# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148851
title: IPTV Provider Stops Selling New Subscriptions Under Pressure From “UK Authorities”
uri: IPTV-Provider-Stops-Selling-New-Subscriptions-Under-Pressure-From-U
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5qdyt_9PtbU/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034"></a>Over the past couple of decades, piracy of live TV has broadly taken two forms. That which relies on breaking broadcaster encryption (such as card sharing and hacked set-top boxes), and the more recent developments of P2P and IPTV-style transmission.</p>
<p>With the former under pressure and P2P systems such as Sopcast and AceTorrent moving along in the background, streaming from servers is now the next big thing, whether that&#8217;s for free via third-party Kodi plugins or for a small fee from premium IPTV providers.</p>
<p>Of course, copyright holders don&#8217;t like any of this usage but with their for-profit strategy, commercial IPTV providers have a big target on their backs. More evidence of this was revealed recently when UK-based IPTV service ACE TV announced they were taking action to avoid problems in the country.</p>
<p>In a message to prospective and existing customers, ACE TV said that potential legal issues were behind its decision to accept no new customers while locking down its service.</p>
<p>&#8220;It saddens me to announce this, but due to pressure from the authorities in the UK, we are no longer selling new subscriptions. This obviously includes trials,&#8221; the announcement reads.</p>
<p>Noting that it would take new order for just 24 hours more, ACE TV insisted that it wasn&#8217;t shutting down but would lock down the service while closing Facebook.</p>
<p>TF sources and unconfirmed <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IPTV/comments/7kstdh/ace_tv_the_rumours/">rumors</a> online suggest that the Federation Against Copyright Theft and partners the Premier League are involved. However, ACE TV didn&#8217;t respond to TorrentFreak&#8217;s request for comment so we&#8217;re unable to confirm or deny the allegations.</p>
<p>That being said, even if the threats came directly from the police, it&#8217;s likely that the approach would&#8217;ve been initially prompted by companies connected to FACT, since the anti-piracy outfit often puts forward names of services for investigation on behalf of its partners.</p>
<p>Perhaps surprisingly, ACE TV is legally incorporated in the UK as Ace Hosting Limited, a fact it makes clear on its website. While easy to find, the company&#8217;s registered address is shared by dozens of other companies, indicating a mail forwarding operation rather than a place servers or staff can be found.</p>
<p>This proxy location may well be the reason the company feels emboldened to carry on some level of service rather than shutting down completely, but its legal basis for doing so is interesting at best, precarious at worst.</p>
<p>&#8220;This website, any content contained herein and any contract brought into being as a result of usage of this website are governed by and construed in accordance with English Law,&#8221; ACE TV&#8217;s website reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;The parties to any such contract agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. All contracts are concluded in English.&#8221;</p>
<p>It seems likely that ACE TV has been threatened under UK law, since that&#8217;s where it&#8217;s incorporated. That would seem to explain why its concerned about UK authorities and their potential effect on the business. On the other hand, however, the service claims to operate entirely legally, but under the laws of the United States. It even has a repeat infringer policy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ace Hosting operates as an intermediary to cache and deliver content hosted by others at the instruction of our subscribers. We cannot remove content hosted by others,&#8221; the company says.</p>
<p>&#8220;As an intermediary, we are entitled to rely upon (among other things) the DMCA safe harbor available to system caching service providers and we maintain policies and procedures to terminate subscribers that would be considered repeat infringers under the DMCA.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whether the notices on the site have been advised by a legal professional or are there to present an air of authenticity is unclear but it&#8217;s precarious for a service of this nature to rely solely on conduit status in order to avoid liability.</p>
<p>Marketing, prior conduct, and overall intent play a major role in such cases and when all of that is aired in the cold light of day, the situation can look very different to a judge, particularly in the UK, where no similar cases have been successfully defended to date.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148936
title: Piracy Notices Can Mess With Your Thermostat, ISP Warns
uri: Piracy-Notices-Can-Mess-With-Your-Thermostat-ISP-Warns
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/cUlrZ1OfvBo/
content:
<p><img src="media/cdd1f2ea.wintersnowcoldtemperature.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wintersnowcoldtemperature.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="203" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149001">Since the early 2000&#8217;s copyright holders have been sending ISPs takedown notices, to alert account holders that someone’s been using their connection to share copyrighted material.</p>
<p>The goal of these warnings is to deter people from sharing pirated material in the future. </p>
<p>Internet providers are not legally obliged to forward the notices, but many do. What ISPs are required to do is implement a policy to deal with frequent offenders.</p>
<p>Keeping pirates on board without taking any action can make the ISP liable, as <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-is-liable-for-pirating-subscribers-ordered-to-pay-25-million-151217/">Cox found out the hard way</a>. While this case is currently on appeal, some ISPs have already put stringent measures in place.</p>
<p>Take <a href="http://armstrongonewire.com/Internet/Index">Armstrong Zoom Internet</a>, for example, which has roughly a million subscribers in the Northeastern part of the U.S. Like many other ISPs it reserves the right to terminate repeat infringers, a policy which it doesn&#8217;t hide. </p>
<p>Our attention was caught by a recent letter the company sent to one of its users. The ISP points out that it received multiple copyright infringement notices, urging the customer to stop, or else. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;please be advised that, if Armstrong receives additional notifications of infringement connected With your Zoom Internet Service, Armstrong will remove you from your current service level and place you at the lowest service level.</p>
<p>&#8220;This will allow you to access email, but limit your speeds and affect your ability to upload or download material to the internet or use other file-sharing capabilities.&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>Armstrong warning (<a href="https://imgur.com/a/DjJhv">via</a>)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/ece994e5.thermo-e1513869221312.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thermo-e1513869221312.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="433" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148999"></center></p>
<p>While reduced Internet speeds are bad enough, there&#8217;s another scary prospect. The reduced service level may also prevent subscribers from controlling their thermostat remotely. Not ideal during the winter.</p>
<p>&#8220;Please be advised that this may affect other services which you may have connected to your internet service, such as the ability to control your thermostat remotely or video monitoring services.&#8221;</p>
<p>Accused pirates who want their full service restored, and regain control over their thermostats, have to answer some copyright questions and read an educational piece about copyright infringement. </p>
<p>When they sign an agreement acknowledging that they have done so, full Internet access is restored. However, if more complaints come in later, the consequences will be more severe. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;if Armstrong received additional notifications after you sign the Acknowledgement, your Zoom Internet Service will be terminated,&#8221; the provider writes. </p>
<p>Getting back in after that is only possible after signing an affidavit, so under penalty of perjury, and by paying a fee. </p>
<p>Only then they will regain full control over their thermostat again.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149119
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 12/25/17
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-12-25-17
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QFUHuslztis/
content:
<p><img src="media/3b1d39f9.justicel.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/justicel.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="191" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149120">This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Justice League is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-121817/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">Justice League</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-DM9uBtVI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/">It</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE0kRwDXn7o">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">Kingsman: The Golden Circle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nxc-3WpMbg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5519340/">Bright</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5519340/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZCBSsBxko">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">Dunkirk</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ01tJ4EWeg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2226597/">The Mountain Between Us</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2226597/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu41hu1a_8c">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/">Blade Runner 2049 </a> (Russian audio WebRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCcx85zbxz4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">Coco</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga6RYejo6Hk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2039338/">Flatliners</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2039338/">5.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1S52y5ZVlY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">The Foreigner</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9YCk7ufHs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147950
title: A Christmas Carol – When Piracy Became Irrelevant
uri: A-Christmas-Carol-When-Piracy-Became-Irrelevant
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gqZfAj0eEJw/
content:
<p><em>This is the story of Walter Scroogle, CEO of one of the major movie studios in Hollywood. </em></p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><img src="media/7c87ce6e.christmas.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/christmas.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-132734">It begins on Christmas Eve, with Scroogle arriving home late at night. This wasn&#8217;t anything unusual, not even on a day like this.  The rest of the family didn&#8217;t expect anything else and were already asleep in anticipation of the forthcoming festivities.</p>
<p>As Scroogle sits down he suddenly notices a pile of Amazon store boxes in the corner of the room. &#8220;Thank God, he mumbles, Christmas is saved.&#8221; But it was a close call.</p>
<p>It had been such a hectic week at work. So busy that Scroogle had totally forgot to get this year&#8217;s Christmas presents, one of the few things he arranges around the house. Luckily, modern day technology was there to save the day.</p>
<p>Amazon had everything in stock. The new bike for his son. The tablet for his daughter. The earrings for his wife, as well as many more gifts. It took Scroogle roughly fifteen minutes to get all his Christmas shopping done. And with same-day delivery, it arrived a few hours later. &#8220;Thank God,&#8221; he said again.</p>
<p>While a major disaster had been avoided, there were still a few presents to wrap. Apparently, there are no machines that can carefully wrap bikes. So there he was, at 2am Christmas morning, grumpily making the final preparations for the big day.<br>
Halfway through Scroogle decided to lie on the couch for a bit. Just a short while, he promised himself, not knowing what was to come. </p>
<p>After a minute or two an exhausted Scroogle dozed off into his first dream. </p>
<p>Inspired by what had occurred earlier that day, he dreamt about forgetting the Chrismas presents. While he appeared to be his current self, the world was different. There were no Internet stores or even large malls. He had to drive to at least ten different stores to get what he wanted, and given that it was Sunday, most were closed. </p>
<p>Needless to say, it was a disaster. </p>
<p>The second dream was related to something at work. A few hours earlier he&#8217;d hosted a board meeting, discussing the new streaming platform the company had launched that morning. Scoogle was one of the pioneers. He was also the one who hastily decided to pull all their content from third-party platforms, Netflix included. &#8220;Everything will be pulled tonight. We want to be exclusive again,&#8221; he&#8217;s said. </p>
<p>The dream presented Scroogle with the darker side of his decision. It showed several families who, on Chrismas Eve, noticed that their favorite movies were no longer available. Christmas classics were removed without warning, forcing these families to take out another subscription. If the new service was even available in their region. </p>
<p>&#8220;Not the best way to spend time on Christmas,&#8221; Scroogle thought.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/79ce7caf.christmaswatch.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/christmaswatch.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="342" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-148796"></center></p>
<p>Scroogle was still fast asleep when the third and final dream kicked in. It was the future, apparently, as commercials for the streaming service and next year&#8217;s Christmas blockbuster were being shown on a TV. There was a Christmas tree and a family clearly amusing itself. Unfortunately for Scroogle, things didn&#8217;t turn out to be so bright. </p>
<p>After the commercial, the latest blockbuster played, but it was not on the company&#8217;s streaming platform. Instead, it was playing through what appeared to be some kind of piracy streaming device. &#8220;They are stealing our stuff,&#8221; he thought. &#8220;And on Christmas Day too! These people are cheapskates.&#8221; </p>
<p>Then, a deep-sounding voiceover became apparent. </p>
<p>&#8220;No, Scroogle, the family actually pays for seven streaming services already. However, their budgets are not endless. The increasing fragmentation in the current legal streaming landscape is pushing people toward these devices. If only they could get it all from under one roof.&#8221;  </p>
<p>Then Scroogle woke up. At first, he hadn&#8217;t really processed what had happened. It was nearly 4am and he still had a few gifts to wrap, those that were so conveniently ordered a few hours earlier and delivered to his house, from one supplier. But, when it sank in, he knew that there was one thing he had to do before the family woke up. </p>
<p>Scroogle wrote an email to the board admitting that he was wrong. &#8220;We have to keep all our content on other services and think this through after the holidays. It&#8217;s inclusive from now on, not exclusive. People should be able to see our great films without hassle,&#8221; he typed. </p>
<p>Sent. </p>
<p>A year later the new Christmas blockbuster was indeed released. It came out together with a brand new streaming platform, one where users could watch a massive library of all the best classics from the major studios, independents, and other services under one roof. Even the latest movies could be easily played on demand for a small one-time fee. </p>
<p>Streaming records were broken that day, and people were smiling.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Merry Christmas everyone!</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148916
title: FilePursuit Finds Amazing Files All Year Round, Not Just at Christmas
uri: FilePursuit-Finds-Amazing-Files-All-Year-Round-Not-Just-at-Christmas
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3joSZOoVvw8/
content:
<p><a href="media/895d6669.filepursuit.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/filepursuit.jpg"><img src="media/9ee73c86.filepursuit.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/filepursuit.jpg" alt="" width="230" height="237" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148917"></a>Ask someone to name a search engine and it&#8217;s likely that 95 out of 100 will say &#8216;Google&#8217;. There are plenty of others, of course, but its sheer dominance means that even giants like Bing have to wait around for a mention.</p>
<p>However, if people are looking for something special, such as video and music files, for example, there&#8217;s an interesting search engine that&#8217;s largely flying under the radar. <a href="https://filepursuit.com">FilePursuit</a>, accessible via the web or directly from its dedicated Android apps, is somewhat of a revelation.</p>
<p>What FilePursuit does is trawl the Internet looking for web servers that are not only packed with content but are readily accessible to the outside world. This means that a search on the site invariably turns up treasure troves of material, all of it for immediate and direct HTTP download. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak caught up with the operator of the site who himself is a very interesting character.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m a 21-year-old undergrad student from New Delhi, India, currently studying engineering. I started this file search engine project all by myself to learn web development and this is my first project,&#8221; he informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;I picked this project because I was surprised to find that there are lots of &#8216;open directory&#8217; websites and no one is maintaining any type of record or database on them. There are thousands of &#8216;open directory&#8217; websites containing a lot of amazing stuff not discovered yet, so I made them discoverable.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><b>Plenty of files from almost any search</b><a href="media/b5ed7a2c.filepursuit-ss1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/filepursuit-ss1.png"><img src="media/d27b940f.filepursuit-ss1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/filepursuit-ss1.png" alt="" width="1240" height="702" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-148921"></a></center></p>
<p>FilePursuit began its life around September 2016 and since then has been receiving website submission requests (sites to be indexed by FilePursuit) from people all over the world. As such the platform is somewhat of a community effort but in respect of running the operation, it&#8217;s all done by one man.</p>
<p>&#8220;FilePursuit saves time in two ways: by eliminating the need to find file manually, and by performing searches at high speeds efficiently. Without this, you would have to look at sites one by one and pore over the contents of each carefully – a tedious prospect,&#8221; he explains. </p>
<p>&#8220;FilePursuit automatically compares your criteria to billions of webpages and gives you results in a fraction of a second. You can perform hundreds of searches in the course of a few minutes, altering the criteria as you narrow down results.&#8221;</p>
<p>So if Google dominates the search space, why doesn&#8217;t it do a better job of finding files than the relatively low-key FilePursuit? Its operator says it&#8217;s all about functionality.</p>
<p>&#8220;FilePursuit is a file search engine, it generates file links as results while other search engines give out webpages as results. However, it’s possible to search for file links directly from Google too but it’s limited to documents only. On FilePursuit you can search for almost any filetype just by selecting ‘custom’ and typing filetype in search results.&#8221;</p>
<p>Of course, it would be impossible for FilePursuit to find any files if webmasters and server operators didn&#8217;t leave them open to the public. Considering it&#8217;s simplicity itself to find all the latest movies and TV shows widely accessible, is this a question of stupidity, kindness, carelessness, or something else?</p>
<p>&#8220;In my opinion, most people are unaware that they have created an open directory and on the other hand some people want to share interesting files from their servers, which is very generous of them,&#8221; FilePursuit&#8217;s creator says.</p>
<p>When carrying out searches it really is amazing what FilePursuit can turn up. Files lead to directory results and some can contain many thousands of files, from every music artist one can think of through to otherwise private text files that people really should take more care over. Other things are really quite odd.</p>
<p>&#8220;When I look for ‘open directory’ websites, sometimes I find really amazing stuff and sometimes even bizarre stuff too. This one time, I found a collection of funeral recordings,&#8221; FilePursuit&#8217;s owner says.</p>
<p>While even funeral recordings can have a copyright owner somewhere, it&#8217;s the more regular mainstream content that&#8217;s most easily found with the service. The site doesn&#8217;t carry any copyrighted content at all but that doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s unresponsive to takedown demands.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have more than three million file links indexed in my database so it can be a bit hard for me to check for copyrighted content. Although whenever I receive a mail from copyright holders or someone representing copyright holders, I always uphold their request of deleting the file link from my database and also explain to them that the file link they requested me to delete, that particular file may still exist.&#8221;</p>
<p>In recent months, FilePursuit has enjoyed a significant upsurge in traffic but it&#8217;s still a relatively small player in the search engine space with around 7,000 to 10,000 hits per day. However, this clever site is able to deal with five times that traffic and upgrading servers to cope with surges can be carried out in two to three minutes, &#8220;at most.&#8221;</p>
<p>So the big question remains &#8211; What will you find under the tree today?</p>
<p>FilePursuit website <a href="https://filepursuit.com/">here</a>, Android apps (<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.filepursuit.filepursuit">free</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.filepursuit.filepursuitpro">pro</a>)</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149116
title: UEFA Obtains High Court Injunction To Block Live Soccer Streaming
uri: UEFA-Obtains-High-Court-Injunction-To-Block-Live-Soccer-Streaming
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NkWkqhpZVyo/
content:
<p><a href="media/32889e36.roja1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/roja1.png"><img src="media/30029f18.roja1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/roja1.png" alt="" width="250" height="162" class="alignright size-full wp-image-107288"></a>Earlier this year the English Premier League (EPL) obtained a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/premier-league-obtains-intriguing-injunction-to-tackle-pirate-streams-170309/">unique High Court injunction</a> which required ISPs including Sky, BT, and Virgin to block ‘pirate’ football streams in real-time.</p>
<p>When that temporary injunction ran out, the EPL went back to court for a new one, valid for the season that began in August. After what appeared to be a slow start, the effort began to produce <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-premier-league-blocking-disrupts-pirate-iptv-providers-170814/">significant results</a>, blocking thousands of Internet subscribers from accessing illicit streams via websites, Kodi add-ons, and premium IPTV services.</p>
<p>Encouraged by its successes, the EPL has now been joined by an even bigger soccer organization. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is the governing body of soccer in Europe and it too will jump onto the site and server-blocking bandwagon, almost certainly utilizing the same system being deployed by the Premier League.</p>
<p>UEFA first had to obtain permission from the High Court. That came in the form of an application for injunction filed by the organization against ISPs BT, EE, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media. It demanded that they &#8220;take measures to block, or at least impede, access by their customers to streaming servers which deliver infringing live streams of UEFA Competition matches to UK consumers.&#8221;</p>
<p>In other countries, ISPs have defended such cases but in the UK, the position is very different. All providers except TalkTalk actually supported the application, with BT, Sky, and Virgin filing evidence in its favor.</p>
<p>The application seemed somewhat academic. All parties previously agreed to its terms and it was supported by the Premier League and the Formula One World Championship, whose content is also streamed illegally by some of the same servers.</p>
<p>The High Court found that the application was broadly similar to that previously filed by the Premier League so the legal basis for granting the injunction remained the same.</p>
<p>Citing two big rulings from the EU Court this year (one involving <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-facilitates-piracy-and-can-be-blocked-top-eu-court-rules-170614/">The Pirate Bay</a>, the other cloud-recording service <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-court-cloud-based-tv-recorder-requires-rightsholder-permission-171130/">VCAST</a>), Mr Justice Arnold said that evidence filed by the Premier League showed that a similar order had proven &#8220;very effective&#8221;.</p>
<p>The Judge also noted that no evidence of over-blocking as a result of the previous injunctions had been presented and that this injunction would contain &#8220;an additional safeguard&#8221; in that respect. Details of this measure and almost every other technical aspect of the injunction remain confidential, as is the case with the Premier League&#8217;s efforts.</p>
<p>Justice Arnold&#8217;s order will take effect on 13 February 2018 and last until 26 May 2018. People reliant on pirate streams for their football/soccer fix will continue to experience issues, with many having no other choice than to resort to VPNs to access blocked streams.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148845
title: ‘Game of Thrones’ Most Torrented TV-Show of 2017
uri: Game-of-Thrones-Most-Torrented-TV-Show-of-2017
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DrLJlO_Olus/
content:
<p><img src="media/821a106b.got-thrones7-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/got-thrones7-1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-142026">The seventh season of Game of Thrones brought tears and joy to HBO this year.</p>
<p>It was the most-viewed season thus far, with record-breaking TV ratings. But on the other hand, the company and its flagship product were plagued by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hackers-leak-more-confidential-game-of-thrones-files-170808/">hacks</a>, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-episode-s07e06-leaks-online-early-170816/">leaks</a>, and piracy, of course.</p>
<p>Game of Thrones&#8217; year ends with a high, or low, depending on one&#8217;s perspective. For the sixth year in a row it has the honor of becoming the most-downloaded TV show through BitTorrent. </p>
<p>Although there was no new swarm record, traffic-wise the interest was plenty. The highest number of people actively sharing an episode across several torrents was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-piracy-peaks-after-season-finale-170828/">400,000</a> at its peak, right after the season finale came online. </p>
<p>This doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean that there&#8217;s no growth in piracy. BitTorrent traffic only makes up a small portion of the piracy landscape. A lot of people use streaming sites and services nowadays, which are harder to measure.</p>
<p>While the top of this year&#8217;s list is made up of familiar names, there are also some new entries. Prison Break made a comeback, which didn&#8217;t go unnoticed by torrent fans, while Rick and Morty and Sherlock also make an appearance.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Below we have compiled a list of the most torrented TV-shows worldwide (single episode) for 2017. The ranking is compiled by TorrentFreak based on several sources, including statistics reported by public BitTorrent trackers.</p>
<p><em>We have decided to stop reporting download estimates. Due to various changes in the torrent index/tracker landscape it&#8217;s become more challenging to monitor downloads accurately, so a ranked overview makes most sense.</em></p>
<table class="css hover" summary="Most downloaded TV-shows on BitTorrent">
<caption><strong>Most downloaded TV-shows on BitTorrent, 2017<br></br></strong></caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>rank</strong></th>
<th width="12%"><strong>last year</strong></th>
<th width="76%"><strong>show</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones_(TV_series)">Game of Thrones</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(TV_series)">The Walking Dead</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flash_(2014_TV_series)">The Flash</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory">The Big Bang Theory</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_and_Morty">Rick and Morty</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_Break">Prison Break</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(TV_series)">Sherlock</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td align="left"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings_(TV_series)">Vikings</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suits_(TV_series)">Suits</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_(TV_series)">Arrow</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149133
title: Christmas Surprise: Hive-CM8 Leaks More Pirated DVD Screeners
uri: Christmas-Surprise-Hive-CM8-Leaks-More-Pirated-DVD-Screeners
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-qVfG5UUuEg/
content:
<p><img src="media/7c87ce6e.christmas.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/christmas.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-132734">At the end of the year movie industry insiders traditionally receive their screener copies, which they use to vote on the Oscars and other awards.</p>
<p>As is tradition, quite a few of these advance screeners will leak on various pirate sites. In recent years one group has drawn quite a bit of attention, due to both the timing and volume of their releases. </p>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/infamous-piracy-group-says-it-ready-to-start-leaking-screeners-161229/">Hive-CM8</a> appear to have good sources and often manage to get their hands on many prominent screeners, which are gradually released to the public. </p>
<p>This year it started with <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/screener-piracy-season-kicks-off-with-louis-c-k-s-i-love-you-daddy-171211/">&#8220;I Love You, Daddy,&#8221;</a> which was dropped by the distributor after Louis C.K. was accused of sexual misconduct. Following two weeks of silence, the second release followed on Christmas Eve when &#8220;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6018306/">Last Flag Flying</a>,&#8221; an American comedy-drama film, appeared online.</p>
<p>The timing is once again carefully chosen. Hive-CM8 specifically notes that it prefers to avoid releasing on Christmas Day, but it nonetheless used the opportunity to wish people a Merry Christmas. </p>
<p>&#8220;We decided to make one [release] before Christmas, not on Christmas we are the nice ones. In this spirit, Merry Christmas and stay tuned,&#8221; the release notes read.  </p>
<p><center><strong>Last.Flag.Flying.2017.DVDScr.XVID.AC3.HQ.Hive-CM8<br>
</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/e61597fa.hive2017-e1514285956844.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hive2017-e1514285956844.png" alt="" width="600" height="284" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149139"></center></p>
<p>The &#8216;stay tuned&#8217; part suggested that more were coming, and this was indeed the case. Just a few hours ago three additional screeners were posted online, and quickly made their way to public pirate sites. </p>
<p>Screener copies of &#8220;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580036/">I, Tonya</a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925292/">Lady Bird</a>,&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5726616/">Call Me By Your Name</a>&#8221; are now widely available online. Interestingly, it was still Christmas in parts of the world when they came out, but apparently not where Hive-CM8 are. </p>
<p>The group again wishes its &#8216;followers&#8217; a Merry Christmas but also adds that people should see these movies on the big screen to support the filmmakers. The screener releases are mostly for those who are not in the position to do so, they add.</p>
<p>&#8220;What a nice release after Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone, from me and TiTAN. Don´t forget watching a Screener is not like the real thing, you should still all go to the cinema and support the Producers,&#8221; the release notes read. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are especially sharing this for the people who cant visit the cinema due to illness, or because it is a limited release that doesn&#8217;t make it to their country. So those people also can experience some award nominated movies..Enjoy.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Lady.Bird.2017.DVDScr.XVID.AC3.HQ.Hive-CM8 </strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/be073d62.ladyb-e1514286065730.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ladyb-e1514286065730.png" alt="" width="600" height="320" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149140"></center></p>
<p>If previous years are any indication, the leaks won&#8217;t stop at five screeners this year. And indeed, Hive-CM8 suggests that they have many more screeners in their possession. There are still a few missing though, including Downsizing, Hostiles and Phantom Thread. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are still missing Downsizing, Hostiles, and Phantom Thread. Anyone want to share them for the collection? Yes we want to have them all if possible, we are collectors, we don&#8217;t want to release them all,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>While not all screeners will come out, more are likely to follow during the weeks to come. Thus far Hive-CM8 has only given one guarantee: they&#8217;re not going to upload &#8220;Star Wars: The Last Jedi.&#8221; </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149165
title: PS4 4.05 Kernel Exploit Released, Full Jailbreak Round the Corner
uri: PS4-4-05-Kernel-Exploit-Released-Full-Jailbreak-Round-the-Corner
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ImFWCX2o0sc/
content:
<p><a href="media/c9915b06.ps4.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ps4.jpg"><img src="media/774a9e8d.ps4.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ps4.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="122" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145223"></a>Most custom hardware is seriously locked down these days, with many corporations viewing any tinkering with their machines as unacceptable at best, illegal at worst.</p>
<p>When people free computing hardware &#8211; so-called jailbreaking &#8211; it can be used for almost any purpose. The famous Cydia, for example, created a whole alternative iOS app store, one free of the constraints of Apple.</p>
<p>Of course, jailbreaking has also become synonymous with breaking fundamental copy protection, allowing pirated software to run on a range of devices from cellphones to today&#8217;s cutting-edge games consoles. The flip side of that coin is that people are also able to run so-called &#8216;homebrew&#8217; code, programs developed by hobbyists for purposes that do not breach copyright law.</p>
<p>This &#8216;dual use&#8217; situation means that two separate sets of communities get excited when exploits are found for key hardware. That&#8217;s been the case for some time now with two sets of developers &#8211; Team <a href="https://fail0verflow.com">Fail0verflow</a> and <a href="https://specterdev.blogspot.co.uk/">Specter</a> &#8211; revealing work on a kernel exploit for firmware 4.05 on Playstation 4.</p>
<p>In November, Wololo published an <a href="http://wololo.net/2017/11/10/ps4-interview-specterdev-update-4-05-exploit/">interview</a> with Specter and two days ago received <a href="https://wololo.net/2017/12/25/specterdev-ps4-4-05-jailbreak-release-happen-week/">direct confirmation</a> that the exploit would be published soon. That moment has now arrived.</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Here&#39;s the 4.05 kernel exploit, fully implemented. Enjoy! Write-up coming soon! <a href="https://t.co/MQR0lzCu9Y">https://t.co/MQR0lzCu9Y</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Specter (@SpecterDev) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpecterDev/status/945920806630014976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>As noted in Specter&#8217;s tweet, the release is available on <a href="https://github.com/Cryptogenic/PS4-4.05-Kernel-Exploit">Github</a>, where the developer provides more details.</p>
<p>&#8220;In this project you will find a full implementation of the &#8216;namedobj&#8217; kernel exploit for the PlayStation 4 on 4.05,&#8221; Specter writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;It will allow you to run arbitrary code as kernel, to allow jailbreaking and kernel-level modifications to the system.&#8221;</p>
<p>The news that the exploit can enable a jailbreak is huge news for fans of the scene, who will be eagerly standing by for the next piece of the puzzle which is likely to be just around the corner.</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Exploit Works ✓<br>WebKit Stable ✓<br>Games Launch ✓</p>
<p>:) <a href="https://t.co/0Fkutu44dr">pic.twitter.com/0Fkutu44dr</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Specter (@SpecterDev) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpecterDev/status/945875405466042368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>Still, Specter is wisely exercising caution when it comes to the more risky side of his exploit &#8211; the potential for running homebrew and, of course, pirate games. He doesn&#8217;t personally include code for directly helping either.</p>
<p>&#8220;This release however, does not contain any code related to defeating anti-piracy mechanisms or running homebrew,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>That being said, the exploit clearly has potential and Specter has opened up a direct channel for those wishing to take things to the next level. He reveals that the exploit contains a loader that listens for a payload and once it receives it, executes it automatically.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve also uploaded a test payload you can use after the kernel exploit runs that jailbreaks and patches the kernel to allow access to debug settings, just needs to be netcatted to the loader via port 9020,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s likely to prove very attractive to those with a penchant for tinkering. Let&#8217;s see which direction this goes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149130
title: “LOL,” The Pirate Bay Adds Donation Options, Mocks Bitcoin Cash?
uri: LOL-The-Pirate-Bay-Adds-Donation-Options-Mocks-Bitcoin-Cash
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/kkTpOxEqCDA/
content:
<p><img src="media/932e6d7d.thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="206" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116122">The Pirate Bay has been both an early adopter and a pioneer when it comes to cryptocurrencies. </p>
<p>Earlier this year the site made headlines when it started to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-website-runs-a-cryptocurrency-miner-170916/">mine cryptocurrency </a>through its visitors, which proved to be a controversial move. Still, many sites <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/are-cryptocurrency-miners-the-future-for-pirate-sites-170921/">followed</a> Pirate Bay&#8217;s example.</p>
<p>Pirate Bay&#8217;s interest in cryptocurrency wasn&#8217;t new though. </p>
<p>The torrent site first allowed people to donate Bitcoin <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-bitcoin-donations-130423/">five years ago</a>, which paid off right away. In little more than a day, 73 transactions were sent to Pirate Bay’s address, adding up to a healthy 5.56 BTC, roughly $700 at the time. </p>
<p>Today, the site still accepts Bitcoin donations. While it doesn&#8217;t bring in enough to pay all the bills, it doesn&#8217;t hurt either. </p>
<p>Around Christmas, The Pirate Bay decided to expand its cryptocurrency donation options. In addition to the traditional Bitcoin address, the torrent site added a Bitcoin Segwit Bech32 option, plus Litecoin and Monero addresses. </p>
<p>While the new donation options show that The Pirate Bay has faith in multiple currencies, the site doesn&#8217;t appear to be a fan of them all. The Bitcoin fork &#8220;Bitcoin Cash&#8221; is also listed, for example, but in a rather unusual way.</p>
<p>&#8220;BCH: Bcash. LOL,&#8221; reads a mention posted on the site.</p>
<p><center><strong>BCH: Bcash. LOL</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/21dc3316.cashlol-e1514363378390.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cashlol-e1514363378390.png" alt="" width="600" height="144" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149154"></center></p>
<p>Those who are following the cryptocurrency scene will know that there has been quite a bit of infighting between some supporters of the Bitcoin Cash project and those of the original Bitcoin in recent weeks.</p>
<p>Several high-profile individuals have criticized Bitcoin&#8217;s high transaction fees and limitations, while others have very little faith in the future of the Bitcoin Cash alternative.</p>
<p>Although there are not a lot of details available, the &#8220;LOL&#8221; mention suggests that the TPB team is in the latter camp.</p>
<p>In recent years The Pirate Bay has received a steady but very modest flow of Bitcoin donations. Lasy year we calculated that it &#8216;raked&#8217; in roughly <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-gets-a-massive-9-in-donations-per-day-160501/">$9 per day</a>. </p>
<p>However, with the exponential price increase recently, the modest donations now look pretty healthy. Since 2013 The Pirate Bay received well over 135 BTC in donations, which is good for $2 million today. LOL. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149050
title: Kodi Piracy and Addon Predictions for 2018
uri: Kodi-Piracy-and-Addon-Predictions-for-2018
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/z67A72N-lwg/
content:
<p><a href="media/13c1e1a2.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png"><img src="media/8aa05985.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png" alt="" width="256" height="256" class="alignright size-full wp-image-144339"></a>During 2017, Kodi and its sea of third-party addons hit the headlines hundreds of times.</p>
<p>Streaming in this fashion became a massive deal throughout the year and eventually, copyright holders decided to take action, cracking down on groups such as <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-returns-ugly-war-canadian-telcos-kodi-addons-170801/">TVAddons</a>, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kodi-addon-developer-launches-fundraiser-to-fight-copyright-bullies-171120/">ZemTV</a>, and addons offered by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kodi-developers-quit-following-threats-from-mpa-netflix-amazon-171116/">jsergio123 and The_Alpha</a>.</p>
<p>In November, the problems continued when the Ares Project, the group behind the hugely popular Ares Wizard and Kodi repository, threw in the towel after being threatened by the MPA-led anti-piracy coalition Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.</p>
<p>The combined might of Columbia, Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Warner, Netflix, Amazon, and Sky TV was too much, leading to Ares Project leader Tekto shutting everything down.</p>
<p>This was a significant development. Over a two year period, Ares serviced an estimated 100 million users. After <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ares-kodi-project-calls-it-quits-after-hollywood-cease-desist-171117/">interviewing Tekto</a> last month, today we catch up with the developer again, listening to his thoughts on how the scene might further develop in 2018 and what threats lie ahead.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> Could you tell us a bit about Kodi&#8217;s suitability as an unauthorized streaming platform moving forward? Is it flexible enough to deal with threats, is its current development effort sufficient, do addon developers like the way it works, and how could it be improved? </p>
<p><strong>Tekto:</strong> The public awareness of Kodi and the easy ways with which it can be customised via builds and its open source nature makes it the perfect platform for Python coders. It&#8217;s easy to fork, copy, adapt and learn, and it&#8217;s good for “builders” who modify, personalize, and “brand”.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also easy for users to obtain, install, and work with the plethora of wizards and addons etc, all backed by up blogs and YouTube tutorials. It&#8217;s the perfect open source platform to develop and customise to access a massive range of content. Content that may well be contentious but regardless, it is publicly available all over the web.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> Obviously Kodi is the big thing at the moment but other apps, such as Showbox, TerrariumTV, and similar products are carving a decent niche for themselves. Where do you see the market sitting on these kinds of products moving forward and are they a threat to Kodi&#8217;s dominance?</p>
<p><strong>Tekto:</strong> The apps and other services don&#8217;t offer the same level of personalization. That&#8217;s what will keep a certain dedicated following happy with Kodi. We’ve had Plex, Streamio, Emby and so on, but none offer the flexibility of Kodi.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> Does Kodi have any major weaknesses that you know of? Is it under threat from other systems perhaps?</p>
<p><strong>Tekto:</strong> Lets not forget we had CCcam [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_sharing">card sharing</a>] for a decade and with Sky [UK TV provider] changing their encryption to end that source, a myriad of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/iptv-mass-piracy-thats-flying-largely-under-the-radar-161127/">IPTV providers</a> sprung up to replace it. All that killing the CCcam method has done, is moved people off CCcam to IPTV. It hasn&#8217;t stopped piracy or access to “premium content”, it just moved somewhere else. It probably also makes the providers more money than CCcam accounts ever did.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> There have been a lot of legal threats in 2017. Are third-party addon developers and their community under serious threat?</p>
<p><strong>Tekto:</strong> If Kodi third-party devs “stopped”, something else would take over. All the Android apps that have sprung up (some have been around a while anyway) are already filling some gaps or giving options for those looking to stream.</p>
<p>Having tried some of these, I have to say for non-tech users there are two or three apps that will suit them perfectly. Others need more work and fewer invasive ads to be more successful. Will Kodi stop? No. It is evolving and finding a new path. It has to. Well, the coders have to, at least.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> What is your overall assessment of the various legal attacks this year?</p>
<p><strong>Tekto:</strong> What is being missed by all these legal “efforts” is the removal of the sources being accessed. Whilst the sources exist, apps and Kodi add-ons will find ways to access them.</p>
<p>Did taking out a few Kodi devs and a wizard remove any content? Did it stop just one movie from being accessed? No. It did nothing to stop piracy. It did, however, give <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">those receiving HUGE fees</a> to act for the various movie and broadcasters, something to write on their “success” boards and reports.</p>
<p>It just upset users for a few days whilst things adapted to the new situation. The Kodi builds listed on Ares all had their own wizards anyway – so they all carried on working. All the add-ons on Ares were mostly linked to Github, so they carried on working anyway.</p>
<p>The takedown of guys working on the URL resolver for Covenant didn&#8217;t work at all. The code still works and if you add, let&#8217;s say, <a href="https://real-debrid.com/">Real Debrid</a>, it won&#8217;t ever stop working, even Exodus still works! Let&#8217;s add to this that Covenant was then forked five or six times and re-marketed.</p>
<p>I’d say it probably increased “acts of copyright infringement” or at least access to “copyright infringing material”. TV Addons <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/urlresolver-testing-kodi/">immediately took over development</a> of the “URL resolver”, so it will be maintained and fixes for it released.</p>
<p>The URL resolver module uses regex – regular expressions to emulate a web browser (for the most part). Let that sink in; A URL resolver is a way to bypass a web browser, as most of the content is hosted on “publicly accessible” websites, that still remain publicly available with or without Covenant or whatever the forks are called.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> Sp there isn&#8217;t a Doomsday scenario?</p>
<p><strong>Tekto:</strong> If the Kodi third-party scene is somehow stopped &#8211; all Wizards, builds, etc were all stopped this very second &#8211; there would be a dozen new apps for Android in weeks. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of websites you could switch to, to watch the same content. ACE, MPA etc need to wake up to that fact.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> One of the big deals this year, as far as the legal position goes, has been the clarification of &#8220;communication to the public&#8221; following cases at the European level featuring [pirate box seller] <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/selling-piracy-configured-media-players-is-illegal-eu-court-rules-170426/">Filmspeler</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-facilitates-piracy-and-can-be-blocked-top-eu-court-rules-170614/">The Pirate Bay</a>. How do you think this will affect the addon and build scenes moving forward?</p>
<p><strong>Tekto:</strong> I’ve long believed that Kodi wizards and scraper addons operated in a way that wasn&#8217;t illegal, in that they never provided content, never actually handled the copyright protected files themselves.</p>
<p>It still remains my belief that the recent efforts to use the Ziggo [Pirate Bay] ruling concerning “communicating to the public” is directly linked to torrents or at the very least actually providing content itself. It may be legal “saber rattling” &#8211; however standing your ground in the face of a well-funded legal behemoth is beyond hobbyists.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> An addon developer I spoke with recently said that fellow addon developers will need to be smarter in future, perhaps by developing addons that aren&#8217;t so obviously infringing and are more general in their functionality. Do you feel this is a route they&#8217;re likely to take and will it make any difference? How do you think a more &#8216;underground&#8217; scene will affect the situation on the ground?</p>
<p><strong>Tekto:</strong> Going Underground? Most will say grab a VPN and you’re safe &#8211; take note that a VPN isn&#8217;t enough. They may not get your logs, but they will get your payment info, or the times you are online tagged against another log etc. Anything like PayPal, Gmail, AdSense, etc is 100% out too – they will give people up in a heartbeat. People will have to avoid Facebook, Twitter and so on, as again, they will also link back to the “real you”.</p>
<p>I expect more will move to Tor as a first level of hiding their identities. Hosting via Tor-only sites might be a way to avoid some obvious methods of tracing people. Add-on devs could access Github and release code without ever having to reveal who they are.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s not get into the whole “freedom of speech” etc scenario, however. It should mean that any developer should realistically make much greater efforts to hide their identities.</p>
<p><strong>TF:</strong> Thank you for your time, Tekto. Any final messages for the readers?</p>
<p><strong>Tekto:</strong> Yes, our <a href="http://www.ares-project-blog.com/essential-kodi-guides/new-ares-wizard/">Ares Wizard has returned</a>. It&#8217;s a mainentance tool now.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148893
title: Filmmakers Want The Right to Break DRM and Rip Blu-Rays
uri: Filmmakers-Want-The-Right-to-Break-DRM-and-Rip-Blu-Rays
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6l-aZJh_mGM/
content:
<p><img src="media/60f6e242.filmmakermoviedirector-e1513852940830.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/filmmakermoviedirector-e1513852940830.png" alt="" width="277" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148951">The major movie studios are doing everything in their power to stop the public from copying films. </p>
<p>While nearly every movie and TV-show leaks on the Internet, these companies still see DRM as a vital tool to prevent piracy from spiraling out of control. </p>
<p>Technically speaking it&#8217;s not hard to rip a DVD or Blu-Ray disc nowadays, and the same is true for ripping content from Netflix or YouTube. However, people who do this are breaking the law. </p>
<p>The DMCA&#8217;s anti-circumvention provisions specifically forbid it. There are some exemptions, for educational use for example, and to allow for other types of fair use, but the line between legal and illegal is not always clear.</p>
<p>Interestingly, filmmakers are not happy with the current law either. They often want to use small pieces of other videos in their films, but under the current exemptions, this is only permitted for documentaries. </p>
<p>The International Documentary Association, Kartemquin Films, Independent Filmmaker Project, University of Film and Video Association and several other organizations hope this will change. </p>
<p>In a comment <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=COLC-2017-0007-0070">to the Copyright Office</a>, which is currently considering updates to the exemptions, they argue that all filmmakers should be allowed by break DRM and rip Blu-Rays.</p>
<p>According to the filmmakers, the documentary genre is vaguely defined. This leads to a lot of confusion whether or not the exemptions apply. They, therefore, suggest to apply it to all filmmakers, instead of criminalizing those who don&#8217;t identify themselves as documentarians.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since 2010, exemptions applicable to documentary filmmaking have been in effect. This exemption has helped many filmmakers, and there has been neither evidence nor any allegation that this exemption has harmed rightsholders in any way. </p>
<p>&#8220;There is no reason this would change if the &#8216;documentary&#8217; limitation were removed. All filmmakers regularly need access to footage on DVDs and without an exemption to DVDs, many non-infringing uses simply cannot be made,&#8221; the groups add.</p>
<p>The submission includes letters from several filmmakers who explain why an exemption would be crucial to them. </p>
<p>Filmmakers Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein explain that they refrained from making a film how they wanted it to be, fearing legal trouble. Their film included a lot of drama elements and was not a typical documentary.</p>
<p>&#8220;Given the significant amount of drama in the film [we are working on], we decided early on that our storytelling toolbox could not include fair use of materials from DVD or Blu-ray, because the exemption did not cover accessing that material for use in a drama,&#8221; they write </p>
<p>&#8220;Already, we were hindered in our ability to tell these stories. So, there is already a chilling effect in that a drama-heavy documentary might be seen as a drama outright, and thus under a different set of rules.&#8221;</p>
<p>Another filmmaker, who wants to remain anonymous, plans on making a hybrid documentary/narrative feature about a famous film duo. Without ripping the clips he needs, this movie is never going to be made.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am unsure of whether my project would fall under the exemption because it is a combination of documentary and narrative, and my fear of a lawsuit once my project is publicly viewed and distributed stops me from ripping from these sources.&#8221;</p>
<p>These are just two of many examples where filmmakers show that they need to break DRM and rip content to make the work they want. </p>
<p>The MPAA and others have previously argued that these changes are not required. Instead, they pointed out that people could point their cameras or phones at the screen to record something, or use screen capture software. </p>
<p>However, these are not viable alternatives according to the filmmakers, as the quality is inferior.  They, therefore, call on the Copyright Office to expand the exemption to cover all films and filmmakers.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149267
title: Our ‘Kodi Box’ Is Legal & Our Users Don’t Break the Law, TickBox Tells Hollywood
uri: Our-Kodi-Box-Is-Legal-Our-Users-Don-t-Break-the-Law-TickBox
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/LI39t_qbOic/
content:
<p><img src="media/d8afaba1.tickbox.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/tickbox.png" width="250" height="177" class="alignright size-large">Georgia-based TickBox TV is a provider of set-top boxes that allow users to stream all kinds of popular content. Like other similar devices, Tickboxes use the popular Kodi media player alongside instructions how to find and use third-party addons.</p>
<p>Of course, these types of add-ons are considered a thorn in the side of the entertainment industries and as a result, Tickbox found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit in the United States.</p>
<p>Filed in a California federal court in October, Universal, Columbia Pictures, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, Amazon, and Netflix <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">accused Tickbox</a> of inducing and contributing to copyright infringement.</p>
<p>“TickBox sells ‘TickBox TV,’ a computer hardware device that TickBox urges its customers to use as a tool for the mass infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted motion pictures and television shows,” the complaint reads.</p>
<p>“TickBox promotes the use of TickBox TV for overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, infringing purposes, and that is how its customers use TickBox TV. TickBox advertises TickBox TV as a substitute for authorized and legitimate distribution channels such as cable television or video-on-demand services like Amazon Prime and Netflix.&#8221;</p>
<p>The copyright holders reference a TickBox TV video which informs customers how to install &#8216;themes&#8217;, more commonly known as &#8216;builds&#8217;. These &#8216;builds&#8217; are custom Kodi-setups which contain many popular add-ons that specialize in supplying pirate content. Is that illegal? TickBox TV believes not.</p>
<p>In a response filed yesterday, TickBox underlined its position that its device is not sold with any unauthorized or illegal content and complains that just because users may choose to download and install third-party programs through which they can search for and view unauthorized content, that&#8217;s not its fault. It goes on to attack the lawsuit on several fronts.</p>
<p>TickBox argues that plaintiffs&#8217; claims, that TickBox can be held secondarily liable under the theory of contributory infringement or inducement liability as described in the famous Grokster and isoHunt cases, is unlikely to succeed. TickBox says the studios need to show four elements &#8211;  distribution of a device or product, acts of infringement by users of Tickbox, an object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, and causation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs have failed to establish any of these four elements,&#8221; TickBox&#8217;s lawyers write.</p>
<p>Firstly, TickBox says that while its device can be programmed to infringe, it&#8217;s the third party software (the builds/themes containing addons) that do all the dirty work, and TickBox has nothing to do with them.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Motion spends a great deal of time describing these third-party &#8216;Themes&#8217; and how they operate to search for and stream videos. But the &#8216;Themes&#8217; on which Plaintiffs so heavily focus are not the [TickBox], and they have absolutely nothing to do with Defendant. Rather, they are third-party modifications of the open-source media player software [Kodi] which the Box utilizes,&#8221; the response reads.</p>
<p>TickBox says its device is merely a small computer, not unlike a smartphone or tablet. Indeed, when it comes to running the &#8216;pirate&#8217; builds listed in the lawsuit, a device supplied by one of the plaintiffs can accomplish the same task.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs have identified certain of these thirdparty &#8216;builds&#8217; or &#8216;Themes&#8217; which are available on the internet and which can be downloaded by users to view content streamed by third-party websites; however, this same software can be installed on many different types of devices, even one distributed by affiliates of Plaintiff Amazon Content Services, LLC,&#8221; the company adds.</p>
<p>Referencing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Studios,_Inc._v._Grokster,_Ltd.">Grokster case</a>, TickBox states that particular company was held liable for distributing a device (the Grokster software) &#8220;with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright.&#8221; In the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-shuts-down-after-110-million-settlement-with-the-mpaa-131017/">isoHunt case</a>, it argues that the provision of torrent files satisfied the first element of inducement liability.</p>
<p>&#8220;In contrast, Defendant’s product – the Box – is not software through which users can access unauthorized content, as in Grokster, or even a necessary component of accessing unauthorized content, as in Fung [isoHunt],&#8221; TickBox writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant offers a computer, onto which users can voluntarily install legitimate or illegitimate software. The product about which Plaintiffs complain is third-party software which can be downloaded onto a myriad of devices, and which Defendant neither created nor supplies.&#8221;</p>
<p>From defending itself, TickBox switches track to highlight weaknesses in the studios&#8217; case against users of its TickBox device. The company states that the plaintiffs have not presented any evidence that buyers of the TickBox streaming unit have actually accessed any copyrighted material. </p>
<p>Interestingly, however, the company also notes that even if people had streamed &#8216;pirate&#8217; content, that might not constitute infringement.</p>
<p>First up, the company notes that there are no allegations that anyone &#8211; from TickBox itself to TickBox device owners &#8211; ever violated the plaintiffs&#8217; exclusive right to perform its copyrighted works.</p>
<p>TickBox then further argues that copyright law does not impose liability for viewing streaming content, stating that an infringer is one who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder, in this case, the right to &#8220;perform the copyrighted work publicly.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs do not allege that Defendant, Defendant’s product, or the users of Defendant’s product &#8216;transmit or otherwise communicate a performance&#8217; to the public; instead, Plaintiffs allege that users view streaming material on the Box.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is clear precedent [<a href="media/91a527e3.200720Perfect201020Abridged.pdf" data-original-source="https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/tfisher/IP/2007%20Perfect%2010%20Abridged.pdf">Perfect 10 v Google</a>] in this Circuit that merely viewing copyrighted material online, without downloading, copying, or retransmitting such material, is not actionable.&#8221;</p>
<p>Taking this argument to its logical conclusion, TickBox insists that if its users aren&#8217;t infringing copyright, it&#8217;s impossible to argue that TickBox induced its customers to violate the plaintiffs&#8217; rights. In that respect, plaintiffs&#8217; complaints that TickBox failed to develop &#8220;filtering tools&#8221; to diminish its customers&#8217; infringing activity are moot, since in TickBox&#8217;s eyes no infringement took place.</p>
<p>TickBox also argues that unlike in Grokster, where the defendant profited when users&#8217; accessed infringing content, it does not. And, just to underline the earlier point, it claims that its place in the market is not to compete with entertainment companies, it&#8217;s actually to compete with devices such as Amazon&#8217;s Firestick &#8211; another similar Android-powered device.</p>
<p>Finally, TickBox notes that it has zero connection with any third-party sites that transmit copyrighted works in violation of the plaintiffs&#8217; rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff has not alleged any element of contributory infringement vis-à-vis these unknown third-parties. Plaintiff has not alleged that Defendant has distributed any product to those third parties, that Defendant has committed any act which encourages those third parties’ infringement, or that any act of Defendant has, in fact, caused those third parties to infringe,&#8221; its response adds.</p>
<p>But even given the above defenses, TickBox says that it &#8220;voluntarily took steps&#8221; to remove links to the allegedly infringing Kodi builds from its device, following the plaintiffs&#8217; lawsuit. It also claims to have modified its advertising and webpage &#8220;to attempt to appease Plaintiffs and resolve their complaint amicably.&#8221;</p>
<p>Given the above, TickBox says that the plaintiffs&#8217; <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-and-netflix-ask-court-to-seize-tickbox-streaming-devices-171209/">application for injunction</a> is both vague and overly broad and would impose &#8220;imperssible hardship&#8221; on the company by effectively shutting it down while requiring it to &#8220;hack into and delete content&#8221; which TickBox users may have downloaded to their boxes.</p>
<p>TickBox raises some very interesting points around some obvious weaknesses so it will be intriguing to see how the Court handles its claims and what effect that has on the market for these devices in the US. In particular, the thorny issue of how they are advertised and promoted, which is nearly always the final stumbling block. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Tickbox&#8217;s response is available <a href="media/7988446d.Tickbox-reply.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Tickbox-reply.pdf">here (pdf)</a>, via <a href="http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/tickbox-studios-shutdown-injunction-1202649745/">Variety</a></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149299
title: Kodi Returns to Its Roots, Now Available on Xbox One
uri: Kodi-Returns-to-Its-Roots-Now-Available-on-Xbox-One
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Wshp7OomFKM/
content:
<p><img src="media/526533e4.kodiwindows.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodiwindows.png" alt="" width="300" height="156" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149301">The <a href="https://kodi.tv/">Kodi</a> media player software has seen a massive surge in popularity over the past few years.</p>
<p>With help from a wide range of third-party add-ons, some of which offer access to pirated content, millions of people now use Kodi as their main source of entertainment.</p>
<p>The Kodi software itself is perfectly legal, however, and has been around for more than 15 years. The roots of Kodi are directly connected to the Xbox, as the first iterations of the project were called the &#8220;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Media_Player">Xbox Media Player</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>As time went by XBMP became XBMC, and eventually Kodi. The last name change made sense as the software was no longer being developed for Xbox, but for other devices, running on Linux, Windows, OSX, and Android.</p>
<p>While the broader public was perfectly happy with this, the sentimental few were missing the Xbox connection. For them, and many others, Kodi has a surprise in store today after returning to its roots.</p>
<p>&#8220;Let us end the year 2017 with a blast including a nostalgic reference to the past,&#8221; the Kodi team <a href="https://kodi.tv/article/kodi-xbox-one">announced</a>. </p>
<p>&#8220;It has long been asked for by so many and now it finally happened. Kodi for Xbox One is available worldwide through Windows and Xbox Store.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Kodi team provides quite a bit of history and context to the Xbox return in a detailed <a href="https://kodi.tv/article/kodi-xbox-one">blog post</a>. At the same time, it also cautions users to keep in mind that this is just the initial release, which still has some very rough edges.</p>
<p>&#8220;What you should really understand and keep remembering is that it is still in early stages of development and has very rough edges, might not be as stable as the regular version and may even be missing some functions,&#8221; they write. </p>
<p>Kodi&#8217;s look and feel on the Xbox One are very familiar though. Anyone who had Kodi installed on a different platform should have no issue navigating the interface. The usual add-ons should work fine as well.</p>
<p>With the new Xbox One release, Kodi has come full circle. After 15 years they are back where things began.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149295
title: Steal This Show S03E12: Attack Of The Propaganda Bots
uri: Steal-This-Show-S03E12-Attack-Of-The-Propaganda-Bots
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xEaeTVBkqRo/
content:
<p><img src="media/d01749d9.stslogo180.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stslogo180.png" alt="stslogo180" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-113928"><strong><sup><em>If you enjoy this episode, consider becoming a patron and getting involved with the show. <a href="https://patreon.com/user?u=4275705">Check out Steal This Show&#8217;s Patreon campaign</a>: support us and get all kinds of&nbsp;fantastic benefits!</em></sup></strong></p>
<p>In this episode, we meet Sam Woolley, director of the <a href="http://www.iftf.org/digintel/">Digital Intelligence Lab</a> at the <a href="http://www.iftf.org/home/">Institute for the Future</a>, to dig deeper into the topic of troll farms, political disinformation and the use of social media bots to create what Sam calls &#8216;Computational Propaganda&#8217;. </p>
<p>What happens when the ability to create propaganda is democratized out of the hands of governments and corporate media and into the hands of unknown, weird and downright dangerous online actors? </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><a href="https://stealthisshow.com">Steal This Show</a> aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing copyright and file-sharing news. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary, and analysis. </p>
<p>The guests for our news discussions will vary, and we&#8217;ll aim to introduce voices from different backgrounds and persuasions. In addition to news, STS will also produce features interviewing some of the great innovators and minds. </p>
<p><strong>Host:</strong> Jamie King</p>
<p><strong>Guest:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/samuelwoolley">Sam Woolley</a></p>
<p><center><iframe width="100%" height="180px" src="//stealthisshow.com/?lpe-frame=1&#038;lpe-season=3&#038;lpe-episode=12" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p><strong>Produced </strong> <em>by </em>Jamie King<br>
<strong>Edited &#038; Mixed</strong> <em>by</em> Riley Byrne<br>
<strong>Original Music</strong> <em>by</em> David Triana<br>
<strong>Web Production</strong> <em>by</em> Siraje Amarniss</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148870
title: This Was 2017 in ‘Pirate’ Searches
uri: This-Was-2017-in-Pirate-Searches
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JJndElfClCo/
content:
<p><img src="media/6b16d833.2017.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/2017.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-132865">Lists, list, lists, it&#8217;s that time of the year again. In December many prominent search engines publish their overviews of most used search terms. </p>
<p><a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/yis/2017/GLOBAL/">On Google</a>, Hurricane Irma was the most searched for term of the year, globally. With &#8220;It&#8221; and &#8220;Stranger Things&#8221; ending up as the most sought after movie and TV show respectively. </p>
<p>But what&#8217;s happening on torrent search engines? With billions of searches every year, it’s worth taking a look at the most-entered keywords on the dominant file-sharing network.</p>
<p>With data from one of the most visited torrent indexes, we compiled a list of 50 popular terms, to give an indication. </p>
<p>2017’s number one query is &#8220;<strong>Game of Thrones</strong>,&#8221; which was entered in several variations, often paired with the episode number. While it&#8217;s no surprise, considering the show&#8217;s popularity, as a TV-show it&#8217;s somewhat of an outlier.</p>
<p>The top 50 is mostly made up of movie titles. &#8220;<strong>Spider Man: Homecoming</strong>&#8221; ended up in the second spot, followed by &#8220;<strong>Baby Driver</strong>&#8221; and  &#8220;<strong>War for the Planet of the Apes</strong>.&#8221;</p>
<p>The only non-title entry in the top ten is &#8220;<strong>Telugu 2017</strong>,&#8221; which shows how popular BitTorrent is in India. On most torrent sites nowadays, a large chunk of all visitors come from the Asian country.</p>
<p>Torrent sites are predominantly used to download video, which is evident from the list. There are no references to music at all, and &#8220;<strong>CracksNow</strong>&#8221; appears to be the only software related search.  </p>
<p>Below is the full list of the Top 50 most-entered search queries based on a data sample provided by one of the most popular torrent sites on the Internet. Searches pointing to the same title have been combined.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;-</p>
<p>Note that searches are not the same as download activity. The former are, in theory, easier to manipulate by outsiders. </em></p>
<table class="css hover" summary="What Pirates Searched for in 2017">
<caption><strong>What Pirates Searched for in 2017<br></br></strong></caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="22%"><strong>rank</strong></th>
<th width="81%"><strong>search</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1.</strong></td>
<td>Game of Thrones</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2.</strong></td>
<td>Spider Man Homecoming</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3.</strong></td>
<td>Baby Driver</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4.</strong></td>
<td>War for the Planet of the Apes  </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5.</strong></td>
<td>Star Trek Discovery</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6.</strong></td>
<td>Telugu 2017</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7.</strong></td>
<td>Transformers the last knight</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8.</strong></td>
<td>Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales  </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9.</strong></td>
<td>Thor Ragnarok </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>Alien Covenant </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>11.</strong></td>
<td>Wonder Woman </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>12.</strong></td>
<td>The Mummy</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>13.</strong></td>
<td>Atomic Blonde </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>14.</strong></td>
<td>Malayalam 2017  </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>15.</strong></td>
<td>Riverdale</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>16.</strong></td>
<td>Kingsman The Golden Circle </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>17.</strong></td>
<td>Designated Survivor</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>18.</strong></td>
<td>2017 Movies </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>19.</strong></td>
<td>Half Girlfriend</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>20.</strong></td>
<td>Dunkirk  </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>21.</strong></td>
<td>The Fate of the Furious</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>22.</strong></td>
<td>The Orville</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>23.</strong></td>
<td>Baywatch </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>24.</strong></td>
<td>Blade Runner 2049 </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>25.</strong></td>
<td>Tigole </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>26.</strong></td>
<td>Golmaal again</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>27.</strong></td>
<td>Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>28.</strong></td>
<td>Midnight Texas</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>29.</strong></td>
<td>King Arthur Legend of the Sword</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>30.</strong></td>
<td>Tamil 2017 </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>31.</strong></td>
<td>Justice League</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>32.</strong></td>
<td>Tubelight</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>33.</strong></td>
<td>Annabelle Creation</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>34.</strong></td>
<td>Geostorm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>35.</strong></td>
<td>The Handmaids Tale</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>36.</strong></td>
<td>Young Sheldon</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>37.</strong></td>
<td>Toilet Ek Prem Katha </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>38.</strong></td>
<td>Logan lucky</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>39.</strong></td>
<td>13 reasons why</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>40.</strong></td>
<td>Baadshaho</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>41.</strong></td>
<td>Jagga Jasoos</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>42.</strong></td>
<td>CracksNow</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>43.</strong></td>
<td>Dangal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>44.</strong></td>
<td>The Lost City of Z </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>45.</strong></td>
<td>Suits</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>46.</strong></td>
<td>Power Rangers</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>47.</strong></td>
<td>The Big Bang Theory</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>48.</strong></td>
<td>The Hitman&#8217;s Bodyguard  </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>49</strong></td>
<td>Secret Superstar</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>50.</strong></td>
<td>Jab Harry Met Sejal</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148973
title: 2017’s “Piracy is Dangerous” Rhetoric Was Digital Reefer Madness
uri: 2017-s-Piracy-is-Dangerous-Rhetoric-Was-Digital-Reefer-Madness
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nBNl8dXpU48/
content:
<p><a href="media/6d33cb6e.images.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/images.jpg"><img src="media/78b3d0fd.images.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/images.jpg" alt="" width="244" height="366" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148978"></a>On dozens of occasions during the past year, TF has been compelled to cover the latest entertainment industry anti-piracy scare campaigns. We never have a problem doing so since news is to be reported and we&#8217;re all adults with our own minds to evaluate what we&#8217;re reading.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, many people behind these efforts seem to be under the impression that their target audience is compromised of simpletons, none of whom are blessed with a brain of their own. Frankly it&#8217;s insulting but before we go on, let&#8217;s get a few things clear.</p>
<p>Copyright infringement &#8211; including uploading, downloading, sharing or streaming &#8211; is illegal in most countries. That means that copyright holders are empowered under law to do something about those offenses, either through the civil or criminal courts. While unpalatable to some, most people accept that position and understand that should they be caught in the act, there might be some consequences.</p>
<p>With that said, there are copyright holders out there that need to stop treating people like children at best, idiots at worst. At this point in 2017, there&#8217;s no adult out there with the ability to pirate that truly believes that obtaining or sharing the latest movies, TV shows and sports is likely to be completely legal.</p>
<p>If you don&#8217;t believe me, ask a pirate why he or she is so excited by their fully-loaded Kodi setup. Hint: It&#8217;s because they&#8217;re getting content for free and they know full well that isn&#8217;t what the copyright holder wants. Then ask them if they want the copyright holder to know their name, address and everything they&#8217;ve downloaded. There. That&#8217;s your answer.</p>
<p>The point is that these people are not dumb. They know what they&#8217;re doing and understand that getting caught is something that might possibly happen. They may not understand precisely how and they may consider the risk to be particularly small (they&#8217;d be right too) but they know that it&#8217;s something best kept fairly quiet when they aren&#8217;t shouting about it to anyone who will listen down the pub.</p>
<p>Copyright holders aren&#8217;t dumb either. They know only too well that pirates recognize what they&#8217;re doing is probably illegal but they&#8217;re at a loss as to what to do about it. For reputable content owners, suing is expensive, doesn&#8217;t scale, is a public relations nightmare and, moreover, isn&#8217;t effective in solving the problem.</p>
<p>So, we now have a concerted effort to convince pirates that piracy is not only bad for their computers but also bad for their lives. It&#8217;s a stated industry aim and we&#8217;re going to see more of it in 2018.</p>
<p>If pirate sites aren&#8217;t infecting people&#8217;s computers with malware from God-knows-where, they&#8217;re stealing their identities and emptying their bank accounts, the industries warned in 2017. And if somehow people manage to run this gauntlet of terror without damaging their technology or their finances, then they&#8217;ll probably have their house burnt down by an exploding set-top box.</p>
<p>Look, the intention is understandable. Entertainment companies need to contain the piracy problem because if they don&#8217;t, it only gets worse. Again, there are few people out there who genuinely expect them to do anything different but this current stampede towards blatant scaremongering is disingenuous at best and utterly ridiculous at worst. </p>
<p>And it won&#8217;t work.</p>
<p>While piracy can be engaged in as a solo activity, it&#8217;s inherently a social phenomenon. That things can be pirated from here and there, in this way and that, is the stuff of conversations between friends and colleagues, in person and via social media. The information is passed around today like VHS and compact cassettes were passed around three decades ago and people really aren&#8217;t talking about malware or their houses catching fire.</p>
<p>In the somewhat unlikely event these topics do get raised for more than a minute, they get dealt with in the same way as anything else.</p>
<p>People inquire whether their friends have ever had their bank accounts emptied or houses burnt down, or if they know anyone who has. When the answer comes back as &#8220;no&#8221; from literally everyone, people are likely to conclude that the stories are being spread by people trying to stop them getting movies, TV shows, and live sports for free. And they would be right.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s not to say that these scare stories don&#8217;t have at least some basis in fact, they do.</p>
<p>Many pirate sites do have low-tier advertising which can put users at risk. However, it&#8217;s nothing that a decent anti-virus program and/or ad blocker can&#8217;t handle, which is something everyone should be running when accessing untrusted sites. Also, being cautious about all electronics imported from overseas is something people should be aware of too, despite the tiny risk these devices appear to pose in the scheme of things.</p>
<p>So, what we have here is the modern day equivalent of Reefer Madness, the 1930&#8217;s propaganda movie that tried to scare people away from marijuana with tales of car accidents, suicide, attempted rape and murder.</p>
<p>While somewhat more refined, these modern-day cautionary messages over piracy are destined to fall on ears that are far more shrewd and educated than their 20th-century counterparts. Yet they&#8217;re all born out of the same desire, to stop people from getting involved in an activity by warning them that it&#8217;s dangerous to them, rather than it having a negative effect on someone else &#8211; an industry executive, for example.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s all designed to appeal to the selfish nature of people, rather than their empathy for others, but that&#8217;s a big mistake.</p>
<p>Most people really do want to do the right thing, as the staggering success of Netflix, iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon show. But the ridiculous costs and/or inaccessibility of live sports, latest movies, or packaged TV shows mean that no matter what warnings get thrown out there, some people will still cut corners if they feel they&#8217;re being taken advantage of.</p>
<p>Worst still, if they believe the scare stories are completely ridiculous, eventually they&#8217;ll also discount the credibility of the messenger. When that happens, what little trust remains will be eroded.</p>
<p>Then, let&#8217;s face it, who wants to buy something from people you can&#8217;t trust?</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149205
title: Hosting Provider Steadfast Fights to Keep DMCA Safe Harbor
uri: Hosting-Provider-Steadfast-Fights-to-Keep-DMCA-Safe-Harbor
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_0N7W1RIfVg/
content:
<p><img src="media/b048ffdf.steadfast.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/steadfast.png" alt="" width="250" height="115" class="alignright size-full wp-image-134700">Last year, adult entertainment publisher ALS Scan dragged several third-party Internet services to court. </p>
<p>The company <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-faces-lawsuit-for-assisting-pirate-sites-160823/">targeted</a> several companies including CDN provider CloudFlare and the Chicago-based hosting company <a href="https://www.steadfast.net/">Steadfast</a>, accusing them of copyright infringement because they offered services to pirate sites.</p>
<p>More than a year has passed and both sides have yet to resolve their differences.  </p>
<p>ALS Scan recently asked the court for a partial summary judgment, determining that Steadfast contributed to copyright infringement and that it has no safe harbor protection. If this was granted, the hosting provider would be in serious trouble.</p>
<p>The copyright holder argued that Steadfast refused to shut down the servers of the image sharing platform <a href="http://www.imagebam.com">imagebam.com</a>, which was operated by its client Flixya. ALS Scan sees the site as a repeat offender as it was targeted with dozens of DMCA notices, and accuses Steadfast of turning a blind eye to the situation. </p>
<p>In a new filing submitted this month, Steadfast fiercely denies the allegations. The hosting provider indeed leased servers to Flixya for ten years but says it forwarded all notices to its client. </p>
<p>The hosting company could not address individual infringements, other than shutting down the entire site, which would be disproportionate in their view.</p>
<p>&#8220;Steadfast had no ability to terminate services to individual users of Imagebam.com other than unilaterally shutting down the entire server which would have violated the law. Imagebam.com was not a pirate site when it was operated by Flixya,&#8221; Steadfast informs the court. </p>
<p>&#8220;Steadfast was not a direct infringer; Steadfast’s client Flixya was not a direct infringer. The direct infringers of the ALS content were the users of Flixya’s Imagebam.com website. Discovery has shown that many, if not all the infringers of the ALS content, were actually ALS’s own members who posted ALS content with impunity.&#8221;</p>
<p>Interestingly, the users who posted pirated images on the site were ALS Scan&#8217;s own customers. According to Steadfast, ALS took absolutely no steps to curb these infringements themselves. </p>
<p>Instead, ALS hired an agent, Steve Easton, to track down infringements on external sites and issue takedown requests. Steadfast received several of these as well, but believes it responded appropriately, even though the notices were not DMCA compliant.</p>
<p>&#8220;Once Easton sent his legally insufficient notices to Steadfast, Steadfast immediately forwarded the notices to Flixya. In turn, Flixya disabled access to the allegedly infringing works that were hosted on imagebam.com,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>While ALS Claims that imagebam.com was a repeat offender, Steadfast sees things differently. They point out that Flixya is a service provider as well, and that they were the ones who had to address the alleged infringements.</p>
<p>It would certainly not be an “appropriate circumstance” to disconnect the servers of an entire website, not in the way Congress intended the DMCA to work, the hosting provider notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;An &#8216;appropriate circumstance&#8217; to terminate a user does not include terminating a user who follows the law. Here, the facts in the record demonstrate that Flixya did not blatantly infringe copyright,&#8221; Steadfast writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Rather, the facts show that Flixya complied with the DMCA. Flixya posted the required DMCA information on its imagebam.com website, had users agree to the terms of service, and informed users that his or her account will be terminated.&#8221;</p>
<p>The hosting provider wants the case to be thrown out, but ALS Scan clearly disagrees. According to the copyright holder, Steadfast should have terminated the imagebam.com servers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Steadfast maintained its own theory that if its own client was an Internet service provider, Steadfast had no burden to terminate services to its client, or indeed take any action, in response to notifications of infringement,&#8221; ALS writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The law is that a service provider must stop providing services to whomever it is providing such services as long as such services materially contribute to infringement.&#8221;</p>
<p>It is now up to the court to decide whether Steadfast is indeed liable. If the company loses its safe harbor, this will have implications for the broader hosting industry.</p>
<p>It would essentially mean that large hosting companies are responsible for the infringing content that their clients&#8217; users upload or link to, which could get quite messy. </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Steadfast&#8217;s response is available <a href="media/75587a80.steadfast.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/steadfast.pdf">here (pdf)</a> and ALS Scan&#8217;s reply can be found <a href="media/c1628e83.steadreply.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/steadreply.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148857
title: TorrentFreak’s 17 Most Read Articles of 2017
uri: TorrentFreak-s-17-Most-Read-Articles-of-2017
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/udRzYvxMNBE/
content:
<p><img src="media/6b16d833.2017.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/2017.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-132865">Every year we write roughly 900 articles here at TorrentFreak, and some are more popular than others. </p>
<p>On the brink of 2018, we look back at 2017 by going over the 17 most read news items of the year.  </p>
<p>The ExtraTorrent shutdown was a clear eye catcher. Not only was it the most read article, there are also two related news items in the list. </p>
<p>All in all, it was quite a controversial year once again. Website and domain issues tend to be popular items, as the full list shows, as are the inevitable Game of Thrones mentions. </p>
<p>But what will 2018 bring?</p>
<h3>1. <a href="http://1 https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrent-shuts-down-for-good-170517/">ExtraTorrent Shuts Down For Good</a></h3>
<p><em>Popular torrent site ExtraTorrent shut down in May. The abrupt decision was announced in a brief message posted on the site&#8217;s homepage and came as a complete surprise to many friends and foes. </em></p>
<h3>2. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-streaming-site-123movies-rebrands-as-gomovies-170329/">Pirate Streaming Site 123Movies Rebrands as GoMovies</a></h3>
<p><em>Pirate movie streaming site 123movies renamed itself to GoMovies for a fresh start last March. With the brand change and a new domain name, the popular site hoped to set itself apart from the many fake sites. Interestingly, the site has recently moved back to the old 123movies brand again.</em></p>
<h3>3. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-episode-s07e06-leaks-online-early-170816/">Game of Thrones Episode “S07E06” Leaks Online Early</a></h3>
<p><em>The sixth episode of the last Game of Thrones season leaked online early in August. Soon after, it was widely shared on various streaming and download portals The leak turned out to be the result of an error at HBO Spain.</em></p>
<h4>4. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrents-main-domain-name-shut-down-by-registrar-170302/">ExtraTorrent’s Main Domain Name Shut Down By Registrar</a></h4>
<p>Prior to its shutdown, ExtraTorrent lost control of its main domain Extratorrent.cc. The domain name was disconnected by the registrar, presumably after a copyright holder complaint.</p>
<h4>5. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/putlocker-loses-domain-name-following-court-order-170228/">‘Putlocker’ Loses Domain Name Following Court Order</a></h4>
<p>Putlockers.ch lost its domain name in February. The site&#8217;s registrar EuroDNS was ordered to suspend the domain name following a decision from a Luxembourg court, in favor of an entertainment industry group.</p>
<h4>6. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrents-distribution-groups-ettv-and-ethd-keep-going-170519/">ExtraTorrent’s Distribution Groups ettv and EtHD Keep Going</a></h4>
<p>ExtraTorrent shut down, but several popular release groups that originated on the site kept the name alive. Later in the year, ettv and EtHD launched <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ettv-how-an-upload-bot-became-a-pirate-hero-171210/">their own website</a> which is slowly gaining traction.</p>
<h4>7. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anime-torrent-site-nyaa-goes-down-after-domain-name-deactivation-170502/">Anime Torrent Site NYAA Goes Down After Domain Name Deactivation </a></h4>
<p>Popular anime torrent site NYAA lost control over several of its domain names last Spring. Several people later pointed out that NYAA’s owner decided to close the site voluntarily.</p>
<h4>8. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popular-kodi-addon-exodus-turned-users-into-a-ddos-botnet-170203/">Popular Kodi Addon ‘Exodus’ Turned Users into a DDoS ‘Botnet’</a></h4>
<p>Users of the popular Kodi addon Exodus became unwittingly part of a DDoS attack in February. After the issue raised eyebrows in the community, the Exodus developer rolled back the malicious code and retired.</p>
<h4>9. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/porn-pirate-sites-use-backdoor-to-host-videos-on-youtube-170114/">Porn Pirate Sites Use ‘Backdoor’ to Host Videos on YouTube</a></h4>
<p>Last January adult streaming sites were found to use Google&#8217;s servers to store infringing material at no cost. While streaming sites have exploited Google&#8217;s servers for a long time, the issue hit the mainstream news this year.</p>
<h4>10. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bays-se-domain-is-back-in-action-171024/">The Pirate Bay’s .SE Domain is Back in Action</a></h4>
<p>The Pirate Bay&#8217;s .SE domain name sprang back into action in October, after it was deactivated. A few months later, the Supreme Court decided that it should be <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-set-to-take-over-pirate-bay-domains-171222/">handed over</a> to the authorities. TPB, meanwhile, sails on, relying on its original .org domain.</p>
<h4>11. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/man-leaks-new-power-episodes-online-records-his-own-face-170809/
">Man Leaks New ‘Power’ Episodes Online, Records His Own Face</a></h4>
<p>Last summer a man leaked several episodes of the smash-hit TV series Power. The episodes were &#8216;cammed&#8217; using a phone, with the &#8216;cammer&#8217; recording his own face for good measure.</p>
<h4>12. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/live-mayweather-v-mcgregor-streams-will-thrive-on-torrents-tonight-170826/
">Live Mayweather v McGregor Streams Will Thrive On Torrents Tonight</a></h4>
<p>The Mayweather v McGregor fight last August was a streaming success, but not just on legal channels. While centralized streaming services had a hard time keeping up with the unprecedented demand, lesser known live streaming torrents thrived.</p>
<h4>13. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-website-runs-a-cryptocurrency-miner-170916/
">The Pirate Bay Website Runs a Cryptocurrency Miner </a></h4>
<p>In September, The Pirate Bay decided to use the computer resources of its visitors to mine Monero coins. This resulted in a heated debate. Supporters saw it as a novel way to generate revenue and a potential to replace ads, while opponents went out of their way to block the mining script.</p>
<h4>14. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hackers-leak-netflixs-orange-is-the-new-black-season-5-premiere-170429/">Hackers Leak Netflix’s Orange is The New Black Season 5</a></h4>
<p>In April the hacking group &#8220;TheDarkOverlord&#8221; leaked a trove of unreleased TV shows and movies. The group uploaded several videos, including episodes of Netflix&#8217;s Orange is The New Black, which it obtained the content from a post-production studio.</p>
<h4>15. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-returns-two-months-downtime-170320/">Demonoid Returns After Two Months Downtime</a></h4>
<p>After nearly two months of downtime, the semi-private BitTorrent tracker Demonoid resurfaced online in March. The site was pulled offline due to hosting problems and had to endure some internal struggles as well.</p>
<h4>16. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/wont-block-pirate-bay-swedish-telecoms-giant-says-170221/">“We Won’t Block Pirate Bay,” Swedish Telecoms Giant Says</a></h4>
<p>In February a landmark ruling compelled a Swedish ISP to block The Pirate Bay. Copyright holders hoped that other ISPs would follow suit but telecoms giant Telia said it had no intention of blocking The Pirate Bay, unless it&#8217;s forced to do so by law.</p>
<h4>17. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/former-vuze-developers-launch-biglybt-a-new-open-source-torrent-client-170803/
">Former Vuze Developers Launch BiglyBT, a ‘New’ Open Source Torrent Client</a></h4>
<p>In August two long-time developers of the Vuze BitTorrent client, formerly known as Azureus, launched BiglyBT. The client emerged at a time when Vuze development stalled. The developers promised to take the project forward while removing all advertising and other annoyances.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148961
title: Massive Site-Blocking Measures Countered By 100K Browser Addon Users
uri: Massive-Site-Blocking-Measures-Countered-By-100K-Browser-Addon-Users
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Al9VxG229f8/
content:
<p><a href="media/e8c727cd.blocktpb1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/blocktpb1.jpg"><img src="media/7134d54c.blocktpb1-300x224.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blocktpb1-300x224.jpg" alt="FCT ty" width="240" height="179" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-87047" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/blocktpb1-300x224.jpg 300w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/blocktpb1-200x150.jpg 200w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/blocktpb1.jpg 614w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px"></a>In July 2015, Portugal&#8217;s Ministry of Culture <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rapid-pirate-site-blocking-mechanism-introduced-by-portugal-150731/">announced</a> the signing of a memorandum between its own General Inspection of Cultural Activities (IGAC), the Portuguese Association of Telecommunication Operators (APRITEL), various rightsholder groups, the body responsible for administering Portugal’s .PT domain, and representatives from the advertising industry.</p>
<p>The memorandum laid out a new mechanism for blocking so-called ‘pirate’ sites. In common with similar frameworks elsewhere, the process can be triggered by a complaint from a rightsholder association. Local anti-piracy group MAPINET then collates evidence that a site is engaged in the unlawful distribution of copyright works and has failed to cease its activities.</p>
<p>The system was quickly utilized by rightsholders seeking to block access to their content. Within six months, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/portugal-blocks-330-pirate-sites-in-just-six-months-160430/">330 sites had been blocked</a> by ISPs, but that was only the beginning. In the months and years that followed, hundreds more sites were rendered inaccessible but in common with similar programs elsewhere, no official list of blocked sites was made available. People are keeping watch, however.</p>
<p><a href="https://sitesbloqueados.pt/">SitesBloqueados</a> (Blocked Sites) is a web portal run by Revolução dos Bytes (Bytes’ Revolution), a group of like-minded anti-censorship activists in Portugal. Created a few months after blocking began in the region, their comprehensive database now contains almost 1,400 domains, the majority of which have been blocked on copyright grounds.</p>
<p>&#8220;SitesBloqueados was mainly created because, although the Memorandum of Understanding contained certain requirements to make a site eligible to be blocked &#8211; such as 500 items [or links] to copyright content or one third of the site containing copyrighted material &#8211; there was no official way to validate that data and make sure that these &#8216;rules&#8217; are being respected,&#8221; team member Henrique Mouta informs TF.</p>
<p>The manner in which the list is maintained is quite unique. As mentioned earlier, there are no official sources listing blocked domains so the people behind SitesBloqueados had to get creative. Alongside this project they also run Ahoy!, a <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ahoy/ljighgeflmhnpljodhpcifcojkpancpm?hl=pt-PT">Chrome</a> and <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/ahoy/">Firefox</a> extension that allows users to circumvent censorship in Portugal and it&#8217;s through that tool they gather information.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ahoy! basically bypasses any traffic to a blocked site through our own proxies, allowing the users to navigate in a free, uncensored internet,&#8221; Henrique explains.</p>
<p>As this extension works on a whitelist basis, we had to create a mechanism to automatically detect and whitelist sites that have been blocked, so if a user accesses a blocked site that is not on our list yet, we get a notification so we can review the site and add it to the list. That is the list that is also powering SitesBloqueados.pt.&#8221; </p>
<p>When the voluntary agreement was first announced, local ISPs came under intense criticism for agreeing to work with copyright holders without need for a court process. However, Henrique says they are actually in a precarious position.</p>
<p>&#8220;We usually see the ISPs as the bad guys, blocking sites, throttling our internet and, more recently, going against the Internet Neutrality. But, in this particular case, all the major ISPs are forced to block any sites that have been requested in 15 days, or they might pay fines for every single day after the deadline.</p>
<p>&#8220;MAPiNET (MOVIMENTO CÍVICOANTI PIRATARIA NA INTERNET) is the organization, alongside with IGAC (Inspecção Geral Das Actividades Culturais), that compiles the lists of sites and sends them to the ISP. It’s usually two lists per month. Of course, I’m not excusing the ISPs, as they should stand up against censorship. But we all know that’s asking too much of them,&#8221; Henrique adds.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the first site blockade in Portugal wasn&#8217;t actioned on copyright grounds. It was, in fact, targeted at Uber.com.</p>
<p>&#8220;This happened in June 2015, after a court order to suspend all Uber activity in Portugal. This opened a huge precedent, with all these anti-piracy organizations seeing how easy is to block a site, technically speaking. </p>
<p>&#8220;So, at the end of August of that same year, the [anti-piracy] Memorandum was signed by all the parties and, since then, both MAPiNET and IGAC have the power to request any site block, without any court order, without any legal order,&#8221; Henrique notes.</p>
<p>This lit a fire under the team and two and half years later, Ahoy! is now being used by 100k people to unblock almost 1,400 sites, while feeding back information on newly blocked domains. These are then added to the blocklist database and considered for unblocking methods via the addon.</p>
<p>Currently, around 50 new domains are blocked every month in Portugal and Henrique and the team are determined to document every one of them. They believe that by keeping an eye on things publicly, it lets the anti-piracy groups know they are being watched and cannot act with impunity. Around 90% of all blocked domains are restricted on copyright grounds but some also fall foul of new gambling laws that forbid unlicensed sites.</p>
<p>From the beginning, the big question has surrounded potential abuse. So, given the lack of a court process, have any players attempted to game the system? </p>
<p>&#8220;So far, we haven’t seen any signs of intentional abuse. There have been a few problems with sites being wrongly blocked. The most <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/portugals-piracy-blocklist-censors-u-s-game-developer-160120/">popular case</a> is Carbon Games site that was blocked nearly two years ago, and it was <a href="https://revolucaodosbytes.pt/srij-assume-responsabilidade-pelo-bloqueio-errado-da-carbon-games">mistaken</a> for a different site, a Gambling site, named Carbon Gaming,&#8221; Henrique says.</p>
<p>&#8220;A few months later, we detected <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/news-site-blocked-by-isps-for-embedding-youtube-videos-160129/">another case</a>. A Spanish journalist had a website where he was posting videoclips of the latest releases. All of these releases were originally on YouTube, uploaded by the respective owners, however that was <a href="https://revolucaodosbytes.pt/novo-site-legitimo-bloqueado-e-sujeito-a-duplo-pagamento/">not enough</a> to keep the site alive.&#8221;</p>
<p>Under pressure from Revolução dos Bytes this block was reversed but it&#8217;s not the only instance of errors. <a href="https://revolucaodosbytes.pt/site-pirata-inexistente-bloqueado/">Non-existent sites</a> have been blocked as have sites publishing headlines and linking to the respective online newspapers. </p>
<p>With blocking continuing at a steady pace, dozens of new domains are restricted every month. But Henrique and the team believe it won&#8217;t achieve anything positive and only serves to harm the Internet and democracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Blocking sites to prevent piracy is the same as being on a sinking submarine, trying to patch every leaking hull hole with duct tape. If they want to fight piracy, they should try to understand, in the first place, why it happens and what they can do to change it.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s well known that having cheap and quality services like Netflix and Spotify helped Internet piracy levels drop to record lows, DRM issues aside, of course. And the worst of it is the timing: these organizations see the decreasing levels of piracy as a signal that their stupid censorship is actually working.  I’m really afraid that this is now an unstoppable snowball. The Internet in Portugal has seen much better days,&#8221; Henrique concludes.</p>
<p>But while he&#8217;s pessimistic over current developments, it appears that the Ahoy! movement is only set to grow. The team say they want to bring the browser-based system to other countries that are suffering from similar blockades and that suggestions from the public are welcome.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149269
title: Five ‘Fantastic’ Piracy Predictions for 2018
uri: Five-Fantastic-Piracy-Predictions-for-2018
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/cKpR1FOXl0I/
content:
<p><img src="media/d44c6612.2018.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/2018.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149234">On January 1, the TF newsroom often wonders what copyright and piracy news the new year will have in store. </p>
<p>Today we want to give our readers some insight into some of the things that crossed our minds. </p>
<p>Granted, predicting the future isn’t an easy task, but the &#8216;fantastic&#8217; forecasts below give plenty of food for thought and discussion. </p>
<h4>Power Cord Manufacturer Held Liable for Streaming Piracy</h4>
<p>Hollywood&#8217;s concerns over pirate streaming boxes will reach <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-sees-illegal-streaming-devices-as-piracy-3-0-170502/">unprecedented levels</a> this year. After successful cases against box sellers and add-on developers, the major movie studios will take aim at the hardware.</p>
<p>A Chinese power cord manufacturer, believed to be linked to more than half of all the streaming boxes sold throughout the world, will be taken to court.</p>
<p>The movie studios argue that the power-cords are essential to make <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-truth-behind-the-kodi-boxes-can-kill-their-owners-headlines-171118/">pirate streaming boxes work</a>. They are therefore liable for contributory copyright infringement and should pay for the billions in losses they are partly responsible for. </p>
<h4>Pirate Sites Launch &#8216;The Pirate Coin&#8217;</h4>
<p>In 2017 The Pirate Bay <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-website-runs-a-cryptocurrency-miner-170916/">added a cryptocoin miner</a> to its website, an example many other pirate sites followed. In the new year, there will be another cryptocurrency innovation that will have an even more profound effect.</p>
<p><img src="media/1171d5d8.piratecoin-e1514540933571.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratecoin-e1514540933571.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149275">After Google Chrome adds its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/chromes-default-ad-blocker-is-bad-news-for-torrent-sites-170705/">default ad-blocker</a> to the Chrome browser, a coalition of torrent sites will release The Pirate Coin. </p>
<p>With this new cryptocurrency, users can buy all sorts of perks and features on their favorite download and streaming portals. From priority HD streaming, through personalized RSS feeds, to VIP access &#8211; Pirate Coins can pay for it all. </p>
<p>The new coin will see mass adoption within a few months and provide a stable income for pirate sites, which no longer see the need for traditional ads.</p>
<h4>YouTube Music Label Signs First Artists</h4>
<p>For years on end, the major music labels have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ifpi-sneers-at-youtubes-1-billion-music-industry-revenue-payout-161207/">complained bitterly</a> about YouTube. While the video service earned them millions, they demanded better deals and less piracy. </p>
<p>In 2018, YouTube will run out of patience. The video streaming platform will launch a counter-attack and start its own record label. With a talent pool of millions of aspiring artists among its users, paired with the right algorithms, they are a force to be reckoned with. </p>
<p>After signing the first artists, YouTube will scold the other labels for not giving their musicians the best deals. </p>
<h4>Comcast Introduces Torrent Pro Subscription</h4>
<p>While there&#8217;s still a lot of public outrage against the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/fcc-repeals-u-s-net-neutrality-rules-171214/">net neutrality repeal</a> in 2018, torrent users are no longer complaining. After the changes are approved by Congress, Comcast will announce its first non-neutral Internet package.</p>
<p><img src="media/2082a36f.comcastpirate.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/comcastpirate.png" alt="" width="250" height="131" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-149276">The <em><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-throttles-bittorrent-traffic-seeding-impossible/">Torrent Pro (®)</a></em> package will allow subscribers to share files via BitTorrent in an optimized network environment. </p>
<p>Their traffic will be routed over separate lanes with optimal <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/indian-isps-speed-bittorrent-peering-torrent-site-160828/">connections to India</a>, while minimizing interference from regular Internet users.</p>
<p>The new package comes with a free VPN, of course, to ensure that all transfers take place in a fully encrypted setting without having to worry about false notifications from outsiders.</p>
<h4>Pirate Bay Goes All-in on Streaming</h4>
<p>The Pirate Bay turns 15 years old in 2018, which is an unprecedented achievement. While the site&#8217;s appearance hasn&#8217;t changed much since the mid-2000s, technically it has been changed down quite a bit. </p>
<p>The resource-intensive tracker was removed from the site years ago, for example, and shortly after, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-dumps-torrents-120228/">the .torrent files followed</a>. This made The Pirate Bay more &#8216;portable&#8217; and easier to operate, the argument was.</p>
<p>In 2018 The Pirate Bay will take things even further. Realizing that torrents are no longer as modern as they once were, TPB will make the switch to streaming, at least for video. </p>
<p>While the site has experimented with streaming <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-transforms-into-the-worlds-biggest-streaming-site-160205/">browser add-ons</a> in the past, it will implement <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/webtorrent-brings-bittorrent-to-the-web-impresses-netflix-151213/">WebTorrent</a> streaming support in the new year. This means users can stream high-quality videos directly from the TPB website.</p>
<p>The new streaming feature will be released together with an overhaul of the search engine and site navigation, allowing users to follow TV-shows more easily, and see what&#8217;s new at a glimpse. </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><strong>Happy 2018!</strong></p>
<p><em>Don’t believe in any of the above? <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/five-fantastic-file-sharing-forecasts-for-2017-170101/">Look how accurate we were last year!</a> Don’t forget the salt…</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149383
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 01/01/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-01-01-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vFumTF75bTs/
content:
<p><img src="media/93dde5f9.bladerunner.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bladerunner.png" alt="" width="300" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149386">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Blade Runner 2049 is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-122517/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/">Blade Runner 2049 </a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCcx85zbxz4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">Justice League</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-DM9uBtVI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5519340/">Bright</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5519340/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZCBSsBxko">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5657856/">Brawl in Cell Block 99</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5657856/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfAExhHTMM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">Dunkirk</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ01tJ4EWeg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">Kingsman: The Golden Circle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nxc-3WpMbg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925292/">Lady Bird</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925292/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNi_HC839Wo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">The Foreigner</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9YCk7ufHs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/">It</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE0kRwDXn7o">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">Coco</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga6RYejo6Hk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147156
title: Is Your Kodi Setup Being Spied On?
uri: Is-Your-Kodi-Setup-Being-Spied-On
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DL4MmZ5i1gY/
content:
<p><a href="media/13c1e1a2.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png"><img src="media/8aa05985.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png" alt="" width="220" height="220" class="alignright size-full wp-image-144339"></a>As quite possibly the most people media player on earth, Kodi is installed on millions of machines &#8211; around 38 million <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-almost-70-of-38-million-kodi-users-are-pirates-171104/">according to the MPAA</a>. The software has a seriously impressive range of features but one, if not configured properly, raises security issues for Kodi users.</p>
<p>For many years, Kodi has had a remote control feature, whereby the software can be remotely managed via a web interface.</p>
<p>This means that you&#8217;re able to control your Kodi setup installed on a computer or set-top box using a convenient browser-based interface on another device, from the same room or indeed anywhere in the world. Earlier versions of the web interface look like the one in the image below.</p>
<p><center><b>The old Kodi web-interface &#8211; functional but basic</b><a href="media/c3ce234b.old-interface-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/old-interface-1.png"><img src="media/88d05025.old-interface-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/old-interface-1.png" alt="" width="1000" height="589" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147206" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/old-interface-1.png 1000w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/old-interface-1-220x130.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px"></a></center></p>
<p>But while this is a great feature, people don&#8217;t always password-protect the web-interface, meaning that outsiders can access their Kodi setups, if they have that person&#8217;s IP address and a web-browser. In fact, the image shown above is from a UK Kodi user&#8217;s setup that was found in seconds using a specialist search engine.</p>
<p>While the old web-interface for Kodi was basically a remote control, things got more interesting in late 2016 when the much more functional Chorus2 interface was included in Kodi by default. It&#8217;s shown in the image below.</p>
<p><center><b>Chorus 2 Kodi Web-Interface</b><a href="media/e90453b2.Main-Login-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Main-Login-1.png"><img src="media/a1a33835.Main-Login-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Main-Login-1.png" alt="" width="1000" height="603" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147207"></a></center></p>
<p>Again, the screenshot above was taken from the setup of a Kodi user whose setup was directly open to the Internet. In every way the web-interface of Kodi acts as a web page, allowing anyone with the user&#8217;s IP address (with :8080 appended to the end) to access the user&#8217;s setup. It&#8217;s no different than accessing Google with an IP address (<a href="http://216.58.216.142">216.58.216.142</a>), instead of Google.com.</p>
<p>However, Chorus 2 is much more comprehensive that its predecessors which means that it&#8217;s possible for outsiders to browse potentially sensitive items, including their addons if a password hasn&#8217;t been enabled in the appropriate section in Kodi.</p>
<p><center><b>Kodi users probably don&#8217;t want this seen in public</b><a href="media/e0ae4a01.Addons-List-3a.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Addons-List-3a.png"><img src="media/233c3bfd.Addons-List-3a.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Addons-List-3a.png" alt="" width="1000" height="603" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147208"></a></center></p>
<p>While browsing someone&#8217;s addons isn&#8217;t the most engaging thing in the world, things get decidedly spicier when one learns that the Chorus 2 interface allows both authorized and unauthorized users to go much further.</p>
<p>For example, it&#8217;s possible to change Kodi&#8217;s system settings from the interface, including mischievous things such as disabling keyboards and mice. As seen (or not seen) in the redacted section in the image below, it can also give away system usernames, for example.</p>
<p><center><b>Access to Kodi settings &#8211; and more</b><a href="media/62c78b26.Settings-3.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Settings-3.png"><img src="media/da9e51ea.Settings-3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Settings-3.png" alt="" width="1000" height="560" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147209"></a></center></p>
<p>But aside from screwing with people&#8217;s settings (which is both pointless and malicious), the Chorus 2 interface has a trick up its sleeve. If people&#8217;s Kodi setups contain video or music files (which is what Kodi was originally designed for), in many cases it&#8217;s possible to play these over the web interface.</p>
<p>In basic terms, someone with your IP address can view the contents of your video library on the other side of the world, with just a couple of clicks.</p>
<p>The image below shows that a Kodi setup has been granted access to some kind of storage (network or local disk, for example) and it can be browsed, revealing movies. <em>(To protect the user, redactions have been made to remove home video titles, network, and drive names)</em></p>
<p><center><b>Network storage accessed via Chorus 2</b><a href="media/2b5ed762.Network-Storage-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Network-Storage-1.png"><img src="media/e2d3065b.Network-Storage-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Network-Storage-1.png" alt="" width="1179" height="503" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147210"></a></center></p>
<p>The big question is, however, whether someone accessing a Kodi setup remotely can view these videos via a web browser. Answer: Absolutely. </p>
<p>Clicking through on each piece of media reveals a button to the right of its title. Clicking that reveals two options &#8211; &#8216;Queue in Kodi&#8217; (to play on the installation itself) or &#8216;Download&#8217;, which plays/stores the content via a remote browser located anywhere in the world. Chrome works like a charm.</p>
<p><center><b>Queue to Kodi or watch remotely in a browser</b><a href="media/0406fd5d.Network-Storage-Remote-View.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Network-Storage-Remote-View.png"><img src="media/ca2ddc7a.Network-Storage-Remote-View.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Network-Storage-Remote-View.png" alt="" width="1000" height="208" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147212"></a></center></p>
<p>While this is &#8216;fun&#8217; and potentially useful for outsiders looking for content, it&#8217;s not great if it&#8217;s your system that&#8217;s open to the world. The good news is that something can be done about it.</p>
<p>In their <a href="https://kodi.tv/article/new-webinterface-called-chorus2">description for Chorus 2</a>, the Kodi team explain all of its benefits of the interface but it appears many people don&#8217;t take their advice to introduce a new password. The default password and username are both &#8216;kodi&#8217; which is terrible for security if people leave things the way they are.</p>
<p>If you run Kodi, now is probably the time to fix the settings, disable the web interface if you don&#8217;t use it, or enable stronger password protection if you do.</p>
<p><center><b>Change that password &#8211; now</b><a href="media/261ae31a.password.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/password.png"><img src="media/1154dfc4.password.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/password.png" alt="" width="1000" height="575" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-147221"></a></center></p>
<p>Just recently, Kodi addon repository TVAddons <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/appletv2-jailbreak-threat/">issued a warning</a> to people using jailbroken Apple TV 2 devices. That too was a default password issue and one that can be solved relatively easily.</p>
<p>&#8220;People need to realize that their Kodi boxes are actually mini computers and need to be treated as such,&#8221; a TVAddons spokesperson told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;When you install a build, or follow a guide from an unreputable source, you&#8217;re opening yourself up to potential risk. Since Kodi boxes aren&#8217;t normally used to handle sensitive data, people seem to disregard the potential risks that are posed to their network.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149389
title: Popular Danish Torrent Tracker Shuts Down After Hack
uri: Popular-Danish-Torrent-Tracker-Shuts-Down-After-Hack
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hY98b6zTAhU/
content:
<p><img src="media/770e5c70.houndd-e1514838579187.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/houndd-e1514838579187.png" alt="" width="250" height="141" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149393">Torrent sites come in all shapes and sizes, but generally speaking there&#8217;s a clear divide netween private and public sites.</p>
<p>The latter includes the likes of The Pirate Bay and are open to anyone, while private trackers require an account to gain access. </p>
<p>Because many of these close communities also enforce ratio requirements and other rules, they can log <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/private-torrent-sites-run-their-own-mini-prism-to-share-data-on-users-130908/">quite a bit of data</a>. This generally isn&#8217;t the type of information users would like to see out on the streets, but such leaks are <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hackers-leak-38000-passwords-from-large-private-bittorrent-tracker-120919/">no rarity</a>.</p>
<p>In recent days the Danish torrent tracker Hounddawgs.org also ran into some issues. Out of the blue, the site&#8217;s 40,000 users received a message signed by &#8216;Anonymous&#8217; stating that it had been hacked.  </p>
<p><center><strong>Hacked?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/e89e552e.houhacked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/houhacked.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="319" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149419"></center></p>
<p>The hacker also noted that everyone had been promoted to &#8220;staff&#8221; but soon after the site went dark. It eventually returned with a message from the operator, accusing another private torrent site of &#8216;messing around.&#8217; </p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re sorry, but due to server maintenance, we&#8217;ll be offline for a little while. Some kiddies from another Danish torrent site don&#8217;t like to share users so they found a way to mess a little with the site,&#8221; the notice read. </p>
<p>&#8220;No harm has been done, and we will be back up as soon as we have found the error and corrected it.&#8221;</p>
<p>The message seemed reassuring, but at the same time, a partially redacted file with usernames, emails, and IP-addresses started to circulate. </p>
<p>As a result, the rumor mill went into full swing, and people reported that other accounts where they used the same information, were being compromised. The Hounddawgs operators maintained, however, that allegations of a full database breach were false. </p>
<p>The site&#8217;s staff posted a new message refuting the hacking claims. At the same time, they also announced that the site would remain offline indefinitely.</p>
<p>Hounddawgs&#8217; operators say they started the site as a counter-movement to the &#8220;tyranny&#8221; of other Danish trackers. However, these other trackers allegedly didn&#8217;t like the newcomer and fought back, up to a point where Hounddawgs decided to throw in the towel.</p>
<p><center><strong>Hounddawgs&#8217;message (<a href="https://www.flashback.org/sp62753026">translated</a>)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/e3cbe5b9.houndmess.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/houndmess.jpg" alt="" width="598" height="559" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149405"></center></p>
<p>Private tracker feats are by no means new. They&#8217;re as old as private trackers. And while there are plenty opinions, since most of it takes place behind closed doors, the truth is often hard to find. </p>
<p>After the site&#8217;s operators said their goodbyes, pointing users to the new infinity-t.org tracker, the alleged hacker responded once more. This time posting over 20 gigabytes of data, said to be the full database and the site&#8217;s code.</p>
<p>&#8220;But how is that possible? The superheroes of the world, the people behind Hounddawgs, clearly stated on their frontpage that no database was leaked, so how could I possibly have it?&#8221; the hacker <a href="https://pastebin.com/63ec1gTq">posted</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;They are lying! Like they have done for years, they don&#8217;t care one bit for their users,&#8221; the message adds, noting that the server was minimally secured.</p>
<p>The leaked files do indeed include site code and a database, which several people claim to be legitimate. The operators of Hounddawgs also changed their earlier tune. In a message posted on the site yesterday. They now apologize for not dealing with the security issues.</p>
<p>&#8220;It has NEVER been our intention to hurt any of you, and we were very happy with all the good users we had. We chose to close the site as a precaution, but unfortunately too late,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>The site was running on the Gazelle script which logs quite a bit of data by default, including users&#8217; IP-addresses. With this info out in the open, many users fear that anti-piracy groups may use the logs to identify individual pirates.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s unlikely that copyright holders will pursue casual sharers based on leaked files, it&#8217;s never a pleasant thought to have one&#8217;s IP-addresses and other information leaked. </p>
<p>Although the local anti-piracy group, RettighedsAlliancen, might not spring into action right away, it won&#8217;t mind seeing the second largest tracker in Denmark go offline.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149424
title: Blockchain Startup White Rabbit Calls on Pirate Sites to Do Business, Legally
uri: Blockchain-Startup-White-Rabbit-Calls-on-Pirate-Sites-to-Do-Business
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/w6TJ0Zwmk58/
content:
<p><a href="media/43c1a69a.whiterabbitlogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/whiterabbitlogo.jpg"><img src="media/b98bc6f5.whiterabbitlogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/whiterabbitlogo.jpg" alt="" width="237" height="142" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149439"></a>For as long as piracy has been mainstream, people have tried to find ways to monetize the system. While many have had good intentions, only models focusing on the negative (copyright trolling, for example) have enjoyed any level of success.</p>
<p>Blockchain startup White Rabbit is hoping to buck that trend but it&#8217;s not going to be easy. Then again, nothing worthwhile is, so what do they have to offer?</p>
<p>White Rabbit begins with the assumption that while they love their pirate sites, a many as 60% of pirates would happily reward creators if it was made easy enough. The startup deals with this by inviting pirates to carry on using the kinds of unauthorized sites and services they&#8217;re using already, but with a twist.</p>
<p>By installing the White Rabbit browser plug-in, the company will be able to see what content the user is accessing. It will then attempt to match that download to deals it&#8217;s made with the companies behind those movies or TV shows. They&#8217;ll then get paid a set amount.</p>
<p>&#8220;White Rabbit is a content ecosystem accessed through a plugin that recognizes the film and series you stream. The streaming sites are P2P or open server, meaning users can choose where they want to stream,&#8221; White Rabbit CEO Alan R. Milligan informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;We already have a library of films that have won and been nominated for Oscars, Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festival best film prizes &#8211; but will continue adding more films and series as we near launch.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s envisioned that this mechanism will prove popular with reluctant pirates since instead of paying Netflix, Amazon, and dozens of other services, users can pay for content through one channel. And, since White Rabbit uses blockchain technology, rights holders can be ensured complete financial transparency, with user payments going straight to them without delay, cutting out the middleman.</p>
<p>&#8220;Users are anonymous but can offer filmmakers, artists or other content right holders (investors, distributors, sales agents) our tokens (WRT) as good faith that they are willing to pay for the content. Should the rights holders accept, we enter into a contract with the rights holder that allows them to receive revenue &#8211; and accept P2P streaming. We find, and research shows, that most people that are forced to piracy [do so] because they are just not able to access content,&#8221; Milligan adds.</p>
<p>White Rabbit&#8217;s CEO, who is a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2850448/">filmmaker himself</a>, also sees opportunities to bring fans and filmmakers closer together. Once users have paid for content, they continue to get access via something called the Rabbit Hole, an interface which provides extras that are normally found on a DVD, such as deleted scenes etc.</p>
<p>The team behind White Rabbit describe themselves as &#8220;<a href="https://medium.com/@JumpIn/white-rabbit-a-responsible-rebel-is-going-to-change-digital-streaming-54ab4638bb76">responsible rebels</a>&#8221; hoping to spark a revolution. While that&#8217;s clearly the goal, by any measure there is a mountain to climb, not least on the content front.</p>
<p>When TorrentFreak first started speaking with the startup in October last year, we were told they were &#8220;closing in on 500 films&#8221; with contracts, although they wouldn&#8217;t elaborate on who might be on board. Nevertheless, that is quite a lot of movies, especially given the mainstream studios&#8217; hatred of pirate sites and anything they might be involved in.</p>
<p>However, subsequent discussion suggests that those with more niche tastes might be White Rabbit&#8217;s initial target audience.</p>
<p>&#8220;I believe timing is of big relevance and right now a lot of producers are scared of where they´re going to go now that Netflix is enforcing its 50/50 policy. There are also so many amazing films out there that get no or little digital distribution at all,&#8221; Milligan says.</p>
<p>&#8220;As a Norwegian film producer there is little chance of the film being streamed in my home country &#8211; even if we won awards in Cannes and Venice. My latest film Valley of Shadows got US digital distribution, but in Norway &#8211; nada.</p>
<p>&#8220;My colleagues around the world are suffering the same way, not to mention all the fans who cant watch local films and series. So the indie part of the industry &#8211; which is most of us (and still representing 20-30% of cinema sales) &#8211; are very ready for change.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><a href="media/5c65011e.whiterabbit.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/whiterabbit.png"><img src="media/aadd0557.whiterabbit.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/whiterabbit.png" alt="" width="1200" height="691" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-149437"></a></center></p>
<p>But while indie producers could benefit nicely from White Rabbit, Milligan highlights problems that the big studios have, and suggests that they might like to see the startup succeed too.</p>
<p>&#8220;The studios will likely want to see our business model work &#8211; but they also have a problem with Netflix which has become a studio. So they´re competitors now, but Netflix has a 100M subscriber advantage. Will they all break out and create each their streaming site for their content only? That would be terrible for fans,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>That would indeed be a huge problem and it&#8217;s an issue we&#8217;ve raised here on TF on <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-users-need-27-services-to-get-most-popular-films-report-finds-141208/">several occasions</a>. However, if White Rabbit is to succeed, it needs to overcome significant hurdles. We raised just a handful of these with its CEO. First up, Partner Streaming Sites (PSS).</p>
<p>PSS sites appear to be pirate sites that will partner with White Rabbit, so the latter can tap into the formers&#8217; userbases. When White Rabbit users stream &#8216;pirate&#8217; content from a PSS, that content will be monetized, with the creator getting paid quickly and transparently. At that point, it seems, the content will become non-infringing.</p>
<p>But while that sounds intriguing in theory, plenty of questions remain. White Rabbit <a href="https://medium.com/@JumpIn/christmas-isnt-over-yet-white-rabbit-is-excited-to-announce-our-partner-streaming-sites-program-90c97fd1f89a">says</a> it will share &#8220;up to $1M&#8221; from its token sale &#8220;with the most innovative, brand conscious, film and series loving streaming sites either already out there, planned or about to launch.&#8221;</p>
<p>The start-up says the best projects could get $100,000 each but, since its goal is to convert pirates, that necessarily means doing business with pirate sites.</p>
<p>So we asked; how will it be possible to do business with people that are regularly described as criminals? How will it then become possible to secure deals with filmmakers that will undoubtedly come under huge pressure from industry players not to participate in the White Rabbit scheme?</p>
<p>&#8220;What we are trying to do is to change digital distribution to everyone´s benefit. We have no interest in financing illegal content, we are interested in spurring innovation in streaming, access for fans and due payment for the rights holders,&#8221; Milligan explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;That´s what PSS can help us achieve using the WRT (White Rabbit Token) &#8211; that helps us find out who wants to be part of this model. No revenue exchanges hands until rights holders accept the token. What is important for rights holders is that we generate more revenue for them than current business models, and we haven´t even included the Rabbit Hole revenue yet.&#8221;</p>
<p>So what happens if a White Rabbit user tries to stream something that isn&#8217;t part of the program? According to Milligan, PSS sites must remove the content and let White Rabbit users know they must get the content legally elsewhere.</p>
<p>Clearly, the vast majority of pirate site users aren&#8217;t White Rabbit users now, nor will they be so in the future, so the removal of content is massively counter-productive for pirate sites. Indeed, it&#8217;s this reluctance to take down infringing content that causes them most of their problems.</p>
<p>So, hypothetically, what happens when the operators of streaming site X (that previously partnered with White Rabbit) get arrested and their site shut down for distributing Hollywood content that isn&#8217;t part of the program? </p>
<p>&#8220;PSS´s would never distribute illegal content, we are offering an opportunity to monetize. We are allowing a platform to those that see monetized P2P as beneficial to their income stream,&#8221; Milligan says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hollywood is tricky though, I admit. The proof is in the pudding, so if we have to prove the value through indie and arthouse films first that´s OK. That is still 30% of the multi-billion dollar film market, so we are OK to start with that.&#8221;</p>
<p>The final issue is the price and where revenue goes. White Rabbit envisions a user paying $2 for film and $1 for a TV show, although producers are free to set their own price. That means 11 TV shows or five movies per month, given the Netflix model/budget of roughly $11.00 for the same period.</p>
<p>Revenue generated would then be split, with 75% going to the rightsholders, 15% to White Rabbit, and 10% to PSS sites. There&#8217;s also a provision for non-PSS sites to be a part of the program, but they would only get 5%, with the remaining 5% going to White Rabbit.</p>
<p>With an incredibly ambitious project like this, it&#8217;s easy to find reasons why it might not succeed or even fail to get off the ground. But the team behind the operation have lots of experience in relevant fields and from what we&#8217;ve seen are putting considerable effort into getting things moving, as their white paper (<a href="media/7127e19d.White_Rabbit-White_Paper_v1.0.pdf" data-original-source="https://whiterabbit.one/docs/White_Rabbit-White_Paper_v1.0.pdf">pdf</a>) explains.</p>
<p>Currently, White Rabbit is <a href="https://medium.com/@JumpIn/christmas-isnt-over-yet-white-rabbit-is-excited-to-announce-our-partner-streaming-sites-program-90c97fd1f89a">seeking conversation</a> with prospective Partner Streaming Sites, who will provide the content on which White Rabbit will survive. It will certainly be interesting to see which sites put themselves forward for consideration.</p>
<p>This is one of those projects that raises a dizzying volume of questions, with each living up to their billing as part of the Rabbit Hole. The big question is whether the Rabbit Hole will <a href="https://whiterabbit.one/">eventually lead to Wonderland</a> or will render everyone who ventures inside feeling surreal and disorientated.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VfaMgMciVg0" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149124
title: Google Blocks Pirated Search Results Prophylactically
uri: Google-Blocks-Pirated-Search-Results-Prophylactically
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Pv19Uv2i-bE/
content:
<p><img src="media/2ca46867.google-water.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-water.png" alt="" width="250" height="153" class="alignright size-full wp-image-89037">On an average day, Google processes more than three million takedown notices from copyright holders, and that’s for its search engine alone.</p>
<p>Under the current DMCA legislation, US-based Internet service providers are expected to remove infringing links, if a copyright holder complains. </p>
<p>This process shields these services from direct liability. In recent years there has been a lot of discussion about the effectiveness of the system, but Google has always maintained that it works well. </p>
<p>This was also highlighted by Google&#8217;s copyright counsel Caleb Donaldson, in an article he wrote for the American Bar Association&#8217;s publication <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law/publications/landslide/2017-18/november-december.html">Landslide</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The DMCA provided Google and other online service providers the legal certainty they needed to grow,&#8221; Donaldson writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;And the DMCA’s takedown notices help us fight piracy in other ways as well. Indeed, the Web Search notice-and-takedown process provides the cornerstone of Google’s fight against piracy.&#8221; </p>
<p>The search engine does indeed go beyond &#8216;just&#8217; removing links. The takedown notices are also used as a signal to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">demote domains</a>. Websites for which it receives a lot of takedown notices will be placed lower in search results, for example.</p>
<p>These measures can be expanded and complemented by artificial intelligence in the future, Google&#8217;s copyright counsel envisions.</p>
<p>&#8220;As we move into a world where artificial intelligence can learn from vast troves of data like these, we will only get better at using the information to better fight against piracy,&#8221; Donaldson writes.</p>
<p>Artificial intelligence (AI) is a buzz-term that has a pretty broad meaning nowadays. Donaldson doesn&#8217;t go into detail on how AI can fight piracy. It could help to spot erroneous notices, on the one hand, but can also be applied to filter content proactively. </p>
<p>The latter is something Google is slowly opening up to. </p>
<p>Over the past year, we&#8217;ve noticed on a few occasions that Google is processing takedown notices for non-indexed links. While we assumed that this was an &#8216;error&#8217; on the sender&#8217;s part, it appears to be a new policy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google has critically expanded notice and takedown in another important way: We accept notices for URLs that are not even in our index in the first place. That way, we can collect information even about pages and domains we have not yet crawled,&#8221; Donaldson writes.</p>
<p>In other words, Google blocks URLs before they appear in the search results, as some sort of piracy vaccine.</p>
<p>&#8220;We process these URLs as we do the others. Once one of these not-in-index URLs is approved for takedown, we prophylactically block it from appearing in our Search results, and we take all the additional deterrent measures listed above.&#8221; </p>
<p>Some submitters are heavily relying on the new feature, Google found. In some cases, the majority of the submitted URLs in a notice are not indexed yet. </p>
<p>The search engine will keep a close eye on these developments. At TorrentFreak, we also found that copyright holders sometimes target links that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/fail-anti-piracy-outfits-send-takedown-request-for-non-existent-torrents-160821/">don&#8217;t even exist</a>. Whether Google will also accept these takedown requests in the future, is unknown. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear that artificial intelligence and proactive filtering are becoming more and more common, but Google says that the company will also keep an eye on possible abuse of the system.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google will push back if we suspect a notice is mistaken, fraudulent, or abusive, or if we think fair use or another defense excuses that particular use of copyrighted content,&#8221; Donaldson notes.</p>
<p>Artificial intelligence and prophylactic blocking surely add a new dimension to the standard DMCA takedown procedure, but whether it will be enough to convince copyright holders that it works, has yet to be seen. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149500
title: Dish Network Files Two Lawsuits Against Pirate IPTV Providers
uri: Dish-Network-Files-Two-Lawsuits-Against-Pirate-IPTV-Providers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FP2_E6JKCLQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034"></a>In broad terms, there are two types of unauthorized online streaming of live TV. The first is via open-access websites where users can view for free. The second features premium services to which viewers are required to subscribe.</p>
<p>Usually available for a few dollars, euros, or pounds per month, the latter are gaining traction all around the world. Service levels are relatively high and the majority of illicit packages offer a dazzling array of programming, often putting official providers in the shade.</p>
<p>For this reason, commercial IPTV providers are considered a huge threat to broadcasters&#8217; business models, since they offer a broadly comparable and accessible service at a much cheaper price. This is forcing companies such as US giant Dish Networks to court, seeking relief.</p>
<p>Following on from a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dish-network-sues-zemtv-and-tv-addons-for-copyright-infringement-170605/">lawsuit</a> filed last year against Kodi add-on ZemTV and TVAddons.ag, Dish has just filed two more lawsuits targeting a pair of unauthorized pirate IPTV services.</p>
<p>Filed in Maryland and Texas respectively, the actions are broadly similar, with the former targeting a provider known as Spider-TV.</p>
<p>The suit, filed against Dima Furniture Inc. and Mohammad Yusif (individually and collectively doing business as Spider-TV), claims that the defendants are &#8220;capturing<br>
broadcasts of television channels exclusively licensed to DISH and are unlawfully retransmitting these channels over the Internet to their customers throughout the United States, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.&#8221;</p>
<p>Dish claim that the defendants profit from the scheme by selling set-top boxes along with subscriptions, charging around $199 per device loaded with 13 months of service.</p>
<p>Dima Furniture is a Maryland corporation, registered at Takoma Park, Maryland 20912, an address that is listed on the <a href="http://spider-tv.com/index.php?route=information/information&#038;information_id=7">Spider-TV website</a>. The connection between the defendants is further supported by <a href="https://fccid.io/2AEUI-M8">FCC references</a> which identify Spider devices in the market. Mohammad Yusif is claimed to be the president, executive director, general manager, and sole shareholder of Dima Furniture.</p>
<p>Dish describes itself as the fourth largest pay-television provider in the United States, delivering copyrighted programming to millions of subscribers nationwide by means of satellite delivery and over-the-top services. Dish has acquired the rights to do this, the defendants have not, the broadcaster states.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants capture live broadcast signals of the Protected Channels, transcode these signals into a format useful for streaming over the Internet, transfer the transcoded content to one or more servers provided, controlled, and maintained by Defendants, and then transmit the Protected Channels to users of the Service through<br>
OTT delivery, including users in the United States,&#8221; the lawsuit reads.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s claimed that in July 2015, Yusif registered Spider-TV as a trade name of Dima Furniture with the Department of Assessments and Taxation Charter Division, describing the business as &#8220;Television Channel Installation&#8221;. Since then, the defendants have been illegally retransmitting Dish channels to customers in the United States.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://spider-tv.com/index.php?route=product/product&#038;path=18_46&#038;product_id=57">overall offer</a> from Spider-TV appears to be considerable, with a claimed 1,300 channels from major regions including the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Middle East, and Africa.</p>
<p>Importantly, Dish state that the defendants know that their activities are illegal, since the provider sent at least 32 infringement notices since January 20, 2017 demanding an end to the unauthorized retransmission of its channels. It went on to send even more to the defendants&#8217; ISPs.</p>
<p>&#8220;DISH and Networks sent at least thirty-three additional notices requesting the<br>
removal of infringing content to Internet service providers associated with the Service from February 16, 2017 to the filing of this Complaint. Upon information and belief, at least some of these notices were forwarded to Defendants,&#8221; the lawsuit reads.</p>
<p>But while Dish says that the takedowns responded to by the ISPs were initially successful, the defendants took evasive action by transmitting the targeted channels from other locations.</p>
<p>Describing the defendants&#8217; actions as &#8220;willful, malicious, intentional [and] purposeful&#8221;, Dish is suing for Direct Copyright Infringement, demanding a permanent injunction preventing the promotion and provision of the service plus statutory damages of $150,000 per registered work. The final amount isn&#8217;t specified but the numbers are potentially enormous. In addition, Dish demands attorneys&#8217; fees, costs, and the seizure of all infringing articles.</p>
<p>The second lawsuit, filed in Texas, is broadly similar. It targets Mo’ Ayad Al<br>
Zayed Trading Est., and Mo’ Ayad Fawzi Al Zayed (individually and collectively doing business as Tiger International Company), and Shenzhen Tiger Star Electronical Co., Ltd, otherwise known as <a href="http://tigerbox.org/">Shenzhen Tiger Star</a>.</p>
<p>Dish claims that these defendants also illegally capture and retransmit channels to customers in the United States. IPTV boxes costing up to $179 including one year&#8217;s service are the method of delivery.</p>
<p>In common with the Maryland case, Dish says it sent almost two dozen takedown notices to ISPs utilized by the defendants. These were also countered by the unauthorized service retransmitting Dish channels from other servers.</p>
<p>The biggest difference between the Maryland and Texas cases is that while Yusif/Spider/Dima Furniture are said to be in the US, Zayed is said to reside in Amman, Jordan, and Tiger Star is registered in Shenzhen, China. However, since the unauthorized service is targeted at customers in Texas, Dish states that the Texas court has jurisdiction.</p>
<p>Again, Dish is suing for Direct Infringement, demanding damages, costs, and a permanent injunction.</p>
<p>The complaints can be found <a href="media/9c06319d.9854c320-5d4e-4696-b2ce-2cea9531ca01.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/9854c320-5d4e-4696-b2ce-2cea9531ca01.pdf">here</a> and <a href="media/3acbce21.ac26b91c-107d-4184-8904-f7b43318f643.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ac26b91c-107d-4184-8904-f7b43318f643.pdf">here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149536
title: Modding Legends Team-Xecuter Announce “Future-Proof” Nintendo Switch Hack
uri: Modding-Legends-Team-Xecuter-Announce-Future-Proof-Nintendo-Swit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/E7Sqfgm1SbE/
content:
<p><a href="media/64d4fc91.nintendo-switch.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/nintendo-switch.jpg"><img src="media/d2543050.nintendo-switch.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nintendo-switch.jpg" alt="" width="231" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149537"></a>Since the advent of the first truly mass-market videogames consoles, people have dreamed about removing the protection mechanisms that prevent users from tinkering with their machines.</p>
<p>These modifications &#8211; which are software, hardware, or combination of the two &#8211; facilitate the running of third-party or &#8220;homebrew&#8221; code. On this front, a notable mention must go to XBMC (now known as Kodi) which ran on the original Xbox after its copy protection mechanisms had been removed.</p>
<p>However, these same modifications regularly open the door to mass-market piracy too, with mod-chips (hardware devices) or soft-mods (software solutions) opening up machines so that consumers can run games obtained from the Internet or elsewhere. </p>
<p>For the Nintendo Switch, that prospect edged closer at the end of December when Wololo <a href="http://wololo.net/2017/12/29/nintendo-switch-kernel-exploit-34c3-presentation-nvidia-backdoored/">reported</a> that hackers Plutoo, Derrek, and Naehrwert had given a long presentation (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec4NgWRE8ik">video</a>) at the 34C3 hacking conference in Germany, revealing their kernel hack for the Nintendo Switch.</p>
<p>While this in itself is an exciting development, fresh news from a veteran hacking group suggests that Nintendo could be in big trouble on the piracy front in the not-too-distant future.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the light of a recent presentation at the Chaos Communication Congress in Germany we&#8217;ve decided to come out of the woodwork and tease you all a bit with our latest upcoming product,&#8221; the legendary Team-Xecutor just announced.</p>
<p>While the hack announced in December requires Switch firmware 3.0 (and a copy of Pokken Tournament DX), Team-Xecutor say that their product will be universal, something which tends to suggest a fundamental flaw in the Switch system.</p>
<p>&#8220;This solution will work on ANY Nintendo Switch console regardless of the currently installed firmware, and will be completely future proof,&#8221; the team explain.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/c0b28cce.SwitchTX.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/SwitchTX.jpg"><img src="media/fcc661b8.SwitchTX.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/SwitchTX.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="337" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-149539"></a></center></p>
<p>Xecutor <a href="http://team-xecuter.com/team-xecuter-coming-to-your-nintendo-switch-console/">say</a> that their solution opens up the possibility of custom firmware (CFW) on Nintendo&#8217;s console. In layman&#8217;s terms, this means that those with the technical ability will be able to dictate, at least to a point, how the console functions. </p>
<p>&#8220;We want to move the community forward and provide a persistent, stable and fast method of running your own code and custom firmware patches on Nintendo&#8217;s latest flagship product. And we think we&#8217;ve succeeded!&#8221; the team add.</p>
<p>The console-modding community thrives on rumors, with various parties claiming to have made progress here and there, on this console and that, so it&#8217;s natural for people to greet this kind of announcement with a degree of skepticism. That being said, Team-Xecutor is no regular group.</p>
<p>With a long history of console-based meddling, Team-Xecutor&#8217;s efforts include hardware solutions for the original Playstation and Playstation 2, an array of hacks for the original Xbox (Enigmah and various Xecuter-branded solutions), plus close involvement in prominent Xbox360 mods. Their pedigree is definitely not up for debate.</p>
<p>For now, the team isn&#8217;t releasing any more details on the nature of the hack but they have revealed when the public can expect to get their hands on it.</p>
<p>&#8220;Spring 2018 or there around,&#8221; they conclude.</p>
<p><center><b>Team-Xecutor demo</b><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gzngEqL6vnI" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149210
title: WebTorrent Desktop Hits a Million Downloads
uri: WebTorrent-Desktop-Hits-a-Million-Downloads
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Q6dDJKYqqYs/
content:
<p><img src="media/6aa9b009.webtorrent-desktop.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/webtorrent-desktop.png" alt="" width="267" height="202" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149213" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/webtorrent-desktop.png 267w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/webtorrent-desktop-200x150.png 200w" sizes="(max-width: 267px) 100vw, 267px">Fifteen years ago BitTorrent conquered the masses. It offered a superior way to share large video files, something that was virtually impossible at the time. </p>
<p>With the shift to online video streaming, BitTorrent has lost prominence in recent years. That&#8217;s a shame, since the technology offers many advantages. </p>
<p>This is one of the reasons why Stanford University graduate Feross Aboukhadijeh invented <a href="https://webtorrent.io/">WebTorrent</a>. The technology, which is supported by most modern browsers, allows users to seamlessly stream videos on the web with BitTorrent.</p>
<p>In the few years that it&#8217;s been around, <a href="https://webtorrent.io/faq">several tools and services</a> have been built on WebTorrent, including a dedicated <a href="https://webtorrent.io/desktop/">desktop client</a>. The desktop version basically serves as a torrent client that streams torrents almost instantaneously on Windows, Linux, and Mac.</p>
<p>Add in AirPlay, Chromecast and DLNA support and it brings these videos to any network-connected TV as well. Quite a powerful tool, as many people have discovered in recent months.</p>
<p>This week Feross informed TorrentFreak that WebTorrent Desktop had reached the one million download mark. That&#8217;s a major milestone for a modest project with no full-time developer. But while users seem to be happy, it&#8217;s not perfect yet. </p>
<p>&#8220;WebTorrent Desktop is the best torrent app in existence. Yet, the app suffers from performance issues when too many torrents are added or too many peers show up. It&#8217;s also missing important power user features like bandwidth throttling,&#8221; Feross says.</p>
<p>The same is true for WebTorrent itself, which the desktop version is built on. The software has been on the verge of version 1.0.0 for over two years now but needs some more work to make the final leap. This is why Feross would like to invest more time into the projects, given the right support.</p>
<p>Last month Feross launched a <a href="https://www.patreon.com/feross">Patreon campaign</a> to crowdfund future development of WebTorrent including the desktop version. There are dozens of open issues and a lot of plans and with proper funding, the developer can free up time to work on these.</p>
<p>&#8220;The goal of the campaign is to allow me to spend a few days per week addressing these issues,&#8221; Feross says, adding that all software he works on is completely free and always has been.</p>
<p><center><strong>Feross and cat</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/1741610f.ferosscat-e1514924220164.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ferosscat-e1514924220164.png" alt="" width="600" height="402" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149475"></center></p>
<p>Thus far the fundraising campaign is going well. WebTorrent&#8217;s developer has received support from dozens of people, totaling $1,730 a month through Patreon alone, and he has signed up the privacy oriented browser Brave and video site PopChest as Platinum backers. </p>
<p>Community-driven funding is a great way to support Open Source projects, Feross believes, and he is encouraging others to try it out as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been promoting Patreon heavily within my community as a way for open source software developers to get paid for their work,&#8221; Feross says. </p>
<p>&#8220;The norm in the industry right now is that no one gets paid — it&#8217;s all volunteer work, even though we&#8217;re generating a lot of value for the world! Patreon is a really promising solution for software people like me.&#8221;</p>
<p>People who want to give WebTorrent Desktop a try can download a copy from the <a href="https://webtorrent.io/desktop/">official site</a>. More information on the core WebTorrent technology and its implementations is available there was well. And if you like what you see, Feross still needs a bit of help to reach his <a href="https://www.patreon.com/feross">Patreon goal</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149557
title: Musician’s White Noise YouTube Video Hit With Copyright Complaints
uri: Musician-s-White-Noise-YouTube-Video-Hit-With-Copyright-Complaints
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UsAvecbRUm8/
content:
<p><a href="media/b9f3b5ba.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg"><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196"></a>When people upload original content to YouTube, there should be no problem with getting paid for that content, should it attract enough interest from the public.</p>
<p>Those who upload infringing content get a much less easy ride, with their uploads getting flagged for abuse, potentially putting their accounts at risk.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s what&#8217;s happened to Australia-based <a href="http://little-scale.com/">music technologist Sebastian Tomczak</a>, who uploaded a completely non-infringing work to YouTube and now faces five separate copyright complaints.</p>
<p>&#8220;I teach and work in a music department at a University here in Australia. I&#8217;ve got a <a href="https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/handle/2440/70888">PhD in chiptune</a>, and my main research interests are various intersections of music / sound / tech e.g. arduino programming and DIY stuff, modular synthesis, digital production, sound design for games, etc,&#8221; Tomczak informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;I started blogging about music around a decade ago or so, mainly to write about <a href="http://little-scale.blogspot.com.au/">stuff I was interested in</a>, researching or doing. At the time this would have been physical interaction, music controller design, sound design and composition involving computers.&#8221;</p>
<p>One of Tomczak videos was a masterpiece entitled &#8220;10 Hours of Low Level White Noise&#8221; which features &#8211; wait for it &#8211; ten hours of low-level white noise.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VcQZAzDVTlA" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>&#8220;The white noise video was part of a number of videos I put online at the time. I was interested in listening to continuous sounds of various types, and how our perception of these kinds of sounds and our attention changes over longer periods &#8211; e.g. distracted, focused, sleeping, waking, working etc,&#8221; Tomczak says.</p>
<p>White noise is the sound created when all different frequencies are combined together into a kind of audio mush that&#8217;s a little baffling and yet soothing in the right circumstances. Some people use it to fall asleep a little easier, others to distract their attention away from irritating sounds in the environment, like an aircon system or fan, for example.</p>
<p>The white noise made by Tomczak and presented in his video was all his own work.</p>
<p>&#8220;I &#8216;created&#8217; and uploaded the video in question. The video was created by generating a noise waveform of 10 hours length using the freeware software Audacity and the built-in noise generator. The resulting 10-hour audio file was then imported into ScreenFlow, where the text was added and then rendered as one 10-hour video file,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>This morning, however, Tomczak received a complaint from YouTube after a copyright holder claimed that it had the rights to his composition. When he checked his YouTube account, yet more complaints greeted him. In fact, since July 2015, when the video was first uploaded, a total of five copyright complaints had been filed against Tomczak&#8217;s composition.</p>
<p>As seen from the image below, posted by Tomczak to his <a href="https://twitter.com/littlescale">Twitter account</a>, the five complaints came from four copyright holders, with one feeling the need to file two separate complaints while citing two different works.</p>
<p><center><b>The complaints against Tomczak&#8217;s white noise</b><a href="media/791aeede.DSuj8LKVoAAhdP1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/DSuj8LKVoAAhdP1.jpg"><img src="media/bf4bb38d.DSuj8LKVoAAhdP1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/DSuj8LKVoAAhdP1.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1121" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-149560"></a></center></p>
<p>One company involved &#8211; <a href="http://www.catapultdistribution.com/">Catapult Distribution</a> &#8211; say that Tomczak&#8217;s composition infringes on the copyrights of &#8220;White Noise Sleep Therapy&#8221;, a client selling the title &#8220;Majestic Ocean Waves&#8221;. It also manages to do the same for the company&#8217;s &#8220;Soothing Baby Sleep&#8221; title. The other complaints come from Merlin Symphonic Distribution and <a href="http://digdis.de/en/homepage/">Dig Dis</a> for similar works .</p>
<p>Under normal circumstances, Tomczak&#8217;s account would have been disabled by YouTube for so many infringements but in all cases the copyright holders chose to monetize the musician&#8217;s &#8216;infringement&#8217; instead. In other words, after creating the video himself with his own efforts, copyright holders are now taking all the revenue. It&#8217;s a situation that Tomczak will now dispute with YouTube.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had quite a few copyright claims against me, usually based on cases where I&#8217;ve made long mixes of work, or longer pieces. Usually I don&#8217;t take them too seriously,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;In any of the cases where I think a given claim would be an issue, I would dispute it by saying I could either prove that I have made the work, have the original materials that generated the work, or could show enough of the components included in the work to prove originality. This has always been successful for me and I hope it will be in this case as well.&#8221;</p>
<p>Sadly, this isn&#8217;t the only problem Tomczak&#8217;s had with YouTube&#8217;s copyright complaints system. A while back the musician was asked to take part in a video for his workplace but things didn&#8217;t go well.</p>
<p>&#8220;I was asked to participate in a video for my workplace and the production team asked if they could use my music and I said &#8216;no problem&#8217;. A month later, the video was uploaded to one of our work channels, and then YouTube generated a copyright claim against me for my own music from the work channel,&#8221; he reveals.</p>
<p>Tomczak says that to him, automated copyright claims are largely an annoyance and if he was making enough money from YouTube, the system would be detrimental in the long run. He feels it&#8217;s something that YouTube should adjust, to ensure that false claims aren&#8217;t filed against uploads like his.</p>
<p>While he tries to sort out this mess with YouTube, there is some good news. Other videos of his including &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9QLS0Nfm3g">10 Hours of a Perfect Fifth</a>&#8220;, &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFNhepKmcXQ">The First 106 Fifths Derived from a 3/2 Ratio</a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwO22Tj8iJo">Hour-Long Octave Shift</a>&#8221; all remain copyright-complaint free.</p>
<p>For now&#8230;&#8230; </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=148272
title: Corel Patents System to Monetize Software Piracy
uri: Corel-Patents-System-to-Monetize-Software-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lbvbL1RV7rg/
content:
<p><img src="media/0e172c3c.corelfair.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/corelfair.png" alt="" width="275" height="219" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148283">In recent years we have covered a wide range of newly-assigned patents with a clear anti-piracy angle.</p>
<p>From IBM&#8217;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ibm-patents-printer-that-doesnt-copy-infringing-content-160515/">printer</a> that doesn&#8217;t copy infringing content, through NBC Universal&#8217;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nbc-universal-scores-patent-to-detect-and-target-pirates-160710/">piracy detection system</a>, to Philips&#8217; ambient lighting solution to camcording pirates in theaters.</p>
<p>Today we add another newly-awarded patent from software vendor <a href="http://www.corel.com/">Corel</a> to the list. Known for its signature CorelDRAW and WinZIP software, the company has quite a bit of experience with sketchy pirates. This has cost a lot of money over the years, Corel claims. </p>
<p>&#8220;Software piracy has become a financial burden to the software industry as well. Popular software programs, sold in the tens or hundreds of millions, may have pirated versions numbering in the millions,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>The software company notes that current anti-piracy tools are often easy to break or bypass, which makes them inadequate. In their <a href="media/683ce0e3.corelpatent.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/corelpatent.pdf">patent</a>, titled: &#8220;Software product piracy monetization process,&#8221; they, therefore, take a different approach. </p>
<p>Instead of blocking pirates outright, Corel proposes to engage with these people more directly. By sending a message in the form of a pop-up, for example.</p>
<p>&#8220;The message may include instructions to change the state of a feature property of the software product to alert a user that the software product is not legitimate,&#8221; the patent reads. </p>
<p><center><strong>If pirate, then&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/ff406b3b.corelpirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/corelpirate.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="588" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149466"></center></p>
<p>If someone is running a product with an invalid serial, he or she can be informed by the software. This can be a friendly note, but also one that threatens criminal charges unless the pirate agrees to an amnesty deal.</p>
<p>This creates a win-win situation where the pirate escapes prison and the publisher is paid, so to speak.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The amnesty offer may, for example, agree not to bring criminal charges in exchange for the user purchasing a legitimate copy of the product,&#8221; Corel writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In this manner, the user of the pirated version is given the opportunity to purchase a legitimate copy which, if acted on, increases revenue for the manufacturer.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the patent was recently awarded, the idea to monetize piracy in this way isn&#8217;t new. In fact, Malwarebytes has sent <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/malwarebytes-detects-pirates-asks-them-not-to-steal-software-130608/">messages to pirating users</a> for years, and also offered them <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/malwarebytes-offers-pirates-free-amnesty-keys-150629/">amnesty and a free upgrade</a> in the past. </p>
<p>Whether Corel has any intentions of implementing their own idea is yet unknown.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=144947
title: People Pay Pennies For Netflix, Spotify, HBO, Xbox Live & More
uri: People-Pay-Pennies-For-Netflix-Spotify-HBO-Xbox-Live-More
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/PGozlldLf0Q/
content:
<p><a href="media/096bd33d.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg"><img src="media/468f0769.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-125426"></a>Gaining free access to copyrighted material is not a difficult task in today&#8217;s online world. Movies, TV shows, music, games, and eBooks are all just a few clicks away, either using torrent, streaming, or direct download services.</p>
<p>Over the years, however, the growth of piracy has been at least somewhat slowed due to the advent of official services. Where there was once a content vacuum, official platforms such as Netflix, Spotify, HBO, TIDAL, Steam, and others, are helping users to find the content they want.</p>
<p>While most services present reasonable value, subscribing to them all would be a massive strain on even the most expansive of budgets. But what if there was a way to access every single one of them, for just a few dollars a year &#8211; in total? Believe it or not, such services exist and have done for some time.</p>
<p>Described as &#8216;Account Generators&#8217;, these platforms grant members with access to dozens of premium services, without having to pay anything like the headline price. The main ones often major on access to a Netflix subscription as a base, with access to other services thrown in on top.</p>
<p><center><b>How much a year?</b><a href="media/04405b54.acctgen1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/acctgen1.png"><img src="media/f0900138.acctgen1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/acctgen1.png" alt="" width="1175" height="582" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-149588"></a></center></p>
<p>The screenshot above shows one &#8216;generator&#8217; service as it appeared this week. On the far right is a Netflix offer for $2.99 per year or $4.99 for a lifetime &#8216;private&#8217; account (more on that later). That is of course ridiculously cheap.</p>
<p>On the near left is the &#8216;All Access&#8217; plan, which offers access to Netflix plus another 69 online services for just $6.99 per month or $16.99 per year. The range of services available is impressive, to say the least.</p>
<p>Movies and TV Shows: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO Now, Crunchyroll, DIRECTV/Now, Stream TV Live, CBS All Access, Funimation, Slingbox, Xfinity. </p>
<p>On the sports front: BT Sports, Fubo.tv, F1 Access, MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, NFL Game Pass, UFC Fight Pass, WWE Network.</p>
<p>For music, access is provided to Spotify, Deezer, Napster, Pandora, Saavn, SoundCloud, and TIDAL.</p>
<p><center><b>A small selection of the services available</b><a href="media/ea0640bb.gen3.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/gen3.png"><img src="media/436cef19.gen3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gen3.png" alt="" width="1411" height="750" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-144950"></a></center></p>
<p>How these services gain access to all of these accounts is shrouded in a level of secrecy but there&#8217;s little doubt that while some are obtained legitimately (perhaps through free trials or other account sharing), the roots of others are fairly questionable.</p>
<p>For example, when these services talk about &#8216;shared and &#8216;private&#8217; Netflix accounts, the former often appear set up for someone else, with individual user accounts in other people&#8217;s names and suggestions for what to watch next already in place. In other words, these are live accounts already being paid for by someone, to which these services somehow gain access.</p>
<p>Indeed, there are notices on account generator platforms warning people not to mess with account passwords or payment details, since that could alert the original user or cause an account to get shut down for other reasons.</p>
<p>&#8220;Origin brings you great PC and Mac games. Play the latest RPGs, Shooters, Sim games, and more. These accounts are private (1 per person), however you MUST NOT change passwords,&#8221; one warning reads.</p>
<p>Since Origin has just come up, it&#8217;s probably a suitable juncture to mention the games services on offer. In addition to EA&#8217;s offering, one can gain access to Xbox Live, ESL Gaming, Good Old Games, League of Legends, Minecraft Premium, Steam (game keys) and Uplay.</p>
<p>And it doesn&#8217;t stop there.</p>
<p>Need a BitDefender key? No problem. Access to Creative Market? You got it. Want to do some online learning? Queue up for Chegg, CourseHero, Lynda, Mathway, Udemy, and more. There&#8217;s even free access to NYTimes Premium. As the image below shows, thousands of accounts are added all the time.</p>
<p><center><b>Thousands of accounts, all the time&#8230;</b><a href="media/db413b7e.acctgen2.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/acctgen2.png"><img src="media/d2e63d6b.acctgen2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/acctgen2.png" alt="" width="1407" height="810" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-149591"></a></center></p>
<p>While these generator platforms are undoubtedly popular with people on a budget, almost everything about them feels wrong. Staring into someone&#8217;s private Netflix account, with what appear to be family names, is unsettling. Looking at their private email addresses and credit card details feels flat-out criminal.</p>
<p>Quite how these services are able to prosper isn&#8217;t clear but perhaps the big question is why the platforms whose accounts are being offered haven&#8217;t noticed some kind of pattern by now. Maybe they have, but it&#8217;s probably a pretty difficult task to sweep up the mess without a lot of false positives, not to mention the risks of ensnaring those who pay for their accounts officially.</p>
<p>The video below, from late 2016, gives a decent overview of how an account generator platform works. Even for many hardcore pirates, especially those who demand privacy and respect the same for others, parts of the viewing will be uncomfortable.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MQ8d9TSOXRA" 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="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=147007
title: Torrent Pioneers: isoHunt’s Gary Fung, Ten Years Later
uri: Torrent-Pioneers-isoHunt-s-Gary-Fung-Ten-Years-Later
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gSh3bvYT7Hg/
content:
<p><img src="media/a40dd8e5.garyobama.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/garyobama.jpg" alt="" width="125" height="187" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79745">Ten years ago, November 2007 to be precise, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-future-of-bittorrent-071113/">we published an article</a> featuring the four leading torrent site admins at the time. </p>
<p>Niek van der Maas of Mininova, Justin Bunnell of TorrentSpy, Pirate Bay&#8217;s Peter Sunde and isoHunt&#8217;s Gary Fung were all kind enough to share their vision of BitTorrent&#8217;s future.</p>
<p>This future is the present today, and although the predictions were not all spot-on, there are a few interesting observations to make. </p>
<p>For one, these four men were all known by name, despite the uncertain legal situation they were in. How different is that today, when the operators of most of the world&#8217;s largest torrent sites are unknown to the broader public.</p>
<p>Another thing that stands out is that none of these pioneers are still active in the torrent space today. Niek and Justin have their own advertising businesses, Peter is a serial entrepreneur involved in various startups, while Gary works on his own projects.</p>
<p>While they have all moved on, they also remain a part of Internet history, which is why we decided to reach out to them ten years on. </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/garyfung?lang=en">Gary Fung</a> was the first to reply. Those who&#8217;ve been following torrent news for a while know that isoHunt was shut down in 2013. The shutdown was the result of a lawsuit and came with a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-shuts-down-after-110-million-settlement-with-the-mpaa-131017/">$110 million settlement</a> with the MPAA, on paper.</p>
<p>Today the Canadian entrepreneur has other things on his hands, which includes &#8220;leveling up&#8221; his now one-year-old daughter. While that can be a day job by itself, he is also finalizing a mobile search app which will be released in the near future.</p>
<p>&#8220;The key is speed, and I can measure its speedup of the whole mobile search experience to be 10-100x that of conventional mobile web browsers,&#8221; Gary tells us, noting that after years of development, it&#8217;s almost ready.</p>
<p>The new search app is not one dedicated to torrents, as isoHunt once was. However, looking back, Gary is proud of what he accomplished with isoHunt, despite the bitter end.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was a humbling experience, in more ways than one. I&#8217;m proud that I participated and championed the rise of P2P content distribution through isoHunt as a search gateway,&#8221; Gary tells us. </p>
<p>&#8220;But I was also humbled by the responsibility and power at play, as seen in the lawsuits from the media industry giants, as well as the even larger picture of what P2P technologies were bringing, and still bring today.&#8221; </p>
<p>Decentralization has always been a key feature of BitTorrent and Gary sees this coming back in new trends. This includes the massive attention for blockchain related projects such as Bitcoin.</p>
<p>&#8220;2017 was the year Bitcoin became mainstream in a big way, and it&#8217;s feeling like the Internet before 2000. Decentralization is by nature disruptive, and I can&#8217;t wait to see what decentralizing money, governance, organizations and all kinds of applications will bring in the next few years. </p>
<p>&#8220;dApps [decentralized apps] made possible by platforms like Ethereum are like generalized BitTorrent for all kinds of applications, with ones we haven&#8217;t even thought of yet,&#8221; Gary adds.</p>
<p>Not everything is positive in hindsight, of course. Gary tells us that if he had to do it all over again he would take legal issues and lawyers more seriously. Not doing so led to more trouble than he imagined. </p>
<p>As a former torrent site admin, he has thought about the piracy issue quite a bit over the years. And unlike some sites today, he was happy to look for possible solutions to stop piracy. </p>
<p>One solution Gary suggested to Hollywood in the past was a hash recognition system for infringing torrents. A system to automatically filter known infringing files and remove these from cooperating torrent sites could still work today, he thinks. </p>
<p>&#8220;ContentID for all files shared on BitTorrent, similar to YouTube. I&#8217;ve proposed this to Hollywood studios before, as a better solution to suing their customers and potential P2P technology partners, but it obviously fell on deaf ears.&#8221;</p>
<p>In any case, torrent sites and similar services will continue to play an important role in how the media industry evolves. These platforms are showing Hollywood what the public wants, Gary believes.</p>
<p>&#8220;It has and will continue to play a role in showing the industry what consumers truly want: frictionless, convenient distribution, without borders of country or bundles. Bundles as in cable channels, but also in any way unwanted content is forced onto consumers without choice.&#8221;</p>
<p>While torrents were dominant in the past, the future will be streaming mostly, isoHunt&#8217;s founder says. He said this ten years ago, and he believes that in another decade it will have completely replaced cable TV. </p>
<p>Whether piracy will still be relevant then depends on how content is offered. More fragmentation will lead to more piracy, while easier access will make it less relevant.</p>
<p>&#8220;The question then will be, will streaming platforms be fragmented and exclusive content bundled into a hundred pieces besides Netflix, or will consumer choice and convenience win out in a cross-platform way?</p>
<p>&#8220;A piracy increase or reduction will depend on how that plays out because nobody wants to worry about ten monthly subscriptions to ten different streaming services, much less a hundred,&#8221; Gary concludes.</p>
<p>Perhaps we should revisit this again next decade&#8230;</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em><br>
The second post in this series, with Peter Sunde, will be published this weekend. The other two pioneers did not respond or declined to take part. </em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=135859
title: No Level of Copyright Enforcement Will Ever Be Enough For Big Media
uri: No-Level-of-Copyright-Enforcement-Will-Ever-Be-Enough-For-Big-Media
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vp59bssHEs8/
content:
<p><a href="media/dad34aaa.download-keyboard.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/download-keyboard.jpg"><img src="media/59d6682b.download-keyboard.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/download-keyboard.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="138" class="alignright size-full wp-image-73383"></a>For more than ten years TorrentFreak has documented a continuous stream of piracy battles so it&#8217;s natural that, every now and then, we pause to consider when this war might stop. The answer is always &#8220;no time soon&#8221; and certainly not in 2018.</p>
<p>When swapping files over the Internet first began it wasn&#8217;t a particularly widespread activity. A reasonable amount of content was available, but it was relatively inaccessible. Then peer-to-peer came along and it sparked a revolution.</p>
<p>From the beginning, copyright holders felt that the law would answer their problems, whether that was by suing Napster, Kazaa, or even end users. Some industry players genuinely believed this strategy was just a few steps away from achieving its goals. Just a little bit more pressure and all would be under control.</p>
<p>Then, when the landmark <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Studios,_Inc._v._Grokster,_Ltd.">MGM Studios v. Grokster</a> decision was handed down in the studios&#8217; favor during 2005, the excitement online was palpable. As copyright holders rejoiced in this body blow for the pirating masses, file-sharing communities literally shook under the weight of the ruling. For a day, maybe two.</p>
<p>For the majority of file-sharers, the ruling meant absolutely nothing. So what if some company could be held responsible for other people&#8217;s infringements? Another will come along, outside of the US if need be, people said. They were right not to be concerned &#8211; that&#8217;s exactly what happened.</p>
<p>Ever since, this cycle has continued. Eager to stem the tide of content being shared without their permission, rightsholders have advocated stronger anti-piracy enforcement and lobbied for more restrictive interpretations of copyright law. Thus far, however, literally nothing has provided a solution.</p>
<p>One would have thought that given the military-style raid on Kim Dotcom&#8217;s Megaupload, a huge void would&#8217;ve appeared in the sharing landscape. Instead, the file-locker business took itself apart and reinvented itself in jurisdictions outside the United States. Meanwhile, the BitTorrent scene continued in the background, somewhat obliviously.</p>
<p>With the SOPA debacle still fresh in relatively recent memory, copyright holders are still doggedly pursuing their aims. Site-blocking is rampant, advertisers are being pressured into compliance, and ISPs like Cox Communications now find themselves responsible for the infringements of their users. But has any of this caused any fatal damage to the sharing landscape? Not really.</p>
<p>Instead, we&#8217;re seeing a rise in the use of streaming sites, each far more accessible to the newcomer than their predecessors and vastly more difficult for copyright holders to police.</p>
<p>Systems built into Kodi are transforming these platforms into a plug-and-play piracy playground, one in which sites skirt US law and users can consume both at will and in complete privacy. Meanwhile, commercial and unauthorized IPTV offerings are <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/iptv-mass-piracy-thats-flying-largely-under-the-radar-161127/">gathering momentum</a>, even as rightsholders try to pull them back.</p>
<p>Faced with problems like these we are now seeing calls for even tougher legislation. While groups like the RIAA dream of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/music-industry-wants-piracy-filters-no-takedown-whack-a-mole-170222/">filtering the Internet</a>, over in the UK a 2017 <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kodi-box-consultation-launched-by-intellectual-property-office-170228/">consultation</a> had copyright holders excited that end users could be criminalized for simply consuming infringing content, let alone distributing it.</p>
<p>While the introduction of both or either of these measures would cause uproar (and rightly so), history tells us that each would fail in its stated aim of stopping piracy. With that eventuality all but guaranteed, calls for even tougher legislation are being readied for later down the line.</p>
<p>In short, there is no law that can stop piracy and therefore no law that will stop the entertainment industries coming back for harsher measures, pursuing the dream. This much we&#8217;ve established from close to two decades of litigation and little to no progress.</p>
<p>But really, is anyone genuinely surprised that they&#8217;re still taking this route? Draconian efforts to maintain control over the distribution of content predate the file-sharing wars by a couple of hundred years, at the very least. Why would rightsholders stop now, when the prize is even more valuable?</p>
<p>No one wants a minefield of copyright law. No one wants a restricted Internet. No one wants extended liability for innovators, service providers, or the public. But this is what we&#8217;ll get if this problem isn&#8217;t solved soon. Something drastic needs to happen, but who will be brave enough to admit it, let alone do something about it?</p>
<p>During a discussion about piracy last year on the BBC, the interviewer challenged a caller who freely admitted to pirating sports content online. The caller&#8217;s response was clear:</p>
<p>For far too long, broadcasters and rightsholders have abused their monopoly position, charging ever-increasing amounts for popular content, even while making billions. Piracy is a natural response to that, and effectively a chance for the little guy to get back some control, he argued.</p>
<p>Exactly the same happened in the music market during the late 1990s and 2000s. In response to artificial restriction of the market and the unrealistic hiking of prices, people turned to peer-to-peer networks for their fix. Thanks to this pressure but after years of turmoil, services like Spotify emerged, converting millions of former pirates in the process. Netflix, it appears, is attempting to do the same thing with video.</p>
<p>When people feel that they aren&#8217;t getting ripped off and that they have no further use for sub-standard piracy services in the face of stunning legal alternatives, things will change. But be under no illusion, people won&#8217;t be bullied there.</p>
<p>If we end up with an Internet stifled in favor of rightsholders, one in which service providers are too scared to innovate, the next generation of consumers will never forget. This will be a major problem for two key reasons. Not only will consumers become enemies but piracy will still exist. We will have come full circle, fueled only by division and hatred.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a natural response to reject monopolistic behavior and it&#8217;s a natural response, for most, to be fair when treated with fairness. Destroying freedom is far from fair and will not create a better future &#8211; for anyone.</p>
<p>Laws have their place, no sane person will argue against that, but when the entertainment industries are making billions yet still want more, they&#8217;ll have to decide whether this will go on forever with building resentment, or if making a bit less profit now makes more sense longer term.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149433
title: Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2018
uri: Top-10-Most-Popular-Torrent-Sites-of-2018
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VIOCHCypJIA/
content:
<p><img src="media/d44c6612.2018.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/2018.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149234">Torrent sites have come and gone over past year. Now, at the start of 2018, we take a look to see what the most-used sites are in the current landscape.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay remains the undisputed number one. The site has weathered a few storms over the years, but it looks like it will be able to celebrate its 15th anniversary, which is coming up in a few months. </p>
<p>The list also includes various newcomers including Idope and Zooqle. While many people are happy to see new torrent sites emerge, this often means that others have called it quits.</p>
<p>Last year&#8217;s runner-up Extratorrent, for example, has shut down and left a gaping hole behind. And it wasn&#8217;t the only site that went away. TorrentProject also disappeared without a trace and the same was true for isohunt.to.</p>
<p>The unofficial Torrentz reincarnation Torrentz2.eu, the highest newcomer last year, is somewhat of an unusual entry. A few weeks ago all links to externally hosted torrents were removed, as was the list of indexed pages. </p>
<p>We decided to include the site nonetheless, given its history and because it&#8217;s still possible to find hashes through the site. As Torrentz2&#8217;s future is uncertain, we added an extra site (10.1) as compensation.</p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://rutracker.org/forum/index.php">RuTracker</a> also deserves a mention. The torrent site generates enough traffic to warrant a listing, but we traditionally limit the list to sites that are targeted primarily at an English or international audience.</p>
<p>Below is the full list of the ten most-visited torrent sites at the start of the new year. The list is based on various traffic reports and we display the Alexa rank for each. In addition, we include last year’s ranking.</p>
<h2>Most Popular Torrent Sites</h2>
<h4>1. <a href="http://thepiratebay.org/">The Pirate Bay</a></h4>
<p>The Pirate Bay is the &#8220;king of torrents&#8221; once again and also the oldest site in this list. The past year has been relatively quiet for the notorious torrent site, which is currently operating from its original .org domain name.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 104/ Last year #1</h5>
</div>
<h4>2. <a href="http://rarbg.to/">RARBG</a></h4>
<p>RARBG, which started out as a Bulgarian tracker, has captured the hearts and minds of many video pirates. The site was founded in 2008 and specializes in high quality video releases.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 298 / Last year #3</h5>
</div>
<h4>3. <a href="http://1337x.to">1337x</a></h4>
<p>1337x continues where it left off last year. The site gained a lot of traffic and, unlike some other sites in the list, has a dedicated group of uploaders that provide fresh content.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 321 / Last year #6</h5>
</div>
<h4>4. <a href="https://torrentz2.eu/">Torrentz2</a></h4>
<p>Torrentz2 launched as a stand-in for the original Torrentz.eu site, which voluntarily closed its doors in 2016. At the time of writing, the site only lists torrent hashes and no longer any links to external torrent sites. While browser add-ons and plugins still make the site functional, its future is uncertain.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 349 / Last year #5</h5>
</div>
<h4>5. <a href="http://yts.am/">YTS.ag</a></h4>
<p>YTS.ag is the unofficial successors of the defunct YTS or YIFY group. Not all other torrent sites were happy that the site hijacked the popuar brand and several are actively banning its releases.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 563 / Last year #4</h5>
</div>
<h4>6. <a href="http://eztv.ag/">EZTV.ag</a></h4>
<p>The original TV-torrent distribution group EZTV shut down after a hostile takeover in 2015, with new owners claiming ownership of the brand. The new group currently operates from EZTV.ag and releases its own torrents. These releases are banned on some other torrent sites due to this controversial history.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 981 / Last year #7</h5>
</div>
<h4>7. <a href="https://www.limetorrents.cc/">LimeTorrents</a></h4>
<p>Limetorrents has been an established torrent site for more than half a decade. The site&#8217;s operator also runs the torrent cache iTorrents, which is used by several other torrent search engines.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 2,433 / Last year #10</h5>
</div>
<h4>8. <a href="https://nyaa.si/">NYAA.si</a></h4>
<p>NYAA.si is a popular resurrection of the anime torrent site NYAA, which shut down last year. Previously we left anime-oriented sites out of the list, but since we also include dedicated TV and movie sites, we decided that a mention is more than warranted.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 1,575 / Last year #NA</h5>
</div>
<h4>9. <a href="https://torrents.me/">Torrents.me</a></h4>
<p>Torrents.me is one of the torrent sites that enjoyed a meteoric rise in traffic this year. It&#8217;s a meta-search engine that links to torrent files and magnet links from other torrent sites.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 2,045 / Last year #NA</h5>
</div>
<h4>10. <a href="https://zooqle.com/">Zooqle</a></h4>
<p>Zooqle, which boasts nearly three million verified torrents, has stayed under the radar for years but has still kept growing. The site made it into the top 10 for the first time this year. </p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 2,347 / Last year #NA</h5>
</div>
<h4>10.1 <a href="https://idope.se/">iDope</a></h4>
<p>The special 10.1 mention goes to iDope. Launched in 2016, the site is a relative newcomer to the torrent scene. The torrent indexer has steadily increased its audience over the past year. With similar traffic numbers to Zooqle, a listing is therefore warranted.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 2,358 / Last year #NA</h5>
</div>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em>Disclaimer: Yes, we know that Alexa isn&#8217;t perfect, but it helps to compare sites that operate in a similar niche. We also used other traffic metrics to compile the top ten. Please keep in mind that many sites have mirrors or alternative domains, which are not taken into account here.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149284
title: Pirate Bay Founder: Netflix and Spotify Are a Threat, No Solution
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-Netflix-and-Spotify-Are-a-Threat-No-Solution
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_67A_XYFm_E/
content:
<p><img src="media/63e83df5.sunde-1-e1489786417533.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sunde-1-e1489786417533.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136726">Ten years ago the Internet was an entirely different place. Piracy was rampant, as it is today, but the people behind the largest torrent sites were<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-future-of-bittorrent-071113/"> more vocal then</a>. </p>
<p>There was a battle going on for the right to freely share content online. This was very much a necessity at the time, as legal options were scarce, but for many it was also an idealistic battle. </p>
<p>As the spokesperson of The Pirate Bay, Peter Sunde was one of the leading voices at the time. He believed, and still does, that people should be able to share anything without restrictions. Period. </p>
<p>For Peter and three others associated with The Pirate Bay, this eventually resulted in <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-prison-sentences-final-supreme-court-appeal-rejected-120201/">jail sentences</a>. They were not the only ones to feel the consequences. Over the past decade, dozens of torrent sites were shut down under legal pressure, forcing those operators that remain to go into hiding. </p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-future-of-bittorrent-071113/">ten years after</a> we spoke to Peter about the future of torrent sites and file-sharing, we reach out to him again. A lot has changed, but how does The Pirate Bay&#8217;s co-founder look at things now?</p>
<p>&#8220;On the personal side, all is great, and I’m working on a TV-series about activism that will air next year. On top of that of course working on Njalla, Ipredator and other known projects,&#8221; Peter says. </p>
<p>&#8220;In general, I think that projects for me are still about the same thing as a decade ago, but just trying different approaches!&#8221;</p>
<p>While Peter stays true to his activist roots, fighting for privacy and freedom on the Internet, his outlook is not as positive as it once was.</p>
<p>He is proud that The Pirate Bay never caved and that they fought their cases to the end. The moral struggle was won, but he also realizes that the greater battle was lost.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m proud and happy to be able to look myself in the mirror every morning with a feeling of doing right. A lot of corrupt people involved in our cases probably feel quite shitty. Well, if they have feelings,&#8221; Peter says.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay&#8217;s former spokesperson doesn&#8217;t have any regrets really. The one thing that comes to mind, when we ask about things that he would have done differently, is to tell fellow Pirate Bay founder Anakata to encrypt his hard drive. </p>
<p><center><strong>Brokep (Peter) and Anakata (Gottfrid)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/22273534.brokepanakate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/brokepanakate.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="310" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149448"></center></p>
<p>Looking at the current media climate, Peter doesn&#8217;t think we are better off. On the contrary. While it might be easier in some counties to access content legally online, this also means that control is now firmly in the hands of a few major companies.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay and others always encouraged free sharing for creators and consumers. This certainly hasn&#8217;t improved. Instead, media today is contained in large centralized silos.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m surprised that people are so short-sighted. The &#8216;solution&#8217; to file sharing was never centralizing content control back to a few entities &#8211; that was the struggle we were fighting for. </p>
<p>&#8220;Netflix, Spotify etc are not a solution but a loss. And it surprises me that the pirate movement is not trying to talk more about that,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>The Netflixes and Spotifies of this world are often portrayed as a solution to piracy. However, Peter sees things differently. He believes that these services put more control in the hands of powerful companies.</p>
<p>&#8220;The same companies we fought own these platforms. Either they own the shares in the companies, or they have deals with them which makes it impossible for these companies to not follow their rules. </p>
<p>&#8220;Artists can&#8217;t choose to be or not to be on Spotify in reality, because there’s nothing else in the end. If Spotify doesn’t follow the rules from these companies, they are fucked as well. The dependence is higher than ever.&#8221;</p>
<p>The first wave of mass Internet piracy well over a decade ago was a wake-up call to the entertainment industry. The immense popularity of torrent sites showed that people demanded something they weren&#8217;t offering. </p>
<p>In a way, these early pirate sites are the reason why Netflix and Spotify were able to do what they do. Literally, in the case of Spotify, which used pirated music to get the service going. </p>
<p>Peter doesn&#8217;t see them as the answer though. The only solution in his book is to redefine and legalize piracy. </p>
<p>&#8220;The solution to piracy is to re-define piracy. Make things available to everyone, without that being a crime,&#8221; Peter says.</p>
<p>In this regard, not much has changed in ten years. However, having witnessed this battle closer than anyone else, he also realizes that the winners are likely on the other end. </p>
<p>Piracy will decrease over time, but not the way Peter hopes it will. </p>
<p>&#8220;I think we’ll have less piracy because of the problems we see today. With net neutrality being infringed upon and more laws against individual liberties and access to culture, instead of actually benefiting people. </p>
<p>&#8220;The media industry will be happy to know that their lobbying efforts and bribes are paying off,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>This is the second and final post in our torrent pioneers series. The first interview with isoHunt founder Gary Fung is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-pioneers-isohunts-gary-fung-ten-years-later-180106/">available here.</a></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149604
title: Sky Hits Man With £5k ‘Fine’ For Pirating Boxing on Facebook
uri: Sky-Hits-Man-With-5k-Fine-For-Pirating-Boxing-on-Facebook
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1Pk6vw6Be-o/
content:
<p><a href="media/2dae909e.skylogo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo.png"><img src="media/049adc7a.skylogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo.png" alt="" width="222" height="129" class="alignright size-full wp-image-124729" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo.png 222w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo-220x129.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px"></a>When people download content online using BitTorrent, they also distribute that content to others. This unlawful distribution attracts negative attention from rightsholders, who have sued hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide.</p>
<p>Streaming is considered a much safer method to obtain content, since it&#8217;s difficult for content owners to track downloaders. However, the same can&#8217;t be said about those who stream content to the web for the benefit of others, as an interesting case in the UK has just revealed.</p>
<p>It involves 34-year-old Craig Foster who received several scary letters from lawyers representing broadcaster Sky. The company alleged that during last April&#8217;s bout between Anthony Joshua&#8217;s and Wladimir Klitschko, Foster live-streamed the multiple world title fight on Facebook Live.</p>
<p>Financially, this was a major problem for Sky, law firm Foot Anstey LLP told Foster. According to their calculations, at least 4,250 people watched the stream without paying Sky Box Office the going rate of £19.95 each. Tapped into Sky&#8217;s computers, the broadcaster concluded that Foster owed the company £85,000.</p>
<p>But according to <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boxing-fan-hit-85000-bill-11808956">The Mirror</a>, father-of-one Foster wasn&#8217;t actually to blame.</p>
<p>“I’d paid for the boxing, it wasn’t like I was making any money. My iPad was signed in to my Facebook account and my friend just started streaming the fight. I didn’t think anything of it, then a few days later they cut my subscription,&#8221; Foster said.</p>
<p>“They’re demanding the names and addresses of all my mates who were round that night but I’m not going to give them up. I said I’d take the rap.”</p>
<p>While Foster says he won&#8217;t turn in the culprit, there&#8217;s no doubt that the fight stream originated from his Sky account. The TV giant embeds watermarks in its broadcasts which enables it to see who paid for an event, should a copy of one turn up on the Internet.</p>
<p>As we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mystery-codes-appear-in-pirate-mayweather-v-mcgregor-streams-170827/">reported</a> last year following the Mayweather v McGregor super-fight, the codes are clearly visible with the naked eye.</p>
<p><center><b>Sky watermarks, as seen in the Mayweather v McGregor fight</b><img src="media/3ace3d38.Fight2a.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/Fight2a.jpg" width="800" height="600" class="aligncenter size-large"></center></p>
<p>While taking the rap for someone else&#8217;s infringing behavior isn&#8217;t something anyone should do lightly, it appears that Scarborough-based Foster did just that.</p>
<p>According to Neil Parkes, who specializes in media litigation, content protection and contentious IP at Foot Anstey, Foster accepted responsibility and agreed to pay a settlement.</p>
<p>“Mr Foster broke the law,&#8221; Parkes said. &#8220;He has acknowledged his wrongdoing, apologised and signed a legally binding agreement to pay a sum of £5,000 to Sky.”</p>
<p>The Mirror, however, has Foster backtracking. He says he wasn&#8217;t given enough time to consider his position and now wants to fight Sky in court.</p>
<p>“It’s heavy-handed. I’ve apologized and told them we were drunk,” Foster said.</p>
<p>“I know streaming the fight was wrong. I didn’t stop my friend but I was watching the boxing. I’m just a bloke who had a few drinks with his friends.”</p>
<p>Unless he can find a law firm willing to fight his corner at a hugely cut-down rate, Foster will find this kind of legal fisticuffs to be a massively expensive proposition, one in which he will start out as the clear underdog.</p>
<p>Not only was Foster&#8217;s Sky account the originating source, both his iPad and his Facebook account were used to stream the fight. On top of what appears to be a signed confession, he also promised not to do anything else like this in future. Furthermore, he even agreed to issue an apology that Sky can use in future anti-piracy messages.</p>
<p>Of course, Foster might indeed be a noble gentleman but he should be aware that as a civil matter, this fight would be decided on the balance of probabilities, not beyond reasonable doubt. If the judge decides 51% in Sky&#8217;s favor, he suffers a knockout along with a huge financial headache.</p>
<p>No one wants a £5,000 bill but that&#8217;s a drop in the ocean compared to the cost implications of losing this case.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149606
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 01/08/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-01-08-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GlzAKznw4nI/
content:
<p><img src="media/93dde5f9.bladerunner.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bladerunner.png" alt="" width="300" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149386">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Blade Runner 2049 is the most downloaded movie again.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-010118/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/">Blade Runner 2049 </a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCcx85zbxz4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">Coco</a> (HDTS/DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga6RYejo6Hk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">Justice League</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-DM9uBtVI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283362/">Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle </a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283362/">7.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QKg5SZ_35I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5519340/">Bright</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5519340/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZCBSsBxko">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">The Foreigner</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615160/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9YCk7ufHs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">Dunkirk</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ01tJ4EWeg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/">It</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE0kRwDXn7o">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4106376/">Renegades</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4106376/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl8INGEnrbQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">Kingsman: The Golden Circle</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nxc-3WpMbg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149595
title: TVAddons and ZemTV Ask Court to Dismiss U.S. Piracy Lawsuit
uri: TVAddons-and-ZemTV-Ask-Court-to-Dismiss-U-S-Piracy-Lawsuit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Edmv-U31z94/
content:
<p><img src="media/0af8686f.zemtvadd.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/zemtvadd.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="194" class="alignright size-full wp-image-139977">Last year, American satellite and broadcast provider Dish Network targeted two well-known players in the third-party Kodi add-on ecosystem.</p>
<p>In a complaint filed in a federal court in Texas, add-on ZemTV and the TVAddons library <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dish-network-sues-zemtv-and-tv-addons-for-copyright-infringement-170605/">were accused of copyright infringement</a>. As a result, both are facing up to $150,000 in damages for each offense.</p>
<p>While the case was filed in Texas, neither of the defendants live there, or even in the United States. The owner and operator of TVAddons is Adam Lackman, who resides in Montreal, Canada. ZemTV&#8217;s developer Shahjahan Durrani is even further away in London, UK.</p>
<p>Their limited connection to Texas is reason for the case to be dismissed, according to the legal team of the two defendants. They are represented by attorneys Erin Russel and Jason Sweet, who asked the Court to drop the case late last week.</p>
<p>According to their motion, the Texas District Court does not have jurisdiction over the two defendants. </p>
<p>&#8220;Lackman and Durrani have never been residents or citizens of Texas; they have never owned property in Texas; they have never voted in Texas; they have never personally visited Texas; they have never directed any business activity of any kind to anyone in Texas [&#8230;] and they have never earned income in Texas,&#8221; the motion reads.</p>
<p>Technically, defendants can be sued in a district they have never been, as long as they &#8220;directed actions&#8221; at the state or its citizens. </p>
<p>According to Dish, this is the case here since both defendants made their services available to local residents, among other things. However, the defense team argues that&#8217;s not enough to establish jurisdiction in this case. </p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff’s conclusory allegation that Lackman and Durrani marketed, made available, and distributed ZemTV service and the ZemTV add-on to consumers in the State of Texas and the Southern District of Texas is misleading at best,&#8221; the attorneys write. </p>
<p>If the case proceeds this would go against the US constitution, violating the defendants&#8217; due process rights. Whether the infringement claims hold ground or not, Dish has no right to sue, according to the defense.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants are citizens of Canada and Great Britain and have not had sufficient contacts in the State of Texas for this Court to exercise personal jurisdiction over them. To do so would violate the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution.&#8221; </p>
<p>The Court must now decide whether the case can proceed or not. TorrentFreak reached out to TVAddons but the service wishes to refrain from commenting on the proceeding at the moment.</p>
<p>Previously, TVAddons made it clear that it sees the Dish lawsuit as an attempt to destroy the Kodi addon community. One of the <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/kodi-community-attack/">methods of attack</a> it mentioned, was to sue people in foreign jurisdictions.</p>
<p>&#8220;Most people don’t have money lying around to hire lawyers in places they’ve never even visited. This means that if a company sues you in a foreign country and you can’t afford a lawyer, you’re screwed even if you did nothing wrong,&#8221; TVAddons wrote at the time. </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em>A copy of the motion to dismiss is available <a href="media/a559ad0e.179129183598.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/179129183598.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149625
title: Tech Companies Meet EC to Discuss Removal of Pirate & Illegal Content
uri: Tech-Companies-Meet-EC-to-Discuss-Removal-of-Pirate-Illegal-Content
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZqNv3QqFeF4/
content:
<p><a href="media/6542fb40.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg"><img src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985"></a>Thousands perhaps millions of pieces of illegal content flood onto the Internet every single day, a problem that&#8217;s only increasing with each passing year.</p>
<p>In the early days of the Internet very little was done to combat the problem but with the rise of social media and millions of citizens using it to publish whatever they like &#8211; not least terrorist propaganda and racist speech &#8211; governments around the world are beginning to take notice.</p>
<p>Of course, running parallel is the multi-billion dollar issue of intellectual property infringement. Eighteen years on from the first wave of mass online piracy and the majority of popular movies, TV shows, games, software and books are still available to download.</p>
<p>Over the past couple of years and increasingly in recent months, there have been clear signs that the EU in particular wishes to collectively mitigate the spread of all illegal content &#8211; from ISIS videos to pirated Hollywood movies &#8211; with assistance from major tech companies.</p>
<p>Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are all expected to do their part, with the looming stick of legislation behind the collaborative carrots, should they fail to come up with a solution.</p>
<p>To that end, five EU Commissioners &#8211; Dimitris Avramopoulos, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Věra Jourová, Julian King and Mariya Gabriel &#8211; will meet today in Brussels with representatives of several online platforms to discuss progress made in dealing with the spread of the aforementioned material.</p>
<p>In a joint statement together with EC Vice-President Andrus Ansip, the Commissioners describe all illegal content as a threat to security, safety, and fundamental rights, demanding a &#8220;collective response – from all actors, including the internet industry.&#8221;</p>
<p>They note that online platforms have committed significant resources towards removing violent and extremist content, including via automated removal, but more needs to be done to tackle the issue.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is starting to achieve results. However, even if tens of thousands of pieces of illegal content have been taken down, there are still hundreds of thousands more out there,&#8221; the Commissioners writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;And removal needs to be speedy: the longer illegal material stays online, the greater its reach, the more it can spread and grow. Building on the current voluntary approach, more efforts and progress have to be made.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Commission says it is relying on online platforms such as Google and Facebook to &#8220;step up and speed up their efforts to tackle these threats quickly and comprehensively.&#8221; This should include closer cooperation with law enforcement, sharing of information with other online players, plus action to ensure that once taken down, illegal content does not simply reappear.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s clear that that the EC would prefer to work collaboratively with the platforms to find a solution to the illegal content problem, as expected there&#8217;s the veiled threat of them being compelled by law to do so, should they fall short of their responsibilities.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will continue to promote cooperation with social media companies to detect and remove terrorist and other illegal content online, and if necessary, propose legislation to complement the existing regulatory framework,&#8221; the EC warns.</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s discussions run both in parallel and in tandem with others specifically targeted at intellectual property abuses. Late November the EC <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/european-commission-steps-up-fight-against-online-piracy-171130/">presented</a> a set of new measures to ensure that copyright holders are well protected both online and in the physical realm.</p>
<p>A key aim is to focus on large-scale facilitators, such as pirate site operators, while cutting their revenue streams.</p>
<p>“The Commission seeks to deprive commercial-scale IP infringers of the revenue flows that make their criminal activity lucrative – this is the so-called ‘follow the money’ approach which focuses on the ‘big fish’ rather than individuals,” the Commission explained.</p>
<p>This presentation followed on the heels of a proposal last September which had the EC <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-proposes-take-down-stay-down-approach-to-combat-online-piracy-170928/">advocating</a> the take-down-stay-down principle, with pirate content being taken down, automated filters ensuring infringement can be tackled proactively, with measures being taken against repeat infringers.</p>
<p>Again, the EC warned that should cooperation with Internet platforms fail to come up with results, future legislation cannot be ruled out.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149628
title: Media Giant Can Keep Seized Ad Revenue From Pirate Sites
uri: Media-Giant-Can-Keep-Seized-Ad-Revenue-From-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/P3Rq-JCSURk/
content:
<p><img src="media/c579e316.pirate-card.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="210" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86520">For several decades the MPAA and RIAA have been the prime anti-piracy groups in the United States.</p>
<p>While that may be true, there&#8217;s another player making a massive impact, while getting barely any press. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABS-CBN">ABS-CBN</a>, the largest media and entertainment company in the Philippines, has filed a series of lawsuits against pirate sites in the US, with the popular streaming portal Fmovies as the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-court-orders-pirate-streaming-site-fmovies-to-pay-210000-170609/">biggest target</a>. </p>
<p>The company has already won several cases with damages ranging from a few hundred thousand to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-site-operator-slapped-10-million-damages-141030/">millions of dollars</a>. However, the associated injunctions in these cases are perhaps even more significant. </p>
<p>We previously covered how ABS-CBN managed to get court orders to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-domain-seizures-are-easy-in-the-united-states-150521/">seize domain names</a>, without the defendants getting actively involved. This is also the case in a recent lawsuit where a Florida federal court signed a broad injunction targeting more than two dozen sites that offered the company&#8217;s content. </p>
<p>The websites, including abscbn-teleserye.com, dramascools.com, tvnijuan.org, pinoydailyshows.com and weeklywarning.org, may not be known to a broad audience but their domain names have all been suspended, linking to a takedown message instead.</p>
<p>What&#8217;s most interesting, however, is that the advertising revenues of these sites were previously <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-advertisers-to-freeze-revenue-pirate-sites-170707">frozen</a>. This was done to ensure that ABS-CBN would at least get some money if the defendants failed to respond, a strategy that seems to have paid off.</p>
<p>After the targeted site owners failed to respond, ABS-CBN requested a default judgment with damages for trademark and copyright infringement.</p>
<p>U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia Altonaga has now signed the order, awarding the media company over a million dollars in statutory trademark infringement damages. In addition, several of the sites must also pay copyright infringement damages. </p>
<p><center><strong>Damages</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/249a6663.damagesabs.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/damagesabs.png" alt="" width="587" height="117" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149657"></center></p>
<p>The default judgment also orders associated registrars and registries to hand over the domain names to ABS-CBN. Thus far several domains have been seized already, but some foreign companies have not complied, most likely because they fall outside the US jurisdiction.</p>
<p>The most interesting part of the order, however, is that Judge Altonaga grants ABS-CBN the previously seized advertising revenues.</p>
<p>&#8220;All funds currently restrained by the advertising services, networks, and/or platforms [&#8230;], pursuant to the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in this action are to be immediately (within five business days) transferred to Plaintiffs in partial satisfaction of the monetary judgment entered herein against each Defendant,&#8221; the Judge writes.</p>
<p><center><strong>List of sites and their ad-networks</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/1065721f.seizeads.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/seizeads.png" alt="" width="577" height="295" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149656"></center></p>
<p>The sites in question used advertising services from a variety of well-known networks, including Google Adsense, MGID, Popads, AdsKeeper, and Bidvertiser. None of these companies responded in court after the initial seizure order, suggesting that they did not object.</p>
<p>This is the first time, to our knowledge, that a copyright holder has been granted advertising revenue from pirate sites in this manner. While it&#8217;s not known how much revenue the sites were making, there is bound to be some. </p>
<p>This could be a common legal tactic going forward because, generally speaking, it is very hard to get money from defaulting defendants who are relatively anonymous, or living in a foreign jurisdiction. By going after the advertisers, copyright holders have a good chance of securing some money, at least.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the default judgment is available <a href="media/63d9bfd9.abscbnads.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/abscbnads.pdf">here (pdf)</a> and all affected websites are listed below.</p>
<p>&#8211; abscbn-teleserye.com<br>
&#8211; astigvideos.com<br>
&#8211; cinepinoy.lol<br>
&#8211; cinepinoy.ag<br>
&#8211; pinoyflix.ag<br>
&#8211; pinoyflix.lol<br>
&#8211; cinezen.me<br>
&#8211; dramascools.com<br>
&#8211; dramasget.com<br>
&#8211; frugalpinoytv.org<br>
&#8211; lambingan.cn<br>
&#8211; pinoylambingan.ph<br>
&#8211; lambingan.io<br>
&#8211; lambingans.net<br>
&#8211; latestpinoymovies.com<br>
&#8211; pinasnews.net<br>
&#8211; pinastvreplay.com<br>
&#8211; pinoybay.ch<br>
&#8211; pinoychannel.me<br>
&#8211; pinoydailyshows.com<br>
&#8211; pinoyplayback.net<br>
&#8211; pinoytvshows.net<br>
&#8211; pinoytv-shows.net<br>
&#8211; rondownload.net<br>
&#8211; sarapmanood.com<br>
&#8211; tambayanshow.net<br>
&#8211; thelambingan.com<br>
&#8211; tvnijuan.org<br>
&#8211; tvtambayan.org<br>
&#8211; vianowpe.com<br>
&#8211; weeklywarning.org<br>
&#8211; weeklywarning.com</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149693
title: RuTracker Reveals Innovative Plan For Users to Subvert ISP Blocking
uri: RuTracker-Reveals-Innovative-Plan-For-Users-to-Subvert-ISP-Blocking
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jRcGJitjFdU/
content:
<p><img src="media/b13e6c72.blocked-censor.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/blocked-censor.jpg" width="250" height="170" class="alignright size-large">As Russia&#8217;s largest torrent site and one that earned itself a mention in TF&#8217;s list of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">most popular torrent sites 2018</a>, RuTracker is continuously under fire.</p>
<p>The site has an extremely dedicated following but Russia&#8217;s telecoms watchdog, spurred on by copyright holders brandishing court rulings, does everything in its power to ensure that people can&#8217;t access the site easily.</p>
<p>As a result, RuTracker&#8217;s main domains are blocked by all ISPs, meaning that people have to resort to VPNs or the many dozens of proxy and mirror sites that have been set up to facilitate access to the popular tracker.</p>
<p>While all of these methods used to work just fine, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/search-engines-will-open-systems-to-prove-piracy-vpn-blocking-170901/">new legislation</a> that came into force during October means that mirror and proxy sites can be added to block lists without copyright holders having to return to court. And, following legislation introduced in November, local <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/russia-bans-unrestricted-vpns-proxies-and-tor-in-russia-170731/">VPN services are forbidden</a> from providing access to blocked sites.</p>
<p>While RuTracker has always insisted that web blockades have little effect on the numbers of people sharing content, <em>direct</em> traffic to their main domains has definitely suffered. To solve this problem and go some way towards mitigating VPN and proxy bans, the site has just come up with a new plan to keep the torrents flowing.</p>
<p>The scheme was quietly announced, not on RuTracker&#8217;s main forum, but to a smaller set of users on local site <a href="https://leprosorium.ru/comments/2258077/">Leprosorium</a>. The idea was that a quieter launch there would allow for controlled testing before a release to the masses. The project is called My.RuTracker and here&#8217;s how it works.</p>
<p>Instead of blocked users fruitlessly trying to find public circumvention methods that once seen are immediately blocked, they are invited to register their own domains. These can be single use, for the person who registers them, but it&#8217;s envisioned that they&#8217;ll be shared out between friends, family, and online groups, to better make use of the resource.</p>
<p>Once domains are registered, users are invited to contact a special user account on the RuTracker site (operated by the site&#8217;s operators) which will provide them with precise technical details on how to set up their domain (.ru domains are not allowed) to gain access to RuTracker.</p>
<p>&#8220;In response, after a while (usually every other day), a list of NS-addresses will be sent to the registrar&#8217;s domain settings. Under this scheme, the user domain will be redirected to the RuTracker site via a dynamic IP address: this will avoid blocking the torrent tracker for a particular IP address,&#8221; the <a href="https://tjournal.ru/64740-rutracker-predlozhil-polzovatelyam-registrirovat-personalnye-zerkala-dlya-obhoda-novyh-zakonov-o-blokirovkah">scheme</a> envisages.</p>
<p>According to local news resource Tjournal, 62 personal mirrors were launched following the initial appeal, with the operators of RuTracker now planning to publicly announce the project to their community. As more are added, the site will keep track of traffic from each of the personal &#8220;mirrors&#8221; for balancing the load on the site.</p>
<p>At least in theory, this seems like a pretty innovative scheme. Currently, the authorities rely on the scale and public awareness of a particular proxy or mirror in order to earmark it for blocking. This much more decentralized plan, in which only small numbers of people should know each domain, seems like a much more robust system &#8211; at least until the authorities and indeed the law catches up.</p>
<p>And so the cat-and-mouse game continues.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149649
title: Judge Issues Devastating Order Against BitTorrent Copyright Troll
uri: Judge-Issues-Devastating-Order-Against-BitTorrent-Copyright-Troll
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bD-iecsUTic/
content:
<p><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977">In recent years, file-sharers around the world have been pressured to pay significant settlement fees, or face legal repercussions.</p>
<p>These so-called “copyright trolling” efforts have been a common occurrence in the United States since the turn of the last decade.</p>
<p>Increasingly, however, courts are growing weary of these cases. Many districts have turned into no-go zones for copyright trolls and the people behind Prenda law <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/prenda-copyright-trolls-arrested-and-charged-with-fraud-and-extortion-161216/">were arrested</a> and are being prosecuted in a criminal case. </p>
<p>In the Western District of Washington, the tide also appears to have turned. After Venice PI, a copyright holder of the film “Once Upon a Time in Venice”, sued a man who <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/judge-puts-brakes-on-piracy-cases-doubts-evidence-against-deceased-man-171114/">later passed away</a>, concerns were raised over the validity of the evidence.</p>
<p>Venice PI responded to the concerns with a declaration explaining its data gathering technique and assuring the Court that false positives are out of the question.</p>
<p>That testimony didn&#8217;t help much though, as a recently filed minute order shows this week. The order applies to a dozen cases and prohibits the company from reaching out to any defendants until further notice, as there are several alarming issues that have to be resolved first. </p>
<p>One of the problems is that Venice PI declared that it&#8217;s owned by a company named Lost Dog Productions, which in turn is owned by Voltage Productions. Interestingly, these companies don&#8217;t appear in the usual records.</p>
<p>&#8220;A search of the California Secretary of State’s online database, however, reveals no registered entity with the name &#8216;Lost Dog&#8217; or &#8216;Lost Dog Productions&#8217;,&#8221; the Court notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Moreover, although &#8216;Voltage Pictures, LLC&#8217; is registered with the California Secretary of State, and has the same address as Venice PI, LLC, the parent company named in plaintiff’s corporate disclosure form, &#8216;Voltage Productions, LLC,&#8217; cannot be found in the California Secretary of State’s online database and does not appear to exist.&#8221;</p>
<p>In other words, the company that filed the lawsuit, as well as its parent company, are extremely questionable. </p>
<p>While the above is a reason for concern, it&#8217;s just the tip of the iceberg. The Court not only points out administrative errors, but it also has serious doubts about the evidence collection process. This was carried out by the German company MaverickEye, which used the tracking technology of another German company, GuardaLey.</p>
<p>GuardaLey CEO Benjamin Perino, who claims that he coded the tracking software, wrote a declaration explaining that the infringement detection system at issue “cannot yield a false positive.” However, the Court doubts this statement and Perino&#8217;s qualifications in general. </p>
<p>&#8220;Perino has been proffered as an expert, but his qualifications consist of a technical high school education and work experience unrelated to the peer-to-peer file-sharing technology known as BitTorrent,&#8221; the Court writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Perino does not have the qualifications necessary to be considered an expert in the field in question, and his opinion that the surveillance program is incapable of error is both contrary to common sense and inconsistent with plaintiff’s counsel’s conduct in other matters in this district. Plaintiff has not submitted an adequate offer of proof&#8221;</p>
<p>It seems like the Court would prefer to see an assessment from a qualified independent expert instead of the person who wrote the software. For now, this means that the IP-address evidence, in these cases, is not good enough. That&#8217;s quite a blow for the copyright holder. </p>
<p>If that wasn&#8217;t enough the Court also highlights another issue that&#8217;s possibly even more problematic. When Venice PI requested the subpoenas to identify alleged pirates, they relied on declarations from Daniel Arheidt, a consultant for MaverickEye.</p>
<p>These declarations fail to mention, however, that MaverickEye has the proper paperwork to collect IP addresses. </p>
<p>&#8220;Nowhere in Arheidt’s declarations does he indicate that either he or MaverickEye is licensed in Washington to conduct private investigation work,&#8221; the order reads. </p>
<p>This is important, as doing private investigator work without a license is a gross misdemeanor in Washington. The copyright holder was aware of this requirement because it was brought up in related cases in the past.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff’s counsel has apparently been aware since October 2016, when he received a letter concerning LHF Productions, Inc. v. Collins, C16-1017 RSM, that Arheidt might be committing a crime by engaging in unlicensed surveillance of Washington citizens, but he did not disclose this fact to the Court.&#8221;</p>
<p>The order is very bad news for Venice PI. The company had hoped to score a few dozen easy settlements but the tables have now been turned. The Court instead asks the company to explain the deficiencies and provide additional details. In the meantime, the copyright holder is urged not to spend or transfer any of the settlement money that has been collected thus far.</p>
<p>The latter indicates that Venice PI might have to hand defendants their money back, which would be pretty unique. </p>
<p>The order suggests that the Judge is very suspicious of these trolling activities. In a footnote there&#8217;s a link to a <a href="https://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2017/04/05/copyright-troll-david-lowe-dropped-eleventh-defendant-after-defense-attorney-threatened-to-expose-fraud/">Fight Copyright Trolls article</a> which revealed that the same counsel dismissed several cases, allegedly to avoid having IP-address evidence scrutinized.</p>
<p>Even more bizarrely, in another footnote the Court also doubts if MaverickEye&#8217;s aforementioned consultant, Daniel Arheidt, actually exists.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Court has recently become aware that Arheidt is the latest in a series of German declarants (Darren M. Griffin, Daniel Macek, Daniel Susac, Tobias Fieser, Michael Patzer) who might be aliases or even fictitious. </p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff will not be permitted to rely on Arheidt’s declarations or underlying data without explaining to the Court’s satisfaction Arheidt’s relationship to the above-listed declarants and producing proof beyond a reasonable doubt of Arheidt’s existence,&#8221; the court adds.</p>
<p>These are serious allegations, to say the least.</p>
<p>If a copyright holder uses non-existent companies and questionable testimony from unqualified experts after obtaining evidence illegally to get a subpoena backed by a fictitious person&#8230;.something&#8217;s not quite right.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the minute order, which affects a series of cases, is <a href="media/a4e3c08f.veniceminuteorder.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/veniceminuteorder.pdf">available here (pdf).</a> </em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149757
title: Netflix, Amazon and Hollywood Sue Kodi-Powered Dragon Box Over Piracy
uri: Netflix-Amazon-and-Hollywood-Sue-Kodi-Powered-Dragon-Box-Over-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SiXC0wSTwMI/
content:
<p><img src="media/c2d9f218.dragonboxl.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dragonboxl.png" alt="" width="233" height="100" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149761">More and more people are starting to use Kodi-powered set-top boxes to stream video content to their TVs.</p>
<p>While Kodi itself is a neutral platform, sellers who ship devices with unauthorized add-ons give it a bad reputation.</p>
<p>In recent months these boxes have become the prime target for copyright enforcers, including the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (<a href="http://alliance4creativity.com/">ACE</a>), an anti-piracy partnership between Hollywood studios, Netflix, Amazon, and more than two dozen other companies.</p>
<p>After <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">suing Tickbox</a> last year a group of key ACE members have now filed a similar lawsuit against Dragon Media Inc, which sells the popular <a href="http://www.thedragonbox.com/">Dragon Box</a>. The complaint, filed at a California federal court, also lists the company&#8217;s owner Paul Christoforo and reseller Jeff Williams among the defendants.</p>
<p>According to ACE, these type of devices are nothing more than pirate tools, allowing buyers to stream copyright infringing content. That also applies to Dragon Box, they inform the court.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants market and sell &#8216;Dragon Box,&#8217; a computer hardware device that Defendants urge their customers to use as a tool for the mass infringement of the copyrighted motion pictures and television shows,&#8221; the complaint, picked up by <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/more-evidence-netflix-amazon-have-joined-a-legal-campaign-piracy-1073842">HWR</a>, reads.</p>
<p>The movie companies note that the defendants distribute and promote the Dragon Box as a pirate tool, using phrases such as “Watch your Favourites Anytime For FREE” and &#8220;stop paying for Netflix and Hulu.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Dragon Box</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b7301452.drag.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/drag.png" alt="" width="581" height="424" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149765"></center></p>
<p>When users follow the instructions Dragon provides they get free access to copyrighted movies, TV-shows and live content, ACE alleges. The complaint further points out that the device uses the open source Kodi player paired with pirate addons.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Dragon Media application provides Defendants’ customers with a customized configuration of the Kodi media player and a curated selection of the most popular addons for accessing infringing content,&#8221; the movie companies write. </p>
<p>&#8220;These addons are designed and maintained for the overarching purpose of scouring the Internet for illegal sources of copyrighted content and returning links to that content. When Dragon Box customers click those links, those customers receive unauthorized streams of popular motion pictures and television shows.&#8221;</p>
<p>One of the addons that are included with the download and installation of the Dragon software is Covenant. </p>
<p>This addon can be accessed through a preinstalled shortcut which is linked under the &#8220;Videos&#8221; menu. Users are then able to browse through a large library of curated content, including a separate category of movies that are still in theaters. </p>
<p><center><strong>In theaters</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/8f1c1b5c.dragonboxfea.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dragonboxfea.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="454" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149769" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/dragonboxfea.jpg 600w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/dragonboxfea-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></center></p>
<p>According to a statement from Dragon owner Christoforo, business is going well. The company claims to have “over 250,000 customers in 50 states and 4 countries and growing” as well as  “374 sellers&#8221; across the world.</p>
<p>With this lawsuit, however, the company&#8217;s future has suddenly become uncertain.</p>
<p>The movie companies ask the California District for an injunction to shut down the infringing service and impound all Dragon Box devices. In addition, they&#8217;re requesting statutory damages which can go up to several million dollars.</p>
<p>At the time of writing the <a href="http://www.thedragonbox.com/">Dragon Box website</a> is still in on air and the company has yet to comment on the allegations. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the complaint is available <a href="media/6ccc1072.Dragon.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Dragon.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149745
title: Europol Hits Huge 500,000 Subscriber Pirate IPTV Operation
uri: Europol-Hits-Huge-500-000-Subscriber-Pirate-IPTV-Operation
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/qSnWt71R3y8/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034"></a>Live TV is in massive demand but accessing all content in a particular region can be a hugely expensive proposition, with tradtional broadcasting monopolies demanding large subscription fees.</p>
<p>For millions around the world, this &#8216;problem&#8217; can be easily circumvented. Pirate IPTV operations, which supply thousands of otherwise subscription channels via the Internet, are on the increase. They&#8217;re accessible for just a few dollars, euros, or pounds per month, slashing bills versus official providers on a grand scale.</p>
<p>This week, however, police forces around Europe coordinated to target what they claim is one of the world&#8217;s largest illicit IPTV operations. The investigation was launched last February by Europol and on Tuesday coordinated actions were carried out in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece, and the Netherlands.</p>
<p>Three suspects were arrested in Cyprus &#8211; two in Limassol (aged 43 and 44) and one in Larnaca (aged 53). All are alleged to be part of an international operation to illegally broadcast around 1,200 channels of pirated content worldwide. Some of the channels offered were illegally sourced from Sky UK, Bein Sports, Sky Italia, and Sky DE</p>
<p>If initial reports are to be believed, the reach of the IPTV service was huge. Figures usually need to be taken with a pinch of salt but information suggests the service had more than 500,000 subscribers, each paying around 10 euros per month.</p>
<p>Police action was spread across the continent, with at least nine separate raids, including in the Netherlands where servers were uncovered. However, it was determined that these were in place to hide the true location of the operation&#8217;s main servers. Similar &#8216;front&#8217; servers were also deployed in other regions.</p>
<p>The main servers behind the IPTV operation were located in Petrich, a small town in Blagoevgrad Province, southwestern Bulgaria. No details have been provided by the authorities but TF is informed that the website of a local ISP, <a href="http://www.megabyte.bg">Megabyte-Internet</a>, from where pirate IPTV has been broadcast for at least the past several months, disappeared on Tuesday. It remains offline this morning.</p>
<p>The company did not respond to our request for comment and there&#8217;s no suggestion that it&#8217;s directly involved in any illegal activity. However, its <a href="https://www.tcpiputils.com/browse/as/59742">Autonomous System (AS) number</a> reveals linked IPTV services, none of which appear to be operational today. The ISP is also <a href="https://iptv.zone/en/provider/727">listed on sites</a> where &#8216;pirate&#8217; IPTV channel playlists are compiled by users.</p>
<p>According to sources in Cyprus, police requested permission from the Larnaca District Court to detain the arrested individuals for eight days. However, local news outlet <a href="http://www.philenews.com/koinonia/eidiseis/article/475689/anamenontai-ki-alles-erevnes-ga-ta-peiratika-kanalia">Philenews</a> said that any decision would be postponed until this morning, since one of the three suspects, an English Cypriot, required an interpreter which caused a delay.</p>
<p>In addition to prosecutors and defense lawyers, two Dutch investigators from Europol were present in court yesterday. The hearing lasted for six hours and was said to be so intensive that the court stenographer had to be replaced due to overwork.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mnVb17D1KxY" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149814
title: Coalition Against Piracy Launches Landmark Case Against ‘Pirate’ Android Box Sellers
uri: Coalition-Against-Piracy-Launches-Landmark-Case-Against-Pirate-A
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/dvPDT6-Z8RE/
content:
<p><img src="media/fdb4ba62.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-large">In 2017, anti-piracy enforcement went global when companies including Disney, HBO, Netflix, Amazon and NBCUniversal formed the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE).</p>
<p>Soon after the Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) was announced. With a focus on Asia and backed by <a href="http://www.casbaa.com/about-us/what-is-casbaa">CASBAA</a>, CAP counts many of the same companies among its members in addition to local TV providers such as StarHub.</p>
<p>From the outset, CAP has shown a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-coalition-against-piracy-will-crack-down-on-pirate-streaming-boxes-171017/">keen interest</a> in tackling unlicensed streaming, particularly that taking place via illicit set-top boxes stuffed with copyright-infringing apps and add-ons. One country under CAP&#8217;s spotlight is Singapore, where relevant law is said to be fuzzy at best, insufficient at worst. Now, however, a line in the sand might not be far away.</p>
<p>According to a court listing discovered by Singapore&#8217;s <a href="http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/copyright-owners-take-legal-set-top-box-sellers-court-unprecedented-case">TodayOnline</a>, today will see the Coalition Against Piracy&#8217;s general manager Neil Kevin Gane attempt to launch a pioneering private prosecution against set-top box distributor Synnex Trading and its client and wholesale goods retailer, An-Nahl.</p>
<p>Gane and CAP are said to be acting on behalf of four parties, one which is TV giant StarHub, a company with a huge interest in bringing media piracy under control in the region. It&#8217;s reported that they have also named Synnex Trading director Jia Xiaofen and An-Nahl director Abdul Nagib as defendants in their private criminal case after the parties failed to reach a settlement in an earlier process.  </p>
<p>Contacted by TodayOnline, an employee of An-Nahl said the company no longer sells the boxes. However, Synnex is reportedly still selling them for S$219 each ($164) plus additional fees for maintenance and access to VOD. The company&#8217;s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/synnex.sg/">Facebook page</a> is still active with the relevant offer presented prominently.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/be0c875f.synnex-box.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/synnex-box.png"><img src="media/24882005.synnex-box.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/synnex-box.png" alt="" width="468" height="708" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-149816"></a></center></p>
<p>The importance of the case cannot be understated. While StarHub and other broadcasters have successfully prosecuted cases where people unlawfully decrypted broadcast signals, the provision of unlicensed streams isn&#8217;t specifically tackled by <a href="http://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/commercial-law/chapter-12">Singapore&#8217;s legislation</a>. It&#8217;s now a major source of piracy in the region, as it is elsewhere around the globe.</p>
<p>Only time will tell how the process will play out but it&#8217;s clear that CAP and its members are prepared to invest significant sums into a prosecution for a favorable outcome. CAP believes that the supply of the boxes falls under <a href="https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/CA1987#pr136-">Section 136 (3A)</a> of the Copyright Act but only time will tell.</p>
<p>Last December, CAP separately <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/coalition-against-piracy-wants-singapore-to-block-streaming-piracy-software-171204/">called on the Singapore government</a> to not only block &#8216;pirate&#8217; streaming software but also unlicensed streams from entering the country.</p>
<p>“Within the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore is the worst in terms of availability of illicit streaming devices,” said CAP General Manager Neil Gane. “They have access to hundreds of illicit broadcasts of channels and video-on-demand content.”</p>
<p>CAP&#8217;s 21 members want the authorities to block the software inside devices that enables piracy but it&#8217;s far from clear how that can be achieved.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149821
title: Torrent Links Return to Torrentz2 After Mystery Disappearance
uri: Torrent-Links-Return-to-Torrentz2-After-Mystery-Disappearance
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/S7m-b1sFaPc/
content:
<p><img src="media/f5f90955.tz2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tz2.png" alt="" width="220" height="132" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149837">When the original Torrentz site <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrentz-shuts-down-largest-torrent-meta-search-engine-says-farewell-160805/">shut down</a> during the summer of 2016, several copies jumped in to fill its shoes.</p>
<p>The most <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrentz-shut-down-a-year-ago-but-the-name-lives-on-170805/">successful</a> alternative, in terms of traffic, was the elegantly named Torrentz2.eu. Unlike many others, Torrentz2 has always been upfront with its users and never claimed to be an official resurrection.</p>
<p>This approach worked, as millions of users were drawn to the site. However, just before Christmas the site suddenly <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-links-disappear-from-torrentz2-171223/">removed all links</a> to external torrent sites. Instead of a metasearch engine, it turned into a database of torrent metadata, and traffic started to drop off.</p>
<p>The message on the site&#8217;s homepage changed as well. Instead of claiming to be &#8220;a free, fast and powerful meta-search engine combining results from dozens of search engines,&#8221; it turned into &#8220;is a free, fast and powerful meta-search engine.&#8221;</p>
<p>As the weeks rolled by, many people thought that the links would never return. While the homepage was updated briefly to promote a freelancer ICO, not much happened. Until this week.</p>
<p>Just as abruptly as the torrent links disappeared last month, they were added again, returning Torrent2 to its former glory. At the time of writing, the site list links to <a href="https://torrentz2.eu/">61,111,077 torrents on 82 domains</a>.</p>
<p><center><strong>Torrentz2 with links</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/da12d518.torrentz2back.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrentz2back.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="456" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149838"></center></p>
<p>So what happened here?</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to the operator of the site to find out more. He replied, but at the moment he prefers not to comment on the disappearing links incident or the site&#8217;s future. </p>
<p>That leaves us with nothing else than speculation really. Perhaps there was a technical error, an operational change, a simple mistake, or outside intervention? We simply don&#8217;t know.</p>
<p>The only real conclusion we can draw is that, at least for the casual observer, Torrentz2 appears to be back where it used to be. For now&#8230;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149651
title: Epic Games Sues Cheater Over ‘Stealing’ Fortnite V-Bucks
uri: Epic-Games-Sues-Cheater-Over-Stealing-Fortnite-V-Bucks
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hWw3fgz7I_k/
content:
<p><img src="media/56a4e275.battlefortnite.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/battlefortnite.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="212" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145747">Last fall, Epic Games released Fortnite’s free-to-play “Battle Royale” game mode for the PC and other platforms, generating massive interest among gamers.</p>
<p>This also included thousands of cheaters, many of whom were subsequently banned. Epic Games then went a step further by taking several <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/epic-sues-fortnite-cheaters-for-copyright-infringement-171012/">cheaters to court</a> for copyright infringement.</p>
<p>While the initial targets were people who coded, used or promoted cheats to gain a clear competitive advantage, this week Epic sued a different type of cheater. In a complaint filed at a California Federal court, the game publisher accuses a New Zealander of creating an exploit that allows users to get free V-bucks.</p>
<p>V-bucks are the game&#8217;s currency and can be bought through an online store, starting at $9.99. The virtual coins allow players to purchase skins for their characteras well as other game tools.</p>
<p>According to Epic, people who create and use these kinds of free-money exploits are stealing from the game publisher.</p>
<p>&#8220;Players who search for and promote exploits ruin the game experience for others and undermine the integrity of Fortnite. Players who use exploits to avoid paying for items in Fortnite are stealing from Epic,&#8221; the complaint reads. </p>
<p><center><strong>V-bucks</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/a5d803cc.v-bucks.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/v-bucks.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="332" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149844"></center></p>
<p>The alleged perpetrator is identified as Yash Gosai, who&#8217;s a resident of Auckland, New Zealand. Epic believes that Gosai developed the exploit which was then promoted through YouTube. </p>
<p>&#8220;On information and belief, Gosai developed an exploit for Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode that enables players to obtain V-bucks without paying for them. Gosai created and posted a video on YouTube to advertise, promote and demonstrate the exploit,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>While the game company managed to get <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlSZj8aoSzA">the video taken down</a>, they&#8217;re not done with the New Zealander. They accuse Gosai of copyright infringement, breach of contract, as well as conversion.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant’s videos demonstrating the exploit infringe Epic’s copyrights in Fortnite by copying, reproducing, preparing derivative works from, and/or displaying Fortnite<br>
publicly without Epic’s permission, the company writes.</p>
<p>Epic asks the court for damages and wants the defendant to destroy all Fortnite copies and any related works.</p>
<p>As mentioned before, this is not the first lawsuit Epic has filed against a cheater. Thus far, it has reached at least three settlements behind closed doors. Minnesota resident Charles Vraspir signed an agreement early December. Philip Josefsson from Sweden and Artem Yakovenko from Russia followed soon after.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the complaint against Gosai is <a href="media/4ebcb6ec.fortbucks.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/fortbucks.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149884
title: Court Expands Dutch Pirate Bay Blockade to More ISPs, For Now
uri: Court-Expands-Dutch-Pirate-Bay-Blockade-to-More-ISPs-For-Now
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RTe5mVwQmfg/
content:
<p><img src="media/932e6d7d.thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="206" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116122">The Pirate Bay is arguably the most widely blocked website on the Internet.</p>
<p>ISPs from all over the world have been ordered by courts to prevent users from accessing the torrent site, and this week the list has grown a bit longer. </p>
<p>A Dutch court has ruled that local Internet providers KPN, Tele2, T-Mobile, Zeelandnet and CAIW must block the site within ten days. The verdict follows a similar decision from September last year, where <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/block-the-pirate-bay-within-10-days-dutch-court-tells-isps-170922/">Ziggo and XS4All</a> were ordered to do the same.</p>
<p>The blockade applies to several IP addresses and more than 150 domain names that are used by the notorious torrent site. Several of the ISPs had warned the court about the dangers of overblocking, but these concerns were rejected. </p>
<p>While most Dutch customers will be unable to access The Pirate Bay directly, the decision is not final yet. Not until the Supreme Court issues its pending decision. That will be the climax of a legal battle that started <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/block-the-pirate-bay-within-10-days-dutch-court-tells-isps-170922/">eight years ago</a>.</p>
<p>A Dutch court first issued an order to block The Pirate Bay in 2012, but this decision was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isps-no-longer-have-to-block-the-pirate-bay-dutch-court-rules-140128/">overturned</a> two years later. Anti-piracy group BREIN then took the matter to the Supreme Court, which subsequently referred the case to the EU Court of Justice, seeking further clarification.</p>
<p>After a careful review of the case, the EU Court of Justice <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-facilitates-piracy-and-can-be-blocked-top-eu-court-rules-170614/">decided last year</a> that The Pirate Bay can indeed be blocked. </p>
<p>The top EU court ruled that although The Pirate Bay&#8217;s operators don’t share anything themselves, they knowingly provide users with a platform to share copyright-infringing links. This can be seen as “an act of communication” under the EU Copyright Directive.</p>
<p>This put the case back to the Dutch Supreme court, which has yet to decide on the matter.</p>
<p>BREIN, however, wanted a blocking decision more quickly and requested preliminary injunctions, like the one issued this week. These injunctions will only be valid until the final verdict is handed down.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the most recent court order is available <a href="media/5d61277e.dutchpremtpb.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dutchpremtpb.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149843
title: ISP: We’re Cooperating With Police Following Pirate IPTV Raid
uri: ISP-We-re-Cooperating-With-Police-Following-Pirate-IPTV-Raid
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/E81cnin1SzA/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034"></a>This week, police forces around Europe took action against what is believed to be one of the world&#8217;s largest pirate IPTV networks.</p>
<p>The investigation, launched a year ago and coordinated by Europol, came to head on Tuesday when police carried out raids in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece, and the Netherlands. A fresh announcement from the crime-fighting group reveals the scale of the operation.</p>
<p>It was led by the Cypriot Police – Intellectual Property Crime Unit, with the support of the Cybercrime Division of the Greek Police, the Dutch Fiscal Investigative and Intelligence Service (FIOD), the Cybercrime Unit of the Bulgarian Police, Europol’s Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition (IPC³), and supported by members of the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA).</p>
<p>In Cyprus, Bulgaria and Greece, 17 house searches were carried out. Three individuals aged 43, 44, and 53 were arrested in Cyprus and one was arrested in Bulgaria. </p>
<p>All stand accused of being involved in an international operation to illegally broadcast around 1,200 channels of pirated content to an estimated 500,000 subscribers. Some of the channels offered were illegally sourced from Sky UK, Bein Sports, Sky Italia, and Sky DE. On Thursday, the three individuals in Cyprus were remanded in custody for seven days.</p>
<p>&#8220;The servers used to distribute the channels were shut down, and IP addresses hosted by a Dutch company were also deactivated thanks to the cooperation of the authorities of The Netherlands,&#8221; Europol reports.</p>
<p>&#8220;In Bulgaria, 84 servers and 70 satellite receivers were seized, with decoders, computers and accounting documents.&#8221;</p>
<p>TorrentFreak was previously able to establish that Megabyte-Internet Ltd, an ISP located in the small Bulgarian town Petrich, was targeted by police. The provider went down on Tuesday but returned towards the end of the week. Responding to our earlier inquiries, the company told us more about the situation.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are an ISP provider located in Petrich, Bulgaria. We are selling services to around 1,500 end-clients in the Petrich area and surrounding villages,&#8221; a spokesperson explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;Another part of our business is internet services like dedicated unmanaged servers, hosting, email servers, storage services, and VPNs etc.&#8221;</p>
<p>The spokesperson added that some of Megabyte&#8217;s equipment is located at <a href="https://telepoint.bg/">Telepoint</a>, Bulgaria&#8217;s biggest datacenter, with connectivity to Petrich. During the raid the police seized the company&#8217;s hardware to check for evidence of illegal activity.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were informed by the police that some of our clients in Petrich and Sofia were using our service for illegal streaming and actions,&#8221; the company said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Of course, we were not able to know this because our services are unmanaged and root access [to servers] is given to our clients. For this reason any client and anyone that uses our services are responsible for their own actions.&#8221;</p>
<p>TorrentFreak asked many more questions, including how many police attended, what type and volume of hardware was seized, and whether anyone was arrested or taken for questioning. But, apart from noting that the police were friendly, the company declined to give us any additional information, revealing that it was not permitted to do so at this stage.</p>
<p>What is clear, however, is that Megabyte-Internet is offering its full cooperation to the authorities. The company says that it cannot be held responsible for the actions of its clients so their details will be handed over as part of the investigation.</p>
<p>&#8220;So now we will give to the police any details about these clients because we hold their full details by law. [The police] will find [out about] all the illegal actions from them,&#8221; the company concludes, adding that it&#8217;s fully operational once more and working with clients.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mnVb17D1KxY" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149741
title: Are Torrent Sites Using DMCA Notices to Quash Their Competition?
uri: Are-Torrent-Sites-Using-DMCA-Notices-to-Quash-Their-Competition
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-tgW6gEtaGk/
content:
<p><img src="media/194856e0.destroy-delete-remove.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/destroy-delete-remove.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-141816">Every day, copyright holders send out millions of takedown notices to various services, hoping to protect their works.</p>
<p>While most of these requests are legitimate, the process is also being abused. Google prominently features examples of such dubious DMCA requests in its <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/overview">transparency report</a>.</p>
<p>This week we were contacted by the owner of YTS.me after he noticed some unusual activity. In recent weeks his domain name has been targeted with a series of takedown notices from rather unusual people. </p>
<p>Senders with names such as Niklas Glockner, Michelle Williams, Maria Baader, Stefan Kuefer, Anja Herzog, and Markus Ostermann asked Google to remove thousands of YTS.me URLs. </p>
<p>Every notice lists just one movie title, but hundreds of links, most of which have nothing to do with the movie in question. </p>
<p><center><strong>A few URLs from a single notice</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/d3152864.ytsurls-e1515681513579.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ytsurls-e1515681513579.png" alt="" width="600" height="389" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149811"></center></p>
<p>These submitters are all relatively new and there is no sign that they are authorized by the applicable copyright holder. This, and the long list of irrelevant URLs suggest that these DMCA notices are abusive.</p>
<p>The owner of YTS.me believes that the senders have a clear motive. The purpose of the notices is to remove well-ranked pages and push the targeted sites down in Google&#8217;s search results.</p>
<p>&#8220;These all are fake people names submitting fake DMCA complaints and are not authorized to submit complaints,&#8221; the YTS.me operator notes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Even if they are real people they would have submitted, or are authorized to submit, complaints for only a few titles. Instead, they submit fake complaints and submit all the URLs possible on our website to degrade its ranking.&#8221;</p>
<p>The question that remains is, who is responsible for these notices? Looking at the list of sites that are targeted by these abusive senders we see a pattern emerge. They all target copycats of defunct sites such as YTS and ExtraTorrent. </p>
<p><center><strong>Markus Osterman&#8217;s <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/owners/218317">activity</a></strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/c8ba1b36.osterman-e1515681367863.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/osterman-e1515681367863.png" alt="" width="600" height="334" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149810"> </center></p>
<p>This leads the YTS.me operator to the conclusion that one of its main competitors is sending these notices. While there is no hard evidence, it seems plausible that another YTS copycat is attempting to take the competition out of Google&#8217;s search results to gain more exposure itself.</p>
<p>YTS.me has a good idea of who the perpetrator(s) are &#8211; a person or group that also operates several other copycat sites. Thus far there&#8217;s no bulletproof evidence though, but it&#8217;s a likely explanation. </p>
<p>In any case, the DMCA takedown requests are definitely out of order and warrant further investigation by Google. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149787
title: Pirate Streaming on Facebook is a Seriously Risky Business
uri: Pirate-Streaming-on-Facebook-is-a-Seriously-Risky-Business
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ISHAJaKH2qI/
content:
<p><a href="media/f758d45c.facebook-pirate-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/facebook-pirate-1.jpg"><img src="media/139ebf81.facebook-pirate-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facebook-pirate-1.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="122" class="alignright size-full wp-image-139520"></a>For more than a year the British public has been warned about the supposed dangers of Kodi piracy.</p>
<p>Dozens of headlines have claimed consequences ranging from system-destroying malware to prison sentences. Fortunately, most of them can be filed under &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/no-kodi-users-are-not-risking-ten-years-in-prison-170507/">tabloid nonsense</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>That being said, there is an extremely important issue that deserves much closer attention, particularly given a shift in the UK legal climate during 2017. We&#8217;re talking about live streaming copyrighted content on Facebook, which is both incredibly easy and frighteningly risky.</p>
<p>This week it was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sky-hits-man-with-5k-fine-for-pirating-boxing-on-facebook-180108/">revealed</a> that 34-year-old Craig Foster from the UK had been given an ultimatum from Sky to pay a £5,000 settlement fee. The media giant discovered that he&#8217;d live-streamed the Anthony Joshua v Wladimir Klitschko fight on Facebook and wanted compensation to make a potential court case disappear.</p>
<p>While it may seem initially odd to use the word, Foster was lucky.</p>
<p>Under last year&#8217;s <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/30/section/32">Digital Economy Act</a>, he could&#8217;ve been jailed for up to ten years for distributing copyright-infringing content to the public, if he had &#8220;reason to believe that communicating the work to the public [would] cause loss to the owner of the copyright, or [would] expose the owner of the copyright to a risk of loss.&#8221;</p>
<p>Clearly, as a purchaser of the £19.95 pay-per-view himself, he would&#8217;ve appreciated that the event costs money. With that in mind, a court would likely find that he would have been aware that Sky would have been exposed to a &#8220;risk of loss&#8221;. Sky claim that 4,250 people watched the stream but the way the law is written, no specific level of loss is required for a breach of the law.</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s not just the threat of a jail sentence that&#8217;s the problem. People streaming live sports on Facebook are sitting ducks.</p>
<p>In Foster&#8217;s case, the fight he streamed was watermarked, which means that Sky put a tracking code into it which identified him personally as the buyer of the event. When he (or his friend, as Foster claims) streamed it on Facebook, it was trivial for Sky to capture the watermark and track it back to his Sky account.</p>
<p>Equally, it would be simplicity itself to see that the name on the Sky account had exactly the same name and details as Foster&#8217;s Facebook account. So, to most observers, it would appear that not only had Foster purchased the event, but he was also streaming it to Facebook illegally.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s important to keep something else in mind. No cooperation between Sky and Facebook would&#8217;ve been necessary to obtain Foster&#8217;s details. Take the amount of information most people share on Facebook, combine that with the information Sky already had, and the company&#8217;s anti-piracy team would have had a very easy job.</p>
<p>Now compare this situation with an upload of the same stream to a torrent site.</p>
<p>While the video capture would still contain Foster&#8217;s watermark, which would indicate the source, to prove he also distributed the video Sky would&#8217;ve needed to get inside a torrent swarm. From there they would need to capture the IP address of the initial seeder and take the case to court, to force an ISP to hand over that person&#8217;s details.</p>
<p>Presuming they were the same person, Sky would have a case, with a broadly similar level of evidence to that presented in the current matter. However, it would&#8217;ve taken them months to get their man and cost large sums of money to get there. It&#8217;s very unlikely that £5,000 would cover the costs, meaning a much, much bigger bill for the culprit.</p>
<p>Or, confident that Foster was behind the leak based on the watermark alone, Sky could&#8217;ve gone straight to the police. That never ends well.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that while live-streaming on Facebook is simplicity itself, people who do it casually from their own account (especially with watermarked content) are asking for trouble. </p>
<p>Nailing Foster was the piracy equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel but the worrying part is that he probably never gave his (or his friend&#8217;s&#8230;) alleged infringement a second thought. With a click or two, the fight was live and he was staring down the barrel of a potential jail sentence, had Sky not gone the civil route.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s scary stuff and not enough is being done to warn people of the consequences. Forget the scare stories attempting to deter people from watching fights or movies on Kodi, thoughtlessly streaming them to the public on social media is the real danger. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149703
title: “Where to Invade Next” Popular Among North Korean Pirates
uri: Where-to-Invade-Next-Popular-Among-North-Korean-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jeRajtwSlws/
content:
<p><img src="media/dd26bd7f.kimj-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kimj-1.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="224" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149789">Due to the public nature of BitTorrent transfers, it’s easy to see what a person behind a certain IP-address is downloading.</p>
<p>There are even entire sites dedicated to making this information public. This includes the ‘<a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/">I Know What You Download</a>‘ service <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/i-know-what-you-downloaded-on-bittorrent-161223/">we&#8217;ve covered</a> in the past. </p>
<p>While the data are not complete <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/judge-threatens-to-bar-copyright-troll-cases-over-lacking-ip-location-evidence-170212/">or perfect</a>, looking at the larger numbers provides some interesting insights. The site recently released its overview of the most downloaded titles in various categories per country, for example. </p>
<p>What stands out is that there&#8217;s a lot of overlap between countries that seem vastly different. </p>
<p>Game of Thrones is the most downloaded TV show in <a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/en/stat/US/annual">America</a>, but also in <a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/en/stat/IR/annual">Iran</a>, <a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/en/stat/MN/annual">Mongolia</a>, <a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/en/stat/UY/annual">Uruguay</a>, and <a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/en/stat/ZM/annual">Zambia</a>. Other popular TV-shows in 2017, such as The Flash, The Big Bang Theory, and The Walking Dead also appear in the top ten in all these countries. </p>
<p>On the movie side, a similar picture emerges. Titles such as Wonder Woman, The Fate of the Furious, and Logan appear in many of the top tens. In fact, browsing through the result for various countries there are surprisingly little outliers.</p>
<p>The movie Prityazhenie does well in Russia and in India, Dangal is among the most pirated titles, but most titles appear globally. Even in <a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/en/stat/KP/annual">North Korea</a>, where Internet access is extremely limited, Game of Thrones is listed as the most downloaded TV-show. </p>
<p>However, North Korea also shows some odd results, perhaps because there are only a few downloads per day on average. </p>
<p>Browsing through the most downloaded movies we see that there are a lot of kids&#8217; movies in the top ten, with &#8216;Despicable Me&#8217; as the top result, followed by &#8216;Moana&#8217; and &#8216;Minions&#8217;. The Hobbit trilogy also made it into the top ten.</p>
<p><center><strong>12 most pirated movies in North Korea (2017)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/f7a29477.northkorea.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/northkorea.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="552" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149799"></center></p>
<p>The most eye-catching result, however, is the Michael Moore documentary &#8216;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4897822/">Where to Invade Next</a>.&#8217; While the title may suggest something more malicious, in this travelogue Moore &#8216;invades&#8217; countries around the world to see in what areas the US can improve itself.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear why North Koreans are so interested in this progressive film. Perhaps they are trying to pick up a few tips as well. This could also explain why good old MacGyver is listed among the most downloaded TV-series. </p>
<p>The annual overview of &#8216;I Know What You Download&#8217; is available <a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/en/stat/annual">here</a>, for those who are interested in more country statistics.</p>
<p>Finally, we have to note that North Korean IP-ranges have been vulnerable to hijacks in the past so you’re never 100% sure who might be using them. It might be the Russians&#8230; </p>
<p><sup>Image credit: KNCA</sup></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149913
title: US Govt Brands Torrent, Streaming & Cyberlocker Sites As Notorious Markets
uri: US-Govt-Brands-Torrent-Streaming-Cyberlocker-Sites-As-Notorious-Mar
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hTffX2FIxE8/
content:
<p><img src="media/53fa5250.ustr.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ustr.jpg" width="175" height="175" class="alignright size-large">In its annual “Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets” the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has listed a long list of websites said to be involved in online piracy.</p>
<p>The list is compiled with high-level input from various trade groups, including the MPAA and RIAA who both submitted their recommendations (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-pirate-sites-hosts-and-ad-networks-to-us-government-171004/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-identifies-top-youtube-mp3-rippers-and-other-pirate-sites-171006/">2</a>) during early October last year.</p>
<p>With the word &#8220;allegedly&#8221; used more than two dozen times in the report, the US government notes that its report does not constitute cast-iron proof of illegal activity. However, it urges the countries from where the so-called &#8220;notorious markets&#8221; operate to take action where they can, while putting owners and facilitators on notice that their activities are under the spotlight.</p>
<p>&#8220;A goal of the List is to motivate appropriate action by owners, operators, and service providers in the private sector of these and similar markets, as well as governments, to reduce piracy and counterfeiting,&#8221; the report reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;USTR highlights the following marketplaces because they exemplify global counterfeiting and piracy concerns and because the scale of infringing activity in these marketplaces can cause significant harm to U.S. intellectual property (IP) owners, consumers, legitimate online platforms, and the economy.&#8221;</p>
<p>The report begins with a page titled &#8220;Issue Focus: Illicit Streaming Devices&#8221;. Unsurprisingly, particularly given their place in dozens of headlines last year, the segment focus on the set-top box phenomenon. The piece doesn&#8217;t list any apps or software tools as such but highlights the general position, claiming a cost to the US entertainment industry of $4-5 billion a year.</p>
<p><strong>Torrent Sites</strong></p>
<p>In common with previous years, the USTR goes on to list several of the world&#8217;s top torrent sites but due to changes in circumstances, others have been delisted. ExtraTorrent, which <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrent-shuts-down-for-good-170517/">shut down May 2017</a>, is one such example.</p>
<p>As the world&#8217;s most famous torrent site, The Pirate Bay gets a prominent mention, with the USTR noting that the site is of &#8220;symbolic importance as one of the longest-running and most vocal torrent sites. The USTR underlines the site&#8217;s resilience by noting its hydra-like form while revealing an apparent secret concerning its hosting arrangements.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Pirate Bay has allegedly had more than a dozen domains hosted in various countries around the world, applies a reverse proxy service, and uses a hosting provider in Vietnam to evade further enforcement action,&#8221; the USTR notes.</p>
<p>Other torrent sites singled out for criticism include RARBG, which was nominated for the listing by the movie industry. According to the USTR, the site is hosted in Bosnia and Herzegovina and has changed hosting services to prevent shutdowns in recent years.</p>
<p>1337x.to and the meta-search engine Torrentz2 are also given a prime mention, with the USTR noting that they are &#8220;two of the most popular torrent sites that allegedly infringe U.S. content industry’s copyrights.&#8221; Russia&#8217;s RuTracker is also targeted for criticism, with the government noting that it&#8217;s now one of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">the most popular torrent sites in the world</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Streaming &#038; Cyberlockers</strong></p>
<p>While torrent sites are still important, the USTR reserves considerable space in its report for streaming portals and cyberlocker-type services.</p>
<p>4Shared.com, a file-hosting site that has been targeted by dozens of millions of copyright notices, is reportedly no longer able to use major US payment providers. Nevertheless, the British Virgin Islands company still collects significant sums from premium accounts, advertising, and offshore payment processors, USTR notes.</p>
<p>Cyberlocker Rapidgator gets another prominent mention in 2017, with the USTR noting that the Russian-hosted platform generates millions of dollars every year through premium memberships while employing rewards and affiliate schemes.</p>
<p>Due to its increasing popularity as a hosting and streaming operation, Openload.co (Romania) is now a big target for the USTR. &#8220;The site is used frequently in combination with add-ons in illicit streaming devices. In November 2017, users visited Openload.co a staggering 270 million times,&#8221; the USTR writes.</p>
<p>Owned by a Swiss company and hosted in the Netherlands, the popular site Uploaded is also criticized by the US alongside France&#8217;s 1Fichier.com, which allegedly hosts pirate games while being largely unresponsive to takedown notices. Dopefile.pk, a Pakistan-based storage outfit, is also highlighted. </p>
<p>On the video streaming front, it&#8217;s perhaps no surprise that the USTR focuses on sites like FMovies (Sweden), GoStream (Vietnam), Movie4K.tv (Russia) and PrimeWire. An organization collectively known as the MovShare group which encompasses Nowvideo.sx, WholeCloud.net, NowDownload.cd, MeWatchSeries.to and WatchSeries.ac, among others, is also listed.</p>
<p><strong>Unauthorized music / research papers</strong></p>
<p>While most of the above are either focused on video or feature it as part of their repertoire, other sites are listed for their attention to music. Convert2MP3.net is named as one of the most popular stream-ripping sites in the world and is highlighted due to the prevalence of YouTube-downloader sites and the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-mp3-settles-with-riaa-site-will-shut-down-170904/">2017 demise of YouTube-MP3</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Convert2MP3.net does not appear to have permission from YouTube or other sites and does not have permission from right holders for a wide variety of music represented by major U.S. labels,&#8221; the USTR notes.</p>
<p>Given the amount of attention the site has received in 2017 as &#8216;The Pirate Bay of Research&#8217;, Libgen.io and Sci-Hub.io (not to mention the endless proxy and mirror sites that facilitate access) are given a detailed mention in this year&#8217;s report.</p>
<p>&#8220;Together these sites make it possible to download — all without permission and without remunerating authors, publishers or researchers — millions of copyrighted books by commercial publishers and university presses; scientific, technical and medical journal articles; and publications of technological standards,&#8221; the USTR writes.</p>
<p><strong>Service providers</strong></p>
<p>But it&#8217;s not only sites that are being put under pressure. Following a growing list of nominations in previous years, Swiss service provider Private Layer is again singled out as a rogue player in the market for hosting 1337x.to and Torrentz2.eu, among others.</p>
<p>&#8220;While the exact configuration of websites changes from year to year, this is the fourth consecutive year that the List has stressed the significant international trade impact of Private Layer’s hosting services and the allegedly infringing sites it hosts,&#8221; the USTR notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Other listed and nominated sites may also be hosted by Private Layer but are using<br>
reverse proxy services to obfuscate the true host from the public and from law enforcement.&#8221;</p>
<p>The USTR notes Switzerland&#8217;s efforts to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swiss-copyright-law-proposals-good-news-for-pirates-bad-for-pirate-sites-171124/">close a legal loophole</a> that restricts enforcement and looks forward to a positive outcome when the draft amendment is considered by parliament.</p>
<p>Perhaps a little surprisingly given its recent <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vkontakt-universal-sign-anti-piracy-licensing-deal-160718/">anti-piracy efforts</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vkontakte-ceo-time-to-remove-us-from-pirate-blacklists-160724/">overtures to the US</a>, Russia&#8217;s leading social network VK.com again gets a place on the new list. The USTR recognizes VK&#8217;s efforts but insists that more needs to be done.</p>
<p><strong>Social networking and e-commerce</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;In 2016, VK reached licensing agreements with major record companies, took steps to limit third-party applications dedicated to downloading infringing content from the site, and experimented with content recognition technologies,&#8221; the USTR writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Despite these positive signals, VK reportedly continues to be a hub of infringing activity and the U.S. motion picture industry reports that they find thousands of infringing files on the site each month.&#8221; </p>
<p>Finally, in addition to traditional pirate sites, the US also lists online marketplaces that allegedly fail to meet appropriate standards. Re-added to the list in 2016 after a brief hiatus in 2015, China&#8217;s Alibaba is listed again in 2017. The development provoked an angry response from the company. </p>
<p>Describing his company as a &#8220;scapegoat&#8221;, Alibaba Group President Michael Evans said that his platform had achieved a 25% drop in takedown requests and has even been removing infringing listings before they make it online.</p>
<p>&#8220;In light of all this, it&#8217;s clear that no matter how much action we take and progress we make, the USTR is not actually interested in seeing tangible results,&#8221; Evans <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alibaba-ustr/alibabas-taobao-again-on-u-s-blacklist-list-for-fakes-idUSKBN1F12DE">said</a> in a statement.</p>
<p>The full list of sites in the Notorious Markets Report 2017 (<a href="media/5546994c.2017-Notorious-Markets-List-1.11.18.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/2017-Notorious-Markets-List-1.11.18.pdf">pdf</a>) can be found below.</p>
<p>&#8211; 1fichier.com &#8211; (cyberlocker)<br>
&#8211; 4shared.com &#8211; (cyberlocker)<br>
&#8211; convert2mp3.net &#8211; (stream-ripper)<br>
&#8211; Dhgate.com (e-commerce)<br>
&#8211; Dopefile.pl &#8211; (cyberlocker)<br>
&#8211; Firestorm-servers.com (pirate gaming service)<br>
&#8211; Fmovies.is, Fmovies.se, Fmovies.to &#8211; (streaming)<br>
&#8211; Gostream.is, Gomovies.to, 123movieshd.to (streaming)<br>
&#8211; Indiamart.com (e-commerce)<br>
&#8211; Kinogo.club, kinogo.co (streaming host, platform)<br>
&#8211; Libgen.io, sci-hub.io, libgen.pw, sci-hub.cc, sci-hub.bz, libgen.info, lib.rus.ec, bookfi.org, bookzz.org, booker.org, booksc.org, book4you.org, bookos-z1.org, booksee.org, b-ok.org (research downloads)<br>
&#8211; Movshare Group &#8211; Nowvideo.sx, wholecloud.net, auroravid.to, bitvid.sx, nowdownload.ch, cloudtime.to, mewatchseries.to, watchseries.ac (streaming)<br>
&#8211; Movie4k.tv (streaming)<br>
&#8211; MP3VA.com (music)<br>
&#8211; Openload.co (cyberlocker / streaming)<br>
&#8211; 1337x.to (torrent site)<br>
&#8211; Primewire.ag (streaming)<br>
&#8211; Torrentz2, Torrentz2.me, Torrentz2.is (torrent site)<br>
&#8211; Rarbg.to (torrent site)<br>
&#8211; Rebel (domain company)<br>
&#8211; Repelis.tv (movie and TV linking)<br>
&#8211; RuTracker.org (torrent site)<br>
&#8211; Rapidgator.net (cyberlocker)<br>
&#8211; Taobao.com (e-commerce)<br>
&#8211; The Pirate Bay (torrent site)<br>
&#8211; TVPlus, TVBrowser, Kuaikan (streaming apps and addons, China)<br>
&#8211; Uploaded.net (cyberlocker)<br>
&#8211; VK.com (social networking)</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149918
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 01/15/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-01-15-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8z-0G_D5xCY/
content:
<p><img src="media/a146cb86.shapewater1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/shapewater1.png" alt="" width="300" height="192" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149920">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>The Shape of Water is the most downloaded movie again.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-010818/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580390/">The Shape of Water</a> (DVDScr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580390/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lFbcsmrWTg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283362/">Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle </a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283362/">7.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QKg5SZ_35I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/">Blade Runner 2049 </a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCcx85zbxz4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">Coco</a> (DVDscr)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/">8.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga6RYejo6Hk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3348730/">Jigsaw </a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3348730/">6.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcb68kAOvt4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">Justice League</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-DM9uBtVI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">Dunkirk</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ01tJ4EWeg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6359956/">A Bad mom&#8217;s Christmas</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6359956/">5.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFfxsrFDkHE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4106376/">Renegades</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4106376/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl8INGEnrbQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5519340/">Bright</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5519340/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZCBSsBxko">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149915
title: Tickbox Clearly Promotes and Facilitates Piracy, Hollywood Tells Court
uri: Tickbox-Clearly-Promotes-and-Facilitates-Piracy-Hollywood-Tells-Cour
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mDd0imrhFvY/
content:
<p><img src="media/d10d8b10.tickbox.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tickbox.png" alt="" width="250" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145879">The rising popularity of piracy streaming boxes has turned into Hollywood&#8217;s main piracy concern in recent months. </p>
<p>While the hardware and media players such as Kodi are not a problem, sellers who ship devices with unauthorized add-ons turn them into fully-fledged piracy machines. </p>
<p>According to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (<a href="http://alliance4creativity.com/">ACE</a>), an anti-piracy partnership comprised of Hollywood studios, Netflix, Amazon, and more than two dozen other companies, <a href="https://www.tickboxtv.com/">Tickbox TV</a> is one of these bad actors.</p>
<p>Last year, ACE <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">filed a lawsuit</a> against the Georgia-based company, which sells set-top boxes that allow users to stream a variety of popular media. The Tickbox devices use the Kodi media player and comes with instructions on how to add various add-ons.</p>
<p>According to ACE, these devices are nothing more than pirate tools, allowing buyers to stream copyright-infringing content. The coalition, therefore, asked the court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-and-netflix-ask-court-to-seize-tickbox-streaming-devices-171209/">for a permanent injunction</a> to remove all infringing add-ons from previously sold devices.</p>
<p>Tickbox <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/our-kodi-box-is-legal-our-users-dont-break-the-law-tickbox-tells-hollywood-171229/">maintained its innocence</a>, however. The company informed the court that its box is a simple computer like any other, which is perfectly legal. </p>
<p>According to Tickbox, they don&#8217;t have anything to do with the infringing &#8220;Themes&#8221; that users can select on their device. These themes feature several addons that link to infringing content. </p>
<p>This explanation doesn&#8217;t sit well with the movie companies, which submitted a reply to the court late last week. They claim that Tickbox is deliberately downplaying their own role, as they are the ones who decided to make these themes accessible through their boxes.</p>
<p>&#8220;TickBox falsely claims that the presence of these &#8216;Themes&#8217; on TickBox devices &#8216;have nothing to do with Defendant&#8217;,&#8221; ACE&#8217;s reply reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;To the contrary, TickBox intentionally chooses which &#8216;Themes&#8217; to include on its &#8216;Select your Theme&#8217; menu for the TickBox TV interface, and TickBox pushes out automatic software updates to its customers’ TickBox TV devices.&#8221;</p>
<p>The movie companies also dispute Tickbox&#8217;s argument that they don&#8217;t induce copyright infringement because their device is “simply a small computer” that has many legitimate uses. </p>
<p>This liability question isn&#8217;t about whether Tickbox stores any infringing material or runs pirate streams through their servers, they counter. It&#8217;s about the intended use and how Tickbox promotes its product.</p>
<p>&#8220;TickBox’s liability arises based on its advertising and promoting TickBox TV as a tool for infringing use, and from designing and including software on the device that encourages access to infringing streams from third-party sources.&#8221;</p>
<p>ACE notes that, unlike Tickbox claims, the current case shows a lot of parallels with previous landmark cases including Grokster and Fung [isoHunt].</p>
<p>The isoHunt website didn&#8217;t store and infringing material, nor was it crucial in the torrent piracy ecosystem. However, it was liable because the operator willingly facilitated copyright infringing activity. This is what Tickbox does too, according to ACE.</p>
<p>&#8220;TickBox &#8216;competes&#8217; with legitimate services by telling customers that they can access the same content available from legitimate distributors &#8216;ABSOLUTELY FREE&#8217; and that customers therefore &#8216;will find that you no longer need those subscriptions&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
<p>The movie companies therefore ask the court to issue the requested injunction. They want all existing devices to be impounded and Tickbox should, through an update, remove infringing addons from already sold devices.</p>
<p>Tickbox argued that this would require them to &#8220;hack into&#8221; their customers&#8217; boxes and delete content. ACE, however, says that this is a simple update and nothing different from what the company has done in the past. </p>
<p>&#8220;The proposed injunction would merely obligate TickBox to make good on its halfhearted and ineffective efforts to do what it claims to have already done: remove Kodi builds with illicit addons from TickBox TV,&#8221; ACE writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;As demonstrated by TickBox’s own, repeated software updates since the filing of Plaintiffs’ Complaint, TickBox has the means and ability to easily and remotely change what options users see and can access on their TickBox TVs.&#8221;</p>
<p>After having heard the arguments from both sides, it&#8217;s now up to the California federal court to decide who&#8217;s right. </p>
<p>The current case should set an important precedent. In addition to Tickbox, ACE also filed a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rightsholders-launch-landmark-case-against-pirate-android-box-sellers-180112/">similar lawsuit against Dragon Box</a>. Clearly, the coalition is determined to get these alleged pirate devices off the market.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of ACE&#8217;s reply is available <a href="media/425c55e1.replytotickreply.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/replytotickreply.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149954
title: Hollywood Wins ISP Blockade Against Popular Pirate Sites in Ireland
uri: Hollywood-Wins-ISP-Blockade-Against-Popular-Pirate-Sites-in-Ireland
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/p7wU86lAErU/
content:
<p><img src="media/52c7134a.irelandflag.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/irelandflag.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="153" class="alignright size-full wp-image-137406">Like many other countries throughout Europe, Ireland is no stranger to pirate site blocking efforts.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay was blocked back in 2009, as part of a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/eircom-agrees-to-block-pirate-bay-access-090820/">voluntary agreement</a> between copyright holders and local ISP Eircom. A few years later the High Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/high-court-gives-irish-isps-30-days-to-block-the-pirate-bay-130612/">ordered</a> other major Internet providers to follow suit. </p>
<p>However, The Pirate Bay is not the only &#8216;infringing&#8217; site out there. The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has therefore asked the Commercial Court to expand the blockades to other sites. </p>
<p>On behalf of several major Hollywood studios, the group most recently targeted a group of the most used torrent and streaming sites; 1337x.io, EZTV.ag, Bmovies.is, 123movieshub.to, Putlocker.io, RARBG.to,  Gowatchfreemovies.to and YTS.am.</p>
<p>On Monday the Commercial Court sided with the movie studios ordering all major Irish ISPs to block the sites. The latest order applies to Eircom, Sky Ireland, Vodafone Ireland, Virgin Media Ireland, Three Ireland, Digiweb, Imagine Telecommunications and Magnet Networks.</p>
<p>According to Justice Brian McGovern, the movie studios had made it clear that the sites in question infringed their copyrights. As such, there are &#8220;significant public interest grounds&#8221; to have them blocked. </p>
<p>Irish Examiner <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/court-grants-blocking-order-against-websites-which-allow-users-stream-and-download-film-and-tv-content-822882.html">reports</a> that none of the ISPs opposed the blocking request. This means that new pirate site blockades are mostly a formality now.</p>
<p>MPA EMEA President and Managing Director Stan McCoy is happy with the outcome, which he says will help to secure jobs in the movie industry.</p>
<p>“As the Irish film industry is continuing to thrive, the MPA is dedicated to supporting that growth by combatting the operations of illegal sites that undermine the sustainability of the sector,&#8221; McCoy says.</p>
<p>“Preventing these pirate sites from freely disturbing other people’s work will help us provide greater job security for the 18,000 people employed through the Irish film industry and ensure that consumers can continue to enjoy high quality content in the future.”</p>
<p>The MPA also obtained similar blocks against movie4k.to, primewire.ag, and onwatchseries.to. last year, which remain in effect to date.</p>
<p>The torrent and streaming sites that were targeted most recently have millions of visitors worldwide. While the blockades will make it harder for the Irish to access them directly, history has shown that some people circumvent these measures or simply move to other sites.</p>
<p>Several of the targeted sites themselves are also keeping a close eye on these blocking efforts and are providing users with alternative domains to bypass the restrictions, at least temporarily.</p>
<p>As such, it would be no surprise if the Hollywood studios return to the Commercial Court again in a few months. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149990
title: BitTorrent Client Transmission Suffers Remote Takeover Vulnerability
uri: BitTorrent-Client-Transmission-Suffers-Remote-Takeover-Vulnerability
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/WltMnINZVP0/
content:
<p><img src="media/0dfd6159.transmission-2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/transmission-2.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-118927">With millions of active users, <a href="https://transmissionbt.com/">Transmission</a> is one of the most used BitTorrent clients around, particularly for Mac users.</p>
<p>The application has been around for more than a decade and has a great reputation. However, as with any other type of software, it is not immune to vulnerabilities. </p>
<p>One rather concerning flaw was made public by Google vulnerability researcher <a href="https://twitter.com/taviso">Tavis Ormandy</a> a few days ago. <a href="https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1447">The flaw</a> allows outsiders to gain access to Transmission via DNS rebinding. This ultimately allows attackers to control the BitTorrent client and execute custom code. </p>
<p>Ormandy has <a href="https://github.com/transmission/transmission/pull/468">published a patch</a>, which was also shared with the private Transmission security list at the end of November. Transmission, however, has yet to address the issue in an update. </p>
<p>The relatively slow response was the reason why Ormandy decided to make it public before <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Zero">Project Zero&#8217;s</a> usual 90-day window expired, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/01/bittorrent-users-beware-flaw-lets-hackers-control-your-computer/">Ars highlights</a>. This allows other projects to address the vulnerability right away. </p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m finding it frustrating that the transmission developers are not responding on their private security list,&#8221; Google&#8217;s vulnerability researcher writes. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never had an opensource project take this long to fix a vulnerability before, so I usually don&#8217;t even mention the 90 day limit if the vulnerability is in an open source project.&#8221;</p>
<p>A member of the Transmission developer team <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/01/bittorrent-users-beware-flaw-lets-hackers-control-your-computer/">informed</a> Ars that they will address this ASAP, noting that the issue only affects users who have remote control enabled with the default password. This means that people who disable it or change their password can easily &#8216;patch&#8217; it until the official update comes out.</p>
<p>Interestingly, this isn&#8217;t the last BitTorrent related vulnerability Ormandy plans to expose. According to one of his tweets on the matter, <a href="https://twitter.com/taviso/status/951526615145566208">this is</a> just the &#8220;first of a few remote code execution flaws in various popular torrent clients.&#8221;</p>
<p>Judging from a message the researcher sent <a href="https://twitter.com/taviso/status/935690253091741697">late November</a>, uTorrent is on the list as well. Apparently, the company&#8217;s security email address wasn&#8217;t set up correctly at the time, so BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen has been acting as a <a href="https://twitter.com/bramcohen/status/935792415486513154">forwarding service</a>.</p>
<p><center><strong>uTorrent?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/c7ec9f05.tavisnov.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tavisnov.png" alt="" width="584" height="305" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-149994"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149956
title: The Man from Earth Sequel ‘Pirated’ on The Pirate Bay – By Its Creators
uri: The-Man-from-Earth-Sequel-Pirated-on-The-Pirate-Bay-By-Its-C
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/68HQyRI0BOU/
content:
<p><a href="media/2c6e78d0.holocene.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/holocene.jpg"><img src="media/aae76cad.holocene.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/holocene.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="338" class="alignright size-full wp-image-149973"></a>More than a decade ago, Hollywood was struggling to get to grips with the file-sharing phenomenon. Sharing via BitTorrent was painted as a disease that could kill the movie industry, if it was allowed to take hold. Tough action was the only way to defeat it, the suits concluded.</p>
<p>In 2007, however, a most unusual turn of events showed that piracy could have a magical effect on the success of a movie.</p>
<p>After being produced on a tiny budget, a then little-known independent sci-fi film called &#8220;The Man from Earth&#8221; turned up on pirate sites, to the surprise of its creators.</p>
<p>&#8220;Originally, somebody got hold of a promotional screener DVD of &#8216;Jerome Bixby&#8217;s The Man from Earth&#8217;, ripped the file and posted the movie online before we knew what was even happening,&#8221; Man from Earth director Richard Schenkman informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;A week or two before the DVD&#8217;s &#8216;street date&#8217;, we jumped 11,000% on the IMDb &#8216;Moviemeter&#8217; and we were shocked.&#8221;</p>
<p>With pirates fueling interest in the movie, a member of the team took an unusual step. Producer Eric Wilkinson wrote to RLSlog, a popular piracy links site &#8211; not to berate pirates &#8211; but to thank them for catapulting the movie to fame.</p>
<p>“Our independent movie had next to no advertising budget and very little going for it until somebody ripped one of the DVD screeners and put the movie online for all to download. Most of the feedback from everyone who has downloaded &#8216;The Man From Earth&#8217; has been overwhelmingly positive. People like our movie and are talking about it, all thanks to piracy on the net!” he <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/producer-thanks-pirates-for-stealing-his-film-071113/">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>Richard Schenkman told TF this morning that availability on file-sharing networks was important for the movie, since it wasn&#8217;t available through legitimate means in most countries. So, the team called out to fans for help, if they&#8217;d pirated the movie and had liked what they&#8217;d seen.</p>
<p>&#8220;Once we realized what was going on, we asked people to make donations to our PayPal page if they saw the movie for free and liked it, because we had all worked for nothing for two years to bring it to the screen, and the only chance we had of surviving financially was to ask people to support us and the project,&#8221; Schenkman explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;And, happily, many people around the world did donate, although of course only a tiny fraction of the millions and millions of people who downloaded pirated copies.&#8221;</p>
<p>Following this early boost The Man from Earth went on to win multiple awards. And, a decade on, it boasts a hugely commendable 8/10 score on IMDb from more than 147,000 voters, with Netflix users leaving over <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/2013/09/how-piracy-helped-the-man-from-earth-become-a-viral-sensation-and-inspired-a-sequel-34956/">650,000 ratings</a>, which reportedly translates to well over a million views.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a performance director Richard Schenkman would like to repeat with his sequel: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5770864/">The Man from Earth: Holocene</a>. This time, however, he won&#8217;t be leaving the piracy aspect to chance.</p>
<p>Yesterday the team behind the movie took matters into their own hands, uploading the movie to The Pirate Bay and other sites so that fans can help themselves.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was going to get uploaded regardless of what we did or didn&#8217;t do, and we figured that as long as this was inevitable, we would do the uploading ourselves and explain why we were doing it,&#8221; Schenkman informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;And, we would once again reach out to the filesharing community and remind them that while movies may be free to watch, they are not free to make, and we need their support.&#8221;</p>
<p>The release, listed here on The Pirate Bay, comes with detailed notes and a few friendly pointers on how the release can be further shared. It also informs people how they can show their appreciation if they like it.</p>
<p><center><b>The Man from Earth: Holocene on The Pirate Bay</b><a href="media/a562379b.holocene1nfo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/holocene1nfo.png"><img src="media/5dff1801.holocene1nfo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/holocene1nfo.png" alt="" width="616" height="753" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-149975"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a revolutionary global experiment in the honor system. We&#8217;re asking people: &#8216;If you watch our movie, and you like it, will you pay something directly to the people who made it?&#8217;,&#8221; Schenkman says.</p>
<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re so grateful to all of you who visit <a href="http://www.ManFromEarth.com">ManFromEarth.com</a> and make a donation &#8211; of any size &#8211; if you&#8217;ve watched the movie without paying for it up front.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition to using The Pirate Bay &#8211; which is often and incorrectly berated as a purely &#8216;pirate&#8217; platform with no legitimate uses &#8211; the team has also teamed up with <a href="https://forum.opensubtitles.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&#038;t=16106">OpenSubtitles</a>, so translations for the movie are available right from the beginning.</p>
<p>Other partners include MovieSaints.com, where fans can <a href="https://www.moviesaints.com/#!/movie/man-from-earth-holocene">pay to see the movie</a> from January 19 but get a full refund if they don&#8217;t enjoy it. It&#8217;s also available on Vimeo (see below) but the version seen by pirates is slightly different, and for good reason, Schenkman says.</p>
<p>&#8220;This version of the movie includes a greeting from me at the beginning, pointing out that we did indeed upload the movie ourselves, and asking people to visit manfromearth.com and make a donation if they can afford to, and if they enjoyed the film.</p>
<p>&#8220;The version we posted is very high-resolution, although we are also sharing some smaller files for those folks who have a slow Internet connection where they live,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re asking people to share ONLY this version of the movie &#8212; NOT to edit off the appeal message. And of course we&#8217;re asking people not to post the movie at YouTube or any other platform where someone (other than us) could profit financially from it. That would not be fair, nor in keeping with the spirit of what we&#8217;re trying to do.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not often we&#8217;re able to do this so it&#8217;s a pleasure to say that The Man from Earth: Holocene can be downloaded from The Pirate Bay, in various qualities and entirely legally, <a href="https://thepiratebay.org/search/The%20Man%20From%20Earth:%20Holocene/0/99/0">here</a>. For those who want to show their appreciation, the <a href="https://www.paypal.me/ManFromEarthHolocene">tip jar is here</a>.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/220836935" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/220836935">&quot;The Man from Earth: Holocene&quot;   Teaser Trailer</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user452985">Richard Schenkman</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149952
title: Kim Dotcom Loses Megaupload Domain Names, Gets “Destroyed” Gaming Chair Back
uri: Kim-Dotcom-Loses-Megaupload-Domain-Names-Gets-Destroyed-Gaming
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/n45BmEHCCHc/
content:
<p><img src="media/bf96111a.megauploadsong.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megauploadsong.jpg" alt="" width="255" height="174" class="alignright size-full wp-image-146015">Following the 2012 raid on Megaupload and Kim Dotcom, U.S. and New Zealand authorities seized millions of dollars in cash and other property, located around the world.</p>
<p>Claiming the assets were obtained through copyright and money laundering crimes, the U.S. government launched separate civil cases in which it asked the court to forfeit bank accounts, servers, domain names, and other seized possessions of the Megaupload defendants.</p>
<p>One of these cases <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-wins-dozens-of-millions-from-kim-dotcom-150326/">was lost</a> after the U.S. branded Dotcom and his colleagues as “fugitives”.The defense team appealed the ruling, but lost again, and a subsequent petition at the Supreme Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-opposes-kim-dotcoms-supreme-court-petition-over-seized-millions-170613/">was denied</a>.</p>
<p>Following this lost battle, the U.S. also moved to conclude a separate civil forfeiture case, which was still pending at a federal court in Virginia.  </p>
<p>The assets <a href="media/331d158a.seizedassets.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/seizedassets.pdf">listed</a> in this case are several bank accounts, including several at PayPal, as well as 60 servers Megaupload bought at Leaseweb. What has the most symbolic value, however, are the domain names that were seized, including Megaupload.com, Megaporn.com and Megavideo.com. </p>
<p><center><strong>Mega&#8217;s domains</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b5e95e20.megadomains1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megadomains1.png" alt="" width="581" height="261" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-150024"></center></p>
<p>This week a U.S. federal court decided that all claims of Kim Dotcom, his former colleague Mathias Ortman, and several Megaupload-related companies should be stricken. A <a href="media/3694cc2d.megadefault.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/megadefault.pdf">default</a> was entered against them on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The same fugitive disentitlement argument was used in this case. This essentially means that someone who&#8217;s considered to be a fugitive from justice is not allowed to get relief from the judicial system he or she evades.</p>
<p>&#8220;Claimants Kim Dotcom and Mathias Ortmann have deliberately avoided prosecution by declining to enter or reenter the United States,&#8221; Judge Liam O&#8217;Grady writes in his order to strike the claims.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because Claimant Kim Dotcom, who is himself a fugitive under Section 2466, is the Corporate Claimants’ controlling shareholder and, in particular, because he signed the claims on behalf of the corporations, a presumption of disentitlement applies to the corporations as well.&#8221; </p>
<p>As a result, the domain names which once served 50 million users per day, are now lost to the US Government. The court records list 18 domains in total, which were registered through Godaddy, DotRegistrar, and Fabulous.</p>
<p>Given the legal history, the domains and other assets are likely lost for good. However, Megaupload defense lawyer Ira Rothken is not giving up yet. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are still evaluating the legal options in a climate where Kim Dotcom is being labeled a fugitive in a US criminal copyright case even though he has never been to the US, is merely asserting his US-NZ extradition treaty rights, and the NZ High Court has ruled that he and his co-defendants did not commit criminal copyright infringement under NZ law,&#8221; Rothken tells TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>There might be a possibility that assets located outside the US could be saved. Foreign courts are more open to defense arguments, it seems, as a Hong Kong court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-asks-court-for-829k-to-fund-family-expenses-171102/">previously ordered</a> the US to return several assets belonging to Kim Dotcom.</p>
<p>The Hong Kong case also brought some good news this week. At least, something that was supposed to be positive. On Twitter, Dotcom writes that two containers with seized assets were returned, but in a &#8220;rotten and destroyed&#8221; state.</p>
<p>&#8220;A shipment of 2 large containers just arrived in New Zealand. This is how all my stuff looks now. Rotten &#038; destroyed. Photo: My favorite gaming chair,&#8221; Dotcom <a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/953351393410129920">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>According to Dotcom, the US Government asked him to pay for ‘climate controlled’ storage for more than half a decade to protect the seized goods. However, judging from the look of the chair and the state of some other belongings, something clearly went wrong.</p>
<p><center><strong>Rotten &#038; destroyed</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/38a1681e.gemingchair.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gemingchair.png" alt="" width="592" height="638" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-150018"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=149988
title: Pirate IPTV Mastermind Owns Raided Bulgarian ISP, Sources Say
uri: Pirate-IPTV-Mastermind-Owns-Raided-Bulgarian-ISP-Sources-Say
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0_zcDl6vdX0/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034"></a>Last Tuesday a year-long investigation <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/europol-hits-huge-500000-subscriber-pirate-iptv-operation-180111/">came to a climax</a> when the Intellectual Property Crime Unit of the Cypriot Police teamed up with the Cybercrime Division of the Greek Police, the Dutch Fiscal Investigative and Intelligence Service (FIOD), the Cybercrime Unit of the Bulgarian Police, Europol’s Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition (IPC³), and the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), to raid a &#8216;pirate&#8217; TV operation.</p>
<p>Official information didn&#8217;t become freely available until later in the week but across Cyprus, Bulgaria and Greece there were at least 17 house searches and individuals aged 43, 44, and 53 were arrested in Cyprus and remanded in custody for seven days.</p>
<p>According to Europol, the IPTV operation was considerable, offering 1,200 channels to as many as 500,000 subscribers around the world. Although early financial estimates in cases like these are best taken with a grain of salt, latest claims suggest revenues of five million euros a month, 60 million euros per year.</p>
<p><center><b>Part of the IPTV operation</b> <em>(credit:Europol)</em><a href="media/180a8955.IPTV-bulgaria.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/IPTV-bulgaria.jpg"><img src="media/9a3250b6.IPTV-bulgaria.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/IPTV-bulgaria.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="733" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-150003"></a></center></p>
<p>As previously reported, so-called &#8216;front servers&#8217; (servers designed to hide the main servers&#8217; true location) were discovered in the Netherlands. Additionally, it&#8217;s now being reported by Cypriot media that nine suspects from an unnamed Internet service provider housing the servers were arrested and taken in for questioning. But the intrigue doesn&#8217;t stop there.</p>
<p>Well in advance of Europol&#8217;s statement late last week, TorrentFreak was informed by a source that police in Bulgaria had targeted a specific ISP called MegaByte Internet, located in the small town of Petrich. After returning online after a couple of days&#8217; downtime, the ISP responded to some of our questions, detailed in our <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-were-cooperating-with-police-following-pirate-iptv-raid-180113/">earlier interview</a>.</p>
<p>“We were informed by the police that some of our clients in Petrich and Sofia were using our service for illegal streaming and actions,” a company spokesperson said.</p>
<p>“Of course, we were not able to know this because our services are unmanaged and root access [to servers] is given to our clients. For this reason any client and anyone that uses our services are responsible for their own actions.”</p>
<p>Other questions went unanswered but yesterday fresh <a href="http://www.philenews.com/koinonia/eidiseis/article/475689/anamenontai-ki-alles-erevnes-ga-ta-peiratika-kanalia">information</a> coming out of Cyprus certainly helped to fill in the gaps &#8211; and then some.</p>
<p>Philenews reports that a total of 140 servers were seized in Bulgaria &#8211; 60 from the headquarters of MegaByte Internet and four other custom locations, and 80 from two other locations in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.</p>
<p>At least as far as locations go, this ties in with a statement provided by MegaByte to TF last week which claimed that some of its equipment was seized from Telepoint, Bulgaria’s biggest datacenter.</p>
<p><center><b>Viewing cards facilitating feeds&#8230;</b><a href="media/2656bfba.IPTV-2-bulgaria.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/IPTV-2-bulgaria.jpg"><img src="media/b0ddf6bc.IPTV-2-bulgaria.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/IPTV-2-bulgaria.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="413" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-150004" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/IPTV-2-bulgaria.jpg 550w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/IPTV-2-bulgaria-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px"></a></center></p>
<p>We now know that ten employees of MegaByte were interrogated by the police but perhaps the biggest revelation is that the owner of the Internet service provider is now being openly named as the brains behind the entire operation.</p>
<p>Philenews reports that 47-year-old businessman Christos Apostolos Samaras from Greece, who has owned and run MegaByte since 2009, is the individual Europol reported as being arrested in Bulgaria last week.</p>
<p>In addition to linking him to MegaByte Internet&#8217;s domain, various searches indicate that Samaras is also connected to <a href="http://1stream.org/">1Stream</a>, a hosting company dedicated to providing bandwidth for streaming purposes. </p>
<p>The investigation continues.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=150052
title: UK Government Teaches 7-Year-Olds That Piracy is Stealing
uri: UK-Government-Teaches-7-Year-Olds-That-Piracy-is-Stealing
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/udFlReets2Y/
content:
<p><img src="media/172de700.ed-shealing.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ed-shealing.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="172" class="alignright size-full wp-image-150055">In 2014, Mike Weatherley, the UK Government&#8217;s top IP advisor at the time, offered a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-ip-chief-wants-schools-to-teach-copyright-ethics-and-morals-141011/">recommendation</a> that copyright education should be added to the school curriculum, starting with the youngest kids in primary school.</p>
<p>New generations should learn copyright moral and ethics, the idea was, and a few months later the first version of the new &#8220;<a href="http://crackingideas.com/">Cracking Ideas</a>&#8221; curriculum was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-education-enters-uk-classrooms-160104/">made public</a>.</p>
<p>In the years that followed new course material was added, published by the UK&#8217;s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) with support from the local copyright industry. The teaching material is aimed at a variety of ages, including those who have just started primary school.</p>
<p>Part of the education features a fictitious cartoon band called <a href="http://crackingideas.com/third_party/Nancy+and+the+Meerkats">Nancy and the Meerkats</a>. With help from their manager, they learn key copyright insights and this week several new videos were published, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42704764">BBC</a> points out. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/funkidseducation/videos">videos</a> try to explain concepts including copyright, trademarks, and how people can protect the things they&#8217;ve created. Interestingly, the videos themselves use names of existing musicians, with puns such as Ed Shealing, Justin Beaver, and the evil Kitty Perry. Even Nancy and the Meerkats appears to be a play on the classic 1970s cartoon series Josie and the Pussycats, featuring a pop band of the same name.</p>
<p>The play on Ed Sheeran&#8217;s name is interesting, to say the least. While he&#8217;s one of the most popular artists today, he also mentioned in the past that file-sharing made his career.</p>
<p>“&#8230;illegal fire sharing was what made me. It was students in England going to university, sharing my songs with each other,” Sheeran said in an <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ed-sheeran-reinventing-pop-music/">interview with CBS</a> last year. </p>
<p>But that didn&#8217;t stop the IPO from using his likeness for their anti-file-sharing campaign. According to Catherine Davies of IPO&#8217;s education outreach department, knowledge about key intellectual property issues is a &#8220;life skill&#8221; nowadays.</p>
<p>&#8220;In today&#8217;s digital environment, even very young people are IP consumers, accessing online digital content independently and regularly,&#8221; she tells the BBC. &#8220;A basic understanding of IP and a respect for others&#8217; IP rights is therefore a key life skill.&#8221;</p>
<p>While we doubt that these concepts will appeal to the average five-year-old, the course material does it best to simplify complex copyright issues. Perhaps that&#8217;s also where the danger lies. </p>
<p>The program is in part backed by copyright-reliant industries, who have a different view on the matter than many others. For example, a previously published video of Nancy and the Meerkats deals with the topic of file-sharing. </p>
<p>After the Meerkats found out that people were downloading their tracks from pirate sites and became outraged, their manager Big Joe explained that file-sharing is just the same as stealing a CD from a physical store.</p>
<p>&#8220;In a way, all those people who downloaded free copies are doing the same thing as walking out of the shop with a CD and forgetting to go the till,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>&#8220;What these sites are doing is sometimes called piracy. It not only affects music but also videos, books, and movies.If someone owns the copyright to something, well, it is stealing. Simple as that,&#8221; Big Joe adds.</p>
<p><center><strong>The Pirates of the Internet!</strong><br></br></center><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/GhZJLr5BWC4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>While we won&#8217;t go into the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-is-not-theft-111104/">copying vs. stealing</a> debate, it&#8217;s interesting that there is no mention of more liberal copyright licenses. There are thousands of artists who freely share their work after all, by adopting Creative Commons licenses for example. Downloading these tracks is certainly not stealing.</p>
<p>Jim Killock, director of the Open Rights Group, notes that the campaign is a bit extreme at points.</p>
<p>“Infringing copyright is a bad thing, but it is not the same as physical theft. Many children will guess that making a copy is not the same as making off with the local store’s chocolate bars,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>“Children aren’t born bureaucrats, and they are surrounded by stupid rules made by stupid adults. Presumably, the IPO doesn’t want children to conclude that copyright is just another one, so they should be a bit more careful with how they explain things.&#8221;</p>
<p>Killock also stresses that children copy a lot of things in school, which would normally violate copyright. However, thanks to the educational exceptions they&#8217;re not getting in trouble. The IPO could pay more attention to these going forward. </p>
<p>Perhaps Nancy and the Meerkats could decide to release a free to share track in a future episode, for example, and encourage kids to use it for their own remixes, or other creative projects. Creativity and copyright are not all about restrictions, after all. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">VPN discounts, offers and coupons</a></p>
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