; Internet usage habits.</p>
<p><strong>VPNs are pirate tools</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;Since the evolution of peer-to-peer software protocols to incorporate decentralized architectures, which has allowed users to download content from numerous host computers, the detection and prosecution of copyright violations has become a complex task. This situation is further amplified by the adoption of virtual private networks (VPNs) and proxy servers by some users, allowing them  to  circumvent geo-blocking technologies and further evade detection,&#8221; the BBC explain.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is reasonable for ISPs to be placed under an obligation to identify user behavior that is ‘suspicious’ and indicative of a user engaging in conduct that infringes copyright. Such behavior may include the illegitimate use by Internet users of IP obfuscation tools in combination with high download volumes.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the BBC goes on to state that &#8220;false positives&#8221; would need to be avoided in order to &#8220;safeguard the fundamental rights of consumers&#8221;, none of this will sit well with Internet service providers or the public. Throwing around accusations of illegal activity based on the existence of an encrypted tunnel and high bandwidth consumption is several steps beyond anything suggested before.</p>
<p><strong>Site blocking</strong></p>
<p>The BBC says it supports the blocking of overseas infringing sites at the ISP level after obtaining a court injunction. Of interest is a proposal to use a system which allows for injunctions to be modified after being issued in order to deal with sites finding ways to circumvent bans.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is important to have the ability to get existing injunctions varied by the court when defendants reappear in different guises, a useful tool in the United Kingdom,&#8221; the BBC writes.</p>
<p><strong>Who foots the bill?</strong></p>
<p>Who pays for all of the above has been the major sticking point in all Australian negotiations thus far. The ISPs largely believe they shouldn&#8217;t have to pay for anything, but most rightsholders &#8211; the BBC included &#8211; think that the costs need to be shared.</p>
<p>&#8220;In light of the fact that a large inducement for internet users to become customers of ISPs is to gain access to content (whether legally or illegally), it is paramount that ISPs are required to take an active role in preventing and fighting online copyright infringement  by establishing and contributing meaningfully to the cost of administering some form of graduated response scheme,&#8221; the BBC concludes.</p>
<p>Earlier submissions from Hollywood, ISPs and tech companies can be found here (<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-draft-reveals-hollywoods-anti-piracy-plans-140828/">1</a>), (<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isp-alliance-accepts-piracy-crackdown-with-limits-140901/">2</a>), (<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-facebook-and-microsoft-reject-anti-piracy-proposals-140905/">3</a>)</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93687
title: Police Ordered to Return Clones of Dotcom’s Seized Data
uri: Police-Ordered-to-Return-Clones-of-Dotcom-s-Seized-Data
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1CPrWQlpKMs/
content:
<p><a href="media/57d13949.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg"><img src="media/5b2669f1.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg" alt="dotcom-laptop" width="233" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-76556"></a>January 2012, New Zealand Police carried out the largest ever action against individuals accused of copyright infringement.</p>
<p>The raid on Dotcom&#8217;s Coatesville mansion was requested by United States authorities who are now trying to extradite the Megaupload founder and several of his colleagues. </p>
<p>Despite protests from Dotcom about the legitimacy of the search warrants, the raid was found to be <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-raid-warrants-legal-court-of-appeal-rules-140219/">legal earlier</a> this year. However, that doesn&#8217;t mean that all seized property was taken legitimately, and can be kept from the New Zealand-based entrepreneur.</p>
<p>Today the New Zealand Court of Appeal <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&#038;objectid=11320761">ruled</a> that clones of the seized electronic devices that were seized without authorization should be returned to Dotcom and his co-defendants &#8220;as soon as reasonably practicable.&#8221;</p>
<p>Last month the prosecution explained that the data hadn&#8217;t yet been handed over because some of it was encrypted, making it impossible for police to verify and investigate its contents. </p>
<p>In its ruling today, the Court of Appeal respects this hesitation but noted that all non-encrypted data should be returned. The rest can follow after the defendants give up their encryption passwords to two nominated police officers.</p>
<p>Previously the Court of Appeal ruled that police crossed a line when they shared cloned data with the United States. In a reference, today&#8217;s order prohibits the two police officers from revealing the encryption passwords with others. </p>
<p>“[...] in particular to any representative of the government of the United States of America,” the <a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1409/S00275/police-ordered-to-return-clone-technology-to-dotcom.htm">verdict reads</a>. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93743
title: RIAA Complaint Kills Grooveshark Chromecast Support
uri: RIAA-Complaint-Kills-Grooveshark-Chromecast-Support
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OKk6xnTfgis/
content:
<p><a href="media/557517b3.grooveshark1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/grooveshark1.jpg"><img src="media/66f02b27.grooveshark1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grooveshark1.jpg" alt="grooveshark" width="200" height="104" class="alignright size-full wp-image-42451"></a>Two years ago, music streaming service Grooveshark suffered a setback after its app was pulled from Google&#8217;s Android store for the second time.</p>
<p>While Google cited Terms of Service violations, ongoing copyright-related issues with the world&#8217;s largest recording labels were the number one suspect for the takedown. Generally, Grooveshark parent company Escape Media are <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-accuses-grooveshark-of-making-piracy-a-job-requirement-140220/">not on good terms</a> with the RIAA due to legal issues dating back several years. </p>
<p>Last month, however, there appeared to be something of a turnaround in relationships with Google when Grooveshark <a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/08/14/grooveshark-brings-music-streaming-service-google-chromecast">announced</a> that it was about to debut Chromecast support via the Play Store.</p>
<p>The development was well received, with Hypebot wondering if Google welcoming Grooveshark back amounted <a href="http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2014/08/grooveshark-redemption-google-adds-music-streamer-to-chromecast.html">to redemption</a> for the US-based streaming company.</p>
<p>But now, less than a month later, <a href="http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/09/09/grooveshark-longer-supports-chromecast-following-riaa-claim-infringes-artists-copyright/">it&#8217;s all over</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;After a jointly approved press release from Grooveshark, we were notified by Google [that] our app was suspended for Terms of Service of compliance,&#8221; Grooveshark announced today.</p>
<p>The development came as a surprise to Grooveshark, since the company believes it did enough to comply with Google&#8217;s Terms of Service this time around. However, it will come as no surprise that the root of the complaint lies with the major recording labels based in the United States.</p>
<p>According to a statement sent to TheNextWeb, the RIAA is behind the suspension after claiming that Grooveshark&#8217;s service infringes on their artists&#8217; copyrights.</p>
<p>“We found this interesting as Google (YouTube) is also engaged in a lawsuit over the same points,” a Grooveshark spokesperson said.</p>
<p>While that is indeed true, YouTube&#8217;s relationships with the labels are considerably better than those currently enjoyed by Grooveshark. Even Google sympathizes with the labels, something which became evident last year when the search giant <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-adds-grooveshark-to-its-piracy-search-filter-130723/">excluded the term Grooveshark</a> from its Autocomplete and Instant services. </p>
<p>But despite the drawbacks, Grooveshark continues. Grooveshark for Android can still be <a href="https://mobile.grooveshark.com/android">downloaded</a> from the company&#8217;s site. Chromecast functionality also remains.</p>
<p>&#8220;You may still access your full Grooveshark library on Chromecast via our main site (grooveshark.com) or <a href="http://html5.grooveshark.com/">html5 mobile site</a>&#8230;.using the ‘mirroring’ tool,&#8221; the company concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93716
title: U.S. Internet Provider Refuses to Expose Alleged Pirates
uri: U-S-Internet-Provider-Refuses-to-Expose-Alleged-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/v-Yp_EhT6w8/
content:
<p><a href="media/70df43c8.grande_communications.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grande_communications.jpg"><img src="media/70df43c8.grande_communications.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grande_communications.jpg" alt="grande_communications" width="200" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93720"></a>There are many ways copyright holders approach today’s “online piracy problem.”</p>
<p>Some prefer to do it through innovation, while others prefer educational messages, warnings or even lawsuits. Another group is aiming to generate revenue by obtaining lots of small cash settlements.</p>
<p><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/tag/rightscorp/">Rightscorp</a> has chosen the latter model but unlike traditional copyright trolls it uses the DMCA to reach its goal. On behalf of copyright holders such as <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-were-fining-file-sharers-who-use-non-six-strike-isps-130607/">Warner Bros.</a> they send DMCA notices with a settlement offer to ISPs, who then forward them to their customers. </p>
<p><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-kills-business-model-of-piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-131206/">Not all ISPs</a> are cooperating with this scheme, but for this problem Rightscorp also found a solution. In recent months the company has requested more than 100 DMCA subpoenas, asking smaller ISPs to identify hundreds or thousands of alleged pirates. </p>
<p>These  DMCA subpoenas bypass the judge and only have to be signed off by a court clerk. In other words, Rightscorp uses an <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-finds-shortcut-expose-alleged-bittorrent-pirates-140405/">uncommon shortcut</a> to cheaply and quickly expose the alleged pirates, and nearly all of the ISPs happily complied.</p>
<p>The Texas ISP <a href="http://mygrande.com/">Grande Communications</a> also received a signed subpoena in the mailbox, listing 30,000 IP-addresses/timestamp combinations of alleged pirates. However, Grande <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/239155524/Grande-vs-Rightscorp">informed the court</a> that it refuses to identify its account holders. Among other things, it argues that Rightscorp abuses the Court&#8217;s subpoena power.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Subpoena is part of an ongoing campaign by Rightscorp to harvest &#8216;settlements&#8217; from Internet subscribers (who may or may not have been the users of their accounts at the times and dates in question) located across the nation through an abuse of the subpoena power of the federal courts in California,&#8221; Grande&#8217;s lawyer writes.  </p>
<p>The Internet provider further notes that the anti-piracy company is only issuing these subpoenas to smaller regional ISPs as these are less likely to fight back. </p>
<p>&#8220;As can be seen from the PACER listing, Rightscorp has avoided sending subpoenas to any of the national ISPs (such as Verizon, AT&#038;T, or Comcast), but instead has sent subpoenas to regional ISPs in various locations around the nation,&#8221; Grande writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Presumably, Rightscorp is hoping that the regional ISPs, with smaller in-house legal departments, will be likely to simply comply with its subpoenas, especially given that those subpoenas bear the signature of the Clerk of the Court.&#8221; </p>
<p>Grande then goes on to state that jurisprudence has long-established that DMCA subpoenas can&#8217;t be used to identify file-sharers. Instead, Rightscorp should file a copyright infringement lawsuit as many other copyright holders have, so that a judge can properly review the evidence and arguments.</p>
<p>The ISP believes that Rightscorp is trying to bypass the scrutiny of a judge in order to avoid due process from taking place. This should not be allowed and Grande therefore <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/239155524/Grande-vs-Rightscorp">asks the court</a> to quash the subpoena.</p>
<p>&#8220;Rightscorp&#8217;s purpose in improperly issuing subpoenas under [the DMCA] is clear:  to avoid judicial review of the litany of issues that would arise in seeking the requisite authorization from a court for the discovery of the sought-after information, including issues relating to joinder, personal jurisdiction, and venue.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;In similar contexts and in no uncertain terms, the courts have stated that bypassing procedural rights of individual subscribers in order to harvest personal information en masse from a single proceeding will not be tolerated,&#8221; Grande adds. </p>
<p>When we covered <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-finds-shortcut-expose-alleged-bittorrent-pirates-140405/">Rightscorp&#8217;s use of DMCA subpoenas</a> earlier this year, several legal experts indeed said that DMCA subpoenas are not allowed in file-sharing cases. This was decided in a case between <a href="http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/RIAA_v._Verizon">Verizon and the RIAA</a> more than a decade ago, and has been upheld in subsequent cases.</p>
<p>Rightscorp  CEO Christopher Sabec disagreed, however, and he told TorrentFreak that the court made the wrong decision in the RIAA case. According to Sabec the verdict won’t hold up at the Supreme Court, so they’re ignoring it.</p>
<p>“The [RIAA vs. Verizon] Court case used flawed reasoning in concluding that an ISP such as Verizon is not a ‘Service Provider’ even though it clearly meets the definition laid out in the statute,” Sabec said.</p>
<p>“The issue has actually not been addressed by the vast majority of Circuit Courts. We believe that the decision you cite will be overturned when the issue reaches the Supreme Court,” he added.</p>
<p>Whether Rightscorp is indeed willing to fight this up to the Supreme Court has yet to be seen. For now, however, the alleged pirates are safe at Grande Communications. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that Grande only has 140,000 customers. The 30,000 IP-address and timestamp combinations appear to include many duplicate entries, so the total number of affected subscribers is likely to be only a fraction of that number.  </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93755
title: Spotify: Aussie Music Piracy Down 20% The Year After Our Launch
uri: Spotify-Aussie-Music-Piracy-Down-20
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GxGICNot6mw/
content:
<p><a href="media/7cec15fe.spotify-black.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/spotify-black.png"><img src="media/062c4cca.spotify-black.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spotify-black.png" alt="spotify-black" width="250" height="131" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86874"></a>Since its launch Spotify always had a very clear goal in mind. Compete with piracy and make it obsolete.</p>
<p>To see how the company is faring on this front Spotify regularly researches piracy rates in countries where they enter the market. Thus far the results have been rather positive. </p>
<p>In 2012 the streaming service entered the Australian market and Spotify&#8217;s own research now shows that music piracy via BitTorrent dropped significantly during the following year.  </p>
<p>In a keynote speech at the BIGSOUND music conference today, Spotify’s Director of Economics Will Page reveals that the volume of music piracy has decreased 20% between 2012 and 2013. Similarly, the number of people sharing music via BitTorrent in Australia has gone down too.</p>
<p>“It’s exciting to see that we are making inroads into reducing the music piracy problem within such a short space of time in this market,&#8221;  Page says.</p>
<p>&#8220;It shows the scope for superior legal services (offered at an accessible price point) to help improve the climate for copyright online,” he adds.</p>
<p>Spotify shared the graph below with TorrentFreak, showing that the drop in downloads was observed between December 2012 and 2013. </p>
<p><center><strong>Less music downloads and sharing IP-addresses</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/513bf40a.downloads-down.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/downloads-down.jpg"><img src="media/513bf40a.downloads-down.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/downloads-down.jpg" alt="downloads-down" width="779" height="437" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93786"></a></center></p>
<p>While the overall volume is down not all pirates are giving up their habit. The research found that it&#8217;s mostly the casual file-sharers who stop sharing, while the hard-core pirates remain just as active as before.</p>
<p>Also worth noting is that interest in illegal music downloads pales in comparison to that of other media. The research found that the demand for TV-shows and movies is four times that of music.</p>
<p>Spotify suggests that it&#8217;s partly responsible for the drop in music piracy, but can&#8217;t say to what extent. It&#8217;s also not clear how the demand for and volume of other forms of piracy changed in the same time period. </p>
<p>Page sees the drop in music piracy as an encouraging sign, but notes that more has to be done. While Spotify&#8217;s Director of Economics doesn&#8217;t comment on specific anti-piracy proposals the Government has <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-draft-reveals-hollywoods-anti-piracy-plans-140828/">put forward</a>, he does stress that both carrots and sticks are required to address the issue.</p>
<p>“Let’s be clear, Australia still faces a massive challenge in turning around its much talked about media piracy challenge, and it always has, and always will, take a combination of public policy and superior legal offerings,” page says.</p>
<p>&#8220;The downward trend in piracy volume and population suggests superior music legal services like Spotify are making a positive impact, and this has proven to be the case in Scandinavia, but it will take both carrots and sticks to turn the market around.&#8221;</p>
<p>The research seems to suggest that services like Spotify are reasonably good carrots, but what the sticks look like will have to become clear in the months to come.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> We added the graph Spotify shared with us after publication. This shows that there initially was an in increase in piracy, and that the downward trend started a few months after Spotify became available. In part, the company attributes this delayed effect to the relatively slow organic adoption. </p>
<p>Spotify further explains that it &#8220;contributed to the decline&#8221; thanks to its fair price, great performance and wide availability. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93770
title: Largest Pirate Bay Proxy & More Blocked By UK ISPs
uri: Largest-Pirate-Bay-Proxy-More-Blocked-By-UK-ISPs
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xbH-4pvR2bM/
content:
<p><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" width="200" height="168" class="alignright">After years of legal action, arrests, and placing people like Gottfrid Svartholm and Peter Sunde behind bars, it became clear to copyright holders that trying to directly shutdown The Pirate Bay would not be easy.</p>
<p>Instead they decided to target ISPs, companies that are responsive to legal threats in most corners of the world. In time, court orders rendered The Pirate Bay and similar sites blocked, but not for long. Proxy sites enabling access to the world&#8217;s largest torrent indexes soon began to thrive, but their time would also come.</p>
<p>The biggest proxy battle anywhere on the planet is taking place in the UK, a country where it&#8217;s become almost a formality to have sites blocked at the ISP level. Today we can report that yet another silent round of blockades are being put in place.</p>
<p>One of the main targets is PirateProxy, an extremely popular proxy service that&#8217;s particularly well known in the UK. The site was previously accessible at PirateProxy.net but moved to a new domain earlier in the year after its domain was blocked.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/041c8975.pirateproxynet.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirateproxynet.jpg" alt="PirateProxy.net"></center></p>
<p>The site switched to PirateProxy.in during April and successfully maintained its traffic. As can be seen from the Alexa chart below, PirateProxy is the 125th most popular domain in the entire country, an impressive feat for a site that offers nothing but a Pirate Bay block workaround.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/cd12bc61.pirateproxyin.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirateproxyin.jpg" alt="PirateProxyin"></center></p>
<p>Notable too is the site&#8217;s placing in Ireland, where The Pirate Bay is also blocked by ISPs. As of this morning PirateProxy was the country&#8217;s 131st most-popular domain.</p>
<p>However, visitors to the site through the major UK ISPs are now beginning to see the familiar &#8220;domain blocked&#8221; message. The example from Virgin Media, which confirms the existence of a court order, is shown below.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/fc94cf62.virginblock.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/virginblock.jpg" alt="VirginBlock"></center></p>
<p>Also under attack are the various proxy services available through Come.in, a portal which facilitates access to a wide range of torrent and other similar sites blocked by numerous European ISPs.</p>
<p>In addition to sundry others, at the moment the site&#8217;s PirateBay, KickassTorrents, ExtraTorrent, YTS/YIFY, TorrentReactor, BitSnoop and 1337x proxies are being subjected to UK blockades.</p>
<p>This is the second time this year that multiple Come.in proxies have been targeted by rightsholders. <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-quietly-block-torrent-site-proxies-140623/">Back in June</a> its EZTV and YTS proxies were blocked in the UK but were re-established by the site&#8217;s operators who vowed to keep putting up new services to maintain service.</p>
<p><a href="media/bc6e239e.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg"><img src="media/31176dbb.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg" alt="cityoflondonpolice" width="200" height="82" class="alignright size-full wp-image-71397"></a>While blocking proxies continues to be a key weapon of choice, proxies with UK-based operators have greater concerns. As <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/police-arrest-operator-torrent-site-proxies-140806/">reported</a> in August, City of London police&#8217;s PIPCU unit arrested the operator of Immunicity and several other proxies. </p>
<p>According to a police response to a Freedom of Information request obtained by TorrentFreak, he now stands accused of a wide range of crimes including breaches of the Serious Crime Act 2007, Possession of Articles for Use in Fraud, Making or Supplying Articles for use in Frauds and money laundering.</p>
<p>While plenty of proxies still exist (including several which rotate at the bottom of The Pirate Bay homepage under &#8216;proxy&#8217;), others aren&#8217;t doing so well.</p>
<p>Visitors to sites including <a href="http://torrentproxies.com/">TorrentProxies</a>, Torrenticity, FenopyReverse, FirstRowProxy, GetPirate, H33tUnblock, KatProxy, LivePirate, Metricity, ProxyCentral, KickassUnblock and YifyProxy are greeted with a message from PIPCU that the domains are under police investigation.</p>
<p>Finally, and despite efforts <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bbc-isps-should-assume-heavy-vpn-users-are-pirates-140908/">by the BBC</a> to have all VPN users labeled as pirates, use of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">such services</a> to evade blockades and enable geo-unblocking continues.</p>
<p>The BPI, PirateProxy and Come.in were not immediately available for comments but we&#8217;ll update this report when they arrive.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> The operator of PirateProxy informs us that a new domain is up and operational at PirateProxy.bz</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93805
title: UK Police Shut Down MP3 Search Engine MP3Juices
uri: UK-Police-Shut-Down-MP3-Search-Engine-MP3Juices
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_KdUCYxIzdg/
content:
<p><a href="media/e87e37da.mp3juices.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mp3juices.png"><img src="media/e87e37da.mp3juices.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mp3juices.png" alt="mp3juices" width="275" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93806"></a>Over the past few months <a href="http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/Pages/default.aspx">City of London Police</a> have been working together with copyright holders to topple sites that provide or link to pirated content.</p>
<p>The police started by sending <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-launch-campaign-to-shut-down-torrent-sites-130604/">warning letters</a> to site owners, asking them to go legit or shut down. Late last year this was followed by a campaign targeted at domain registrars, asking them to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-orders-registrars-to-suspend-domains-of-major-torrent-sites-131009/">suspend the domain names</a> of several &#8220;illegal&#8221; sites.</p>
<p><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/domain-registrars-deny-police-requests-suspend-pirate-sites-140808/">Most registrars</a> have denied these suspension requests because they lack any legal basis, but some are cooperating. Yesterday another site fell victim to the police&#8217;s campaign after MP3Juices.com had its domain name suspended.</p>
<p>The MP3 search engine was relatively popular with well over a million visitors per month. For now, these visitors will have to find an alternative as the site currently displays a prominent police banner.</p>
<p>&#8220;You have tried to access a website that is under criminal investigation by the UK: Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) This site is being investigated for online copyright infringement,&#8221; the banner reads.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/f2f81b0f.pipcu.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pipcu.jpg"><img src="media/f2f81b0f.pipcu.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pipcu.jpg" alt="pipcu" width="555" height="344" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93814"></a></center></p>
<p>The domain was suspended by domain name registrar Internet.bs, who previously suspended the domains of several other sites <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-shutdown-file-host-search-engine-filecrop-140524/">including Cricfree.tv</a>. Interestingly, the latter was allowed to transfer its domain to another registrar after it threatened to take legal steps.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak asked PIPCU for a comment on the latest domain suspension but we have yet to hear back. (Update: PIPCU says it has &#8220;no comment to make.&#8221;)</p>
<p>Increasingly, owners of alleged pirate sites are looking for safe registrars that won&#8217;t give in to complaints from authorities overseas. The Canadian registrar <a href="https://web.easydns.com/">EasyDNS</a> appears to be a safer choice, as the company protests PIPCU&#8217;s efforts fiercely. </p>
<p>PIPCU is not happy with these non-cooperative registrars and a few weeks ago the police sent EasyDNS a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-accuse-domain-name-registrar-of-facilitating-criminal-activity-140830/">threatening letter</a>, suggesting that the company itself could be held liable for aiding and abetting a criminal operation.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke with a source who has been following the response of site owners to the recent domain perils, and he suggested that bypassing registrars altogether may become a new trend.</p>
<p>&#8220;Cutting out the registrar and going directly to the TLD&#8217;s registry is the best way. Through Iceland for example. ISNIC would only respond to a court order in Iceland, not threats from police,&#8221; we were told.</p>
<p>Iceland&#8217;s <a href="http://www.isnic.is/en/">ISNIC</a> would indeed be a safe option. The organization previously told us that it will <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-finds-safe-haven-in-iceland-switches-to-is-domain-130425/">not take any action</a> without a court order, and later <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/torrent-domain-suspensions-damage-credibility-registrar-says-140617/">condemned</a> PIPCU&#8217;s domain suspension requests.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93802
title: MPAA: We’re Not Going to Arrest 14 Year Olds, We Educate Them
uri: MPAA-We-re-Not-Going-to-Arrest-14-Year-Olds-We-Educate-Them
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tv_kM78NVi4/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b5440c0.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg"><img src="media/394b6768.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg" alt="mpaa-logo" width="200" height="112" class="alignright size-full wp-image-36694"></a>Three years ago, Hollywood had a dream. That dream centered around new legislation that would deal a body blow to Internet piracy, one that would starve sites of their revenue and seriously cut visitor numbers.</p>
<p>But in early 2012, following a huge backlash from the public and technology sector, the dream turned into a nightmare. SOPA was not only dead and buried, but Hollywood had made new enemies and re-ignited old rivalries too.</p>
<p>In the period since the studios have been working hard to paint the technology sector not as foes, but as vital partners with shared interests common goals. The aggressive rhetoric employed during the SOPA lobbying effort all but disappeared and a refocused, more gentle MPAA inexplicably took its place.</p>
<p>Yesterday, in ongoing efforts to humanize the behind-the-scenes movie making industry as regular people out to make a living, “Beyond the Red Carpet: TV &#038; Movie Magic Day&#8221; landed on Capitol Hill.</p>
<p>Among other things, the event aimed to show lawmakers that those involved in the movie making process are not only vital to the economy, but are the real victims when it comes to piracy. The message is laid out in this infographic from the <a href="http://creativerightscaucus-chu.house.gov/">Creative Rights Caucus</a>.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/6f266765.behindthescenes.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/behindthescenes.png" alt="Behind"></center></p>
<p>As co-chair of the caucus, U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. will be hoping to maintain momentum on issues such as <a href="http://chu.house.gov/press-release/rep-chu-praises-tax-incentive-keep-film-and-tv-production-california">tax incentives</a> to keep film production in California, but yesterday the words of MPAA CEO Chris Dodd provided the most food for thought.</p>
<p>In comments to The Wrap, Dodd said that the MPAA is no longer seeking anti-piracy legislation from Congress.</p>
<p>“The world is changing at warp speed. We are not going to legislate or litigate our way out of it,” Dodd <a href="http://www.thewrap.com/hollywood-touts-new-anti-piracy-approach-economic-benefits-to-capitol-hill-crowd/">said</a>.</p>
<p>For an organization that has spent more than a decade and a half tightening up &#8216;Internet&#8217; copyright law in its favor, the admission is certainly a notable one, especially when the favored alternatives now include winning hearts and minds through education.</p>
<p>“We are going to innovate our way out by educating people about the hard work of people,&#8221; the MPAA CEO said.</p>
<p>“In this space everyone has to contribute to ensure that peoples’ content can be respected. Instead of finger pointing at everybody and arresting 14-year olds, the answer is making our product accessible in as many formats and distributive services as possible at price points they can afford. We are discovering that works.”</p>
<p>This tacit admission, that the industry itself has contributed to the piracy problems it faces today, is an interesting move. Over in Australia content providers and distributors have also been verbalizing the same shortcomings and they too have offered promises to remedy the situation.</p>
<p>But the development of new services doesn&#8217;t exist in a vacuum and time and again, across the United States to Europe and beyond, the insistence by Hollywood is that for legal services to flourish, use of pirate sources must be tackled, if not through legislation, by other means.</p>
<p>And here&#8217;s the key. Successfully humanizing the industry with lawmakers will provide Hollywood with much-needed momentum to push along its agenda of cooperation with its technology-focused partners.</p>
<p>ISPs will be encouraged to engage fully with the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-anti-piracy-warnings-double-year-140830/">six-strikes</a> &#8220;educational&#8221; program currently underway across America and advertising companies and big brands <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/tech-giants-sign-deal-to-ban-advertising-on-pirate-websites-130715/">will be reminded</a> to further hone their systems to keep revenue away from pirate sites.</p>
<p>But perhaps the more pressing efforts will entail bringing companies like Google on board. Voluntary agreements with the search sector can certainly be influenced by those on Capitol Hill, but with Google&#8217;s insistence that Hollywood moves first, by providing content in a convenient manner at a fair price, the ball is back in the movie industry&#8217;s court.</p>
<p>Dodd, however, is now promising just that, so things should start to get interesting. And in the meantime the MPAA can continue to fund groups such as the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/chillingeffects-dmca-archive-is-repugnant-copyright-group-says-140316/">Copyright Alliance</a>, a non-profit which regularly testifies before Congress on copyright and anti-piracy matters and of which the MPAA is a founding member.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93857
title: Cinema Staff Rewarded For Spotting Movie Cammers
uri: Cinema-Staff-Rewarded-For-Spotting-Movie-Cammers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wP5kVvmXASc/
content:
<p><img src="media/bfbc3855.cammer1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cammer1.jpg" width="210" height="122" class="alignright">Every few months the UK&#8217;s Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) reports on a scheme designed to cut down on the instances of camcorded movies appearing on the Internet.</p>
<p>The Take Action initiative, which has been in place since 2006, is funded by UK film distributors via the Film Distributors’ Association (FDA). In addition to funding educational campaigns and school resources on copyright, the project also provides night-vision goggles for catching potential pirates in the act.</p>
<p>In a new bulletin FACT and FDA report that nine members of staff from Cineworld, Odeon and Vue cinemas have become the latest to be commended for disrupting unauthorized movie recording in the UK.</p>
<p>“FDA is delighted to recognize the on-going vigilance of our colleagues in cinema exhibition across the UK,&#8221; said FDA Chief Executive Mark Batey.</p>
<p>&#8220;They are at the frontline of the fight against film theft, and a vital part of our programme to make the UK as secure a market in which to release movies as possible.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><br>
<h5>The cammer catchers</h5>
<p><img src="media/22352191.camcatchers.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/camcatchers.jpg" alt="camcatchers"></center></p>
<p>In addition to general recognition, the individuals pictured above were presented with certificates and unspecified cash rewards. Although not quantified by FACT this time around, in the past rewards have varied, from up to £700 per person in 2012 down to £500 per person in 2013.</p>
<p>FACT reports that the nine individuals were involved in seven &#8216;incidents&#8217;, all of which were attended by the police. In five incidents the alleged cammers accepted police cautions, with one incident leading to an arrest.</p>
<p>The latest statistics are down on figures last reported by FACT, both in terms of overall incidents and people being rewarded. During the reporting period April 2013 to December 2013, a dozen alleged cammers of major movies were spotted in UK cinemas resulting in five arrests but no prosecutions. A total of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dozen-movie-cammers-caught-by-theater-workers-none-convicted-131223/">15 cinema workers</a> picked up rewards.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s noteworthy, however, that apprehending those who record movies and then illegally distribute copies online doesn&#8217;t have to start and end in the cinema. FACT&#8217;s recent private prosecution of a man who recorded Fast and Furious 6 led to a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/fast-furious-6-pirate-sentenced-33-months-prison-140821/">prison sentence of almost three years</a>, even though he managed to record the movie without being spotted. FACT are quick to recount this cautionary tale.</p>
<p>“As the recent sentencing of Philip Danks to a 33 month custodial sentence demonstrates, the illegal recording of films is a serious crime which carries serious consequences, both for the perpetrators and the industry they violate,&#8221; said FACT Director General Kieron Sharp.</p>
<p>The latest camming figures reported by FACT vary enormously from events six years ago. Documents previously obtained by TorrentFreak revealed that in 2008 there were 50 camming incidents in UK cinemas, with police attending on just two occasions. One resulted in a couple receiving official cautions but in the majority of cases people observed camming simply left the building.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear whether today&#8217;s lower figures indicate a growing reluctance to test out the patience of both FACT and the police. However, even for those who do get away with the initial recording, recent events show that subsequently uploading that content to the Internet has the potential to elicit <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/five-undercover-police-cars-sent-to-arrest-single-alleged-movie-pirate-130525/">a big response</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93846
title: Google Refuses to Remove Links to Kate Upton’s “Fappening” Photos
uri: Google-Refuses-to-Remove-Links-to-Kate-Upton-s-Fappening-Photo
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4Mvvg1-ocuQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/f660bf0d.upton.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upton.png"><img src="media/f660bf0d.upton.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upton.png" alt="upton" width="250" height="266" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93850"></a>Nearly two weeks have passed since hundreds of photos of naked celebrities <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_2014_celebrity_photo_leaks">leaked online</a>. This &#8220;fappening&#8221; triggered a massive takedown operation targeting sites that host and link to the images, Google included.</p>
<p>A few days ago Google received a request to remove links to Kate Upton&#8217;s stolen photos The request was not sent by Upton but by her boyfriend Jason Verlander, who also appears in a few of the leaked images. </p>
<p>The notice includes hundreds of URLs of sites such as thefappening.eu where the photos are hosted without permission.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s quite unusual for Google&#8217;s takedown team to be confronted with a long link of naked celebrity pictures. This may explain why it took a while before a decision was reached on the copyright-infringing status of the URLs, a process that may involve a cumbersome manual review. </p>
<p>Yesterday the first batch was processed and interestingly enough Google decided to leave nearly half of all URLs <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/requests/1445734/">untouched</a>. The overview below shows that with 16 of the 444 links processed, only 45% were removed. </p>
<p>The big question is, of course, why?</p>
<p><center><center><strong>Verlander&#8217;s takedown request</strong></center><br></br><a href="media/58adbe28.upton-google-fappening.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upton-google-fappening.png"><img src="media/58adbe28.upton-google-fappening.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upton-google-fappening.png" alt="upton-google-fappening" width="600" height="442" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93852"></a></center></p>
<p>Google doesn&#8217;t explain its decision keep the links in question in its search results. In some cases the original content had already been removed at the source site, so these URLs didn&#8217;t have to be removed.</p>
<p>Other rejections are more mysterious though. For example, the thefappening.eu URLs that remain online all pointed to stolen images when we checked. Most of these were not nudes, but they certainly weren&#8217;t posted with permission.</p>
<p>One possible explanation for Google&#8217;s inaction is that Verlander most likely claimed to own the copyright on the images, something he can only do with pictures he took himself. With Upton&#8217;s selfies this is hard to do, unless she signed away her rights.</p>
<p>While browsing through the reported URLs we also noticed another trend. Some sites have replaced Upton&#8217;s leaked photos with photos of other random naked women. Google&#8217;s takedown team apparently has a sharp eye because these were not removed by Google either.</p>
<p>Chilling Effects, who host Google&#8217;s takedown requests, just posted a redacted version of the <a href="http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=2021753">original notice</a> with Upton&#8217;s name removed. Unfortunately this doesn&#8217;t offer more clues to resolve this takedown mystery, so for now we can only guess why many of the links remain indexed.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93917
title: Pirate Movie Group Members Set to Face FACT in Court
uri: Pirate-Movie-Group-Members-Set-to-Face-FACT-in-Court
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bhnXZ-_G_7s/
content:
<p><img src="media/f002015f.fact.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fact.jpg" width="180" height="133" class="alignright">There&#8217;s a good case to argue that the UK&#8217;s Federation Against Copyright (FACT) Theft is the most aggressive anti-piracy group operating in the West today.</p>
<p>While the MPAA <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-were-not-going-to-arrest-14-year-olds-we-educate-them-140911/">softens its approach</a> and becomes friendly on its home turf, FACT &#8211; a unit funded by Hollywood &#8211; is acting as a proxy overseas in the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>Later this year FACT will take another private prosecution to a criminal court in the UK. According to a press release issued yesterday, five men will face charges that they coordinated to action the unauthorized online distribution of recently released films.</p>
<p>Other than noting that the men were arrested in 2013, FACT provided no other details and due to legal reasons declined further comment. However, TorrentFreak has been able to confirm the following.</p>
<p>Following an investigation into the &#8220;sourcing and supply” of pirated films on the Internet, February last year FACT and police from the economic crime unit targeted four addresses in the West Midlands.</p>
<p><center><br>
<h5>Image from the raid</h5>
<p><img src="media/82c76a60.factarrest.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/factarrest.jpg" alt="Raid"></center></p>
<p>Four men, then aged 20, 22, 23 and 31, were arrested on suspicion of offenses committed under the Copyright Act, but exactly who they were was never made public.</p>
<p>However, TF <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/fact-raids-hit-release-groups-and-torrent-site-admin-130721/">discovered</a> that the men were members of a pair of P2P movie release groups known as 26K and RemixHD, a former admin of UnleashTheNet (the site run by busted US-based release group IMAGiNE) and an individual from torrent site The Resistance.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.vcdq.com/browse/1/0/3_2/10_9_21_22_23_24_6_28_32_19_11_3_2/0/2011_2012_2013/0/remixhd/0/0/0">image</a> below shows the final movie releases of RemixHD, the last taking place on January 29, 2013. The raids took place on February 1, 2013.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/e0f25164.remixhd.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/remixhd.png" alt="RemixHD"></center></p>
<p>FACT now report that five men, one more than originally reported, will face charges at Wolverhampton Crown Court later this year. While men from the two release groups are set to appear, it is unclear whether the former torrent site admins are still in the frame, although it is possible that FACT are referring to them collectively as a release group.</p>
<p>Aside from the fact that this will be the first time that a release group case has ever gone to court in the UK, the case is notable in two other respects.</p>
<p>Firstly, FACT &#8211; not the police &#8211; are prosecuting the case. Second, nowhere does FACT mention that the five will face charges of copyright infringement &#8211; it appears that the main charge now is conspiracy to defraud.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93925
title: UFC Pirate Apologizes & Settles Following $32m Lawsuit
uri: UFC-Pirate-Apologizes-Settles-Following-32m-Lawsuit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DJjNR-STYP4/
content:
<p><a href="media/5562a043.ufc.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ufc.jpg"><img src="media/c7b122d2.ufc.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ufc.jpg" alt="ufc" width="200" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-25323"></a>According to fans around the world, MMA is the fastest growing sport, bar none. The planet&#8217;s premier MMA production company is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, more often known as simply UFC.</p>
<p>In addition to events broadcast on regular TV, each month the UFC puts on special PPV cards. These cards attract a lot of attention and are a major money spinner for the martial arts organization. However, there are thousands of fans out there who prefer not to pay to view. For them, torrent sites are the answer.</p>
<p>Until the first few months of this year one of the most prolific releasers of UFC content was an individual known online as Secludedly. However, during April his activities came to an abrupt halt after he was targeted in a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-uploader-hit-with-32m-lawsuit-140501/">$32 million lawsuit</a> filed by UFC parent company, Zuffa.</p>
<p>Secludedly was soon revealed to be Steven A. Messina, a 27-year-old from Staten Island, New York.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’ll be honest, I don’t understand the laws and all that around this type of thing, so I’m a little lost here and overwhelmed,&#8221; Messina told TorrentFreak at the time. &#8220;I don’t even know what is going on. I think people on the Internet know more than me.”</p>
<p>With a default judgment looming TorrentFreak further interviewed Messina who told us that he&#8217;d decided to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/alleged-32-million-ufc-pirate-speaks-out-140507/">launch a funding campaign</a> to defend himself against Zuffa. He raised a few hundred dollars, nowhere near enough to take on the multi-billion valued company.</p>
<p>Then the inevitable happened. On June 4, 2014, a default judgment was entered against Messina and his fight with the UFC was over. The question now was how badly they&#8217;d choose to beat him up financially after the final bell.</p>
<p>All went quiet until early September when Zuffa filed for a permanent injunction to stop Messina pirating UFC content in the future. Behind the scenes the UFC and their arch-enemy had settled their case, with the only public record being the injunction jointly signed by the martial arts organization and Messina.</p>
<p>As can be seen from the excerpt from the injunction below, the UFC are keen to learn from Messina&#8217;s operation, and that means collecting all data they can from the New Yorker.</p>
<p>&#8220;This Court hereby enters an injunction requiring Defendant, Steven A Messina, to turn over to the plaintiff, Zuffa..[..].. any readily available information, processes, records accounts, bills received for the purchase of any UFC event, user profile names and identifications, domains utilized by Defendant and any user information for any website or computer used by, owned or controlled by Defendant that was used or assisted in the unauthorized access, streaming, copyright, uploading, downloading, distributing or public performance of any UFC event, including, but not limited to, the events that are the subject of the instant litigation,&#8221; the injunction reads.</p>
<p>Also of interest to Zuffa is the equipment used by Messina to pirate their content. The injunction cites a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirates-debut-super-smooth-video-torrents-130428/">2013 TorrentFreak article</a> in which Messina explained how he captured super-smooth video. All equipment related to that must be surrendered to Zuffa including various pieces of software, scripts and storage devices.</p>
<p>In addition to restraining Messina from future piracy acts, the UFC are also allowed to check up on him to ensure compliance.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff shall be entitled to conduct all discovery permitted under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for the period of six (6) months from the date of  the  filing of this stipulation for the purpose of monitoring Defendant&#8217;s compliance with the terms of this permanent injunction,&#8221; the injunction reads. </p>
<p>There is no mention of a cash settlement and even if there was one it wouldn&#8217;t amount to much, certainly not $32 million. However, to act as a deterrent, the UFC has had Messina come out in public to both apologize and warn others away from the perils of piracy.</p>
<p>“I apologize to the UFC for any damages incurred as a result of my actions in illegally distributing copyrighted UFC broadcasts. As a result of my confession for piracy of UFC’s protected content, I fully accept the terms of the settlement with the UFC,” Messina <a href="http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/ufc-announces-settlement-of-piracy-lawsuit-260849">said</a>.</p>
<p>“I now realize the harm caused by my actions. It is my hope that I can use this difficult period as a learning experience as I move on with my life. I would also like to tell anyone pirating UFC broadcasts, either through illegal downloading or non-authorized streaming, that it is illegal and not worth the risk.”</p>
<p>Kirk Hendrick, UFC’s Chief Legal Officer, said the MMA organization was satisfied with the result.</p>
<p>“The UFC organization is pleased with the outcome of this case and Messina’s willingness to assist the UFC’s efforts in protecting our intellectual property and broadcasts. With Messina’s apology and understanding, the UFC organization will learn more to help us continue uncovering illegal distribution of our content.”</p>
<p>But while Messina may have been brought under control, the lawsuit against him has done nothing to stop content appearing online. Following last weekend&#8217;s Jacare vs Mousasi card, no less than five separate release groups uploaded the event online.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93761
title: Jacob Appelbaum Gives Testimony in Gottfrid Svartholm Trial
uri: Jacob-Appelbaum-Gives-Testimony-in-Gottfrid-Svartholm-Trial
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lIPRvRpOHxE/
content:
<p><img src="media/2c059aef.gottfrid1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gottfrid1.jpg" width="200" height="248" class="alignright">The hacking trial of Gottfrid Warg and his alleged 21-year-old Danish accomplice continued this week in Copenhagen, Denmark. While the Pirate Bay founder answered questions <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/gottfrid-svartholm-trial-starts-ends-week-in-controversy-140907/">during week one</a>, this Wednesday marked the first day the 21-year-old answered questions.</p>
<p>The man, whose identity is being protected, told the Court that while he&#8217;s had no formal IT training, he is indeed a computer security expert who had been involved in testing computer systems to see how they hold up to external threats. He admitted working for American, Australian and Danish companies.</p>
<p>The 21-year-old Dane refused to say whether he knows Gottfrid on the grounds that he could be attacked in prison. He did admit to having previously heard about Gottfrid, however.</p>
<p>&#8220;Most people in the IT sector have heard of him,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>The Dane also admitted to traveling to Cambodia to visit friends and smoke cannabis, but denied that he went there to meet Gottfrid at his apartment.</p>
<p>The prosecution also presented some emails in which the man said that CSC, the IT company involved in the hack, was owned by the CIA, but he dismissed that comment as a joke.</p>
<p>Discussion also returned to the IRC conversations referenced in the first week of the trial which reportedly took place between &#8216;My Evil Twin&#8217; (allegedly Gottfrid) and &#8216;Advanced Persistent Terrorist Threat&#8217; (allegedly the 21-year-old).</p>
<p><a href="media/739b10b5.myster.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/myster.jpg"><img src="media/76e9fbdf.myster.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/myster.jpg" alt="myster" width="200" height="202" class="alignright size-full wp-image-26852"></a>Much was made in week one of potentially altered Internet Relay Chat (IRC) logs presented by the prosecution. This week the Dane admitted that he had been involved in some conversations and had actually met &#8216;My Evil Twin&#8217;. That person was not Gottfrid, he said.</p>
<p>In respect of the content of some chats, the Dane said the topic had indeed centered around the security of IT systems but he insisted that there we no plans to hack CSC or any other companies&#8217; computers. Usernames and passwords of CSC systems that were allegedly exchanged during the IRC chats had been found using Google, he added.</p>
<p>Also of note during the day&#8217;s proceedings was the Dane&#8217;s continued refusal to provide police with encryption keys to examine the contents of his laptop.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is no material on my computer. I can not see how it would make this a better situation,&#8221; he <a href="http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Viden/Tech/2014/09/10/154515.htm">told</a> the court.</p>
<p>However, DR.dk reported that during the day, due to the nature of the evidence being presented, it became clear that police had managed to retrieve some information without access to the keys.</p>
<p><a href="media/9a429897.appelbaum1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/appelbaum1.jpg"><img src="media/9a429897.appelbaum1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/appelbaum1.jpg" alt="appelbaum" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-93906"></a>After a day&#8217;s break in proceedings, on Friday renowned activist and security expert Jacob Appelbaum appeared as an expert witness for the defense. Appelbaum also appeared in Gottfrid&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hacker-jacob-appelbaum-to-testify-at-pirate-bay-founder-appeal-130827/">Swedish trial</a>, a case in which he was partly acquitted.</p>
<p>The prosecution previously complained that Appelbaum knows Gottfrid personally, so was unsuitable as an expert witness. The American denied that was the case.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve only talked a little with Gottfrid as he is not known as a sociable guy. He is not easy to approach and the times that I&#8217;ve seen him in social situations it has always been about computer security,&#8221; Appelbaum said.</p>
<p>Echoing his testimony in the Swedish case, Appelbaum told the Court that it certainly would have been possible for outsiders to have controlled Gottfrid&#8217;s computer to carry out the hack of CSC.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear for how long the trial will continue but hearings have been allocated until the end of October.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93712
title: BitTorrent: Our Users Buy 33% More Music Albums Online
uri: BitTorrent-Our-Users-Buy-33-More-Music-Albums-Online
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/g2u0WcqLDS0/
content:
<p><a href="media/e8a180b4.bittorrent-crime.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-crime.jpg"><img src="media/21af8fa2.bittorrent-crime.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-crime.jpg" alt="bittorrent-crime" width="222" height="202" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79637"></a>BitTorrent Inc, the company behind the successful uTorrent and BitTorrent file-sharing clients, has been making huge efforts in recent times to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-makers-distance-themselves-from-piracy-121219/">shed the false image</a> that the company is synonymous with online piracy.</p>
<p>One of the key ways it&#8217;s changing this perception is by partnering with well-known artists such as De La Soul, Moby and Madonna, and showing that BitTorrent is an ideal tool to connect artists with fans. </p>
<p>To provide some examples of what it can do, BitTorrent Inc. has made a distribution and advertising <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/digiday/bittorrents-pitch-deck">deck</a> with success stories. Thus far more than 10,000 artists have used BitTorrent&#8217;s bundles, generating over 100 million downloads which convert into real sales. </p>
<p><center><strong>Slide from BitTorrent&#8217;s advertising deck</strong> (via <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/digiday">Digiday</a>) <br></br></center><center><a href="media/d5b9784e.bittorrents-pitch-deck.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrents-pitch-deck.jpg"><img src="media/d5b9784e.bittorrents-pitch-deck.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrents-pitch-deck.jpg" alt="bittorrents-pitch-deck" width="550" height="309" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93842"></a></center></p>
<p>Aside from listing its successes the company also reports some intriguing statistics on the consumer behavior of its community. </p>
<p>On slide 12 BitTorrent Inc. notes that its community is 33% more likely to buy albums online, makes 34% more DVD purchases, watches 34% more movies in theater and is twice as likely to have a paid music subscription.</p>
<p><center><strong>BitTorrent&#8217;s community</strong> <br></br></center><center><a href="media/4ec13b9c.community.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/community.jpg"><img src="media/4ec13b9c.community.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/community.jpg" alt="community" width="550" height="272" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93832"></a></center></p>
<p>Because BitTorrent Inc provides no source for the data provided in this last slide we contacted the company last week to find out more. Unfortunately, we haven&#8217;t received a response thus far. </p>
<p>However, while writing this article we found that the numbers reported in the pitch deck trace back to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-are-the-music-industrys-most-valuable-customers-100122/">one of our own articles</a>. The data reported by BitTorrent Inc. comes from music industry group IFPI and details the buying habits of music pirates. BitTorrent Inc subsequently used these piracy statistics to sell its &#8220;community&#8221; to potential partners.</p>
<p>This is interesting for a variety of reasons. First, IFPI&#8217;s research doesn&#8217;t mention BitTorrent users, but file-sharing music pirates in general. Furthermore, since when does BitTorrent see &#8220;music pirates&#8221; as its community? Perhaps that&#8217;s the reason why the source for the data isn&#8217;t provided in the pitch deck (IFPI was mentioned as source in an earlier pitch deck).</p>
<p>That said, BitTorrent Inc is right to point out that file-sharers tend to be more engaged fans than the average person. Even the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-pirates-are-bigger-music-fans-than-average-consumers-121113/">RIAA was willing to admit that</a>. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s good to see that more and more artists, including many big names, are beginning to recognize this potential too. Even U2, whose former manager is one of the most vocal <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-hits-back-at-u2-managers-billion-dollar-piracy-bonanza-claims-100907/">anti-piracy crusaders</a>, has now decided to give away its latest album <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Innocence_(album)">for free</a> hoping that it will increase sales of older work. Without piracy, that would have never happened.  </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93944
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 09/15/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-09-15-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7PNio83YORw/
content:
<p><a href="media/c95d56db.male.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/male.jpg"><img src="media/a0f34d2a.male.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/male.jpg" alt="male" width="300" height="225" class="alignright size-full wp-image-92696"></a>This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Maleficent 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 BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-140908/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/maleficent_2014/">Maleficent</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587310/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XO4XiRop0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_train_your_dragon_2/">How To Train Your Dragon 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646971/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLBmHtI5KfM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/edge_of_tomorrow/">Edge Of Tomorrow</a> (Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUmSVcttXnI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_giver/">The Giver</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435651/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvp6FnYWRZU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_fault_in_our_stars/">The Fault in Our Stars</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582846/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ItBvH5J6ss">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_million_ways_to_die_in_the_west/">A Million Ways To Die In The West</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557490/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhGkcOoTlkQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godzilla_2014/">Godzilla</a> (Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831387/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIu85WQTPRc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/plastic_2014/">Plastic</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2556874/">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6qJU5VtIVg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/x_men_days_of_future_past/">X-Men: Days of Future Past</a> (HDrip/TS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1877832/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsjtg7m1MMM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/divergent/">Divergent</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutgWjz10sM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93934
title: Censorship Is Not The Answer to Online Piracy
uri: Censorship-Is-Not-The-Answer-to-Online-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nuqyu2rQTzA/
content:
<p><em>This is a guest post written by Simon Frew, Deputy President of <a href="http://pirateparty.org.au/">Pirate Party Australia</a>.</em></p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>The Australian Government recently called for <a href="http://www.ag.gov.au/consultations/pages/onlinecopyrightinfringementpublicconsultation.aspx">submissions </a><a href="http://www.ag.gov.au/consultations/pages/onlinecopyrightinfringementpublicconsultation.aspx">into its plans</a> to introduce a range of measures that are the long-standing dreams of the copyright lobby: ISP liability, website blocking for alleged pirate sites and graduated response.</p>
<p>The Government&#8217;s discussion paper specifically asked respondents to ignore other Government inquiries into copyright. This meant ignoring an inquiry by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) into <a href="http://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiries/copyright-and-digital-economy">copyright in the digital economy</a> and an <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/house_of_representatives_committees?url=ic/itpricing/report.htm">IT pricing inquiry</a>. These reviews both covered important aspects of sharing culture in the 21<sup>st</sup> century, yet they were completely ignored by the Government&#8217;s paper and respondents were instructed to ignore issues covered in them.</p>
<p>The ALRC review examined issues around the emerging remix culture, the ways the Australian copyright regime limits options for companies to take advantage of the digital environment and issues around fair dealing and fair use. It recommended a raft of changes to update Australian copyright law to modernize it for the digital age. Whilst the recommendations were modest, they were a step in the right direction, but this step has been ignored by the Australian Parliament.</p>
<p>The IT pricing inquiry held last year, looked into why Australians pay exorbitant prices for digital content, a practice that has been dubbed the Australia Tax. Entertainment and Tech companies were dragged in front of the inquiry to explain why Australians pay much more for products than residents of other countries. The <a href="http://www.cnet.com/au/news/it-pricing-inquiry-verdict-australia-is-consistently-ripped-off/">review found</a> that, compared to other countries, Australians pay up to 84% more for games, 52% more for music and 50% more for professional software than comparable countries. The result of this review was to look at ways to end geographic segmentation and to continue to turn a blind eye to people using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to circumvent the higher prices in Australia.</p>
<p><a href="http://mashable.com/2014/09/09/copyright-laws-australian-forum/">Between the Australia Tax</a> and the substantially delayed release dates for TV shows and movies, Australians don&#8217;t feel too bad about <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-premiere-triggers-piracy-craze-140407/">accessing content</a> by other means. According to some estimates, over 200,000 people have <a href="http://qz.com/262992/netflix-is-scaring-the-living-daylights-out-of-australias-media-industry/">Netflix</a> accounts by accessing the service through VPNs.</p>
<p>Pirate Party Australia (PPAU) responded to the latest review with a <a href="media/3e8bcb84.PPAU_2014_AGD_Online_Copyright_Infringement_DP.pdf" data-original-source="http://pirateparty.org.au/media/submissions/PPAU_2014_AGD_Online_Copyright_Infringement_DP.pdf">comprehensive paper,</a> outlining the need to consider all of the evidence and what that evidence says about file-sharing.</p>
<p>To say the Government&#8217;s discussion paper was biased understates the single-mindedness of the approach being taken by the Government. A co-author of the Pirate Party submission, Mozart Olbrycht-Palmer summed it up:</p>
<p><i>The discussion paper stands out as the worst I have ever read. The Government has proposed both a graduated response scheme and website blockades without offering any evidence that either of these work. Unsurprisingly the only study the discussion paper references was commissioned by the copyright lobby and claims Australia has a high level of online copyright infringement. This calls into question the validity of the consultation process. The Government could not have arrived at these proposals if independent studies and reports had been consulted.</i></p>
<p>The entire review was aimed at protecting old media empires from the Internet. This is due in part, to the massive support given to the Liberal (Conservatives) and National Party coalition in the lead-up to the 2013 federal election which saw Murdoch owned News Ltd media, comprising most major print-news outlets in Australia, <a href="http://theconversation.com/election-2013-the-role-of-the-media-17543">actively campaign</a> for the in-coming Government. There is also a long history of media companies donating heavily to buy influence. Village Roadshow, one of Australia&#8217;s largest media conglomerates, has donated close to <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/au/lobby-pushing-for-australian-piracy-crackdown-donates-millions-7000026421/">four million dollars</a> to both major parties since 1998: in the lead up to the 2013 election alone, they donated over $300,000 to the LNP.</p>
<p>The sort of influence being wielded by the old media is a big part of what Pirate parties worldwide were formed to counter. The Internet gives everyone a platform that can reach millions, if the content is good enough. The money required to distribute culture is rapidly approaching zero and those who built media empires on mechanical distribution models (you know, physical copies of media, DVDs, cassettes etc) want to turn the clock back, because they are losing their power to influence society.</p>
<p>Much of the Pirate Party response centred on the need to allow non-commercial file-sharing and dealing with the wrong, bordering on fraudulent assumptions, the paper was based on. From the paper:</p>
<p><i>Digital communications provide challenges and opportunities. Normal interactions, such as sharing culture via the Internet, should not be threatened. Creators should seize the new opportunities provided and embrace new forms of exposure and distribution. The Pirate Party believes the law should account for the realities of this continually emerging paradigm by reducing copyright duration, promoting the remixing and reuse of existing content, and legalising all forms of non-commercial use and distribution of copyrighted materials.</i></p>
<p>The discussion paper asked, &#8216;What could constitute ‘reasonable steps’ for ISPs to prevent or avoid copyright infringement?&#8217; This was of particular concern because it is aimed at legally overturning the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/iinet-isp-not-liable-for-bittorrent-piracy-high-court-rules-120420/">iiNet case</a>, which set a legal precedent that ISPs couldn&#8217;t be sued for the behavior of their users. This section was a not-so-subtle attempt to push for a graduated response (&#8216;three strikes&#8217;) system which has been <a href="media/bc2886b4.JLA-37.2-Evaluating-Graduated-Response.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.lawandarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/JLA-37.2-Evaluating-Graduated-Response.pdf">heavily criticized</a> in a number of countries.</p>
<p>The agenda laid out in this discussion paper was very clear, as demonstrated by Question 6: &#8220;What matters should the Court consider when determining whether to grant an injunction to block access to a particular website?&#8221;</p>
<p>The Pirate Party obviously disagrees with the implication that website blocking was a foregone conclusion. Censorship is not the answer to file-sharing or any other perceived problem on the Internet. Government control of the flow of information is not consistent with an open democracy. The Pirate Party submission attacked website blocking on free speech grounds and explained how measures to block websites or implement a graduated response regime would be trivial to avoid through the use of VPNs.</p>
<p>On Tuesday September 9, a <a href="http://www.communications.gov.au/digital_economy/online_copyright_infringement_forum">public forum</a> was held into the proposed changes. The panel was stacked with industry lobbyists, <a href="http://olbrychtpalmer.net/2014/09/10/copyrightau-evidence-what-evidence/">no evidence</a> was presented while the same tired arguments were trotted out to try to convince attendees that there was need to crack down on file-sharing. It wasn&#8217;t all bad though, with the host of the meeting, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, flagging a <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-says-copyright-law-proposal-a-failure-and-government-needs-to-start-again-20140910-10ethp.html">Government re-think</a> on how to tackle piracy after the scathing responses to the review from the public.</p>
<p>Despite signalling a re-think, the Australian Government is still intent on implementing draconian copyright laws. Consumers may have won this round, but the fight will continue.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93951
title: Email: Warner Bros Conspired with New Zealand Over Kim Dotcom Extradition
uri: Email-Warner-Bros-Conspired-with-New-Zealand-Over-Kim-Dotcom-Extradit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1QSeZ4Jfuoc/
content:
<p>Ever since the raids of 2012, Kim Dotcom has pointed to what he sees as a contract shutdown of Megaupload. Designed by Hollywood and carried out by their partners in the Obama administration and the New Zealand Government, Dotcom claims that his fate was pre-determined and a result of corruption.</p>
<p>One of his claims is that despite the reservations of those in New Zealand&#8217;s intelligence departments, Dotcom was allowed to become a resident of the country. This, the entrepreneur says, was carried out to pin him down in a friendly location so that he could be dealt with by the United States.</p>
<p>This morning, at his Moment of Truth event, Dotcom rolled out big guns including journalist Glenn Greenwald, Wikileaks&#8217; Julian Assange and even Edward Snowden himself to deliver his &#8220;bombshell&#8221;. The latter appeared via video links, connections which Dotcom said we&#8217;re being run through a new encrypted browser-based platform under development at Mega.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/fa00ea94.moment.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/moment.png" alt="Moment"></center></p>
<p>Much of the discussion centered around the alleged unlawful domestic surveillance of New Zealand citizens by their own Government, but the panel frequently weaved in elements of Dotcom&#8217;s own unique situation.</p>
<p>&#8220;We share the same prosecutor, so I understand what is going on there, on a very personal level,&#8221; Julian Assange said of Dotcom.</p>
<p>&#8220;[The United States Government] is trying to apply US law in as many countries as possible, applying their law in New Zealand to coerce and pluck out people to other states,&#8221; Assange said.</p>
<p>&#8220;When you are able to control their police forces you have succeeded in annexing that country. It&#8217;s a problem for me personally and it&#8217;s a problem for Kim Dotcom.&#8221;</p>
<p>Dotcom&#8217;s human rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam spoke at length on the perils of the Trans Pacific Partnership and criticized the New Zealand Government for its treatment of Dotcom.</p>
<p>&#8220;What they did [to Kim Dotcom during the 2012 raid] is so beyond the pale that the leader of that democratic government should have resigned on the spot that day,&#8221; Amsterdam said.</p>
<p>The event was highly polished and was well received by those in attendance, but failed to deliver on one key front. Dotcom previously said that he would present &#8220;absolutely concrete&#8221; evidence that Prime Minister John Key knew about him earlier than he had claimed. In the event, nothing remotely of that nature was presented.</p>
<p>However, several hours before the Moment of Truth got off the ground, New Zealand media began reporting that Dotcom would reveal an email at the event, one that would prove that Hollywood had an arrangement with Key to allow Dotcom into the country in order to extradite him to the United States.</p>
<p>The email in question, dated October 27, 2010, was allegedly sent by current Warner Bros CEO Kevin Tsujihara to Michael Ellis of the MPA/MPAA.</p>
<p>Tsujihara is one of the Warner executives the company sent to New Zealand in 2010 to deal with a dispute that was putting at risk the filming of the Hobbit movies in the country. During his visit Tsujihara met John Key and the email purports to report on one of those meetings.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hi Mike. We had a really good meeting with the Prime Minister. He&#8217;s a fan and we&#8217;re getting what we came for,&#8221; the leaked copy of the email reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Your groundwork in New Zealand is paying off. I see strong support for our anti-piracy effort. John Key told me in private that they are granting Dotcom residency despite pushback from officials about his criminal past. His AG will do everything in his power to assist us with our case. VIP treatment and then a one-way ticket to Virginia.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a game changer. The DOJ is against the Hong Kong option. No confidence in the Chinese. Great job,&#8221; the email concludes.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/40691827.keymail.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/keymail.jpg" alt="keymail"></center></p>
<p>But while an email of this nature would have indeed warranted a &#8220;bombshell&#8221; billing, the Moment of Truth concluded without it or any other similar evidence being presented. Even before the event began, Warner Bros were on record describing the email as a fake.</p>
<p>&#8220;Kevin Tsujihara did not write or send the alleged email, and he never had any such conversation with Prime Minister Key,&#8221; <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&#038;objectid=11324988">said</a> Paul McGuire, Warner Bros.&#8217; senior vice president for worldwide communications.</p>
<p>&#8220;The alleged email is a fabrication,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>The lack of the promised big reveal is fairly dramatic in itself. It&#8217;s certainly possible that Dotcom&#8217;s team lost confidence and pulled the reveal at the last minute, which would be a wise move if its authenticity was in doubt.</p>
<p>If the email is indeed proven to be a fake, big questions will need to be answered by the person who provided it because up until very recently Dotcom was staking his shirt on it. If it&#8217;s genuine, and proving that will be easier said than done now, we&#8217;ll definitely hear more as the weeks unfold.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93963
title: ISP Wants Court to Sanction Piracy Monitoring Firm
uri: ISP-Wants-Court-to-Sanction-Piracy-Monitoring-Firm
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SMcdK1l6TCw/
content:
<p><a href="media/59c711ef.rightscorp-real.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp-real.jpg"><img src="media/05460420.rightscorp-real.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp-real.jpg" alt="rightscorp-real" width="222" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84007"></a>For several months <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/tag/rightscorp/">Rightscorp</a> has been sending DMCA subpoenas to smaller local  ISPs in the United States. </p>
<p>Unlike regular subpoenas, these are not reviewed by a judge and only require a signature from the Court clerk. This practice raised questions because DMCA subpoenas are <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-finds-shortcut-expose-alleged-bittorrent-pirates-140405/">not applicable to file-sharing cases</a>, which is something courts determined more than a decade ago. </p>
<p>Perhaps unaware of the legal precedent, most ISPs have complied with the requests. Until last week, when small Texas provider <a href="http://mygrande.com/">Grande Communications</a> stood up in court after it was asked to reveal the account details connected to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-internet-provider-refuses-to-expose-30000-alleged-pirates-140909/">30,000 IP-addresses/timestamp combinations</a>.</p>
<p>Soon after Grande filed its objections Rightscorp decided to drop the request entirely. While ISP is pleased that its customers no longer have to be exposed, the company is not letting Rightscorp off the hook. </p>
<p>In an advisory to the court (<a href="media/b5859eb0.ADVISORY-TO-THE-COURT-REGARDING-WITHDRAWAL-OF-SUBPOENA-1.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ADVISORY-TO-THE-COURT-REGARDING-WITHDRAWAL-OF-SUBPOENA-1.pdf">pdf</a>) the ISP notes that Rightscorp&#8217;s actions suggest that it&#8217;s merely trying to avoid having a judge look at their dubious efforts. </p>
<p>&#8220;The abrupt withdrawal of the Subpoena is consistent with the apparent desire of Rightscorp and its counsel to avoid judicial review of their serial misuse of the subpoena power of the federal courts,&#8221; Grande&#8217;s attorneys write.</p>
<p>The ISP still wants Rightscorp to pay for the costs run up thus far. In addition, Grande also believes that sanctions for misusing the federal court’s subpoena powers may be in order.</p>
<p>&#8220;The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California may consider ordering Rightscorp and its counsel to show cause why they should not be sanctioned for misusing the federal court’s subpoena powers,&#8221; the advisory reads.</p>
<p>The ISP points out that if it hadn&#8217;t challenged the subpoena, the personal details of hundreds or thousands of subscribers would have been shared based on a faulty procedure. Since similar requests are being sent to other ISPs, the matter warrants further investigation. </p>
<p>&#8220;It appears clear that Rightscorp and its counsel are playing a game without regard for the rules, and they are playing that game in a manner calculated to avoid judicial review. Hopefully, they will not be permitted to continue much longer,&#8221; Grande&#8217;s attorneys conclude.</p>
<p>Rightscorp&#8217;s withdrawal of the subpoena also contradicts earlier comments the company&#8217;s CEO Christopher Sabec made to TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>Sabec <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-finds-shortcut-expose-alleged-bittorrent-pirates-140405/">told us</a> that the company believes that earlier decisions on the legitimacy of DMCA subpoenas in file-sharing cases were wrong, and will be overturned should the issue reach the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Apparently, this was a veiled threat, perhaps to discourage Internet providers from starting a battle that could get very expensive. Instead, with possible sanctions pending, things may now get expensive for Rightscorp.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93999
title: Search Engines Can Diminish Online Piracy, Research Finds
uri: Search-Engines-Can-Diminish-Online-Piracy-Research-Finds
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/j30kq1q4_Wo/
content:
<p><a href="media/7c6b9504.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg"><img src="media/3a6fa524.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg" alt="google-bay" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21875"></a>In recent years Hollywood and the music industry have taken a rather aggressive approach against Google. The entertainment industry companies believe that the search engine isn&#8217;t doing enough to limit piracy, and have demanded <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-demands-google-deal-with-piracy-140114/">more stringent measures</a>. </p>
<p>One of the suggestions often made is to remove or demote pirate sites in search results. A lower ranking would lead fewer people to pirate sources and promoting legal sources will have a similar effect.</p>
<p>Google previously said it would <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-starts-punishing-pirate-sites-in-search-results-120810/">lower the ranking</a> of sites based on DMCA complaints, but thus far these changes have had a limited effect. A few weeks ago the company also began <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-targets-pirate-searches-promote-legal-content-140721/">promoting legal options</a> but this effort is in the testing phase for now.</p>
<p>The question that remains is whether these changes would indeed decrease piracy. According to new research from Carnegie Mellon University, they can.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2495591">a paper</a> titled &#8220;Do Search Engines Influence Media Piracy?&#8221; the researchers ran two experiments where they let participants use a custom search engine to find a movie they wanted to watch. The respondents could pick from a list of 50 titles and received a $20 prepaid virtual Visa card as compensation. </p>
<p>All search results were pulled from a popular search engine. In the control category the results were not manipulated, but in the &#8220;legal&#8221; and &#8220;infringing&#8221; conditions the first page only listed &#8220;legal&#8221; (e.g Amazon) and neutral (e.g IMDb) sites or &#8220;infringing&#8221; (e.g. Pirate Bay) and neutral sites respectively. </p>
<p>While it&#8217;s quite a simple manipulation, and even though users could still find legal and pirated content in all conditions, the results are rather strong. </p>
<p>Of all participants who saw the standard results, 80% chose to buy the movie via a legal option. This went up to 94% if the results were mostly legal, and dropped to 57% for the group who saw mostly infringing results on the first page.</p>
<p><center><strong>To Pirate or Not to Pirate</strong></center><center><a href="media/f2c77431.resulttable.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/resulttable.png"><img src="media/f2c77431.resulttable.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/resulttable.png" alt="resulttable" width="582" height="175" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94002"></a></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted Professor Rahul Telang who says that the findings suggest that Google and other search engines have a direct effect on people&#8217;s behavior, including the decision to pirate a movie.</p>
<p>“Prominence of legal versus infringing links in the search results seem to play a vital role in users decision to consume legal versus pirated content. In particular, demoting infringing links leads to lower rate of consumption of pirated movie content in our sample,&#8221; he notes.  </p>
<p>In a second study the researchers carried out a slightly modified version of the experiment with college students, a group that tends to pirate more frequently. The second experiment also added two new conditions where only the first three results were altered, to see if &#8220;mild&#8221; manipulations would also have an effect. </p>
<p>The findings show that college students indeed pirate more as only 62% went for the legal option in the control condition. This percentage went up gradually to 76% with a &#8220;mild legal&#8221; manipulation, and to 92% in the legal condition. For the infringing manipulations the percentages dropped to 48% and 39% respectively.</p>
<p><center><strong>To Pirate or Not to Pirate, take two</strong></center><center><a href="media/7de8d608.table2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/table2.png"><img src="media/7de8d608.table2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/table2.png" alt="table2" width="572" height="250" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94013"></a></center></p>
<p>According to Professor Telang their findings suggest that even small changes can have a significant impact and that altering search algorithms can be instrumental in the fight against online piracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;The results suggest that the search engines may play an important role in fight against intellectual property theft,” Telang says.</p>
<p>It has to be noted that Professor Telang and his colleagues received a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-revenue-up-as-war-on-piracy-cranks-up-131125/">generous donation from the MPAA</a> for their research program. However, the researchers suggest that their work is carried out independently. </p>
<p>As a word of caution the researchers point out that meddling with search results in the real world may be much more challenging. False positives could lead to significant social costs and should be avoided, for example. </p>
<p>This and other caveats aside, the MPAA and RIAA will welcome the study as a new piece of research they can wave at Google and lawmakers. Whether that will help them to get what they want has yet to be seen though.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94021
title: Kiwi Prime Minister’s Party Sued For Pirating Eminem Track
uri: Kiwi-Prime-Minister-s-Party-Sued-For-Pirating-Eminem-Track
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MQocaNKAIgg/
content:
<p><a href="media/f8e0d1a8.eminem.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eminem.jpg"><img src="media/f8e0d1a8.eminem.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eminem.jpg" alt="eminem" width="180" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94026"></a>When it comes to polarizing figures standing accused of copyright infringement in New Zealand, there can be few more famous than Kim Dotcom. The entrepreneur and now political activist is in a bitter battle with not only the New Zealand and US governments, but also the world&#8217;s largest entertainment companies.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s why the news today that the ruling National Party is being sued for copyright infringement has somewhat amused the German-born businessman. The party is led by political rival Prime Minister John Key, one of Dotcom&#8217;s most vocal critics and a leader who the Megaupload founder says played a key role in having him arrested in 2012. </p>
<p>The lawsuit, filed by Eminem&#8217;s publishers, follows allegations that the song &#8220;Lose Yourself&#8221; was used in a 2014 New Zealand General Election advertising campaign run by the National Party.</p>
<p>Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated told local media that Eminem&#8217;s publishers were not approached to use the songs.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is both disappointing and sadly ironic that the political party responsible for championing the rights of music publishers in New Zealand by the introduction of the three strikes copyright reforms should itself have so little regard for copyright,&#8221; the publishers told <a href="http://www.3news.co.nz/entertainment/eminem-sues-national-party-over-use-of-song-2014091615">3News</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We do not hesitate to take immediate action to protect the integrity of Eminem&#8217;s works, particularly where a party, as here, has sought to associate itself with Eminem and his work.&#8221;</p>
<p>The National Party insists that it obtained all necessary licenses by purchasing the track from official sources known to work with the film and entertainment industry. However, in order to try and calm down the complaint by the publishers use of the song by the party was withdrawn two weeks ago, an unusual thing to do if money had indeed been invested in a legitimate license.</p>
<p>&#8220;We think it&#8217;s pretty legal, we think these guys are just having a crack and have a bit of an eye for the main chance because it&#8217;s an election campaign. I think they&#8217;re just trying to shake us down for some money before the election,&#8221; said National&#8217;s campaign manager Steven Joyce.</p>
<p>While &#8220;pretty legal&#8221; probably isn&#8217;t the standard required by Eminem&#8217;s publishers, Kim Dotcom was already made up his mind on how to end the dispute. Posting on Twitter, the Internet Party founder didn&#8217;t let a golden opportunity pass to take a shot at his arch political rival.</p>
<p>&#8220;Extradite John Key,&#8221; he <a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/511718011011489793">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94001
title: How Publisher Harper Collins Tackles eBook Piracy
uri: How-Publisher-Harper-Collins-Tackles-eBook-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GIyZFQVxtX8/
content:
<p><a href="media/3b2910cb.harper.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/harper.jpg"><img src="media/3b2910cb.harper.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/harper.jpg" alt="harper" width="160" height="187" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94008"></a>One of the key elements leading to ease of piracy is file-size. Since music files are relatively small, unauthorized content can be distributed and accessed using a wide array of methods, from torrents and direct storage sites through instant messaging and humble email.</p>
<p>If music files are small, ebooks definitely share the same kind of characteristics. As a result, ebooks are widely pirated and made available on thousands of sites and services in a wide range of convenient formats. By attacking the problem from a number of different directions, this is something publisher HarperCollins is trying to do something about.</p>
<p>As part of its latest drive, this week the company announced a collaboration with LibreDigital, a leading provider of distribution and fulfillment services for ebook retailers. Together they adopted a new watermarking solution from anti-piracy company Digimarc.</p>
<p>Called Guardian Watermarking for Publishing, <a href="www.digimarc.com/guardian">the system</a> embeds all but invisible markers into ebooks. Then, Digimarc trawls the web looking for leaked content containing the watermarks. Once found, the anti-piracy company reports the unique identifiers back to Harpercollins who can match them against their own transaction records. This enables the company to identify the source of that material from wherever it occurred in the company&#8217;s supply chain.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, HarperCollins said that tracking these pre-consumer leaks provides intelligence to prevent them happening again.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have had leaks in the past in the final stages of our supply chain – via isolated instances of early releases by retailers. We therefore intend to be able to track these potential leaks in the future – especially now that our digital supply chain extends to many partners in many markets,&#8221; a spokesperson said.</p>
<p>&#8220;[The system] empowers us to go back to the source of the problem (ie identify the source) and find solutions to prevent this from happening in the future.&#8221; </p>
<p>Of course, pirates are known to attack watermarks by utilizing various methods including transcoding of files. Speaking with TF, Digimarc say their system is up to the challenge.</p>
<p>&#8220;The embedded identifiers are designed to survive conversion and manipulation,&#8221; a spokesperson said.</p>
<p>Interestingly, HarperCollins are going out of their way to ensure consumers that these watermarks won&#8217;t affect their privacy.</p>
<p>&#8220;This solution does not facilitate tracing back to the individual purchaser, only to the sales channel through which it was purchased,&#8221; a spokesperson explained. &#8220;And Digimarc itself stores absolutely no personally identifiable information or purchase information in the implementation of the watermark.&#8221;</p>
<p>That&#8217;s not to say that consumer leaks aren&#8217;t part of the problem though, they are, but HarperCollins says it employs separate strategies for pre and post-consumer piracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Both [types of piracy] merit being addressed and we have different solutions for each. For the supply chain we will watermark; for the end consumer the retailers are applying DRM and we are employing Digimarc to issue takedowns and ensure site compliance – to protect our authors’ content,&#8221; the company said.</p>
<p>Like many content companies, HarperCollins regularly sends takedown notices to many websites but those it sends to Google are the most visible. To date the company has sent more than 250,000 to the world&#8217;s leading search engine, but what effect has that had on availability?</p>
<p>&#8220;The aim of our participation in Google’s copyright removal program is to reduce the visibility and availability of infringing content. The desired effect is clearing illegal download links from its SERP. We believe this to be an effective way to discourage piracy,&#8221; the company told TF.</p>
<p>We asked HarperCollins how it would rate Google in terms of anti-piracy cooperation, but the publisher declined to comment. The company also wouldn&#8217;t be drawn on how many notices it sends to other search engines and &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;We do not comment on the amount of notices – but we do want to assure authors that their entire catalog is covered by our work with Digimarc,&#8221; they said.</p>
<p>As eBooks continue to gain traction, publishers like HarperCollins will be keen not fall into the same traps as the music industry. It could be argued that actioned properly, takedowns are the most consumer friendly option. And watermarking shouldn&#8217;t become too unpopular, as long as it doesn&#8217;t extend to identifying the public. DRM, however, is rarely appreciated by the paying public.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94056
title: Copyright Holders Want Netflix to Ban VPN Users
uri: Copyright-Holders-Want-Netflix-to-Ban-VPN-Users
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mqzgFiBw72s/
content:
<p><a href="media/0d60d275.netflix.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/netflix.jpg"><img src="media/32870ed3.netflix.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix.jpg" alt="netflix" width="200" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-26772"></a>With the launch of legal streaming services such as Netflix, movie and TV fans have less reason to turn to pirate sites. </p>
<p>At the same time, however, these legal options invite people from other countries where the legal services are more limited. This is also the case in Australia where <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-users-pirating-netflix-scare-tv-networks-140303/">up to 200,000 people</a> are estimated to use the U.S. version of Netflix.</p>
<p>Although Netflix has geographical restrictions in place, these are easy to bypass with a relatively cheap VPN subscription. To keep these foreigners out, entertainment industry companies are now lobbying for a global ban on VPN users.</p>
<p>Simon Bush, CEO of <a href="http://www.aheda.com.au/">AHEDA</a>, an industry group that represents Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., Universal, Sony Pictures and other major players said that some members are actively lobbying for such a ban. </p>
<p>Bush didn&#8217;t name any of the companies involved, but he confirmed to <a href="http://www.cnet.com/au/news/rights-holders-move-to-block-us-netflix-viewing-in-australia/">Cnet</a> that &#8220;discussions&#8221; to block Australian access to the US version of Netflix &#8220;are happening now&#8221;.</p>
<p>If implemented, this would mean that all VPN users worldwide will no longer be able to access Netflix. That includes the millions of Americans who are paying for a legitimate account. They can still access Netflix, but would not be allowed to do so securely via a VPN.</p>
<p>According to Bush the discussions to keep VPN users out are not tied to Netflix&#8217;s arrival in Australia. The distributors and other rightsholders argue that they are already being deprived of licensing fees, because some Aussies ignore local services such as Quickflix.</p>
<p>&#8220;I know the discussions are being had&#8230;by the distributors in the United States with Netflix about Australians using VPNs to access content that they&#8217;re not licensed to access in Australia,&#8221; Bush said. </p>
<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re requesting for it to be blocked now, not just when it comes to Australia,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>While blocking VPNs would solve the problem for distributors, it creates a new one for VPN users in the United States. </p>
<p>The same happened with Hulu a few months ago, when Hulu <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hulu-blocks-vpn-users-over-piracy-concerns-140425/">started to block</a> visitors who access the site through a VPN service. This blockade also applies to hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens.</p>
<p>Hulu&#8217;s blocklist was implemented a few months ago and currently covers the IP-ranges of all major VPN services. People who try to access the site through one of these IPs are not allowed to view any content on the site, and receive the following notice instead:</p>
<p>&#8220;Based on your IP-address, we noticed that you are trying to access Hulu through an anonymous proxy tool. Hulu is not currently available outside the U.S. If you&#8217;re in the U.S. you&#8217;ll need to disable your anonymizer to access videos on Hulu.&#8221; </p>
<p>It seems that VPNs are increasingly attracting the attention of copyright holders. Just a week ago BBC Worldwide argued that ISPs should <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bbc-isps-should-assume-heavy-vpn-users-are-pirates-140908/">monitor VPN users</a> for excessive bandwidth use, assuming they would then be pirates.</p>
<p>Considering the above we can expect the calls for VPN bans to increase in the near future. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94034
title: Pirate Bay Founder “Will Wear Handcuffs” to Carry Father’s Coffin
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-Will-Wear-Handcuffs-to-Carry-Father-s-Coffi
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zr0uGrMTnI4/
content:
<p><img src="media/1ceafd41.peter-sunde2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/peter-sunde2.jpg" width="225" height="225" class="alignright">While most people have been enjoying the summer months, Peter Sunde has been locked away in a Swedish prison. After his Pirate Bay-related sentence was made final in 2012, Sunde remained at large, a man wanted by Interpol for aiding copyright infringement offenses.</p>
<p>During the final day of May 2014, a two-year hunt came to its <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-peter-sunde-arrested-sweden-140531/">conclusion</a>. A special Swedish police unit tasked with tracking down fugitives carried out a raid at a farm in Skåne, a rural area near Malmö, Sweden.</p>
<p>Despite continued protestations that he had committed no crimes, Sunde was transferred to the high-security Västervik Norra prison to begin an eight-month sentence. A month later Sunde applied to be moved to a lower security unit, a place more in keeping with his alleged white-collar crimes. His application was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/losing-weight-pirate-bay-founder-requests-security-downgrade-140703/">rejected</a>.</p>
<p>With his release date now less than 50 days away, Sunde should have reason to be looking to the future, but instead a family tragedy has marked his final weeks in prison. After succumbing to a long illness, Sunde&#8217;s father has passed away. The event has prompted Peter&#8217;s brother, Mats Kolmisoppi, to speak out for the first time on the Pirate Bay founder&#8217;s imprisonment conditions.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have deliberately said very little about what happened to my brother, Peter Sunde, the last few months. Partly because he can speak for himself and does not have difficulty being heard, even though he sits in a prison with a high safety rating in Västervik,&#8221; Mats wrote on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mats.kolmisoppi.7">Facebook</a>.</p>
<p>The problem, Mats says, is with a system that has forgotten that its job is to support offenders in order to ensure that they never return to prison.</p>
<p>That system has deemed that despite his non-violent crimes, Sunde should be detained in a high-security prison, a placement that was allocated to him even before a guilty verdict had been passed down and in spite of an official assessment that he presented a non-existent violence or escape risk.</p>
<p>As a result, Sunde has paid the price. After a continued struggle with the food provided, Mats Kolmisoppi reports that his brother has now lost 13kgs in weight. When a smiling head of department visited Sunde to deliver information on his earlier transfer request he was told: &#8220;I have good news for you Peter, your application is rejected.&#8221;</p>
<p>Kolmisoppi documents a long list of systematic and casual cruelties such as these, but few are as disturbing as the one he now reports.</p>
<p>For some time Peter and Mats&#8217; father had been seriously ill. This summer he ended up in hospital with a catalog of issues including suspected cancer in his remaining lung. While persistent applications to see his father failed, Peter was eventually granted permission to make a hospital visit. Mats&#8217; says that he and Peter discussed when to say goodbye to their father &#8211; they decided that should be at the funeral.</p>
<p>Shortly after, Peter and Mat&#8217;s father passed away. Coinciding with an incident at the prison which resulted in heightened security measures, this meant more bad news for Peter. While he would be allowed to attend the funeral, two guards would accompany him &#8211; but on the condition that he remains handcuffed.</p>
<p>&#8220;But I will carry my father&#8217;s coffin,&#8221; Mats&#8217; reports Peter as saying.</p>
<p>&#8220;You can not count on it,&#8221; the guards responded. &#8220;You will be wearing handcuffs.&#8221;</p>
<p>Peter is a non-violent prisoner accused of copyright infringement offenses who at 13kgs lighter in weight represents an even lower risk of flight than his 50 days left in custody might suggest. And while there will be those in the entertainment industries who argue he deserves his punishment, the effects of his custody spread well beyond the former file-sharing site spokesman.</p>
<p>&#8220;As the Swedish criminal system is designed it punishes not only my brother. It punishes me, it punishes my now dead father, it punishes my mother, my family, my relatives and my friends,&#8221; Mats&#8217; writes.</p>
<p>While these sad events cannot be undone, Peter is at least likely to receive a warm reception following his release. He is undoubtedly bright and has a future, as his work with micro-donation service Flattr and the NSA-proof messenger app Heml.is has shown. Indeed, he already appears <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/visited-pirate-bays-peter-sunde-prison-heres-say-140816/">to have plans</a>. And with all the vegan food he can eat less than two months away, November can&#8217;t come soon enough.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94074
title: Expendables 3 Downloaders Told To Pay Up – Or Else
uri: Expendables-3-Downloaders-Told-To-Pay-Up-Or-Else
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Dz3p0UW4Se8/
content:
<p><img src="media/a23fe245.expendables3.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/expendables3.jpg" width="180" height="241" class="alignright">Back in July a pretty much pristine copy of The Expendables 3 <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/expendables-3-leaks-online-100k-copies-down-in-hours-140725/">leaked online</a>. It was a dramatic event for those behind the production as the movie&#8217;s premier on BitTorrent networks trumped its theatrical debut by several weeks.</p>
<p>Distributor Lionsgate was quick to react. Just days after the leak the entertainment company <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lionsgate-sues-filesharing-sites-expendables-3-leak-140801/">sued several file-sharing sites</a>, which eventually resulted in the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hulkfile-shuts-down-following-expendables-3-lawsuit-140813/">closure</a> of file-hosting site Hulkfile. But more action was yet to come.</p>
<p>Doubling up on their efforts, Lionsgate also <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lionsgate-targets-hosting-providers-domain-registrars-over-expendables-3-piracy-140815/">targeted</a> hosting providers, domain registrars and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lionsgate-targets-downloaders-of-expendables-3-leak-140826/">seedboxes</a> while at the same time <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lionsgate-fights-expendables-3-piracy-with-thousands-of-takedowns-140804/">sending thousands</a> of DMCA takedown notices to have content and links to content removed.</p>
<p>However, a big question remained unanswered. Would the makers of The Expendables 3 start tracking down alleged file-sharers to force them into cash settlements <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/23322-expendables-downloaders-accused-in-bittorrents-biggest-lawsuit-110510/">as happened</a> with previous iterations of the movie? It&#8217;s taken a few weeks but confirmation is now in.</p>
<p>Millennium Films, the production company behind The Expendables 3, is now shaking down individual Internet users they believe to have downloaded and shared the leaked movie without permission. What do they want? Hard cash, of course.</p>
<p>Interestingly, and at least for now, the company isn&#8217;t going through the courts filing subpoenas against ISPs to obtain downloaders&#8217; personal details. In a switch of tactics the company is sending DMCA takedown notices to ISPs via CEG TEK International and requesting that the notices are forwarded to the customers in question instead. In addition to the usual cease and desist terminology, Millennium tag on cash settlements demands too.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/bce7b1a8.expendables3-notice.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/expendables3-notice.png" alt="Expendables 3-notice"></center></p>
<p>As can be seen in the image above, the production company is giving notice recipients until October 5, 2014 to come up with the money &#8211; or else.</p>
<p>&#8220;If within the prescribed time period described above you fail to (i) respond or settle, or (ii) provide by email to support@cegtek.com written evidence of your having consent or permission from Millennium Films to use the Work in connection with Peer-to-Peer networks (note that fraudulent submissions may give rise to additional liabilities), the above matter may be referred to attorneys representing the Work&#8217;s owner for legal action,&#8221; the settlement offer reads.</p>
<p>Of course, whether people fill in CEG TEK&#8217;s settlement form or write to them with their personal details, the end result will be the same. The company will now have the person&#8217;s identity, something they didn&#8217;t previously have since at this stage ISPs have only forwarded the notices.</p>
<p>While the notices are real  (CEG TEK have <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/expendables-3-torrent-downloaders-being-733831">confirmed</a> the action) little is known about how much money Millenium/CEG TEK are demanding to make a supposed lawsuit go away. However, TorrentFreak has learned that CEG TEK are simultaneously sending out settlement demands to alleged downloaders of The Expendables 2. A copy of the settlement page demand &#8211; $300 &#8211; is shown below.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/3998ecb8.expend2-demand.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/expend2-demand.png" alt="expend2-demand"></center></p>
<p>While some people will no doubt be worrying about how to deal with these demands and whether Millenium will follow through on its implied threat to sue, at least some of these notices will be falling on deaf ears. <a href="https://www.liquidvpn.com">LiquidVPN</a>, an anonymity company listed in our <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/3/">2014 report</a>, received one such notice but as a no-log provider, could not forward it to its customer.</p>
<p>Compare that to the despair of a user posting on KickassTorrents who got caught after relying on IP address blocking software (typos etc corrected).</p>
<p>&#8220;I woke up to this alongside four other notices from my ISP. I stopped downloading six days ago, but I&#8217;m receiving old notices about movies that were downloaded a month ago and I basically can&#8217;t do nothing about it since its old. I use PeerBlock and it&#8217;s a bunch of bullshit. What should I do with this October 5 deadline on a settlement? Please help!&#8221; he wrote.</p>
<p>Finally, and as Lionsgate, Millennium Films and CEG TEK shake down sites, hosting services, domain registrars, seedbox providers and now end users, the big mystery surrounding the most important questions remain unanswered.</p>
<p>Who &#8211; at Lionsgate, Millennium or one of its partners &#8211; had full access to a clean DVD copy of the movie? Who then put that copy in a position of being placed online? The FBI, who can crack the most complex of terrorist crimes, are reportedly involved and must&#8217;ve asked these questions. Yet the culprit still hasn&#8217;t been found&#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p>Could it be that studios become less cooperative when blame falls too close to home?</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94033
title: AT&T Patents Technology to Keep Torrent Files Alive
uri: AT-T-Patents-Technology-to-Keep-Torrent-Files-Alive
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gscTB2P9Csw/
content:
<p><a href="media/ec5c8589.att.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/att.png"><img src="media/a6cfb5d0.att.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/att.png" alt="att" width="200" height="130" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72895"></a>In recent years the intellectual property division of AT&#038;T has patented quite a few unusual inventions. Today we can add another to the list after the telecoms company was granted a patent which aims to keep torrent files available for as long as possible.</p>
<p>In the patent (<a href="media/203f64f3.att-patent.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/att-patent.pdf">pdf</a>), which was awarded yesterday, the ISP points out that BitTorrent is a very effective way of sharing files online. However, AT&#038;T also signals some drawbacks, including the fact that some torrent swarms stop working because there are no complete copies of the file available.</p>
<p>&#8220;As more and more peers download a complete copy of the file, the performance of the torrent deteriorates to the point that it becomes difficult for the file to be located and downloaded. As a result, current BitTorrent systems are not desirable for downloading older files,&#8221; the patent reads.</p>
<p>Since there are often many swarms downloading the same content via different trackers, it could be that the file lives on elsewhere. Similarly, other peers might be willing to start seeding the dead torrent again. AT&#038;T&#8217;s patent pairs these sources to increase the availability of files downloaded via BitTorrent.</p>
<p><center><strong>AT&#038;T&#8217;s torrent patent</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/7308683a.patent-att.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/patent-att.png"><img src="media/7308683a.patent-att.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/patent-att.png" alt="patent-att" width="567" height="467" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94035"></a></center></p>
<p>The patent proposes to add &#8220;collaboration information&#8221; which may be obtained from each peer when it joins a torrent swarm. If a torrent has no active seeds available, this information can point the downloader to &#8220;dormant peers&#8221; or external trackers that still have active seeders. </p>
<p>&#8220;If the file is not available at an active peer, the tracker node has two options; it may contact some of the listed dormant peers to see if they are willing to make the file available, and/or it may contact a remote tracker node listed for the file,&#8221; the patent reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;If the file is made available by a dormant peer and/or at a remote torrent, the local peer can then establish a peer-to-peer communication with the dormant peer or a peer on the remote torrent, and download the file therefrom. As a result, the local peer can locate and download files that are not available on its current torrent from both dormant peers and peers in other torrents.&#8221;</p>
<p>The idea to point people to other trackers is not new. Most torrents come with multiple trackers nowadays to ensure that a file remains available for as long as possible. AT&#038;T&#8217;s proposed invention would automate this feature.</p>
<p>The idea to contact &#8220;dormant peers&#8221; is more novel. In short, that means that people who previously downloaded a file, but are no longer seeding it, can get a request to make it available again.</p>
<p>Whether the ISPs has any real life applications for their invention is yet unknown. The current patent was granted this week, but the first application dates back to 2005, a time when BitTorrent wasn&#8217;t quite as mainstream as it is today.  </p>
<p>The patent certainly doesn&#8217;t mean that the ISP encourages sharing copyrighted files. Among <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/att-invents-new-technology-to-detect-and-ban-filesharing-131214/">other </a>anti-piracy innovations, AT&#038;T previously patented systems <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/att-gets-patent-to-monitor-and-track-file-sharing-traffic-130628/">to track content</a> being shared via BitTorrent and other P2P networks and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/prism-for-pirates-att-invents-the-ultimate-anti-piracy-system-130713/">report those offenders</a> to the authorities.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94096
title: Hollywood Workers Demand Peter Sunde’s Dignity & Freedom
uri: Hollywood-Workers-Demand-Peter-Sunde-s-Dignity-Freedom
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/m213npCe-TE/
content:
<p><a href="media/faf17427.peter-sunde2.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/peter-sunde2.jpg"><img src="media/1ceafd41.peter-sunde2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/peter-sunde2.jpg" alt="peter-sunde" width="225" height="225" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85601"></a>The imprisonment of former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde has been going on since late May 2014, provoking a number of reports on the conditions under which he is being held.</p>
<p>Despite being accused of non-violent crimes, Peter is being held in a high-security unit and without concern for his dietary needs. As a result he&#8217;s literally <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/losing-weight-pirate-bay-founder-requests-security-downgrade-140703/">wasting away</a>.</p>
<p>Following the tragic death of his father who recently succumbed to a long-standing set of illnesses, the week delivered yet more bad news. Although the prison would allow him to attend the funeral, Peter was told he could expect to carry his father&#8217;s coffin <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-will-wear-handcuffs-to-carry-fathers-coffin-140917/">wearing handcuffs</a>.</p>
<p>Understandably the news provoked much outrage. Why would a non-violent and now-frail man with with just a few days left on his sentence try to escape from not one but two prison guards? As that improbable situation was discussed among supporters online, a much less traditional support group were asking the same questions.</p>
<p>Hollywood director Lexi Alexander has been a vocal supporter of Peter and earlier this year broke with the usual Tinseltown position by <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-director-slams-pathetic-anti-piracy-crusade-140708/">calling for his release</a>.</p>
<p>While her outspoken approach is uncharacteristic of a Hollywood worker, it may come as a surprise that she is definitely not on her own. During recent weeks the director and actress, who has <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0591994/">several movies</a> under her belt, called for other like-minded individuals in Hollywood to make themselves known.</p>
<p>The result was the publication a few minutes ago of a video dedicated to the uncuffing, release and support of Peter Sunde.</p>
<p>&#8220;We created this video in solidarity with Peter as he attends his father’s funeral today,&#8221; Alexander told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;Originally I had planned to do this over the next few weeks, but when I heard about Peter&#8217;s father’s death yesterday, we scrambled and got it together within a few hours.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/12984765.lexi-peter.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lexi-peter.png" alt="lexi-peter"></center></p>
<p>While a few of the people in the video have understandably chosen to remain anonymous, others have been very happy to show their faces. With the famous Hollywood sign in the background, first up, Julie Bush.</p>
<p>&#8220;Julie Bush was pro-piracy before I even knew what file-sharing meant,&#8221; Alexander told TF. &#8220;She used to be a writer on the show Sons of Anarchy and now she’s writing a major property for Universal Studios: Robert Ludlum’s The Sigma Protocol.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/f7ececb6.juliebush.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/juliebush.jpg" alt="JulieBush"></center></p>
<p>Bush has written on a number of occasions about Hollywood&#8217;s <a href="http://j-bush.com/why-hollywood-is-so-dumb-about-piracy.html">&#8220;dumb&#8221; approach</a> to piracy.</p>
<p>“Many showrunners and executives I know not only pirate stuff all the time but also privately endorse the idea that piracy is good for the industry, a great way to advertise, and essential to building a healthy audience,” she explained last year.</p>
<p>The gentleman holding up the sign calling for the un-cuffing of Peter is actor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_McCall">Ross McCall</a>. He appeared in Band of Brothers, Alexander&#8217;s movies Green Street and Green Street 2, before moving on to star in TV series including Crash, White Collar and Luther.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/9d33c25a.uncuff-peter.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uncuff-peter.png" alt="uncuff-peter"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;The pretty blonde [0m 53s] is producer Catrin Cooper. Very outspoken about her opposition to criminalizing file-sharing,&#8221; Alexander continues. Cooper has worked in several roles on movies including Casino Royale, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Batman Begins. </p>
<p>&#8220;The guy with &#8216;Free Peter Sunde&#8217; on his shirt is a writer and actor named Edward DeRuiter, one of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3598222/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_3">his movies</a> was just released last month,&#8221; Alexander adds.</p>
<p>&#8220;Then there’s <a href="http://brentweichsel.tumblr.com/About">Brent Weichsel</a>, who against my advice decided to put his name and union on the sign. He’s Local 600 Camera Assistant.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s quite something and particularly brave for these individuals to put their name to the support of someone described by studio bosses as someone intent on the ruination of the industry. That said, and as clearly pointed out on one of the signs held up in the video, Hollywood workers are not only writers and directors, they&#8217;re also humans too.</p>
<p>The video, which features writers and authors, directors, producers, a screenwriter, a cinematographer, an engineer and a dialect coach, is embedded below and <a href="http://www.lexi-alexander.com/blog/">available on Lexi&#8217;s blog</a>.</p>
<p><Center><iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/106471218?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;color=ff0179" width="650" height="366" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94139
title: Report Brands Dotcom’s Mega a Piracy Haven
uri: Report-Brands-Dotcom-s-Mega-a-Piracy-Haven
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FBaD3AvMq8g/
content:
<p><a href="media/6c985263.profit.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/profit.png"><img src="media/6c985263.profit.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/profit.png" alt="profit" width="222" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94151"></a>The most popular file-hosting sites, also known as cyberlockers, have millions of visitors per day.</p>
<p>In recent years many of these sites have gotten a bad reputation as they are frequently used to share copyrighted files. </p>
<p>Today the Digital Citizens Alliance released a new report (<a href="media/a9773a62.2014-netnames-profitability.pdf" data-original-source="http://www2.itif.org/2014-netnames-profitability.pdf">pdf</a>) that looks into the profitability of these sites and services. Titled “Behind The Cyberlocker Door: A Report How Shadowy Cyberlockers Use Credit Card Companies to Make Millions,” it offers insight into the money streams that end up at these alleged pirate sites.</p>
<p>The study, carried out by NetNames and backed by the entertainment industry, uses information from the busted Megaupload service to estimate the earnings of various other sites. Based on these and other assumptions it concludes that the top cyberlockers generate an average $3.2 million per site per year. </p>
<p>&#8220;Overall, total annual revenue across the thirty cyberlockers equated to $96.2 million or $3.2 million per site. One site gathered $17.6m per year in revenue,&#8221; the report notes, adding that it&#8217;s a conservative estimate.</p>
<p><center><strong>Estimated revenue and profit per direct download cyberlocker</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/c829ab7d.roguerev.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/roguerev.png"><img src="media/c829ab7d.roguerev.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/roguerev.png" alt="roguerev" width="600" height="450" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94148"></a></center></p>
<p>The report brands these sites as piracy havens based on a sample of the files they host. All the sites that are listed are used predominantly for copyright infringement, they claim.</p>
<p>&#8220;The overwhelming use of cyberlockers is for content theft. Analysis of a sampling of the files on the thirty cyberlocker sites found that the vast majority of files were clearly infringing,&#8221; the report reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;At least 78.6 percent of files on direct download cyberlockers and 83.7 percent of files on streaming cyberlockers infringed copyright,&#8221; it adds. </p>
<p><center><strong>Alleged &#8220;infringing&#8221; use per cyberlocker</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/f3ac3081.rogueinfper.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rogueinfper.png"><img src="media/f3ac3081.rogueinfper.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rogueinfper.png" alt="rogueinfper" width="600" height="458" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94149"></a></center></p>
<p>Here&#8217;s where the researchers make a crucial mistake. The sample, where the percentage of allegedly infringing files is based on, is drawn from links that are posted publicly online. These are certainly not representative for the entire site, at least not in all cases. </p>
<p>For Mega the researchers looked at 500 files that were shared online. However, the overwhelming majority of Mega&#8217;s files, which number more than 500,000,000, are never shared in public. </p>
<p>Unlike some other sites in the report, Mega is a rather traditional cloud hosting provider that&#8217;s frequently used for personal backup, through its desktop client or mobile apps for example. The files that are shared in public are the exception here, probably less than one percent of the total. </p>
<p>There is no denying that there are shady and rogue sites that do profit heavily from piracy, but lumping all these sites together and branding them with a pirate label is flat-out wrong.</p>
<p>Aside from &#8220;exposing&#8221; the estimated profitability of the cyberlockers the report also has a secondary goal. It puts out a strong call to the credit card companies Visa and MasterCard, and hosting providers such as Cloudflare, urging them to cut their ties with these supposed pirate havens.</p>
<p>&#8220;They should take a hard look at the checkered history of their cyberlocker partners. Simply put, the businesses that simply exploit and expropriate the creative efforts of others do not occupy a legitimate place in the Internet ecosystem,&#8221; the report notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Content theft is a cancer on the Internet. It introduces viruses and malware to computers, robs creators who rely on the Internet to sell their products, damages brands by associating them with illegal and inappropriate content and provides seed money for criminals to engage in other illegal activities,&#8221; it adds.</p>
<p>Hopefully future reports will have more nuance. At minimum they should make sure to have all the facts right, as that&#8217;s generally more convincing.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93954
title: Developer Registers “Popcorn Time” Trademark to Prevent Abuse
uri: Developer-Registers-Popcorn-Time-Trademark-to-Prevent-Abuse
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/cY2cayksRIw/
content:
<p><a href="media/373f7cd8.popcorn.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn.png"><img src="media/b134dbd9.popcorn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn.png" alt="popcorn" width="203" height="102" class="alignright size-full wp-image-89282"></a>The <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/open-source-torrent-streaming-a-netflix-for-pirates-140308/">Popcorn Time</a> phenomenon is one of the biggest piracy stories of the year thus far. </p>
<p>The software amassed millions of users by offering BitTorrent-powered streaming in an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface.</p>
<p>The original app was shut down by the developers after a few weeks, but the project was quickly <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-shuts-down-then-gets-resurrected-by-yts-yify-140315/">picked up</a> by others. This resulted in several popular forks that have each developed their own features, with most releasing their source code in public.</p>
<p>In recent months there has been some competition between the various forks. Several <a href="https://popcorntime.io/">spin</a>-<a href="http://www.time4popcorn.eu/">offs</a> have claimed the name &#8220;Popcorn Time&#8221; but thus far that hasn&#8217;t resulted in any serious issues. </p>
<p>Recently, however, one developer made a move to formalize his claim on the Popcorn Time brand. An application for the trademark was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and this week the case was <a href="http://www.trademarkia.com/popcorn-time-86301860.html">assigned</a> to an examiner. </p>
<p>The proposed trademark describes Popcorn Time as follows: &#8220;Downloadable computer software used for streaming multimedia content images, videos and audio from peer to peer.&#8221;</p>
<p>The trademark <a href="http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn86301860&#038;docId=APP20140609074219#docIndex=0&#038;page=1">application</a> lists the Canadian developer David Lemarier who filed his application through Legalforce. While some are worried about the development, it appears that Lemarier doesn&#8217;t have any nefarious plans.  </p>
<p>A source at the main fork Popcorntime.io familiar with the reasoning behind the trademark application told TF that it was filed as a defensive move. </p>
<p>&#8220;We strongly believe in the open contributions to the Popcorn Time project and the filing of the trademark wasn&#8217;t designed to hinder or prohibit the further development of the official Popcorn Time or any other related forks,&#8221; the source says.  </p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s wise to attempt to protect the trademark from &#8216;giants&#8217; who might come along, sweep up the name, and then bully contributors into non-existence.&#8221; </p>
<p>The nature of the &#8216;giants&#8217; the Popcorntime.io team are concerned about is left open.</p>
<p>Time4Popcorn, one of the popular forks, is not happy with the trademark application. They describes it as &#8220;rude&#8221; and stress that the Popcorn Time name doesn&#8217;t belong to anyone.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is news to us and we’re still figuring out how to respond to this, but this is rude and it is something we take very seriously,&#8221; the Time4Popcorn team notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;We assure you that we will never ever do something like this, and we will not let this happen that someone else will claim that it is their trademark. Never. An open source project is for everyone. It does not belong to us or to anyone else!&#8221;</p>
<p>Then again, even if someone with bad intentions did obtain the trademark, not much will change. Given the nature of the Popcorn Time application it is unlikely that any of the popular forks will shut down over a trademark dispute. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94176
title: Mega Demands Apology Over “Defamatory” Cyberlocker Report
uri: Mega-Demands-Apology-Over-Defamatory-Cyberlocker-Report
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Evc_a4D6VqI/
content:
<p><img src="media/6c985263.profit.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/profit.png" width="222" height="175" class="alignright">Yesterday the Digital Citizens Alliance released a new report that looks into the business models of &#8220;shadowy&#8221; file-storage sites.</p>
<p>Titled “Behind The Cyberlocker Door: A Report How Shadowy Cyberlockers Use Credit Card Companies to Make Millions,” the report attempts to detail the activities of some of the world&#8217;s most-visited hosting sites.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s certainly an <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/report-brands-dotcoms-mega-a-piracy-haven-140918/">interesting read</a>, the NetNames study provides a few surprises, not least the decision to include New Zealand-based cloud storage site Mega.co.nz. There can be no doubt that there are domains of dubious standing detailed in the report, but the inclusion of Mega stands out as especially odd.</p>
<p>Mega was without doubt the most-scrutinized file-hosting startup in history and as a result has had to comply fully with every detail of the law. And, unlike some of the other sites listed in the report, Mega isn&#8217;t hiding away behind shell companies and other obfuscation methods. It also complies fully with all takedown requests, to the point that it even <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-take-down-kim-dotcoms-official-album-from-mega-140903/">took down its founder&#8217;s music</a>, albeit following an erroneous request.</p>
<p>With these thoughts in mind, TorrentFreak alerted Mega to the report and asked how its inclusion amid the terminology used has been received at the company.</p>
<p><strong>Grossly untrue and highly defamatory</strong></p>
<p><a href="media/d25b3e9b.mega4.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mega4.png"><img src="media/859efa71.mega4.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mega4.png" alt="mega" width="240" height="85" class="alignright size-full wp-image-87644"></a>&#8220;We consider the report grossly untrue and highly defamatory of Mega,&#8221; says Mega CEO Graham Gaylard.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mega is a privacy company that provides end-to-end encrypted cloud storage controlled by the customer. Mega totally refutes that it is a cyberlocker business as that term is defined and discussed in the report prepared by NetNames for the Digital Citizens Alliance.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gaylard also strongly refutes the implication in the report that as a &#8220;cyberlocker&#8221;, Mega is engaged in activities often associated with such sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mega is not a haven for piracy, does not distribute malware, and definitely does not engage in illegal activities,&#8221; Gaylard says. &#8220;Mega is running a legitimate business alongside other cloud storage providers in a highly competitive market.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Mega CEO told us that one of the perplexing things about the report is that none of the criteria set out by the report for &#8220;shadowy&#8221; sites is satisfied by Mega, yet the decision was still taken to include it.</p>
<p><strong>Infringing content and best practices</strong></p>
<p>One of the key issues is, of course, the existence of infringing content. All user-uploaded sites suffer from that problem, from YouTube to Facebook to Mega and thousands of sites in between. But, as Gaylard points out, it&#8217;s the way those sites handle the issue that counts.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are vigorous in complying with best practice legal take-down policies and do so very quickly. The reality though is that we receive a very low number of take-down requests because our aim is to have people use our services for privacy and security, not for sharing infringing content,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mega acts very quickly to process any take-down requests in accordance with its Terms of Service and consistent with the requirements of the USA Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) process, the European Union Directive 2000/31/EC and New Zealand’s Copyright Act process. Mega operates with a very low rate of take-down requests; less than 0.1% of all files Mega stores.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Affiliate schemes that encourage piracy</strong></p>
<p>One of the other &#8220;rogue site&#8221; characteristics as outlined in the report is the existence of affiliate schemes designed to incentivize the uploading and sharing of infringing content. In respect of Mega, Gaylard rejects that assertion entirely.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mega&#8217;s <a href="https://mega.co.nz/#affiliates">affiliate program</a> does not reward uploaders. There is no revenue sharing or credit for downloads or Pro purchases made by downloaders. The affiliate code cannot be embedded in a download link. It is designed to reward genuine referrers and the developers of apps who make our cloud storage platform more attractive,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p><strong>The PayPal factor</strong></p>
<p><img src="media/ccf2eb3e.paypal.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/paypal.png" width="200" height="118" class="alignright">As detailed in many earlier reports (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/paypal-bans-major-file-hosting-services-over-piracy-concerns-120710/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/paypal-bans-usenet-providers-over-piracy-concerns-121121/">2</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/paypal-demands-invites-to-private-bittorrent-trackers-130108/">3</a>), over the past few years PayPal has worked hard to seriously cut down on the business it conducts with companies in the file-sharing space.</p>
<p>Companies, Mega included, now have to obtain pre-approval from the payment processor in order to use its services. The suggestion in the report is that large &#8220;shadowy&#8221; sites aren&#8217;t able to use PayPal due to its strict acceptance criteria. Mega, however, has a good relationship with PayPal.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mega has been accepted by PayPal because we were able to show that we are a legitimate cloud storage site. Mega has a productive and respected relationship with PayPal, demonstrating the validity of Mega’s business,&#8221; Gaylard says.</p>
<p><strong>Public apology and retraction &#8211; or else</strong></p>
<p>Gaylard says that these are just some of the points that Mega finds unacceptable in the report. The CEO adds that at no point was the company contacted by NetNames or Digital Citizens Alliance for its input.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is unacceptable and disappointing that supposedly reputable organizations such as Digital Citizens and NetNames should see fit to attack Mega when it provides the user end to end encryption, security and privacy. They should be promoting efforts to make the Internet a safer and more trusted place. Protecting people&#8217;s privacy. That is Mega’s mission,&#8221; Gaylard says.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are requesting that Digital Citizens Alliance withdraw Mega from that report entirely and issue a public apology.  If they do not then we will take further action,” he concludes.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak asked NetNames to comment on Mega&#8217;s displeasure and asked the company if it stands by its assertion that Mega is a &#8220;shadowy&#8221; cyberlocker. We received a response (although not directly to our questions) from David Price, NetNames&#8217; head of piracy analysis.</p>
<p>&#8220;The NetNames report into cyberlocker operation is based on information taken from the websites of the thirty cyberlockers used for the research and our own investigation of this area, based on more than a decade of experience producing respected analysis exploring digital piracy and online distribution,&#8221; Price said.</p>
<p>That doesn&#8217;t sound like a retraction or an apology, so this developing dispute may have a way to go. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94142
title: Humanity: Peter Sunde Attends Funeral Without Handcuffs
uri: Humanity-Peter-Sunde-Attends-Funeral-Without-Handcuffs
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/9894KU3Titc/
content:
<p><img src="media/1ceafd41.peter-sunde2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/peter-sunde2.jpg" width="225" height="225" class="alignright">With Peter Sunde being held in a Swedish prison for copyright offenses, outside attention has periodically turned to the conditions of his imprisonment.</p>
<p>While most people might presume that seclusion, boredom and a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/losing-weight-pirate-bay-founder-requests-security-downgrade-140703/">bland diet</a> are an inevitable outcome of incarceration, other unexpected events are perhaps the ones that carry the most impact with the public. This week presented one such occasion.</p>
<p>After being seriously ill for some time, Peter&#8217;s father sadly passed away but due to decisions at his high-security prison, Peter was warned he would be attending the funeral in handcuffs. <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-will-wear-handcuffs-to-carry-fathers-coffin-140917/">The sad news</a>, reported by Peter&#8217;s brother Mats Kolmisoppi, struck a chord with thousands of supporters this week, even a group of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-workers-demand-peter-sundes-dignity-freedom-140918/">Hollywood workers</a>.</p>
<p>With the funeral now having taken place, Mats has taken time out to update Peter&#8217;s supporters on how things went. For once, the news is good.</p>
<p>&#8220;Many thanks for all the support and attention for my brother and my family&#8217;s situation,&#8221; he wrote on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mats.kolmisoppi.7">Facebook</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yesterday we buried our father. A nice and quiet affair. Peter was eligible to carry the coffin and attend the memorial service. The guards were respectful and kept in the background,&#8221; Mats reports. </p>
<p>&#8220;That does not change the fact that he spent the last week living with the threat that handcuffs could be put to use. But we are thankful that he did not have to endure such humiliation.&#8221;</p>
<p>Why the prison system chose to treat Peter and his family with compassion isn&#8217;t clear &#8211; thus far all comment on his case has been declined. But Mats is thankful for those who offered public support and any effect that had on the decision.</p>
<p>&#8220;Maybe Peter did not have to [appear handcuffed] because of all the attention surrounding the case that you helped to create. Me, my brother and my family are deeply grateful. All credit to you,&#8221; he wrote.</p>
<p>But while Peter&#8217;s week has turned out better than expected, Mats says he hopes the spotlight will remain focused on a flawed system.</p>
<p>&#8220;I hope for change, that institutions should be required to answer, that a regulator with real powers to change the system is set up. And that transparency will continue to increase,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Peter Sunde has less than 50 days left of his sentence for Pirate Bay-related copyright infringement offenses.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94177
title: Dotcom’s Internet Party Fails to Enter New Zealand Parliament
uri: Dotcom-s-Internet-Party-Fails-to-Enter-New-Zealand-Parliament
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hh3JnBvxUoY/
content:
<p><a href="media/fefd6c89.internetparty.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/internetparty.png"><img src="media/8ac2132a.internetparty.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/internetparty.png" alt="internetparty" width="243" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-90114"></a>January this year Kim Dotcom <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dotcoms-internet-party-aims-to-shake-up-politics-140115/">launched his Internet Party</a> with an ambition to enter the New Zealand Parliament a few months later. </p>
<p>The Internet entrepreneur could not run for election himself, but as the party&#8217;s president and visionary he would gain significant political power.</p>
<p>Today New Zealanders went out to vote and the Internet Party was listed on the ballots in an alliance with the Mana Party. </p>
<p>Voting booths officially closed at 7 PM local time and the provisional <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/election-results-2014/official-count">results</a> show that Internet Mana failed to win a seat.</p>
<p>The party managed 1.26% of the total vote, somewhat short of the 5% required to enter the New Zealand Parliament. A disappointing result after Dotcom spent more than $2 million on the party and its election campaign.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/5da367d2.kiwi-results.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kiwi-results.png"><img src="media/5da367d2.kiwi-results.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kiwi-results.png" alt="kiwi-results" width="608" height="292" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94220"></a></center></p>
<p>Over the past several weeks Internet Mana received a lot of attention in the press. Dotcom actively campaigned against his arch-rival Prime Minister John Key, and earlier this week the party organized the &#8220;Moment of Truth&#8221; during which Edward Snowden, Glen Greenwald and Julian Assange all criticized New Zealand&#8217;s secret spying efforts. </p>
<p>Despite the heavy critique of the Prime Minister, Key&#8217;s National Party became the overwhelming winner of the elections with nearly half of all votes. </p>
<p>Following the defeat Dotcom apologized to Mana leader Hone Harawira and the Maori people. Mr Harawira lost his Parliament seat and Dotcom suggests that he may be to blame for the disappointing result.</p>
<p>&#8220;I take full responsibility,&#8221; Dotcom said in a short speech. &#8220;The brand Kim Dotcom was poisoned &#8230; and I did not see that before the last couple of weeks.&#8221;</p>
<p>After his speech Dotcom left the building, declining interview requests from local reporters.</p>
<p>In a tweet Dotcom later congratulated the Prime Minister and his National Party on their win. </p>
<p>&#8220;New Zealanders have chosen National and John Key to lead. I congratulate the Prime Minister. Please do your best for all Kiwis. Good luck,&#8221; he wrote.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/b0f12cab.dotcomkey.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcomkey.png"><img src="media/b0f12cab.dotcomkey.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcomkey.png" alt="dotcomkey" width="500" height="148" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94233"></a></center></p>
<p>Responding to the results Internet Party leader Laila Harre said that the party&#8217;s policy went unreported in the media, which mostly focused on scandals and the dirty games being played.</p>
<p>Harre thanked Dotcom for the opportunity to shake up New Zealand politics. She said that Dotcom became the symbol of Internet Mana, but that the party likely underestimated the impact this would have on the campaign. </p>
<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s been a two-year campaign of vilification of Kim and that was clearly impacted on our campaign,&#8221; Harre <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&#038;objectid=11328641">noted</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94127
title: Anti-Piracy Police Begin Targeting eBook Pirates
uri: Anti-Piracy-Police-Begin-Targeting-eBook-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JLCLkW-8NaM/
content:
<p><a href="media/bc6e239e.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg"><img src="media/31176dbb.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg" alt="cityoflondonpolice" width="200" height="82" class="alignright size-full wp-image-71397"></a>This year the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit has built a reputation for being one of the most prolific and aggressive anti-piracy groups operating today.</p>
<p>PIPCU, as its more commonly known, has been involved in the closure of dozens of domains, the closure of several sites, and the arrests of individuals up and down the country.</p>
<p>Until now PIPCU&#8217;s most visible partners, at least in terms of enforcement in the Internet space, have been the Federation Against Copyright Theft (movies and TV) and the BPI (music). However, there are now signs that sites offering pirated ebooks are part of PIPCU&#8217;s strategy.</p>
<p>Like many movie, music, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-make-third-pirate-streaming-arrest-140902/">sports</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/police-arrest-operator-torrent-site-proxies-140806/">proxy</a> fans have in recent months, this week visitors to the ebook site OnRead.com were confronted with the ominous PIPCU &#8220;seized&#8221; notice.</p>
<p>&#8220;You have tried to access a website that is under criminal investigation by the UK Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU). This site is being investigated for online copyright infringement,&#8221; the page reads.</p>
<p>The signs suggest that OnRead knew something was coming. After regular and often daily tweets of new literature appearing on the site, on September 2 the account <a href="https://twitter.com/OnRead/status/506833941580742656">fell silent</a>.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak asked City of London Police for specifics on the site&#8217;s closure, including whether the domain seizure and shutdown had been carried out together with The Publishers Association, a known PIPCU partner.</p>
<p>&#8220;As part of Operation Creative PIPCU is working closely with the Publishers Association, as well as FACT, IFPI and BPI to disrupt copyright infringing websites. Since the launch of the operation several illegal film, music and publishing sites have been suspended,&#8221; a PIPCU spokesperson said.</p>
<p><a href="media/6a85b8fe.e-books.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/e-books.jpg"><img src="media/31ccbd18.e-books.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/e-books.jpg" alt="e-books" width="220" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-26365"></a>While it seems more than likely that OnRead was operating without licenses recognized by UK publishers, an archive of the domain reveals that the site&#8217;s operators tried to claim that in at least one jurisdiction the site had operated legally.</p>
<p>&#8220;All materials presented on this site are available for the distribution over the Internet in accordance with the license of the Russian Organization for multimedia and Digital Systems (ROMS) and intended for personal use only. Further distribution, resale or broadcasting is strictly prohibited,&#8221; the recent archive reads.</p>
<p>ROMS was a Russian collective rights management organization that attracted public attention in 2006 when notorious music download site, AllofMP3, insisted it operated legally under ROMS&#8217; remit to collect and distribute statutory royalty payments as allowed under Russian law. In 2007, AllofMP3 closed down for good.</p>
<p>While the legal claims made by OnRead are fuzzy and by now years out of date, additional notes do warn users that they have &#8220;no right to download any files from the site if this violates the law of his country.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear that PIPCU and quite probably The Publishers Association felt that OnRead was not in compliance with UK law. As a result the site&#8217;s domain, registered with InternetBS, is now in police hands.</p>
<p>In 2007, ZML.com, a site that offered movies to US customers, also tried to <a href="http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2007/11/its-like-allofmp3-for-movies-hands-on-with-zmls-drm-free-flicks/">claim ROMS protection</a>. That domain is now under the control of ICE and Homeland Security after being seized in the very first wave of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/?s=%22operation+in+our+sites%22">Operation in Our Sites</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=93871
title: The Pirate Bay Runs on 21 “Raid-Proof” Virtual Machines
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-Runs-on-21-Raid-Proof-Virtual-Machines
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RevVNEzmv9o/
content:
<p><a href="media/af2289f0.pirate-cloud.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-cloud.jpg"><img src="media/38012a70.pirate-cloud.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-cloud.jpg" alt="pirate cloud" width="200" height="215" class="alignright size-full wp-image-58771"></a>Two years ago The Pirate Bay made an important change to its infrastructure by switching its entire operation <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-moves-to-the-cloud-becomes-raid-proof-121017/">to the cloud</a>.</p>
<p>Instead of buying their own hardware The Pirate Bay decided to serve its users from several cloud hosting providers scattered around the world. This saved costs, guaranteed better uptime, and made the site more portable and thus harder to take down.</p>
<p>The operational change also had a downside. Before the move the notorious torrent site had a dedicated page displaying its hardware and server setup, which was something true geeks kept a close eye on.</p>
<p>Today the site no longer owns any crucial pieces of hardware. However, it&#8217;s worth taking a look at the virtual setup the site is running on now. TorrentFreak asked the Pirate Bay team for an update and they were happy to oblige. </p>
<p>At the time of writing the site uses 21 &#8220;virtual machines&#8221; (VMs) hosted at different providers. This is up four machines from two years ago, in part due to the steady increase in traffic.  </p>
<p>Most of the VMs, eight in total, are used for serving the web pages. The searches take up another six machines, and the site&#8217;s database currently runs on two VMs. </p>
<p>The remaining five virtual machines are used for load balancing, statistics, the proxy site on port 80, torrent storage and for the controller.</p>
<p>In total the VMs use 182 GB of RAM and 94 CPU cores. The total storage capacity is 620 GB, but that&#8217;s not all used. Needless to say, that is relatively modest considering the size of the site. </p>
<p><em>- 8 web<br>
- 6 search<br>
- 2 database<br>
- 1 lvs<br>
- 1 stats<br>
- 1 for proxy site on .80,<br>
- 1 torrents<br>
- 1 control</em></p>
<p>All virtual machines are hosted with commercial cloud hosting providers, who have no clue that The Pirate Bay is among their customers. All traffic goes through the load balancer, which masks what the other VMs are doing. This also means that none of the IP-addresses of the cloud hosting providers are publicly linked to TPB. </p>
<p>According to the Pirate Bay team the current setup works pretty well. Although small issues pop up every now and then, the site has had no major downtime recently. </p>
<p>If the police come knocking in the future the cloud servers can of course be disconnected. However, with the site&#8217;s current setup it would be fairly easy to continue operating from another provider in a relatively short time. </p>
<p>For now, the most vulnerable spot appears to be the site&#8217;s domain. Just last year the site burnt through five separate domain names due to takedown threats from registrars. </p>
<p>But then again, this doesn&#8217;t appear to be much of a concern for TPB as the operators have dozens of alternative domain names standing by.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94248
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 09/22/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-09-22-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZHdZZqIEKR8/
content:
<p><a href="media/57cc0776.trans.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trans.jpg"><img src="media/57cc0776.trans.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trans.jpg" alt="trans" width="300" height="223" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94249"></a>This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Transformers: Age of Extinction is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-140915/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transformers_age_of_extinction/">Transformers: Age of Extinction</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2109248/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDGqmxMZFI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/edge_of_tomorrow/">Edge Of Tomorrow</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUmSVcttXnI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/x_men_days_of_future_past/">X-Men: Days of Future Past</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1877832/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsjtg7m1MMM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/maleficent_2014/">Maleficent</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587310/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XO4XiRop0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/million_dollar_arm/">Million Dollar Arm</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1647668/">7.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl4QeQzIkOM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_train_your_dragon_2/">How To Train Your Dragon 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646971/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLBmHtI5KfM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_fault_in_our_stars/">The Fault in Our Stars</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582846/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ItBvH5J6ss">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_giver/">The Giver</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435651/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvp6FnYWRZU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godzilla_2014/">Godzilla</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831387/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIu85WQTPRc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/divergent/">Divergent</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutgWjz10sM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94242
title: “The Letter” Is Still The Best Story To Explain Why Copyright Monopoly Must Be Reduced
uri: The-Letter-Is-Still-The-Best-Story-To-Explain-Why-Copyright-Mono
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SUqS8ktwmyo/
content:
<p><a href="media/b997f7ba.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg"><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211"></a>As I travel the world and speak to people from all professions and walks of life about the copyright monopoly, &#8220;the letter&#8221; is still the story that causes the most pennies to drop about why the copyright monopoly must be reduced. It&#8217;s by far the angle that makes the message come across to the most people.</p>
<p>&#8220;How will the artists make money&#8221; is basically just a distraction from the real and important issues at hand, and this story helps bring them there.</p>
<p>The story of &#8220;the letter&#8221; deals with just how big and vital civil liberties have been sacrificed in the transition from analog to digital at the tenacious insistence of the copyright industry for the sake of their bottom line. The analog letter was the message sent the way our parents sent them: written onto a physical piece of paper, put into an envelope, postaged with an old-fashioned stamp and put into a mailbox for physical delivery to the intended recipient.</p>
<p><strong>That letter had four important characteristics that each embodied vital civil liberties.</strong></p>
<p>That letter, first of all, was anonymous. Everybody had the right to send an anonymous message to somebody. You could identify yourself on the inside of the message, for only the recipient to know, on the envelope, for the postal services to know, or not at all. Or you could write a totally bogus name, organization, and address as the sender of your message, and that was okay, too. Not just okay, it was even fairly common.</p>
<p>Second, it was secret in transit. When we talk of letters being opened and inspected routinely, the thoughts go to scenes of the East German <em>Stasi</em> &#8211; the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, the East German National Security Agency (yes, that&#8217;s how Stasi&#8217;s name translates). Letters being <em>opened and inspected?</em> Seriously? You had to be the <em>primary suspect</em> of an <em>extremely</em> grave crime for that to take place.</p>
<p>Third, the mailman was never ever held responsible for the contents of the letters being carried. The thought was ridiculous. They were not allowed to look at the messages in the first place, so it was unthinkable that they&#8217;d be held accountable for what they dutifully delivered.</p>
<p>Fourth, the letter was untracked. Nobody had the means &#8211; nor indeed the capability &#8211; to map who was communicating with whom.</p>
<p><strong>All of these characteristics, which all embed vital civil liberties, have been lost in the transition to digital at the insistence of the copyright industry &#8211; so that they, as a third-party, can prevent people from sending letters with a content they just don&#8217;t like to see sent, for business reasons of theirs.</strong></p>
<p>The question of &#8220;how will somebody make money&#8221; is entirely irrelevant. The job of any entrepreneur is to make money given the current constraints of society and technology.</p>
<p><strong>No industry gets to dismantle civil liberties with the poor excuse that they can&#8217;t make money otherwise.</strong> They have the simple choice of doing something else or go out of business. And yet, that&#8217;s exactly what we have allowed the copyright industry to do: dismantle vital civil liberties. Dismantle the very concept of the private letter. And they&#8217;re continuing to do so under pretty but deceptive words.</p>
<p>When I explain the situation like this, the penny drops for an astounding amount of people and they stop asking the learned, but silly, question about how somebody is to get paid if we have the rights we&#8217;ve always had &#8211; to send anything to anybody anonymously.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s the Analog Equivalent Right. <em>To be able send anything to anybody anonymously.</em> And that&#8217;s what we need to bring to the digital environment, even if an obsolete industry doesn&#8217;t like it because it may or may not hurt the bottom line. That&#8217;s completely irrelevant.</p>
<p>Try telling this story and watch the penny drop, almost every single time. It&#8217;s remarkable.</p>
<p><center>
<div class="alignfull" style="border:2px solid #3F3F3F;width:100%;padding:15px;padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:4px;margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:10px;border-radius:10px">
<h3 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:10px">
<div style="float:right;height:130px;width:39px;margin-left:20px;margin-right:10px"><img src="media/98818a80.Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" data-original-source="http://falkvinge.net/wp-content/themes/WpNewspaper/images/falkvinge/Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" style="border:none;-moz-box-shadow:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none" class="quimby_search_image"></div>
<p><span style="color:#3F3F3F;font-size:125%">About The</span> <span style="color:#FF3C78;font-size:125%">Author</span></p>
</h3>
<p style="font-family:PTSansRegular,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-weight:400;line-height:150%;margin-bottom:14px"><small>Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at <a href="http://falkvinge.net">falkvinge.net</a> focuses on information policy.</small></p>
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<p><small>Book Falkvinge <a href="http://falkvinge.net/keynotes/">as speaker</a>?</small></p>
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<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94270
title: Giganews Resorts to DMCA to Quieten FBI Allegations
uri: Giganews-Resorts-to-DMCA-to-Quieten-FBI-Allegations
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/w3vf6vy8-Co/
content:
<p><a href="media/a07d64a9.GNlogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/GNlogo.jpg"><img src="media/a07d64a9.GNlogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/GNlogo.jpg" alt="GNlogo" width="180" height="171" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94277"></a>On the morning of September 11, 2014, TorrentFreak was greeted with one of the most unusual emails we&#8217;ve ever received.</p>
<p>Sent from an alleged former employee of Giganews who identified himself as Nick Caputo, the email contained serious allegations about his former employer. Caputo told us that he&#8217;d begun working at the company in 2009 and as a &#8220;huge pirate&#8221; he loved to help people download &#8220;all the rich multimedia content they could.&#8221; But that was just the beginning.</p>
<p>The email outlined Caputo&#8217;s rise through the company through two quick promotions in two-and-a-half years. However, it quickly descended into allegations that far from being a straight-down-the-line newsgroup provider, Giganews is in fact an FBI-run operation. Caputo says he discovered this after getting into a dispute with the company about removing child abuse material and elevating his complaint to the FBI.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak decided not to run with the story, despite clear indications that Caputo is who he claimed he was. The story, which had plenty of detail, just didn&#8217;t hold up on its own. There was plenty of &#8216;evidence&#8217; provided but the problem was that none of it added up to a level of proof that we&#8217;d be prepared to stand behind.</p>
<p>But four days later and after being contacted by Caputo, <a href="http://cryptome.org/2014/09/giganews-fbi.htm">Cryptome published</a> the email and documents originally sent to TorrentFreak and possibly others.</p>
<p>The story quickly spread around dozens of sites including Reddit and HackerNews forcing Giganews to respond, acknowledging that Caputo was indeed a former employee but denying the allegations.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a hoax. These allegations are 100% false,&#8221; the company <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8320985">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, since his termination, the poster has periodically posted versions of this information online. Sometimes, he tries to misrepresent himself as our CEO and sometimes he posts as himself.&#8221;</p>
<p>With Giganews <a href="http://www.giganews.com/blog/2014/09/it-is-a-gigahoax-giganews-is-not-an-fbi-operation.html">criticizing Cryptome</a> for publishing the allegations, Caputo it seemed was not giving up. The archive of evidence originally offered to TF found itself uploaded to Internet Archive from where Caputo hoped it would be spread far and wide.</p>
<p>However, according to a new email published by Cryptome, that has now been brought to halt by the issuing of a DMCA notice.</p>
<blockquote><p> <em>Subject: archive.org item subject to copyright claim<br>
From:&#8221;Internet Archive&#8221;<br>
Date:Sep 18, 2014 9:41:11 PM</p>
<p>Hello,</p>
<p>Access to the item at https://archive.org/details/giganews-fbi has been disabled following receipt by Internet Archive of a copyright claim submitted on behalf of Data Foundry, Inc (datafoundry.com). The claim was submitted with information and statements requested by Internet Archive&#8217;s Copyright Policy (posted at https://archive.org/about/terms.php near the bottom of the page). If you have questions regarding the claim, please let us know.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>The Internet Archive Team </em></p></blockquote>
<p>While Giganews clearly thinks the contents of the archive are defamatory, one has to dig into the details to see where the company has a copyright claim over the file.</p>
<p>That can be found in a dump of employee contact details which documents show were obtained from Data Foundry&#8217;s intranet. Each employee card has a photograph attached and those are likely to have been taken by a company employee in company time.</p>
<p>Also included in the dump is a Giganews appraisal of Caputo&#8217;s performance during 2010. It was authored by a manager and the rights to the form will most likely sit with the company. While Giganews would probably write something different today, four years ago the company felt that Caputo was &#8220;the go-to guy&#8221; for getting stuff done on nights, ranking his overall performance as &#8220;exceeding&#8221; the standard required.</p>
<p>&#8220;Giganews is in the impossible position of proving a negative,&#8221; the company said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we say our list of employees does not include any FBI employees, then they must be &#8216;using false identities.&#8217; If we say the named FBI operatives don&#8217;t look like any of our employee photos, &#8216;the pictures must have been altered.&#8217; Even the denial itself is used as further evidence of the truth of the accusation. In a court of law, such an accusation would never stand up to scrutiny, but on the Open Internet, opinions can be formed by only a few words on a popular website.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whether the allegations will now calm down and go away is anyone&#8217;s guess, but a DMCA notice to one of the many sources of the file is unlikely to make it disappear forever.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94173
title: BPI Hits Record Breaking 100 Million Google Takedowns
uri: BPI-Hits-Record-Breaking-100-Million-Google-Takedowns
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DmR4oxTeTBA/
content:
<p><a href="media/cb62421b.bpi.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bpi.png"><img src="media/cb62421b.bpi.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bpi.png" alt="bpi" width="222" height="106" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94190"></a>Despite the growing availability of legal music services in many countries, record labels are facing a constant stream of pirated music.</p>
<p>In an attempt to prevent these infringements, the BPI and other music industry groups send millions of takedown notices to Internet services every month. Most of these requests are directed at Google.  </p>
<p>This week the UK music industry group BPI reached a new milestone after notifying Google of the 100 millionth allegedly infringing URL, up from 50 million just 10 months ago. </p>
<p>http://pastebin.com/search?cx=013305635491195529773%3A0ufpuq-fpt0&#038;cof=FORID%3A10&#038;ie=UTF-8&#038;q=https%3A%2F%2Fmega.co.nz%2F%23%21fNFSiJxa%21ePxcgzjVYy6fxt0ep15iUyhnOgedIOcXQUs7U5myurE&#038;sa.x=0&#038;sa.y=0&#038;sa=Search</p>
<p>As can be seen below, the latest update shows that the 100 million links were spread out over 274,810 separate DMCA takedown notices. </p>
<p><center><strong>BPI&#8217;s takedown notices</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/a1e97bb0.bpi100m.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bpi100m.png"><img src="media/a1e97bb0.bpi100m.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bpi100m.png" alt="bpi100m" width="600" height="184" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94253"></a></center></p>
<p>With 100 million requests the BPI has broken a new milestone. Never before has a copyright holder representative reported so many allegedly infringing links to Google. Degban is currently second <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/reporters/?r=all-time">in this list</a> with 99 million URLs, followed by the RIAA with 57 million.</p>
<p>For the BPI this record isn&#8217;t something to be proud of though. The music industry group tells us that it shows just how hard it is for copyright holders to have infringing content taken offline. </p>
<p>“This milestone makes two things very clear. First, that however much creators do, the system of &#8216;notice and takedown&#8217; will never be enough on its own to protect them or consumers from the online black market, or to spur growth in the digital economy,&#8221; a BPI spokesperson says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Second, that despite its clear knowledge as to which sites are engines of piracy, Google continues to help build their illegal businesses, by giving them a prominent ranking in search results.&#8221;</p>
<p>The BPI stresses that Google should do more to lower the visibility of unauthorized content in its search results. Despite promises to do so, the music group still sees very little improvement on this front.</p>
<p>“To illustrate: Google’s records show it has been told more than 10 million times that content on 4shared.com is illegal – yet it’s still the very first result today when we search for &#8216;Calvin Harris mp3&#8242; &#8211; ahead of Amazon and every other legal service,&#8221; BPI notes.</p>
<p>Addressing this issue is pretty straightforward, the BPI argues. Google should work with the entertainment industries to adjust its search algorithm, as the UK Government also <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-government-plans-to-ensure-that-google-hinders-online-piracy-140202/">highlighted</a> recently.    </p>
<p>“Google can simply fix this problem by amending its algorithm. We hope they will respond positively to the invitation from Government to negotiate voluntary measures to do so,&#8221; BPI says, closing with an iconic lyric.  </p>
<p>&#8220;It’s time the media giant changed its tune &#8211; we need a little less conversation and a little more action please.”</p>
<p>Google has thus far been hesitant to fiddle with its search results. </p>
<p>The company has made <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/how-google-helps-copyright-holders-to-fight-piracy-130911/">several changes</a> to address the complaints of copyright holders. However, it also stressed that the entertainment industries themselves should take responsibility, arguing that piracy is primarily an <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-piracy-availability-pricing-problem-140310/">availability and pricing problem</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94304
title: The Art of Unblocking Websites Without Committing Crimes
uri: The-Art-of-Unblocking-Websites-Without-Committing-Crimes
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Jn-cIVB9aLc/
content:
<p><a href="media/140fe2f2.network.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/network.jpg"><img src="media/ab7395e4.network-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/network-150x150.jpg" alt="network" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-83358"></a>The blocking of sites such as The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents and Torrentz in the UK led to users discovering new ways to circumvent ISP-imposed censorship. There are plenty of solutions, from TOR <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">and VPNs</a>, to services with a stated aim of unblocking &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites deemed illegal by UK courts.</p>
<p>Last month, however, dozens of these <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-takes-down-proxy-service-over-piracy-concerns-140806/">went offline</a> when the operator of Immunicity and other related proxy services <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-arrest-operator-torrent-site-proxies-140806/">was arrested</a> by City of London Police&#8217;s Intellectual Property Crime Unit. He now faces several charges including breaches of the Serious Crime Act 2007, Possession of Articles for Use in Fraud, Making or Supplying Articles for use in Frauds and money laundering.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s generally accepted that running a site like The Pirate Bay is likely to attract police attention, merely unblocking a domain was not thought to carry any such risk. After all, visitors to torrent sites are just that, it&#8217;s only later on that they make a decision to infringe or not.</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/exploring-the-legal-basis-for-the-new-pirate-proxy-war-140809/">earlier article</a> we discussed some of the possible reasons why the police might view &#8220;pirate&#8221; proxies to be illegal. However, there are very good arguments that general purpose proxies, even ones that are expressly setup to bypass filtering (and are able to unblock sites such as Pirate Bay), remain on a decent legal footing.</p>
<p>One such site is being operated by Gareth, a developer and networking guru who grew so tired of creeping Internet censorship he began lobbying UK MPs on the topic, later moving on to assist with the creation of the Open Rights Group&#8217;s <a href="https://blocked.org.uk/">Blocked.org.uk</a>.</p>
<p>After campaigning and <a href="https://survivetheclaireperryinter.net/">documenting</a> Internet censorship issues for some time, Gareth first heard of last month&#8217;s proxy arrest during a visit to the United States. </p>
<p>&#8220;I was at DefCon in Las Vegas when the news of the Immunicity arrest reached me and I realized that for all my volunteer work, my open source applications, operation of Tor relays, donations and letters to MPs to highlight/combat the issues with Internet censorship, it was not enough,&#8221; the developer told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;I felt that this issue has moved from a political / technical issue to one about personal liberty and Internet freedom. e.g. first they came for the &#8216;pirate proxies&#8217;, then the Tor operators, then the ISPs that don&#8217;t censor their customers. The slippery slope is becoming a scary precipice.&#8221; </p>
<p>Since his return to the UK, Gareth has been busy creating his own independent anti-censorship tool. He&#8217;s researched in detail what happened to Immunicity, taken legal advice, and is now offering what he hopes is an entirely legal solution to website filtering and subsequent over-blocking (<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-porn-filter-blocks-legitimate-file-sharing-services-and-torrentfreak-140103/">1</a>)(<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-porn-filter-triggers-widespread-internet-censorship-140702/">2</a>).</p>
<p>&#8220;Unlike Immunicity et al I’m not specifically building a &#8216;Pirate Proxy&#8217;. Granted people might use this proxy to navigate to torrent websites but were I to sell a laptop on eBay that same person may use it for the same reasons so I see no difference,&#8221; he <a href="https://networksaremadeofstring.com/blog/2014/09/13/why-i-built-an-anti-censorship-proxy/">explains</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;In fact Section 44, subsection 2 of the Serious Crimes Act 2007 even states [that an individual] is not to be taken to have intended to encourage or assist the commission of an offense merely because such encouragement or assistance was a foreseeable consequence of his act.&#8221;</p>
<p>The result of Gareth&#8217;s labor is the anti-censorship service <a href="https://routingpacketsisnotacrime.uk">Routing Packets is Not a Crime</a> (RPINAC). People who used Immunicity in the past should feel at home, since RPINAC also utilizes the ability of popular browsers to use Proxy Auto-Config (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_auto-config">PAC</a>) files.</p>
<p>In the space of a couple of minutes and with no specialist knowledge, users can easily <a href="https://routingpacketsisnotacrime.uk/create">create their own PAC files</a> covering any blocked site they like. Once configured, their <a href="https://routingpacketsisnotacrime.uk/how-to/configure-chrome">browser</a> will silently unblock them. </p>
<p>Furthermore, each PAC file has its own dedicated URL on RPINAC&#8217;s servers which users can revisit in order to add additional URLs for unblocking. PAC &#8216;unblock&#8217; files can also be shared among like-minded people.</p>
<p>&#8220;When someone creates a PAC file they are redirected to a /view/ endpoint e.g. https://routingpacketsisnotacrime.uk/view/b718ce9b276bc2f10af90fe1d5b33c0d. This URL is not ephemeral, you can email it, tweet it (there is a tweet button on the left hand side of the site) etc and it will provide the recipient with the exact same view.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;ll show which URLs are specified to be proxied, which have been detected as blocked (using the https://blocked.org.uk database) and if the author passed along the password (assuming the PAC was password protected) they can add or remove URLs too,&#8221; Gareth explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Each view page also has a comments section, this could allow for a small collection of individuals to co-ordinate with a smaller subset of password possessing moderators to create a crowd sourced PAC file in an autonomous fashion. There is also a &#8216;Clone&#8217; button allowing anybody to create their own copy of the PAC file with their own name, description and password if the PAC file they&#8217;ve received isn&#8217;t quite what they need.&#8221;</p>
<p>This user-generated element of the process is important. While dedicated &#8216;pirate&#8217; proxy sites specifically unblock sites already deemed illegal by the UK courts (and can be deemed to be facilitating their &#8216;crimes&#8217;), RPINAC leaves the decision of which sites to unblock completely down to the user. And since no High Court injunction forbids any user from accessing a blocked domain, both service and user remain on the right side of the law.</p>
<p>In terms of use, RPINAC is unobtrusive, has no popups, promotions or advertising, and will not ask for payment or donations, a further important legal point.</p>
<p>&#8220;To avoid any accusations of fraud and to avoid any tax implications RPINAC will never ask for donations,&#8221; the dev explains. &#8220;The current platform is pre-paid for at least a year, the domain for 10. At a bare minimum PAC file serving and education for creating local proxies will continue indefinitely.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, Gareth notes that without free and open source software his anti-censorship platform wouldn&#8217;t have been possible. So, in return, he has plans to release the source code for the project under the GPL 3.0 license.</p>
<p>RoutingPacketsIsNotACrime can be found <a href="https://routingpacketsisnotacrime.uk/">here</a> and is compatible with Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE. Additional information can be sourced <a href="https://survivetheclaireperryinter.net/">here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94263
title: Why Record Labels Want Kim Dotcom’s Album Taken Down
uri: Why-Record-Labels-Want-Kim-Dotcom-s-Album-Taken-Down
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/i1MNk268ZPI/
content:
<p><a href="media/26f7e181.goodtimes.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/goodtimes.jpg"><img src="media/d25e5afe.goodtimes.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/goodtimes.jpg" alt="goodtimes" width="180" height="179" class="alignright size-full wp-image-82494"></a>Earlier this year Kim Dotcom released his first music album &#8220;Good Times,&#8221; giving it away for free to anyone interested. </p>
<p>An official copy of the album was posted on the cloud hosting service <a href="http://mega.co.nz">Mega</a>, which is linked from <a href="http://kim.com/">Dotcom&#8217;s homepage</a>. This has never caused any issues, until a few weeks ago, when various copyright holders started sending unusual takedown requests to have the content removed. </p>
<p>IFPI, representing the major music labels, submitted several DMCA notices to Mega claiming that the file infringed the rights of various artists. This resulted in a game of whack-a-mole in which the album was removed and reinstated a few times. Currently it&#8217;s <a href="https://mega.co.nz/#!fNFSiJxa!ePxcgzjVYy6fxt0ep15iUyhnOgedIOcXQUs7U5myurE">unavailable yet again</a>.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/18d6e9b4.megadown2.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/megadown2.jpg"><img src="media/a8960d54.megadown2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megadown2.jpg" alt="megadown" width="588" height="205" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-93439"></a></center></p>
<p>When we <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-take-down-kim-dotcoms-official-album-from-mega-140903/">previously covered</a> the issue, Mega stressed that the takedown requests were clearly mistaken. The company accused IFPI of not doing their homework and doubted the accuracy of their notices in general. </p>
<p>However, since the takedown notices kept targeting the same link, there was a good chance that these mistakes were orchestrated in some way. Assuming that someone was making IFPI and others believe that the link pointed to albums of other artists, we decided to do some research. </p>
<p>Eventually we stumbled upon a series of <a href="http://pastebin.com/search?cx=013305635491195529773%3A0ufpuq-fpt0&#038;cof=FORID%3A10&#038;ie=UTF-8&#038;q=https%3A%2F%2Fmega.co.nz%2F%23%21fNFSiJxa%21ePxcgzjVYy6fxt0ep15iUyhnOgedIOcXQUs7U5myurE&#038;sa.x=0&#038;sa.y=0&#038;sa=Search">Pastebin pages</a> where the URL of Dotcom&#8217;s album is linked to titles of other artists. Several of the artists mentioned in the pastes are the same as the one&#8217;s IFPI listed in their DMCA notices, so this would explain the mistakes.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/a3d6ddd5.kimdown.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kimdown.png"><img src="media/a3d6ddd5.kimdown.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kimdown.png" alt="kimdown" width="493" height="187" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94302"></a></center></p>
<p>The above is concerning for several reasons. First of all, it shows that IFPI and others don&#8217;t verify the legitimacy of their takedown notices. This means that pranksters can easily get them to censor legitimate content. </p>
<p>Secondly, Mega usually can&#8217;t check the validity of a claim, or it simply doesn&#8217;t know whether or not a user has permission to publish it. So they have very little options to stop the abuse.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mega aims to process all takedowns promptly, within a few hours. It is impossible to verify the claims as the files are encrypted so we don’t know the contents (unless the full link is provided with the key included), and we can’t verify if the person has a valid ownership/license or not,&#8221; a Mega spokesperson told us.</p>
<p>Despite these restrictions, the cloud hosting provider says it&#8217;s setting up a system where repeated takedowns can be flagged to prevent this type of abuse in the future.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are improving our systems to monitor the takedown process and will eventually be able to identify repeated incorrect notices,&#8221; Mega says.</p>
<p>Until then, Dotcom&#8217;s album will most likely disappear from Mega a few more times. Luckily for the fans, there&#8217;s also a <a href="http://baboom.com/kimdotcom/downloads">copy hosted</a> on the soon-to-be-released music service Baboom.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94348
title: UK Govt Hopes to ‘Profit’ From Anti-Piracy Measures
uri: UK-Govt-Hopes-to-Profit-From-Anti-Piracy-Measures
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aohNRZRQsy8/
content:
<p><a href="media/db3bd45e.pirate-card.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card.jpg"><img src="media/c579e316.pirate-card.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card.jpg" alt="pirate-card" width="250" height="210" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86520"></a>A few weeks ago the UK Government announced its support for a new anti-piracy plan, the Voluntary Copyright Alert Programme (VCAP). </p>
<p>The Government <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-and-copyright-holders-praise-new-piracy-warning-system-140719/">teamed up</a> with copyright holders and ISPs, who will start sending <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/how-uk-piracy-warnings-work-140517/">warning emails </a>to pirating Internet users next year. In addition there will be a broader educational campaign to steer people towards using legal options. </p>
<p>While the campaign is a private initiative the Government has decided to back it financially with several million pounds. However, TorrentFreak has learned that the Government funding wasn&#8217;t straightforward and was made outside of the available marketing budget. </p>
<p>Through a Freedom of Information request we obtained an email conversation between the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and music industry group BPI. In the email from May this year IPO&#8217;s Ros Lynch explains that there are no regular marketing funds available to support VCAP. </p>
<p>&#8220;As part of the process of agreeing Government financial support for the educational element of VCAP we will need to seek a marketing exemption as we are currently not permitted to spend on marketing,&#8221; Lynch writes to BPI&#8217;s Ian Moss. </p>
<p>To be able to get the exception the Government needs additional information from the entertaining industries, showing that the investment makes sense financially. Or put differently, that the Government will see a good return for their invested taxpayer money.</p>
<p>&#8220;Essentially this will require a proper business case which includes hard figures,&#8221; Lynch writes.  </p>
<p>&#8220;For example, what research are you basing your target audiences on? How have you calculated your 5% reduction in infringement? What £ saving does a 5% reduction bring? What overall estimate can you make of the ROI of this campaign e.g. what financial benefit would a £2.2m Government investment bring?&#8221;</p>
<p><center><a href="media/98a74242.ipoemail.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ipoemail.png"><img src="media/98a74242.ipoemail.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ipoemail.png" alt="ipoemail" width="550" height="600" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94359"></a></center></p>
<p>The above suggests that the BPI is predicting a 5% drop in piracy from the anti-piracy measures. However, in a response to the IPO&#8217;s request the industry group writes that even with a lower success rate the Government&#8217;s spending will pay off. </p>
<p>In a &#8220;Summary Business Case&#8221; (<a href="media/4ea03dd9.VCAP-Summary-Business-Case-information.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/VCAP-Summary-Business-Case-information.pdf">pdf</a>) BPI uses the expected VAT increase to convince the Government of the &#8220;profitability&#8221; of the campaign. It estimates that if 15% of all illegal downloads are lost sales, piracy only has to decline 1% over three years for the Government to recoup their investment.</p>
<p>&#8220;The underlying assumptions are based on very good data that has been produced by Ofcom and by a number of academic studies looking at the replacement ratios. It shows that only very small changes in piracy lead to significant returns to Government,&#8221; BPI notes. </p>
<p>The music industry group stresses that the calculation only looks at VAT income and that the effects on the wider economy may be even greater. However, the static model they presented should already be good enough to warrant the funding.</p>
<p>&#8220;So even from a very simple, static assumption, a small reduction in piracy of between .49% and 1% over the three years would return Government investment of £4m in an education scheme,&#8221; BPI writes.</p>
<p>This prediction was apparently good enough for the Government to invest in the new anti-piracy plans beyond the available marketing budget. Even more so, the authorities committed £3.5 million to the campaign, instead of the £2.2 that was discussed in May. </p>
<p>Whether the Government will indeed be able to recoup the taxpayer money through the anti-piracy campaign will be hard to measure, but the plan is going full steam ahead.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94355
title: Alleged Topsite Operator Charged With Mass Movie Piracy
uri: Alleged-Topsite-Operator-Charged-With-Mass-Movie-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ykLp1oA-aAA/
content:
<p><a href="media/db3bd45e.pirate-card.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card.jpg"><img src="media/9d886086.pirate-card-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card-150x150.jpg" alt="pirate-card" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-86520"></a>After becoming almost synonymous with file-sharing and its connections with The Pirate Bay, Sweden began escalating its efforts to stamp out online piracy.</p>
<p>As a result, during the past several years many file-sharers were targeted by anti-piracy groups looking to send a message to the masses. And with government providing additional funding, increasingly police became involved in joint operations.</p>
<p>After a period of dealing with smaller cases, Swedish police have just charged a man for illegally making available large amounts of copyrighted material. According to their intellectual property division, the suspect &#8220;intentionally or by gross negligence&#8221; unlawfully made films available on 2,250 occasions.</p>
<p>The police add that the individual acted &#8220;in consultation or concert with other persons, supplied, installed, programmed, maintained, funded and otherwise administered and managed&#8221; the file-sharing network from where the infringements were carried out.</p>
<p>The charges are the result of an investigation initially carried out by Rights Alliance, the anti-piracy group previously known as Antipiratbyran. It&#8217;s been revealed they&#8217;re representing six major studios in the case, so the usual Hollywood giants will be directly involved.</p>
<p>Few additional details have been made public but after contacting lawyer Henrik Pontén at Rights Alliance, TorrentFreak has learned that the charges relate to a raid carried out in 2010 against &#8220;The Scene&#8221;, the collection of servers and individuals which inhabit the top of the so-called piracy pyramid.</p>
<p>The case involves a so-called &#8216;topsite&#8217; known as ‘Devil’ which at the time was claimed to carry between 200 and 250 terabytes of media. During the raid, which according to Scene sources took place December 15, 2010, police seized a dozen servers and detained one person.</p>
<p>In press releases following the police action it was claimed that the man was responsible for the unauthorized distribution of “tens of thousands” of mainly Hollywood movies. Those estimates appear to have been rounded down.</p>
<p>An element of the case that remains a mystery for now surrounds the prosecution&#8217;s current claims that the man made the movies available &#8220;to the public&#8221;. Topsites tend not to deliberately distribute movies outside of their immediate circles for security reasons.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94386
title: Mega Goes Legal, Issues Ultimatum Over Cyberlocker Report
uri: Mega-Goes-Legal-Issues-Ultimatum-Over-Cyberlocker-Report
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/oRUr46U6BZs/
content:
<p><img src="media/6c985263.profit.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/profit.png" width="222" height="175" class="alignright">Last week the Digital Citizens Alliance and NetNames released a new report with the aim of shining light on the business models of “shadowy” file-storage sites.</p>
<p>While listing some domains that may well live up to that less-than-flattering billing, the authors of <em>Behind The Cyberlocker Door: A Report How Shadowy Cyberlockers Use Credit Card Companies to Make Millions</em>, also decided to include New Zealand-based Mega.</p>
<p>Mega was founded by Kim Dotcom but the site bears little resemblance to his now defunct Megaupload. Perhaps most importantly, Mega was the most-scrutinized file-hosting startup ever, so every single detail simply had to be squeaky clean. As a result the site took extensive legal advice to ensure that it complies with every single facet of the law.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, NetNames took the decision to put Mega in its report anyway, bundling the site in with what are described as some of the market&#8217;s most dubious players. This was not received well by Mega CEO Graham Gaylard. In a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mega-demands-apology-over-defamatory-cyberlocker-report-140919/">TorrentFreak article</a> he demanded a full apology from NetNames and Digital Citizens Alliance and for his company to be withdrawn from the report. Failure to do so would result in &#8220;further action&#8221;, he said.</p>
<p>TF asked NetNames&#8217; David Price whether his company stood by its allegations. The response suggested that it did and no apology was forthcoming. It&#8217;s been a week since that ultimatum and as promised Mega is now making good on its threats.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mega&#8217;s legal counsel has written to NetNames, Digital Citizens Alliance and The Internet Technology &#038; Innovation Foundation (ITIF) stating that the report is clearly defamatory,&#8221; Mega CEO Graham Gaylard told TorrentFreak this morning.</p>
<p>Given NetNames&#8217; and Digital Citizens Alliance failure to respond, it comes as little surprise that Mega&#8217;s formalized demands now go beyond an apology and retraction. </p>
<p>Firstly, Mega&#8217;s legal team are now demanding the removal of the report, and all references to it, from all channels under the respondents&#8217; control. They also demand that further circulation of the report must be discontinued and no additional references to it should be made in public.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s a tough one. NetNames&#8217; effort is currently the most-circulated report in the &#8216;piracy&#8217; space and TorrentFreak is also informed that the paper is set to become the supporting documentation to Hollywood and the labels&#8217; follow-the-money anti-piracy drive.</p>
<p>Mega are also demanding a list of everyone who has had a copy of the report made available to them along with details of all locations where the report has been published. Again, that will be an interesting one to see Mega&#8217;s targets fulfill.</p>
<p>Finally, Mega is demanding a full public apology &#8220;to its satisfaction&#8221; to be published on the homepages of the respondents&#8217; websites. What form that could take without discrediting the rest of the report is probably up for negotiation, but having Mega in there at all was bound to be a controversial and potentially damaging move.</p>
<p>Mega has given the companies seven days to comply with the above requests. No official line has been provided as to what will happen if Mega is met with a refusal, but it seems that the company is serious about protecting its reputation and will do whatever it takes to do that.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s perhaps of note that to our knowledge none of the other sites listed in the report have come out publicly to protest their inclusion in it. That&#8217;s not to say that some weren&#8217;t wrongfully included of course, but when a company like Mega stands up in order to protect its brand that should set off alarm bells.</p>
<p>Do &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites with &#8220;shadowy&#8221; business models ever bother to publicly defend their reputations unless they&#8217;re the ones being hauled into court? </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94423
title: Google to News Corp: Nobody Fights Piracy Like Us
uri: Google-to-News-Corp-Nobody-Fights-Piracy-Like-Us
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RH4QzJxVlsc/
content:
<p><a href="media/36fef17d.google-water.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/google-water.png"><img src="media/bb876df7.google-water-150x150.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-water-150x150.png" alt="google-water" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-89037"></a>In an <a href="http://newscorp.com/2014/09/17/news-corp-opposed-googles-european-commission-settlement-offer-welcomed-competition-commission-reconsideration/">open letter</a> to the European competition commissioner earlier this month, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson was highly critical of Google.</p>
<p>Thompson began by speaking warmly of Google&#8217;s roots as a &#8220;wonderfully feisty&#8221; Silicon Valley startup, but that developed into warnings over its immense power today as an &#8220;often unaccountable bureaucracy&#8221;. And, as is so often the case with Google&#8217;s rivals, matters soon turned to Google&#8217;s attitudes towards online piracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;The shining vision of Google’s founders has been replaced by a cynical management, which offers advertisers impressively precise data about users and content usage, but has been a platform for piracy and the spread of malicious networks, all while driving more traffic and online advertising dollars to Google,&#8221; Thompson said. </p>
<p>The News Corp statement was never likely to go unanswered and today Google officially returned fire.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google has done more than almost any other company to help tackle online piracy,&#8221; <a href="http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/dear-rupert_25.html?m=1">said</a> Rachel Whetstone, Google’s senior vice president of global communications.</p>
<p>&#8220;In 2013 we removed 222 million web pages from Google Search due to copyright infringement. The average take-down time is now just six hours,&#8221; she added.</p>
<p>The SVP also underlined Google&#8217;s earlier assertions that sites found to repeatedly violate copyright get downgraded in search rankings. It&#8217;s something the movie studios and record labels have being demanding for some time but although Google insists it delivers, few content creators appear pleased with the results.</p>
<p>On YouTube, however, things play out somewhat differently. Whetstone reminded News Corp that Google has spent tens of millions of dollars developing technology such as its ContentID, a system that not only combats piracy but enables creators to monetize their content.</p>
<p>And hitting back at the accusation that Google has been a platform for the spread of malicious networks, Whetstone said the company is committed to protecting its users’ security.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s why we remove malware from our search results and other products, and protect more than 1 billion users every day from phishing and malware with our Safe Browsing warnings,&#8221; she said.</p>
<p>In response to News Corp accusations that Google undermines the business models of high quality content creators with &#8220;egregious aggregation”, Whetstone said that the days of news being controlled by a small number of media organizations were over.</p>
<p>&#8220;Today, people have far greater choice. That has had a profound impact on newspapers, who face much stiffer competition for people’s attention and for advertising Euros,&#8221; the SVP said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google has worked hard to help publishers succeed online &#8212; both in terms of generating new audiences and also increasing their digital revenues. Our search products drive over 10 billion clicks a month to 60,000 publishers’ websites, and we share billions of dollars annually with advertising publishing partners.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, in a moment of comedy but with a serious point, Whetston held up a mirror to News Corp in response to its argument that Google&#8217;s actions could lead to &#8220;a less informed, more vexatious level of dialogue in our society&#8221; and only add to &#8220;the intemperate trends we are already seeing in much of Europe.&#8221;</p>
<p>By linking to an <a href="media/cd4df7e5.1.jpg" data-original-source="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/programmes_enl_1146754853/img/1.jpg">image of a front page</a> published by Murdoch&#8217;s &#8216;The Sun&#8217; tabloid, Google makes clear that if you&#8217;re going to criticize others, getting your own house in order should always come first.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94379
title: Lionsgate Hopes Server Logs Will Expose Expendables Leaker
uri: Lionsgate-Hopes-Server-Logs-Will-Expose-Expendables-Leaker
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wIOahup1rt4/
content:
<p><a href="media/0a134585.expendablespiracy.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/expendablespiracy.jpg"><img src="media/f59bc3e0.expendablespiracy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/expendablespiracy.jpg" alt="expendablespiracy" width="275" height="203" class="alignright size-full wp-image-92859"></a>Over the past two months movie studio Lionsgate has rolled out an unprecedented anti-piracy campaign to stop people from sharing <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/expendables-3-leaks-online-100k-copies-down-in-hours-140725/">leaked copies of The Expendables 3</a>. </p>
<p>Aside from dragging <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/lionsgate-sues-filesharing-sites-expendables-3-leak-140801/">six file-sharing sites to court</a>, Lionsgate sent out hundreds of thousands of takedown notices to websites that linked to pirated copies of the leaked movie. </p>
<p>While this campaign had <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/major-torrent-sites-and-google-purge-the-expendables-3-140819/">some success</a>, the studio has yet to identify who first published the leaked copy online. In a new court request filed at a California federal court Lionsgate states that the weblogs of file-hosting service Swankshare.com may provide more details. </p>
<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20140625035110/http://swankshare.com/">Swankshare</a> is one of the sites that was targeted in Lionsgate&#8217;s lawsuit. Following a preliminary injunction the site&#8217;s servers were taken down by its hosting company FDCServers. However, the Expendables makers now want to gain access to the server logs to see who uploaded the leaked copy of the film. </p>
<p>&#8220;Lions Gate is informed and believes that as the website host for Swankshare, FDCServers is likely to have weblogs and other data evidencing traffic on Swankshare that will be useful to Lions Gate in its investigation of the source of the infringement at issue in this lawsuit,&#8221; Lionsgate&#8217;s lawyers inform the court.</p>
<p>The request suggests that there is reason to believe that Swankshare may have been used by the initial leaker. However, it&#8217;s currently unknown whether the movie studio has any concrete leads to proof this or if it&#8217;s merely grasping at straws.</p>
<p><center><strong>Lionsgate&#8217;s request</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/83759273.lionslogs.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lionslogs.png"><img src="media/83759273.lionslogs.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lionslogs.png" alt="lionslogs" width="583" height="351" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94399"></a></center></p>
<p>The court filing also shows that the movie studio has been able to track down the owner of Swankshare, Mr. Lucas Lim. They are currently trying to resolve their dispute, and as part of these discussions Mr. Lim agreed that Lionsgate can access the sites server logs.</p>
<p>&#8220;Lions Gate and Mr. Lim have discussed whether a resolution of the dispute between them might be possible, and to further those discussions Mr. Lim has stipulated that Lions Gate may seek authority from the Court to serve a subpoena on FDCServers for the production of weblogs and other data evidencing traffic on Swankshare,&#8221; they explain.</p>
<p>Hosting provider FDCServers is willing to cooperate but requested clarification from the court that it&#8217;s permitted to grant access to the servers, as they were ordered to take them offline in the previous injunction.</p>
<p>Whether the server logs will indeed expose the initial leaker has yet to be seen, but Lionsgate has clearly not given up the effort to track down the source.  </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the movie studio continues to stop the distribution of The Expendables 3 via various file-sharing sites. </p>
<p>Earlier this week the court approved a request to add Limetorrents.net and Torrentdownload.biz to the injunction as these sites are connected to the owner of Limetorrents.com. Both sites currently remain online but no longer list any copies of Expendables 3. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94435
title: Pirate Logos Justification For Website Blockades, Cartier Says
uri: Pirate-Logos-Justification-For-Website-Blockades-Cartier-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6RK6skFkLF8/
content:
<p><a href="media/5ceed422.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg"><img src="media/f83bcc7e.stop-blocked-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked-150x150.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-72076"></a>The UK is now one of the easiest countries in the world to obtain a website blocking injunction on copyright grounds. While much work had to be done initially, having websites filtered out by the leading ISPs is now a streamlined and largely closed-door practice.</p>
<p>Child protection issues aside, up until now it has been copyright holders leading the charge for websites to be blacked out. Dozens of sites are affected, with the majority of the world&#8217;s leading file-sharing portals now inaccessible by regular means. If the parent company of luxury watchmaker Cartier has its way, soon a new and potentially more widespread wave of website blockades will begin.</p>
<p>Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A. owns several well-known luxury brands including Cartier and Mont Blanc. For some time it has been trying to pressure sites offering counterfeits into closing down, but without success. Mirroring the tactics being employed by the studios and recording labels, Richemont has essentially given up on that approach and has decided to take legal action ISPs instead. </p>
<p>In March 2014, Richemont reportedly wrote to the country&#8217;s leading ISPs (Sky, TalkTalk, BT, Virgin Meda, EE, Telefonica (O2)) complaining that third party sites were engaged in illegal activity and were displaying pirated logos which infringe on Richemont trademarks.</p>
<p>In May the ISPs responding by telling the company that it had not done enough to have the sites close down, such as contacting their webhosts to have service discontinued. The ISPs also complained that by blocking the websites there was a chance that legitimate trade could be affected. An unfair financial burden for the ISPs was also a probability, particularly given the number of likely copycat requests if the application was successful.</p>
<p>While it appears the ISPs are putting up more of a fight in this case than they did with entertainment company blocking requests, those were actioned under copyright law where injunctions against service providers are catered for. UK trademark law has no such direct provision.</p>
<p>The case, which is now being heard at the High Court, has attracted the attention of the Open Rights Group. ORG says it takes no view on the merits of the case, but has been given permission to intervene in order to raise awareness over the possibility that third party interests could be affected if blocking injunctions are granted.</p>
<p>“As the court is being asked to extend the circumstances in which blocking orders are granted, it&#8217;s vital that the wider public interest is taken into account. We hope that our intervention will help ensure that future claimants cannot use blocking orders to restrict legitimate activity or free speech,” says ORG Legal Director Elizabeth Knight. </p>
<p>ORG says its concern is that if Geneva-based Richemont are successful, further applications could be made which are contrary to public interest. These could include blocking sites that use logos to legitimately criticize or parody well known brands</p>
<p>&#8220;Court blocking orders may also affect commercial third parties who have no involvement in any alleged infringement &#8211; for example law abiding businesses whose products appear on websites alongside those of companies involved in infringing activity,&#8221; the group says.</p>
<p>It remains to be seen how smoothly the process pans out, but there could be interesting side effects. Entertainment industry companies and artists also own plenty of trademarks that are often displayed on &#8216;pirate&#8217; websites. If the trademark route proves a simple one, that could end up being their chosen path for future blocking requests.</p>
<p>Mr Justice Arnold has requested submissions on how third party rights could be affected if injunctions are granted. ORG will ensure he gets the message.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94446
title: Most Top Films Are Not Available on Netflix, Research Finds
uri: Most-Top-Films-Are-Not-Available-on-Netflix-Research-Finds
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yUbK0C8M4wc/
content:
<p><a href="media/057c7f2e.netflix-logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/netflix-logo.png"><img src="media/b310fc7c.netflix-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix-logo.png" alt="netflix-logo" width="200" height="121" class="alignright size-full wp-image-69714"></a>There is little doubt that, in the United States, Netflix has become the standard for watching movies on the Internet. </p>
<p>The subscription service is responsible for <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/encrypted-internet-traffic-surges-140514/">a third</a> of all Internet traffic during peak hours, dwarfing that of online piracy and other legal video platforms. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s safe to assume that Netflix is the best and most convenient alternative to piracy at this point. That is, if the service carries the movies people want to see. This appears to be a problem. </p>
<p>Research firm KPMG has just released a <a href="http://www.kpmg.com/US/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Pages/film-tv-title-availability-digital-age.aspx?utm_source=press-release&#038;utm_medium=link&#038;utm_campaign=film-tv-title-vanity">new study</a> that looks at the online availability of the 808 most popular and critically acclaimed films. The study was commissioned by NBC Universal and praised by the MPAA, presumably to dispel the argument that many people pirate because they don&#8217;t have the option to watch some films legally. </p>
<p>&#8220;This first-of-its-kind report analyzed the availability of 808 different film titles over 34 major online video distribution services and found that 94 percent of the films were available on at least one service,&#8221; MPAA&#8217;s Chris Dodd commented on the study.</p>
<p>The MPAA is right that most of the movies are available through online stores and rental services. However, the Hollywood group conveniently ignores the lacking availability on popular subscription platforms which services such as Netflix and Hulu use.</p>
<p>This is not a minor oversight as the study finds that availability of top films on Netflix and other subscription services is very low. </p>
<p>Although KPMG decided not to mention it in the executive summary of the report, the findings show that only 16% of the films are available through on-demand subscription services (SOVD).</p>
<p><center><strong>Availability of the top films</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/05cb616e.topfilmavail.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/topfilmavail.png"><img src="media/05cb616e.topfilmavail.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/topfilmavail.png" alt="topfilmavail" width="600" height="398" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94450"></a></center></p>
<p>The above sheds a different light on the availability argument. Because, what good is it if 94 percent of the films are available online, but (at least) 84% are missing from the most-used movie service? </p>
<p>After all, most people prefer to get their movies in one place as it&#8217;s not very convenient to use a few dozen services to get your movie fix.</p>
<p>Of course this is not an excuse for people to go out and download films without permission, and we have to admit that a lot of progress has been made on the availability side in recent years. However, Hollywood can definitely learn from the music industry, where most of the popular content is available through subscription services.</p>
<p>From the availability point of view there&#8217;s another issue worth pointing out. The most pirated titles are usually recent releases, and these are <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/are-hollywoods-artificial-release-delays-driving-piracy-131015/">generally not available</a>, not even through iTunes, Amazon or rental services. </p>
<p>This is also illustrated in the KPMG report which shows that 100% of the top 2012 films are available online, compared to 77% of the 2013 releases. It&#8217;s probably safe to say that the majority of all pirated downloads are of films that are not yet legally available. </p>
<p>In other words, there&#8217;s still plenty of improvement possible.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94488
title: Thom Yorke Sells New Album via Paywall Protected Torrent
uri: Thom-Yorke-Sells-New-Album-via-Paywall-Protected-Torrent
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/J1mfIaActtg/
content:
<p>Radiohead’s Tom Yorke has been very critical of new music services such as Spotify. Last year he pulled his music from the popular streaming service claiming that “new artists get paid fuck all.”</p>
<p>Yorke would like to see more money flowing to the artists and in an effort to accomplish this goal he has teamed up with BitTorrent Inc. </p>
<p>The San-Francisco company has experimented with artist bundles for a while and together with Yorke they have now launched their first paywalled torrent. After paying $6, fans can download Yorke&#8217;s &#8220;Tomorrow&#8217;s Modern Boxes&#8221; album via a protected torrent file.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s an experiment to see if the mechanics of the system are something that the general public can get its head around,&#8221; Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich <a href="http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/tomorrows-modern-boxes">write</a> in a joint statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;If it works well it could be an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to people who are creating the work. Enabling those people who make either music, video or any other kind of digital content to sell it themselves. Bypassing the self elected gate-keepers,&#8221; they add. </p>
<p>In recent years BitTorrent Inc. has been working very hard to show that its technology can be used for more than &#8220;piracy&#8221; and today&#8217;s bundle is a prime example. After releasing various free samples from other artists, Yorke&#8217;s full album is definitely a breakthrough.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="640" height="420" src="https://bundles.bittorrent.com/embed/bundles/d0b4beba8efc4b46f6dba119b511a5b2d5cabc96168c0dc097ee9d514059ab63" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen id="bundle"></iframe></center></p>
<p>The paywall and other restrictions are not something traditional BitTorrent users are used to, but it&#8217;s a necessary &#8220;evil&#8221; to draw mainstream artists to the model. </p>
<p>BitTorrent Inc. emphasizes that the album itself is DRM-free but that the torrents do have copy protection. This means that people can&#8217;t easily share them with others who haven&#8217;t paid.</p>
<p>&#8220;BitTorrent Bundles features protected torrents, limiting the number of times a torrent can be downloaded. While Bundle content is DRM-free, torrents are protected with this new way of managing how often a Bundle is downloaded,&#8221; <a href="http://bundle-help.bittorrent.com/customer/portal/articles/1697610-what-is-a-protected-torrent-?b_id=3886">BitTorrent Inc. notes</a>.</p>
<p>This works very much like private trackers, where only members can share files with each other. With the &#8220;Tomorrow&#8217;s Modern Boxes&#8221; torrent those who pay are a &#8220;member&#8221; and only they can share the file. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see if other artists are also willing to join the experiment. A full album for $6 definitely sounds like a fair price and the artists get to keep most of the cash. BitTorrent Inc. says it currently gets 10% of the revenue for enabling the distribution.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, several unauthorized torrents without a paywall are also doing the rounds on various torrent sites. The good news is, however, that the paywalled version currently has more people sharing than the pirated one. </p>
<p>Those interested in Thom Yorke&#8217;s &#8220;Tomorrow&#8217;s Modern Boxes&#8221; can <a href="https://bundles.bittorrent.com/bundles/tomorrowsmodernboxes">grab a copy here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94409
title: Gottfrid Svartholm Trial: IT Experts Give Evidence
uri: Gottfrid-Svartholm-Trial-IT-Experts-Give-Evidence
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/u1MIaOyqqxg/
content:
<p><img src="media/2c059aef.gottfrid1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gottfrid1.jpg" width="200" height="248" class="alignright">The hacking trial of Gottfrid Svartholm and his alleged 21-year-old Danish accomplice continued this week in Copenhagen, Denmark. While Gottfrid is well known as a founder of The Pirate Bay, his co-defendant&#8217;s identity is still being kept out of the media.</p>
<p>In what’s being described as the largest case of its kind ever seen in the Scandinavian country, both stand accused of hacking computer mainframes operated by US IT giant CSC. This week various IT experts have been taking the stand. </p>
<p>On Tuesday, IT investigator Flemming Grønnemose appeared for the third time and stated that during the summer and fall of 2012, Swedish police had tipped off Danish police about possible hacker attacks against CSC.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Viden/Tech/2014/09/23/155421.htm">DR.dk</a>, as part of Grønnemose&#8217;s questioning Gottfrid&#8217;s lawyer Luise Høj raised concerns over a number of changes that had taken place on her client&#8217;s computer since it had been taken into police custody.</p>
<p>Grønnemose admitted that when police installed programs of their own onto the device, security holes which could have been exploited for remote control access could have been closed. However, it appears police also have an exact copy of the machine in an unmodified state.</p>
<p>Further evidence centered around the IP addresses that were traced during the attacks. IP addresses from several countries were utilized by the attackers including those in Cambodia, Germany, Iran, Spain and the United States. German police apparently investigated the local IP address and found that it belonged to a hacked server in a hosting facility.</p>
<p>The server had not been rented out for long, but was still on and had been taken over by hackers, Grønnemose said. According to the prosecution, the same server also featured in last year&#8217;s Logica case in Sweden. Gottfrid was found guilty in that case and sentenced to a year in jail.</p>
<p>Another IT expert called to give evidence on the same day was Allan Lund Hansen who had examined the files found on Gottfrid&#8217;s computer. Those files, garnered from the CSC hack, contained thousands of names, addresses and social security numbers of Danish citizens. Since the files were in an encrypted folder along with data from earlier attacks on IT company Logica and the Nordea bank, the prosecution are linking the files to Gottfrid.</p>
<p>On Thursday, <a href="http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Viden/Tech/2014/09/25/113454.htm">DR.dk</a> reported that the debate over Gottfrid&#8217;s computer being remotely controlled continued. Previously Jacob Appelbaum <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/jacob-appelbaum-gives-testimony-in-gottfrid-svartholm-trial-140914/">argued</a> that an outside attacker could have used the machine to carry out the attacks but defense experts from the Center for Cyber ​​Security disputed that.</p>
<p>This week Thomas Krismar from the Center said that Python scripts found on Gottfrid&#8217;s computer were able to carry out automated tasks but in this case remote control was unlikely to be one of them.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are two characteristics we always look for when we try to discover remote control features. The first is one that starts automatically when you turn on your computer since the attacker will always try to maintain their footing on the computer. The second is one that &#8216;phones home&#8217; to indicate that it is ready to receive commands,&#8221; Krismar said.</p>
<p>The script in question on Gottfrid&#8217;s machine needed to be started manually and did not attempt to make contact with anything on the web, the expert said.</p>
<p>Also appearing Thursday were further witnesses including Joachim Persson of Stockholm police who investigated Gottfrid&#8217;s computers after his arrest in Cambodia.</p>
<p>Persson said he found a tool known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_%28emulator%29">Hercules</a>, a sophisticated piece of software that emulates the kind of systems that were hacked at CSC. Persson did note, however, that such tools have legitimate uses for those learning how to operate similar systems.</p>
<p>The trial continues.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94442
title: Court Orders Warner Bros. to Reveal Flawed Anti-Piracy Technology
uri: Court-Orders-Warner-Bros-to-Reveal-Flawed-Anti-Piracy-Technology
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NmkoblhtYCo/
content:
<p><a href="media/0c580e09.warner.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/warner.jpg"><img src="media/d5859e0c.warner.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warner.jpg" alt="warner" width="200" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-38004"></a>Three years ago file-hosting service Hotfile <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hotfile-sues-warner-bros-for-copyright-fraud-and-abuse-110913/">countersued Warner Bros.</a>, accusing the movie studio of repeatedly abusing the DMCA takedown process.</p>
<p>Hotfile alleged that after giving Warner access to its systems, the studio removed hundreds of files that weren&#8217;t theirs, including games demos and Open Source software. </p>
<p>The case was poised to reveal how Warner Bros. anti-piracy system works and what mistakes were made by the movie studio. But last November, a few weeks before the trial was due to begin, the case was closed as part of a settlement between Hotfile and the MPAA. </p>
<p>The decision was a disappointment to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (<a href="https://www.eff.org/">EFF</a>) who <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/eff-wants-records-of-warner-bros-dmca-abuse-unsealed-140303/">asked the court</a> to unseal documents regarding Warner&#8217;s alleged abuse. According to the group, the public has the right to know what mistakes Warner made.</p>
<p>Warner Bros. objected to this request, arguing that the effectiveness of their anti-piracy technology would be undermined by a public disclosure. The movie studio asked the Court to permanently seal the records, but during an oral hearing this week U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams denied this request. </p>
<p>The Judge ordered Warner Bros. to hand over some of the information within ten days, and come up with a schedule for the release of all relevant documents. According to Judge Williams the public has the right to see how Warner Bros. handles DMCA takedown requests.</p>
<p>The EFF is happy with the ruling, and says it will help legislators to refine and improve the current DMCA process. This year both the Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. House Judiciary Committee have looked into possible changes to the current process.</p>
<p>&#8220;More information about how the DMCA process has been abused – particularly through automated takedown systems with inadequate human review – will help us improve it, and hold people responsible when they use this powerful tool of censorship abusively or without caution,&#8221; EFF&#8217;s Mitch Stoltz says in a comment.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The sealed documents from the Hotfile case will help,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hotfile-shuts-down-and-takes-user-files-with-it-131204/">too late for Hotfile</a>, it is definitely valuable to see what how Warner Bros. made its mistakes and how their piracy takedown technology is set up. </p>
<p>&#8220;We’re pleased that Judge Williams preserved the public’s right to open court proceedings here, and we are looking forward to a close analysis of the Warner documents when they are released,&#8221; Stoltz concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94290
title: Piracy Police Chief Calls For State Interference to Stop Internet Anarchy
uri: Piracy-Police-Chief-Calls-For-State-Interference-to-Stop-Internet-Ana
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nI0tDCDD-rQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/bc6e239e.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg"><img src="media/31176dbb.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg" alt="cityoflondonpolice" width="200" height="82" class="alignright size-full wp-image-71397"></a>Founded little over a year ago, the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has quickly grown to become one of the world&#8217;s most active anti-piracy operations.</p>
<p>The unit uses a wide range of strategies, from <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-orders-registrars-to-suspend-domains-of-major-torrent-sites-131009/">writing to domain registrars</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-accuse-domain-name-registrar-of-facilitating-criminal-activity-140830/">threatening them</a>, to working <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-hijacks-ads-74-websites-refuses-name-140812/">with advertisers</a> in order to cut off revenues from &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p>PIPCU is determined to continue its anti-piracy efforts in the years to come. However, the unit&#8217;s head Andy Fyfe also believes that the Government may have to tighten the rules on the Internet, to stop people from breaking the law.</p>
<p>In an interview with <a href="http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/390670/policing-the-web-anti-piracy-and-beyond">PC Pro</a>, Fyfe says he wants to see this topic being debated in the media.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m very interested in having a debate in the media about how much policing of the internet people want. At the moment, there’s almost no regulation and no policing of the internet,&#8221; Fyfe says. </p>
<p>PIPCU&#8217;s chief believes that the public has to be protected from criminals including pirate site operators who take advantage of their trust. If that doesn&#8217;t happen then the Internet may descend into anarchy, he says, suggesting that the Government may have to intervene to prevent this.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the end, that might mean that the Internet becomes completely ungovernable, and that no one can dare operate on it at all, no one can dare do their shopping or banking on it. So should there be a certain level of &#8230; state inference in the interest of protecting consumers? I’m very keen to raise that as a debate,&#8221; Fyfe notes.</p>
<p>The Police chief believes that tighter rules may be needed to prevent people from breaking the law in the future. This could mean that not everyone is allowed to launch a website, but that a license would be required, for example.</p>
<p>&#8220;There may well come a time when government decides it’s had enough and it’s not getting enough help from those main companies that control the way we use the internet &#8211; they’re not getting enough help from them, so they’re going to start imposing regulations, imposing a code of conduct about the way people may be allowed to operated on the internet,&#8221; Fife says.</p>
<p>PIPCU&#8217;s head doesn&#8217;t detail what the &#8220;code of conduct&#8221; might look like or how it may be enforced. Perhaps it&#8217;s finally time for the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/yay-the-internet-passport-is-coming-110423/">Internet passport</a> to be introduced?</p>
<p>We&#8217;re keen on having this debate as well, so please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94464
title: Copyright Apocalypse: Trolls Attack the Net, From the Future
uri: Copyright-Apocalypse-Trolls-Attack-the-Net-From-the-Future
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/z_smBNkLxKs/
content:
<p><a href="media/aba3062c.badtroll.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/badtroll.jpg"><img src="media/8a570fa2.badtroll.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/badtroll.jpg" alt="badtroll" width="190" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-66313"></a>Without copyright, people in the creative industries would have no incentive to keep on creating. In recent years this kind of statement has been regularly pumped out by entertainment companies in their defense of tougher intellectual property legislation.</p>
<p>Countering, advocates such as Swedish Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge frequently argue that copyright monopolies <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/history-shows-that-copyright-monopolies-prevent-creativity-and-innovation-120205/">stifle creativity</a> and hinder innovation.</p>
<p>But what would happen if rather than providing an incentive to create, the existence of copyright meant that no-one would ever need to create anything original online ever again? And if they did, they could be sued for it?</p>
<p>That&#8217;s the staggering notion being put forward by Qentis Corporation. The outfit, which claims a base in Russia, says that its business model is to use massive computing power to generate digital intellectual property on a never-seen-before scale and transfer the rights to its partners.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our clients are private high net-worth individuals (HNWI), investment funds and corporations that act as pure investors,&#8221; Qentis explains.</p>
<p>What Qentis are proposing is the bulk algorithmic creation of content &#8211; music, text, images etc &#8211; on such a large scale that in a few years its clients will own the rights to just about anything people might care to create and upload.</p>
<p><center><br>
<h5>The worrying claim on the Qentis homepage</h5>
<p><img src="media/1c972ad2.qentisclaim.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/qentisclaim.jpg" alt="qentisclaim"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Qentis aims to produce all possible combinations of text (and later on images and sound) and to copyright them,&#8221; Qentis&#8217; Michael Marcovici told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;Concerning text we try this in chunks of 400 word articles in English, German and Spanish. That would mean that we will hold the copyright to any text produced from now on and that it becomes impossible for anyone to circumvent Qentis when writing a text.&#8221;</p>
<p>In terms of graphics, Qentis promotional material states that a subsidiary has already generated 3.23% of &#8220;all possible images&#8221; in the 1000×800 pixel format.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are now generating images at a much faster pace and expect to complete 10 percent of all possible images by the end of 2015. At current projections, we will by 2020 generate every possible image in the 1000×800 pixel resolution,&#8221; the company claims.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/aa5938a6.qentisimage.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/qentisimage.png" alt="qentisimage"></center></p>
<p>Of course, &#8216;creating&#8217; this &#8216;content&#8217; has a purpose. According to Qentis it effectively seeks to become the biggest copyright troll on the planet. The company says it will identify copyright infringements and help investors to pursue infringers. And, astonishingly, it claims it will free companies from having to rely on people to come up with creative content.</p>
<p>“It is only a matter of time before Qentis becomes the universal single source for all web content, freeing corporations from their expensive dependence on writers, musicians and artists,&#8221; says Qentis co-founder Howard Lafarge.</p>
<p>TF spoke with Rick Falkvinge about Qentis&#8217; stated aims and needless to say he&#8217;s completely unimpressed.</p>
<p>&#8220;Interesting, and complete bullshit,&#8221; Rick said.</p>
<p>&#8220;They claim to have generated all possible texts in English that are up to 400 words in length, and therefore, any text below that length &#8216;infringes&#8217;. However, having the copyright monopoly on a text is solidly dependent on having had artistic skill gone into generating it. Merely mechanically generating all combinations does not, repeat NOT, reward a copyright monopoly.&#8221;</p>
<p>Having spent way more time on the Qentis website than we probably should, (and arriving at the conclusion that they&#8217;re either crazy, evil geniuses or masters of parody) we&#8217;re still left with an interesting concept.</p>
<p>The fact remains that there are plenty of huge, heavily pro-copyright corporations on the planet today who would happily embark on a Qentis-style operation of copyrighting all content before a human can create it, if indeed such a thing was possible. Rest assured, at that point the &#8216;artists&#8217; would be a forgotten and inconvenient part of their business models.</p>
<p>&#8220;The mere concept that somebody thinks of generating all possible texts and then thinks they can sue humanity for coming up with one of these combinations through actual artistic talent shows how completely screwed up copyright monopoly law is,&#8221; Rick concludes.</p>
<p>Since <a href="http://www.qentis.com/work/work-dont-open/">Qentis claims</a> to have come up with the lyrics to Lady Gaga&#8217;s &#8216;Applause&#8217; before she did, TF pressed Qentis to give us more examples where their creations have successfully predicted the future. The company couldn&#8217;t immediately give us any, but said there were &#8220;many more&#8221; to be found.</p>
<p>We also asked about the mathematical implications of coming up with every available combination of text in a 400 word article, given there are one million words in the English language alone. How many generated articles would be a &#8216;miss&#8217; in trying to come up with one &#8216;hit&#8217;?</p>
<p>&#8220;About the mathematics, this is mainly about working with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-gram">n-grams</a>, we don&#8217;t work iteratively with misses because that would produce as you mention a LOT of misses, probably only 1 out of few million would be readable,&#8221; the company&#8217;s Michael Marcovici told us.</p>
<p>&#8220;We do not include entities in the text as it does not matter and we concentrate on the structure of the text. Using known or predicted combinations is more economical, the main challenge is storage and not so much generating text.&#8221; </p>
<p>For those interested in reading just how bad things could get on the copyright front, given the chance, the fully comprehensive and quite incredible Qentis website can be found <a href="http://www.qentis.com">here</a>. We&#8217;re not sure what their endgame is, but we wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if they have a secret underground base.</p>
<p>Everyone is invited to comment below, scholars of copyright and mathematics in particular.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94533
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 09/29/14
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-09-29-14
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/oskUDQoLCHg/
content:
<p><a href="media/57cc0776.trans.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trans.jpg"><img src="media/57cc0776.trans.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trans.jpg" alt="trans" width="300" height="223" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94249"></a>This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Transformers: Age of Extinction is the most downloaded movie for the second week in a row.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-140922/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transformers_age_of_extinction/">Transformers: Age of Extinction</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2109248/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDGqmxMZFI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/edge_of_tomorrow/">Edge Of Tomorrow</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUmSVcttXnI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/22_jump_street/">22 Jump Street</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294449/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP755JkDxyM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sin_city_a_dame_to_kill_for/">Sin City: A Dame to Kill For</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458481/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iFdPcx0W2w">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/x_men_days_of_future_past/">X-Men: Days of Future Past</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1877832/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsjtg7m1MMM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/maleficent_2014/">Maleficent</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587310/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XO4XiRop0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/good_people_2014/">Good People</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1361318/">5.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC17twr50WU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/million_dollar_arm/">Million Dollar Arm</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1647668/">7.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl4QeQzIkOM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_fault_in_our_stars/">The Fault in Our Stars</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582846/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ItBvH5J6ss">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_train_your_dragon_2/">How To Train Your Dragon 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646971/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLBmHtI5KfM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94539
title: Universal Music Moves For Summary Judgment Against Grooveshark
uri: Universal-Music-Moves-For-Summary-Judgment-Against-Grooveshark
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/v2_QLc6Gy90/
content:
<p><img src="media/66f02b27.grooveshark1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grooveshark1.jpg" width="200" height="104" class="alignright">In January 2010, Universal Music Group filed a lawsuit in a New York court in which it alleged that Grooveshark was offering unauthorized copies of its musical works. The content in question were tracks from Universal&#8217;s pre-1972 back catalog.</p>
<p>The date when the tracks were recorded is important, since songs recorded before February 15, 1972, are covered under New York state law and not federal copyright legislation where safe harbor provisions of the DMCA apply.</p>
<p>&#8220;This case arises from Defendant’s massive willful copyright infringement and unfair<br>
competition in violation of New York common law,&#8221; Universal writes in its latest submission to the Court.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Grooveshark parent company] Escape infringed UMG’s copyrighted works billions of times since it launched the current iteration of Grooveshark without any license from UMG and in flagrant violation of UMG’s exclusive rights.&#8221;</p>
<p>Describing Escape’s &#8220;pervasive copyright infringement&#8221; as part of a &#8220;premeditated business strategy&#8221; carried out by a &#8220;blatantly infringing pirate music service&#8221;, Universal Music (UMG) has now moved for summary judgment in the case on copyright infringement and unfair competition grounds.</p>
<p>&#8220;Escape has admitted that it competes with UMG in the market for the<br>
dissemination of music over the Internet. Accordingly, it obtained an unfair competitive advantage over authorized streaming services by using UMG’s sound recordings without a license or payment.&#8221;</p>
<p>Previously, Escape Media counter-claimed against UMG when the company allegedly that UMG had tried to interfere with its business by influencing third-party companies to curtail relationships with the streaming service. UMG states those were legitimate anti-piracy tactics and dismisses Escape&#8217;s claims as an attempt to distract from the case in hand.</p>
<p>&#8220;Having no substantive defense to UMG’s infringement claims, Escape filed several baseless counterclaims against UMG for alleged interference with contracts and business relations,&#8221; UMG writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The undisputed record confirms that the communications at issue directly related to the efforts by UMG and related companies to curtail the massive infringement of its copyrights by Escape’s Grooveshark service and thus were wholly appropriate and justified.&#8221;</p>
<p>UMG says it is entitled to summary judgment on all matters including copyright infringement, unfair competition and Escape&#8217;s counter-claims.</p>
<p>&#8220;In view of the foregoing, UMG respectfully requests that this Court grant summary<br>
judgment against Escape for common law copyright infringement of UMG’s copyrights in the Works-in-Suit, based on Escape’s invasion of its rights of reproduction, distribution, and performance, as well as for unfair competition, and for UMG on Escape’s counterclaims for tortious interference with contract and business relations,&#8221; UMG concludes.</p>
<p>In 2011 it appeared that Grooveshark would be able to claim safe harbor protections on pre-1972 recordings after all when a court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-recognizes-dmca-safe-harbor-in-universal-v-grooveshark-lawsuit-120711/">ruled in its favor</a>. However, in April 2013 a panel reversed the decision.</p>
<p>“The statutory language at issue involves two equally clear and compelling Congressional priorities: to promote the existence of intellectual property on the Internet, and to insulate pre-1972 sound recordings from federal regulation,” Justice Angela Mazzarrelli <a href="https://archive.org/stream/691437-umg-recordings-inc-v-escape-media-group-inc/691437-umg-recordings-inc-v-escape-media-group-inc_djvu.txt">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>Whether UMG will obtain their summary judgment and at what financial expense to Escape Media and Grooveshark will be developments for the months to come.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94537
title: Photographer Sues Imgur For Failing to Remove Copyrighted Photos
uri: Photographer-Sues-Imgur-For-Failing-to-Remove-Copyrighted-Photos
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nGQ1qH-x-YU/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6956738.imgur1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/imgur1.png"><img src="media/c6956738.imgur1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/imgur1.png" alt="imgur" width="250" height="97" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94545"></a>When it comes to online piracy most attention usually goes out to music, TV-shows and movies. However, photos are arguably the most-infringed works online. </p>
<p>Virtually every person on the Internet has shared a photo without obtaining permission from its maker, whether through social networks, blogs or other services. </p>
<p>While this is usually not a problem with a picture of the average Internet meme, when it comes to professional photography there can be serious consequences.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the Seattle-based artist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Boffoli">Christopher Boffoli</a> discovered that dozens of photos from his well-known &#8220;miniatures of food&#8221; series were being shared on Imgur. The photos were uploaded by a user named kdcoco who published them without permission. </p>
<p>This type of infringement is fairly common and usually easy to stop through a DMCA notice. In this case, however, that didn&#8217;t produce any results, so the photographer saw no other option than to take Imgur to court.</p>
<p>In a complaint (<a href="media/2ed14977.imgur.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/imgur.pdf">pdf</a>) filed at a federal court in Seattle, Boffoli explains that he sent Imgur a DMCA takedown request on February 21. This seemed to work, as the image sharing site was quick to respond. </p>
<p>“The images have been marked for removal and will be deleted from all of our servers within 24 hours,” Imgur quickly replied. </p>
<p><center><strong>One of Boffoli&#8217;s photos</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/07b02210.boffoli.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/boffoli.jpg"><img src="media/07b02210.boffoli.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/boffoli.jpg" alt="boffoli" width="600" height="416" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94540"></a></center></p>
<p>But following this initial reply nothing happened. According to the complaint all of the images remained online for several months. </p>
<p>&#8220;As late as September 2014 — more than 200 days after receiving Boffoli’s notice — Imgur had not removed or disabled access to the Infringing Content. To date, the Infringing Content is still accessible on Imgur’s servers,&#8221; the photographer&#8217;s lawyers write.</p>
<p>Aside from the infringing behavior of the Imgur user, Boffoli holds the image sharing service responsible for continued copyright infringement. </p>
<p>&#8220;Imgur had actual knowledge of the Infringing Content. Boffoli provided notice to Imgur in compliance with the DMCA, and Imgur failed to expeditiously disable access to or remove the Infringing Website,&#8221; </p>
<p>The photographer is asking the court to order an injunction preventing Imgur from making his work available. In addition, the complaint asks for actual and statutory damages for willful copyright infringement.</p>
<p>With at least 73 photos in the lawsuit, Imgur theoretically faces more than $10 million in damages. Thus far Imgur hasn&#8217;t responded to the complaint but at the time of writing the infringing photos are no longer available online.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not the first time Boffoli has sued an online service for failing to remove his photos. He also filed lawsuits against Twitter, Google and others. These cases were settled out for court under undisclosed terms.</p>
<p>Time will tell whether Imgur will go for the same option, or if it will defend itself in court.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94573
title: Labels Win Grooveshark Copyright Infringement Case
uri: Labels-Win-Grooveshark-Copyright-Infringement-Case
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NnZVLtDWJ8E/
content:
<p>Beleaguered music service Grooveshark is facing its biggest threat yet after a long-running case with the major labels of the RIAA came to a close last evening.</p>
<p>In a ruling by United States District Judge Thomas P. Griesa in the United States District Court in Manhattan, Grooveshark parent company Escape Media and two of the company&#8217;s top executives were found liable for infringing the rights of the labels on a grand scale.</p>
<p>The summary judgment is not a pretty read. It summarizes Grooveshark&#8217;s history and how the service began with licensed aims in mind, but achieved that by infringing the labels&#8217; rights in the hope of reaching deals later on.</p>
<p>The initial problem was obtaining content to offer to users. The company solved the issue by getting employees to &#8220;seed&#8221; music to other users via its own P2P sharing software known as Sharkbyte. A 2007 email from co-founder Josh Greenberg to employees reads:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Please share as much music as possible from outside the office, and leave your computers on whenever you can. This initial content is what will help to get our network started—it’s very important that we all help out! If you have available hard drive space on your computer, I strongly encourage you to fill it with any music you can find. Download as many MP3’s as possible, and add them to the folders you’re sharing on Grooveshark. Some of us are setting up special “seed points” to house tens or even hundreds of thousands of files, but we can’t do this alone… There is no reason why ANYONE in the company should not be able to do this, and I expect everyone to have this done by Monday… IF I DON’T HAVE AN EMAIL FROM YOU IN MY INBOX BY MONDAY, YOU’RE ON MY OFFICIAL SHIT LIST.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>In 2007, music obtained via Sharkbyte and other means was used to populate Grooveshark&#8217;s central music storage library. Internal company emails showed Greenberg, Tarantino and Escape&#8217;s senior programmer <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-accuses-grooveshark-of-making-piracy-a-job-requirement-140220/">encouraging employees</a> to bring in and download music so it could be uploaded to the company&#8217;s servers.</p>
<p>By 2008 the Grooveshark service carried more than a million tracks, including thousands uploaded by Greenberg, Tarantino and other employees. That service grew by another million tracks and eventually into the streaming service available today.</p>
<p>A year later the service was beginning to receive DMCA takedown notices but according to the decision handed down yesterday, the company had a solution to keep that content online.</p>
<p>&#8220;Escape’s senior officers searched for infringing songs that had [been] removed in response to DMCA takedown notices and re-uploaded infringing copies of those songs to Grooveshark to ensure that the music catalog remained complete,&#8221; the decision reads.</p>
<p>Furthermore, records show that thousands of the DMCA notices sent by the labels were forwarded internally to employees, including Greenberg and Tarantino, for the music they had personally uploaded. The fact that employees were uploading content became known to the labels following discovery in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/universal-music-moves-for-summary-judgment-against-grooveshark-140929/">another case</a> currently before the courts.</p>
<p>While the Court accepted that Escape and its employees uploaded thousands of tracks, the huge numbers claimed by the labels were rejected. In total the Court found that the defendants are liable for uploading &#8216;just&#8217; 5,977 copyright works.</p>
<p>And, of course, there is the not insignificant number of tracks the company streamed to its users over the course of its operations. Escape&#8217;s own records show that it &#8220;streamed or publicly performed&#8221;, copies of plaintiffs’ copyrighted sound recordings at least 36 million times.</p>
<p>&#8220;Each time Escape streamed one of plaintiffs’ song recordings, it directly infringed upon plaintiffs’ exclusive performance rights,&#8221; the decision reads.</p>
<p>As a result of Greenberg and Tarantino instructing company employees to upload copyright-protected music to Grooveshark, the Court granted the labels&#8217; motion for summary judgment on its claim for direct copyright infringement.</p>
<p>On the secondary infringement front the Court ruled that Escape Media is liable for the direct infringements of the employees it instructed to upload music.</p>
<p>&#8220;[The record labels] advance three theories of secondary liability: (1) vicarious copyright infringement, (2) inducement of copyright infringement, and (3) contributory copyright infringement.  The court finds for plaintiffs on all three theories of liability,&#8221; the judgment reads.</p>
<p>In respect of Escape&#8217;s co-founders, Tarantino and Greenberg, the Court found that they are not only &#8220;jointly and severally liable for Escape’s direct and secondary copyright infringement&#8221; but also liable for direct infringement due to their own personal uploads of infringing content to Grooveshark.</p>
<p>The judgment concludes with an instruction for the parties to submit proposals on the scope of a permanent injunction against Grooveshark within 21 days. Escape Media has already announced its intention to appeal.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=94582
title: BitTorrent Wants to Become RIAA Certified Music Service
uri: BitTorrent-Wants-to-Become-RIAA-Certified-Music-Service
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Le22Xf366qA/
content:
<p><a href="media/f76b5139.bittorrent-logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-logo.png"><img src="media/3ad9e9e1.bittorrent-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-logo.png" alt="bittorrent-logo" width="266" height="99" class="alignright size-full wp-image-88887"></a>Last Friday Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/thom-yorke-releases-album-via-bittorrent-140926/">released</a> his new solo album via BitTorrent. A few tracks were made available for free, but those who want the full album are <a href="https://bundles.bittorrent.com/bundles/tomorrowsmodernboxes">charged $6</a>. </p>
<p>The new experiment is part of BitTorrent Inc&#8217;s <a href="https://bundles.bittorrent.com/">bundles project</a>, which allows artists to easily share their work with fans. While many artists tested the waters before Yorke, he is the first to ask for money directly from consumers.</p>
<p>“If it works well it could be an effective way of handing some control of Internet commerce back to people who are creating the work. Enabling those people who make either music, video or any other kind of digital content to sell it themselves. Bypassing the self elected gate-keepers,” commented Thom Yorke on his decision to join.</p>
<p>Fast forward a few days and the album release has turned out to be a great success. At the time of writing the number of downloads surpassed 500,000, and at the current rate this will have doubled before the end of the week. </p>
<p>These numbers are for both the free sample and the full album, which are both being counted by BitTorrent. Thom Yorke doesn&#8217;t want the sales figures to become public but judging from the number of people sharing the torrent this lies well above one hundred thousand.</p>
<p>&#8220;When the Bundle is downloaded using one of our clients, it pings back with a torrent added event which is how these are being counted. Thom Yorke has asked that sales figures remain undisclosed, which is his discretion,&#8221; BitTorrent spokesman Christian Averill told TorrentFreak. </p>
<p><center><a href="media/18649d69.yorke500k.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/yorke500k.jpg"><img src="media/18649d69.yorke500k.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/yorke500k.jpg" alt="yorke500k" width="618" height="335" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-94589"></a></center></p>
<p>Now that BitTorrent Inc. has become a paid music service, a whole new world opens up. Will there soon be a BitTorrent release at the top of the charts for example? We asked BitTorrent whether they are considering becoming an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_certification">RIAA-certified</a> seller, and the company&#8217;s answer was an unequivocal yes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our vision is absolutely that Bundles will count toward all the usual industry accolades and charts. Again, it will be up to the publisher of the specific Bundle. But the numbers certainly merit the recognition,&#8221; Averill says.</p>
<p>If that happens, BitTorrent sales will be eligible for RIAA&#8217;s gold and platinum awards as well as other charts.</p>
<p>While some music industry insiders may need some time to adjust to the idea of BitTorrent (Inc) as an authorized music service, the RIAA itself doesn&#8217;t see any reason why the company can&#8217;t apply. </p>
<p>&#8220;Music sales &#8230; on digital music services that are authorized by and reported to the record labels, whether paid for by the consumer through a subscription or free to the consumer through ad-supported services, are accepted for RIAA certifications,&#8221; RIAA&#8217;s Liz Kennedy tells TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>Becoming RIAA-certified doesn&#8217;t happen overnight though. BitTorrent would first have to request the certification and a full audit is then required to receive an Authorized service stamp and a possible listing on <a href="http://whymusicmatters.com">whymusicmatters.com</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Whymusicmatters.com, a joint initiative of the RIAA and Music Biz, lists the leading authorized music services in the United States,&#8221; Kennedy explains.</p>
<p>For BitTorrent this would be a great achievement. The company has had to withstand a fair amount of criticism from copyright holders in recent years, and recognition as an authorized music service will surely silence some of it.   </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2014-edition-140315/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
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