# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=126983
title: Publishers Fail to Block Russia’s Top Search Engine Over Pirate Links
uri: Publishers-Fail-to-Block-Russia-s-Top-Search-Engine-Over-Pirate-Link
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_BP1THhPrCg/
content:
<p><a href="media/2759597c.blocked-censor.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blocked-censor.jpg"><img src="media/2759597c.blocked-censor.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blocked-censor.jpg" alt="blocked-censor" width="250" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-124850"></a>Like many countries around the world, Russia is trying to do what it can to limit Internet piracy. Copyright holders feel that if infringement can be reigned in, the legitimate market will flourish.</p>
<p>In common with the United States and Europe, Russian service providers are expected to remove pirate content when asked to by rights holders. The country also has a streamlined backup system via the courts if service providers won&#8217;t comply.</p>
<p>Back in August, Eksmo, a publisher responsible for around 30% of all Russian books, filed a complaint with Yandex, the country&#8217;s largest search engine. Through anti-piracy outfit <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tag/azapo/">AZAPO</a>, Eksmo complained that Yandex was allowing links to pirated content to appear in its search results.</p>
<p>There were no allegations that Yandex directly hosted any of the pirate material. Eksmo said that unauthorized digital copies of several books were hosted by users of Russia&#8217;s most popular torrent site, RuTracker, and that links to those torrents appeared in Yandex&#8217;s results.</p>
<p>According to a copy of the complaint obtained by <a href="https://www.gazeta.ru/business/news/2016/08/29/n_9051551.shtml">Gazeta</a>, Yandex was given 48 hours to &#8220;cease publishing any information necessary to access the forbidden resource rutracker.org.&#8221; Yandex did not remove the results.</p>
<p>In response, Eksmo and AZAPO chose to file a copyright complaint with the Moscow City Court. Complaints to this Court kickstart a process through which non-compliant domains can find themselves blocked by local ISPs for an initial period of 14 days before a full case is heard.</p>
<p>Eksmo and AZAPO hoped to set a precedent which would force search engines to remove &#8216;pirate&#8217; links to RuTracker, a domain already blocked in Russia. It wasn&#8217;t to be.</p>
<p>According to a statement obtained by news outlet <a href="http://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2016/08/29/654853-pravoobladateli-zablokirovat-yandeks">Vedomosti</a>, the Moscow Court rejected the application for preliminary blocking measures against Yandex, a company with 57.6% of the local search market.</p>
<p>According to a Court spokesperson, the judge found no grounds for issuing a blocking order since Eksmo failed to show that Yandex had violated the rights of the books&#8217; author.</p>
<p>One of the problems with Eksmo&#8217;s request was that when examining the evidence, the Court found that the links in Yandex&#8217;s search results failed to link to the copyrighted works in question. Ironically, it appears those links may have failed due to the fact that RuTracker is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/labels-target-rutracker-domain-as-blocking-fails-to-stop-site-160207/">already blocked</a> by all Russian ISPs.</p>
<p>In response to the decision, Yandex spokesperson Vladimir Isayev said that the complaint had only been received from the publisher last week. Furthermore, the RuTracker links referenced in the claim also appear on other search engines and websites. So, following Eksmo&#8217;s logic, any site could find itself blocked had the Court ruled in the publisher&#8217;s favor.</p>
<p>Finally, Isayev noted that the courts have previously recognized that Yandex is a search engine, not an information broker, and as such cannot affect the accessibility of documents stored elsewhere on the Internet.</p>
<p>And so the battle continues.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127261
title: Pirates Plunder 4K Hateful Eight, But Did They Crack DCP?
uri: Pirates-Plunder-4K-Hateful-Eight-But-Did-They-Crack-DCP
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ofu-GP2pvVI/
content:
<p><a href="media/45dfdda4.hatef.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hatef.jpg"><img src="media/45dfdda4.hatef.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hatef.jpg" alt="hatef" width="300" height="201" class="alignright size-full wp-image-115548"></a>Last December, Quentin Tarantino cursed the existence of pirates after his latest movie Hateful Eight was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-hateful-eight-and-the-revenant-leaked-online-151221/">leaked online</a>.</p>
<p>While leaks are nothing new, Hateful Eight appeared online in DVD screener format well in advance of its Christmas Day cinema debut, causing a pirate feeding frenzy that continued for many weeks.</p>
<p>In March, the DVD and Blu-ray versions of Hateful Eight were released to the public, which went some way to competing with the copies available online. However, in the knowledge that Hateful Eight had been filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 and <a href="http://realorfake4k.com/my-product/the-hateful-eight/">captured in 4K</a>, many fans were still keen to obtain the three-hour epic in UHD.</p>
<p>Some nine months after its debut there has been no announcement of when Hateful Eight will be made available in 4K. However, developments over the past few days suggest that a copy has already been made available online and pirates have somehow obtained a copy.</p>
<p>Although it&#8217;s possible an earlier source was involved, it appears the release was first made available on a UltraHDclub, an invite-only private tracker specializing in ultra high-definition movies. From there it spread to other private sites, albeit at a fairly leisurely pace due to its 40GB+ size.</p>
<p><Center><a href="media/bd6e06f9.hateful.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hateful.png"><img src="media/bd6e06f9.hateful.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hateful.png" alt="hateful" width="600" height="408" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127275"></a></center></p>
<p>Details made available with the original release suggest that this 4K version of Hateful Eight was actually obtained from a legal source called Okko, something which is bound to irritate those U.S. fans waiting patiently for a home soil release.</p>
<p>Launched in 2014 and developed in partnership with LG Electronics, <a href="http://movies.okko.tv">Okko</a> is a VOD service that was designed to meet Hollywood strict content protection standards. The service has deals with most of the big studios and is even trusted to deliver some movies on the same day as they hit the silver screen.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/006e89dc.okko-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/okko-1.png"><img src="media/006e89dc.okko-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/okko-1.png" alt="okko-1" width="600" height="384" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127278"></a></center></p>
<p>But aside from the availability of <a href="http://movies.okko.tv/movie/the-hateful-eight-ultra-hd-4k">Hateful Eight in 4K</a> at all, what is both interesting and controversial here are the claims being made by the people who obtained the movie from the Okko VOD service.</p>
<p>As previously reported, it is already possible to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-can-now-rip-4k-content-from-netflix-and-amazon-151127/">capture 4K content</a> and put it on <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/first-netflix-4k-content-leaks-to-torrent-sites-150828/">torrent sites</a>. However, details provided with the release (and echoed in the tracker screenshot above) suggest that the copy was somehow made after pirates obtained a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_Exchange_Format">.MXF content file</a> from within a highly secure Digital Cinema Package (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Cinema_Package">DCP</a>).</p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted Okko for their take on the unofficial release but at the time of publication the service had not responded to our request for comment. Given the sensitive nature of the topic, it seems unlikely that the company would have given much away anyway, so we also took the opportunity to speak with several sources familiar with pirate releases.</p>
<p>One, the operator of a large site, didn&#8217;t doubt that the content was out there but wasn&#8217;t prepared to accept it was obtained from a highly protected .MXF file. The other, a release group member, said that while a crack seems unlikely, no system is without weakness. &#8220;I want to believe,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>We also spoke with <a href="https://hdencode.com">HDEncode</a> who posted the 4K version of Hateful Eight and provided a number of 4K/Blu-ray <a href="https://hdencode.com/the-hateful-eight-2015-4k-dcprip-dts-hd-ma-5-1-x264-ultrahdclub/">comparison screenshots</a>. The site&#8217;s operator told us that the people behind the release on UltraHDclub maintain that they have indeed cracked DCP&#8217;s encryption.</p>
<p>Commenting on the release, Sebastian Haselbeck of Tarantino fansite <a href="https://www.tarantino.info">Tarantino.info</a> says that while he&#8217;s not a fan of piracy, he believes that a failure to serve the market is the real problem.</p>
<p>&#8220;I strongly condemn piracy and find it generally damaging, but it is a symptom, not the source, of market failure,&#8221; he told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;I believe the biggest obstacle to great sales is the general bare bones treatment Tarantino&#8217;s movies usually get on home video. Quality is also usually not reference material. Fans would easily spend on the roadshow cut of Hateful Eight or the integral cut of Kill Bill. Both are not available to buy.&#8221;</p>
<p>Why a 4K edition of Hateful Eight hasn&#8217;t yet been made widely available is a question for the studio, but once again it appears that pirates are the first to recognize and then meet demand, however niche.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127220
title: Scary Torrent Site Blocking Message Has to Change, Judge Rules
uri: Scary-Torrent-Site-Blocking-Message-Has-to-Change-Judge-Rules
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3eUGN5Puz0E/
content:
<p><img src="media/2759597c.blocked-censor.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blocked-censor.jpg" alt="blocked-censor" width="250" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-124850">Last month many Indian Internet users noticed that their favorite torrent websites were blocked, displaying a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/indian-isps-speed-bittorrent-peering-torrent-site-160828/">rather ominous</a> message.</p>
<p>Those who tried to access The Pirate Bay, ExtraTorrent and hundreds of other sites were informed that they could face up to three years in prison. </p>
<p>Apparently, simply viewing copyrighted content would already be enough to send someone to jail. This was quite an alarming prospect, to say the least.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating an illicit copy of the contents under this URL is punishable as an offence under the laws of India, [&#8230;] which prescribe imprisonment for 3 years and also fine of up to Rs. 3,00,000,&#8221; it read.</p>
<p>The blocking message triggered a torrent of news articles, bringing the scaremongering to a new level. Some reporters went as far as claiming that downloading a .torrent file or viewing a copyrighted picture could already lead to trouble.</p>
<p>These reports also reached the Bombay High Court, which oversees the blocking case initiated by the makers of the movie Dishoom. In a recent order, Judge Patel clears up the confusion. </p>
<p>Simply accessing a website or viewing copyrighted content is not the problem, but offering it to others is.</p>
<p>“The offence is not in viewing, but in making a prejudicial distribution, a public exhibition or letting for sale or hire without appropriate permission copyright–protected material,&#8221; Judge Patel writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;These error pages appear to have confused the penal provisions regarding obscenity with penalties under the Copyright Act, 1957,” the order (<a href="media/72c6cdcd.Bombayorder.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Bombayorder.pdf">pdf</a>), courtesy of <a href="http://spicyip.com/2016/09/the-end-of-the-dishoom-saga-better-blocking-message-and-neutral-ombudsman.html">SpicyIP</a>, adds.</p>
<p>Judge Patel ordered Internet provider Tata Communications, which manages the blocking message, to remove the <em>viewing</em> part. Instead, the notice now states that &#8220;infringing or abetting infringement of copyright-protected content&#8221; is an offence under Indian law.</p>
<p>This means that people who distribute copyrighted content via BitTorrent can still end up in jail, technically speaking. However, this has always been the case in India and the same is true in many other countries. </p>
<p>Aside from the blocking language, Judge Patel raised several other concerns which may turn out to be even more important for John Doe blocking orders in the long run. Picking up on <a href="http://thewire.in/61034/of-bollywood-blocks-and-john-does-towards-a-neutral-ombudsman/">a suggestion</a> from Professor Basheer, he calls for the introduction of a neutral ombudsman to resolve blocking disputes. </p>
<p>Installing an ombudsman would resolve a lot of problems which so-called &#8220;John Doe&#8221; orders have raised in recent years.</p>
<p>&#8220;Many John Doe orders are granted without a sufficient checking of the Plaintiffs’ claim. This results in overbroad orders and wholesale site blocking without adequate verification of the legitimacy of all content,&#8221; Judge Patel writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;These orders often affect innocent third parties not before the Court. The number of those affected is irrelevant. If even one innocent party is affected, the damage is incalculable. The rights being affected are cardinal and fundamental,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p><center><strong>The order</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/1b90e212.bombayorder.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bombayorder.png" alt="bombayorder" width="593" height="474" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127237"></center></p>
<p>In addition, the Judge notes that the orders often stay in place for a long time without proper oversight and that subsequent blockade removals are slow, cumbersome and inefficient. He therefore urges ISPs and Bollywood to seriously consider the idea of an ombudsman.</p>
<p>The issues raised are important because the John Doe orders affect all national ISPs, which have a subscriber reach of many millions of people. </p>
<p>Amusingly, Judge Patel concludes his order my mentioning a claim from ISP Tata Communication, which suggests that the orders are somehow targeted at films that are expected to flop, in order to boost their revenues. However, this is something the court might possibly look into at a later date.</p>
<p>&#8220;In conclusion, I only note Mr. Tulzapurkar’s submission that these blocks and John Doe orders seem to be sought only for forthcoming or anticipated box office flops. Whether or not this is true, and whether or not it is a relevant consideration in law I leave for another day,&#8221; the order concludes.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s one to watch for sure.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127202
title: Devs Rename Game to ‘DMCA’s Sky’ Following Nintendo Legal Threats
uri: Devs-Rename-Game-to-DMCA-s-Sky-Following-Nintendo-Legal-Threat
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/IodZBEDIYkk/
content:
<p><a href="media/f24e33a6.nintendologo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nintendologo.png"><img src="media/f24e33a6.nintendologo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nintendologo.png" alt="nintendologo" width="250" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-121992"></a>With decades of experience and billions of software units shifted, Nintendo is one of the most enduring and popular gaming brands on the planet.</p>
<p>With continuous popularity of flagship character Mario and the recent revival of Pokemon as a global phenomenon, Nintendo is still making waves in 2016. In recent times, however, the company has been making gaming headlines for less popular reasons.</p>
<p>Just like many big technology companies, Nintendo sees its intellectual property rights as its most valuable asset. As a result, the company is cracking down on anyone using Nintendo characters without permission, from fan-made <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-takes-down-fan-made-metroid-2-remake-160808/">Metroid clone AM2R</a> to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-pressure-shuts-fan-made-pokemon-uranium-game-160815/">Pokémon Uranium</a>.</p>
<p>Most of the recent legal threats have been made by Nintendo of America attorney Brian Sniffen and before the weekend the legal hounds were at it again, this time targeting a project that by constraint was just a few hours old.</p>
<p>Ludum Dare (Latin &#8220;to give a game&#8221;) is a triannual game coding competition that was first held in 2002. In recent years it has become more popular after Minecraft designer Markus Persson became a semi-regular entrant. Its unique feature is that competitors are given a theme and then expected to produce a finished game in 48 to 72 hours.</p>
<p>One of the team entrants to Ludum Dare 36 (theme &#8216;Ancient Tech&#8217;) were ASMB Games (Alex McDonald, Sam Izzo, Max Cahill, Ben Porter) with their creation <a href="http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-36/?action=preview&#038;uid=1695">No Mario&#8217;s Sky</a>, a game featuring &#8220;exploration and survival in an infinite procedurally generated universe.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><a href="media/0695dbd9.no-mario-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/no-mario-1.png"><img src="media/0695dbd9.no-mario-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/no-mario-1.png" alt="no-mario-1" width="550" height="310" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127208"></a></center></p>
<p>While the game&#8217;s title clearly plays on Hello Games&#8217; No Man&#8217;s Sky, it was the Nintendo element that got ASMB in hot water with the gaming giant.</p>
<p>&#8220;We represent Nintendo of America Inc. (&#8220;Nintendo&#8221;) in intellectual property matters. Nintendo recently learned that content available at https://asmb.itch.io/no-marios-sky infringes copyrights owned by Nintendo. This notice is provided pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC § 512, and itch.io&#8217;s Terms of Service,&#8221; Sniffen wrote in a <a href="https://itch.io/takedowns/82746">DMCA complaint</a> sent to ASMB.</p>
<p>&#8220;This page provides access to downloadable files which violate itch.io&#8217;s Terms of Service and infringe Nintendo&#8217;s copyrights in its Super Mario video game franchise, including but not limited to the audiovisual work, images, and fictional character depictions&#8230;.We would appreciate your expeditious removal of all infringing content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Faced with the wrath of Nintendo&#8217;s legal department in their inbox, ASMB responded by immediately taking the game down. Sadly that also had an effect on their standing at Ludum Dare.</p>
<p>&#8220;NO MARIO&#8217;S SKY IS NO MORE-IO!&#8221; the team announced. &#8220;Due to a copyright claim by Nintendo we&#8217;ve had to take the game down. As we&#8217;ve had to remove the game, we are voiding our entry into Ludum Dare. Thanks for playing, everyone!&#8221;</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s disappointing that the game had to be taken down, ASMB weren&#8217;t quite done. After addressing the issues highlighted by Nintendo of America, the team went back to work and removed all &#8216;infringing&#8217; content from No Mario&#8217;s Sky. The end result is a new game cheekily titled DMCA&#8217;s Sky.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1Wr1ITDkzWo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Thanks everyone for playing and enjoying our little fan game,&#8221; ASMB said in a follow-up. &#8220;We would love to see an official Nintendo game in this style &#8212; a Mario Galaxy-style game in 2D within a procedurally-generated universe.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whether Nintendo will follow up on the request will remain to be seen but ASMB appear to be taking their little run-in with the gaming giant in their stride. Meanwhile, people are already swapping file-hosting links to the outlawed No Mario&#8217;s Sky, meaning that Nintendo has not only failed in its quest to kill the game but have also thrust it into the spotlight.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127174
title: Swedish ISP Attacks Copyright Trolls, Over Trademark Infringement
uri: Swedish-ISP-Attacks-Copyright-Trolls-Over-Trademark-Infringement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/w1sy8tiXJww/
content:
<p><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="trollsign" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977">In recent years, file-sharers all across the world have been threatened with lawsuits, if they don’t pay a significant settlement fee.</p>
<p>The process was pioneered in Germany where it turned into an industry by itself, but copyright holders have also targeted alleged pirates in the UK, United States, Canada and elsewhere.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, rightsholders began targeting Sweden, with <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/attention-swedish-pirate-bay-users-copyright-trolls-have-arrived-160902/">more details</a> appearing in public last week. </p>
<p>One of the organizations leading the way is <a href="http://spridningskollen.se">Spridningskollen</a> (Distribution Check). Using data gathered by German anti-piracy outfit Excipio, they plan to start by targeting around 1,000 alleged pirates, offering them settlements of around $233 (2,000 kronor).</p>
<p>Spridningskollen spokesman Gordon Odenbark compared the process with speeding cameras, where torrent users risk a &#8216;fine&#8217; if they get caught. This will generate revenue, but could also act as a deterrent, preventing other people from violating rightsholders&#8217; rights.</p>
<p>Interestingly, however, shortly after Spridningskollen announced its plans the group itself faced allegations of intellectual property rights violations. Swedish ISP Bahnhof is accusing the group of trademark infringement, noting that they have a claim on the &#8220;spridningskollen&#8221; mark.</p>
<p>&#8220;Bahnhof was the first to apply for the Spridningskollen trademark rights at the Swedish Patent and Registration Office,&#8221; the ISP announced.</p>
<p>Earlier this year Bahnhof was the first ISP <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-vows-to-prevent-users-from-a-piracy-witch-hunt-160422/">to warn the public</a> about the looming flood of settlement requests. To help the public understand the severity of the issue the ISP launched the site <a href="http://spridningskollen.org/">Spridningskollen.org</a>, which they say maps the &#8220;spread of extortion letters&#8221; from copyright holders.</p>
<p><center><strong>Bahnhof&#8217;s Spridningskollen.org</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/969e8d93.spridningskollen.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spridningskollen.jpg" alt="spridningskollen" width="600" height="268" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127176"></center></p>
<p>Now that the anti-piracy group has &#8216;stolen&#8217; their name, Bahnhof plans to take action over the apparent trademark infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is surprising that those who claim to defend intellectual property rights don&#8217;t track it better themselves. It says a lot about the quality level of their so-called initiative,&#8221; Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung says.</p>
<p>The ISP is demanding that the website of the anti-piracy group, Spridningskollen.se, is shut down.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our lawyers are looking into it. We see the many different ways that interfere with their operation. Extortion letters are unethical, anachronistic and counter-productive,&#8221; Karlung says.</p>
<p>In addition, Bahnhof is calling on the Government to reform copyright law in order to prevent excessive and overbroad enforcement tactics.</p>
<p>Until then, the ISP vows to protect its subscribers from the copyright trolling practice as best as they can. This means that if copyright holders demand IP-address info and user details from Bahnhof, they will fight this in court.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127178
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 09/05/16
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-09-05-16
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/z1NGxD--YzM/
content:
<p><img src="media/a3e19091.tnt1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tnt1.jpg" alt="tnt1" width="300" height="172" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127181">This week we have four newcomers in our chart. </p>
<p>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-082216/">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="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles_out_of_the_shadows">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3949660/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sf0ZQfcSrc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/now_you_see_me_2">Now You See Me 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3110958/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I8rVcSQbic">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jason_bourne/">Jason Bourne</a> (HDTC/Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4196776/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v71ce1Dqqns">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/captain_america_civil_war">Captain America: Civil War</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498820/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKrVegVI0Us">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_secret_life_of_pets">The Secret Life of Pets</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2709768/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJVc_JTI_w">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/independence_day_resurgence/">Independence Day: Resurgence</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1628841/">5.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbduDRH2m2M">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blood_father">Blood Father</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3647498/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGvTRG-iud8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_conjuring_2">The Conjuring 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3065204/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyA9AtUOqRM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_legend_of_tarzan">The Legend of Tarzan</a> (Subbed HDRip) </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918940/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLmKio67pVQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/skiptrace">Skiptrace</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2238032/">6.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_XkOaDJgzU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=126844
title: Warner Bros. Flags Its Own Website as a Piracy Portal
uri: Warner-Bros-Flags-Its-Own-Website-as-a-Piracy-Portal
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/LuugnEsQAnY/
content:
<p><img src="media/5cca3fa3.warner2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warner2.jpg" alt="warner" width="275" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-94882">The movie industry has gone head to head with Google in recent years, demanding tougher anti-piracy measures from the search engine.</p>
<p>According to Warner Bros. and other major studios, Google makes it too easy for its users to find pirated content. Instead, they would prefer Google to remove sites such as The Pirate Bay from search results entirely.</p>
<p>Warner itself is also taking action, by reporting pirated content to the search engine, asking it to be removed from the index. This year the movie studio intensified its efforts and thus far it has flagged over four million allegedly infringing URLs.</p>
<p>We use the term <em>allegedly</em> with good reason, as not all of the reports are accurate. In fact, this week we stumbled upon recent takedown requests that have some glaring errors. </p>
<p>With help from its anti-piracy partner Vobile, Warner asked Google to censor several of its own URLs from the search engine.</p>
<p>The screenshot below, taken from <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/12882815">the following DMCA notice</a>, lists the <a href="http://www.warnerbros.com/dark-knight">official Warner page</a> of the 2008 Batman movie The Dark Knight among various reported pirate links.</p>
<p><center><strong>Dark Knight</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/eecfa483.warnerbrosdarkknight.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warnerbrosdarkknight.png" alt="warnerbrosdarkknight" width="600" height="129" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127002"></center></p>
<p>The same notice also lists another Warnerbros.com URL for the sci-fi classic The Matrix. Again, Vobile asks Google to remove this link from search results, acting on behalf of the Hollywood studio.</p>
<p><center><strong>The Matrix</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/468bf717.warnerbrosmatrix.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warnerbrosmatrix.png" alt="warnerbrosmatrix" width="600" height="131" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127003"></center></p>
<p>The apparent &#8216;self-censorship&#8217; is not a one-off mistake either. A few days earlier, a similar DMCA takedown notice targeted Warner&#8217;s website, claiming that the official page for The Lucky One is infringing Warner&#8217;s copyrights.</p>
<p><center><strong>The Lucky One</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/286ef1cf.warnerbrosluckyone.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warnerbrosluckyone.png" alt="warnerbrosluckyone" width="600" height="132" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127004"></center></p>
<p>Of course, Warner only hurts itself with these erroneous takedown requests. Unfortunately, however, Warnerbros.com is not the only &#8216;legitimate&#8217; domain that&#8217;s being targeted.</p>
<p>The same notices highlighted above also target a link to the Amazon store, where users can rent or buy a copy of The Dark Knight. In addition, it targets a link to Batman Begins in the Sky Cinema store, as well as the film&#8217;s official IMDb page. </p>
<p>In other words, Warner is inadvertently trying to make it harder for the public to find links to legitimate content, which runs counter to their intentions. </p>
<p>Luckily for the Hollywood studio, Google is there to save the day. The search engine spotted their mistakes and decided to take no action for the Amazon, Sky and IMDb links. </p>
<p>The Warnerbros.com URLs are still under investigation though, perhaps to make the studio sweat a little.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127040
title: Do Pirates Care if Torrent Sites Turn a Profit?
uri: Do-Pirates-Care-if-Torrent-Sites-Turn-a-Profit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/oTX9UmOse7M/
content:
<p><a href="media/676ee62b.filesharing-bk.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/filesharing-bk.png"><img src="media/676ee62b.filesharing-bk.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/filesharing-bk.png" alt="filesharing-bk" width="175" height="230" class="alignright size-full wp-image-12979"></a>Growing up, I was one of the millions to enjoy <a href="http://collectibles.panini.co.uk/home.html">Panini soccer stickers</a>. Five to a pack, these collectibles would be placed in a book (at huge cost) until every page had been completed. Well, that was the theory.</p>
<p>In reality, everyone ended up with dozens of duplicate stickers which were traded as quickly as possible with others in the same position. This schoolyard system worked pretty well and not once did anyone consider selling their spares for cash. By 2016 hustler standards that&#8217;s pretty naive, but looking back the swapping with friends was probably the best part of the hobby.</p>
<p>The same kind of culture prevailed with digital files in the early 2000s, when file-sharing was still in its infancy. Whether traveling the Wild West of KaZaA or the cooler backwaters of Soulseek, content existed to be shared, not sold. Have some music tracks? Offer them. Need some software? Help yourself. The new magic with P2P over Panini was that people not only got to swap files but were able to keep the originals too.</p>
<p>Of course, there were always people somewhere in the system edging to make money. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharman_Networks">Sharman Networks</a>, the people behind KaZaA, definitely wanted to make bank. As did the folks behind the more famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LimeWire">LimeWire</a> . At the time these people were largely faceless and no one really cared about their profitability or even their existence. As long as the files kept flowing, of course.</p>
<p>Clearly, some of the mechanisms behind P2P sharing were partly commercialized even in the early days, so when Bram Cohen came along with BitTorrent and gave his creation away for free, that was a truly momentous event. Indeed, he sparked a revolution.</p>
<p>While not even a genius like Cohen could have foreseen the events of the next decade, his technology alongside fledgling public indexes and early private tracker scripts reignited the fires of sharing. Fueled by free software tools, quite a bit of this took place without commercially-motivated overlords taking a cut or making business decisions.</p>
<p>However, with the advent of ratio-based communities a new currency in the form of bandwidth was born. With these artificial restrictions in place, over the next several years sites could be observed moving in different directions, largely due to decisions made by their management.</p>
<p>Some trackers used ratio to form the so-called &#8216;pay-to-leech&#8217; model, with some continuing to do so now more than a decade later. Others utilized the ratio model in the way it was intended, to improve tracker content libraries, delivery systems, and retention. This delighted sharing-conscious members and the most successful are still around today, held in high regard by their communities. </p>
<p>But whichever route those trackers took, none could escape the economics of running a site. They all cost money to run, simple, and someone had to pay for that. In some cases, staff kept sites alive. In others, users would donate to the cause. It didn&#8217;t really matter, as long as the site and the community held together. Somehow, many found a way.</p>
<p>However, in common with some of their public counterparts today, a number (by accident or design) became fully-fledged commercial operations. It was no longer a case of people enthusiastically taking their own files to a digital swap meet. In the main, most of the content was already there.</p>
<p>With content always available, more and more users were attracted to the party. And with the snowball gathering speed, size and momentum, the money-generating options for site operators began to mount up. In time, the fun hobbyist sites often became fairly lucrative roller-coasters that were both exciting and hard to get off. </p>
<p>In the background, however, the sharing purists were furious. Just as they had done a decade earlier, many just wanted to share files, without any commercial overtones. But thanks to the enemies of file-sharers, that was proving increasingly difficult to achieve.</p>
<p>With crackdowns everywhere, sites had become more complex to run. Punishments for doing so were increasing too, so the risks of running a site had to be weighed into the equation. Some siteops were happy with the quiet glory and satisfaction of serving a community. For many others, the risk was mitigated by financial reward.</p>
<p>In the end, keen but non-commercial file-sharers who still wanted to share had to compromise and turn a bit of a blind eye to what was happening upstairs. In that respect, there aren&#8217;t many better current and public examples than the one provided by KickassTorrents.</p>
<p>Like many public sites, KickassTorrents was a place where people could go to share their files, just like they had in the old days. They could take files too, even if they had none to give back, with no restrictions. No file provider would get paid and none would be subjected to the anti-sharing environment of a hardcore pay-to-leech ratio system.</p>
<p>Furthermore, thanks to the many volunteers working on the site &#8211; the mods, uploaders and general staffers &#8211; KAT was a great community where members helped each other for no financial gain. At times it really did seem like the old days were back again and in many ways they were, but behind the scenes the inevitable reality was taking place.</p>
<p>No site of such massive scale could possibly run on fresh air, so even if one dilutes KAT&#8217;s claimed advertising revenues ten-fold, large amounts of money were still being made. Indeed, more money than many people see in a lifetime. Whether completely by design or from a reluctance to rein in a runaway successful formula, KAT ultimately became a commercial success. </p>
<p>But no matter what sums were allegedly generated, few people seem to be surprised, much less care, following the site&#8217;s demise. After more than a decade and a half of galloping capitalism and increased financial pressures, perhaps only the naive wouldn&#8217;t expect people to make a few bucks from the digital equivalent of 1980&#8217;s Panini stickers.</p>
<p>For the majority of the site&#8217;s users, from those with rose-tinted spectacles to those fully aware of big site economics, the important thing was still the files. Just as they had done in the early 2000s with KaZaA, the files kept flowing on KickassTorrents to the end and no one ever paid a thing.</p>
<p>That someone, somewhere, apparently made a few million from providing a top class service to the masses? Nothing but a footnote.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127328
title: Megaupload: Court Copy-Pasted U.S. Lawyers, Made Glaring Errors
uri: Megaupload-Court-Copy-Pasted-U-S-Lawyers-Made-Glaring-Errors
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OmnLsmMDDLU/
content:
<p><img src="media/9a9629f5.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg" alt="megaupload-logo" width="250" height="208" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95191">Last December a New Zealand District Court ruled that Kim Dotcom and his colleagues can be sent to the United States to face criminal charges. </p>
<p>Judge Nevin Dawson <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-can-be-extradited-to-the-united-states-judge-rules-151223/">found</a> there was an “overwhelming” case for Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, to be extradited. </p>
<p>This decision was immediately appealed and last week a lengthy series of appeal hearings <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dotcom-extradition-appeal-gets-underway-160829/">kicked off</a> at New Zealand’s High Court. Represented by a team of lawyers, the Megaupload defendants say that Judge Nevin Dawson failed to give them a fair hearing.</p>
<p>During the most recent hearing, which was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il-ZQSgGsHc">live-streamed on YouTube</a>, Kim Dotcom&#8217;s defense lawyer Ron Mansfield argued that the lower court made several errors in its final ruling. </p>
<p>For example, it relied heavily on the writings of U.S. Government lawyers. According to Mansfield, the verdict included copy-pasted text from U.S. contributions to the record of case (ROC) on close to 60% of all pages.</p>
<p>&#8220;At [156 pages of his 271-page judgment] the Judge has simply replicated in full passages from the US submissions on the ROC and asserted inferences,&#8221; Mansfield noted. </p>
<p>&#8220;He has erred by failing to weigh the evidence and to determine whether the asserted inference is available and reasonable. He also fails to even seek to adopt the inferences promoted,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>Dotcom&#8217;s lawyer lists numerous errors allegedly made by the District Court, discussing them point by point while noting that not all U.S. evidence should have been taken at face value.</p>
<p><center><strong>Errors</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/88ad537c.faileddc.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/faileddc.png" alt="faileddc" width="600" height="340" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127339"></center></p>
<p>In essence, the defense&#8217;s argument boils down to the question of whether the claimed offenses committed by Megaupload and its employees warrant extradition under the treaty in place between the U.S. and New Zealand. </p>
<p>However, the copyright angle was also widely discussed. Dotcom&#8217;s lawyer highlighted that Megaupload was an Internet service provider. ISPs enjoy safe harbor protection and can&#8217;t be held criminally liable for copyright infringement. </p>
<p>The High Court will have to make a crucial decision on this issue, he added, which will determine if Internet service providers can be held criminally liable for user generated content. This is crucial to other ISPs but also the public at large.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ever since the printing press, the resultant copyright acts have achieved a careful balance between the competing interests of the content holder, new technologies that can be used to copy and the user,&#8221; Mansfield said.</p>
<p>&#8220;The US is seeking through this proceeding to change the historical and existing obligation imposed by the protection of copyright from the content holder on to a new technology, the ISP.&#8221;</p>
<p>To reach a conclusion, the court will have to consider what ISPs&#8217; obligations are when it comes to user-uploaded and distributed works, as far as copyright is concerned.</p>
<p>&#8220;Do ISPs have a legal obligation to investigate and enforce copyright infringement, criminal or civil, by its users?&#8221; Mansfield questioned. </p>
<p>&#8220;Ultimately, are ISPs responsible for user generated content? And, if so, how might that impact on the careful balance achieved by Parliament through the Copyright Act?&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>Even if the court disagrees that Megaupload and its employees are not liable for copyright infringement, the extradition request should be denied on the basis that copyright infringement is not an extraditable offense under the U.S. / New Zealand treaty.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is no extradition offense under the US-NZ Treaty because&#8230;.the essence of the conduct is the communication of copyright-protected works through the Internet,&#8221; Mansfield said.</p>
<p><center><strong>Primary submission</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/20ebcd6f.primarysubmission.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/primarysubmission.png" alt="primarysubmission" width="600" height="306" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127347"></center></p>
<p>The hearing was just the first day for Dotcom&#8217;s lawyer, and many more will follow. The prosecution is likely to disagree with many points and while offering counter-argument, a process that&#8217;s expected to continue for several weeks. </p>
<p>Kim Dotcom is aware of the stakes but is confident that the appeal will lead to a positive outcome.</p>
<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t see how any impartial judge can extradite me. The law is just simply completely on our side. There is not even space for interpretation. That&#8217;s how clear the law is,&#8221; Dotcom tells TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>&#8220;But it&#8217;s a political case and there is a lot at stake for people in power. If I win they will fall as a result,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127326
title: Anti-Piracy Groups Petition Clinton & Trump for Tough Copyright Laws
uri: Anti-Piracy-Groups-Petition-Clinton-Trump-for-Tough-Copyright-Laws
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RA4X_vcT0Aw/
content:
<p><a href="media/8ba7e53b.trump-clinton.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trump-clinton.jpg"><img src="media/8ba7e53b.trump-clinton.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trump-clinton.jpg" alt="trump-clinton" width="300" height="206" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127334"></a>As the presidential election moves towards the home straight, millions of individuals and businesses in the United States are considering how the outcome might affect them.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, powerful groups in the entertainment industry are also weighing the implications and with billions at stake, who could blame them.</p>
<p>Of course, just like the rest of the population, neither Hollywood nor the major recording labels have a crystal ball, so in recent months their public lobbying efforts have been mindful of the possibility that either Clinton or Trump could get into power.</p>
<p>This week that trend continued, with the publication of a new open letter and the launch of a petition by two influential anti-piracy groups, the Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture.</p>
<p>The Copyright Alliance is a true powerhouse which counts the MPAA, RIAA, Viacom, Oracle, Getty Images and many other corporations <a href="https://www.copyrightalliance.org/members">among its members</a>. CreativeFuture is a huge coalition of some <a href="http://creativefuture.org/who-we-are/coalition/">450 companies</a> in the film, television, music, and book publishing sectors.</p>
<p>In their letter addressed to &#8220;2016 Political Candidates&#8221;, the groups describe themselves as members of the creative community, who despite political differences are united in their goal of reducing piracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;While our political views are diverse, as creators, there are core principles on which we can all agree. And we appreciate the opportunity to share our views with our country’s current and future leaders,&#8221; the groups write.</p>
<p>What immediately becomes apparent in the letter are the glowing references to the Internet. With lessons learned from the SOPA debacle which was perceived by many as an attack on the world&#8217;s most important network, Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture begin by cheerfully praising its positives.</p>
<p>&#8220;We embrace the internet as a powerful democratizing force for our world and for creative industries. We recognize its ability to inspire positive change and improve lives,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>&#8220;In our creative industries, the internet has helped to advance creativity by removing barriers to entry for newcomers, fostering a dialogue with fans, audiences, and consumers, and providing numerous additional ways to reach them. The internet holds great potential to expand creativity and free expression.&#8221;</p>
<p>While one might have strongly expected a &#8216;but&#8217; at this juncture, the groups are careful not to set up a clash of ideals. It&#8217;s not difficult to see that their aim is to quietly assure that the successful protection of copyrighted content does not have to come at the expense of the Internet.</p>
<p>&#8220;We embrace a strong copyright system that rewards creativity and promotes a healthy creative economy. The incredible cultural and economic value that the internet delivers to billions of users is based in very large part on the efforts of creative content makers whose livelihoods depend on being compensated for their efforts,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>&#8220;Copyright should protect creators from those who would use the internet to undermine creativity. The internet can be a great tool for creators just as it can be a tool for science, education, health care, and many other disciplines. However, when misused, it can harm creativity and stifle freedom of expression.&#8221;</p>
<p>And if anyone missed the hints that Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture are supporters of both creative content <em>and</em> the interests of the Internet, the groups quickly take the opportunity to underline that again. However, one gets the impression that their definition of online freedom might not be the same as that championed by Internet activists.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our current and future leaders recognize that a safe and secure internet benefits us all. And all parties recognize the importance of strong copyright protections in their technology policy platforms because protecting copyright and internet freedom are both critically important and complementary — they are not mutually exclusive,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>&#8220;A truly free internet, like any truly free community, is one where people respect the rights of others and can engage in legitimate activities safely — and where those who do not are held accountable under law by their peers.&#8221;</p>
<p>Interestingly, the letter also warns 2016&#8217;s political candidates against &#8220;organizations and advocates&#8221; funded by &#8220;online platforms&#8221; that claim to be &#8220;pro-creators and pro-audience to mask their own self-serving agenda.&#8221;</p>
<p>These groups are not mentioned by name but the likes of EFF and Fight for the Future have been spoken of in similar terms and have appeared in negative <a href="http://copyrightalliance.org/2016/05/fighting_future_misrepresenting_past">articles</a> published by the Copyright Alliance earlier this year.  </p>
<p>&#8220;[The nameless groups] denigrate or block effective efforts to preserve and promote creative content, including enforcement of existing laws and voluntary industry initiatives,&#8221; Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture warn, adding: </p>
<p>&#8220;The creative community is rightfully wary of any company or organization that claims to be &#8216;against piracy&#8217; when their actions do not match their words.&#8221;</p>
<p>And of course, even if not mentioned by name, no appeal would be complete without a subtle reference to Google and/or YouTube. Trump and Clinton are left to fill in the gaps and asked to do the right thing. </p>
<p>&#8220;Internet platforms are making massive profits from creative contributions to the internet’s growth. It is not too much to ask that content creators should be able to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-says-youtube-is-running-a-dmca-protection-racket-160412/">share in the value</a> they provide,&#8221; the groups write.</p>
<p>With the election likely to go to the wire, Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture are keen to ensure that anti-piracy measures are seen as a universal concern, no matter where people reside on the political spectrum.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is no &#8216;left&#8217; or &#8216;right&#8217; when it comes to respecting copyright. The creative community stands united in support of a copyright system that will continue to make the United States the global leader in the creative arts and the global paradigm for free expression,&#8221; they note.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our copyright system is not perfect but, like democracy, it is better than the alternatives. It works. We urge our leaders to maintain America’s commitment to the right of creators to determine when and how they share their works in the global marketplace.&#8221;</p>
<p>In support of their open letter, Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture have also launched a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/an-open-letter-to-2016-political-candidates">Change.org petition</a> in an attempt to get 5,000 signatures supporting their cause.</p>
<p>&#8220;Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative or libertarian, strong and effective copyright is not a partisan issue but rather one that benefits our entire country. We ask that you stand with us by adding your name to this letter – to show political candidates that we stand united, we stand creative,&#8221; they conclude.</p>
<p><em><a href="http://takeaction.copyrightalliance.org/21036/open-letter-to-2016-political-candidates/">Open Letter to 2016 Political Candidates</a></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127483
title: Researcher Finds Critical Vulnerabilities in Hollywood Screener System
uri: Researcher-Finds-Critical-Vulnerabilities-in-Hollywood-Screener-System
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lKB6BXAeuMs/
content:
<p><a href="media/7cffd0f4.oscartorrents.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/oscartorrents.png"><img src="media/7cffd0f4.oscartorrents.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/oscartorrents.png" alt="oscartorrents" width="185" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-22131"></a>So-called screener copies of the latest movies are some of Hollywood&#8217;s most valuable assets, yet every year and to the delight of pirates, many leak out onto the Internet.</p>
<p>Over the years, Hollywood has done its best to limit the leaks, but every 12 months without fail, many of the top titles appear online in close to perfect quality.</p>
<p>With that in mind, the studios have been testing Netflix-like systems that negate the need for physical discs to be sent out.</p>
<p>One such system has been made available at <a href="https://www.awards-screeners.com/">Awards-Screeners.com</a>. <a href="https://www.foxscreenings.com/theRevenant/sagaftra.php">Quietly referenced</a> by companies including 20th Century Fox, the site allows SAG-AFTRA members and other industry insiders to view the latest movies in a secure environment. At least, that&#8217;s the idea.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/6277a8dd.awards-screeners.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-screeners.png"><img src="media/6277a8dd.awards-screeners.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-screeners.png" alt="awards-screeners" width="600" height="469" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127488"></a></center></p>
<p>Late August, TorrentFreak was contacted by security researcher <a href="https://mackeeper.com/blog/post/242-world-check-global-terrorism-database-exposed-online">Chris Vickery</a> of <a href="https://mackeeper.com/">MacKeeper.com</a> who told us that while conducting tests, he&#8217;d discovered an exposed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MongoDB">MongoDB</a> database that appeared to be an integral part of Awards-Screeners.com.</p>
<p>&#8220;The database was running with no authentication required for access. No username. No password. Just entirely exposed to the open internet,&#8221; Vickery told TF.</p>
<p>The researcher&#8217;s discovery was significant as the database contained more than 1,200 user logins. Vickery did not share the full database with TF but he did provide details of a handful of the accounts it contained. Embarrassingly, many belong to senior executives including:</p>
<p>&#8211; Vice President of International Technology at Universal Pictures<br>
&#8211; ‎Director of Content Technology &#038; Security at Disney<br>
&#8211; Vice President of Post-Production Technology at Disney<br>
&#8211; Executive Director, Feature Mastering at Warner Bros<br>
&#8211; Vice President of Global Business &#038; Technology Strategy at Warner Bros<br>
&#8211; Director of Content Protection at Paramount Pictures<br>
&#8211; VP of corporate communications and publicity for 20th Century Fox</p>
<p>While the hashed passwords for the above would be difficult to crack, the database itself was publicly offering admin-level access, so it was a disaster from a security perspective.</p>
<p>&#8220;Any of the values in the database could have been changed to arbitrary values, i.e. create-your-own-password,&#8221; Vickery said.</p>
<p><Center><a href="media/379adafe.awards-passwords.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-passwords.png"><img src="media/379adafe.awards-passwords.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-passwords.png" alt="awards-passwords" width="600" height="362" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127485"></a></center></p>
<p>According to the researcher, this vulnerability had the potential to blow a hole in the screener system and could&#8217;ve had huge piracy and subsequent law enforcement implications.</p>
<p>&#8220;Theoretically, it would have been possible for a malicious person to log into any of the 1,200+ user accounts, screencap an unreleased film, and torrent it to the world,&#8221; he explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s also supposedly video watermark technology that makes it possible to trace which account it came from. So basically you could have framed any of the users for the distribution as well by using their account to do it.&#8221;</p>
<p>The screenshot below shows Vickery&#8217;s view of the database, in this case highlighting the availability of a screener copy of the soon-to-be-released Oliver Stone movie, Snowden.</p>
<p><Center><a href="media/7086f4f9.awards-snowden.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-snowden.png"><img src="media/7086f4f9.awards-snowden.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-snowden.png" alt="awards-snowden" width="600" height="346" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127484"></a></center></p>
<p><a href="https://www.visionmediamgmt.com">Vision Media Management</a>, which claims to be the largest Awards screener fulfillment operation in the world, is the outfit in charge of the system. It&#8217;s described in the company&#8217;s promotional <a href="https://www.visionmediamgmt.com/settings/show/566fdef6dbdd7c1a084710fc?tab=AWARDS%20MANAGEMENT">material</a> as a &#8220;Secure Digital Screener&#8221; platform &#8220;selected by the MPAA major studios as the preferred secure content delivery method for Awards voters.&#8221;</p>
<p>Like all responsible data breach hunters, Vickery did his research and decided to inform Awards-Screeners.com and Vision Media Management of his findings. Initially, they appeared somewhat grateful.</p>
<p>&#8220;During my telephone conversation with Vision Media Management, which consisted of me, their lead counsel (Tanya Forsheit), and their CTO (Doug Woodard), they were very surprised and worried. They didn&#8217;t understand how this could happen and claimed that the system should have nothing loaded into it currently and was purged months ago,&#8221; Vickery said.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is not believable due to time stamps of activity in the database. In the &#8216;Snowden&#8217; screenshot, for example, you can see that the entry was updated on 7/13/2016.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><a href="media/417a1a9c.vison-media.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vison-media.png"><img src="media/417a1a9c.vison-media.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vison-media.png" alt="vison-media" width="600" height="252" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127526" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/vison-media.png 600w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/vison-media-500x210.png 500w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></a></center></p>
<p>Vickery also informed the MPAA of his discoveries and was told by the organization&#8217;s Office of Technology that it was &#8220;currently working diligently&#8221; with Vision to &#8220;evaluate the situation and take appropriate remedial action.&#8221;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, conversations between Vickery and Vision Media Management continued. The researcher says that the company tried to downplay his findings with claims that the database had been secure and contained only test data.</p>
<p><a href="media/ce088ae2.awards-screeners-user.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-screeners-user.png"><img src="media/ce088ae2.awards-screeners-user.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-screeners-user.png" alt="awards-screeners-user" width="194" height="147" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127521" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-screeners-user.png 389w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/awards-screeners-user-200x150.png 200w" sizes="(max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px"></a>However, when Vickery asked if he could release the database, he was advised it was too sensitive to be made public. The company then began a drive to convince the researcher that security at Amazon, one of Vision&#8217;s vendors, was to blame for the leak. Vision&#8217;s lawyer also suggested that Vickery had &#8220;improperly downloaded&#8221; the database.</p>
<p>In a follow-up mail, Vickery made it clear to Vision that allegations of &#8220;improper downloading&#8221; were incompatible with the fact that the database had been published openly to the public Internet. And, after all, he had done the responsible thing by informing them of their security issues.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have cooperated with and contributed to data breach-related investigations conducted by the FTC, FBI, US Navy, HHS/OCR, US Secret Service, and other similar entities,&#8221; he told the company. &#8220;Not a single regulatory or government agency I have interacted with has even suggested that what I do, downloading publicly published information, is improper.&#8221;</p>
<p>In subsequent discussion with Vickery, Vision Media asked for time to assess the situation but by September 4, the researcher had more bad news for the company.</p>
<p>Emails shared with TF show Vickery informing Vision of yet more security holes in its system, specifically a pair of publicly exposed S3 buckets located on Vision resources at Amazon. Vickery says these contained development and release builds of Vision&#8217;s Android app, development and deployment meeting notes, plus some unexplained references to Netflix.</p>
<p>In the run-up to this piece, Vickery advised Vision Media that a public disclosure would be likely so in an effort to provide balanced reporting, TorrentFreak reached out to Vision Media&#8217;s CEO for a statement on the researcher&#8217;s findings. At the time of publication, nothing had been received.</p>
<p>And after several conversations with Vision via email and on the phone, Vickery was drawing a blank this week too.</p>
<p>&#8220;Vision has not gotten back to me today, and we were very clear last week that they would be contacting me again by Thursday,&#8221; Vickery told TF. &#8220;I even sent them a little reminder earlier and asked if we were still planning to talk. No response all day.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the absence of an official statement from Vision Media, it&#8217;s impossible to say how many people accessed the Awards-Screener database before Vickery, or what their intentions were. Perhaps only time will tell but one thing is clear &#8211; a move to the digital space might not be the perfect solution for screener distribution.</p>
<p><em>Check out <a href="https://mackeeper.com/blog/post/270-hollywood-breach">Chris Vickery&#8217;s report on MacKeeper</a></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127471
title: 395,000 uTorrent Forum Accounts Put Up For Sale By Hackers
uri: 395-000-uTorrent-Forum-Accounts-Put-Up-For-Sale-By-Hackers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/agHwiQEdf44/
content:
<p><img src="media/9e7a5bf0.utorrentforums.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/utorrentforums.png" width="228" height="87" alt="" class="alignright size-large">With more than 150 million users a month, uTorrent is by far the most popular torrent client in the West.</p>
<p>This popularity and the need for technical support means that parent company BitTorrent Inc. needs to maintain a <a href="https://forum.utorrent.com/">community forum</a>. With tens of thousands of visitors each day, it too is quite popular. However, it recently came to light that information the site held on its users was no longer secure.</p>
<p>In June, the uTorrent team issued a security alert which advised users to change their passwords. According to one of uTorrent&#8217;s vendors, a compromise of uTorrent&#8217;s database had occurred following a security issue elsewhere.</p>
<p>“The vulnerability appears to have been through one of the vendor’s other clients, however it allowed attackers to access some information on other accounts. As a result, attackers were able to download a list of our forum users,” uTorrent said at the time.</p>
<p>Since then things have gone pretty quiet but according to information just published, the problems might be about to get worse.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.hackread.com/utorrent-forum-mailru-yandex-data-darknet/">Hackread</a>, the uTorrent database obtained during the breach has now gone up for sale on a darknet marketplace. Offered for sale by a user called &#8220;DoubleFlag&#8221;, it is said to contain emails and passwords from the forum.</p>
<p>&#8220;Out of a total of 394,769 accounts, some passwords are encrypted with Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA-1) and some with the weak MD5 hashes,&#8221; the publication reports.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/a6bb55de.utorrent-hack.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/utorrent-hack.png"><img src="media/a6bb55de.utorrent-hack.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/utorrent-hack.png" alt="utorrent-hack" width="600" height="248" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127473"></a></center></p>
<p>As can be seen from the screenshot above, the asking price is pretty low considering the number of accounts involved. The seller is asking just BTC 0.9580 ($602) for the data, which may (or may not) be an indication of its usefulness.</p>
<p>Another interesting detail coming out of this offer of sale is the claim from DoubleFlag that the data was obtained from uTorrent back in January. That&#8217;s a full six months in advance of the security alert from uTorrent.</p>
<p>The same January date is claimed by <a href="https://haveibeenpwned.com/PwnedWebsites#BitTorrent">Haveibeenpwned.com</a>, but that site states that &#8216;just&#8217; 34,235 accounts have been compromised.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127462
title: EU Court: Not-For-Profit Hyperlinking Usually Not Copyright Infringement
uri: EU-Court-Not-For-Profit-Hyperlinking-Usually-Not-Copyright-Infringeme
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QpbFn7hvGaU/
content:
<p><a href="media/df753675.http-link-hyperlink.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/http-link-hyperlink.jpg"><img src="media/df753675.http-link-hyperlink.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/http-link-hyperlink.jpg" alt="http-link-hyperlink" width="250" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120483"></a>In 2011, Dutch blog GeenStijl.nl published an article linking to leaked Playboy photos which were stored on file-hosting site FileFactory.</p>
<p>After filing a request with Filefactory, Playboy publisher Sanoma managed to have the photos removed from the platform. However, GeenStijl continued to find other sources for the photographs and linked to them instead. Sanoma said that this was an infringing act.</p>
<p>The case went to trial and was later <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/landmark-piracy-trial-suspended-pending-eu-ruling-160630/">referred</a> to the European Court of Justice. The ECJ was asked to rule on whether the links posted by GeenStijl amounted to a ‘communication to the public’ under Article 3(1) of the EU Copyright Directive and therefore infringement.</p>
<p>After deliberating for months, the ECJ has just handed down its decision and it&#8217;s bad news for GeenStijl operator GS Media and others operating in a commercial environment. On the other hand, it may give a little more flexibility to the general public.</p>
<p>&#8220;In accordance with the directive concerned, Member States are to provide authors with the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit any communication to the public of their works,&#8221; a statement from the Court reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the same time, that directive seeks to maintain a fair balance between, on the one hand, the interests of copyright holders and related rights and, on the other, the protection of the interests and fundamental rights of users of protected objects, in particular their freedom of expression and of information, as well as the general interest.&#8221; </p>
<p>The Court says that when determining a &#8216;communication to the public&#8217; several criteria need to be addressed, including any deliberate posting of links to protected works and whether the communication had any profit-making component.</p>
<p>In its <a href="media/775bf4d7.cp160092en.pdf" data-original-source="http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2016-09/cp160092en.pdf">ruling</a>, the Court recognizes the importance of freedom of expression and notes the importance of hyperlinks when exchanging both opinions and information. It also accepts that determining whether a linked work is infringing could be a troublesome task.</p>
<p>Given the above, the Court found that knowledge of the potentially infringing status of a work plus commercial motivation play a pivotal role in determining whether a &#8216;communication to the public&#8217; has taken place.</p>
<p>&#8220;For the purposes of the individualised assessment of the existence of a ‘communication to the public’, it is necessary, when the posting of a hyperlink to a work freely available on another website is carried out by a person who, in so doing, does not pursue a profit, to take account of the fact that that person does not know and cannot reasonably know that that work had been published on the internet without the consent of the copyright holder,&#8221; the Court&#8217;s statement reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Indeed, such a person, does not, as a general rule, intervene in full knowledge of the consequences of his conduct in order to give customers access to a work illegally posted on the internet.&#8221;</p>
<p>The situation changes entirely when a person already has knowledge of potential infringement and is motivated by profit.</p>
<p>&#8220;In contrast, where it is established that such a person knew or ought to have known that the hyperlink he posted provides access to a work illegally published, for example owing to the fact that he was notified thereof by the copyright holders, the provision of that link constitutes a ‘communication to the public’,&#8221; the Court said.</p>
<p>When posting links for profit, the ECJ said that it expects people to carry out the &#8220;checks necessary&#8221; to ensure that work concerned has not been illegally published.</p>
<p>&#8220;When hyperlinks are posted for profit, it may be expected that the person who posted such a link should carry out the checks necessary to ensure that the work concerned is not illegally published. Therefore, it must be presumed that that posting has been done with the full knowledge of the protected nature of the work and of the possible lack of the copyright holder’s consent to publication on the internet.</p>
<p>&#8220;In such circumstances, and in so far as that presumption is not rebutted, the act of posting a clickable link to a work illegally published on the internet constitutes a ‘communication to the public’.&#8221;</p>
<p>The ruling is bad news for GS Media, who posted the links in the course of business even after being informed by Playboy that the content in question was infringing. The company says the decision is bad for the freedom of the press.</p>
<p>&#8220;The struggle for the survival of the free Internet including hyperlinks has today received a hefty blow,&#8221; a <a href="http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2016/09/europees_hof_verklaart_winstoogmerk_smerig_en_de_hyperlink_vogelvrij.html">statement</a> on Geenstijl reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;When commercial media companies &#8211; like GeenStijl &#8211; are no longer free and fearless to hyperlink, it becomes difficult to report on newsworthy new questions about leaking information, internal struggles, and unsecured networks within large companies.</p>
<p>&#8220;But we will not give up: for that press freedom we will fight on, in this case and beyond. Until then: careful when hyperlinking people, as today a minefield has been laid on the free internet.&#8221;</p>
<p>A landmark piracy trial in Sweden against the operators of streaming portal Swefilmer <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/landmark-piracy-trial-suspended-pending-eu-ruling-160630/">was suspended</a> in June pending the ECJ&#8217;s decision. It appears that much will now hinge on whether the operators knew the content they linked was illegal and if a profit motive was involved.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127379
title: ISP Deletes IP-address Logs to Fend Off Piracy “Extortion Letters”
uri: ISP-Deletes-IP-address-Logs-to-Fend-Off-Piracy-Extortion-Letters
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gu576xIabgw/
content:
<p><img src="media/c7105c3f.delete.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/delete.jpg" alt="delete" width="200" height="141" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78884">In recent years file-sharers around the world have been threatened with lawsuits, if they don’t pay a significant settlement fee.</p>
<p>These so-called &#8220;copyright trolling&#8221; efforts have been a common occurrence in countries such as Germany and the United States, and last week they <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/attention-swedish-pirate-bay-users-copyright-trolls-have-arrived-160902/">started in Sweden</a> as well. </p>
<p>Rightsholders are targeting thousands of alleged pirates. First, they ask the court for a subpoena to expose the personal details of account holders connected to certain IP-addresses, which they then present to the associated ISPs. </p>
<p>Some Internet providers have been cooperating with these requests, but not all. Most notably, the privacy-oriented ISP <a href="https://www.bahnhof.se/#">Bahnhof</a> is doing everything in its power to prevent its customers from being exposed. </p>
<p>This week the ISP explained how its logging policies are tailored to only allow only requests that are made in criminal cases, not civil claims against BitTorrent users or other alleged file-sharers. </p>
<p>In Sweden, ISPs are required to keep IP-address logs for six months under the Electronic Communications Act (LEK). This legislation allows the authorities to demand this type of data in criminal cases, such as those involving murder and terrorism. </p>
<p>To comply with this requirement, Bahnhof has setup a database of logs which are stored for the minimal required period and can be accessed for these cases only. The regular logs are purged immediately.</p>
<p><center><strong>Bahnhof, <a href="https://www.bahnhof.se/press/press-releases/2016/09/06/darfor-maste-vissa-operatorer-lamna-ut-dina-uppgifter-till-spridningskollen">illustrating</a> its logging policy</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/fcf4c102.ipbahn.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ipbahn.jpg" alt="ipbahn" width="600" height="471" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127413"></center></p>
<p>When copyright holders request IP-address details, which they do under the contested IPRED legislation, the ISP simply has nothing to hand over. This is very similar to the non-logging policies of many VPN services. </p>
<p>&#8220;We store logs for six months to fight crime, absolutely. But we save everything in a separate system, which is only used for LEK,&#8221; Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung says. </p>
<p>&#8220;My impression is that some other operators have their clients&#8217; IP addresses stored in several different places. They then also become more vulnerable to having to disclose data IPRED rules.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bahnhof itself has operated like this for years, but now that mass file-sharing cases have landed in Sweden the value of this policy is becoming apparent.</p>
<p>Rightly so, according to the ISP, which says it has found a good way to fend off copyright trolls.</p>
<p>&#8220;If all operators stored data the way we do, we would avoid the extortion letters altogether. Because we have the motto &#8216;Internet privacy&#8217; we are very careful with personal data,&#8221; Karlung says.</p>
<p>Bahnhof&#8217;s CEO adds that other companies should think more carefully about where data is stored. The more databases there are, the more likely it is that they can be compelled to share subscriber data.</p>
<p>&#8220;The more different databases there are, the greater the risk that privacy is compromised,&#8221; Karlung adds.</p>
<p>Rick Falkvinge, founder of the Swedish Pirate Party, applauds Bahnhof&#8217;s logging policy. He discussed the issue in a <a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2016/09/copyright-trolls-come-sweden-deeper-analysis/">recent article</a> and informs TorrentFreak that data retention laws which are supposed to help catch terrorists shouldn&#8217;t be used against file-sharers.</p>
<p>&#8220;The damage these copyright trolls are doing to society is immeasurable. They were able to get shameless mail-order legislation justified by the war on terror, and are now turning those anti-terrorism laws against defenseless single mothers in order to protect a crumbling entertainment monopoly. </p>
<p>&#8220;There is absolutely no reason to tolerate, nor to forgive, this kind of behavior,&#8221; he adds</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see whether any of the ISPs currently handing over personal detailed connected to IP-addresses will follow suit and change their policies in the future.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127219
title: TorrentFreak Gets Its First YouTube Copyright Claim, And It’s Bull….
uri: 2016-09-10-
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4wj4ouhTLTM/
content:
<p><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="sadyoutube" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196">YouTube is a great platform for creators, allowing them to broadcast their work to hundreds of millions of people around the world, for free. </p>
<p>At TF we focus on writing news so we don&#8217;t use YouTube much for the site. A few years ago, however, we did host TorrentFreak TV and last week we decided to put the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTvQPLQTQgA6juIgOsQiE_tUDNWLW-lWJ">video archive on YouTube</a>.</p>
<p>The shows were released seven to eight years ago so the news that&#8217;s discussed is all dated. However, having it all in one place on YouTube helps to keep it archived in an orderly fashion. </p>
<p>What we didn&#8217;t expect, however, is that hours after the first upload we were already presented with a copyright claim from a third-party.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the copyright claim was not coming from a major rightsholder or an obscure trolling operation. Neither was it some random bird humming that was flagged. The claim in question was made on a track by none other than Dan Bull. Yeah, Bull.</p>
<p><center><strong>Copyright dispute</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/24a6d7be.bullclaim.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bullclaim.png" alt="bullclaim" width="668" height="140" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127372"></center></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1hkAIJnb2CSmm7SPJaPR-A">Dan Bull</a> is an English rapper and songwriter who writes tracks about video games and various Internet related topics. We know him very well at TorrentFreak and he was featured and interviewed in several of our articles over the years. </p>
<p>For example, he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_P4lJD_OPI">protested </a>against restrictive copyright legislation that would hunt down file-sharers and trample on free speech and fair use. In fact, the Dan Bull rap that was featured <a href="https://youtu.be/nvggUFnBvLY?t=375">in the TorrentFreak TV video</a> is a protest against the UK&#8217;s Digital Economy Bill.</p>
<p><center><strong>Dear Mandy</strong><br></br></center><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6_P4lJD_OPI?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>We prominently featured this track in a TorrentFreak <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mandelson-gets-his-own-digital-economy-bill-protest-song-091127/">news article</a> as well and used it with explicit permission from Dan himself. </p>
<p>So why are we receiving a copyright claim on YouTube now, seven years later? Perhaps Dan&#8217;s online accounts were hijacked? His <a href="https://twitter.com/itsDanBull">Twitter account</a> obviously wasn&#8217;t, as this was the first tweet I saw in his timeline.</p>
<p>How appropriate. </p>
<p><center><strong>Dan&#8217;s tweet from last week</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/ae571b11.bulltweet.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bulltweet.png" alt="bulltweet" width="566" height="128" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127369"></center></p>
<p>To find out what really happened we got in touch with Dan himself, who had a good explanation for the rather ironic situation.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am so embarrassed that TorrentFreak&#8217;s first copyright claim has been for a piece of content that I created. Ironically, TorrentFreak&#8217;s coverage of the music in question 7 years ago is what made it popular in the first place,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Dan explains that he&#8217;s part of a YouTube network which helps to monetize his videos and as part of this strategy they also claim his content on videos of other people who use his work. This includes our video. </p>
<p>So, the bots Dan was referring to in the earlier tweet also work &#8216;for&#8217; him.</p>
<p>&#8220;The claim was made on my behalf by the YouTube network I&#8217;m a part of &#8211; Brave Bison. It was presumably done automatically by a bot which is unable to deal with the nuances of fair use. This is one of many serious issues with YouTube&#8217;s Content ID system,&#8221; Dan says.</p>
<p>The sad part is that this is not what Dan wants these bots to do. In fact, he actively encourages people to use his content in their own creations. However, the <a href="http://bravebison.io/">Brave Bison</a> network doesn&#8217;t give him the option to do so without specifically whitelisting every video by hand. </p>
<p>&#8220;But even putting fair use aside, I have told the network before that I don&#8217;t mind people using clips of my music in their own videos. However, apparently the only way I can put that into practice is to personally submit them a whitelist of individual videos &#8211; this is of course not realistic, especially as new videos are being made all the time.</p>
<p>&#8220;For the record, I would like to say that if you want to use something I&#8217;ve made as part of your own project, please go ahead, I love seeing where people take things I&#8217;ve made,&#8221; Dan adds.</p>
<p>We applaud Dan for being so open about the situation and obviously don&#8217;t blame him for what happened. </p>
<p>However, we hope that Brave Bison and other YouTube networks seriously reconsider their restrictive policies. If a creator is more than happy to allow others to use his or her work, this should be allowed, instead of squeezing every cent from third-party videos. </p>
<p>Luckily, the TorrentFreak TV video that featured the Dan Bull track is <a href="https://youtu.be/nvggUFnBvLY?">still up</a>. The only difference is that Brave Bison is now showing their ads on it, while it was free of advertising before. </p>
<p>We filed a counterclaim several days ago to get this lifted, clarifying that we have explicit permission from the owner to use the video. Fingers crossed that the entire situation will be resolved in a few weeks, more or less.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127481
title: Copyright Trolls Claim Student Pirates Could Lose Scholarships, Face Deportation
uri: Copyright-Trolls-Claim-Student-Pirates-Could-Lose-Scholarships-Face-D
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/cXYwMuDvGao/
content:
<p><a href="media/43622170.troll.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/troll.jpg"><img src="media/43622170.troll.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/troll.jpg" alt="troll" width="175" height="131" class="alignright size-full wp-image-48009"></a>At the turn of the century when file-sharing was in its infancy, some of the earliest adopters of P2P technology were those in the student population.</p>
<p>Freely available Internet access for those in educational establishments meant unprecedented numbers of young people going online, and with that a large upswing in unauthorized downloading.</p>
<p>The RIAA was one of the first groups to take a stand, suing thousands of students across the United States in an effort to send a message that free music may very well come at a cost. Later, changes in legislation meant that schools and universities across the country could lose funding if they didn&#8217;t keep piracy under control.</p>
<p>Of course, students continue to download to this day and each time they do they risk receiving a warning letter or worse, as students in Canada are finding out.</p>
<p>According to the copyright office at the University of Manitoba, mainly US-based rightsholders are writing on a regular basis to students demanding cash settlements for alleged infringement.</p>
<p>Noting that the university forwards copyright infringement notices to students as they&#8217;re required to under the country&#8217;s &#8216;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/canadian-piracy-notices-boost-demand-anonymous-vpns-150113/">notice and notice</a>&#8216; regime, the copyright office says some of the letters are &#8220;tantamount to extortion.&#8221;</p>
<p>In a piece published in official student newspaper <a href="http://www.themanitoban.com/2016/09/u-of-m-forwards-8000-emails-regarding-illegal-downloads/28934/">The Manitoban</a>, copyright office strategy manager Joel Guenette says that while many of the 8,000 notices received are legitimate (HBO is said to have sent many warnings in connection with Game of Thrones downloads), others sink to reprehensible lows.</p>
<p>In addition to cautioning over the potential for multi-million dollar lawsuits, some notice senders are stepping up their threats to suggest that students could lose their scholarships if fines aren&#8217;t paid. For visiting students, things become even more scary.</p>
<p>According to the university&#8217;s copyright office, some porn producers have told foreign students that they could face deportation if an immediate cash settlement of hundreds of dollars is not forthcoming.</p>
<p>“None of these are real consequences that could ever happen in the Canadian scheme of things, but we hear from students all the time – especially international students – who are really freaked out by this,” Guenette says.</p>
<p>While being scared is understandable in such situations, Guenette&#8217;s department is keen to educate students on what these notices really mean. Particularly, they&#8217;re keen to stress that notice senders have no idea who notices have been delivered to, so students shouldn&#8217;t believe that copyright holders already know who they are.</p>
<p>Day to day, there&#8217;s nothing in current law that compels the University to hand over their identities but students can still compromise themselves by negotiating directly with notice senders, so that isn&#8217;t advised.</p>
<p>“We can’t tell students ‘ignore these notices’ and we can’t tell students ‘never pay a claim’ but, personally, I want students to know what these are and I want them to know that most of these settlement claims are extortion,” Guenette says.</p>
<p>“When I’m talking to students directly, without giving them legal advice, I would say ‘if I were you, I would never pay this.’ In my opinion, I don’t think any student on campus should be paying this.”</p>
<p>The University of Manitoba certainly isn&#8217;t on its own as other educational establishments are reporting similar problems. According to a separate <a href="http://www.thegauntlet.ca/copyright-infringement-prevalent-on-university-of-calgary-server/">report</a>, the University of Calgary also finds itself in a similar position.</p>
<p>The university says that it&#8217;s been receiving similar copyright notices since January 2015 and now wants to crackdown on unlawful file-sharing across campus. A meeting took place in August to discuss how the university intends to deal with unauthorized downloading but the problem isn&#8217;t straightforward.</p>
<p>&#8220;We can certainly track an IP address, but the difficulty is that the owner of that device is not necessarily the downloader of content. Someone can use someone else’s computer without that person’s knowledge,&#8221; says provost and vice-president Dru Marshall.</p>
<p>Complications aside, it&#8217;s likely that if the flood of notices to universities continue, they could be forced to take more robust action. How that will manifest itself is yet to be seen, but it&#8217;s unlikely that copyright trolls will benefit, despite being the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/canadian-govt-outlaws-bogus-piracy-notices-150112/">main cause</a> of the problem.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127258
title: Paramount Wipes “Infringing” Ubuntu Torrent From Google
uri: Paramount-Wipes-Infringing-Ubuntu-Torrent-From-Google
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZDU9tXBcno4/
content:
<p><img src="media/b6279983.paramount1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/paramount1.jpg" alt="paramount" width="225" height="210" class="alignright size-full wp-image-66402">In an effort to make piracy less visible, copyright holders are sending dozens of millions of DMCA takedown requests to Google every month.</p>
<p>Since there are so many takedown notices it&#8217;s no surprise that errors are made. In recent years we have frequently pointed out various mistakes, some more serious than others. </p>
<p>This week we spotted a takedown request that targets one of the most shared files on BitTorrent, Ubuntu releases. </p>
<p>Unlike Hollywood blockbusters Ubuntu distros are released under free software licenses, which means that people are encouraged to share them. In fact, Ubuntu&#8217;s <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads">official download site</a> offers BitTorrent as one of the options.</p>
<p>For some reason, however, Paramount Pictures is not happy with seeing the popular operating system on torrent sites. In a <a href="https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/12955634">notice</a> sent out by the movie studio&#8217;s anti-piracy partner a few days ago, Google is asked to remove an Ubuntu torrent download page <a href="https://extratorrent.cc/torrent/3046796/Ubuntu-12.04.2-alternate-i386.iso.html">on ExtraTorrent</a>.</p>
<p>According to the notice, the Ubuntu release infringes the copyrights of the movie Transformers: Age of Extinction.</p>
<p><center><strong>The &#8220;infringing&#8221; Ubuntu url</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/5f58035e.ubuntu.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ubuntu.png" alt="ubuntu" width="600" height="242" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127265"></center></p>
<p>It&#8217;s a mystery why this URL is targeted as the entire page doesn&#8217;t contain any references to Transformers, at least when we checked. </p>
<p>There is a likely possibility that the list of &#8220;recent searches&#8221; at one point included a Transformers mention, but even then the takedown request would clearly be overbroad. </p>
<p>Despite the obvious non-infringing status of the Ubuntu release, Google moved ahead and removed the page from its search index. Perhaps not surprisingly, considering the volume of requests that the company has to process. </p>
<p>Google currently receives reports for around three million &#8220;pirate&#8221; URLs per day. While the search engine has some automated filters to catch mistakes, it&#8217;s virtually impossible to check all submissions by hand.</p>
<p><center><strong>URL removed</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/6672c6f5.googlegone.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlegone.png" alt="googlegone" width="593" height="79" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127267"></center></p>
<p>Paramount&#8217;s mistake may be relatively harmless, but it shows once again how much can go wrong with these automated DMCA notices. Whether these errors can be rooted out is doubtful as there is very little incentive for copyright holders to improve their accuracy. </p>
<p>Google, however, previously told us that they are determined to prevent abuse and mistakes.</p>
<p>“We still do our best to catch errors or abuse so we don’t mistakenly disable access to non-infringing material. Google continues to put substantial resources into improving and streamlining this process, including into identifying erroneous and abusive takedowns, and deterring abuse,” a spokesperson said.</p>
<p>Luckily, a search for Ubuntu download still features plenty of options.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127282
title: ‘Will Trump Shut Down The Pirate Bay?’
uri: Will-Trump-Shut-Down-The-Pirate-Bay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NAFnkMI_4w8/
content:
<p><img src="media/295ce35c.trumpd.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trumpd.png" alt="trumpd" width="275" height="193" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127311">No, Trump personally can&#8217;t and won&#8217;t shut down The Pirate Bay. Period. </p>
<p>Excuse me for the clickbait title and the strange intro, but since it&#8217;s the topic of this opinion piece, I thought it was warranted. </p>
<p>Here&#8217;s what&#8217;s going on. </p>
<p>The torrent community is in turmoil after the shutdowns of KAT and Torrentz. We&#8217;ve written about this extensively, but there&#8217;s a rather frustrating side-effect that we haven&#8217;t discussed so far. </p>
<p>For <em>some</em> reason there&#8217;s a slew of news sites, prominently featured in search engines and on social media, that keep spreading fear and panic about a looming Pirate Bay shutdown. </p>
<p>These publications take every piece of file-sharing related news, often sourced from TorrentFreak, and rewrite it in a way that suggests the world&#8217;s number one torrent site may disappear, or is already gone.</p>
<p>Here are just a few headlines I&#8217;ve seen over the past few days. Click on the links at your own risk.</p>
<li>
<ul>Pirate Bay, Extra Torrent Shutting Down; Fans In Search For Best Torrent Alternative (<a href="http://www.itechpost.com/articles/26776/20160901/pirate-bay-extra-torrent-shutting-down-fans-in-search-for-best-torrent-alternative.htm">link</a>)</ul>
</li>
<li>
<ul>The Pirate Bay (TPB) Shut Down Imminent After Service Partner Faces Piracy Lawsuit (<a href="http://www.parentherald.com/articles/63071/20160824/the-pirate-bay-tpb-shut-down-imminent-after-service-partner-faces-piracy-lawsuit.htm">link</a>)</ul>
</li>
<li>
<ul>Goodbye The Pirate Bay? Cloudflare Under Fire For Helping TPB, Terror Groups (<a href="http://www.isportstimes.com/articles/13309/20160824/cloudflare-cloudfare-piratebay-cloudflare-lawsuit-cloudflare-juicy-ads.htm">link</a>)</ul>
</li>
<li>
<ul>The Pirate Bay to shut down soon? (<a href="http://en.yibada.com/articles/154574/20160826/pirate-bay-the-pirate-bay-tpb-kickass-torrents-alternatives.htm">link</a>)</ul>
</li>
<li>
<ul>The Pirate Bay Shut Down Rumors: Once Site Goes Down, US Library Of Congress Might Be The Next Piracy Haven (<a href="http://www.mobilenapps.com/articles/17693/20160830/pirate-bay-shut-down-rumors-once-site-goes-library-congress.htm">link</a>)</ul>
</li>
<p><center><strong>Pirate Bay to Shut Down&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/349448d3.mobileapps.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mobileapps.png" alt="mobileapps" width="600" height="194" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127322"></center></p>
<li>
<ul>The Pirate Bay To Shut Down Soon As Excipio Starts To Shoot And Kill Torrent Sites? (<a href="http://www.mobilenapps.com/articles/17996/20160906/the-pirate-bay-shut-down-excipio-torrent-sites.htm">link</a>)</ul>
</li>
<li>
<ul>TPB Now Leads The Pack Of Torrent Sites, But Might Shut Down Soon? List Of Top Torrent Sites Inside (<a href="http://www.parentherald.com/articles/65077/20160904/the-pirate-bay-now-leads-the-pack-of-torrent-sites-but-tpb-might-close-soon-list-of-top-torrent-sites-inside.htm">link</a>)</ul>
</li>
<li>
<ul>The Pirate Bay (TPB), KickassTorrents, Torrentz Shut Down: US Library of Congress As Next Alternative? (<a href="http://www.isportstimes.com/articles/13709/20160902/the-pirate-bay-tpb-kickasstorrents-torrentz-shut-down-us-library-of-congress-alternative.htm">link</a>)</ul>
</li>
<p>These reports have absolutely nothing to do with an apparent Pirate Bay shutdown of course. </p>
<p>The last one, for example, bizarrely connects <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/library-congress-might-become-piracy-hub-riaa-warns-160827/">concerns the RIAA has</a> about access to digital works at the Library of Congress, to the potential demise of TPB, which is pure nonsense. </p>
<p><center><strong>Pirate Bay Declared Dead</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/7d1f70b8.isportsnonsense.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/isportsnonsense.jpg" alt="isportsnonsense" width="600" height="225" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127394"></center></p>
<p>Many other articles follow the same format, writing nonsensical trash such as the following:</p>
<p>&#8220;Other torrent sites such as TorrentFreak is not happy with the growing population of The Pirate Bay but they do appreciate the role that TPB is playing in the world of torrent sites.&#8221;</p>
<p>The quote above comes from The Parent Herald, which also suggests that copyright trolls plan to fine The Pirate Bay. Clearly, they have not read the TorrentFreak <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/attention-swedish-pirate-bay-users-copyright-trolls-have-arrived-160902/">article</a> on the topic, which they&#8217;re quoting, or they simply don&#8217;t understand it. </p>
<p><center><strong>Might Shut Down Soon?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/7448fee6.patentherald.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/patentherald.png" alt="patentherald" width="600" height="332" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127320"></center></p>
<p>So why are these &#8220;news&#8221; sites reporting this type of doom and gloom? The short answer is ad views. The clickbait articles are shared on social media, appear in Google news and in search results. </p>
<p>The latter can bring in thousands of views. If people Google for &#8220;The Pirate Bay,&#8221; these headlines are featured as &#8220;news&#8221; and beg to be clicked on, generating revenue for the sites in question. For the very same reason you&#8217;ll see numerous articles about KAT and Torrentz alternatives.</p>
<p><center><strong>Click, Click, Click</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/36e6e34f.tpbnews.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbnews.png" alt="tpbnews" width="600" height="363" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127321"></center></p>
<p>Why are we complaining about this? Well, these news reports are picked up by other sites and shared among thousands of people. At TorrentFreak we do our best to report news as accurately as possible, and these clickbait articles go directly against this, often using our name.</p>
<p>We have addressed the clickbait issue <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-must-take-blame-for-spreading-bizarre-piracy-news-151115/">in the past</a> but in recent months it has gotten much worse. </p>
<p>While there are many different sites guilty of this practice, we recently stumbled upon a ring of related publications that all belong to the same company. They carry names such as Parent Herald, iSports Times., University Herald, Mobile&#038;Apps and share a similar layout and design.</p>
<p>The owner in question, according to the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&#038;q=IQADNET+LLC+All+rights+reserved.&#038;gws_rd">copyright statement</a>, is the New York based company <a href="http://iqadnet.com/">IQ Adnet</a>, which is&#8230; surprise surprise, an ad network that specializes in premium digital and native advertising. That explains everything.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s not much we can do about this, unfortunately, besides telling people what&#8217;s really going on and venting our frustration every now and then. </p>
<p>In the meantime, we&#8217;ll be waiting for these sites to pick up the Trump angle, which shouldn&#8217;t take long.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em>For the record. At TorrentFreak we don&#8217;t use pay per view ads, partly to get rid of the pageview obsession. This means that the clickbait title we used for this article doesn&#8217;t bring in any extra money. </em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127433
title: Magazine Ran Software Pirate Contest “To Protect Consumers”
uri: Magazine-Ran-Software-Pirate-Contest-To-Protect-Consumers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8iJuMa-QKNw/
content:
<p><a href="media/37efc713.oldpirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/oldpirate.jpg"><img src="media/37efc713.oldpirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/oldpirate.jpg" alt="oldpirate" width="160" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-102818"></a>Compared with countless other offenses, piracy ranks pretty low on the serious scale with most regular people. After all, given how easy it is <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071119/015956.shtml">to break the law</a>, it&#8217;s likely that everyone has been an infringer at some time or other.</p>
<p>That being said, during the last decade there have been some signs that piracy might be becoming a little less socially acceptable than it once was, possibly due to increased awareness of getting caught and potential punishments thereafter. Still, it hasn&#8217;t always been that way, far from it.</p>
<p>Svet kompjutera (World of Computers) is Serbia&#8217;s most popular computer magazine. Launched in 1984, the publication has regularly taken an interest in piracy and in 2010 published an edition titled &#8220;Prohibited Ideas&#8221;, which featured the flag of the Pirate Party on the cover.</p>
<p><a href="media/0fe0695c.svet-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/svet-1.jpg"><img src="media/0fe0695c.svet-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/svet-1.jpg" alt="svet-1" width="217" height="246" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127452"></a>While covering the Pirates in 2010 wouldn&#8217;t have been particularly controversial, back in 1989 when the publication was just five years old, World of Computers had a mission to look after its readers&#8217; interests, no matter what.</p>
<p>This resulted in the magazine running a &#8220;consumer protection&#8221; competition to determine the country&#8217;s finest pirate software suppliers.</p>
<p>The piece, embedded below, provides a unique insight into how attitudes towards piracy (and certainly encouraging piracy) have changed in the media over the past two and a half decades.</p>
<p>&#8220;And here it is, finally, the result of our competition to decide who is the Pirate of the Year,&#8221; the article begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;This list is a kind of buyers&#8217; protection from bad and unprincipled pirates by indicating the most reliable and honest people able to satisfy the conditions of the market.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><a href="media/ab6bf326.pirate-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-1.png"><img src="media/ab6bf326.pirate-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-1.png" alt="pirate-1" width="600" height="822" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127442"></a></center></p>
<p>What follows is a list of five of the country&#8217;s best pirate suppliers, as voted by World of Computers&#8217; readers. The publication went to the other end of the scale too, publishing the names of five suppliers that fell well short in the eyes of the pirating public.</p>
<p>&#8220;We think that by now several curses have flown from the lips of these [latter] five in our direction. Instead, it would be better for them to think why they scored such a poor result,&#8221; the article reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Readers who gave votes, voted mainly by judging according to their own experience and some impressions were actually not positive. Some of them sent us their own comments or explanations along with their votes. It was very interesting to read them, especially when they reported their conversations with the pirates and the pirates&#8217; statements, giving us a faithful account of their curses (&#8230;“then he told me to f&#8230; off“).&#8221;</p>
<p>These days pirates might give a torrent or streaming site a negative review for a slow download of a badly cammed movie. They might also complain of too many popups. Surprisingly, back in 1989 things weren&#8217;t much different.</p>
<p>&#8220;For some, the main reason for granting negative points was the bad quality of cassettes, the quality of the recording, and the promptness of delivery,&#8221; the article notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Very interesting are the objections related to some pirates&#8217; adverts, their size, text, text structure, truthfulness, and the presence/absence of the program names etc.&#8221;</p>
<p>The competition was apparently well received among World of Computers readers so the publication immediately declared it would publish another list the following year, to ensure that pirates kept standards high.</p>
<p>&#8220;This will give bad pirates a chance to improve, while the good ones will be in stand-by mode and won&#8217;t get rusty. This means that our contest stays open and that you can continue to send us your votes. The letters received so far will not be taken into account in the new round and everything starts from the drawing board.&#8221;</p>
<p>These days it would almost unthinkable for a magazine to run this kind of competition. However, to get an idea of just how much things have changed, one only has to look at the rules World of Computers deployed for subsequent competitions. </p>
<p>&#8220;Should a pirate be operating within a company, the name of the company is compulsory, as well as the pirate&#8217;s real name, of course, provided that he/she included it into the advert,&#8221; the magazine said.</p>
<p>&#8220;If several pirates work for the same company, just state the name of the company and not those of the individual pirates. This will make our counting of the votes easier.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Thanks, Nul Den</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127542
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 09/12/16
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-09-12-16
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jzcZGlbLqQE/
content:
<p><img src="media/85d1cad7.capt1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/capt1.jpg" alt="capt1" width="300" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-122164">This week we have three newcomers in our chart. </p>
<p>Captain America: Civil War: Out of the Shadows is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-090516/">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>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/captain_america_civil_war">Captain America: Civil War</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498820/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKrVegVI0Us">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles_out_of_the_shadows">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3949660/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sf0ZQfcSrc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/x_men_apocalypse">X-Men: Apocalypse</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3385516/">6=7.8=3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jer8XjMrUB4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/now_you_see_me_2">Now You See Me 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3110958/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I8rVcSQbic">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_secret_life_of_pets">The Secret Life of Pets</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2709768/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJVc_JTI_w">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_shallows">The Shallows</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4052882/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgdxIlSuB70">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jason_bourne/">Jason Bourne</a> (HDTC/Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4196776/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v71ce1Dqqns">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mike_and_dave_need_wedding_dates">Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2823054/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQNa2-5d2U">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/independence_day_resurgence/">Independence Day: Resurgence</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1628841/">5.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbduDRH2m2M">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_conjuring_2">The Conjuring 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3065204/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyA9AtUOqRM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127564
title: Videomega Uploaders Outraged as Popular File-Hosting Site Disappears
uri: Videomega-Uploaders-Outraged-as-Popular-File-Hosting-Site-Disappears
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wnBt41bEpj8/
content:
<p>In parallel with the sharing that takes place on P2P systems such as BitTorrent, file-hosting sites have also gained in popularity over recent years.</p>
<p>Some of the most famous sites included Kim Dotcom&#8217;s Megaupload/Megavideo, its successor MEGA, and the long-defunct German hoster, Rapidshare. In the wake of Megaupload&#8217;s demise, many file-hosters considered the market too risky and decided to back out. However, some viewed the shake-up as an opportunity.</p>
<p>A handful of the sites that have continued despite the threats include Rapidgator (Alexa world ranking #779), Uploaded (#517) and 4Shared (#495) but there is another site that has managed to grow bigger than these giants despite flying largely under the radar.</p>
<p>Videomega.tv appeared on the scene in mid-2012 as a basic video upload site but has continued to grow ever since. According to Alexa the site is now the 472nd most popular site in the world, a significant achievement in a little over four years. But despite the successes, there are now signs that all is not well at the video hosting platform.</p>
<p><Center><a href="media/4ba29c62.videomegatv-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/videomegatv-2.png"><img src="media/4ba29c62.videomegatv-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/videomegatv-2.png" alt="videomegatv-2" width="635" height="384" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127584"></a></center></p>
<p>Almost a week ago, Videomega&#8217;s main page disappeared. People who visit the domain are currently greeted with a <a href="http://videomega.tv/">blank page</a>, meaning that no one can upload any fresh content or browse the videos that were regularly posted to the bottom of the main page.</p>
<p>Why the site has disappeared is a mystery that has annoyed many of the site&#8217;s users, but none more so than the thousands of uploaders that use Videomega to host huge numbers of files.</p>
<p>Like many sites in the niche, Videomega operated an affiliate scheme, meaning that users who uploaded videos to the site had the possibility to generate revenue from them. Of course, YouTube pays users of popular content too but sources familiar with the site inform TF that Videomega was nowhere near as strict when enforcing copyright complaints as its Google-owned counterpart.</p>
<p><Center><a href="media/e20000c2.videomegatv-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/videomegatv-1.png"><img src="media/e20000c2.videomegatv-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/videomegatv-1.png" alt="videomegatv-1" width="575" height="627" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127580"></a></center></p>
<p>This appears to have made Videomega very popular with operators of third-party indexing sites, who hosted content on the platform and placed links on their own domain in order to generate views. This resulted in affiliate payments ranging from $50 to a few thousand dollars each, or at least it did until recently.</p>
<p>Several former uploaders to the site inform TF that payments used to be made regularly but that has now come to a halt. One, who asked to remain anonymous, told us that the site owes him more than $1000 in fees, while others indicate they&#8217;re a few hundred down each.</p>
<p>Furthermore, a few days ago the site reportedly changed the minimum payout from $50 to $100, a move that is being described by some as an early bid to avoid paying smaller affiliates in advance of the shutdown.</p>
<p>The site&#8217;s admin, who according to reports used to be easily available on Skype, is no longer online, although one source indicated that he appeared briefly before the weekend only to disappear a few minutes later. The site is reportedly not receiving or is ignoring, emails from uploaders and users. TorrentFreak&#8217;s request for comment also remains unanswered.</p>
<p>Strangely, however, some of the site&#8217;s videos appear to be loading, despite the main domain showing no signs of life. However, those attempting to view content are first met with instructions to turn off adblockers. This is immediately rewarded with a fake video player carrying scammy ads for a third-party subscription site.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/9025aee3.videomegatv-3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/videomegatv-3.png"><img src="media/9025aee3.videomegatv-3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/videomegatv-3.png" alt="videomegatv-3" width="575" height="328" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127586"></a></center></p>
<p>Exactly what has happened to the site or its operator remains unclear. There have been no announcements of any raids or arrests by the usual anti-piracy outfits but clearly something is seriously amiss. People tend not to build up one of the world&#8217;s most popular sites only to shut it down on a whim.</p>
<p>For now, however, many uploaders believe they may have seen their many thousands of videos (and thousands of dollars) for the last time, with some even going as far to say that they&#8217;re victims of a scam. Whether that is true will remain to be seen but some are on the warpath and have even published photographs of the site&#8217;s alleged admin online.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127550
title: Google Highlights DMCA Abuse in New Copyright Transparency Report
uri: Google-Highlights-DMCA-Abuse-in-New-Copyright-Transparency-Report
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4jqbNyi58d0/
content:
<p><img src="media/f023cc2f.googlecopy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlecopy.png" alt="googlecopy" width="238" height="140" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127561" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/googlecopy.png 238w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/googlecopy-220x130.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px">In recent years copyright holders have overloaded Google with DMCA takedown notices, targeting links to pirated content.</p>
<p>The number of requests has increased dramatically, from only a few dozen takedown notices during the entire year in 2008, to millions per day nowadays.</p>
<p>To give the public insight into this process Google <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/filestube-tops-google-copyright-takedown-list-120525/">launched</a> a Copyright Transparency Report for search in 2012. In addition to showing the rapid increase in volume, shown below, it has helped us to report on various types of DMCA takedown abuse over the years.</p>
<p><center><strong>#Reported URLs</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/d859b5a6.goognewtransda.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/goognewtransda.png" alt="goognewtransda" width="600" height="211" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127560"></center></p>
<p>A few days ago Google released a revamped version of its <a href="https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/?hl=en">Copyright Transparency Report</a>. In addition to a new look, it also now reports additional data to better show what&#8217;s going on.</p>
<p>Previously we have been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-sees-dmca-notices-quadruple-in-two-years-160618/">keeping track of</a> the total number of submitted URLs by hand, but Google now prominently includes this number in its report. The latest data show that over 1.75 billion allegedly infringing URLs have been reported since they started counting. </p>
<p>What&#8217;s also new is an overview of how many URLs were not removed from the search index, and the reasons for that.</p>
<p>For example, over the past year over 10% of all submitted URLs were not removed from the search index. Roughly half of these, 50 million (5.5%), are duplicate links that had already been reported previously. </p>
<p><center><strong>Takedown Stats</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/4367ea49.goognewtrans.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/goognewtrans.png" alt="goognewtrans" width="600" height="292" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127559"></center></p>
<p>15 million (1.6%) were &#8220;invalid URLs,&#8221; such as typos and other non-existing content, and another 31 million were rejected for another reason. </p>
<p>The latter group, which is 3.4% of the total, also includes various types of abuse and other errors. The revamped transparency report lists various examples of abuse, such as an anti-piracy group&#8217;s coffee hatred that TorrentFreak <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/music-group-dmca-notices-reveal-coffee-hatred-140825/">first reported</a> on. </p>
<p>&#8220;An anti-piracy enforcement firm representing a music label filed a copyright complaint asking us to delist dozens of homepages containing the word &#8216;coffee&#8217; in the title. These URLs had nothing to do with the identified copyrighted work,&#8221; Google writes.</p>
<p>Another abuse case highlighted by Google shows that people sometimes impersonate anti-piracy outfits to remove links without the proper authorization.</p>
<p>&#8220;An individual impersonating a prominent anti-piracy enforcement firm filed a copyright complaint targeting several URLs from an adult film website. We occasionally receive requests from individuals who impersonate major anti-piracy firms.&#8221;</p>
<p>Google hopes that the new transparency report will help people to better understand what content is targeted and how the company responds. Going forward, the company says it will continue to add new examples and new data.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127598
title: Stream Ripping Problem Worse Than Pirate Sites, IFPI Says
uri: Stream-Ripping-Problem-Worse-Than-Pirate-Sites-IFPI-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NnDQUNGl0Dw/
content:
<p><a href="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg"><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="sadyoutube" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196"></a>One of the recurring themes of recent years has been entertainment industry criticism of Google alongside claims the search giant doesn&#8217;t do enough to tackle piracy.</p>
<p>In more recent months, the focus has fallen on YouTube in particular, with the music industry painting the video hosting site as a haven for unlicensed tracks. This, the labels say, allows YouTube to undermine competitors and run a &#8216;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-says-youtube-is-running-a-dmca-protection-racket-160412/">DMCA protection racket</a>&#8216;.</p>
<p>While complaints surrounding the so-called &#8220;value gap&#8221; continue, the labels are now revisiting another problem that has existed for years.</p>
<p>For the unfamiliar, stream ripping is a mechanism for obtaining music from an online source and storing it on a local storage device in MP3 or similar format. Ripping can be achieved by using dedicated software or via various sites designed for the purpose.</p>
<p>With the largest library online, YouTube is the most popular destination for &#8216;rippers&#8217;. Broadly speaking, the site carries two kinds of music &#8211; that for which the site has a license and that uploaded without permission by its users. The labels consider the latter as straightforward piracy but the former is also problematic in a stream-ripping environment. Once a track is downloaded by a user from YouTube, labels aren&#8217;t getting paid per play anymore.</p>
<p>According to IFPI, the stream-ripping problem has become huge. A new study by Ipsos commissioned by IFPI has found that 49% of Internet users aged 16 to 24 admitted to stream ripping in the six months ending April. That&#8217;s a 41% increase over the same period a year earlier.</p>
<p>When considering all age groups the situation eases somewhat, but not by enough to calm IFPI&#8217;s nerves. Ipsos found that 30% of all Internet users had engaged in stream ripping this year, that&#8217;s 10% up on a year earlier.</p>
<p>In fact, according to comments made to FT (<a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d31ff954-793a-11e6-a0c6-39e2633162d5.html">subscription</a>) by IFPI, the problem has become so large that it is now the most popular form of online piracy, surpassing downloading from all of the world&#8217;s &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p>Precisely why there has been such a large increase isn&#8217;t clear, but it&#8217;s likely that the simplicity of sites such as <a href="http://www.youtube-mp3.org/">YouTube-MP3</a> has played a big role. The site is huge by any measurement and has been extremely popular for many years. However, this year has seen a dramatic increase in visits, as shown below.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/30f4f9c8.youtube-mp3-traffic.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/youtube-mp3-traffic.png"><img src="media/30f4f9c8.youtube-mp3-traffic.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/youtube-mp3-traffic.png" alt="youtube-mp3-traffic" width="641" height="356" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127607"></a></center></p>
<p>Equally, with pirate site blockades springing up all over the world, users in affected regions will find YouTube and ripping sites much easier to access. Also, rippers tend to work well on mobile phones, giving young people the portability they desire for their music.</p>
<p>But while YouTube and Google will now find themselves under yet more pressure, the company hasn&#8217;t been silent on the issue of stream-ripping. On several occasions, YouTube lawyers have made legal threats against such sites, including <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-threatens-to-sue-huge-youtube-mp3-conversion-site-120619/">YouTube-MP3</a> in 2012 and more recently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-threatens-legal-action-video-downloader-160530/">against TubeNinja</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We strive to keep YouTube a safe, responsible community, and to encourage respect for the rights of millions of YouTube creators,&#8221; an email from YouTube’s legal team to TubeNinja read.</p>
<p>&#8220;This requires compliance with the Terms of Service and API Terms of Service. We hope that you will cooperate with us by ceasing to offer TubeNinja with functionality that is designed to allow users to download content from YouTube within seven days of this letter.&#8221;</p>
<p>While it is indeed the biggest platform, the problem isn&#8217;t only limited to YouTube. Stream rippers are <a href="https://www.tubeninja.net/en/how-to-download/">available</a> for most streaming sites including Vimeo, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Mixcloud, and many dozens of others, with Google itself <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/%20downloader">providing convenient addons</a> for its Chrome browser.</p>
<p>With the major labels now describing stream-ripping as the biggest piracy threat, expect to hear much more on this topic as the year unfolds.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127254
title: Advertiser Tells Court It’s Not Liable for Pirate Sites
uri: Advertiser-Tells-Court-It-s-Not-Liable-for-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vluHekgT-zM/
content:
<p><img src="media/324d28da.juictads.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/juictads.jpg" alt="juictads" width="275" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127594">Increasingly, copyright holders are urging third party services to cut their ties with pirate sites.</p>
<p>Hosting providers, search engines, ISPs, domain name registrars and advertisers should all do more to counter online piracy, the argument goes. </p>
<p>A few weeks ago adult entertainment publisher ALS Scan moved beyond the asking stage. The company <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-faces-lawsuit-for-assisting-pirate-sites-160823/">filed a complaint</a> at a California federal court, targeting CloudFlare and the advertising network JuicyAds over image copyright infringement carried out by their users.</p>
<p>ALS Scan had alerted both companies about the infringing activities of several customers, but neither took action in response and continued to offer their services. </p>
<p>“On information and belief, this is because Juicy Ads and Cloudflare make money by continuing to do commerce with sites that draw traffic through the lure of free infringing content,” ALS Scan wrote in their complaint.</p>
<p>JuicyAds&#8217; parent company Tiger Media clearly disagrees and has now filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. They argue that, as an advertising service, they can&#8217;t be held liable for the allegedly copyright-infringing actions of their clients. </p>
<p>Among other things, Tiger points out that the infringing photos in question never appeared on their websites and that they couldn&#8217;t remove them even if they wanted to.</p>
<p>&#8220;ALS does not allege its photos appeared on JuicyAds.com (because they never did) or pass over Tiger’s ad network (because they don’t). Nor does ALS allege that Tiger has the ability to actually disable access to its photos (because it can’t),&#8221; Tiger writes (<a href="media/e96d2769.dismisstigermemo-1.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dismisstigermemo-1.pdf">pdf</a>). </p>
<p>&#8220;Rather, ALS alleges in a conclusory fashion that Tiger is liable because the sites where ALS’s photos appeared were JuicyAds &#8216;publishers,&#8217; some of more than 92,000 businesses and individuals that participate in the JuicyAds ad network.&#8221;</p>
<p>The advertising network informs the court that its Terms of Service clearly states that the publishers are solely responsible for the content that appears on their sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;ALS has not and cannot assert any claims for contributory or vicarious liability, given that Tiger has no more control over publishers’ sites than it does over any other third-party sites.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition, the company notes that the advertisements would actually lead people away from the allegedly infringing content, instead of encouraging it in any way. </p>
<p>Tiger therefore asks the court to dismiss all copyright infringement claims against them, with prejudice. </p>
<p>In addition, yesterday the company submitted its objections against the preliminary injunction requested by ALS Scan. Tiger argues that, based on the evidence provided, there is no need for the extensive piracy policing requirements ALS has proposed.</p>
<p>&#8220;The proposed injunction would force Tiger to implement wide-ranging content review protocols for all existing and potential publisher customers, in an ongoing effort to identify and &#8216;weed out&#8217; any potential infringement of ALS’s content by third parties,&#8221; Tiger writes (<a href="media/afb91db6.motionresponseinjunction.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/motionresponseinjunction.pdf">pdf</a>). </p>
<p>&#8220;This breathtaking request for Tiger to police the Internet is unwarranted because ALS’s motion fails every criterion relating to imposition of a preliminary injunction.&#8221; </p>
<p>Both the injunction and the motion to dismiss will be considered in a few weeks. Cloudflare has yet to respond to the complaint and was granted an extension of time to file its reply. </p>
<p>While ALS Scan and Tiger are relatively small players, a ruling in this lawsuit may set a precedent for future cases. For this reason, it wouldn&#8217;t be a major surprise to see other rightsholders and service providers join the case to have their opinions heard.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127635
title: Steal This Show S02E02: ‘The Platform Is You’
uri: Steal-This-Show-S02E02-The-Platform-Is-You
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ybDkAx7m4WE/
content:
<p><img src="media/d01749d9.stslogo180.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stslogo180.png" alt="stslogo180" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-113928">Returning guest Holmes &#8216;<em>I&#8217;m on a boat</em>&#8216; Wilson (<a href="https://www.fightforthefuture.org/">Fight For The Future</a>) checks in from&#8230; a boat in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro.</p>
<p>We discuss the ongoing attempt to extradite Megaupload&#8217;s Kim Dotcom to the United States, why Creative Future is publicly dissing his organisation, and what (if anything) should come after big torrent sites.</p>
<p>We then take another twenty minutes to discuss how decentralisation of media is contributing to the rise of the kek-worshipping alt-right.  How does P2P affect political power in general? And what&#8217;s the importance of meme-creation in a distributed media environment?</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><a href="https://stealthisshow.com">Steal This Show</a> aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing copyright and file-sharing news. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary and analysis. </p>
<p>The guests for our news discussions will vary and we&#8217;ll aim to introduce voices from different backgrounds and persuasions. In addition to news, STS will also produce features interviewing some of the great innovators and minds. </p>
<p><strong>Host:</strong> Jamie King</p>
<p><strong>Guest:</strong> Holmes Wilson</p>
<p><center><iframe width="100%" height="180px" src="//stealthisshow.com/?lpe-frame=1&#038;lpe-season=2&#038;lpe-episode=02" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p><strong>Produced </strong> <em>by </em>Jamie King<br>
<strong>Edited &#038; Mixed</strong> <em>by</em> Riley Byrne<br>
<strong>Original Music</strong> <em>by</em> David Triana<br>
<strong>Web Production</strong> <em>by</em> Siraje Amarniss</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127596
title: 10 Years in Prison For Online Pirates a Step Closer in the UK
uri: 10-Years-in-Prison-For-Online-Pirates-a-Step-Closer-in-the-UK
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MgvKQq-XVT8/
content:
<p><img src="media/e928f84b.uk-flag.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/uk-flag.jpg" width="200" height="179" alt="" class="alignright size-large">In an effort to control the prevalence of online piracy, numerous criminal actions against file-sharers and file-sharing site operators have already taken place in the UK. However, these prosecutions have not been straightforward.</p>
<p>Due to UK copyright law allowing for custodial sentences of &#8216;just&#8217; two years for online offenses, anti-piracy groups such as the Federation Against Copyright Theft have chosen to pursue their own private prosecutions. These have largely taken place under legislation designed for those who have committed fraud, rather than the more appropriate offense of copyright infringement.</p>
<p>Physical pirates (CDs, DVDs) can be jailed for up to 10 years under current legislation. During the past few years, there have been lobbying efforts for this punishment to apply both on and offline. That resulted in a UK Government announcement last year indicating that it would move to increase the maximum prison sentence for online copyright infringement to ten years.</p>
<p>This proposal was detailed in a draft of the Digital Economy Bill <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-bill-introduces-10-year-prison-sentence-for-online-pirates-160706/">published in July</a>. If passed into law, it would amend the relevant section of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.</p>
<p>That likelihood increased yesterday with the 2nd Reading of the Digital Economy Bill in the House of Commons. Karen Bradley, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, was in attendance. The MP, who was appointed in July, spoke strongly in favor of strict copyright enforcement.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will help businesses from attacks on their intellectual property. Burglars can be sentenced to ten years in prison, but the criminal gangs that are making vast sums of money through exploiting the online creations of others only face a two-year sentence. We will increase this to ten,&#8221; Bradley said.</p>
<p><Center><a href="media/d0ffcb37.bradley.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bradley.png"><img src="media/d0ffcb37.bradley.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bradley.png" alt="bradley" width="650" height="318" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127650"></a></center></p>
<p>Interestingly, Bradley mentioned a convicted pirate by name. Paul Mahoney ran streaming portal FastPassTV and discussion and linking forum BedroomMedia. After being raided in 2011, the Northern Ireland-based man was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-streaming-site-operators-four-year-sentence-upheld-160620/">sentenced</a> to four years in jail under the Fraud Act, two more than the maximum he would&#8217;ve received under copyright legislation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Criminals like Paul Mahoney, who profited by almost £300,000 and cost industry millions by facilitating access to illegal films on the Internet, need to be sent a clear message,&#8221; Bradley said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to ensure that enforcement agencies and their partners have the right set of tools to tackle all types of piracy, which is why this clause is so important.&#8221;</p>
<p>When the increase to ten years was first reported, some news outlets suggested that regular file-sharers could be subjected to the decade-long sentence. That was addressed in Parliament yesterday by Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire, who welcomed the move but sought assurances that the casual downloader wouldn&#8217;t be targeted.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am pleased that clause 26 amends the current legislation on copyright to bring online criminal penalties for copyright infringement in line with off-line penalties, with a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment. This will target anyone who infringes copyright in order to make a commercial gain,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, I wish to stress to hon. Members and to members of the public that this is not to catch out people who download music and unwittingly download or stream something illegal. I want to make that clear in adding my support to this measure. As far as I understand it, it targets the criminals who make money from distributing music to which they do not have the rights.&#8221;</p>
<p>Culture Secretary Karen Bradley confirmed that was indeed the case.</p>
<p>Speaking in support of the amendment, Conservative MP <a href="http://hansard.parliament.uk/search/MemberContributions?house=Commons&#038;memberId=39">John Whittingdale</a> said he was &#8220;delighted&#8221; that online and offline penalties will be equalized but said that more still needs to be done. Unsurprisingly, given the current environment, Google was again the target.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Conservative party manifesto stated that we would put pressure on search engines to try to prevent illegal sites from coming up at the top of a search. I know that round-table discussions have been taking place for a considerable time, but it is a matter of great concern that no significant progress has yet been made,&#8221; Whittingdale said.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the most recent attempt to find out whether or not there had been an improvement, a Google search was made for &#8216;Ed Sheeran Photograph download&#8217;, with &#8216;Photograph&#8217; being one of Ed Sheeran’s most recent songs. Only one of the top 10 listings involved a legal site, and the legal site was YouTube, which, of course, is owned by Google.&#8221;</p>
<p>In response, Labour MP Dr Rupa Huq offered his thoughts on how that might be mitigated in future.</p>
<p>&#8220;[John Whittingdale] said that Ed Sheeran’s song was available on illegal platforms. Does he agree that technology companies, ​and platforms such as Google and YouTube, should be compelled to list only legal sites?&#8221; Huq said.</p>
<p>&#8220;At present the pirates are sometimes listed higher up than legal sites, and our British musicians who contribute, I believe, £4 billion annually to the economy are losing out as a consequence.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whittingdale wasn&#8217;t convinced of Huq&#8217;s solution, but agreed that much more needs to be done.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think it would be unrealistic to expect Google to establish whether every single site was legal or illegal. What it can do is react when illegal sites are brought to its attention,&#8221; the MP said.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Google] does de-list, but new sites then appear immediately. There have been a vast number of complaints from rights owners about particular sites, but they should tweak their algorithms so that those sites no longer appear at the top of the search listings. Measures of that kind have been under discussion for months and months, but the problem still exists.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whittingdale added that there may be a need to include a legal provision which would encourage service providers to establish some kind of voluntary code.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]here may well be a case for legislation, because we cannot allow Google and other search providers to go on allowing people access to illegal sites,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>The Bill will now move to Committee and Report stages, before moving to its Third Reading. It will then pass to readings in the House of Lords before undergoing amendments and the final stage of Royal Assent.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127652
title: EU Commission Proposes Mandatory Piracy Filters For Online Services
uri: EU-Commission-Proposes-Mandatory-Piracy-Filters-For-Online-Services
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/c0RWXcS_Q74/
content:
<p><img src="media/4838a439.upload.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upload.png" alt="upload" width="240" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-114664"> During his State of the Union address today, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced several plans to modernize copyright law in Europe. </p>
<p>The proposal (<a href="media/b559ec93.1-2016-593-EN-F1-1.PDF" data-original-source="http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/1-2016-593-EN-F1-1.PDF">pdf</a>) is part of the Digital Single Market reforms, which have been in the making for several years. </p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-proposal-bans-netflix-style-geo-blocking-and-restrictions-151209/">earlier suggestions</a> that geo-blocking would be banned for streaming portals such as Netflix, these ideas haven&#8217;t made it into the final text. Instead, it introduces a wide range of reforms that improve the position of rights holders.</p>
<p>One of the suggestions that has a lot of people worried is Article 13, which requires online services to police pirated content. This means that online services, which deal with large volumes of user-uploaded content, must use fingerprinting and filtering mechanisms to block copyright infringing files.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Commission proposal obliges such service providers to take appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the protection of user-uploaded works, for example by putting in place content recognition technologies,&#8221; the commission explains.</p>
<p>This could, for example, be similar to the Content-ID system YouTube has in place, which <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tag/content-id/">hasn&#8217;t been without controversy</a> itself. </p>
<p>While the Commission stresses that small content platforms won&#8217;t be subject to the requirement, the proposal doesn&#8217;t define what &#8220;small&#8221; means. It also fails to define what &#8220;appropriate&#8221; or &#8220;effective&#8221; content recognition systems are, creating a fair bit of uncertainty.</p>
<p><center><strong>Article 13</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/bb1ac4ba.article13.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/article13.png" alt="article13" width="611" height="450" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127665"></center></p>
<p>Commenting on the proposal, Digital rights group EDRi says that it will put many European companies at risk while endangering users&#8217; right to free speech. </p>
<p>&#8220;The text that was launched today includes a proposal to potentially filter all uploads to the Internet in Europe. The draft text would destroy users&#8217; rights and legal certainty for European hosting companies,&#8221; EDRi notes.</p>
<p>The Commission, however, notes that the changes are needed to reinforce the negotiating position of copyright holders, so they can sign licensing agreements with services that provide access to user uploaded content.  </p>
<p>Perhaps not surprisingly, this language is directly aligned with recent calls from various music industry organizations. </p>
<p>Just a few month ago the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/music-industry-wants-more-money-from-youtube-160520/">BPI asked for new legislation</a> to prevent platforms like YouTube abusing safe harbor protections in order to create &#8220;royalty havens&#8221;. With the current proposal, this wish has been partly granted. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke with Pirate Party Member of Parliament <a href="https://juliareda.eu/en/">Julia Reda</a> who is fiercely against mandatory piracy filters.  </p>
<p>&#8220;There are countless problems with this approach. First of all, Google spent upwards of $60 million on the development of ContentID. Asking every startup or community project to make the same kind of investment is ludicrous,&#8221; Reda says. </p>
<p>Most services that deal with user-uploaded content can&#8217;t invest millions into content recognition technologies so they would have to license it from others such as YouTube, Reda adds. This will only increase the already dominant positions of the major players.  </p>
<p>In addition, she points out that automated systems often lead to overt mistakes and are poorly equipped to deal with the finer nuances of copyright. </p>
<p>&#8220;Just because part of a copyright-protected work shows up in a video, that doesn&#8217;t mean that the new work constitutes a copyright infringement,&#8221; Reda says.  </p>
<p>&#8220;There are numerous exceptions to copyright such as parody or quotation &#8211; different in every EU country &#8211; that could justify the re-use of part of a protected work. An algorithm can&#8217;t detect that. It will take down lots of legal remixes and mashups, thus stifling freedom of expression,&#8221; she adds.</p>
<p>A valid comment, as we witnessed ourselves just a few days ago when one of our perfectly legal videos was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrentfreak-gets-its-first-youtube-copyright-claim-and-its-bull-160910/">inaccurately flagged</a> as a copyright infringement. </p>
<p>YouTube aside, Reda stresses that there are many other platforms to which automated recognition systems are not well suited. Wikipedia, for example, which uses mostly Creative Commons licensed content, or services such as DeviantArt which hosts user-uploaded artwork, or MuseScore that hosts sheet music.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is no technology available that would reliably detect copyright infringements in these formats. The Commission is asking Internet companies to do the impossible, thus endangering collaborative communities on the Internet as well as European startups,&#8221; Reda tells us. </p>
<p>The filtering requirement is not the only plan that&#8217;s getting a lot of pushback. </p>
<p>Another controversial proposal is the introduction of a new related right for press publications. This allows online newspapers to negotiate licences from third party services that use their texts, such as Google showing article clippings in its news section. </p>
<p>Opponents, including several young members of the European Parliament, have dubbed the proposal a &#8220;link-tax&#8221; and are fiercely against it.</p>
<p><center><strong><a href="https://savethelink.org/">#Savethelink</a></strong><br></br></center><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JL2cJjE6DmM?rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>&#8220;This plan would break the internet as we know it. The way people share news online today – by posting a link that includes a short snippet or image from the article – would be made illegal unless a licence had been previously agreed,&#8221; MEP <a href="https://marietjeschaake.eu/">Marietje Schaake</a> says.</p>
<p>Considering the stakes at hand, it&#8217;s expected that there will be several organized protests, similar to the &#8220;Save the Link&#8221; campaign, to stop the proposals from becoming law in their current form.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127702
title: TorrentHound Shuts Down, Another Big Torrent Site Bites The Dust
uri: TorrentHound-Shuts-Down-Another-Big-Torrent-Site-Bites-The-Dust
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2H68xX-BmN0/
content:
<p><a href="media/958f50c7.th.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/th.png"><img src="media/958f50c7.th.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/th.png" alt="th" width="222" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127709"></a>Founded in 2007, TorrentHound.com has been around for nearly a decade. </p>
<p>With millions of visitors per month the site enjoyed a fairly large userbase, but it never reached the status of giants such as The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, and KAT.</p>
<p>That said, copyright holders had no trouble finding the site. Over the years TorrentHound became the target of various industry <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-and-mpaa-report-notorious-piracy-sites-to-u-s-government-151007/?preview=true">complaints</a> and the site was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-internet-providers-expand-pirate-site-blockades-160304/">blocked</a> in several countries. Nevertheless, it always remained online, until today. </p>
<p>A few hours ago the site&#8217;s &#8216;founder&#8217; sent us an email with an ultra-short message: &#8220;Finito.&#8221;</p>
<p>A quick look at <a href="http://www.torrenthound.com/">the website</a> shows that this isn&#8217;t a prank. TorrentHound is the latest large torrent site to keel over this year.</p>
<p><center><strong>TorrentHound 2007 &#8211; 2016</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/027b5818.torrenthound.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrenthound.png" alt="torrenthound" width="564" height="272" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127710"></center></p>
<p>At TorrentFreak we have been keeping a close eye on the torrent ecosystem for more than a decade, but never have we seen so many large sites going offline in such a short period.</p>
<p>TorrentHound follows the &#8216;example&#8217; of KickassTorrents and Torrentz, which went offline in <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/feds-seize-kickasstorrents-domains-charge-owner-160720/">July</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrentz-shuts-down-largest-torrent-meta-search-engine-says-farewell-160805/">August</a> respectively. This means that three sites from our top 10 <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">most-visited torrent sites</a>, are now gone.</p>
<p>Neither Torrentz nor TorrentHound have commented in detail on their surprise shutdowns. However, the fact that they followed shortly after KickassTorrents&#8217; alleged operators were inducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, may not be a total coincidence.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unlikely that TorrentHound was facing concrete legal pressure as it&#8217;s currently linking to various &#8220;not terrible&#8221; alternative torrent sites on its current homepage.</p>
<p>We asked our TorrentHound contact to shed some light on his decision and we will add an update if a response comes in. </p>
<p><center><strong>TorrentHound, a few days ago</strong><br></br></center><center><center><a href="media/03d93876.torrenthopund.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrenthopund.jpg"><img src="media/03d93876.torrenthopund.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrenthopund.jpg" alt="torrenthopund" width="600" height="353" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127708" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/torrenthopund.jpg 1085w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/torrenthopund-220x130.jpg 220w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></a></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127788
title: Chrome and Firefox Block Pirate Bay Over “Harmful Programs”
uri: Chrome-and-Firefox-Block-Pirate-Bay-Over-Harmful-Programs
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0ijMPvhk31w/
content:
<p><img src="media/932e6d7d.thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" alt="thepirate" width="220" height="206" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116122">Starting a few hours ago Chrome and Firefox users are unable to access The Pirate Bay&#8217;s torrent download pages without running into a roadblock.</p>
<p>Instead of a page filled with the latest torrents, visitors now see an ominous red warning banner when they try to grab a torrent.</p>
<p>“The site ahead contains harmful programs,” Google Chrome informs its users.</p>
<p>“Attackers on thepiratebay.org might attempt to trick you into installing programs that harm your browsing experience (for example, by changing your homepage or showing extra ads on sites you visit),” the warning adds.</p>
<p>Mozilla’s Firefox browser displays a <a href="media/7dc60524.fftpb.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fftpb.png">similar message</a>.</p>
<p>While Pirate Bay&#8217;s homepage and search is still freely available, torrent detail pages now show the following banner. </p>
<p><center><strong>Chrome&#8217;s Pirate Bay block</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/94b2ec07.chromeharmtpb.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chromeharmtpb.png" alt="chromeharmtpb" width="600" height="336" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127772"></center></p>
<p>Both Chrome and Firefox rely on Google&#8217;s Safe Browsing report which currently <a href="https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/safebrowsing/diagnostic/#url=thepiratebay.org">lists TPB</a> as a partially dangerous site. </p>
<p>In addition to the two browsers, people who use Comodo&#8217;s Secure DNS also experienced problems reaching the site. </p>
<p>Comodo&#8217;s <a href="https://www.comodo.com/secure-dns/">secure DNS</a> has a built-in malware domain filtering feature and earlier today it flagged the Pirate Bay as a &#8220;hacking&#8221; site, as the banner below shows. Shortly before publishing this warning disappeared. </p>
<p><center><strong>Pirate Bay hacking?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/5b278e0d.piratebayhack.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratebayhack.png" alt="piratebayhack" width="600" height="317" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127737"></center> </p>
<p>Comodo DNS still blocks access to ExtraTorrent, the second largest torrent site trailing just behind The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>The secure DNS provider <a href="media/04199028.extramalicious.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/extramalicious.png">accuses</a> ExtraTorrent of spreading &#8220;malicious&#8221; content. Interestingly, Google&#8217;s Safe Browsing <a href="https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/safebrowsing/diagnostic/#url=extratorrent.cc">doesn&#8217;t report</a> any issues with ExtraTorrent&#8217;s domain name, so another source may play a role here. </p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time that Comodo has blocked torrent sites and usually the warnings disappear again after a few hours or days. Until then, users can add the domains to a whitelist to regain access. Of course, they should do so at their own risk.</p>
<p>Chrome and Firefox users should be familiar with these intermittent warning notices as well, and can take steps to bypass the blocks if they are in a gutsy mood. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127698
title: Torrent Site Founder, Moderator and Users Receive Prison Sentences
uri: Torrent-Site-Founder-Moderator-and-Users-Receive-Prison-Sentences
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VwVQp5TN-CU/
content:
<p><a href="media/9c39c603.jail.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jail.jpg"><img src="media/9c39c603.jail.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jail.jpg" alt="jail" width="222" height="148" class="alignright size-full wp-image-70302"></a>Whenever anti-piracy groups decide to take action against large file-sharing platforms, they do so on the basis of achieving crushing punishments for their operators. Only severe punishments can stop hardcore pirates, they argue.</p>
<p>In France, a similar situation has been playing out. Back in June 2015 following a four-month investigation, people connected to the public torrent site OMGTorrent were arrested and taken into custody. Early claims suggested the site had offered for download more than 10,000 pirated movies.</p>
<p>Founded in 2008, the site had built up a solid userbase of around 3.5 million visitors per month. Police insisted it was a for-profit project.</p>
<p>&#8220;The people behind this platform do not do it for fun, through the platform they earn a lot of money,&#8221; a police spokesperson said at the time. &#8220;Even if they offer movies without requesting compensation, they earn money with various advertisements that appear alongside.&#8221;</p>
<p>Searches of two suspects&#8217; homes yielded several computers plus more than 3.5 terabytes of the latest movies. A separate server found overseas contained several thousand more.</p>
<p>Police warned that the site&#8217;s operators could face 10 years in jail plus millions in damages, but they weren&#8217;t going to stop there. Their investigations had led them to four of the site&#8217;s top downloaders who they intended to prosecute for receiving stolen goods.</p>
<p>After more than a year, six people connected with the site have now been sentenced and it&#8217;s harsh punishments all round.</p>
<p>Following a hearing in March, yesterday the Criminal Court of Chalons-en-Champagne (Marne, France) sentenced the founder of OMGTorrent to one year in prison. The 28-year-old was also ordered to pay a fine of around five million euros for the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted works.</p>
<p>Also <a href="http://www.20minutes.fr/culture/1924763-20160914-site-pirate-omgtorrent-webmaster-devra-verser-5-millions-euros-dommages-interet">sentenced</a> was a 38-year-old woman who had worked as a moderator on the site. She was given a four-month suspended sentence and told to pay damages to the plaintiffs in the case.</p>
<p>In an unusual turn of events, prosecutors also tracked down four of the site&#8217;s most heavy downloaders. They too were given prison sentences of one month each and are required to settle with rightsholders. </p>
<p>Based on an investigation carried out by ALPA (Association Against Audiovisual Piracy), the prosecution estimated that damages exceed 20 million euros.</p>
<p>Following the decision, the site&#8217;s founder posted an update to the <a href="https://www.wareziens.net/">Wareziens</a> forum.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been fined a total of 5,000,000 euros for financial damage, 12 months imprisonment and 4 more [months] from a former sentence. My mod has to pay approximately 1,000,000 euros for financial damage,&#8221; he wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;Others, those who have downloaded, I don&#8217;t know the amount for them, but it far exceeds 500,000 euros. Note: They seized the servers and used them to get the IP addresses of the big downloaders of content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Lashing out at those who hounded him, the admin said the judgment had really hurt. He said he understands why he needed to be punished but for those lower down the chain, the sentences were &#8220;beyond comprehension.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;To all the [anti-piracy groups and authorities]: You are a lot of vile shit, destroying lives of people who are already struggling to pay their rent, their food, their bills,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Why all this? Because they wanted to watch and because they didn&#8217;t necessarily have the capabilities to buy a DVD / BluRay or go to the theaters.&#8221;</p>
<p>Listing the country&#8217;s most popular torrent indexes, trackers and DDL sites, the admin declared that they would never fall.</p>
<p>&#8220;Warez is a hydra, you cut off one head, 10 will grow back. You&#8217;ll never kill this beautiful community. It&#8217;s like drug dealers, it will never stop,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Following the raid on OMGTorrent, an unknown third-party managed to secure the domain. The site is <a href="https://www.omgtorrent.me/">now working</a>, as it did before, as a public torrent index.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127728
title: EU Court: Open WiFi Operator Not Liable For Pirate Users
uri: EU-Court-Open-WiFi-Operator-Not-Liable-For-Pirate-Users
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/9kju-LHiwX0/
content:
<p><a href="media/1ef8d7ce.pirate-wifi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-wifi.jpg"><img src="media/1ef8d7ce.pirate-wifi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-wifi.jpg" alt="pirate-wifi" width="150" height="136" class="alignright size-full wp-image-38959"></a>Countless individuals and businesses around Europe operate open WiFi networks, but what happens when those networks are used by third parties to infringe intellectual property rights?</p>
<p>Pirate Party member Tobias McFadden runs a lighting and sound system shop in Germany and as part of his customer service and marketing efforts, he&#8217;s been operating an open WiFi network. Six years ago, this policy landed him in trouble with a major recording label.</p>
<p>In 2010, McFadden received a claim from music company Sony who alleged that his open WiFi had been used to offer one of their albums online without permission.</p>
<p>Sony demanded a range of measures from McFadden, including preventing future infringement by password protecting the WiFi network, blocking file-sharing ports, and logging/blocking users sharing copyrighted content.</p>
<p>Sony also wanted to hold McFadden liable for third party infringement, which led to the case being referred to the European Court of Justice. Yesterday the court handed down its judgment and its largely good news for the Pirate Party member.</p>
<p>[T]he Court holds, first of all, that making a Wi-Fi network available to the general public free of charge in order to draw the attention of potential customers to the goods and services of a shop constitutes an ‘information society service’ under the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/e-commerce/directive/index_en.htm">directive</a> on [electronic commerce],&#8221; the decision reads.</p>
<p>The Court further notes that in order for such &#8216;mere conduit&#8217; services to be exempt from third party liability, three cumulative conditions must be met:</p>
<p><em>&#8211; The provider must not have initiated the transmission</em></p>
<p><em>&#8211; It must not have selected the recipient of the transmission</em></p>
<p><em>&#8211; It must neither have selected nor modified the information contained in the transmission.</em></p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he Court confirms that, where the above three conditions are satisfied, a service provider such as Mr McFadden, who provides access to a communication network, may not be held liable,&#8221; the judgment reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Consequently, the copyright holder is not entitled to claim compensation on the ground that the network was used by third parties to infringe its rights. Since such a claim cannot be successful, the copyright holder is also precluded from claiming the reimbursement of the costs of giving formal notice or court costs incurred in relation to that claim.&#8221;</p>
<p>However, the decision did not go entirely McFadden&#8217;s way. In an effort to strike a balance between protecting a service provider from third party liability and the rights of IP owners, the Court ruled that providers can be required to end infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he directive does not preclude the copyright holder from seeking before a national authority or court to have such a service provider ordered to end, or prevent, any infringement of copyright committed by its customers,&#8221; the Court found.</p>
<p>One such measure could include the obtaining of an injunction which would force an operator to password-protect his open WiFi network in order to deter infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;In that regard, the Court nevertheless underlines that, in order to ensure that deterrent effect, it is necessary to require users to reveal their identity to be prevented from acting anonymously before obtaining the required password,&#8221; the ruling adds.</p>
<p>On a more positive note, the Court rejected the notion of monitoring networks for infringement or taking more aggressive actions where unnecessary. </p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he directive expressly rules out the adoption of a measure to monitor information transmitted via a given network. Similarly, a measure consisting in terminating the internet connection completely without considering the adoption of measures less restrictive of the connection provider’s freedom to conduct a business would not be capable of reconciling the abovementioned conflicting rights,&#8221; the Court concludes.</p>
<p>Commenting on the decision, <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96945/Marietje_SCHAAKE_home.html">Marietje Schaake MEP</a> says the ruling could complicate plans for more open access to WiFi.</p>
<p>&#8220;This may lead to a lot of unnecessary red tape for every small business that currently offers free Wi-Fi. [President of the European Commission] Juncker&#8217;s plan to offer <a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/juncker-promises-free-wi-fi-all-ambitious-eu-plan-498712?rm=eu">free WiFi in European Cities</a> also just became a bit more complicated after this ruling,&#8221; Schaake notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;On a more fundamental level we must remain vigilant that copyright enforcement does not become a Trojan horse for ending online anonymity.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127734
title: Alleged KickassTorrents Owner Denied Access to U.S. Counsel
uri: Alleged-KickassTorrents-Owner-Denied-Access-to-U-S-Counsel
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8hquwdTc1Qo/
content:
<p><img src="media/2279eece.kickasstorrents_500x5001-300x300.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x5001-300x300.png" alt="kickasstorrents_500x500" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-99785" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x5001-300x300.png 300w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x5001-150x150.png 150w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x5001.png 500w" sizes="(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px">In July, Polish law enforcement officers <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/feds-seize-kickasstorrents-domains-charge-owner-160720/">arrested</a> Artem Vaulin, the alleged founder of KickassTorrents, who’s been held in a local prison since.</p>
<p>Polish authorities acted on a criminal complaint from the U.S. Government, which accused him of criminal copyright infringement and money laundering.</p>
<p>Last month the 30-year-old Ukrainian was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-indicts-three-alleged-kickasstorrents-operators160825/">indicted</a> together with two co-conspirators, all with ties to Ukraine. While the fate of the other two is unknown, we&#8217;ve learned that the U.S. Government has now officially requested Vaulin&#8217;s extradition. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke with Vaulin&#8217;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-alleged-owner-retains-kim-dotcoms-lawyer-160728/">U.S. counsel</a> Ira <a href="https://twitter.com/rothken">Rothken</a> who informed us that the U.S. sent official notice of the extradition request to Poland this week. </p>
<p>The defense team is still working on getting the paperwork translated back into English so they can respond, but meanwhile they highlight another crucial issue. </p>
<p>Even though nearly two months have passed, the alleged KickassTorrents owner still hasn&#8217;t been allowed to meet with his U.S. defense team. A clear due process violation, according to Rothken. </p>
<p>&#8220;We still have not had an opportunity, nor have we been granted access, to meet with Artem Vaulin in prison in Poland. So we now believe that this has ripened into an international due process problem. </p>
<p>&#8220;We believe that Artem&#8217;s rights are now being impacted with his inability to communicate with U.S. counsel,&#8221; Rothken tells TF. </p>
<p>While Vaulin is allowed to meet with his Polish lawyer, Rothken stresses that this is not enough, since the case deals with a U.S. indictment, under U.S. law, based on evidence gathered by the United States of America.</p>
<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no way that there could be a fair trial in the United States, or a fair extradition process, without Artem being able to have access to U.S. counsel, to learn his rights, to be able to galvanize the evidence, and to do so in a robust and expedient manner,&#8221; Rothken tells TF. </p>
<p>This issue doesn&#8217;t only apply to the U.S. case, but also affects the extradition process and proceedings, which have just begun.</p>
<p>In recent weeks Vaulin&#8217;s defense team have exhausted every option they have to set up a meeting with the U.S. counsel, but all requests have been rejected so far. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have gone through all the hurdles that we could possibly go through with the Polish authorities. Right now there&#8217;s simply no proper basis for them not to give access, other than the fact that they&#8217;re involved in procedural gamesmanship,&#8221; Rothken says.</p>
<p>Instead, the defense sees no other option than to raise the issue in court. They plan to do so in the near future and hope to have the case dismissed as a result of these due process problems.</p>
<p>&#8220;Right now we think the only remedy can be that when you go ahead and interfere with a U.S. defendant having access to his U.S. counsel, the entire case should be dismissed in the interest of justice,&#8221; Rothken concludes.  </p>
<p>More news about the due process problems and the extradition process is expected to become available as the case evolves.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127600
title: Torrent Site Founder Faces Outrageous Damages Claim, Lawyer Says
uri: Torrent-Site-Founder-Faces-Outrageous-Damages-Claim-Lawyer-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wCbDA7LS_AQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/14cc0b6b.swepiracy.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/swepiracy.jpg" width="180" height="50" alt="" class="alignright size-large">Founded back in 2006, SwePiracy grew to become one of the most famous private torrent sites on the Swedish scene. With that reputation came attention from anti-piracy groups and local authorities</p>
<p>In the wake of the “guilty” verdict in the Pirate Bay trial during April 2009, SwePiracy disappeared offline. It reappeared just a few weeks later.</p>
<p>Anti-piracy group Antipiratbyrån (now Rights Alliance) said that during this downtime, the operators of the site took measures to improve their security. However, three years later those efforts proved futile.</p>
<p>In February 2012, police in Sweden and the Netherlands took coordinated action to shut down the site and earlier this year its 24-year-old operator <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/fun-torrent-site-could-result-in-jail-millions-in-damages-160107/">appeared in court</a> for the first time facing several years in prison.</p>
<p>Despite the prosecution admitting that the site had likely been created for fun, it&#8217;s alleged SwePiracy raised $100,000 from donations. As a result, the pursuit of damages against its operator was to be made &#8220;according to The Pirate Bay model”, i.e extremely aggressively.</p>
<p>This week the now 25-year-old appeared in court again, facing charges that he assisted in the unlawful distribution of a large number of movies. As is customary in such cases, the prosecution has homed in on a smaller sample of 27 movies in its evidence.</p>
<p>&#8220;They earned a lot of money, they spread huge amounts of pirated content and this [man] is one of the key players. Therefore, it is important that those involved are sentenced to severe punishment,&#8221; <a href="http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/ost/kravs-pa-20-miljoner-for-fildelning">said</a> Henrik Pontén of Rights Alliance, who represent Nordisk Film, one of the plaintiffs in the case.</p>
<p>One of five companies acting against SwePiracy, Nordisk is reportedly being the most aggressive. The film distributor is demanding more than $3m (20m kronor) in damages for a single low-budget movie.</p>
<p>SwePiracy defense lawyer Per E. Samuelsson, who also represents Julian Assange and previously took part in The Pirate Bay trial, says the claims are the most unreasonable he&#8217;s ever witnessed in his 35 years as a lawyer.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think this is the most unreasonable claim for damages I have been through. The idea that [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85sa-Nisse">this type of film</a>] could cause 20-25 million kronor in damages on an illegal file-sharing site is totally absurd from every point of view,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Swedish news outlet SVT reported an exchange in court between Samuelsson and Pontén, in which the former argued that his client had started the site as a child, for fun.</p>
<p>&#8220;My client started [SwePiracy] when he was 14 years old. It was purely a prank,&#8221; Samuelsson said.</p>
<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s not true,&#8221; Pontén objected. &#8220;He was not fourteen years old when he committed these acts. At some point, he has certainly been fourteen, but when he did this he was criminally responsible and earned lots of money.&#8221;</p>
<p>The verdict will be handed down at a later date.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127633
title: Elsevier Wants CloudFlare to Expose Pirate Sites
uri: Elsevier-Wants-CloudFlare-to-Expose-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vHx8BNgI_X0/
content:
<p><img src="media/4a535cc9.cloudflare.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare.png" alt="cloudflare" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96401">Elsevier is one of the largest academic publishers in the world.</p>
<p>Through its ScienceDirect portal the company controls access to millions of scientific articles spread out over thousands of journals, most of which are behind a paywall.</p>
<p>Not all academics are happy with these restrictions that hamper their work. As a result, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-helps-science-pirates-to-download-100000s-of-papers-per-day-160229/">hundreds of thousands</a> of researchers are turning to &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites such as Sci-Hub, Libgen and Bookfi to access papers for free.</p>
<p>Elsevier views these sites as a major threat to its business model and last year it <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/elsevier-cracks-down-on-pirated-scientific-articles-150609/">filed a complaint</a> at a New York District Court, accusing the sites’ operators of systematic copyright infringement.</p>
<p>The publisher managed to obtain a preliminary injunction to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-shutdown-of-libgen-bookfi-and-sci-hub-151102/">seize the sites&#8217; domain names</a>. However, the case is still ongoing and the three sites in question continue to operate from new domains.</p>
<p>Over the past several months a lot of media coverage focused on Sci-Hub and its operator <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/science-pirate-attacks-elseviers-copyright-monopoly-in-court-150916/">Alexandra Elbakyan</a>. However, Elsevier still has no clue who&#8217;s behind the other two sites. With help from Cloudflare, it hopes to fill in the gaps. </p>
<p>Earlier this week Elsevier submitted a motion for leave to take discovery (<a href="media/e09775dd.discomemor.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/discomemor.pdf">pdf</a>), so it can demand logs and other personally identifiable data about the operators of Libgen and Bookfi from Cloudflare. </p>
<p>Both sites previously used Cloudflare&#8217;s CDN services and the publisher is hoping that they still have crucial information on file. </p>
<p>Elsevier already tried to obtain the host IP addresses of the sites through the &#8220;Trusted Reporter&#8221; program, but Cloudflare replied that it could not share this info for sites that are no longer active on its network.</p>
<p>In addition to contacting Cloudflare, the academic publisher also requested information from <a href="http://whoisprivacycorp.com/">Whois Privacy Corp.</a> – the domain registration anonymization service used by both Libgen.org and Bookfi.org &#8211; but the company hasn&#8217;t responded to these requests at all.</p>
<p>&#8220;Elsevier has used all of the tools at its disposal in its attempt to identify the operators of Libgen.org and Bookfi.org,&#8221; Elsevier informs the court.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, as a consequence of the Defendants’ use of various service providers to anonymize their identities, as well as the nonresponsiveness of those service providers to Elsevier’s requests to date, these efforts have thus far been fruitless.&#8221; </p>
<p>According to Elsevier, a court-ordered discovery subpoena is the only option to move the case forward and identify the defendants behind Libgen and Bookfi. </p>
<p>&#8220;As a result, Elsevier has exhausted all other reasonable options and now must now seek this Court’s intervention in order to obtain identifying information concerning John Doe Defendants [&#8230;] from CloudFlare: a business which has had direct dealings with both Libgen.org and Bookfi.org,&#8221; Elsevier adds.</p>
<p>Since neither Libgen not Bookfi are currently using Cloudflare&#8217;s services, it remains to be seen whether the company still has the site&#8217;s old IP-addresses and other information on file. </p>
<p>On Thursday the court granted Elsevier&#8217;s leave to take discovery ordering CloudFlare to save all relevant logs until a final discovery decision is taken. Before that happens, CloudFlare will have a chance to respond to the request.</p>
<p>To leave room for the possible discovery process, Elsevier previously asked for the pretrial hearing to be postponed. It will now take place late October.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the websites continue serving  &#8216;pirated&#8217; papers and books through their new domain names at golibgen.io, bookfi.net and sci-hub.cc.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127730
title: Has the EU Just Outlawed ‘Fully-Loaded’ Kodi Boxes?
uri: Has-the-EU-Just-Outlawed-Fully-Loaded-Kodi-Boxes
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JyaOPle7UbY/
content:
<p><a href="media/86968eca.kodi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi.jpg"><img src="media/86968eca.kodi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi.jpg" alt="kodi" width="200" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106816"></a>While millions of people around the globe share files using BitTorrent every day, there are some who prefer to stream their content instead.</p>
<p>These users can easily visit any one of thousands of streaming portals via a desktop web browser but for those looking for complete convenience, set-top boxes offer a perfect solution.</p>
<p>These devices, often Android-based, regularly come with the Kodi media center already installed. However, Kodi provides no illegal content &#8211; custom addons do &#8211; and it&#8217;s their inclusion in the package that provides users with what they want &#8211; free (or cost reduced) movies, TV, and sports.</p>
<p>One of the groups trying to crack down on so-called &#8220;fully loaded&#8221; boxes is Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN. The organization has threatened legal action against several local suppliers and has had <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/when-piracy-gets-too-easy-expect-a-big-response-150620/">one case</a> referred to the European Court. However, a decision in a separate case last week could have big implications for &#8220;fully loaded&#8221; box supply across Europe, BREIN says.</p>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-court-not-for-profit-hyperlinking-usually-not-infringement-160908/">The case</a>, which involved Dutch blog GeenStijl.nl and Playboy, resulted in an important ruling from the European Court of Justice.</p>
<p>The Court found that when &#8220;hyperlinks are posted for profit, it may be expected that the person who posted such a link should carry out the checks necessary to ensure that the work concerned is not illegally published.&#8221; In other words, posting links to infringing content in a commercial environment amounts to a communication to the public, and is therefore illegal.</p>
<p>For groups like BREIN, the ruling opens up new avenues for anti-piracy action. For sellers of piracy-capable boxes and related IPTV subscriptions across the EU, trouble could lie in wait. </p>
<p>&#8220;Copyright protection organization BREIN holds suppliers of IPTV devices responsible for verifying whether their sources for internet TV channels are legal or not. In general, this is not the case,&#8221; BREIN said in a statement this week.</p>
<p>&#8220;Suppliers advertise that when buying their service you do not have to pay separately for pay-channels for films, TV shows, and sports. Such a compilation costs a fraction of the total sum of subscriptions to the individual channels.&#8221;</p>
<p>BREIN says that following the decision of the European Court of Justice last week, commercial suppliers of IPTV boxes are now obliged to verify whether the sources being linked in their devices are authorized by the content providers. If they are not, the seller could be held liable for infringement.</p>
<p>If BREIN&#8217;s interpretation of the decision proves correct, sellers of &#8220;fully-loaded&#8221; Kodi and other IPTV boxes face a minefield of uncertainty.</p>
<p>There is absolutely no way vendors can check every single link contained in the software present in the boxes they sell. Furthermore, those links are often updated automatically, meaning that what is legal on the day they are sold might not be legal when the software updates tomorrow.</p>
<p>But while it&#8217;s certainly possible that BREIN&#8217;s take on the decision will prove to be correct, actually enforcing the law against hundreds or even thousands of suppliers is likely to prove impossible. Big suppliers are easily targeted though, which may send out a warning.</p>
<p>&#8220;BREIN has written letters to suppliers of IPTV subscriptions to warn them that they are required to verify beforehand whether the sources for the IPTV channels they use are legal. If the suppliers are not willing to do so, then BREIN will institute court proceedings,&#8221; BREIN says.</p>
<p>However, more often that not &#8220;fully loaded&#8221; boxes are offered for sale on eBay and Amazon by regular people out to make a few bucks. Taking action against every single one is not realistic.</p>
<p>But even if all infringing boxes were wiped from sale, that wouldn&#8217;t stop people selling blank devices. These can be easily setup by the user to stream all of the latest movies, sports and TV shows with a few clicks, rendering a smart supplier immune from liability.</p>
<p>And of course, anyone with VLC Media Player and the ability to Google can find plenty of dedicated IPTV streams available online, without paying anyone a penny.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127210
title: Anti-Piracy Outfits Caught Fabricating Takedown Notices
uri: Anti-Piracy-Outfits-Caught-Fabricating-Takedown-Notices
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bt3FloVjyOY/
content:
<p><img src="media/e4713c16.fraudalert.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fraudalert.jpg" alt="fraudalert" width="250" height="176" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127814">Every hour of the day dozens of anti-piracy outfits scour the web to find copyright-infringing content, so they can target it with takedown notices.</p>
<p>Since they&#8217;re dealing with such as massive volume of often automated requests, it&#8217;s no surprise that every now and then an error is made. </p>
<p>In recent years we have frequently pointed out such mistakes, some more serious than others. In a few cases, however, reporting organizations appear to make very little effort to be correct. </p>
<p>In fact, we&#8217;ve discovered that some are deliberately and automatically fabricating links to broaden their scope.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago we reported that defunct torrent cache services were receiving takedown notices for <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/fail-anti-piracy-outfits-send-takedown-request-for-non-existent-torrents-160821/">files that never existed</a>, but it appears that the problem is much broader than first thought. Various torrent proxy and clone sites, dead or alive, are also receiving similar treatment. </p>
<p>For example, take the website Torrentz2.eu, which is a clone of the original Torrentz.eu that shut down a few weeks ago. The site links to plenty of copyrighted content, drawing the attention of rightsholders including the anti-piracy department at NBC Universal. </p>
<p>Below is a takedown notice sent out by NBC recently, one of many that come in the same format. </p>
<p><center><strong>One of NBCUniversal&#8217;s takedown notices</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/21765fe2.torrentz2.eu_.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrentz2.eu_.png" alt="torrentz2-eu" width="600" height="257" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127817"></center></p>
<p>For most outsiders this may look like a proper notice. However, upon closer inspection it&#8217;s clear that the URL structure of the links is different from the format Torrentz2 uses. The notice is question lists this URL:</p>
<p><em>http://torrentz2.eu/dv/2012+dvdrip+battleship+mp4-q</em></p>
<p>On Torrentz2, however, the search &#8220;2012 dvdrip battleship mp4&#8221; generates the following URL, which is clearly different. </p>
<p><em>https://torrentz2.eu/search?f=2012+dvdrip+battleship+mp4</em></p>
<p>The link NBC Universal reports has never existed and simply <a href="https://torrentz2.eu/dv/2012+dvdrip+battleship+mp4-q">returns a blank page</a>. TorrentFreak reached out to the operator of the site who confirmed that they have never used this URL format.</p>
<p>This &#8216;mistake&#8217; can be explained though. The URL structure NBCUniversal uses comes from the original Torrentz site, meaning that NBC simply did a search and replaced the old domain with a new one, without checking if the URLs exist. </p>
<p>In other words, they fabricated these links. </p>
<p>Further research reveals that this practice is rather common for clones and proxy sites. In the past we&#8217;ve already raised suspicions about long lists of URLs with the same structure, which appeared to be automatically generated.</p>
<p>Since most of these did link to actual content, it was hard to proof that they were being made up. However, when takedown notices are sent long after a site has gone offline, targeting content that didn&#8217;t exist when the site was still up, it becomes crystal clear what&#8217;s happening.</p>
<p>Take the domain name Extratorrent.space, for example. This was part of a ring of thousands of proxy sites that all shut down last year. However, anti-piracy groups are <a href="https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/searchdata/domains/?id=extratorrent.space">still targeting these URLs</a> with <em>new</em> takedown requests. </p>
<p>In fact, there are many recent takedown requests that list content that wasn&#8217;t available at the time the site was operating. This is indisputable proof that these URLs are fabricated.</p>
<p><center><strong>Ghost proxies</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/1a3a6249.deadlinks.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deadlinks.png" alt="deadlinks" width="600" height="181" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127861"></center></p>
<p>The screenshot above is just a <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/13003300">random request</a> that came in this week, seemingly targeting pirated copies of X-Men: Apocalypse. However, the proxy site domains in question have been offline for a long time, some <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/thousands-of-torrent-site-proxies-disappear-151013/">close to a year</a>.</p>
<p>Please note that these are not isolated or rare &#8216;mistakes.&#8217; Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of fabricated links to these proxy sites have been sent out over the past several months, inflating Google&#8217;s takedown numbers.</p>
<p>So why are these fabricated notices being sent? One reason might be laziness. Anti-piracy outfits discover the URL structure of a site and simply keep sending notices without checking if the sites are still up. </p>
<p>Another motivation for anti-piracy outfits could be to boost their numbers. Many get paid based on the volume of notices they send out, so more links means extra cash. </p>
<p>Whatever the case is, the fabricated links above are just another example of the carelessness of some rightsholders and reporting organizations when it comes to the DMCA takedown procedure, skewing the actual numbers.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127882
title: Copyright Is Not an Inevitable or Divine Right, Court Rules
uri: Copyright-Is-Not-an-Inevitable-or-Divine-Right-Court-Rules
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FtLVKBr8jAk/
content:
<p><img src="media/bd0abf4c.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg" alt="copyright-blood" width="225" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120567">In many countries it&#8217;s common for universities to print course packs, consisting of chapters of various educational books. This allows professors to use a tailored selection of literature they deem relevant for the course in question. </p>
<p>However, not all publishers like this practice. They often demand license fees if the number of copied pages exceeds a certain limit. This is also the nature of a long-running copyright case in India.</p>
<p>Rameshwari Photocopy Services, a small copyshop licensed by Delhi University, was sued by several large publishers including Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, because it failed to pay compensation for copied work. </p>
<p>The case was filed in 2012 and late last week the Delhi High Court issued its verdict, which had been highly anticipated by both academics and copyright lawyers. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://spicyip.com/2016/09/du-photocopy-case-a-breakthrough-in-indian-copyright-jurisprudence.html">outcome</a>, detailed in a 94-page decision (<a href="media/c9e8df05.notadivine.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/notadivine.pdf">pdf</a>), is a clear win for the copyshop. The Court held that copying parts of books is permitted, as long as it&#8217;s for educational use. </p>
<p>In his decision the Chief Justice recalls that during his study, copying was already very common. While suitable copying machines were not available then, students copied books manually, page for page.</p>
<p>The fact that the copyshop now saves students time and effort doesn&#8217;t mean that it should suddenly become an offense under Indian copyright law. Students are still copying parts of books, just not by hand.</p>
<p>&#8220;When the effect of the action is the same, the difference in the mode of action cannot make a difference so as to make one an offence,&#8221; the verdict reads.</p>
<p>In addition, the High Court clarifies that copyright is not an inevitable or divine right, which allows creators to maintain strict and total control over their works.</p>
<p>In the case of education, in particular, it is fair dealing when educators and students copy work to advance knowledge. Making partial copies of books that are available in the university library, certainly fits this description. </p>
<p>&#8220;Copyright, specially in literary works, is thus not an inevitable, divine, or natural right that confers on authors the absolute ownership of their creations,&#8221; the verdict reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;It is designed rather to stimulate activity and progress in the arts for the intellectual enrichment of the public. Copyright is intended to increase and not to impede the harvest of knowledge,&#8221; it adds.</p>
<p>The landmark ruling is being welcomed by students and academic scholars, who can now freely copy texts without having to worry about breaking the law.</p>
<p>&#8220;The judgment has immense consequences beyond India and is a bold articulation of the principles of equitable access to knowledge — and one that deserves to be emulated globally.&#8221; <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/judgment-in-the-delhi-university-photocopying-case-a-blow-for-the-right-to-knowledge/article9121260.ece?utm_source=RSS_Feed&#038;utm_medium=RSS&#038;utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication">writes Lawrence Liang</a>, law professor at Ambedkar University, currently teaching at Yale.</p>
<p>&#8220;Aggressively pushed by the copyright lobby, such as Hollywood, the music industry and the publishing cartels, copyright law had effectively been hijacked by narrow commercial interests,&#8221; he adds. </p>
<p>The publishers, however, responded with disappointment and fear that the verdict will limit the availability of educational content in India.  </p>
<p>&#8220;It is unfortunate that the court&#8217;s decision today could undermine the availability of original content for the benefit of students and teachers,&#8221; <a href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160917/jsp/frontpage/story_108732.jsp">they said</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127875
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 09/19/16
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-09-19-16
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/86CqLYGIz9w/
content:
<p><img src="media/85d1cad7.capt1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/capt1.jpg" alt="capt1" width="300" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-122164">This week we have three newcomers in our chart. </p>
<p>Captain America: Civil War: Out of the Shadows 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 Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-091216/">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="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/captain_america_civil_war">Captain America: Civil War</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498820/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKrVegVI0Us">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/x_men_apocalypse">X-Men: Apocalypse</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3385516/">6=7.8=3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jer8XjMrUB4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/alice_in_wonderland_through_the_looking_glass">Alice Through The Looking Glass</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2567026/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3IWwnNe5mc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/now_you_see_me_2">Now You See Me 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3110958/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I8rVcSQbic">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles_out_of_the_shadows">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3949660/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sf0ZQfcSrc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_shallows">The Shallows</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4052882/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgdxIlSuB70">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sully">Sully</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3263904/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjKEXxO2KNE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jason_bourne/">Jason Bourne</a> (HDTC/Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4196776/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v71ce1Dqqns">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mike_and_dave_need_wedding_dates">Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2823054/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQNa2-5d2U">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/31">31</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3835080">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hqR1JAZhmg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127885
title: Former Disney Digital Boss Says He “Loves Piracy”
uri: Former-Disney-Digital-Boss-Says-He-Loves-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Hl2LtdMJYcE/
content:
<p><a href="media/c11b076f.disney-pirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/disney-pirate.jpg"><img src="media/c11b076f.disney-pirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/disney-pirate.jpg" alt="disney-pirate" width="275" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95935"></a>The piracy debate can be broadly split into two camps &#8211; those who believe it&#8217;s a destructive thing that needs to be stopped at all costs, and those who maintain the phenomenon has its upsides.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, many of those in the first camp hail from entertainment industry companies with a shared mission to harness every possible sale. As a result, they&#8217;re often united when it comes to condemning unauthorized sharing and downloading.</p>
<p>Every now and again, however, someone comes along with a controversial opinion of their own.</p>
<p>Samir Bangara is the former managing director of The Walt Disney Company in India (Disney UTV). Appointed in 2012, Bangara helped to drive growth in video, games and audio for mobile, online and interactive TV following a restructuring of Disney&#8217;s digital assets.</p>
<p>Later, Bangara left Disney to form media startup <a href="http://www.qyuki.com/about/">Qyuki.com</a> as MD and CEO. Qyuki is a platform for artists to share their creations, connect with others, and generate revenue. With these goals in mind, one might think the company would take an anti-piracy stance. Instead, its MD suggests otherwise.</p>
<p>“I’m going to put it out there. I love piracy,&#8221; said Bangara during the huge <a href="http://www.allthatmatters.asia/main/">All That Matters</a> content conference in Singapore.</p>
<p>With key players from Netflix, Spotify, Merlin, FOX, Universal, Warner, UFC, Disney, Beggars Group and RIAJ all speaking at the event, Bangara&#8217;s statement probably raised a few eyebrows. However, there was method in his madness.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.mumbrella.asia/2016/09/i-love-piracy-says-former-disney-executive-as-panel-debates-the-impact-of-ott-platforms-in-asia/">Mumbrella</a>, the former Disney boss believes that one of the main problems in today&#8217;s content-rich world is getting noticed.</p>
<p>&#8220;I love piracy. Because guess what, the biggest problem right now is discoverability,&#8221; Bangara told a panel moderated by Tony Zameczkowski, Vice President of Business Development for Asia-Pacific at Netflix.</p>
<p>While Bangara&#8217;s love of piracy probably wasn&#8217;t shared by many in attendance, illicit consumption has always been useful for showing what is popular among the fans. Indeed, the concept is one Netflix is very familiar with.</p>
<p>Back in 2013, the streaming platform <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-uses-pirate-sites-to-determine-what-shows-to-buy-130914/">revealed</a> that it had been monitoring pirate sites in order to gauge the popularity of shows.</p>
<p>The data compiled by Netflix was subsequently used to decide which shows to invest in. The company could buy with confidence, safe in the knowledge that the content they were buying had already been tested in the market.</p>
<p>With huge volumes of content available online, Bangara says that finding the good stuff can be a challenge. But knowing in advance what will work is definitely an advantage.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are tens of thousands of hours of content getting uploaded. The challenge is finding what is working,&#8221; he told the panel.</p>
<p>“What is getting pirated is by default working. Game of Thrones is great, so it’s going to get pirated,” he said.</p>
<p>Netflix took the same approach when it launched in the Netherlands. The company discovered that Prison Break was &#8220;exceptionally popular&#8221; on pirate sites, so took the decision to buy the show.</p>
<p>Of course, not everyone listening to Bangara shared his love of piracy. Shufen Lin, Vice-President &#038; Head at Singapore-based telecoms and content company <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarHub">Starhub</a>, said that piracy was “the biggest thing that keeps us awake at night.”</p>
<p>Interestingly, however, Lin says the challenge presented by piracy in Singapore isn&#8217;t simply competing with &#8216;free&#8217;, at least not in the traditional sense. By Western standards, Singapore has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Singapore#Films_and_videos">strict censorship</a> in place, meaning that content available on torrent sites provides an attractive alternative to locally censored material.</p>
<p>In reality, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/media-companies-track-pirated-downloads-for-marketing-purposes-150218/">many companies</a> use piracy networks to gather information which helps their businesses. In most cases, they just aren&#8217;t as up front about it as Bangara or indeed Netflix.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127920
title: Web Security Firm Sitelock Uses DMCA to Censor Critics
uri: Web-Security-Firm-Sitelock-Uses-DMCA-to-Censor-Critics
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UGc2uXu1TOs/
content:
<p><a href="media/bd0abf4c.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg"><img src="media/bd0abf4c.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg" alt="copyright-blood" width="225" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120567"></a>The takedown provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act are most closely associated with alleged infringement in the file-sharing space. As a result, millions of notices are sent to a wide range of websites, not least Google&#8217;s search.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-flags-website-piracy-portal-160904/">recent case</a> involving Warner illustrated, erroneous notices can prove controversial, but perhaps the most egregious examples involve efforts to silence critics under the guise of protecting copyrights. One such situation appears to be underway between two players in the website security sector.</p>
<p>In the blue corner stands SiteLock, the self-professed &#8220;Global Leader in business website security solutions.&#8221; With more than 8,000,000 customers worldwide, it&#8217;s more than likely that its logo (shown bottom right in the image below) is familiar to readers.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/34f79da2.sitelock-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sitelock-1.png"><img src="media/34f79da2.sitelock-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sitelock-1.png" alt="sitelock-1" width="600" height="394" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127927"></a></center></p>
<p>Sitelock&#8217;s <a href="https://www.sitelock.com/products">product range</a> is impressive but no matter what it does, the company cannot seem to impress White Fir Design, its rival in the blue corner.</p>
<p>For the past few years, web design and security company <a href="http://www.whitefirdesign.com/about/">White Fir</a> has been publishing articles critical of SiteLock. In 2014, for example, the company <a href="http://www.whitefirdesign.com/blog/2014/09/03/sitelock-fails-to-do-basic-security-check/">published a piece</a> declaring that Sitelock was poor at protecting its clients. </p>
<p>This was followed by <a href="https://www.whitefirdesign.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=sitelock">several others</a> continuing on the same theme, including a May 2016 piece declaring that Sitelock was <a href="http://www.whitefirdesign.com/blog/2016/05/03/it-looks-like-sitelock-is-scamming-people/">scamming its customers</a>. Clearly, things were beginning to heat up.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not clear whether Sitelock disagrees with any of White Fir&#8217;s critique but the company has certainly noticed the articles published web outfit. That became evident this week when Sitelock filed DMCA notices against two pieces published by White Fir.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have seen a lot of ridiculous stuff from SiteLock recently, but this has to take the cake,&#8221; White Fir said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;They have now filed a DMCA takedown notice against our website for including a screenshot of their homepage in one [of] our posts.&#8221;</p>
<p>The screenshot posted by White Fir originally <a href="http://www.whitefirdesign.com/blog/2016/02/26/sitelock-labels-website-as-secure-despite-being-very-dangerous-for-visitors/">appeared in an article</a> which claimed how Sitelock had placed their seal of approval on a site, despite it being dangerous for visitors. The screenshot has now been removed but a copy can be seen below.</p>
<p><Center><br>
<h5>The allegedly-infringing screenshot</h5>
<p><a href="media/d936798e.sitelock-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sitelock-2.png"><img src="media/d936798e.sitelock-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sitelock-2.png" alt="sitelock-2" width="600" height="496" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127930"></a></center></p>
<p>The resulting DMCA notice from SiteLock claims that White Fir&#8217;s use of the screenshot is infringing.</p>
<p>&#8220;My name is Logan Kipp, I am contacting you on behalf of my company SiteLock, LLC. A website that your company hosts at IP *66.39.94.41 (WHITEFIRDESIGN.COM) is infringing on at least one copyright owned by SiteLock, LLC,&#8221; the complaint to White Fir&#8217;s hosting company reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Content has been taken from our official websites, SiteLock.com and wpdistrict.sitelock.com, and used without the authorization of SiteLock, LLC on the website WHITEFIRDESIGN.COM.&#8221;</p>
<p>The second complaint Sitelock filed against White Fir concerned a piece <a href="http://www.whitefirdesign.com/blog/2016/09/06/sitelock-spreading-false-information-about-wordpress-security-to-their-customers-through-their-platform-scan-for-wordpress/">published early September</a> which alleged that SiteLock had reported certain versions of WordPress as having &#8220;critical&#8221; vulnerabilities when in fact they did not.</p>
<p>To support their critique, White Fir <a href="media/7e3d651c.sitelock-dmca-2.png" data-original-source="https://www.whitefirdesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/sitelock-dmca-2.png">included a screenshot</a> of a table published by SiteLock. It&#8217;s clear that White Fir had the right to do so under Fair Use but SiteLock&#8217;s <a href="https://twitter.com/logankipp">Logan Kipp</a> felt otherwise, filing a complaint with White Fir&#8217;s host.</p>
<p>&#8220;I request that you immediately notify the infringer of this notice and inform them of their duty to remove the infringing material immediately, and notify them to cease any further posting of infringing material to your server in the future,&#8221; SiteLock told the host.</p>
<p>&#8220;If service providers do not investigate and remove or disable the infringing material [safe harbor] immunity is lost. Therefore, in order for you to remain immune from a copyright infringement action you will need to investigate and ultimately remove or otherwise disable the infringing material from your servers with all due speed should the direct infringer, your client, not comply immediately.&#8221;</p>
<p>Quite why White Fir chose to comply with SiteLock&#8217;s takedown demands is unclear, as the usage of the screenshots is legal for the purposes of news reporting and critique. However, as White Fir point out, if the aim was to silence them, that has backfired.</p>
<p>&#8220;What makes this even more ridiculous is [SiteLock] clearly now know that their post is showing that they lack a basic understanding of WordPress security, but instead of fixing their post, they are trying to hide you from seeing an image on our website,&#8221; White Fir <a href="https://www.whitefirdesign.com/blog/2016/09/19/sitelock-filed-a-dmca-takedown-notice-against-our-website-for-a-screenshot-of-their-homepage/">explain</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The only reasonable explanation we can think of for them doing this is that they thought they could get the pages those images were on removed by filing [the complaint], because removing the images alone doesn’t do anything to cover up what they are up to.&#8221;</p>
<p>And so the DMCA wars continue&#8230;.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127956
title: Most Young Millennials Love Piracy and Ad-Blockers
uri: Most-Young-Millennials-Love-Piracy-and-Ad-Blockers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/dKFMQLk1v9U/
content:
<p><img src="media/0fe8e43a.piratekay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratekay.jpg" alt="piratekay" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108106">Despite the availability of many legal services, piracy remains rampant among millennials in the United States. </p>
<p>This is one of the main conclusions of the &#8220;<a href="http://anatomymedia.com/portfolio/millennials-at-the-gate/">Millennials at the Gate</a>&#8221; report, released by <a href="http://www.anatomymedia.com">Anatomy Media</a>. The report is based on a comprehensive survey of 2,700 young millennials between 18 and 24, and zooms in on piracy and ad-blocking preferences in this age group.</p>
<p>The results show that more than two thirds, a whopping 69%, admit to using at least one form of piracy to watch video. </p>
<p>Online streaming is by far the most popular choice among these pirates, whether it&#8217;s on the desktop (42%) or via mobile (41%). Torrenting, on the other hand, is on the decline and is stuck at 17% in this age group.</p>
<p><center><strong>Piracy preferences</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/04ed96d3.piracymillen.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracymillen.png" alt="piracymillen" width="600" height="207" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127962"></center></p>
<p>Streaming from unofficial sources is so dominant now that Anatomy Media decided to come up with a new word for those who engage in it: striminals. Whether they seriously considered the better fitting &#8220;striminalennials&#8221; is unclear. </p>
<p>&#8220;These streaming millennial criminals, or what we call &#8216;striminals,&#8217; watch what they want, when they want, where they want, and they don’t pay for it,&#8221; the company explains.  </p>
<p>Interestingly, 67% of all millennials believe that streaming unauthorized content is perfectly legal. Only 18% believe that it is wrong to stream content without paying for it.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth highlighting that it&#8217;s up for debate whether the term &#8220;criminal&#8221; accurately describes people who casually stream unauthorized videos. Attempts to make streaming a felony <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_S.978">previously failed</a> in the United States congress.</p>
<p>In addition to online piracy, young millennials are quite fond of ad-blockers. The report shows that two out of three use a mobile or desktop ad-blocker, or both. </p>
<p><center><strong>Ad-blocking preferences</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/50489eab.ad-blocking.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ad-blocking.png" alt="ad-blocking" width="600" height="384" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127963"></center></p>
<p>Interestingly, there is a direct link between the use of ad-blockers and online piracy. Millennials who are into mobile piracy use mobile ad-blockers more often, while desktop pirates have a higher preference for desktop ad-blockers.</p>
<p>Anatomy Media suggest that piracy and ad-blocking might reinforce each other. Online pirates may be more likely to use ad-blockers because pirate sites are often ad-ridden, they argue. However, this causal relationship wasn&#8217;t researched.</p>
<p><center><strong>Piracy and ad-blocking</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/9cfa1c14.piracyadblocking.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracyadblocking.png" alt="piracyadblocking" width="600" height="566" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127964"></center></p>
<p>While the above paints a grim picture for media companies, not all is lost according to Anatomy Media. The company, which conveniently specializes in &#8220;creative advertising,&#8221; says that a better viewing experience could encourage millennials to move over to the right side. </p>
<p>&#8220;Young millennials’ dissatisfaction with their viewer experience and their overwhelming adoption of ad blockers is a call-to-action to improve the viewer experience and review the nature of the digital ad experience,&#8221; the report concludes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Millennials will accept advertising as long as it is restrained, targeted and relevant,&#8221; the company self-servingly adds.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127988
title: Malicious Torrent Network Tool Revealed By Security Company
uri: Malicious-Torrent-Network-Tool-Revealed-By-Security-Company
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/T2oDuW9mLKM/
content:
<p><a href="media/66cb7491.danger-p2p.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/danger-p2p.png"><img src="media/66cb7491.danger-p2p.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/danger-p2p.png" alt="danger-p2p" width="200" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72185"></a>More than 35 years after 15-year-old high school student <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Skrenta">Rich Skrenta</a> created the first publicly spread virus, millions of pieces of malware are being spread around the world.</p>
<p>Attackers&#8217; motives are varied but these days they&#8217;re often working for financial gain. As a result, popular websites and their users are regularly targeted. Security company <a href="https://www.infoarmor.com">InfoArmor</a> has just published a report detailing a particularly interesting threat which homes in on torrent site users.</p>
<p>&#8220;InfoArmor has identified a special tool used by cybercriminals to distribute malware by packaging it with the most popular torrent files on the Internet,&#8221; the company reports.</p>
<p>InfoArmor says the so-called &#8220;RAUM&#8221; tool is being offered via &#8220;underground affiliate networks&#8221; with attackers being financially incentivized to spread the malicious software through infected torrent files.</p>
<p>&#8220;Members of these networks are invited by special invitation only, with strict verification of each new member,&#8221; the company reports.</p>
<p>InfoArmor says that the attackers&#8217; infrastructure has a monitoring system in place which allows them to track the latest trends in downloading, presumably so that attacks can reach the greatest numbers of victims.</p>
<p>&#8220;The bad actors have analyzed trends on video, audio, software and other digital content downloads from around the globe and have created seeds on famous torrent trackers using weaponized torrents packaged with malicious code,&#8221; they explain.</p>
<p>RAUM instances were associated with a range of malware including CryptXXX, CTB-Locker and Cerber, online-banking Trojan Dridex and password stealing spyware Pony.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have identified in excess of 1,639,000 records collected in the past few months from the infected victims with various credentials to online-services, gaming, social media, corporate resources and exfiltrated data from the uncovered network,&#8221; InfoArmor reveals.</p>
<p>What is perhaps most interesting about InfoArmor&#8217;s research is how it shines light on the operation of RAUM behind the scenes. The company has published a screenshot which claims to show the system&#8217;s <a href="media/ced4cf14.raum-3.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/raum-3.jpg">dashboard</a>, featuring infected torrents on several sites, a &#8216;fake&#8217; Pirate Bay site in particular. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/bcbd6d67.dashtorrents.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dashtorrents.jpg" alt="dashtorrents" width="600" height="538" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-128004"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Threat actors were systematically monitoring the status of the created malicious seeds on famous torrent trackers such as The Pirate Bay, ExtraTorrent and many others,&#8221; the researchers write.</p>
<p>&#8220;In some cases, they were specifically looking for compromised accounts of other users on these online communities that were extracted from botnet logs in order to use them for new seeds on behalf of the affected victims without their knowledge, thus increasing the reputation of the uploaded files.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><a href="media/42360893.raum-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/raum-1.png"><img src="media/42360893.raum-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/raum-1.png" alt="raum-1" width="650" height="369" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127990"></a></center></p>
<p>According to InfoArmor the malware was initially spread using uTorrent, although any client could have done the job. More recently, however, new seeds have been served through online servers and some hacked devices.</p>
<p>In some cases the malicious files continued to be seeded for more than 1.5 months. Tests by TF on the sample provided showed that most of the files listed have now been removed by the sites in question.</p>
<p>Completely unsurprisingly, people who use torrent sites to obtain software and games (as opposed to video and music files) are those most likely to come into contact with RAUM and associated malware. As the image below shows, Windows 7 and 10 packs and their activators feature prominently.</p>
<p><Center><a href="media/e0484250.raum-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/raum-2.png"><img src="media/e0484250.raum-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/raum-2.png" alt="raum-2" width="650" height="275" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-127991"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;All of the created malicious seeds were monitored by cybercriminals in order to prevent early detection by [anti-virus software] and had different statuses such as &#8216;closed,&#8217; &#8216;alive,&#8217; and &#8216;detected by antivirus.&#8217; Some of the identified elements of their infrastructure were hosted in the TOR network,&#8221; InfoArmor explains.</p>
<p>The researchers say that RAUM is a tool used by an Eastern European organized crime group known as Black Team. They also <a href="https://www.infoarmor.com/infoarmor-uncovers-malicious-torrent-distribution-network/">report</a> several URLs and IP addresses from where the team operates. We won&#8217;t publish them here but it&#8217;s of some comfort to know that between Chrome, Firefox and MalwareBytes protection, all were successfully blocked on our test machine.</p>
<p>InfoArmor concludes by warning users to exercise extreme caution when downloading pirated digital content. We&#8217;d go a step further and advise people to be wary of installing all software from any untrusted sources, no matter where they&#8217;re found online.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128008
title: Stop Piracy? Legal Alternatives Beat Legal Threats, Research Shows
uri: Stop-Piracy-Legal-Alternatives-Beat-Legal-Threats-Research-Shows
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/J7QzwUhMnOs/
content:
<p><img src="media/7abb2d22.cassette.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cassette.jpg" alt="cassette" width="200" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84245">Yesterday the RIAA announced the <a href="media/48f6c4fb.RIAAMidyear16.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/RIAAMidyear16.pdf">biggest growth</a> in recorded music sales since the late 1990s, a healthy 8.1% increase compared to the year before. </p>
<p>The record numbers were achieved despite the widespread availability of pirated music. So what happened here? Did all those pirates suddenly grow a conscience?</p>
<p>The answer to this question is partly given by new research <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/risa.12689/full">published</a> in the journal Risk Analysis. </p>
<p>Researchers from the University of East Anglia, Lancaster University, and Newcastle University found that perceived risk has very little effect on people&#8217;s piracy habits. This means that stricter punishments or tough copyright laws are not the answer. </p>
<p>Instead, unauthorized file-sharing (UFS) is best predicted by the supposed benefits of piracy. As such, the researchers note that better legal alternatives are the best way to stop piracy.</p>
<p>The results are based on a psychological study among hundreds of music and ebook consumers. They were subjected to a set of questions regarding their file-sharing habits, perceived risk, industry trust, and online anonymity. </p>
<p>By analyzing the data the researchers found that the perceived benefit of piracy, such as quality, flexibility of use and cost are the real driver of piracy. An increase in legal risk was not directly associated with any statistically significant decrease in self-reported file-sharing.</p>
<p>“Given that we observe a much more powerful predictor of behavior in perceived benefit, changes to legal frameworks may not be the most effective route to change behaviour,” lead author Dr Steven Watson <a href="http://www.uea.ac.uk/about/-/promote-legal-alternatives-to-stop-unlawful-downloading-says-study">says</a>. </p>
<p>“Specifically, one strategy to combat unlawful file-sharing would be to provide easy access to information about the benefits of legal purchases or services, in an environment in which the specific benefits UFS offers are met by these legal alternatives.”</p>
<p>Alternatively, there is a more indirect route to influence piracy, by increasing the &#8220;trust&#8221; people have in regulators. This could increase risk perception and also lower the perceived benefits of piracy. However, the researchers note that this isn&#8217;t the most efficient option.</p>
<p>In their paper, the researchers mention subscription services such as Spotify as the most compelling alternatives. </p>
<p>This brings us back to the record revenue the RIAA reported yesterday, which can be attributed to the growth of legal services. The RIAA notes that with the introduction of Tidal and Apple Music, subscription service revenues doubled compared to last year.</p>
<p>So it&#8217;s legal options that drive the recent revenue growth, not anti-piracy enforcement.</p>
<p>Of course, the idea that subscription services can compete with piracy isn&#8217;t new. When Spotify launched its first beta in the fall of 2008, we <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/spotify-music-piracy-down-australia-140910/">billed it</a> as “an alternative to music piracy,” and various reports have shown that pirates gladly switch over to good legal services.</p>
<p>The UK researchers also conclude that legal alternatives are a viable option to decrease piracy, one that&#8217;s preferred over legal threats.</p>
<p>“It is perhaps no surprise that legal interventions regarding UFS have a limited and possibly short-term effect, while legal services that compete with UFS have attracted significant numbers of consumers,&#8221; says co-author Dr Piers Fleming.</p>
<p>Techdirt&#8217;s Mike Masnick, who published a &#8220;<a href="https://copia.is/library/the-carrot-or-the-stick/">The carrot or the stick</a>&#8221; report last year, notes that the findings are in line with their conclusions. </p>
<p>According to Masnick, there is now ample evidence showing that enforcement is not the answer to piracy, but thus far the relevant stakeholders continue to hide their heads in the sand.</p>
<p>&#8220;And yet, politicians, regulators and legacy industry folks still insist that ratcheting up enforcement is the way to go. What will it take for them to actually follow what the evidence says, rather than continuing with faith-based copyright policies?&#8221; Masnick <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160916/22542935542/yet-another-report-says-more-innovation-rather-than-more-enforcement-reduces-piracy.shtml">writes</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128030
title: Despite Adobe Efforts, Photoshop Still Most Popular Software on Pirate Bay
uri: Despite-Adobe-Efforts-Photoshop-Still-Most-Popular-Software-on-Pirate
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7ZHUea7iKUo/
content:
<p><img src="media/c88fd769.adobe-piracy.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/adobe-piracy.png" width="177" height="160" alt="" class="alignright size-large">Ever since their official release, Adobe software products have been popular with pirates. Editing studio Photoshop has been the most enduring, appearing on pirates&#8217; machines since 1990.</p>
<p>In order to innovate, in 2013 Adobe said it would move away from boxed ‘retail’ products and switch to a cloud-subscription model. This meant that the large initial outlay associated with its products could be exchanged for a more affordable monthly fee.</p>
<p>In July 2014, Adobe <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/adobe-says-piracy-is-down-but-photoshop-still-rules-pirate-bay-140710/">said</a> the strategy was working, declaring that piracy had fallen. Just over a year later, Adobe was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/adobe-says-piracy-down-but-pirates-still-love-their-software-150922/">celebrating again</a>, noting that casual pirates had been converted by the lower price of entry.</p>
<p>This week Adobe had more good news for shareholders. In the third quarter, the company generated more than $1.46 billion in revenue, up from $1.22 billion year-on-year. Creative Cloud, the company&#8217;s replacement for the old disc-based Creative Suite, accounted for $803 million in revenue, up 39% year-on-year.</p>
<p>In a Q3 2016 earnings conference call the discussion somewhat inevitably turned to piracy, with Adobe Executive Vice President Mark Garrett noting that mitigation is one of the company&#8217;s key aims.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our focus with Creative Cloud continues to be in three key areas; growing our core base of users, including migrating the legacy user base of Creative Suite users, addressing piracy and growing our installed base in the education market, driving new customer adoption in adjacent markets,&#8221; Garrett said.</p>
<p>Heather Bellini from Goldman Sachs wanted to know whether Adobe sees potential for additional revenue boosts as piracy is further eroded.</p>
<p>&#8220;Is there kind of a framework that we could think about in terms of the impact on top line growth that you can get from piracy reduction and are there things that you are doing that you are changing even more than you were kind of a couple of years ago to stay ahead of the pirates?&#8221; Bellini asked.</p>
<p>Adobe President and Chief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen responded, indicating that a large proportion of recent growth can be apportioned to pirates jumping ship to become part of Creative Cloud.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you look at the macro level we used to sell approximately three million units of Creative Suite a year and if you look at the numbers right now of where we are with Creative Cloud, it’s clear that we have seen significant acceleration,&#8221; Narayen <a href="https://earnings.whotrades.com/blog/43652008008">said</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Without a doubt, a large part of that acceleration is people who want Creative Cloud and are no longer pirating Creative products, but are actually as a result of the low price and the value that we are delivering using the entire subscription-based offerings.&#8221;</p>
<p>Additionally, Adobe says it has taken other measures to clamp down on pirates, including action against people attempting to abuse trials and sites offering pirated copies.</p>
<p>&#8220;Once the trial expires [we&#8217;ve ensured] that they don’t have access to the products. And as you know, we have also shutdown places, online websites where people could buy a repackaged box,&#8221; Narayen said.</p>
<p>But while Adobe hasn&#8217;t been shy to detail its subscription revenues, the company has again refused to say how many subscriptions it has sold. This makes it difficult to compare, one for one, pirated instances of its software in use versus new subscriptions being taken up. During the call, Narayen offered no additional clarity.</p>
<p>&#8220;In terms of the installed base of pirates, I think the numbers for that are all over the map. But I think you can go back and look at the last numbers that we gave in terms of the addressable market and you would see that there is still significant headroom,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Let’s get the markets that are most developed, let’s address casual pirates, let’s hit the enterprise and then let’s now expand that into emerging markets where there was more piracy and now we have the ability to counter that, both through pricing as well as through technology.&#8221;</p>
<p>Exactly one year ago, Adobe products <a href="media/19bde8ef.adobe-pirate.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/adobe-pirate.png">occupied four</a> of the top eight slots in The Pirate Bay&#8217;s most popular software download list, with Photoshop Creative Suite 6 taking the top position. In 2016, things haven&#8217;t changed that much.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/b78b9b4a.adobe-tpb.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/adobe-tpb.png"><img src="media/b78b9b4a.adobe-tpb.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/adobe-tpb.png" alt="adobe-tpb" width="600" height="368" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128034"></a></center></p>
<p>As shown in the image above, Adobe products still share half of the top eight positions with Microsoft, but this time around Photoshop Creative Cloud has taken over at the top from CS6.</p>
<p>Not exactly the transition to the cloud Adobe had in mind of course, but maybe more pirates will subscribe properly next year.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128037
title: ISP Trolls Copyright Troll With A Taste of Its Own Medicine
uri: ISP-Trolls-Copyright-Troll-With-A-Taste-of-Its-Own-Medicine
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-1IhE7vWC5M/
content:
<p><img src="media/0439e552.bahnhof.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bahnhof.png" alt="bahnhof" width="222" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128056">In recent years file-sharers around the world have been ordered to pay significant settlement fees, or face legal repercussions.</p>
<p>These so-called “copyright trolling” efforts have been a common occurrence in several countries, with Sweden one of the latest hunting grounds.</p>
<p>One of the organizations leading the way is <a href="http://spridningskollen.se/">Spridningskollen</a> (Distribution Check). Using data gathered by German anti-piracy outfit Excipio, they plan to start by targeting around 1,000 alleged pirates, offering them settlements of around $233 (2,000 kronor).</p>
<p>While many Internet providers don&#8217;t put up a real fight to protect their subscribers, privacy conscious Bahnhof is. Not only does Bahnhof <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-deletes-ip-address-logs-fend-off-piracy-extortion-letters-160908/">delete all logs</a> that could link IP-addresses to alleged infringements, the company is also pushing back in other creative ways.</p>
<p>Previously they <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-isp-attacks-copyright-trolls-over-trademark-infringement-160905/">accused Spridningskollen</a> of trademark infringement and this week they followed up this threat with a more concrete warning. </p>
<p>Giving the &#8220;trolls&#8221; a taste of their own medicine, Bahnhof sent them an invoice for the exact amount they also ask from accused pirates, to settle the alleged trademark infringement. </p>
<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re infringing our trademark &#8216;Spridningskollen.&#8217; Bahnhof filed for the trademark on 2016-08-31, with the launch of the website Spridningskollen.org,&#8221; the settlement invoice <a href="https://www.bahnhof.se/press/press-releases/2016/09/21/bahnhof-skickar-faktura-till-spridningskollen-betala-2-000-kr-nu-eller-fa-problem-senare">reads</a>.</p>
<p>The anti-piracy outfit uses Spridningskollen.se for their website and Bahnhof urges the company to pay up and take it down, or else.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/365877d3.faktura.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/faktura.jpg" alt="faktura" width="600" height="738" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-128057"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Choose to pay 2,000 kronor and switch off your site Spridningskollen.se as soon as possible, or face legal action when the trademark application has been processed,&#8221; they write. </p>
<p>&#8220;You can say that this letter is a settlement offer. If the infringer of the trademark does not pay the rightsholder the case can proceed to trial, which is far more costly for all involved.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unlikely that the anti-piracy coalition is going to comply voluntarily, as the trademark application can be disputed. Nevertheless, Bahnhof&#8217;s provocative approach is refreshing to say the least. </p>
<p>When asked, most ISPs will say that they have the best interests of their subscribers at heart, but very few companies are willing to go above and beyond and highlight possible abuse. </p>
<p>And adding some irony in the mix makes it all the better. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127922
title: BMG Pressed Internet Provider to Pay Piracy Compensation
uri: BMG-Pressed-Internet-Provider-to-Pay-Piracy-Compensation
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nJXqEaQoa2Y/
content:
<p><img src="media/eba4c6a8.piratkeyb.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb.png" alt="piratkeyb" width="275" height="194" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108110">For several years, music rights group <a href="http://www.bmg.com/us/">BMG</a> has been chasing down pirating BitTorrent users. With help from Rightscorp the company regularly sends DMCA notices to ISPs. </p>
<p>These notices are bundled with settlement demands, intended for Internet subscribers who allegedly shared pirated content. If the accused subscribers pay $30, they avoid further trouble.</p>
<p>However, BMG&#8217;s enforcement efforts are not only directed at individual subscribers. Behind the scenes, the company is also putting pressure on ISPs to cooperate with their scheme, or pay up instead. </p>
<p>One of their targets is US-based <a href="http://www.rcn.com/dc-metro/high-speed-internet/">Internet provider RCN</a>. A relatively small player with roughly 400,000 subscribers, but allegedly good for millions of alleged copyright infringements. </p>
<p>According to BMG, the ISP is liable for the infringements of its users. RCN clearly disagrees with this accusation and went to court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-isp-sues-music-group-over-piracy-allegations-160615/">earlier this year</a> to ask clarification in the form of a declaratory judgment. </p>
<p>A few days ago the ISP submitted an amended complaint (<a href="media/6ef27194.RCNamended.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/RCNamended.pdf">pdf</a>), revealing a letter that shows how the music licensing group put pressure on them by demanding preventive measures as well as compensation.</p>
<p>In the letter, BMG&#8217;s law firm Steptoe &#038; Johnson informed RCN&#8217;s executive vice president Jeffrey Kramp that the ISP failed to terminate repeat infringers on its network, despite receiving millions of notices.</p>
<p>&#8220;The evidence shows that RCN is allowing repeat infringers to use its network to continue their infringement of BMG works even after RCN has been notified of their specific instances of infringement,&#8221; the letter reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;Since Rightscorp began monitoring BMG’s copyrights, it has identified millions of instances of infringement involving thousands of BMG copyrighted works using the RCN network.&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>BMG&#8217;s letter to RCN </strong>(<a href="media/8354c06e.rightsletter.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rightsletter.pdf">full pdf</a>)<br></br></center><center><img src="media/0e4e9424.steptoerightsc.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/steptoerightsc.png" alt="steptoerightsc" width="574" height="337" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-127928" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/steptoerightsc.png 574w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/steptoerightsc-220x130.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 574px) 100vw, 574px"></center></p>
<p>RCN had previously noted that BMG accused the ISP of secondary copyright infringement and the letter shared by RCN late last week shows how.  </p>
<p>&#8220;RCN’s knowledge and allowance of unchecked infringement to occur using its network makes it liable for secondary copyright infringement and actual or statutory damages as high as $150,000 per infringed work,&#8221; BMG&#8217;s lawyer writes. </p>
<p>With hundreds of works at stake, the potential damages run to dozens of millions. However, just like the accusations against individual subscribers, RCN can make these go away by signing a settlement agreement and paying compensation. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are hopeful that a resolution of this ongoing and damaging infringement can be reached. To that end, we suggest the parties meet to discuss a settlement that would include a means of preventing or limiting future infringement and appropriate compensation to BMG,&#8221; the letter suggests.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear that with this language BMG hoped to pressure the Internet provider into cooperating. This didn&#8217;t work out though, as RCN decided to lawyer-up instead and sue them instead. </p>
<p>In the amended complaint, the Internet provider asks for a declaratory judgment that it&#8217;s not liable for infringing any of BMG&#8217;s copyrights or any damage resulting from alleged infringements of their subscribers. </p>
<p>While ISPs enjoy safe harbor protections under the DMCA, this does not guarantee a positive outcome for RCN. </p>
<p>In a similar liability case last year, Internet provider Cox Communications was held responsible for the copyright infringements of its subscribers. In that case a Virginia federal court ordered Cox to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/cox-is-liable-for-pirating-subscribers-ordered-to-pay-25-million-151217/">pay BMG $25 million</a> in damages.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128127
title: Copyright Troll Partner “Kicked Uber Driver in the Head”
uri: Copyright-Troll-Partner-Kicked-Uber-Driver-in-the-Head
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/kfYKAHVy5_Y/
content:
<p><a href="media/6d463019.croucher.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/croucher.jpg"><img src="media/6d463019.croucher.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/croucher.jpg" alt="croucher" width="250" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128131"></a>In October 2015, a well-known copyright-trolling outfit announced the launch of the &#8220;largest&#8221; anti-piracy campaign seen in the UK for years.</p>
<p>German-based monitoring company Maverick Eye said that it had teamed up with London-based Hatton &#038; Berkeley and other key players to target file-sharers with cash settlement demands.</p>
<p>Due to the complexity of the setup, some likened the project to a &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-partner-threatens-to-report-blogger-to-the-police-160403/">smoke and mirrors</a>&#8221; operation.</p>
<p>Initially, Hatton &#038; Berkeley and its owner <a href="http://www.hattonandberkeley.com/robert-croucher">Robert Croucher</a> became known for demanding money from <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/sky-will-hand-over-customer-data-in-movie-piracy-case-150310/">alleged Sky Broadband downloaders</a> of the Robert Redford movie The Company You Keep.</p>
<p>“Hatton and Berkeley stands alongside our colleagues in an international operation that has so far yielded drastic reductions in streaming, torrenting and illegal downloads across Europe,” a company spokesperson said at the time.</p>
<p>Common to all of Hatton and Berkeley&#8217;s letters to ISP subscribers are threats that if they don&#8217;t pay, ultimately they will end up in court. To date, that has never happened, but interestingly Hatton and Berkeley&#8217;s Robert Croucher is now in some legal trouble of his own.</p>
<p>According to a Court News report (<a href="http://courtnewsuk.co.uk/company-director-kicked-uber-driver-head/">subscription</a>), 35-year-old Croucher has been appearing in court this week following allegations of a serious assault.</p>
<p>It all began following a night out at the exclusive members-only <a href="http://www.raffleschelsea.com/">Raffles club</a> in Chelsea, London, which is frequented by the rich, famous, and Croucher. It is the only nightclub the Queen has ever attended.</p>
<p>After leaving the club, it&#8217;s understood that Croucher tried to get into an Uber car but things quickly got out of hand.</p>
<p>According to driver Mohammad Hussain, a woman was the first to get into his vehicle. Croucher is said to have thrown his bag into the car, something which provoked an argument between the pair. Croucher then slammed the door.</p>
<p>“I got out to open the door, and then the gentlemen took the keys from through the window,&#8221; Hussain told Hammersmith Magistrates’ court. “He then slapped me.&#8221;</p>
<p>Croucher admits hitting Mr Hussain but according to the Uber driver, things got much worse from there.</p>
<p>“I was begging for my keys and he suddenly pushed me on the pavement,&#8221; Hussain <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1834099/company-director-kicked-uber-driver-in-the-head-when-he-refused-him-lift-home-from-exclusive-raffles-club/">told</a> the Court.</p>
<p>“He has just kicked me in several parts of my body and head. My head was very swollen, I went to hospital where I stayed for four hours. I went to my GP a few days later and got prescribed antibiotics, it was severe pain.”</p>
<p>Croucher, who gave his address as Hawthorn Road, Hornsey, north London, admits assault but denies kicking Mr Hussain.</p>
<p>This is the third time in as many months Croucher has made the news.</p>
<p>In the House of Lords during July, <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-lucas/1879">Lord Lucas</a> advised recipients of threatening letters from Croucher&#8217;s Hatton &#038; Berkeley to thrown them away.</p>
<p>&#8220;I really urge them to put [their correspondence] in the bin. The current scammers aren’t pursuing anyone [in court] they’re just after threats, and extortion, and shaking people down,” Lord Lucas <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-trolls-slammed-in-uk-house-of-lords-160616/">said</a>.</p>
<p>Then in August, the UK&#8217;s Advertising Standards Authority <a href="https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2016/8/Them-and-Us-UK-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_334995.aspx">published details</a> of its investigation into claims on Croucher&#8217;s personal website that one of his projects had created 10,000 jobs.</p>
<p>The ASA concluded that the claims were misleading and ordered the advertising not to appear again in its current form. Despite the ruling, the claim is still present on the site&#8217;s <a href="http://www.robertcroucher.com/">main page</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128139
title: Mexican Police Target Popular KickassTorrents ‘Clone,’ Seize Domain
uri: Mexican-Police-Target-Popular-KickassTorrents-Clone-Seize-Domai
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Kkqsh96hTI4/
content:
<p><img src="media/2279eece.kickasstorrents_500x5001-300x300.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x5001-300x300.png" alt="kickasstorrents_500x500" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-99785" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x5001-300x300.png 300w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x5001-150x150.png 150w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/kickasstorrents_500x5001.png 500w" sizes="(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px">Two months ago KickassTorrents (KAT) was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/feds-seize-kickasstorrents-domains-charge-owner-160720/">shut down</a> by the U.S. Government, following the arrest of the site’s alleged owner.</p>
<p>Soon after the official site went offline various mirrors and clones launched to take its place, to the pleasure of hundreds of thousands of users.</p>
<p>One of the most popular mirrors started as KAT.am. While this domain name was swiftly seized, and later <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/scammers-take-kickasstorrents-mirror-160810/">picked up by scammers</a>, the initial site continued to operate from kickass.cd and kickass.mx.</p>
<p>However, this week the site got in trouble again. Without prior notice the .MX domain name was taken out of circulation by the registry, following an intervention from Mexico&#8217;s federal police.</p>
<p>The authorities say they were tipped off by copyright holders and wasted no time in containing the threat.</p>
<p>&#8220;This action took place after various distribution companies reported intellectual property infringements. In response, staff at the Center for Prevention of Electronic Crimes started a cyber intelligence operation to locate the source where this crime was committed,&#8221; the federal police reported. </p>
<p>&#8220;Currently the website is out of service, and our research continues to locate the administrators,&#8221; they added.</p>
<p>Although there is no doubt that Kickass.mx is offline, in a rather <a href="http://www.gob.mx/policiafederal/prensa/policia-federal-inhabilita-sitio-de-internet-que-distribuia-contenido-audiovisual-de-forma-ilegal">confusing</a> press release police keep referring to kickass.com.mx, which appears to be an unrelated website. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to the operator of the Kickass.mx &#8220;clone,&#8221; which is really <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popular-kat-mirror-is-in-reality-a-dressed-up-pirate-bay-mirror-160805/">just a Pirate Bay mirror</a> with a KickassTorrents skin, who was surprised by the domain seizure.</p>
<p>&#8220;The suspension of the MX TLD was very unexpected and came as a shock to us because we used EasyDNS to register the domain name,&#8221; the Kickass.mx operator says. </p>
<p>EasyDNS has a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/registrars-cant-hold-pirate-domains-hostage-without-court-order-140110/">track record</a> of standing up against domain seizures and suspensions that are requested without a proper court order. However, in this case EasyDNS was bypassed as the police went directly to the MX domain registry.</p>
<p>&#8220;Their team is trying to get into touch with the Mexican registry to get the domain back though any positive development in this regard seems unlikely,&#8221; the operator adds.</p>
<p>For now, the KAT-themed site remains available from the Kickass.cd domain and more backup domains are expected to follow in the near future, probably without Mexican ties.</p>
<p>&#8220;We already have three more TLDs and plan to set up mirror sites on them to increase resilience,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128080
title: German Library Claims Copyright on “Nazi Anthem,” Censors Documentary on YouTube
uri: German-Library-Claims-Copyright-on-Nazi-Anthem-Censors-Document
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/T96zibGmF_4/
content:
<p><img src="media/b6439278.docudown.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/docudown.png" alt="docudown" width="267" height="190" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128169">When it comes to Nazi propaganda, Germany has an extensive censorship track record. After the Second World War it was policy to ban all Nazi propaganda, most famously Hitler&#8217;s Mein Kampf. </p>
<p>Even today the issue is still a hot topic. For example, earlier this week our attention was drawn towards a rather unusual censorship effort on behalf of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_National_Library">German National Library</a>. </p>
<p>With help from BR:Enter Music, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek sent a takedown request to YouTube, targeting the historical 2006 documentary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P73DZyS4Dg">You Don’t Know Hitler</a>. </p>
<p>The film in question serves as a reminder of the horrors Hitler brought forth. It is composed of historical material and other propaganda footage, including clips from Leni Riefenstahl&#8217;s 1935 film Triumph of the Will.</p>
<p>The content that triggered the takedown request is a version of the infamous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst-Wessel-Lied">Horst Wessel Lied</a>, also known to a wider public as the Nazi Anthem. According to the claim, the library owns the right to the recording.</p>
<p>Documentarian and filmmaker <a href="https://jamesklambertblog.wordpress.com/">James K. Lambert</a> informs TorrentFreak that this is not the first time that his film has been targeted, but usually these claims are dropped when he protests them.</p>
<p>&#8220;The complete film has been posted for nearly four years and I periodically get claims against me from companies who say they own this sound recording or that image. These false claims were always dropped once I pushed back.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Copyright claim</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/7f1b1c05.german-national-library-youtube.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/german-national-library-youtube.png"><img src="media/7f1b1c05.german-national-library-youtube.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/german-national-library-youtube.png" alt="german-national-library-youtube" width="650" height="433" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-128165"></a></center></p>
<p>This time, however, that was not enough. The National German Library insists that the film infringes on their rights and as a result the filmmaker has been slapped with a copyright strike.</p>
<p>&#8220;According to BR Enter, DNB owns the &#8216;sound recording&#8217; rights to this track, &#8216;Version 11&#8217; specifically, which is allegedly the version I used in my film when I extracted it from the Nazi propaganda documentary, Triumph Of The Will.&#8221;</p>
<p>While it seems strange that the German state would own the rights to a 87-year-old song it didn&#8217;t produce, the issue is a bit of a minefield. Over the years, Germany has indeed obtained the copyrights to a lot of Nazi propaganda, some of which are still enforceable today. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there is a long history of denying Nazi copyrights or permitting its use, starting with the US Government which sanctioned it in Frank Capra&#8217;s counter propaganda series <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Fight">Why We Fight</a>. </p>
<p>What&#8217;s clear, however, is that after all these years Nazi copyrights are still being enforced. This is something Lambert is fiercely protesting. According to the documentarian, people have the right to see history for what it was.</p>
<p>&#8220;Nazi propaganda is part of the criminal record of their Crimes Against Humanity; they are not marketable commodities that should exclusively belong to anyone,&#8221; Lambert tells us.</p>
<p>To get his documentary reinstated Lambert submitted a counter-notice which he documented in detail in a lengthy <a href="https://jamesklambertblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/my-youtube-counter-notification/">blog post</a>. According to Lambert the song he used is in the public domain and even if it isn&#8217;t, it would fall under fair use. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted both BR:Enter and the National German Library several days ago asking for comment on the issue. However, at the time of publication we have yet to hear back. </p>
<p>Lambert hopes that his counterclaim will be accepted and that the documentary will be reinstated soon. For the future, he hopes that YouTube will improve its processes so it can better deal with these fair use cases, keeping the rights of documentarians in mind. </p>
<p>&#8220;This matter should never have reached this absurd point. YouTube should not have given unquestioned deference to BR Enter Music’s claim against me and my documentary should not have been taken down from YouTube.</p>
<p>&#8220;I hope this counter-claim will finally resolve this matter and restore the video to my channel because I am completely within my rights to have made this film and to publicly show it to others,&#8221; Lambert concludes. </p>
<p>For those who are interested, Lambert&#8217;s documentary You Don’t Know Hitler is <a href="https://vimeo.com/12393284">still available</a> on Vimeo.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127979
title: ISPs Offered Service to “Protect Safe Harbor” Under DMCA
uri: ISPs-Offered-Service-to-Protect-Safe-Harbor-Under-DMCA
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6qWomBTNT8c/
content:
<p><a href="media/40fc3a89.warning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warning.png"><img src="media/40fc3a89.warning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warning.png" alt="warning" width="250" height="213" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109065"></a>Early August, a federal court in Virginia found Internet service provider Cox Communications <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-affirms-25m-piracy-verdict-against-cox-rejects-spying-request-160810/">liable</a> for copyright infringements carried out by its customers.</p>
<p>The ISP was found guilty of willful contributory copyright infringement and ordered to pay music publisher BMG Rights Management <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/cox-is-liable-for-pirating-subscribers-ordered-to-pay-25-million-151217/">$25 million in damages</a>.</p>
<p>The case was first <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-communications-sued-for-not-disconnecting-pirates-141128/">filed in 2014</a> after it was alleged that Cox failed to pass on infringement notices sent to the ISP by anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp. It was determined that the ISP had also failed to take firm action against repeat infringers.</p>
<p>Although the decision is still open to appeal, the ruling has ISPs in the United States on their toes. None will want to fall into the same trap as Cox and are probably handling infringement complaints carefully as a result. This is where Colorado-based Subsentio wants to step in.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.subsentio.com">Subsentio</a> specializes in helping companies meet their obligations under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Assistance_for_Law_Enforcement_Act">CALEA</a>, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, a wiretapping law passed in 1994. It believes these skills can also help ISPs to retain their safe harbor protection under the DMCA.</p>
<p>This week Subsentio launched DMCA Records Production, a service that gives ISPs the opportunity to outsource the sending and management of copyright infringement notices.</p>
<p>&#8220;With the average ISP receiving thousands of notices every month from owners of copyrighted content, falling behind on DMCA procedural obligations is not an option,&#8221; says Martin McDermott, Chief Operating Officer at Subsentio.</p>
<p>&#8220;The record award of US$25 million paid by one ISP for DMCA violations last year was a &#8216;wake-up call&#8217; &#8212; service providers that fail to take this law seriously can face the same legal and financial consequences.&#8221;</p>
<p>Subsentio Legal Services Manager Michael Allison informs TorrentFreak that increasing levels of DMCA notices received by ISPs need to be handled effectively.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since content owners leverage bots to crawl the internet for copyrighted content, the volume of DMCA claims falling at the footsteps of ISPs has been on the rise.  The small to mid-level ISPs receive hundreds to thousands of claims per month,&#8221; Allison says.</p>
<p>&#8220;This volume may be too high to add to the responsibilities of a [network operations center] or abuse team.  At the same time, the volume might not constitute the hiring of a full-time employee or staff.&#8221;</p>
<p>Allison says that his company handles legal records production for a number of ISP clients and part of that process involves tying allegedly infringing IP addresses and timestamps to ISP subscribers.</p>
<p>&#8220;The logistics behind tying a target IP address and timestamp to a specific subscriber is usually an administrative and laborious process.  But it’s a method we’re familiar with and it’s a procedure that’s inherent to processing any DMCA claim.&#8221;</p>
<p>Allison says that the Cox decision put ISPs on notice that they must have a defined policy addressing DMCA claims, including provisions for dealing with repeat infringers, up to and including termination. He believes the Subsentio system can help ISPs achieve those goals.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Our system] automatically creates a unique case for each legal request received, facilitates document generation, notates actions taken on the case, and allows for customized reporting via any number of variables tied to the case,&#8221; Allison explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;By creating a case for each DMCA claim received, we can track ISP subscribers for repeat offenses, apply escalation measures when needed, and alert ISPs when a subscriber has met the qualifications for termination.&#8221;</p>
<p>TF understands that many of Subsentio&#8217;s current clients are small to mid-size regional ISPs in the United States so whether any of the big national ISPs will get involved remains to be seen. Nevertheless, it&#8217;s quite possible that the formalizing and outsourcing of subscriber warnings will lead to customers of some smaller ISPs enjoying significantly less slack than they&#8217;ve become accustomed to.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127611
title: TPBClean: A ‘Safe for Work’ Pirate Bay Without Porn
uri: TPBClean-A-Safe-for-Work-Pirate-Bay-Without-Porn
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jSmFhRgAzm4/
content:
<p><img src="media/abcd49b2.tpbclean.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbclean.jpg" alt="tpbclean" width="250" height="251" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128044">Over the years, regular Pirate Bay visitors have seen plenty of scarcely dressed girls being featured on the site. </p>
<p>The XXX category has traditionally been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/35-of-all-pirate-bay-uploads-are-porn-140124/">one of the largest</a>, and TPB&#8217;s ads can show quite a bit of flesh as well. While there are many people who see this adult themed content as a feature, not everyone appreciates it. </p>
<p>This didn&#8217;t go unnoticed to &#8220;MrClean,&#8221; a developer with quite a bit of experience when it comes to torrent proxy sites. </p>
<p>He was recently confronted with the issue when several Indian programmers he tried to hire for torrent related projects refused to work on a site that listed porn and other nudity. </p>
<p>&#8220;Over fifty percent of those contacted refused to work on the project, not for copyright related reasons, but because they didn&#8217;t want to work on a project that had ANY links with adult content,&#8221; MrClean tells TF.</p>
<p>Apparently, there is a need for pornless torrent sites, so &#8220;MrClean&#8221; decided to make a sanitized torrent site for these proper folks. This is how the <a href="https://tpbclean.com/">TPBClean</a> proxy site was born.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since TPB is now the biggest torrent site again, I figured there might be people with similar feelings toward adult content that would appreciate a clean version of the bay,&#8221; MrClean explains.</p>
<p>TPBClean is a direct proxy of all Pirate Bay torrents, minus those in the porn categories. In addition, the site has a customized look, without any ads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Although many TPB users don&#8217;t mind tits in their face while searching the top 100, TPBClean users will have a more &#8216;Safe For Work&#8217; experience,&#8221; MrClean notes.</p>
<p>People who try searching for XXX content get the following response instead. &#8220;<em>Any Explicit/Adult Content has been Removed :-)</em>&#8221; We did some test searches and it appears to work quite well.</p>
<p><center><strong>XXX filtered</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/459fd4c3.noxxx.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/noxxx.png" alt="noxxx" width="600" height="170" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-128048"></center></p>
<p>The Pirate Bay team can usually appreciate inventive creative expressions, although they might find it hard to believe that anyone would be interested in a torrent site without porn.</p>
<p>In any case, MrClean says that he doesn&#8217;t mean to do any harm to the original Pirate Bay, which he full-heartedly supports. And thus far the public response has mainly been positive as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;Finally a PirateBay you can browse with your granny!&#8221; Pirate Bay proxy portal <a href="https://ukbay.tv/">UKBay</a> tweeted excitingly.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c64c0c94.granny.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/granny.png" alt="granny" width="580" height="204" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-128105"></center> </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127912
title: Court: Uploaded Can’t Ignore ‘Spam’ Copyright Notices
uri: Court-Uploaded-Can-t-Ignore-Spam-Copyright-Notices
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JtST-FLDRmE/
content:
<p><img src="media/4cf2e55b.uploadedlogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uploadedlogo.png" alt="uploadedlogo" width="250" height="89" class="alignright size-full wp-image-126196">With millions of visitors per month, Uploaded is one of the largest file-hosting services on the Internet.</p>
<p>Like many of its &#8216;cloud hosting&#8217; competitors, the service is also used to share copyright infringing material, which is a thorn in the side of various copyright holder groups. </p>
<p>In Germany this has resulted in several lawsuits, where copyright holders want Uploaded to be held liable for files that are shared by its users, if they fail to respond properly to takedown notices.</p>
<p>In one of these cases the court has now clarified that Uploaded can even be held liable for copyright infringement if those messages are never read, due to an overactive &#8216;spam&#8217; filter. </p>
<p>The case was started several years ago by anti-piracy company proMedia GmbH, which sent a takedown notice to Uploaded on behalf of a record label. The notice asked the site to remove a specific file, but that never happened.</p>
<p>Uploaded, in its defense, argued that it had never seen the takedown notice. It was flagged by its DDoS protection system and directly sent to a spam folder. As such, the notice in question was never read.</p>
<p>Last week the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg ruled on the case. It affirmed an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uploaded-net-liable-for-failing-to-delete-copyright-content-141019/">earlier ruling</a> from the Regional Court of Hamburg, concluding that Uploaded can be held liable, spam or no spam. </p>
<p>The court argued that because Uploaded&#8217;s anti-DDoS system willingly created a “cemetery for emails,” they can be treated as if they had knowledge of the takedown notices. This decision is now final.</p>
<p>Anja Heller, attorney at the <a href="http://www.raschlegal.de/rechtsanwaelte/">German law firm Rasch</a> which represented the plaintiff, is happy with the outcome in this case. </p>
<p>&#8220;File-hosters have to handle their inboxes for abuse notices very carefully. On the one hand they cannot easily claim not having received a notice. On the other hand they have to check blacklisted notices on a regular basis,&#8221; she says.</p>
<p>The current lawsuit dealt exclusively with the liability question, so the copyright owners have to file a separate proceeding if they want to obtain damages. </p>
<p>However, together with previous <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-uploaded-net-failed-to-prevent-piracy-faces-damages-160812/">liability verdicts</a>, it definitely makes it harder for file-hosters to operate without a solid anti-piracy strategy.</p>
<p>&#8220;The verdict once again shows the high demands German courts place on file-hosters, which are not only obliged to take down links immediately after having received a notice, but have to keep their services clean from infringing content as well,&#8221; Heller concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128042
title: Man Likely to Sacrifice Himself Testing Streaming Piracy Limits
uri: Man-Likely-to-Sacrifice-Himself-Testing-Streaming-Piracy-Limits
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/i2ARPf_U4O8/
content:
<p><a href="media/c8e5dd3a.android-box.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/android-box.jpg"><img src="media/c8e5dd3a.android-box.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/android-box.jpg" alt="android-box" width="240" height="240" class="alignright size-full wp-image-123456"></a>Year in, year out, people with an interest in Internet file-sharing discuss what is permissible under current legislation. It&#8217;s an important exercise if people are to stay on the right side of the law.</p>
<p>These discussions have historically taken place among enthusiasts but with the advent of easily accessible piracy tools such as Popcorn Time, modified Kodi, and Showbox, the man in the street his now taking part.</p>
<p>One individual that has provoked interest among the public is UK-based Brian &#8216;Tomo&#8217; Thompson, who was previously <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-raid-pirate-android-box-sellers-six-arrested-160318/">raided</a> by police and Trading Standards after selling &#8220;fully loaded&#8221; Android boxes from his shop in the north-east.</p>
<p>Thompson is now being prosecuted by his local council. He says he intends to fight back to discover where the boundaries lie for sellers of similar devices.</p>
<p>“All I want to know is whether I am doing anything illegal. I know it’s a grey area but I want it in black and white,&#8221; he <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/14753446.Kodi_TV_box_prosecution_is_first_in_UK_as_store_owner_vows_to_fight_council_in_court/">said</a> this week.</p>
<p>“I’m prepared to accept what the court decides but at the moment as far as I’m concerned I’m not breaking the law.”</p>
<p>There are many people who share Thompson&#8217;s opinion and there&#8217;s no shortage of supporters willing the Middlesbrough man on to victory against what some see as a vindictive prosecution.</p>
<p>But while this is indeed an attack on the little guy, Thompson is almost certainly about to sacrifice himself for little to no gain. Admittedly the case isn&#8217;t completely straightforward, but a conviction seems almost inevitable. Here&#8217;s why.</p>
<p>Hardware devices &#8211; whether a computer, Android phone, tablet, or in this case, a set-top box &#8211; are 100% legal. Anyone can buy, sell or trade such devices almost anywhere in the world with no issues.</p>
<p>Thompson knows this, describing the blank devices as &#8220;just like a big USB stick.&#8221; While not a great analogy, for the purposes of the law, that will suffice.</p>
<p>On its own, the Kodi media player is also 100% legal. Anyone can download, install, use or give away the software with no problems whatsoever. Installing Kodi on an Android device and selling it is legal almost everywhere and definitely legal in the UK.</p>
<p>If Thompson had only done the above &#8211; sell Android set-top boxes with basic Kodi installed &#8211; he would have no issues with the police or indeed Trading Standards. Individually and combined, the software and devices are completely non-infringing.</p>
<p>However, Thompson did not stop there. What he did was sold Android boxes with Kodi installed, plus all the extra third-party addons that allow people to view infringing movies, TV shows, live sports, plus all the other &#8216;goodies&#8217; that buyers of these boxes demand. His adverts on Facebook make that very clear.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/1e896e3f.tomo-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tomo-1.png"><img src="media/1e896e3f.tomo-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tomo-1.png" alt="tomo-1" width="623" height="683" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128055"></a></center></p>
<p>It is these third-party addons that make what Thompson did unlawful. Selling devices and/or software designed for infringing copying purposes <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/24">is illegal in the UK</a>. Encouraging others to break the law never goes in a defendant&#8217;s favor either.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/14753446.Kodi_TV_box_prosecution_is_first_in_UK_as_store_owner_vows_to_fight_council_in_court/">The Northern Echo</a>, since he was raided in March, Thompson has been selling boxes that do not have the addons installed.</p>
<p>“These boxes are available from all over the place, not just me, but it’s the downloading of software to watch channels that is apparently causing the problem,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>But despite not offering them himself, the businessman continued to  encourage his customers to install the addons on devices he supplied, despite being targeted twice previously by the authorities.</p>
<p>The advert below is currently available on Thompson&#8217;s Facebook page and many of the channels are subscription-only affairs. Judges rarely look kindly on people encouraging others to break the law, especially where big corporate interests are the perceived victims.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/b1952d90.tomo-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tomo-2.png"><img src="media/b1952d90.tomo-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tomo-2.png" alt="tomo-2" width="625" height="313" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128063"></a></center></p>
<p>Finally, there is another issue that could negatively affect Thompson&#8217;s defense. In June 2015, a company called Geeky Kit was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-android-tv-box-sellers-raided-by-police-150612/">raided</a> near to Thompson&#8217;s premises. That company was also targeted for selling fully-loaded Android boxes. That company&#8217;s storefront at the time of the raid is shown below.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7d3f6b7a.geeky-kit.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/geeky-kit.jpg" width="615" height="409" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large"></center></p>
<p>The signage clearly states that items being sold within are being offered on the basis that they provide access to subscription TV package channels for free. Geeky Kit&#8217;s premises remained closed in the weeks that followed the raid but in August came a surprise announcement from Thompson.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/08e9e2c7.tomo-3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tomo-3.png"><img src="media/08e9e2c7.tomo-3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tomo-3.png" alt="tomo-3" width="623" height="258" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128072"></a></center></p>
<p>Thompson is now set to appear before Magistrates&#8217; Court next week in what will be a first-of-its-kind case. Much will hinge on the outcome, for Thompson and others in his position.</p>
<p>“This may have to go to the crown court and then it may go all the way to the European court, but I want to make a point with this and I want to make it easier for people to know what it legal and what isn’t,” he said. &#8220;I expect it go against me but at least I will know where I stand.”</p>
<p>While some definitive legal clarity in this area would help thousands of people to understand where the boundaries lie with these boxes, one can&#8217;t help but think that this is a particularly bad case for testing the waters.</p>
<p>Whether it will go entirely against Thompson next week remains to be seen, but if he wins the case and boxes with addons are declared legal to sell, it will be nothing short of a miracle. Companies like Sky, Premier League, and the Federation Against Copyright Theft, will rightly go into meltdown.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is the first case of its kind in the world so it is going to be interesting,” Thompson <a href="http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/android-boxes-middlesbrough-man-first-11908556">concludes</a>.</p>
<p>He&#8217;s not wrong there.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128243
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 09/26/16
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-09-26-16
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gjKMWWblisM/
content:
<p><img src="media/69129441.ghostb.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ghostb.jpg" alt="ghostb" width="300" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128246">This week we have three newcomers in our chart. </p>
<p>Ghostbusters is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-091916/">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="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghostbusters_2016">Ghostbusters</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289401/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ugHP-yZXw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/captain_america_civil_war">Captain America: Civil War</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498820/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKrVegVI0Us">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/it_2016">I.T.</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2679552/">5.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfnDTvbtDUI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/x_men_apocalypse">X-Men: Apocalypse</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3385516/">6=7.8=3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jer8XjMrUB4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swiss_army_man">Swiss Army Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4034354/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrK1f4TsQfM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/alice_in_wonderland_through_the_looking_glass">The Legend of Tarzan</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2567026/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3IWwnNe5mc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/now_you_see_me_2">Now You See Me 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3110958/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I8rVcSQbic">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles_out_of_the_shadows">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3949660/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sf0ZQfcSrc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/alice_in_wonderland_through_the_looking_glass">Alice Through The Looking Glass</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2567026/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3IWwnNe5mc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_shallows">The Shallows</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4052882/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgdxIlSuB70">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128241
title: MacOS Sierra Breaks Popular Keygens, Pirate Finds Fix
uri: MacOS-Sierra-Breaks-Popular-Keygens-Pirate-Finds-Fix
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/CKGdYxbylkk/
content:
<p><a href="media/9c3a4f12.core-keygen.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/core-keygen.jpg"><img src="media/9c3a4f12.core-keygen.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/core-keygen.jpg" alt="core-keygen" width="260" height="171" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128263"></a>Those who prefer to pirate rather than pay for their software often face installation issues. These range from the very simple to the fairly complex, depending on the strength of the anti-piracy technology deployed by manufacturers.</p>
<p>At the lower end of the scale, users are sometimes required to input a fake serial number into their software. This is achieved by running a key generator or &#8220;keygen&#8221;, a tool bundled with a pirate release by the team who cracked it. </p>
<p>This is often straightforward but for users of the macOS Sierra, the latest update to the Mac operating system currently being <a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/review/mac-software/macos-sierra-review-first-impressions-2016-3642147/">rolled out</a> by Apple, things are proving problematic.</p>
<p>When people try to run keygens and cracks that are bundled with many Mac pirate software releases, the tools break and offer the following error report.</p>
<p>&#8220;Termination Reason: EXEC, [0xc] This UPX compressed binary contains an invalid Mach-O header and cannot be loaded,&#8221; the message reads.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.mackungfu.org/macOSSierraupdateaccidentallykillsapppiracy">Mac Kung Fu</a>, it is keygens&#8217; reliance on a free multiplatform <a href="https://upx.github.io/">executable packer</a> that is causing the issues.</p>
<p>&#8220;[The problem] occurs because the creators of the hacks and keygens use the popular open source UPX app to package their code but subsequently attempt to cover their tracks by erasing any mention of the app, including the vital markers to compressed data. This confuses macOS Sierra, causing the error,&#8221; the report <a href="http://www.mackungfu.org/macOSSierraupdateaccidentallykillsapppiracy">notes</a>.</p>
<p>Searches on popular torrent sites do indeed reveal a fairly widespread problem. In particular, there are many complaints noted by users of keygens published by popular piracy release group CORE.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/c822097a.upx-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upx-1.png"><img src="media/c822097a.upx-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upx-1.png" alt="upx-1" width="650" height="663" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128256"></a></center></p>
<p>Several users commenting on CORE releases that have been uploaded to The Pirate Bay are reporting similar issues but the problems aren&#8217;t isolated in English-speaking areas. As suggested by the image below, the problem is widespread.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/5d1a0a71.upx-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upx-2.png"><img src="media/5d1a0a71.upx-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upx-2.png" alt="upx-2" width="650" height="337" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128260"></a></center></p>
<p>UPX&#8217;s developers have been <a href="https://github.com/upx/upx/issues/4">made aware</a> of the issues since they affect more than just keygens and cracks. It&#8217;s reported that v3.92 of UPX will address the problem.</p>
<p>However, that won&#8217;t fix the broken keygens and cracks already available online. People who have already upgraded to MacOS Sierra will find that these tools won&#8217;t work, effectively taking that pirate software out of the marketplace for them.</p>
<p>But of course, pirates are an ingenious bunch and the thirst for free software is a great motivator. That has already prompted a user called zerocoolroot to find a fix, which <a href="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/315646-special-k-patch-doesnt-work-on-1012-sierra/">reportedly works</a>.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/1917d5fd.upx-3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upx-3.png"><img src="media/1917d5fd.upx-3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/upx-3.png" alt="upx-3" width="650" height="416" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128261"></a></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128258
title: Game Maker Thanks Reddit Pirates for Attention, Offers Discounts
uri: Game-Maker-Thanks-Reddit-Pirates-for-Attention-Offers-Discounts
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Bcg-AWzjZ1o/
content:
<p><img src="media/c5156a3c.superbeat.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/superbeat.jpg" alt="superbeat" width="280" height="158" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128283">No copyright holder will be happy to see their work being shared for free on pirate sites, if their income depends on it. However, how they respond can make quite a difference. </p>
<p>Every now and then we see artists and developers scolding or lecturing pirates. While such an emotional response is understandable, it&#8217;s usually counterproductive. </p>
<p>Although some casual pirates can be threatened, most usually get very defensive when rightsholders call out their behavior.</p>
<p>Perhaps unwittingly, the studio behind the popular Vita game <a href="http://superbeatxonic.com/">SUPERBEAT XONiC</a> took a more gentle approach. Taking a page from a reverse psychology handbook, they confronted pirates with positivity.</p>
<p>After noticing that several people were posting links to pirated copies of their game in the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Vitahacks">Vitahacks</a> and <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/VitaPiracy/">VitaPiracy</a> subreddits, <a href="http://www.pm-studios.com/">PM Studios</a> joined the discussion. Not with a tirade, but with kind words and a discount offer.</p>
<p>&#8220;We feel honored that you enjoy our game SUPERBEAT XONiC so much, we would like to invite you to take this opportunity to purchase it on sale at the Playstation Store,&#8221; they commented on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/VitaPiracy/comments/545ld6/superbeat_xonic_jppcsg00645mai2331tested/">several<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/VitaPiracy/comments/50k1gb/mega_superbeat_xonic_physical_cart_dump_ntscu/">threads</a>. </p>
<p>&#8220;You can enjoy the original game and show support to the team for just $15.99 (60% off), no Playstation Plus required! [<a href="https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/games/superbeat-xonic/cid=UP2011-PCSE00717_00-SUPERBEATXONIC02">link</a>] Have a nice day!&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>PM Studio&#8217;s response</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/eb64ee0f.discount.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/discount.png" alt="discount" width="620" height="207" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-128281"></center></p>
<p>The people in the subreddit were pleasantly surprised by the response and created a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/VitaPiracy/comments/545yrq/pmstudios_is_sending_out_messages_about_super/">thank you thread</a>. This generated even more exposure including a write-up at <a href="https://www.destructoid.com/vita-developer-thanks-pirates-for-giving-its-game-attention-turns-them-into-paying-customers-389045.phtml">Destructoid</a>, with positive comments all around. </p>
<p>While we doubt that PM Studios appreciates the fact that people are downloading their game without paying for it, they do seem to realize that all these &#8216;pesky pirates&#8217; are potential customers. Rightly so, as the most prolific pirates are often the people who buy a lot of games as well.</p>
<p>And with their positive response, the developers undoubtedly picked up a few extra purchases, as various self-proclaimed pirates suggest that they now plan to buy the game.</p>
<p>&#8220;I appreciate the ability to be able to download a game and give it a good run. Demos do not always sway purchasing decisions in the right way, for numerous reasons,&#8221; Mr_Cloud_Strife <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/VitaPiracy/comments/545yrq/pmstudios_is_sending_out_messages_about_super/d7zr1in">writes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;When devs can look the offender right in the eye and say, &#8216;We are really happy that you enjoy the game! We have even discounted it for those that CHOOSE to purchase it.&#8217; How can you say no?&#8221;</p>
<p>The response from the game developer works particularly well because it&#8217;s a relatively rare sight. However, one of the users who linked to a pirated version of SUPERBEAT XONiC believes others should follow suit.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is how all game studios should conduct themselves!&#8221; codemasterv <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/VitaPiracy/comments/545yrq/pmstudios_is_sending_out_messages_about_super/">writes</a>.</p>
<p>PM Studios probably feels exactly the same, when they convert another pirate into a paying customer. </p>
<p>&#8220;This is how all pirates should conduct themselves&#8230;.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128308
title: YouTube-MP3 Ripping Site Sued By IFPI, RIAA and BPI
uri: YouTube-MP3-Ripping-Site-Sued-By-IFPI-RIAA-and-BPI
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MTDKhGsioeg/
content:
<p><img src="media/72389cbc.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" width="275" height="196" alt="" class="alignright size-large">Two weeks ago, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/stream-ripping-problem-worse-than-pirate-sites-ifpi-says-160913/">published research</a> which claimed that half of 16 to 24-year-olds use stream-ripping tools to copy music from sites like YouTube.</p>
<p>The industry group said that the problem of stream-ripping has become so serious that in volume terms it had overtaken downloading from &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites. Given today&#8217;s breaking news, the timing of the report was no coincidence.</p>
<p>Earlier today in a California District Court, a huge coalition of recording labels sued the world&#8217;s largest YouTube ripping site. UMG Recordings, Capitol Records, Warner Bros, Sony Music, Arista Records, Atlantic Records and several others claim that <a href="http://www.youtube-mp3.org/">YouTube-MP3</a> (YTMP3), owner Philip Matesanz, and Does 1-10 have infringed their rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;YTMP3 rapidly and seamlessly removes the audio tracks contained in videos streamed from YouTube that YTMP3&#8217;s users access, converts those audio tracks to an MP3 format, copies and stores them on YTMP3&#8217;s servers, and then distributes copies of the MP3 audio files from its servers to its users in the United States, enabling its users to download those MP3 files to their computers, tablets, or smartphones,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>The labels allege that YouTube-MP3 is one of the most popular sites in the entire world and as a result its owner, German-based company PMD Technologies UG, is profiting handsomely from their intellectual property.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants are depriving Plaintiffs and their recording artists of the fruits of their labor, Defendants are profiting from the operation of the YTMP3 website. Through the promise of illicit delivery of free music, Defendants have attracted millions of users to the YTMP3 website, which in turn generates advertising revenues for Defendants,&#8221; the labels add.</p>
<p>And it&#8217;s very clear that the labels mean business. YouTube-MP3 is being sued for direct, contributory, vicarious and inducement of copyright infringement, plus circumvention of technological measures.</p>
<p>Among other things, the labels are also demanding a preliminary and permanent injunction forbidding the Defendants from further infringing their rights. They also want YouTube-MP3&#8217;s domain name to be surrendered.</p>
<p>“This is a coordinated action to protect the rights of artists and labels from the blatant infringements of YouTube-mp3, the world’s single-largest ‘stream ripping’ site,&#8221; says IFPI Chief Executive Frances Moore.</p>
<p>“Music companies and digital services today offer fans more options than ever before to listen to music legally, when and where they want to do so – over hundreds of services with scores of millions of tracks – all while compensating artists and labels. Stream ripping sites should not be allowed jeopardize this.”</p>
<p>Cary Sherman, the Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says that YouTube-MP3 is making money on the back of their business and needs to be stopped.</p>
<p>“This site is raking in millions on the backs of artists, songwriters and labels. We are doing our part, but everyone in the music ecosystem who says they believe that artists should be compensated for their work has a role to play,&#8221; Sherman says.</p>
<p>&#8220;It should not be so easy to engage in this activity in the first place, and no stream ripping site should appear at the top of any search result or app chart.”</p>
<p>BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor says that it&#8217;s time for web services and related companies to stop supporting similar operations.</p>
<p>“It’s time to stop illegal sites like this building huge fortunes by ripping off artists and labels. Fans have access now to a fantastic range of legal music streaming services, but they can only exist if we take action to tackle the online black market,&#8221; Taylor says.</p>
<p>&#8220;We hope that responsible advertisers, search engines and hosting providers will also reflect on the ethics of supporting sites that enrich themselves by defrauding creators.”</p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted YouTube-MP3 owner Philip Matesanz for comment but at the time of publication we were yet to receive a response.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128306
title: Dotcom Petitions Appeals Court For Rehearing Over Seized Millions
uri: Dotcom-Petitions-Appeals-Court-For-Rehearing-Over-Seized-Millions
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hYKx1KmfDgY/
content:
<p><img src="media/37e6b3c4.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg" width="250" height="208" alt="" class="alignright size-large">As Megaupload was being shutdown in 2012, authorities in the United States, New Zealand and Hong Kong swooped on millions of dollars in cash and other property.</p>
<p>The US government said that these considerable assets were the product of copyright infringement and money laundering. As a result, sweeping steps were taken to take control of bank accounts and other property belonging to the defendants in the so-called Mega Conspiracy.</p>
<p>After meeting with stiff opposition when attempting to extradite Dotcom and his co-defendants, the US Government branded them fugitives from justice and subsequently <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-wins-dozens-of-millions-from-kim-dotcom-150326/">won a legal battle</a> to seize their millions.</p>
<p>Soon after, Megaupload’s legal team filed an appeal with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. However, that ended in disappointment last month when a three-judge panel at the Fourth Circuit handed down a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-seizes-dotcoms-millions-entrepreneur-fights-back-160815/">two to one decision</a> against Dotcom.</p>
<p>The Fourth Circuit upheld the decision of the lower court, dismissing the argument that the seizure order against Dotcom&#8217;s assets had no jurisdiction and finding that as a fugitive, the Megaupload founder had no standing to reclaim his assets. With more than $67m at stake, that was a particularly big deal.</p>
<p>At the time, Dotcom vowed to fight back and yesterday the first stage of that process began. Headed by Ira Rothken, Dotcom&#8217;s US legal defense announced that they had <a href="http://www.techfirm.com/home/kim-dotcom-files-petition-to-the-fourth-circuit-court-of-app.html">filed</a> a Petition to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals for a <a href="https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/AppellateProcedureGuide/Decision___Post-Decision/APG-rehearingandrehearingenbanc.html">rehearing and rehearing en banc</a> on the issues of forfeiture and fugitive disentitlement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Petitioners seek en banc review of a 2-1 ruling that conflicts with the precedents of this Court, the Supreme Court, and other circuits on issues of importance to the scope of federal jurisdiction over foreign property and civil forfeiture law,&#8221; the filing begins <em>(<a href="media/01ef9ae7.MegauploadEnBanc.pdf" data-original-source="http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/201542/27263735/1474911353777/MegauploadEnBanc.pdf">pdf</a>)</em>.</p>
<p>The petition goes on to highlight the gravity of the matter &#8211; the largest criminal copyright case in U.S. history &#8211; and notes that the US government acted aggressively by seizing property first and then relying on the doctrine of “fugitive disentitlement” to achieve forfeiture without having a trial on the merits.</p>
<p>Noting that the decision of the Fourth Circuit panel was not unanimous (Judge Floyd dissented), Dotcom&#8217;s team says that the ruling conflicts with precedents of both the Fourth Circuit and the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>&#8220;[U]nder this Court’s precedent, &#8216;[o]nly if the court has exclusive custody and control over the property does it have jurisdiction over the property so as to be able to adjudicate rights in it that are binding against the world,&#8221; the petition reads.</p>
<p>Noting that the property in question is controlled by foreign courts that are not compelled to comply with a U.S. forfeiture order, the petition describes the ruling as both a “hypothetical judgment” and an &#8220;unconstitutional advisory opinion.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;En banc review is needed to ensure uniformity in this Court’s decisions, and to avoid a conflict with Supreme Court precedent,&#8221; it adds.</p>
<p>Finally, the petition underlines the claims Dotcom has been making from the beginning, that the US Government is abusing its powers in order to gain unfair advantage over citizens of foreign countries that have never set foot on US soil.</p>
<p>&#8220;By stacking allegations of fugitive status on top of allegations of forfeitability, the government can obtain an unprecedented, roving worldwide license to indict foreign citizens who have never lived or worked in the United States and forfeit their foreign property — all without proving any wrongdoing or having control over the property,&#8221; it warns. &#8220;Review is warranted.&#8221; </p>
<p>Whether a rehearing will be granted remains to be seen but Dotcom says he intends to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=127918
title: Cloudflare: We Can’t Shut Down Pirate Sites
uri: Cloudflare-We-Can-t-Shut-Down-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mutmS3R_-MM/
content:
<p><img src="media/4a535cc9.cloudflare.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare.png" alt="cloudflare" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96401">As one of the leading CDN and DDoS protection services, <a href="https://www.cloudflare.com">Cloudflare</a> is used by millions of websites across the globe.</p>
<p>This includes thousands of “pirate” sites, including The Pirate Bay, who rely on the U.S. based company to keep server loads down.</p>
<p>Copyright holders are generally not happy that Cloudflare is doing business with these sites. While most stop at complaining, adult entertainment outfit ALS Scan took the matter to court. </p>
<p>In a complaint filed at a California federal court two months ago, the company <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-faces-lawsuit-for-assisting-pirate-sites-160823/">accused</a> the CDN service of various counts of copyright and trademark infringement. ALS listed several copyright-infringing websites Cloudflare does business with, but which it allegedly failed to terminate as clients. </p>
<p>Yesterday, Cloudflare responded to the allegations (<a href="media/8fddbf5b.dismissmemo.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dismissmemo.pdf">pdf</a>), arguing that ALS Scan has no legal grounds to come after them. For this reason, they say the entire case should be dismissed. </p>
<p>Among other things, Cloudflare argues that they are not liable for contributory copyright infringement. Even if it wanted to, it couldn&#8217;t take any measures to effectively stop pirate sites from operating.</p>
<p>&#8220;CloudFlare is not the operator of the allegedly infringing sites but is merely one of the many intermediaries across the internet that provide automated CDN services, which result in the websites in question loading a bit faster than they would if they did not utilize CDN services.&#8221; </p>
<p>If Cloudflare terminated the accounts of allegedly infringing websites, the sites themselves would still continue to exist. It would just require a simple DNS reconfiguration to continue their operation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Indeed, there are no measures of any kind that CloudFlare could take to prevent this alleged infringement, because the termination of CloudFlare’s CDN services would have no impact on the existence and ability of these allegedly infringing websites to continue to operate,&#8221; Cloudflare writes.</p>
<p>As such, the company argues that it&#8217;s not &#8220;materially contributing&#8221; to any of the alleged copyright infringements. </p>
<p>This role puts Cloudflare on par with other third party service providers such as domain registrars and advertisers. The question of whether these services can be held liable for pirate sites is at the heart of this case.</p>
<p>The CDN provider further stresses that the  claims for contributory copyright infringement also fail under the under the “inducement” theory.</p>
<p>Under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Studios,_Inc._v._Grokster,_Ltd.">Grokster ruling</a>, inducement would require an intentional form of advertising or messaging where the public is encouraged to infringe. This is not the case here, the company argues.</p>
<p>&#8220;Here, ALS has pleaded no facts regarding such a theory.  Instead, ALS makes only conclusory allegations using the term inducement, devoid of any factual support,&#8221; Cloudflare writes.  </p>
<p>&#8220;For instance, ALS Scan does not plead (as it must) facts sufficient to allege that CloudFlare solicited, advertised, promoted or rewarded acts of direct infringement by others, or that CloudFlare was created for the purpose of facilitating mass copyright infringement.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition to the above, Cloudflare says that ALS fails to state proper claims other forms of copyright and trademark infringement, asking the court to dismiss the case. </p>
<p>Advertising network JuicyAds, which is also named in the suit, requested the same <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/advertiser-tells-court-its-not-liable-for-pirate-sites-160913/">earlier this month</a>. All parties will have a chance to defend their positions in a court hearing, after which the court will have to decide how to continue. </p>
<p>With theoretical damages that can run to dozens of millions of dollars and well as broad liability implications, it&#8217;s expected to become a heated fight. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128372
title: uTorrent’s New Altruistic Mode Ensures You Give More Than You Take
uri: uTorrent-s-New-Altruistic-Mode-Ensures-You-Give-More-Than-You-Take
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/qZEpoPbjOgc/
content:
<p><a href="media/f1b12f99.utorrent-logo-new.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/utorrent-logo-new.jpg"><img src="media/f1b12f99.utorrent-logo-new.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/utorrent-logo-new.jpg" alt="utorrent-logo-new" width="222" height="148" class="alignright size-full wp-image-55606"></a>As the name suggests, file-sharing is all about sharing. In the old days this would be achieved by having folders full of files that anyone could take. These days, with BitTorrent&#8217;s distributed nature, it&#8217;s more about sharing content and associated bandwidth.</p>
<p>With that in mind, good torrent etiquette dictates that one always shares at least as much as one downloads. So, if a file is 1GB in size, it&#8217;s accepted that the user should try to share 1GB back. This is known as a 1:1 ratio. Those who upload 2GB will achieve a 2:1 ratio and those aiming for 3:1 will need to upload 3GB to others.</p>
<p>Generally, the more people upload the healthier the swarm, so with that in mind BitTorrent Inc. has just introduced an interesting feature to new builds of their uTorrent and BitTorrent clients. It&#8217;s called Altruistic Mode and manages to be both straightforward and somewhat confusing.</p>
<p>Essentially, Altruistic Mode is aimed at users who want to absolutely guarantee that they are always maintaining a 2:1 ratio (2GB uploaded for every 1GB downloaded). At first view one might think that the same goal could be achieved by downloading 1GB and letting the client seed 2GB back. However, that relies on others joining the swarm later and as mentioned earlier, Altruistic Mode wants to guarantee a 2:1 ratio, not just aim for one.</p>
<p>So how is this achieved? Well, in normal situations torrent clients always upload as much as they can anyway, so Altruistic Mode achieves its goals by <em>downloading less</em>.</p>
<p>The initially confusing end result here is that people who enable Altruistic Mode could find that due to their client&#8217;s insistence on maintaining a 2:1 ratio, the torrent they&#8217;re downloading might never complete. It is called Altruistic Mode for a reason and when seen in that light, the importance of a finished download places second to a healthy swarm.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/b466f756.altruistic-mode.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/altruistic-mode.png"><img src="media/b466f756.altruistic-mode.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/altruistic-mode.png" alt="altruistic-mode" width="650" height="482" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128387"></a></center></p>
<p>BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen says that the effects of Altruistic Mode on a torrent will depend on how that torrent would behave in the same swarm in regular &#8216;download&#8217; mode.</p>
<p>&#8211; If Download Mode would upload at a greater than 2:1 ratio then an Altruistic Mode peer will have very similar behavior.</p>
<p>&#8211; If Download Mode would upload at a ratio between 2:1 and 1:1 then Altruistic Mode will upload less and download a lot less than Download Mode would, resulting in a 2:1 upload to download ratio.</p>
<p>&#8211; If Download Mode would upload at a ratio of less than 1:1 then Altruistic Mode will do very little uploading or downloading.</p>
<p>&#8220;The precise definition of Altruistic Mode is that it initially downloads two pieces and after that, every time it uploads two pieces worth of data it downloads one more,&#8221; Cohen explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a simple and reliable strategy for making sure that you never get much worse than a 2:1 ratio. It results in all the behaviors described above, which do have some technical caveats&#8230;.but the essential message is right in every case.&#8221;</p>
<p>Cohen says that a 2:1 ratio was considered a logical choice, particularly given that a 3:1 ratio or higher has the potential to impose severe restrictions on some swarms. Ironically, if too many people decide to act selflessly and turn the feature on in the same swarm, everyone&#8217;s download may never complete.</p>
<p>&#8220;Going for a higher number [than 2:1] could also cause swarms to no longer have a complete copy of the file if too many peers are in Altruistic Mode, which would harm not just the one peer in Altruistic Mode but other peers as well,&#8221; Cohen explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because of this, we feel that a 2:1 ratio is a sweet spot and aren’t offering any user configuration options for it. You may get ratios of greater than 2:1 in Altruistic Mode, but in those cases you could have used regular Download Mode and gotten the same results.&#8221;</p>
<p>For those not familiar with how BitTorrent works (and certainly many casual users), Altruistic Mode is a bit of a head-scratcher, to say the least. And, given the prospect that a download might never complete with it switched on, it seems unlikely that swarms will be inundated with clients using the mode. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, it&#8217;s an interesting addition to the uTorrent and Mainline BitTorrent clients and described as &#8220;an experiment&#8221; that could be further developed.</p>
<p>&#8220;If this goes well we may roll out another feature in the future where a peer starts out in Altruistic Mode and later switches to regular Download Mode, which would not change the upload ratio significantly but would help other peers download faster at the beginning, so peers who want to get a complete file eventually but aren’t in a rush can allow other peers who care about getting it sooner to finish first,&#8221; Cohen concludes.</p>
<p>Altruistic Mode is available in uTorrent 3.4.9 and above, and BitTorrent 7.9.9 and above. It is turned off by default but can be unlocked in Preferences/BitTorrent and then activated for individual torrents.</p>
<p>More information can be found <a href="http://blog.bittorrent.com/2016/09/27/utorrent-altruistic-mode/">here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128368
title: Kim Dotcom’s Extradition Appeal Concludes, Will He Get a “Fair Go”?
uri: 2016-09-28-
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Ims6bn535PQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/9a9629f5.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg" alt="megaupload-logo" width="250" height="208" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95191">Last December a New Zealand District Court ruled that Kim Dotcom and his colleagues can be sent to the United States to face criminal charges.</p>
<p>This decision was immediately appealed and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dotcom-extradition-appeal-gets-underway-160829/">over the past weeks</a> there&#8217;s been a lengthy series of appeal hearings at New Zealand’s High Court. </p>
<p>Represented by a team of lawyers, Kim Dotcom and his fellow Megaupload defendants have argued that the New Zealand District Court failed to give them a fair hearing. The entire case was live-streamed on YouTube and earlier today the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aaw4MmK2jo&#038;feature=youtu.be">final arguments</a> were presented. </p>
<p>Kim Dotcom’s defense lawyer Ron Mansfield repeated several claims that have been discussed over the past several weeks. He argues that the lower court made critical errors in its final ruling and that crucial evidence was overlooked or not considered at all.</p>
<p>One of the main arguments of the United States government is that Megaupload would only disable a URL when it received a takedown notice, not the underlying file. As a result of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_deduplication">deduplication technology</a> it employed, this meant that the file could still be accessed under different URLs.</p>
<p>However, according to Dotcom&#8217;s defense, it was a standard practice in the Internet service provider industry to remove just the URL, something copyright holders were apparently well aware of.</p>
<p>&#8220;How can a copyright holder have been reasonably expecting Megaupload to take down files in response to takedown notices specifying URLs if the copyright holders knew that the prevailing industry practice was to prevent access by removing the URL, not the file,&#8221; Mansfield said. </p>
<p>&#8220;The use of deduplication technology by Internet service providers [&#8230;] was not a secret. It was widespread within the industry and well-known both by the Internet service provider industry and the content industry,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>While various stakeholders disagree on what services such as Megaupload are required to do under the DMCA, removing the URLs only was not something unique to Megaupload.</p>
<p>In addition, Mansfield previously cited the &#8220;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenz_v._Universal_Music_Corp.">Dancing Baby</a>&#8221; case where it was held that copyright holders should consider fair use before requesting a takedown. This means that removing an underlying file down may be too broad, as fair use isn&#8217;t considered for all URLs.</p>
<p>Overall the defense believes that Megaupload and its employees enjoy safe harbor protection and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-court-copy-pasted-u-s-lawyers-made-glaring-errors-160907/">can’t be held criminally liable</a> for copyright infringement. As such, there is no extraditable offense. </p>
<p>Mr. Mansfield closes his argument by highlighting the unprecedented nature of this case, which has been ongoing for nearly five years.</p>
<p>&#8220;Today marks 1730 days since 20 January 2012, when the New Zealand police effectively dropped from the sky and conducted the search of Mr. Dotcom&#8217;s home. And at that point they then sought about arresting him. The officers were disguised, armed and left him and his family effectively bereft of assets and income,&#8221; Mansfield said.</p>
<p><center><strong>Mr. Mansfield</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b5367c2d.mansfield.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mansfield.jpg" alt="mansfield" width="600" height="296" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-128391"></center></p>
<p>Mansfield describes the U.S. litigation strategy as an aggressive one and argues that the failure to accept and review critical evidence deprived Kim Dotcom of a fair trial.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sportsmanship in a court of law is called fairness and the United States conduct has in our submission both been unlawful and unreasonable and the tactics they have adopted have been unfair and prevented Mr. Dotcom and the other appellants from having the benefit of a fair hearing.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;He simply has not had a <a href="http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/fair-go">fair go</a>. And we do ask that your honor considers the submissions which have been presented, because, in effect, after that period of time, after 1730 days it would be the first time there is a meaningful judicial assessment of the facts and of the submissions presented,&#8221; Mansfield concluded.</p>
<p>While the primary hearings are over, there are still some smaller details to work out and it is expected to take several weeks before New Zealand High Court reaches a decision. However, Kim Dotcom is confident that he&#8217;s on the winning site and congratulated his lawyers. </p>
<p>&#8220;I like to thank my legal team for an excellent job. My 5 children will grow up around their father thanks to your brilliance. I&#8217;m grateful,&#8221; Dotcom <a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/780984925893910528">posted</a> on Twitter a few hours ago.</p>
<p>Whatever the outcome, it&#8217;s unlikely that the case will stop at the High Court. Given the gravity of the case, both the United States and the Megaupload defendants are likely to take it all the way to the Supreme Court if the decision doesn&#8217;t go their way. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128417
title: UK IP Crime Report 2016 Reveals IPTV/Kodi Piracy as Growing Threat
uri: UK-IP-Crime-Report-2016-Reveals-IPTV-Kodi-Piracy-as-Growing-Threat
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gf8uj409lMc/
content:
<p>For more than a decade the IP Crime Group and the Intellectual Property Office have collaborated to produce an assessment of the level of IP crime in the UK. Their annual IP Crime Report details the responses of businesses, anti-piracy groups, and government agencies.</p>
<p>As usual, this year&#8217;s report covers all areas of IP crime, both in the physical realm and online. However, it is the latter area that appears to be causing the most concern to participating anti-piracy groups.</p>
<p>&#8220;Perhaps the area where IP crime statistics most often reach jaw-dropping levels is in relation to the industries providing digital content,&#8221; the report reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;During a sample three-month period last year, 28% of those questioned admitted their music downloads in the UK came from illegal sources. Similarly, 23% of films, 22% of software, 16% of TV and 15% of games were downloaded in breach of copyright.&#8221;</p>
<p>While noting that illicit music downloads have actually reduced in recent years, the report highlights areas that aren&#8217;t doing so well, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/just-5-uk-internet-users-hardcore-pirates-160705/">TV show consumption</a> for example.</p>
<p>&#8220;The reasons for the spike in TV copyright infringement appear to be, in part, technological, with ‘unofficial services’ such as uTorrent, BitTorrent, TV catch up apps and established sources such as YouTube offering content without legal certainty,&#8221; it adds.</p>
<p>But while several methods of obtaining free TV content online are highlighted in the report, none achieve as much attention as IPTV &#8211; commonly known as Kodi with illicit third-party addons.</p>
<p>In her report preamble, Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Neville-Rolfe describes anti-IPTV collaboration between the Federation Against Copyright Theft, Trading Standards, and the Police, as one of the year&#8217;s operational successes. Indeed, FACT say anti-IPTV work is now their top priority.</p>
<p><strong>Federation Against Copyright Theft</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;We have prioritised an emerging threat to the audiovisual industry, internet protocol TV (IPTV) boxes,&#8221; FACT write.</p>
<p>&#8220;In their original form, these boxes are legitimate. However, with the use of apps and add-ons, they allow users to access copyright infringing material, from live TV and sports, to premium pay-for channels and newly released films. Once configured these boxes are illegal.&#8221;</p>
<p>FACT say they are concentrating on two areas &#8211; raising awareness in the industry and elsewhere while carrying out enforcement and disruption operations.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the last year FACT has worked with a wide range of partners and law enforcement bodies to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-raid-pirate-android-box-sellers-six-arrested-160318/">tackle individuals</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-android-tv-box-sellers-raided-by-police-150612/">disrupt businesses</a> selling illegal IPTV boxes. Enforcement action has been widespread across the UK with numerous ongoing investigations,&#8221; FACT note.</p>
<p>Overall, FACT say that 70% of the public complaints they receive relate to online copyright infringement. More than a quarter of all complaints now relate to IPTV and 50% of the anti-piracy group&#8217;s current investigations involve IPTV boxes.</p>
<p><Center><a href="media/cd407c67.fact-ipcrime.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fact-ipcrime.png"><img src="media/cd407c67.fact-ipcrime.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fact-ipcrime.png" alt="fact-ipcrime" width="650" height="989" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128424"></a></center></p>
<p><strong>British Phonographic Industry (BPI)</strong></p>
<p>In their submission to the report, the BPI cite three key areas of concern &#8211; online piracy, physical counterfeiting, and Internet-enabled sales of infringing physical content. The former is their top priority.</p>
<p>&#8220;The main online piracy threats to the UK recorded music industry at present come from BitTorrent networks, MP3 aggregator sites, cyberlockers, unauthorised streaming sites, stream ripping sites and pirate sites accessed via mobile devices,&#8221; the BPI writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Search engines – predominantly Google – also continue to provide millions of links to infringing content and websites that are hosted by non-compliant operators and hosts that cannot be closed down have needed to be blocked in the UK under s.97A court orders (website blocking).&#8221;</p>
<p>The BPI notes that between January 2015 and March 2016, it submitted more than <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bpi-hits-record-breaking-100-million-google-takedowns-140922/">100 million URL takedowns</a> to Google and Bing. Counting all notices since 2011 when the BPI began the practice, the tally now sits at <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/music-industry-reports-200-millionth-pirate-link-to-google-150507/">200 million URLs</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;These astronomic numbers demonstrate the large quantity of infringing content that is available online and which is easily accessible to search engine users,&#8221; the BPI says.</p>
<p>On the web-blocking front, the BPI says it now has court orders in place to block 63 pirate sites and more than 700 related URLs, IP addresses and proxies.</p>
<p>&#8220;Site blocking is proving a successful strategy, and the longer the blocks are in place, the more effective they tend to be. The latest data available shows that traffic to sites blocked for over one year has reduced by an average of around 80%; with traffic to sites blocked for less than a year reduced by an average of around 50%,&#8221; the BPI adds.</p>
<p><strong>Infringement warnings for Internet subscibers</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-anti-piracy-education-campaign-launched-quietly-151201/">Get it Right campaign</a> is an educational effort to advise the public on how to avoid pirate sites and spend money on genuine products. The campaign has been somewhat lukewarm thus far, but the sting in the tail has always been the threat of copyright holders sending warnings to Internet pirates.</p>
<p>To date, nothing has materialized on that front but hidden away on page 51 of the report is a hint that something might happen soon.</p>
<p>&#8220;A further component of the &#8216;Get it Right&#8217; campaign is a subscriber alert programme that will, starting by the end of 2016, advise ISPs’ residential subscribers when their accounts are believed to have been used to infringe copyright,&#8221; the report reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Account holders will receive an Alert from their ISP, advising them that unlawful uploading of a copyright content file may have taken place on their internet connection and offering advice on where to find legitimate sources of content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Overall, the tone of the report suggests a huge threat from IP crime but one that&#8217;s being effectively tackled by groups such as FACT, BPI, the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, and various educational initiatives. Only time will tell if next year&#8217;s report will retain the optimism.</p>
<p>The full report can be downloaded here <em>(<a href="media/ad5803e6.ip-crime-report-2015-16.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/555795/ip-crime-report-2015-16.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128434
title: Research: Movie Piracy Hurts Sales, But Not Always
uri: Research-Movie-Piracy-Hurts-Sales-But-Not-Always
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/k1Hip_xZqV0/
content:
<p><img src="media/23e20654.europe-flag.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/europe-flag.png" alt="europe-flag" width="222" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79290">Research into online piracy comes in all shapes and sizes, often with equally mixed results. The main question is often whether piracy is hurting sales.</p>
<p>New research conducted by economists from the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/growth/index_en">European Commission&#8217;s</a> Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, tries to find answers for the movie industry.</p>
<p>For a new <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2844167">paper titled</a> &#8220;Movie Piracy and Displaced Sales in Europe,&#8221; the researchers conducted a large-scale survey among 30,000 respondents from six countries, documenting their movie consumption patterns. </p>
<p>Using statistical models and longitudinal data, they were able to estimate how piracy affects legal sales and if this differs from country to country.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, the findings show that not every pirated movie is a lost sale. Instead, for every hundred films that are first viewed from a pirated source, 37 viewings from paid movies are &#8216;lost&#8217;. </p>
<p>This results in a displacement rate of 0.37, which is still a high number of course, also compared to previous research.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that in some cases piracy actually has a beneficial effect. This is true for movies that people have seen more than twice. </p>
<p>&#8220;Interestingly, we found evidence of a sampling effect: for movies that are seen more than twice, first unpaid consumption slightly increases paid second consumption,&#8221; the researchers write.  </p>
<p>However, the sampling effect doesn&#8217;t outweigh the loss in sales. Overall the researchers estimate that online piracy leads to a significant loss in revenue for the movie industry. </p>
<p>&#8220;Using a back-of-the-envelope calculation, we show that this implies that unpaid movie viewings reduced movie sales in Europe by about 4.4% during the sample period,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>This negative effect is driven by a relatively small group of consumers. Roughly 20% of the respondents with the highest movie consumption are responsible for 94% of lost movie sales. Or put differently, the most avid film fans pirate the most.</p>
<p>Interestingly, there are large between-country differences too. In Germany online movie piracy results in &#8216;only&#8217; a 1.65%  loss, this figure is 10.41% for Spain. The UK (2.89%), France (5.73%), Poland (7.21%) and Sweden (7.65%) rank somewhere in between. </p>
<p>According to the researchers, their findings can help policymakers to decide what the best anti-piracy enforcement strategies are. In addition, changes between countries could help to evaluate existing and future measures and inspire future research.</p>
<p>&#8220;The estimates that we provide can help policy makers to asses the efficient use of public resources to be spent on copyright enforcement of movies.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;In particular, since we find that virtually all the lost sales of movies are due to a very small group of individuals, most damages of movie piracy could therefore potentially be prevented with well targeted policies,&#8221; the researchers conclude.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128499
title: Man Who Leaked The Revenant Online Fined $1.1m
uri: Man-Who-Leaked-The-Revenant-Online-Fined-1-1m
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/C6G5ypNxE28/
content:
<p><a href="media/866d85c5.revenant.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/revenant.jpg"><img src="media/866d85c5.revenant.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/revenant.jpg" alt="revenant" width="300" height="171" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120612"></a>In December 2015, many so-called &#8216;screener&#8217; copies of the latest movies <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-hateful-eight-and-the-revenant-leaked-online-151221/">leaked online</a>. Among them a near perfect copy of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s ‘The Revenant’.</p>
<p>Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and slated for a Christmas day release, in a matter of hours the tale vengeance clocked up tens of thousands of illegal downloads.</p>
<p>With such a high-profile leak, it was inevitable that the authorities would attempt to track down the individual responsible. It didn&#8217;t take them long.</p>
<p>Following an FBI investigation, former studio worker William Kyle Morarity was discovered as the culprit. Known online by the username “clutchit,” the 31-year-old had uploaded The Revenant and The Peanuts Movie to private torrent tracker Pass The Popcorn.</p>
<p><center><strong>The Revenant</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/41a2d952.therevenant.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/therevenant.png" alt="therevenant" width="640" height="312" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-115363"></center></p>
<p>Uploading a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial distribution is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison, so his sentencing always had the potential to be punishing for the Lancaster man, despite his early guilty  plea.</p>
<p>This week Morarity was sentenced in federal court for criminal copyright infringement after admitting screener copies of both movies to the Internet.</p>
<p>After being posted online six days in advance of its theatrical release, it was estimated that The Revenant was downloaded at least a million times during a six week period, costing Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation to suffer losses of &#8220;well over $1 million.&#8221;</p>
<p>United States District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson ordered Morarity to pay $1.12 million in restitution to Twentieth Century Fox. He also sentenced the 31-year-old to eight months’ home detention and 24 months’ probation. </p>
<p>According to court documents, Morarity obtained the screeners and copied them to a portable hard drive. He then uploaded the movies to Pass The Popcorn on December 17 and December 19.</p>
<p>“The film industry creates thousands of jobs in Southern California,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker commenting on the sentencing.</p>
<p>“The defendant’s illegal conduct caused significant harm to the victim movie studio. The fact that the defendant stole these films while working on the lot of a movie studio makes his crime more egregious.”</p>
<p>Deirdre Fike, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI&#8217;s Los Angeles Field Office, said that Morarity had abused his position of trust to obtain copies of the movies and then used them in a way that caused Fox to incur huge losses.</p>
<p>&#8220;The theft of intellectual property &#8211; in this case, major motion pictures &#8211; discourages creative incentive and affects the average American making ends meet in the entertainment industry,&#8221; Fike said.</p>
<p>As part of his punishment, Morarity also agreed to assist the FBI to produce a public service announcement aimed at educating the public about the harms of copyright infringement and the illegal uploading of movies to the Internet.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128503
title: J.J. Abrams Can’t Stop Copyright Lawsuit Against Star Trek Fan-Film
uri: J-J-Abrams-Can-t-Stop-Copyright-Lawsuit-Against-Star-Trek-Fan-Film
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/H6Fbkv1-sFc/
content:
<p><img src="media/b89b241e.axanar.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/axanar.jpg" alt="axanar" width="250" height="148" class="alignright size-full wp-image-121946" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/axanar.jpg 250w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/axanar-220x130.jpg 220w" sizes="(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px">Earlier this year Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios filed a lawsuit against the makers of a Star Trek inspired fan film, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-sue-fan-funded-star-trek-spin-off-151231/">accusing</a> them of copyright infringement.</p>
<p>The dispute centers around the well-received short film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_to_Axanar">Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar</a> and the planned follow-up feature film Axanar.</p>
<p>Among other things, the Star Trek rightsholders claim ownership over various Star Trek related settings, characters, species, clothing, colors, shapes, words, short phrases and even the Klingon language.</p>
<p>A few months after the complaint was filed it appeared that the movie studios and the Axanar team had found a way to resolve their issues. During a Star Trek fan event director J.J. Abrams <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/paramount-star-trek-film-160522/">announced</a> that the case would be over soon, citing discussions with Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin.</p>
<p>&#8220;We started talking about this realizing that this is not an appropriate way to deal with the fans. The fans should be celebrating this thing,&#8221; Abrams <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZFycZqcQhQ">said</a>. &#8220;So Justin went to the studio and pushed them to stop this lawsuit and now, within the next few weeks, it will be announced this is going away.&#8221; </p>
<p>However, as time passed it appears that the director had spoken too soon, or perhaps made up the entire claim <a href="http://io9.gizmodo.com/j-j-abrams-kinda-made-up-the-news-that-the-star-trek-f-1782160895">ad-lib</a>. The case didn&#8217;t &#8220;go away&#8221; at all and this week it became clear that Paramount and CBS Studios see J.J. Abrams&#8217; comments as irrelevant.</p>
<p>Both parties are currently in the discovery phase where they hope to gather evidence from the other side to back up their claims. Axanar was particularly interested in obtaining any communications the studios had with Justin Lin and J.J. Abrams, which seem to favor their claims. </p>
<p>However, through their lawyers CBS and Paramount refused to hand anything over, noting that this is information is irrelevant, if it exists at all. &#8220;We objected to your requests for communications with Justin Lin and J.J. Abrams as irrelevant, and did not agree to produce those documents,&#8221; they wrote in an email earlier this month.</p>
<p><center><strong>The email</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/15e50c2d.axanemail.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/axanemail.png" alt="axanemail" width="604" height="192" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-128517"></center></p>
<p>To resolve this and other outstanding discovery disputes, the parties now ask the court what information should be handed over, and what can remain confidential. </p>
<p>In the joint motion (<a href="media/83018cfd.jointmotion.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jointmotion.pdf">pdf</a>) CBS and Paramount reiterate that the comments J.J. Abrams made are &#8220;not relevant&#8221; to any party&#8217;s claim. The directors are not authorized to speak on behalf of the movie studios and their comments have no impact on the damages amount, they argue.</p>
<p>&#8220;J.J. Abrams is a producer/director of certain Star Trek Copyrighted Works and Justin Lin was the director of Star Trek Beyond. Neither Mr. Abrams nor Mr. Lin is an authorized representative of either of the Plaintiffs,&#8221; the studios claim. </p>
<p>&#8220;A third party’s statement about the merits of this lawsuit has absolutely no bearing on the amount of money Defendants’ obtained by their infringing conduct, nor does it bear on any other aspect of damages,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>Axanar disagrees with this assessment. They claim that Abrams statements about dropping the &#8220;ridiculous&#8221; lawsuit in the interest of fans, is central to a possible fair use claim and damages.</p>
<p>&#8220;Statements that Star Trek belongs to all of us and that the lawsuit is ridiculous and was going to be &#8216;dropped&#8217; is relevant to the impact on the market prong of the fair use analysis, and Plaintiffs utter lack of<br>
damages,&#8221; Axanar claims.</p>
<p>The court will now have to decide what information CBS and Paramount must share. It&#8217;s clear, however, that J.J. Abrams spoke way too soon and that the movie studios are not ready to drop their lawsuit without putting up a fight.</p>
<p>While Abrams may not have realized it at the time, his comments are a blessing for the fan-film. It offers Axanar great leverage in potential settlement discussions and will reflect badly on CBS and Paramount if the case heads to trial.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=128441
title: Popular YouTuber Experiments With WebTorrent to Beat Censorship
uri: Popular-YouTuber-Experiments-With-WebTorrent-to-Beat-Censorship
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hWm_SPbURLA/
content:
<p><a href="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg"><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="sadyoutube" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196"></a>When discussing the most influential websites on the planet, there can be little doubt that YouTube is a true giant. The video-hosting platform is the second most popular site on the Internet behind its owner&#8217;s Google.com</p>
<p>YouTube attracts well over a billion visitors every money, with many flocking to the platform to view the original content uploaded by its army of contributors. However, with great power comes great responsibility and for YouTube that means pleasing advertisers.</p>
<p>As a result, YouTube has <a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6162278?hl=en">rules in place</a> over what kind of content can be monetized, something which caused a <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/1/12753108/youtube-is-over-party-advertising-monetization-censorship">huge backlash</a> recently.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, if you don&#8217;t produce content that is almost entirely &#8220;appropriate for all audiences,&#8221; (without references to drugs, violence, and sex, for example), your content is at risk of making no money. But YouTube goes further still, by flagging &#8220;controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies.&#8221; Awkward.</p>
<p>Many YouTubers view this refusal to monetize content as a form of censorship but recognize that as long as they&#8217;re in bed with the company, they&#8217;re going to have to play by its rules. For some, this means assessing alternatives.</p>
<p>Popular YouTuber Connor Hill (Bluedrake42 &#8211; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNSwcDEUfIEzYdAPscXo6ZA">186,600 subscribers</a>) is no stranger to YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFTFvZzioIo">flagging his videos</a>. As a result, he&#8217;s decided to take matters into his own hands by experimenting with WebTorrent. </p>
<p><center><a href="media/c595eaae.bd42-ss.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bd42-ss.png"><img src="media/c595eaae.bd42-ss.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bd42-ss.png" alt="bd42-ss" width="650" height="339" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128454"></a></center></p>
<p>As previously reported, WebTorrent <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/webtorrent-brings-bittorrent-to-the-web-impresses-netflix-151213/">brings torrents to the web</a>. Instead of using standalone applications it allows people to share files directly from their browser, without having to configure or install anything.</p>
<p>Early on, WebTorrent creator Feross Aboukhadijeh identified &#8220;people-powered websites&#8221; as a revolutionary application for WebTorrent.</p>
<p>“Imagine a video site like YouTube, where visitors help to host the site’s content. The more people that use a WebTorrent-powered website, the faster and more resilient it becomes,” he told TF.</p>
<p>It is exactly this application for the technology that has excited Bluedrake. By taking his content, embedding it in his website, and using his own fans for distribution, Bluedrake says he can take back control.</p>
<p>&#8220;This solution does not require torrent clients, this solution does not require torrent files, this is a seamless video-player hosted solution, with a completely decentralized database, supported by the people watching the content itself,&#8221; Bluedrake says in a new video. &#8220;And it works&#8230;REALLY well.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/6a0220cc.webt.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/webt.jpg" width="1062" height="397" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large"></center></p>
<p>Of course, all torrents need seeds to ensure that older content is always available, so Bluedrake says that the servers already funded by his community will have backup copies of all videos ready to seed, whenever that&#8217;s necessary.</p>
<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s literally the best of both worlds. A CDN and a TVDN &#8211; a Torrent Video Distribution Network &#8211; at the same time. It will be <a href="http://home.bluedrake42.com">community-funded</a> and community supported&#8230;and then we&#8217;ll have truly censorship-free, entirely impervious video content, in a network. That gives me chills,&#8221; Bluedrake adds.</p>
<p>But while this solution offers the opportunity to avoid censorship, there is no intention to break the law. Bluedrake insists that the freedom of peer-to-peer will only be used for speech, not to infringe copyright.</p>
<p>&#8220;All I want is a site where people can say what they want. I want a site where people can operate their business without having somebody else step in and take away their content when they say something they don&#8217;t like. We&#8217;re going to host our own content distribution network within a peer-to-peer, web-socketed torrent service,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>The development has excited WebTorrent creator Feross Aboukhadijeh.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is just one of the extremely creative uses for WebTorrent that I&#8217;ve heard about. I&#8217;m continually amazed at what WebTorrent users are building with the open source torrent engine,&#8221; Feross informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;When a video site uses <a href="https://webtorrent.io/">WebTorrent</a>, visitors help to host the site&#8217;s content. The more people that use a WebTorrent-powered website, the faster and more resilient it becomes. I think that&#8217;s pretty cool. It&#8217;s something that traditional CDNs cannot offer.</p>
<p>&#8220;The magic of WebTorrent is that people can use it however they like. It&#8217;s not just a <a href="https://webtorrent.io/desktop">desktop torrent app</a> but it&#8217;s a JavaScript library that anyone can use anywhere on the web.&#8221;</p>
<p>Of course, one YouTuber using the technology is a modest start but the potential is there for this to get much bigger if Bluedrake can make a success of it.</p>
<p>&#8220;The way that we get P2P technology to go mainstream is simple: make it easy, make it better,&#8221; Feross says.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is part of a larger trend of decentralized protocols replacing centralized services, as we&#8217;ve seen with Bitcoin and blockchain apps.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6QW97qNMNzc?t=652" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-anonymous-review-160220/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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