# articles

feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184131
title: Spotify Hits Windows Software That Downloads Tracks & Removes DRM
uri: Spotify-Hits-Windows-Software-That-Downloads-Tracks-Removes-DRM
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OcaklFPndjg/
content:
<p><a href="media/c0d2aa8a.spotify2.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/spotify2.jpg"><img src="media/c0d2aa8a.spotify2.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/spotify2.jpg" alt="" width="229" height="230" class="alignright size-full wp-image-138752" /></a>With more than 271 million users across 79 markets, Spotify is the most popular music streaming service in the world.</p>
<p>Its 50 million song library is accessed by 124 million paying subscribers, who gain additional features such as an ad-free experience and the ability to download tracks to their own devices for offline listening. These tracks are encrypted so can&#8217;t be used outside the Spotify software, at least by conventional means.</p>
<p>One tool that turns this business model on its head is Windows-based application XSpotify. The tool has gained popularity for a number of reasons, not least its ability to remove DRM from the tracks stored in Spotify&#8217;s extensive library and permanently download them for keeping on users&#8217; machines.</p>
<p>XSpotify has been quietly growing its userbase, offering track downloads from both free Spotify accounts (in 160 kb/s, 32-bit, 44100 Hz .ogg) and premium accounts (in 320 kb/s, 32-bit, 44100 Hz .ogg) while pulling down metadata such as artist, title, and album covers. Considering the above and its ability to block ads, it&#8217;s no surprise that Spotify eventually took legal action to tackle the spread of the tool.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/be26a3c7.xspotify-ss-e1584103894302.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/xspotify-ss-e1584103894302.png"><img src="media/be26a3c7.xspotify-ss-e1584103894302.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/xspotify-ss-e1584103894302.png" alt="" width="650" height="321" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184137" /></a></center></p>
<p>This week, Washington-based law firm Perkins Coie LLP sent a broad takedown notice to Github, where XSpotify was available for download, citing breaches of the DMCA by the app and its developer.</p>
<p>&#8220;Copyrighted files on Spotify’s services are protected by encryption. Spotify uses a key to decrypt the copyrighted files so legitimate users can listen to the copyrighted files through the Spotify services. Spotify’s encryption system prevents users from listening to copyrighted works without Spotify’s decryption key,&#8221; the notice reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;XSpotify states that it is a &#8216;DRM bypass&#8217; that allows users to &#8216;Download all songs directly from Spotify servers.&#8217; XSpotify’s technology circumvents Spotify’s encryption by stealing the Spotify key and using it in a way Spotify prohibits, namely, enabling users to access encrypted copyrighted content without authorization.</p>
<p>&#8220;By providing technology that circumvents Spotify’s access controls, XSpotify violates 17 U.S.C. §§ 1201(a)(2),&#8221; the law firm <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2020/03/2020-03-11-spotify.md">writes</a>.</p>
<p>The section of US law cited by Spotify&#8217;s attorneys is clear. Among other things, it states that no person shall offer any technology to the public that is &#8220;primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition to removing the main XSpotify repository, Github was also ordered to delete almost 130 others that carried forks of the popular tool. At the time of writing, every repository reported by Spotify as infringing has been removed. Of course, XSpotify is still available for download from other locations but whether its developer will continue his work after this warning shot is yet to be seen.</p>
<p><Center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E8a-dB1HIQU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=183934
title: Serious Copyright Infringers Face Up to Six Years in Prison Under New Swedish Law
uri: Serious-Copyright-Infringers-Face-Up-to-Six-Years-in-Prison-Under-New
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UNTHQm4wkLE/
content:
<p><a href="media/0333c7dc.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg"><img src="media/0333c7dc.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120567" /></a>For more than a decade, rightsholders and anti-piracy groups in Sweden have criticized the scale of the penalties available for courts to hand down in cases of serious copyright infringement.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most famous case, involving the people behind The Pirate Bay, ended with defendants Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundström originally receiving eight, ten and four months in prison. As things stand the absolute maximum sentence is two years. The government now wants to challenge the status quo with changes to the law that will see the most egregious infringers jailed for much longer.</p>
<p>The amendments, which began with a 2017 investigation and cover many aspects of intellectual property including patents and trademarks, were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sweden-considers-six-years-in-jail-for-online-pirates-180218/">first tabled</a> more than two years ago. According to an announcement by the Swedish government, they have now been passed to the Law Council for consideration.</p>
<p>&#8220;There has been significant social development since the penalties for intellectual property infringement took their present form,&#8221; the government writes in its submission.</p>
<p>&#8220;The meaning of intellectual property rights has increased substantially at the same time as large-scale and industrially-operated infringement operations. This has serious consequences for society as a whole.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is therefore important that criminal law is designed so that this type of crime can be met with penalties commensurate with the seriousness of the offense. Therefore, in the Law Council&#8217;s remit, it is proposed that the penalties for the most serious cases of intellectual property infringement are sharpened and special penalties for intentional serious crimes are introduced in all intellectual property laws.&#8221;</p>
<p>To this end and in addition to regular fines, the proposals envision a two-tiered approach.</p>
<p>Less serious copyright infringement offenses will still be punishable by up to two years in prison (&#8216;copyright infringement&#8217;) but should a crime be considered serious (&#8216;gross copyright infringement&#8217;), the government wants to set a minimum of six months detention. This category of offenders, who will have shown an intent to commit large scale crime, face up to six years&#8217; imprisonment.</p>
<p>To determine whether an intellectual property infringement is gross or serious, the government says that particular consideration must be given to whether the crime was preceded by special planning, part of a crime that was organized and/or extensive, or was of a &#8220;particularly dangerous nature.&#8221;</p>
<p>As previously reported, the government also looked at whether amendments would be required to more easily seize all kinds of property in response to infringement, including intangible assets such as domain names. This was most likely a nod towards the Pirate Bay case which dragged on for several years before the state was able to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-set-to-take-over-pirate-bay-domains-171222/">take over</a> the thepiratebay.se domain.</p>
<p>In the event, the final proposals note that changes to confiscation standards can be omitted since developments in case law have rendered them unnecessary.</p>
<p>&#8220;There should be no new provisions introduced in intellectual property laws on the seizure of property which can reasonably be believed to be subject to confiscation. There is also no need for changes in the law regarding the handling of domain names that have been forfeited,&#8221; the proposals read.</p>
<p>&#8220;In case law, it has been found that the right to a domain name used as a means of committing copyright infringement constitutes such property that may be forfeited under the provisions of the Copyright Act. Also in relation to the general rules on the use of [infringement tools] in Chapter 36 of the Criminal Code it has been found in practice that any form of property can be forfeited.&#8221;</p>
<p>After consideration by the Law Council, the <a href="media/1fe3acb3.straff-for-de-allvarligaste-fallen-av-immaterialrattsintrang.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.regeringen.se/4931b8/contentassets/048b5202b6f24645889ad1fad230a6e7/skarpta-straff-for-de-allvarligaste-fallen-av-immaterialrattsintrang.pdf">legislative amendments</a> <em>(pdf, Swedish)</em> are proposed to enter into force on September 1, 2020.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=182874
title: There’s Something Fishy Going on with Australia’s Piracy Numbers
uri: There-s-Something-Fishy-Going-on-with-Australia-s-Piracy-Numbers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2P8Ugq_L8Kw/
content:
<p><img src="media/53490471.aus.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="159" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96798" />Australia&#8217;s latest online copyright infringement report, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/australian-piracy-rates-drop-but-so-does-spending/">released</a> by the Department of Communications in December, suggested that piracy is falling. </p>
<p>The data pointed out that there’s been a steady decrease in the number of people who consume music, movies, and TV shows illegally. This follows a trend that was revealed in earlier reports.</p>
<p>According to the Government, a mere 16% of the population can be classified as pirates. This is a drastic drop compared to last year when a similar study found that 32% obtained content illegally. In 2015, when the first survey was taken, the number was even higher at 43%.</p>
<p>Like many other news outlets, we reported the numbers as they were presented. However, something didn&#8217;t feel right. This prompted us to step back and take a closer look at the reported data to see how this unprecedented drop took place.</p>
<p>Specifically, we want to see where this drop comes from and how it can be so massive. </p>
<p>The bar chart below provides a good starting point. It shows what percentage of a particular category of digital content is consumed 100% legally, 100% illegally, or a mix of both. The chart also shows the same data for &#8220;any of the four&#8221; content categories. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/cc8380b2.figure60.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/figure60.jpg" alt="" width="616" height="297" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184091" /></center></p>
<p>As reported, the bar on the far right shows that, across all categories, only 16% of the respondents consumed content unlawfully in any of the four categories. That is exactly as reported, so that&#8217;s good news. </p>
<p>The problem is, however, that this percentage doesn&#8217;t make much sense when we look at the individual categories. </p>
<p>Based on the reported sample numbers, the 16% across all categories translates to 314 respondents. In other words, 314 people pirated something from any of the four categories which includes music, games, movies and TV. </p>
<p>However, when we look at the movies category on its own we see that 25% of the respondents consumed movies illegally. Based on the sample size for that category, that translates to 316 respondents. </p>
<p>How can it be that more people consume movies illegally than in the four categories combined, which also includes movies, and thus the same respondents? </p>
<p>Technically this can be chalked up as rounding variance. But even when that&#8217;s the case, it seems implausible that every person who pirated something also pirated movies. </p>
<p>That explanation is even more implausible when we look at the exact same data from the year before. That year 32% of the people consumed content from any of the four categories unlawfully (555 respondents). However, less than half of these were also movie pirates (240 respondents).</p>
<p>It seems very unlikely that when in 2018 less than 50% of the self-proclaimed pirates consumed illegal movies, this suddenly went up to 100% in 2019.</p>
<p>We shared our findings with the Australian Government&#8217;s Department of Communications and the Arts. Despite several back and forths, they were not able to explain these findings. </p>
<p>In previous years the report also included the raw numbers for all the categories, which could provide more insight. However, the most recent report no longer includes these and the Government informed us that it does not have permission to share the data.</p>
<p>And it doesn&#8217;t stop there. The further we delve into the numbers the weirder things get. </p>
<p>For example, there is a similar chart to the one shown earlier but in this instance detailing the consumption of &#8220;free&#8221; content (e.g. downloading from torrent sites). </p>
<p><center><img src="media/e61035c9.fig69free.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/fig69free.jpg" alt="" width="629" height="371" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184092" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/fig69free.jpg 629w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/fig69free-220x130.jpg 220w" sizes="(max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px" /></center></p>
<p>As shown above, this indicates that 46% of all respondents who consumed free content in any of the four categories did so unlawfully. </p>
<p>This translates to roughly 678 respondents, which is much more than the number cited for all content consumers (paid and free), which presumably includes the same people. </p>
<p>There are many other examples to give but the above clearly illustrates that there&#8217;s something fishy with these numbers. According to the Government, the entire pirate population was slashed in half last year, but we doubt that this is really the case.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=183637
title: ‘Pirate’ iTunes Download Site and Three Others Targeted By the RIAA
uri: Pirate-iTunes-Download-Site-and-Three-Others-Targeted-By-the-RIA
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xoJjHqC-OvY/
content:
<p><a href="media/412867c7.riaa.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/riaa.png"><img src="media/412867c7.riaa.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/riaa.png" alt="" width="250" height="134" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108672" /></a>Despite the fact that most modern music is readily available for free on ad-supported platforms such as YouTube and Spotify, a thriving market for pirated content remains.</p>
<p>While streaming is convenient and mostly cheap, part of the lure of pirate sites is that music can be downloaded to users&#8217; machines, to be played back whenever they like, with or without an Internet connection and associated costs.</p>
<p>The threat from unlicensed sources is actively countered by groups such as the RIAA, which is regularly seen targeting so-called YouTube-downloader sites via legal action and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-rippers-battle-riaa-in-takedown-whack-a-mole-200128/">DMCA anti-circumvention notices</a>. However, there are also efforts to identify the people behind these sites and the weapon of choice in that respect appears to be the DMCA subpoena.</p>
<p>The latest, filed by the RIAA at a district court in Columbia, targets a handful of unlicensed music platforms, all of which use or have used the services of Cloudflare. The theory is that the CDN company holds information on the operators of these sites so if the RIAA can gain access to that too, something can be done to disrupt their activities.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have learned that your service is hosting the below-referenced websites on its network,&#8221; the RIAA&#8217;s latest subpoena to Cloudflare reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;These websites are offering recording s which are owned by one or more of our member companies and have not been authorized for this kind os use, including without limitation that referenced at the URLs below. We have a good faith belief that this activity is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.&#8221;</p>
<p>The first unlicensed site targeted by the RIAA is iPlusFree.org, a music download site that appears to specialize in tracks culled from iTunes.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/b5686f61.iplusfree-1-e1583751158953.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/iplusfree-1-e1583751158953.png"><img src="media/b5686f61.iplusfree-1-e1583751158953.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/iplusfree-1-e1583751158953.png" alt="" width="650" height="341" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-183922" /></a></center></p>
<p>iPlusFree isn&#8217;t a particularly big platform when compared to some of the most popular YouTube-ripping sites and if anything its traffic has been reducing over the past several months. However, at least a quarter of the site&#8217;s traffic comes from the United States so the RIAA appears keen to unmask its operators for offering tracks by prominent artists without permission.</p>
<p>They include The Other Side (SZA &#038; Justin Timberlake), Rare by Selena Gomez, and A Boogie wit da Hoodie by Artist 2.0.</p>
<p>The three other sites listed in the DMCA subpoena do not appear particularly popular in the United States. However, the RIAA will be concerned by their popularity in South America, Brazil in particular, where the trio are thriving.</p>
<p>From virtually no traffic at all six months ago, Asmelhores.net (<em>Portuguese: &#8216;The Best&#8217;</em>) is now enjoying more than 360,000 visits per month, with 97% of users hailing from Brazil.<br />
Baixarcdscompletos.net (<em>Portuguese: &#8216;Download Complete CDs&#8217;</em>), the second most-trafficked site in the list with 340,000 visits per month, is also big in Brazil with a similar percentage of traffic. </p>
<p>With more than 218,000 visits per month according to SimilarWeb, Xandaodownload.net is also dominated by traffic from the same region. Unlike the others, however, the site also offers non-musical content including movies, TV shows, software and games.</p>
<p>This trio are accused of offering unlicensed copies of tracks from Red Hot Chili Peppers (Scar Tissue), Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana), Sexx Dreams (Lady Gaga), Daydream (Maria Carey), plus several others.</p>
<p>&#8220;As is stated in the attached subpoena, you are required to disclose to the RIAA information sufficient to identify the infringers,&#8221; the letter to Cloudflare reads. &#8220;This would include the individuals&#8217; names, physical addresses, IP addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, payment information, account updates and account history.&#8221;</p>
<p>The subpoena was signed off by a court clerk in the District of Columbia three days after it was filed, with two of those days covered by a weekend. It requires Cloudflare to hand over the personal details requested by the music industry group by 17:00 on March 13, 2020.</p>
<p>Whether Cloudflare holds any useful information will remain to be seen. All four sites are operational at the time of writing.</p>
<p><em>The RIAA&#8217;s subpoena to Cloudflare can be obtained <a href="media/265c4f15.1-20-mc-00015-RIAA-v-Download-Sites-DMCA-Subpoena-200228.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/1-20-mc-00015-RIAA-v-Download-Sites-DMCA-Subpoena-200228.pdf">here</a> (pdf)</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184083
title: ‘Copyright Troll’ Uses Social Media Info Against Alleged BitTorrent Pirates
uri: Copyright-Troll-Uses-Social-Media-Info-Against-Alleged-BitTorren
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mZspO0bxD-0/
content:
<p><img src="media/14513ed1.facethumb-e1584016665951.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/facethumb-e1584016665951.png" alt="" width="202" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-176769" />Strike 3 Holdings is a familiar name in US federal courts. In recent years, the adult entertainment company has filed thousands of lawsuits against alleged copyright infringers. </p>
<p>While many of these resulted in private settlements, Strike 3 has also experienced some setbacks. This includes a scathing opinion that was released by Judge Royce C. Lamberth.</p>
<p>In 2018, Judge Lamberth accused the company of being a “copyright troll,” that uses “famously flawed” technology to prey on “low-hanging fruit,” flooding the courthouse “with lawsuits smacking of extortion.”</p>
<p>The Judge denied early discovery, which meant that Strike 3 couldn&#8217;t find out who the subscriber of an IP-address was, something that&#8217;s crucial in their cases. </p>
<p>The case in question is currently being appealed, with Strike 3 claiming that it wasn&#8217;t treated fairly, perhaps in part <a href="https://www.xbiz.com/news/250769/questions-from-appeals-judges-reveal-anti-porn-prejudice-in-copyright-infringement-ruling">due to the adult nature</a> of its works. This was discussed in detail during a hearing last week at the <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/audio/69094/strike-3-holdings-llc-v-john-doe/">Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit</a>.</p>
<p>Among other things, the appeal court judges questioned Strike 3 about possible false accusations, where the subscriber on an IP-address is not the infringer. The company admitted this indeed happens in roughly a quarter of all cases. However, to determine that they first have to know who the subscriber is. </p>
<p>This is where Strike 3&#8217;s attorney Lincoln Bandlow provided some interesting background. To back up some of their claims, the company has been scouring social media sites for possible leads. In some cases, that helps to serve as indirect evidence. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have cases where we get the name and address and we can look. We found somebody who&#8217;s tweeted &#8216;Love your content, do more works with this particular talent, etcetera, etcetera.&#8217; Clearly that&#8217;s somebody who likes the works and there&#8217;s reason to believe that they are the ones who have infringed,&#8221; the attorney writes.</p>
<p>According to Bandlow, Strike 3 conducts a substantial investigation to back up their initial claims. And if it turns out they have the wrong person and can&#8217;t identify the target, the case is dismissed. However, in order to get to that point, they need to know who&#8217;s behind the IP-address.  </p>
<p>This position was countered by the amicus curiae appellant, which wants the district court order to be upheld. While this decision is ultimately up to the appeals court, the social media angle also applies elsewhere. </p>
<p>Earlier this week we stumbled upon a new case Strike 3 filed at a federal court in Connecticut, which also mentions social media. </p>
<p>The lawsuit in question is different from the traditional &#8216;trolling cases&#8217; where Strike 3 doesn&#8217;t know the defendant. In this case, it already obtained the subscriber information through the Florida state court, which we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-bypasses-federal-court-to-get-cheap-piracy-settlements-191213/">reported on</a> previously. </p>
<p>Having a name and address upfront allowed Strike 3 to dig up some extra information, more than just an IP-address, which in this case includes social media info. </p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant’s social media webpages establishes that Defendant is interested in&#8230;,&#8221; the complaint reads, listing a summary of redacted interests.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/19f74db5.interests.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/interests.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="229" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184098" /></center></p>
<p>While the adult entertainment company redacted the details, they likely relate to adult interests, or perhaps something piracy related. Whatever the case, it shows that people who put this type of information on social media may eventually have to face it in court. </p>
<p>Whether the judge in this case will see if as sufficient is another question. However, it clearly shows that the traces people leave online are not always as innocent as they seem.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184170
title: As Police Investigate Share-Online Operators, Uploaders & Users Could Be Next
uri: As-Police-Investigate-Share-Online-Operators-Uploaders-Users-Could
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aWq1zhc1mQ8/
content:
<p><img src="media/4f970f91.image-140.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/image-140.png" width="275" height="64" class="alignright size-full" />For reasons that aren&#8217;t entirely clear, over many years Germany became disproportionately linked to many file-hosting, streaming, and other piracy platforms. As a result, anti-piracy investigations have regularly turned into full-blown police operations, often across borders.</p>
<p>Last October, Share-Online.biz, at the time Germany&#8217;s largest file-hosting site, found itself in the crosshairs of law enforcement agencies. With up to 10 million users per month and close to three-quarters of visitors hailing from Germany, the site went from thriving to finished after <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-raids-shut-down-share-online-biz-germanys-largest-file-hoster-191017/">police shut down the site</a> following an investigation by local anti-piracy outfit GVU.</p>
<p>GVU first filed a criminal complaint in 2017 and had to wait more than two years to take down Share-Online but the job isn&#8217;t done yet. Authorities seized huge volumes of digital data when the site was taken down last year and it will have to be carefully examined and evaluated as part of the prosecution against the site&#8217;s operators.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/d8885599.share-online-seized-e1584355045729.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/share-online-seized-e1584355045729.png"><img src="media/d8885599.share-online-seized-e1584355045729.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/share-online-seized-e1584355045729.png" alt="" width="650" height="420" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184183" /></a></center></p>
<p>The state of that analysis became apparent when German publication <a href="https://tarnkappe.info/share-online-biz-ermittlungen-gegen-uploader-als-auch-nutzer-moeglich/">Tarnkappe</a> spoke with local cybercrime police (ZAC NRW) on Friday. A spokesperson revealed that the investigation is still in progress with charges and/or a trial somewhere off in the distance. The scale of the work ahead appears considerable.</p>
<p>&#8220;The evaluation of the seized data is still ongoing and will probably take some time. Data in the three-digit terabyte range was seized. The evaluation is accordingly extremely complex,&#8221; the spokesperson said.</p>
<p>That huge volumes of data were scooped up during the raids is hardly a surprise given the size of the platform. The big question is what will be done with the evidence uncovered and who will be targeted as a result.</p>
<p>At the time of the raid, three people were placed under investigation aged 40, 48, and 54. It&#8217;s unclear whether these are the suspected operators of Share-Online but according to police, prosecutions could go beyond those at the top.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our investigations are currently directed against the operators of the platform,&#8221; the spokesperson said.</p>
<p>&#8220;If identification is possible, subsequent investigations against the uploaders and possibly also against downloaders are realistic scenarios. For reasons of capacity, we will certainly proceed in a layered manner in the investigations and, in due course, may initially focus on the top uploaders.&#8221;</p>
<p>In any anti-piracy investigation, this explanation makes perfect sense. Targeting those at the very top is standard procedure and given that many of the top uploaders are likely to have generated a considerable financial return from the content they provided, they are logical targets.</p>
<p>However, when it comes to regular customers (i.e those who simply downloaded content) the prospect of lots of prosecutions seems slim. Share-Online had millions of users so while the potential to pick out a handful of particularly egregious individuals for further action is possible, one has to conclude that the vast majority will be overlooked, if only due to a lack of resources.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184174
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 03/16/20
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-03-16-20
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/C72bd3JN41Q/
content:
<p><img src="media/d360f6c1.starw4.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/starw4.jpg" alt="" width="296" height="172" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184175" />This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Star Wars: Episode IX is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-on-bittorrent-03-09-20/">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="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527338/">Star Wars: Episode IX</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527338/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qn_spdM5Zg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3794354/">Sonic The Hedgehog</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3794354/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSUq4VfWfjE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7975244/">Jumanji: The Next Level</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7975244/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBxcF-r9Ibs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">1917</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZjQROMAh_s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5814534/">Spies in Disguise</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5814534/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A05s7OM-8Oc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8629748/">Spenser Confidential</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8629748/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwzLiQZDw2I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/">Frozen II</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwzLiQZDw2I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">Contagion</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sYSyuuLk5g">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7713068/">Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7713068/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwzLiQZDw2I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3612126/">The Grudge</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3612126/">4.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2NKzO-fxwQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184168
title: Coronavirus Lockdown Boosts Interest in Pirate Sites and Services
uri: Coronavirus-Lockdown-Boosts-Interest-in-Pirate-Sites-and-Services
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/sJe8twQvKDg/
content:
<p><img src="media/0f852d2a.flag-italy.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/flag-italy.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-40399" />The coronavirus pandemic is leading to unprecedented situations around the world, with governments implementing far-reaching measures to contain the threat.  </p>
<p>These measures are creating new realities affecting many industries. However, most people understand and agree that they&#8217;re being taken in their best interest.</p>
<p>Health care workers are putting in extra hours, something they are being rightfully applauded for. At the same time, however, other people are being encouraged or even ordered to stay indoors to limit infection spread.</p>
<p>In Italy, the government ordered a lockdown of the entire country last week. Dozens of millions of people must stay indoors and are only allowed to go outside when it&#8217;s absolutely necessary. With this measure, the authorities hope to flatten the spread of the virus. </p>
<p>Mandatory home confinement has a strong effect on society as a whole but while health and security are the top priorities, people are also looking for news and entertainment to get through the days. As a result, Internet traffic is rising. </p>
<p>According to Cloudflare, traffic to its northern Italy node has grown <a href="https://blog.cloudflare.com/covid-19-impacts-on-internet-traffic-seattle-italy-and-south-korea/">more than 30%</a> compared to earlier this year. While part of this is the result of remote working and news consumption, there also appears to be a spike in video streaming. </p>
<p>Looking at Italy&#8217;s Google <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%201-m&#038;geo=IT&#038;q=netflix">search trend</a> for the term &#8220;Netflix,&#8221; we see an obvious increase over the past several days, as clearly shown below. Apparently many people are passing the time by watching movies and TV-shows. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/3561bef4.netital.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/netital.jpg" alt="" width="566" height="273" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184193" /></center></p>
<p>This effect isn&#8217;t limited to legal streaming options either. All large pirate streaming services in Italy are noticing increased interest as well. Searches for popular local sites such as Guardaserie, Filmpertutti, Altadefinizione, CB01, and Eurostreaming, all skyrocketed over the past few days.</p>
<p>All of these sites are among the top pirate sites in the country, where local pirate sites traditionally overshadow international ones. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/99df5008.itstream.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/itstream.jpg" alt="" width="573" height="281" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184191" /></center></p>
<p>Italy is not the only country where extreme precautions are being taken. In Spain, a lockdown has also been in place since last weekend. There is no recent Google trend data to measure the effect yet, but we may see a similar spike there. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke to the owner of one of the largest torrent sites on the net. Contrary to the trend reported above, he isn&#8217;t seeing a massive spike in Italian visitors. However, the site in question never had many visitors from Italy.</p>
<p>The coronavirus does appear to have a broader effect on the file-sharing ecosystem though. Download and streaming service Real-Debrid is reporting a significant uptick in traffic, breaking new records. </p>
<p>&#8220;Corona virus has an impact on the traffic we have on our service but also peering capabilities of many ISPs, we had a traffic spike yesterday night (new record), we expect to get this amount of traffic for quite some time but, for now, we still have enough capabilities,&#8221; they <a href="https://twitter.com/RealDebrid">reported</a> on Twitter.</p>
<p>After installing a new server, Real-Debrid reported another 20% boost in traffic a few hours later. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/ab75c0c4.debrid4.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/debrid4.jpg" alt="" width="514" height="139" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184188" /></center></p>
<p>Not only has traffic to pirate sites and services increased, but the nature of the current pandemic has also raised the interest in specific content. We previously reported that the number of downloads of the movie &#8220;Contagion&#8221; had increased significantly, and this trend continues. </p>
<p>After the popular torrent release group YTS released two new rips of &#8220;Contagion&#8221; <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/yts-releases-pirated-copy-of-contagion-movie-following-coronavirus-surge-200309/">last week</a>, the movie was downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, enough to earn a spot in our weekly top 10 of most pirated films. </p>
<p>This is an unprecedented listing, as the movie is almost a decade old. Never before has an older movie made its way into the top list, years after it was first featured. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear that the coronavirus outbreak is affecting most parts of the world, severely disrupting society. While these changes in piracy habits and streaming patterns are worth documenting, they are of course entirely insignificant in the grand scheme of things. </p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184220
title: Cyber Police Raid Advertising Agency For Working With Pirate Sites
uri: Cyber-Police-Raid-Advertising-Agency-For-Working-With-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7VYciM9JluM/
content:
<p><a href="media/b69f0b53.ukraine-server-e1584442316952.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ukraine-server-e1584442316952.png"><img src="media/b69f0b53.ukraine-server-e1584442316952.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ukraine-server-e1584442316952.png" alt="" width="270" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184226" /></a>There are some exceptions but most pirate sites exist due to their ability to make money.</p>
<p>While breaking even is enough for some, many operate on a for-profit basis, generating revenue for their owners as any business might.</p>
<p>In the majority of cases, funding comes from advertising and there is a considerable effort around the world to prevent brands from appearing on pirate sites, thus depriving them of revenue. In Ukraine, however, matters have just escalated to a level not seen before.</p>
<p>The government reports that officers from its cyber police unit in conjunction with the National Police have carried out raids on an advertising agency in Ukraine. The currently unnamed company reportedly helped finance pirate sites by placing advertising on them, police say.</p>
<p>&#8220;The cyber police have revealed the creation and functioning of a number of online cinemas in Ukraine. The sites provided users with access to a library of films and series, without the proper permission of the copyright holders. In doing so, they violated their copyrights and related rights and caused considerable material damage,&#8221; a statement reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;The basis for the profits of such online theaters was advertising. In particular, the sites of these online cinemas featured links to advertising agencies that provided relevant online advertising services. In addition, the most well-known advertisements of well-known international brands were discovered. Thus, the agencies funded the illegal activities of online cinemas.&#8221;</p>
<p>Images and a video released by Ukrainian authorities show masked and armed officers entering and searching what appears to be a modern office space in the capital Kiev. Employees of the agencies, whose faces are blurred out to protect their identities, can be seen sitting on bean bags and chairs while the searches are carried out. They are later herded out of the building.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/6b6cbe0f.ukraine-ad-raid-1.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ukraine-ad-raid-1.png"><img src="media/6b6cbe0f.ukraine-ad-raid-1.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ukraine-ad-raid-1.png" alt="" width="650" height="598" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184228" /></a></center></p>
<p>The Ukraine government reports that the advertising and related payments were carried out using an &#8220;international platform&#8221; ranked among the top three in the market by audience reach. Revenue generated was disbursed via e-wallets using a range of payment systems.</p>
<p>&#8220;Law enforcement officers found that the offices of the advertising agency were located in the center of Kiev with a staff of about 50 people. Workers are advertising on pirated resources and transferring money to online wallet administrators&#8217; wallets,&#8221; the government adds.</p>
<p>During the raid, police seized servers, computer equipment, documentation, plus other records connected to the alleged criminal offenses. An unspecified amount of cash was also seized on the basis it was obtained from illegal activities.</p>
<p>An aggravating factor, the government says, is that the companies were involved in placing advertising for illegal online gambling platforms on the pirate sites. Lottery games aside, online gambling was outlawed in Ukraine back in 2009.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/0229b7a9.ukraine-ad-raid-2.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ukraine-ad-raid-2.png"><img src="media/0229b7a9.ukraine-ad-raid-2.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ukraine-ad-raid-2.png" alt="" width="650" height="731" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184230" /></a></center></p>
<p>As the investigation continues, police warn that those found guilty of breaches of copyright law could face prison sentences of between three and six years, with the possibility of additional restrictions that can prevent those convicted from occupying certain positions or engaging in specified activities.</p>
<p>In a separate announcement this morning, police revealed the completion of a pre-trial investigation into the activities of a 30-year-old man said to have operated more than <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ukraine-cyberpolice-reveal-results-of-operation-pirates-190605/">two dozen pirate video sites</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The person involved administrated the websites and gave Internet users access to watch and copy movies without the permission of the copyright holder,&#8221; the statement reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;The income of the suspect was paid for by advertising that was placed on his online resources. The material damage caused to the rights holders, represented in Ukraine by the Ukrainian Anti-Piracy Association, is about four million hryvnias (US$150,000).&#8221;</p>
<p>Having appeared on the United States Trade Representatives&#8217; Priority Watch List <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-places-36-countries-on-annual-piracy-watchlist-190429/">again last year</a>, authorities in Ukraine are acutely aware of the need to show they are taking action against piracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;It should be noted that Ukraine has been included in the list of countries that violate intellectual property rights and harm the economic interests of the rights holders. Therefore, the cyber police are making every effort to minimize the use of pirated content within the state,&#8221; the government concludes.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a_zN8Jlh2Iw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184212
title: Cox Maintains That $1 Billion in Piracy Damages is Excessive
uri: Cox-Maintains-That-1-Billion-in-Piracy-Damages-is-Excessive
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NRr_WsCRhVA/
content:
<p><img src="media/a34c6170.cassettapemusic.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/cassettapemusic.png" alt="" width="276" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-175024" />Last December, Internet provider Cox Communications lost its legal battle against a group of major record labels. </p>
<p>Following a two-week trial, the jury held Cox liable for the copyright infringements of its subscribers, ordering the company to pay <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-is-liable-for-pirating-subscribers-hit-with-1-billion-damages-verdict-191220/">$1 billion in damages</a>. </p>
<p>Heavily disappointed by the decision, Cox later asked the court to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-asks-court-to-overturn-or-lower-shockingly-excessive-1-billion-piracy-verdict-200203/">lower the damages</a>. This triggered a scathing response from the music companies, which said that Cox deserved to be punished and that the billion-dollar damages award could have been higher.</p>
<p>The labels countered that Cox’s copyright infringement policy was a “sham,” effectively offering a safe haven for pirates. The ISP&#8217;s internal documentation showed that subscribers were let back in after being disconnected, quoting the head of the abuse department saying “f the dmca!!!” </p>
<p>Late last week Cox responded to this reply, stressing that its position is unchanged. According to the ISP, the opposition lacks a proper legal basis and only confirms that the damages amount is too high.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs’ opposition confirms the need for remittitur to reduce the historically excessive damage award, which undisputedly dwarfs any previous award in a comparable case—or indeed in any case,&#8221; Cox writes.  </p>
<p>The ISP argues that, even though there are &#8216;only&#8217; around 10,000 infringements in this case, the labels are holding the company liable for piracy losses across the entire industry. That&#8217;s not justified, Cox argues, adding that its claimed piracy profits are overblown. </p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs strove to convince the jury that the 10,017 infringements they could prove were evidence of millions more infringements they could not prove, and that the appropriate measure of damages was the harm not to Plaintiffs from Cox’s infringement but to the entire music industry from all infringement,&#8221; Cox states.</p>
<p>One of the key points of the reply focuses on the allegations that Cox didn&#8217;t have a proper repeat infringer policy as it let terminated subscribers back in. However, the ISP counters that many of its policies were in line with the Copyright Alert System (CAS), the voluntary agreement rightsholders struck with other US Internet providers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs call it &#8216;incredible&#8217; that Cox allowed terminated subscribers to return to Cox’s service with &#8216;a clean slate,&#8217; but CAS too allowed a &#8216;reset&#8217; for an infringing subscriber after a period without notices, no matter how many times that subscriber had previously infringed.</p>
<p>&#8220;And Plaintiffs’ claim that Cox’s &#8216;never-suspend and never terminate&#8217; policy for business customers &#8216;was even more outrageous&#8217; rings hollow given that CAS imposed no obligations at all with respect to ISPs’ business customers,&#8221; the reply reads.</p>
<p>While there certainly are some differences with CAS, Cox believes that it could have simply escaped liability by joining the program. Because it didn&#8217;t, it now faces a billion-dollar judgment, even though its policy wasn&#8217;t that different, it says.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fact that Cox could have joined CAS and thereby avoided any liability for the conduct at issue here (it is undisputed that Plaintiffs have not sued any of the ISPs who signed onto CAS) makes readily apparent the gross disproportion between the culpability of its conduct and the $1 billion award.&#8221;</p>
<p>The record labels <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-blast-coxs-attempt-to-overturn-1-billion-piracy-verdict-200302/">blasted</a> Cox&#8217;s initial request to lower the damages award, which was sprinkled with shaded language such as &#8220;outrageous,” “egregious,” “flagrant,” “sham.” However, the ISP says that adjectives are not facts. It, therefore, urges the court to look at the evidence and properly weigh it in context. </p>
<p>This includes the way the damages are calculated, Cox&#8217;s conduct, but also damages awards that were handed down in similar copyright infringement cases. In this light, the ISP believes that a billion-dollar award is not justified.</p>
<p>&#8220;Fair consideration of the record establishes that the $1 billion award is excessive, not only by comparison to analogous awards, but in light of the trial evidence on which it must be based,&#8221; Cox concludes.</p>
<p>It is now up to the court to make a decision. If it decides not to lower the damages, Cox would like to have a new trial. In addition, the ISP also has a separate request outstanding for the court to issue a judgment as a matter of law, which effectively bypasses the jury. </p>
<p><em>—</p>
<p>A copy of Cox’s reply to the labels&#8217; opposition to its motion for remittitur can be <a href="media/a562482d.coxrep.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/coxrep.pdf">found here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184032
title: Copyright Holders Want to ‘Quietly’ Expand Canada’s Pirate Site Blocklist
uri: Copyright-Holders-Want-to-Quietly-Expand-Canada-s-Pirate-Site
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/d96ReS_zQOc/
content:
<p><img src="media/a2cf27d4.canada.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/canada.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="165" class="alignright size-full wp-image-60888" />Late last year, Canada’s Federal Court approved the first piracy blockade in the country.</p>
<p>Following a complaint from three major media companies, Rogers, Bell and TVA, the Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/federal-court-approves-first-pirate-site-blockade-in-canada-191118/">ordered ISPs to block access</a> to domains and IP-addresses of the pirate IPTV service GoldTV.</p>
<p>The blocking injunction is part of a regular copyright infringement case that started a few months earlier. While the targeted IPTV service is relatively small, the ruling set a new precedent. </p>
<p>The timing wasn&#8217;t entirely coincidental either. The case against GoldTV was filed after a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/telecoms-regulator-denies-canadian-pirate-site-blocking-application-181002/">bid</a> for an administrative pirate site blocking scheme from the same media companies failed. </p>
<p>While the GoldTV case followed the regular legal process, site blocking opponents fear that this is merely a test event and that requests to block many other sites will follow. </p>
<p>Thus far there are no concrete signs of new cases. However, the blocklist created by the GoldTV case <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/canadian-pirate-site-blockade-expands-with-new-domains-200109/">has expanded</a>. After the IPTV service switched to new domains to circumvent the order, the copyright holders went back to court, requesting an updated blocklist which was granted not much later.</p>
<p>Although this updated list may have worked for a while, new &#8216;circumvention&#8217; domains were soon added. This prompted Rogers, Bell and TVA to return to court again a few days ago, requesting another extension. </p>
<p>These update requests were foreseen and are permitted under the injunction. However, there is considerable secrecy surrounding them. </p>
<p>This is in part due to the fact that ISPs have been asked not to publicize the details, <a href="https://www.teksavvy.com/">TekSavvy</a> explained to us. While the filing is technically public, the rightsholders want to keep the details quiet, presumably because they don&#8217;t want to make GoldTV any wiser. This is also what happened with the previous update request.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were again asked not to publicize it,&#8221; Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy’s vice-president of regulatory affairs, tells us. &#8220;As much as I do not like being in this position, we have decided not to publicize the list of domains for now.&#8221;</p>
<p>TorrentFreak also reached out to other sources, trying to get a copy of the court records, but thus far we have yet to get our hands on the documents. The filings can usually be picked up in person at the court but the coronavirus outbreak is complicating matters. </p>
<p>Although the lack of transparency is frustrating from a news perspective, we don&#8217;t expect to see anything unusual in the extension request. According to the Wire Report it contains six new domain names, but we haven&#8217;t been able to verify the figure. </p>
<p>TekSavvy, meanwhile, remains the only ISP to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/teksavvy-appeals-first-canadian-pirate-site-blockade-191126/">appeal the blocking order</a>. While the company is complying with the recent injunction, it hopes to overturn the verdict in this separate proceeding.</p>
<p>This week the ISP submitted its memorandum of fact and law to the Federal Court of Appeal. This filing also references the &#8216;continual update&#8217; process, noting that the court failed to consider that it would consume judicial resources. </p>
<p>A bigger problem, perhaps, will appear when more blocking injunctions are requested, targeting other pirate sites. These may all require updates during the years to come, TekSavvy warns, which will place a significant burden on the courts.</p>
<p>&#8220;Given that the Respondents describe a widespread problem with copyright infringement online, the Federal Court can expect many more such site-blocking motions. For each order, the Court will maintain a supervisory role for the duration of the order. Cumulatively, this will place a significant strain on judicial resources,&#8221; TekSavvy cautions.</p>
<p>The ISP&#8217;s motion reiterates many of the comments that were made when the appeal was announced, including potential net neutrality problems and a violation of the right to freedom of expression.</p>
<p>&#8220;The risks of over-blocking and compromising the integrity of the Internet are real, and are heightened in the absence of legislative guidance. As highlighted by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this has serious implications for free expression,&#8221; the company adds.</p>
<p>On top of that, TekSavvy questions the effectiveness of the injunction, stressing that there is &#8220;strong evidence&#8221; that site blocking doesn&#8217;t work well as it&#8217;s easily circumvented. That alone would be enough to decline a blocking order, the ISP argues.</p>
<p>The appeal process is likely going to take a while, so, for now, the blocking injunction will stand. At the time of writing the federal court has yet to grant the most recent update request. When we learn more about that or the targeted domains, we will report accordingly.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of TekSavvy&#8217;s memorandum of fact and law, filed at the Federal Court of Appeal, is &#8216;transparently&#8217; made <a href="media/4beaeb08.2020.03.12-Factum-of-the-Appellant.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2020.03.12-Factum-of-the-Appellant.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184266
title: Popcorn Time Isn’t “Back From The Dead” But the New Version is Borked
uri: Popcorn-Time-Isn-t-Back-From-The-Dead-But-the-New-Version-is-B
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Byclb2DzbTM/
content:
<p><a href="media/1efb0e44.popcorn-time.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-time.png"><img src="media/1efb0e44.popcorn-time.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-time.png" alt="" width="228" height="99" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84917" /></a>Six years ago, the application known as Popcorn Time did something no other BitTorrent-based tool had ever managed to achieve.</p>
<p>Rejecting bland text-based interfaces and the need to scour multiple torrent sites, Popcorn Time presented content in a beautiful Netflix-style interface. This simplicity resulted in soaring popularity and attention from copyright holders, who did whatever they could to take it down.</p>
<p>However, since the original code was open source, new forks sprang up creating yet another new game of whack-a-mole. A few years ago, Popcorn Time went offline but yesterday was resurrected from the dead with a great new version. At least according to multiple news reports today, none of which are true.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s had its ups and downs over the years, Popcorn Time never went away. Yet this morning it was declared as being &#8220;back from the dead&#8221;, just in time to entertain people &#8220;during the coronavirus pandemic.&#8221; This narrative was repeated by several tech publications with at least one claiming that the new version works as well as previous ones. That isn&#8217;t true either.</p>
<p>What actually happened was that the people behind <a href="https://popcorntime.app/">one fork of Popcorn Time</a> (considered by some to be the official successor to the original software) published version 0.4 of their variant, announcing the release on Twitter.</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Love in the Time of Corona Version 0.4 is out ! Get copy from <a href="https://t.co/mD4R2iY7Rl">https://t.co/mD4R2iY7Rl</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Popcorn Time (@popcorntimetv) <a href="https://twitter.com/popcorntimetv/status/1239922137533734921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>Unfortunately for them, the backlash was almost immediate. Users of the software gathering on the official sub-Reddit (/r/popcorntime) listed complaint after complaint, starting with a degraded user interface, traversing sundry other weird issues, and ending with reportedly aggressive VPN marketing.</p>
<p>&#8220;This latest update is ridiculous. The whole thing is now borked. It doesn&#8217;t work anymore, consumes three times more resources and CPU (to the point my computer hangs) just to pretend it&#8217;s loading a show,&#8221; one user wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;[A]nd to make things worse, instead of proper information about seeds, download speed and things you need to know whether a torrent is working or not, it just display ads for the shit VPN.&#8221;</p>
<p>Only adding to the misery are reports from many users that their previous settings and favorites have been deleted, all accompanied by random software crashes, issues with subtitles, and much more.</p>
<p>When or if these problems will be fixed is anyone&#8217;s guess but the current advice is to either don&#8217;t upgrade at all or if it&#8217;s too late for that, uninstall and go back to the previous version which doesn&#8217;t have any of the issues mentioned above and works as it&#8217;s always done.</p>
<p>At least as far as this fork goes, <a href="https://get.popcorntime.app/repo/">version 0.4</a> is the first update since March 26, 2016, almost four years ago. The reason for the development hiatus isn&#8217;t clear but to return with an update that is causing so many issues only adds to the confusion. As a result, people are asking whether this is even the same dev team but given the secrecy that surrounds Popcorn Time forks in general, proving that one way or another isn&#8217;t really feasible.</p>
<p>This particular fork has experienced other issues recently too. Early November 2019, the domain registrar handling the PopcornTime.sh domain <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorntime-domain-registrar-orders-dns-deactivation-191105/">issued an order</a> to the registry to disable the domain&#8217;s DNS access. A little under a week later the domain was functioning again but in January 2020 was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/registrar-suspends-popcorn-time-domain-name-following-complaint-200121/">disabled</a> after the registrar received a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-domain-suspension-was-triggered-by-falsified-court-document-200123/">fake legal complaint</a>.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184285
title: ‘Hacked’ Netflix MENA Twitter Account Asks For Movie Torrent Recommendations
uri: Hacked-Netflix-MENA-Twitter-Account-Asks-For-Movie-Torrent-Recom
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pTBUV81kFKM/
content:
<p><a href="media/a299d9ae.hackerhacked.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/hackerhacked.jpg"><img src="media/a299d9ae.hackerhacked.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/hackerhacked.jpg" alt="" width="278" height="189" class="alignright size-full wp-image-168637" /></a>Twitter account hacks are pretty common events, especially for targets that are high profile.</p>
<p>In January, for example, more than a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51275786">dozen NFL teams</a> temporarily lost control of their accounts. The group behind these breaches previously targeted the accounts of Marvel, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and Netflix.</p>
<p>But while most of these hacks are very obviously what they seem, others can be more ambiguous. Last night, the Netflix Twitter account for the MENA region suddenly started behaving oddly. Down went the familiar &#8216;N&#8217; logo, only to be replaced by pirate-themed artwork, <a href="https://twitter.com/NetflixMENA/status/1240277068534947840">a pinned tweet</a> containing a GIF of a man rocking back and forth in his car, and a message suggesting a hack.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/01a800ba.twitter-mena-1-e1584608804393.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/twitter-mena-1-e1584608804393.png"><img src="media/01a800ba.twitter-mena-1-e1584608804393.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/twitter-mena-1-e1584608804393.png" alt="" width="650" height="681" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184294" /></a></center></p>
<p>From here, things got even more bizarre. In a tweet around 45 mins later, the supposedly &#8216;hijacked&#8217; account reached out to its 735,000 followers with a request for them to suggest movies available on BitTorrent.</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s attempt at translating falls short but the consensus is that the Arabic text reads &#8220;Give us movie recommendations we can torrent&#8221;.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/06d4d143.netflix-mena-hacked-e1584611296219.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix-mena-hacked-e1584611296219.png"><img src="media/06d4d143.netflix-mena-hacked-e1584611296219.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix-mena-hacked-e1584611296219.png" alt="" width="650" height="754" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184298" /></a></center></p>
<p>Given that Netflix is part of Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, the global anti-piracy coalition dedicated to taking down anything related to piracy, this tweet seemed to support the notion that the account had indeed been hacked.</p>
<p>So, this morning, with the pirate artwork removed and the Netflix logo reinstated, it was no surprise to read that Netflix MENA had regained control of the account after the earlier shenanigans.</p>
<p>&#8220;We apologize for the previous tweets,&#8221; the company said. &#8220;We returned to the account and the actor is being held accountable.&#8221;</p>
<p>Somewhat bizarrely, however, none of the earlier tweets posted by the &#8216;hacker&#8217; were removed. In fact, the Netflix apology was accompanied by a hashtag relating to the hit satirical cartoon series &#8216;Masameer&#8217; and Masameer: The Movie, which is available to stream&#8230;..exclusively <a href="https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81212780">on Netflix</a>.</p>
<p>As seen in the tweet below, Netflix MENA also embedded a video featuring two of the characters in the show, one of whom (at least according to our horribly rudimentary Arabic skills) appears to be issuing a forced apology for what happened to the Twitter account yesterday.</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="ar" dir="rtl">نعتذر عن التغريدات الماضية، رجعنا الحساب والفاعل بيتحاسب. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%85_%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B1?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#فيلم_مسامير</a> <a href="https://t.co/T4WHN5WBQ0">pic.twitter.com/T4WHN5WBQ0</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Netflix MENA (@NetflixMENA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NetflixMENA/status/1240429674515369986?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>We invite any Arabic speakers to write in with a (much) better translation to put us out of our misery but as far as we can tell, the apology read out by the character appears to blame sleep (perhaps a lack of) for the &#8220;unfortunate events&#8221; on Netflix&#8217;s Twitter account. There&#8217;s also a suggestion that the problems can be resolved &#8220;outside court&#8221;.</p>
<p>All things considered, this entire situation is pretty bizarre but if the idea was to draw attention to the new movie, that has been achieved. If it was really a hack, however, then the hacker has probably done Netflix a favor. That might explain why none of &#8216;his&#8217; tweets have been deleted&#8230;.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184291
title: Charter Countersues Music Companies for Sending Inaccurate DMCA Notices
uri: Charter-Countersues-Music-Companies-for-Sending-Inaccurate-DMCA-Notice
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xG2RKCTbnGE/
content:
<p><img src="media/a34c6170.cassettapemusic.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/cassettapemusic.png" alt="" width="276" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-175024" />Last year, several major music companies <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/music-companies-sue-charter-for-turning-a-blind-eye-to-piracy-190326/">sued Charter Communications</a>, one of the largest Internet providers in the US with 22 million subscribers.</p>
<p>Helped by the RIAA, Capitol Records, Warner Bros, Sony Music, and others accused Charter of deliberately turning a blind eye to its pirating subscribers.</p>
<p>Under US law, providers must terminate the accounts of repeat infringers “in appropriate circumstances” and Charter failed to do so, according to the music labels. Specifically, the ISP is accused of ignoring repeat infringers on its network, which it continued to serve as customers.</p>
<p>This week Charter replied to the complaint, which was amended in February, denying most of these allegations. In addition, the ISP is countersuing the music companies on two issues. </p>
<p>Firstly, Charter requests a declaratory judgment from the court, ruling that it&#8217;s not contributorily liable for the alleged infringements of its customers. Among other things, it points out that it doesn&#8217;t host or promote any infringing activity, nor can it detect piracy on its network.</p>
<p>Other ISPs have issued similar counterclaims in the past. However, Charter goes a step further by also countersuing the music companies for violating copyright law themselves. </p>
<p>The ISP&#8217;s claim follows a decision by the music companies to remove 272 sound recordings and 183 music compositions from their initial complaint. These were dropped after the record labels were ordered to produce further evidence that they indeed owned the rights.</p>
<p>This doesn&#8217;t sit well with Charter, which believes that the record companies, through the RIAA, have sent inaccurate DMCA notices for these works. </p>
<p>&#8220;Upon information and belief, the Record Company Plaintiffs did not own the Dropped Works when they sent notices for them,&#8221; Charter writes, adding that &#8220;&#8230;the Record Company Plaintiffs did not have the right to send notices to Charter for the Dropped Works.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c37778df.charterrep.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/charterrep.jpg" alt="" width="594" height="318" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184313" /></center></p>
<p>The notices in question contained &#8220;inaccurate information,&#8221; which includes the &#8220;misrepresentation&#8221; that the RIAA was authorized on behalf of the record companies to send these, the ISP adds.</p>
<p>According to the court documents, some of these works were also part of the lawsuit against fellow ISP Cox, where a jury recently awarded a damages amount of nearly $100,000 per work. </p>
<p>Charter itself argues that it was also directly harmed. The notices were processed in its CATS anti-piracy system, through which they were forwarded to subscribers. This obviously costs money.</p>
<p>&#8220;Charter incurs costs in implementing its CATS, including when processing Plaintiffs’ inaccurate notices,&#8221; the ISP notes, adding that the inaccurate notices also resulted in reputational damage.</p>
<p>&#8220;Charter is injured when it processes inaccurate notices, causing it to forward false accusations to its subscribers, to the extent this creates tension with the impacted subscribers, negatively affects goodwill, and causes reputational harm to Charter,&#8221; the counterclaim reads.</p>
<p>The ISP demands a jury trial on these issues and wants to be compensated for all damages suffered. In addition, it asks the court to declare that it is not contributorily liable for the alleged copyright infringements of its subscribers.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Charter&#8217;s response to the amended complaint, including the affirmative defenses and the counterclaims, is <a href="media/f42b9ea1.charteranswerandcounterc.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/charteranswerandcounterc.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184349
title: Doom Eternal Debacle May Have Dismantled Denuvo DRM on Debut Day
uri: Doom-Eternal-Debacle-May-Have-Dismantled-Denuvo-DRM-on-Debut-Day
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BmvGh152H5g/
content:
<p><a href="media/584ca432.Doom_Eternal.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/Doom_Eternal.png"><img src="media/584ca432.Doom_Eternal.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/Doom_Eternal.png" alt="" width="258" height="387" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184359" /></a>Originally penciled in for a November 2019 launch, Doom Eternal suffered delays. Id Software and publisher Bethesda said that this was to ensure that the game lived up to the hype.</p>
<p>A few hours ago, in regions that had already ticked over to March 20 (Australia, for example), people began downloading the game from official sources. </p>
<p>Given that the game was already revealed to be using the infamous anti-tamper technology Denuvo, no one really expected a fast &#8216;pirate&#8217; release. However, a user on Reddit quickly dropped a bombshell.</p>
<p>The player revealed that after paying for and downloading the official Bethesda.net version&#8217;s game files, he opened up the main folder and spied the main executable &#8211; a 368MB file named DOOMEternalx64vk.exe. However, a secondary folder (located in Doom Eternal\original\) contained a second much smaller .exe file (67MB) with exactly the same name.</p>
<p>What followed is barely believable. According to now numerous reports, it is possible to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/fli390/um_guys_i_think_i_cracked_doom_eternal_serious/">replace</a> the .exe file in the &#8216;original&#8217; folder with the main executable and the <em>game still runs</em>. The theory is that the smaller file is the source .exe without Denuvo, while the highly-bloated version is the one &#8216;infected&#8217; with Denuvo.</p>
<p>This appears to suggest that someone in the supply chain managed to place a DRM-free executable in the purchased game, put it in a folder clearly marked as &#8216;original&#8217;, then served it up for one of the first-ever purchasers to stumble across, apparently with minimum effort. This has <a href="media/0361335b.rsz16te1ern41.jpg" data-original-source="https://i.redd.it/rsz16te1ern41.jpg">led to jokes</a> that the developers have effectively cracked their own game.</p>
<p>As a result, copies of the game are now being shared online and a number of people are reportedly playing the game with no issues. Initially, there was talk that the game crashed after level 3 but that appears to have been driver-related with an update fixing the problem. A Bethesda account is reportedly needed but a <a href="media/9a7e7f4c.ExpVHy.png" data-original-source="https://why-am-i-he.re/ExpVHy.png">solution</a> to that is already being shared on a Russian forum popular with game pirates.</p>
<p>There is still some work to be done before the pirate release appears in the mainstream (repacker &#8216;Fitgirl&#8217; lists it as &#8216;coming soon&#8217;) but it seems pretty likely that will be today, the day the game was released. Denuvo didn&#8217;t even need to be cracked or disabled to make this happen which is unsettling some, who feel it might be some sort of cunning stunt to give pirates a time-limited demo or something similar.</p>
<p>Time will tell&#8230;</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184237
title: Warner Bros Sues ‘Harry Potter’ Running Club over Copyright Infringement
uri: Warner-Bros-Sues-Harry-Potter-Running-Club-over-Copyright-Infrin
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wN4CkrTTV8w/
content:
<p><img src="media/cc4b8261.ph.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ph.png" alt="" width="200" height="122" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184419" />Harry Potter is without doubt one of the biggest entertainment brands in the world. As a result, the various copyright holders, including Warner Bros., are very protective of their &#8216;asset.&#8217;</p>
<p>For example, When an underground restaurant tried to host a Halloween party with a Harry Potter theme, Warner&#8217;s lawyers <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/warner-says-harry-potter-dinner-infringes-copyright-091026/">came knocking</a>, urging the owner not to use any Harry Potter properties.</p>
<p>More recently, a Kickstarter campaign was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-files-copyright-complaint-against-harry-potter-inspired-kickstarter-181216/">hit with a takedown notice</a> for having a Harry Potter-inspired title, while a Danish Harry Potter festival was kindly urged to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-presses-library-to-rename-harry-potter-festival-180711/">change its name</a>.</p>
<p>This week, we can add another example to the list. In a lawsuit filed at a federal court in California, Warner Bros. accuses <a href="https://rantue.org/">Random Tuesday Inc.</a> and its alleged owner Dawn Biggs of copyright infringement and various other offenses.</p>
<p>Random Tuesday is the organization behind various virtual running clubs, including the “<a href="https://potterheadrunning.org/">Potterhead Running Club</a>” and the “<a href="https://chiltonrunning.org/">Chilton Running Club</a>,” with the latter being based on the Gilmore Girls series. </p>
<p>&#8220;This is a lawsuit to remedy Defendants’ deliberate, pervasive, and willful infringement and dilution of Warner Bros.’ intellectual property rights with respect to the well-known and highly popular Harry Potter and Gilmore Girls entertainment franchises,&#8221; Warner Bros. writes.</p>
<p>According to Warner Bros, the clubs are using the reputation and goodwill of these brands to grow their customer base. This includes organizing themed events and selling merchandise inspired by Warner&#8217;s properties.</p>
<p>&#8220;They organize virtual running races whereby they collect fees in exchange for providing medals and other merchandise displaying the HP [Harry Potter] Marks and GG [Gilmore Girls] Marks,&#8221; Warner Bros. writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In addition, the Clubs’ websites have offered for sale and continue to sell a wide variety of unauthorized merchandise bearing the HP Marks and GG Marks, including hats, t-shirts, stickers, hairbands, mugs, lip balm, toys, novelties, and running medals.&#8221; </p>
<p><center><img src="media/5fff13bd.potter.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/potter.jpg" alt="" width="589" height="478" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184426" /></center></p>
<p>Initially, the &#8220;Potterhead Running Club&#8221; was called the &#8220;Hogwarts Running Club.&#8221; This changed in 2018, but Warner believes that the name change is not enough. The branding and products still use Harry Potter inspired names such as  “Gryffinroar,” “Huffletuff,” “Slytherwin,” and “Ravenclawesome,” it notes. </p>
<p>As such, Random Tuesday has and continues to infringe Warner Bros.’ copyrights in the Harry Potter films and Gilmore Girls series, Warner argues, while urging the court to put an end to it. </p>
<p>The lawsuit shouldn&#8217;t come as a total surprise. Warner Bros. explains that it tried to resolve the matter through telephone calls and in-person meetings with the organization. However, this didn&#8217;t result in the desired effect. </p>
<p>In addition to copyright infringement, Random Tuesday is also accused of trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising, and unfair competition, among other things. Warner Bros. requests all infringing activity to stop and wishes to be compensated for damages suffered. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</em></p>
<p><em>A copy of the complaint Warner Bros. filed at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is <a href="media/5c77ade2.warnerrandom.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/warnerrandom.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184351
title: The Invisible Man, Emma, and The Hunt Hit Pirate Sites After Rushed VOD Releases
uri: The-Invisible-Man-Emma-and-The-Hunt-Hit-Pirate-Sites-After-Rushed-VO
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/qkuWUCcXdww/
content:
<p><a href="media/c7419ea0.invisible-man-e1584702776305.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/invisible-man-e1584702776305.png"><img src="media/c7419ea0.invisible-man-e1584702776305.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/invisible-man-e1584702776305.png" alt="" width="270" height="401" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184388" /></a>For the major Hollywood studios and industry body the MPA, theatrical windows have always been something to vigorously protect.</p>
<p>Supporting the big screen experience and the massive infrastructure behind it is a top priority for the industry overall, not to mention a crucial revenue stream.</p>
<p>Slowly but surely, however, theatrical windows have shortened due to various pressures but nevertheless, day and date cinema and VOD releases have remained a distant prospect for major titles. Then coronavirus happened.</p>
<p>In common with hundreds of business sectors and individuals around the world, the spread of the virus is having a profound effect on cinemas. As preventative measures are put in place, revenues are reportedly down to the lowest levels in twenty-five years. On the other hand, services that can be accessed at home &#8211; Netflix for example &#8211; are enjoying a boom in usage.</p>
<p>In an effort to cushion the blow, earlier this week Universal Pictures announced that it would be releasing some of its newest movies, that are technically still in their theatrical windows, on digital platforms for rental. As a result, The Invisible Man, The Hunt, and Emma all went on sale Friday at around the $20 mark.</p>
<p>How well these movies will be received and in what volumes consumed remains to be seen but within hours of them appearing on official platforms, the inevitable happened. At the time of writing, all are available for free downloading and streaming on dozens of pirate sites.</p>
<p>Currently available in both 1080p and 720p, The Invisible Man is now being downloaded and streamed by huge numbers of pirates and is currently the most popular of the trio. At this point, most copies are so-called &#8216;web-rips&#8217; meaning they have been captured from streaming service streams rather than downloaded.</p>
<p>Obtained via the same method, available in the same qualities, and in second place in popularity terms, is horror/thriller movie The Hunt. Emma sits in a distant third place, with mainly lower quality rips and substantially lower levels of consumption.</p>
<p>The big question remains whether this illicit consumption will have a measurable effect on the success of these movies and those that may follow under the &#8217;emergency&#8217; release policy implemented by Universal. Most years big movies have to compete with leaked screener copies so this type of availability isn&#8217;t new but it is unprecedented for the content not to have come from &#8216;leaked&#8217; sources.</p>
<p>If nothing else, the studios now find themselves in the middle of an experiment. Will VOD sales soar as a result of these early releases and if they do, will it be possible to replicate in a more stable environment later on?</p>
<p>Already beleaguered cinema chains will certainly have plenty to say in the months to come and could find themselves in the middle of yet another crisis, beyond what they&#8217;re experiencing today.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184270
title: Google Removes Official Kodi Download Page After “Bogus” Copyright Complaint
uri: Google-Removes-Official-Kodi-Download-Page-After-Bogus-Copyright
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6Saab3HFt4U/
content:
<p><img src="media/33d532a8.kodilo.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/kodilo.png" alt="" width="260" height="108" class="alignright size-full wp-image-177497" />Millions of people use the Kodi media player for their daily entertainment needs. </p>
<p>While the open-source software is content-neutral, some third-party addons have given the tool a bad reputation by using it to offer pirated content.</p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t anything the Kodi development team has control over. Luckily, most copyright holders realize this, but every now and then one appears having apparently missed the boat. And for Kodi, that can result in real damage. </p>
<p>For example, this week we noticed that the official Kodi download page is no longer listed in Google&#8217;s search results. Looking more closely, we spotted that it was removed by Google following a DMCA <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/19854978?access_token=2EiDrMULTVlfWSBVSmVjyA">takedown request</a>.</p>
<p>The takedown notice was sent a few weeks ago on behalf of the Turkish pay-TV service Digiturk, which is owned by the beIN Media Group. BeIN is known for its strong stance against piracy but in this case, it was too aggressive.</p>
<p>&#8220;The infringed content is sports content (illegal video stream) branded and watermarked with the trademark/logo BEIN SPORTS HD,&#8221; Digiturk writes. </p>
<p>The request identifies a series of URLs, many of which are associated with seemingly unauthorized IPTV services. However, it also lists kodi.tv/download, Kodi&#8217;s official download page. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/f8ea2452.kodi4.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi4.jpg" alt="" width="473" height="146" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184326" /></center></p>
<p>Generally speaking, Google is pretty good at spotting such errors but in this case the URL was removed, as mentioned at the bottom of related search results. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/d65a5c85.removed6-1.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/removed6-1.jpg" alt="" width="525" height="68" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184409" /></center></p>
<p>Interestingly, Kodi was not the only legal open-source project that was targeted. The same notice also lists two Videolan.org URLs, which is the home of the popular media player VLC. Again, the download pages of the software were listed.</p>
<p>Luckily for VLC, Google flagged these requests as incorrect, meaning that the pages remain available in Google&#8217;s search results. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/e5c052a2.videolan.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/videolan.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="99" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184327" /></center></p>
<p>Kodi’s Keith Herrington is disappointed that their software is once again hit by the piracy stigma. </p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s unfortunate content companies continue to lump us and VLC together with services who are clearly in violation of copyright law by not only providing streams to their content but using their logo, etc and that Google doesn&#8217;t even bother to check or validate, they just remove. </p>
<p>&#8220;It feels like a very &#8216;guilty until proven innocent&#8217; model which I do not agree with,&#8221; Herrington adds.</p>
<p>The Kodi Foundation has submitted a DMCA counter-notice to Google and hopes that their download page will reappear in search results in due course. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Digiturk for a comment on its unusual requests. While they could be intentional, it&#8217;s also possible that the company simply targeted these open source projects by mistake.</p>
<p>Talking about mistakes, Digiturk also sent takedown notices for its <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/18648717?access_token=EkXNI_EaactctlyFKiV50A">own website</a> in the past, <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/19340263?access_token=H9BVCRPpcAq6-NkihO9UiA">more</a> than once actually. That&#8217;s another error they may want to pay attention to going forward.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184243
title: ACE Coalition Seizes Four More ‘Pirate’ IPTV Domains
uri: ACE-Coalition-Seizes-Four-More-Pirate-IPTV-Domains
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yqFEjzIKpFA/
content:
<p><a href="media/a7c0897c.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/a7c0897c.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034" /></a>The Alliance for Creativity Entertainment (ACE) is the largest anti-piracy coalition in history. It pools the resources of all the major Hollywood studios plus Netflix, Amazon and dozens of other companies to tackle piracy on a global scale.</p>
<p>ACE has made many announcements over the past couple of years celebrating successful conclusions to multiple operations. Most relate to closures of file-hosting services, IPTV providers and other platforms involved in the unlicensed streaming of movies and TV shows.</p>
<p>However, for reasons best known to the coalition, not all of its investigations are publicized. Many fly under the radar until visitors to once-active websites find themselves being directed to the ACE anti-piracy portal when they expected to find a &#8216;pirate&#8217; platform.</p>
<p>According to information obtained by TorrentFreak, four new domains have recently begun redirecting to ACE. The first, ausmediastreaming.com.au, comes as no surprise. In early March, ACE revealed that it had secured the closure of the IPTV supplier following a cease-and-desist order.</p>
<p>“The closure of Aus Media Streaming is the latest in a series of victories that can protect Australian creators and ensure that legal services can continue to thrive,&#8221; said Karyn Temple, Senior Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel of the Motion Picture Association.</p>
<p>The second fresh domain under ACE/MPA control is watchmoviesfree.com.au. When it was online, the site asked prospective customers whether they wanted to watch &#8220;Every single movie, TV show, sporting event, documentary, kids TV and movie ever made, free?&#8221;</p>
<p>Concluding that the answer must be &#8220;Of course you do&#8221;, the site then went on to offer Android-based set-top devices named Octo-Ninja and Ninja-Quad. It&#8217;s unclear what was in those devices but either a pre-loaded setup and/or a subscription-based IPTV service seems likely. Before it was taken down, the domain offered an Australian telephone number for people to get in touch.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/415c4699.ninja-box-e1584635273593.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ninja-box-e1584635273593.png"><img src="media/415c4699.ninja-box-e1584635273593.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ninja-box-e1584635273593.png" alt="" width="650" height="256" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184336" /></a></center></p>
<p>EmpireTV.ca is the third domain. According to its now disappeared website and Facebook pages, it claimed to be the &#8220;top streaming service in Canada&#8221;, offering over 5,000 channels plus on-demand movies, TV shows, PPV and more from $9.99 per month.</p>
<p>Various packages were made available by the site, varying in price according to subscription length and levels of content available. The site was previously targeted in a <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/19951318?access_token=oab7z8ZAGg-XdfiM9_yM7Q">DMCA complaint</a> after supplying German football content without permission. It also had a detailed disclaimer that clearly didn&#8217;t cut much ice with ACE.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have no association with any of the IP channels shown or any of these products. TV channels and video content of the services are being provided without any liability from us regarding copyrights,&#8221; it began.</p>
<p>&#8220;Per our knowledge all channels provided by the server sellers abide by all relevant countries copyright laws and any copyright issues must be taken up directly with the server owners. EMPIRETV.CA does not take any liability as to what is aired on the servers and EMPIRETV.CA have NO control over the servers or streams.&#8221;</p>
<p>With EmpireTV.ca now redirecting to the ACE portal, the fourth domain to be placed under the anti-piracy group&#8217;s control (or more accurately, that of the MPA) is ZeddIPTV.com. Little is known about this supplier but given that it was previously offered via classified listings in Australia, it may have been focused on that region.</p>
<p>Although nothing has been officially confirmed by ACE in respect of &#8216;seizing&#8217; any of these domains, it seems likely that following pressure from the anti-piracy group, domains were handed over as part of a settlement. ACE has shuttered close to three dozen operations to date but publicized just a few.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184355
title: Mixtape Service Sues RIAA for Sending False Takedown Notices
uri: Mixtape-Service-Sues-RIAA-for-Sending-False-Takedown-Notices
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yG-VflnoLW8/
content:
<p><img src="media/6098d35b.riaalogo.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/riaalogo.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-178829" />Operating a mixtape site is not without risk. By definition, mixes include multiple sound recordings which are all protected by copyright. </p>
<p>Popular hip-hop mixtape site and app <a href="https://www.spinrilla.com/">Spinrilla</a>, which has millions of users, is well aware of these risks. To stay on the safe side, it has implemented various anti-piracy measures. </p>
<p>For example, users of the service have to be vetted before they can upload anything. All their uploads are also scanned for possible infringements using Audible Magic&#8217;s content recognition service. On top of that, repeat infringers have their accounts terminated after two strikes.</p>
<p>These resource-intensive precautions are not unwarranted. The mixtape site was previously <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-labels-sue-hip-hop-mixtape-download-site-spinrilla-170206/">sued by several major records labels</a> &#8211; a case that remains ongoing &#8211; and it&#8217;s not looking for further problems. </p>
<p>This means that the site is processing numerous takedown notices from music companies, many of which are represented by the RIAA. While Spinrilla doesn&#8217;t object to legitimate takedowns, it recently noticed that not all of the RIAA&#8217;s notices are accurate. </p>
<p><center><strong>Spinrilla</strong><center><br /></center><img src="media/b32188d9.spinr.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/spinr.jpg" alt="" width="641" height="340" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184382" /></center></p>
<p>Spinrilla believes that the RIAA is sending takedown requests based on text searches, which results in inaccurate takedown notices. To stop this from happening, the site has filed a lawsuit at a federal court in Georgia, accusing the RIAA of sending false DMCA takedowns.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant is sending DMCA takedown notices some of which materially misrepresent that audio files uploaded by certain Spinrilla’s users infringe sound recordings owned by RIAA’s members,&#8221; Spinrilla writes. </p>
<p>These inaccurate takedown requests harm the goodwill and reputation of the mixtape site, Spinrilla notes. It&#8217;s a waste of resources and can also result in user accounts being terminated without good cause. </p>
<p>&#8220;False takedown notices needlessly waste Spinrilla’s time, disrupts its personnel’s work and puts at risk for terminating a user as a &#8216;repeat infringer&#8217; when in fact the user uploaded non-infringing content,&#8221; Spinrilla writes.</p>
<p>The mixtape site argues that text-based searching can&#8217;t distinguish legal from unauthorized content. Uploaders can, for example, use titles of tracks or artists that are not necessarily used in the mixes. After looking into the matter, Spinrilla notices that some of the audio that was flagged by the RIAA was not infringing.</p>
<p>To stop these errors from taking place the site asked the RIAA not to rely solely on text searches. The RIAA replied that this was already the case, mentioning that &#8220;human ears&#8221; reviewed the content, but the false notices apparently didn&#8217;t stop. </p>
<p>&#8220;Despite Spinrilla’s informing Defendant of the false Notices, Defendant has continued to send Notices which include allegations of infringement as to audio files that Defendant knows do not infringe any copyrights and/or constitute fair use,&#8221; Spinrilla writes. </p>
<p>As an example, the mixtape mentions that the RIAA asked it to take down <a href="https://spinrilla.com/songs/2480250-big-sean-and-jhene-aiko-twenty88-2-minute-warning-ft-detail-and-k-ci-jojo-chopped-and-screwed">this mix</a>, as it would infringe the copyrights for the Big Sean &#038; Jhené Aiko track &#8216;2 Minute Warning.&#8217; According to Spinrilla, this is not the case.</p>
<p>&#8220;That accused audio file does not infringe the copyright in the sound file 2 Minute Warning. In fact, that audio file is a mostly empty track (approximately 6 minutes) with the last 5 seconds or so jumbled audio that is not from the copyrighted 2 Minute Warning,&#8221; Spinrilla notes.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/fc224c14.spinlaw6.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/spinlaw6.jpg" alt="" width="630" height="332" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184394" /></center></p>
<p>The RIAA is well aware that its practices are resulting in false positives, Spinrilla argues. As such, it is knowingly misrepresenting that the audio files are copyright infringing, which is in violation of the DMCA.</p>
<p>Through the lawsuit, the mixtape site hopes to obtain an injunction preventing the RIAA from &#8220;knowingly&#8221; sending false takedown notices. In addition, it asks to be compensated for the damage it has suffered thus far.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant’s wrongful acts have caused, and are causing, damage to Spinrilla, which damage cannot be accurately computed, and therefore, unless this Court restrains Defendant from further making knowingly material misrepresentations, Spinrilla will suffer irreparable damage for which there is no adequate remedy at law,&#8221; Spinrilla writes. </p>
<p>The RIAA has yet to file an answer to the complaint.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the complaint filed last month by Spinrilla at a U.S. District Court in Atlanta, Georgia, is <a href="media/faf30e23.spinrillacomp.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/spinrillacomp.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184455
title: The Pirate Bay Uses Downtime to ‘Rewrite Some Code’
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-Uses-Downtime-to-Rewrite-Some-Code
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zeC4pYxM-uE/
content:
<p><img src="media/d4dd039c.thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="206" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116122" />The Pirate Bay&#8217;s main domain has been missing in action for more than two weeks. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-suffers-extended-downtime-200309/">previously reported</a>, ThePirateBay.org displays a Cloudflare error message across the entire site, and some proxies are affected by the downtime as well.</p>
<p>The official Pirate Bay forums remain open but the moderators there don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going on either. The site&#8217;s operator, &#8216;Winston,&#8217; appears to operate in his own bubble, without talking directly to TPB staff or the public at large. </p>
<p>This lack of information has caused some uncertainty among regular Pirate Bay users, with some fearing that things may never return to normal. </p>
<p>To find out more we contacted a source who has a direct line with Winston. This person informed us that the downtime is due to a technical issue. In addition, the TPB tech admin is taking the opportunity to rewrite some of the site&#8217;s code. </p>
<p>While the response isn&#8217;t very detailed, it suggests that everything may eventually return to normal. Our follow-up question asking why the .onion domain has no issues remains unanswered for now. </p>
<p>Another question that comes to mind is why there&#8217;s such a massive lack of communication. It shouldn&#8217;t be hard to put some kind of message out. However, aside from the response above, we heard nothing further.</p>
<p>In recent years there has been a slow and steady change in the public&#8217;s response to Pirate Bay downtime. A few years ago, 24-hours of downtime was a reason for many people to panic, but right now a week of downtime can pass without much fuss. </p>
<p>In the TPB forums, many people point out that the site is still accessible at the new .onion address. New uploads are coming through fine as well, which is important, as many other torrent sites partly rely on content from The Pirate Bay. </p>
<p>That said, recent weeks have shown that TPB is vulnerable, or at least, far from stable. When someone asked if there&#8217;s a replacement for &#8216;Winston&#8217; in case something bad happened, TPB admin Moe answered jokingly. </p>
<p>&#8220;There is no replacement for Winston. We do have a Walter sleeping outside the server room who claims he can do the job, but we question his suitability because he seems overly sober,&#8221; <a href="https://pirates-forum.org/Thread-The-Pirate-Bay-Site-Status-Thread-not-for-personal-account-issues?pid=298900#pid298900">Moe wrote</a>. </p>
<p>That&#8217;s a typical response one can expect from the Pirate Bay crew. However, the question is certainly valid, especially since the true answer is unknown.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184476
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 03/23/20
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-03-23-20
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BYrfV3WiMbc/
content:
<p><img src="media/d360f6c1.starw4.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/starw4.jpg" alt="" width="296" height="172" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184175" />This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Star Wars: Episode IX is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-on-bittorrent-03-16-20/">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="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527338/">Star Wars: Episode IX</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527338/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qn_spdM5Zg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/">The Invisible Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pso0Aj_cTh0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">1917</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZjQROMAh_s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3794354/">Sonic The Hedgehog</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3794354/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSUq4VfWfjE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7975244/">Jumanji: The Next Level</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7975244/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBxcF-r9Ibs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8244784/">The Hunt</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8244784/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nMJ5fcUQ8s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/">Frozen II</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwzLiQZDw2I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7146812/">Onward</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7146812/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn5QmllRCn4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">Contagion</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sYSyuuLk5g">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6285944/">The Banker</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6285944/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp33zFcvyRU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184458
title: YouTube Cartoon Featuring Creepy Bugs Bunny Copyright Claimed By Warner Bros.
uri: YouTube-Cartoon-Featuring-Creepy-Bugs-Bunny-Copyright-Claimed-By-Warne
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xd-ILRcFfCw/
content:
<p><a href="media/cfb29099.wabbit-2-e1584952129255.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/wabbit-2-e1584952129255.png"><img src="media/cfb29099.wabbit-2-e1584952129255.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/wabbit-2-e1584952129255.png" alt="" width="270" height="213" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184460" /></a>Despite racking up to close to 67 million views on its popular YouTube account, MeatCanyon&#8217;s cartoons are not yet mainstream fodder.</p>
<p>Thanks to the actions of a copyright holder, however, more publicity is certainly on the horizon.</p>
<p>Many of MeatCanyon&#8217;s cartoons are extremely dark, featuring a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCT0NlzDtNs">creepy Ronald McDonald</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJWBZ80ZMLM">Jimmy Fallon</a> as a previously-masked character in Scooby-Doo, to give just two examples. But when <a href="https://www.patreon.com/meatcanyon">Patreon-funded MeatCanyon</a> released a two-minute cartoon entitled &#8216;Wabbit Time&#8217; recently, the end result was a copyright strike on its YouTube account.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJxFnpdq8Bc">parody cartoon</a> is dark &#8211; super dark &#8211; and features a character that looks broadly like Bugs Bunny but is both predatory, washed-out, and a shadow of his usual self.</p>
<p>With horrible teeth, drooping teats and a foul mouth, this is clearly not the Bugs everyone is used to, despite sharing the same name. Following his opening line (&#8220;What&#8217;s up Doc?&#8221; which is <a href="https://trademarks.justia.com/736/90/what-s-up-73690050.html">trademarked</a> but not copyrighted) he attempts to do something awful to a man resembling Elmer Fudd, which reinforces the disconnect from the original ten times over.</p>
<p>Reading between the lines, this was all too much for Warner Bros. As can be seen in the image below, the company filed a copyright complaint with YouTube and had the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axdQLtDhTww&#038;feature=youtu.be">video taken down</a>.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/eabbff37.wabbit-down-1-e1584953609469.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/wabbit-down-1-e1584953609469.png"><img src="media/eabbff37.wabbit-down-1-e1584953609469.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/wabbit-down-1-e1584953609469.png" alt="" width="650" height="348" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184468" /></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Warner brothers just copyright claimed my wabbit season vid&#8230;.so it’s removed and now I have a strike on my channel&#8230;.but why [YouTube?],&#8221; MeatCanyon wrote on Twitter before the weekend.</p>
<p>With Warner claiming its rights had been infringed and YouTube effectively agreeing, it was the end of the road for the Wabbit Season video.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is unfortunate that Youtube decided to side with Warner Brothers. Deleting my video, and giving my channel a strike. I worked very hard on that video and its honestly pretty sad to see it go. There was a lot of people who really enjoyed that video, and it at least makes me happy to know that so many people out there will miss it being on this channel,&#8221; MeatCanyon wrote.</p>
<p>But the channel wasn&#8217;t done just yet.</p>
<p>In a new cartoon uploaded yesterday titled &#8216;RIP Wabbit Season&#8217;, numerous grotesque characters mourn the &#8216;death&#8217; of the sinister Bugs Bunny while raising a pretty dark question: Why would Warner claim a video depicting Bugs Bunny as a &#8220;struggling rapist&#8221; as their own?</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/enRM2TifKls" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>The truth, of course, is that Warner didn&#8217;t claim the video as its own but claimed copyright infringement instead. There&#8217;s little doubt that the cartoon is <em>intended</em> as a parody but that intent in itself doesn&#8217;t provide absolute protection under US law.</p>
<p>Should MeatCanyon choose to take the matter further, the intricacies of fair use would need to be examined by a court, including (but not limited to) whether Wabbit Season represented a comedic commentary relating to the original work that necessarily required copying its elements.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s also the matter of whether the new work has a detrimental effect on the market (or potential market) for the original work(s). No one could reasonably argue that MeatCanyon&#8217;s variant represents direct market competition for Warner&#8217;s version but the nature of the former could potentially cast the latter in a different light, at least in some eyes.</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="und" dir="ltr"> <a href="https://t.co/YcN5oX1cgj">pic.twitter.com/YcN5oX1cgj</a></p>
<p>&mdash; RTB MaJoAn Plays #69 (@titanfan9733) <a href="https://twitter.com/titanfan9733/status/1240702318007341056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>These are complex and potentially massively expensive matters to definitively conclude (a reference list of &#8216;fair use&#8217; case outcomes can be found <a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/cases/#parody_cases">here</a>) so it seems likely that MeatCanyon will accept the strike and move on. TorrentFreak reached out to MeatCanyon for comment but at the time of publication, we were yet to hear back. </p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184505
title: Nintendo Shuts Down Kickstarter Campaign For Violating Animal Crossing Copyrights
uri: Nintendo-Shuts-Down-Kickstarter-Campaign-For-Violating-Animal-Crossing
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XFEpTexZFJc/
content:
<p><a href="media/44f4ccbb.nintendologo.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/nintendologo.png"><img src="media/44f4ccbb.nintendologo.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/nintendologo.png" alt="" width="250" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-121992" /></a>Anyone with a cool idea that could potentially develop into a great product or business can raise funding on Kickstarter.</p>
<p>Launched in 2009, the crowdfunding platform has helped to fund almost 180,000 projects with an impressive $4.85 billion in pledges. But while many projects go on to enjoy success, others can fail at an early stage due to basic errors.</p>
<p>The &#8216;New Adventures Passport Travel Holder&#8217; fundraiser launched with a modest target of just £1,000. The aim was to offer an RFID-protected passport holder and luggage tags along with a matching lanyard, which doesn&#8217;t sound especially exciting in the grand scheme of things.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the project quickly amassed 1,823 backers pledging more than £34,000 between them, 34 times the original target. While there may have been other factors contributing to this success, a quick view of the promotional material provides a fairly obvious clue as to why it was so popular.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/e5404a79.new-adventures-kick-e1585039742619.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/new-adventures-kick-e1585039742619.jpg"><img src="media/e5404a79.new-adventures-kick-e1585039742619.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/new-adventures-kick-e1585039742619.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="366" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184525" /></a></center></p>
<p>For reasons best known to those behind the crowdfunding campaign, creating original artwork for the products wasn&#8217;t high on the agenda. As the image shows, all of the products are adorned with characters from the highly successful Animal Crossing video game series created by Nintendo.</p>
<p>History has shown us that this kind of move is a bad idea. Nintendo is known to aggressively protect its copyrights and trademarks and this case was no different. In a letter and DMCA notice to Kickstarter, a law firm acting for Nintendo explained that the project must be shut down.</p>
<p>&#8220;Nintendo owns copyrights in all aspects of its Animal Crossing video game franchise, including but not limited to the audio-visual work, imagery, and fictional character depictions covered by [various U.S. Copyright Registration numbers relating to Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing: City Folk, New Leaf, and Wild World],&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;The reported campaign displays images of Nintendo&#8217;s copyright-protected Animal Crossing characters and images in connection with the creation of products that make unauthorized use of Nintendo&#8217;s Animal Crossing characters and images, all in violation of Nintendo&#8217;s rights.&#8221;</p>
<p>In response, Kickstarter swiftly shut down the campaign, noting that it had been <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/20339947?access_token=AEMGCVNUm-qSG-GvY2ZCRw">rendered unavailable</a> due to an &#8220;intellectual property dispute&#8221;.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/64be3772.new-ad-shutdown-nintendo-e1585040542124.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/new-ad-shutdown-nintendo-e1585040542124.png"><img src="media/64be3772.new-ad-shutdown-nintendo-e1585040542124.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/new-ad-shutdown-nintendo-e1585040542124.png" alt="" width="650" height="177" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184528" /></a></center></p>
<p>Considering the text used to draw attention to the UK-launched campaign, the use of Nintendo&#8217;s works appears to have been intentional.</p>
<p>Advertising the &#8220;New Adventures&#8221; travel holder, those behind the project described their product as a &#8220;cute animal pattern passport cover for your new adventures crossing the horizons!&#8221; Almost all words in that description relate to Animal Crossing which makes the project easy to find in search engines by gaming fans.</p>
<p>&#8220;All or nothing. This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Tue, March 31 2020,&#8221; the campaign read before being taken down. Clearly, that will not happen now.</p>
<p>At any one time, Nintendo is involved with multiple intellectual property disputes which are tackled using various means.</p>
<p>In recent months the gaming company has resorted to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-wins-blocking-injunction-against-four-piracy-enabling-sites-190911/">site-blocking measures</a> in the UK to tackle Switch piracy, filed a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-takes-down-facebook-tooled-donkey-kong-remake-190930/">complaint against Github</a> to tackle a remake developer, obtained an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-wins-injunction-against-switch-mod-pirate-game-seller-200102/">injunction</a> in the US to restrain a mod seller, filed <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-wave-of-nintendo-anti-piracy-complaints-helps-microsoft-too-200215/">DMCA anti-circumvention notices</a>, and continued with a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/romuniverse-maintains-innocence-and-demands-damages-from-nintendo-200303/">full-blown lawsuit</a> against download portal RomUniverse.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184522
title: ‘Copyright Troll Identified the Wrong Facebook Account in Piracy Case’
uri: Copyright-Troll-Identified-the-Wrong-Facebook-Account-in-Piracy-Cas
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/W-M3E0ZotUI/
content:
<p><img src="media/14513ed1.facethumb-e1584016665951.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/facethumb-e1584016665951.png" alt="" width="202" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-176769" />Over the past three years, adult entertainment company Strike 3 Holdings has filed thousands of cases in US federal courts.</p>
<p>These lawsuits target people whose Internet connections were allegedly used to download and share copyright-infringing content via BitTorrent.</p>
<p>While many of these cases resulted in private settlements, Strike 3 has also experienced some setbacks. For example, in the &#8216;Cobbler&#8217; case, the Court of Appeals previously ruled that copyright holders need &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/courts-want-something-more-than-an-ip-address-to-catch-pirates-181217/">something more</a>&#8221; than an IP-address for a viable case. </p>
<p>These and other rulings have motivated Strike 3 to adapt its business. As <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-uses-social-media-info-against-alleged-bittorrent-pirates-200315/">reported earlier this month</a>, we noticed that the company had started to add information from social media services to its complaints, to &#8216;prove&#8217; that the defendant is likely the infringer. </p>
<p>In theory, this could be a fruitful strategy but it is certainly not without flaws. This is what defense attorney <a href="https://www.vondranlegal.com/">Steven C. Vondran</a> highlights in a recent BitTorrent piracy-related filing. </p>
<p>Vondran represents a defendant who is being sued by Strike 3 in a California federal court. This happened after the company first tried to expose this person at a Florida state court, through a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-bypasses-federal-court-to-get-cheap-piracy-settlements-191213/">controversial discovery request</a>.</p>
<p>Among other things, the attorney argues that Strike 3 engages in &#8220;cut and run&#8221; tactics and that it fails to present &#8220;something more&#8221; than just an IP-address. </p>
<p>In making this argument, Vondran also draws attention to the social media tactic. While that wasn&#8217;t used in the case at issue, the attorney highlights it to show what can go wrong when Strike 3 tries to find &#8220;something more&#8221; than just an IP-address.</p>
<p>&#8220;If they can line up or match or correlate the movies being downloaded with a person&#8217;s Facebook &#8216;likes&#8217; they figure this will overcome Cobbler and give them the &#8216;something more&#8217; needed,&#8221; he points out.</p>
<p>According to the defense attorney, &#8220;this is total junk science&#8221; which he plans to make clear in a separate case he&#8217;s handling. Apparently, in that case the defendant&#8217;s interest in &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; on Facebook was brought up as relevant information.</p>
<p>&#8220;For example, in one case they stated that a Defendant is more likely to have downloaded their clients Blacked, Tushy, and Vixen videos because their social media likes indicate they have an interest in &#8216;Star Wars&#8217;,&#8221; Vondran writes.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/aae3b6ed.junkstrike.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/junkstrike.jpg" alt="" width="618" height="221" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184538" /></center></p>
<p>Vondran informs the court that this is &#8220;a total joke.&#8221; Not just that, Strike 3 apparently also managed to identify the wrong account on Facebook, from someone who happens to carry a similar name.</p>
<p>&#8220;Making matters worse for them, the Defendant in that case will show that the Facebook account used was that of another person with a similar same,&#8221; Vondran writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;These are the type of callous intentional abuses that are going on and the Courts have the inherent power to quash the subpoena and dismiss the case for improper delay,&#8221; the attorney adds.</p>
<p>If this is indeed true, Strike 3&#8217;s attempt to present &#8220;something more&#8221; to the court has the potential to backfire. In any case, it&#8217;s worth keeping an eye on this motion to quash, as well as the upcoming filings about the wrongly identified Facebook account. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Steven C. Vondran reply to Strike 3&#8217;s opposition to the motion to quash is <a href="media/3d029d08.strike2greedstar.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/strike2greedstar.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184569
title: AMD Uses DMCA to Mitigate Massive GPU Source Code Leak
uri: AMD-Uses-DMCA-to-Mitigate-Massive-GPU-Source-Code-Leak
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4HGiHqhT09I/
content:
<p><a href="media/a299d9ae.hackerhacked.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/hackerhacked.jpg"><img src="media/a299d9ae.hackerhacked.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/hackerhacked.jpg" alt="" width="278" height="189" class="alignright size-full wp-image-168637" /></a>Graphics cards are big business and AMD is one of the leading brands with an estimated 32% share of the discrete desktop market.</p>
<p>In July 2019, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, AMD released its Radeon RX 5000 series powered by &#8216;Navi&#8217; GPUs (Graphics Processing Unit). The source code for these devices is extremely sensitive and considered secret but perhaps not for much longer.</p>
<p>This week rumors began to circulate that an unnamed individual had somehow obtained the source for Navi 10, Navi 21 and Arden devices, the latter representing the rumored GPU for the yet-to-be-released Xbox Series X. Confirming whether such leaks are genuine is difficult but yesterday AMD took action which tends to support the theory.</p>
<p>In a DMCA notice sent to development platform Github, AMD identified the recently-created &#8216;xxXsoullessXxx&#8217; repository and a project titled &#8220;AMD-navi-GPU-HARDWARE-SOURCE&#8221; as the location of its &#8220;stolen&#8221; intellectual property.</p>
<p>&#8220;This repository contains intellectual property owned by and stolen from AMD,&#8221; the semiconductor company <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2020/03/2020-03-24-amd.md">wrote</a>. &#8220;The original IP is held privately and was stolen from AMD.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><a href="media/8fa2014f.amd-stolen-e1585125762378.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/amd-stolen-e1585125762378.png"><img src="media/8fa2014f.amd-stolen-e1585125762378.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/amd-stolen-e1585125762378.png" alt="" width="650" height="160" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184582" /></a></center></p>
<p>Github responded by immediately taking <a href="https://github.com/xxXsoullessXxx/AMD-navi-GPU-HARDWARE-SOURCE">the repository down</a>, as per AMD&#8217;s request. That prompted us to try and find the person behind the repo and to ask some questions about what AMD was trying to suppress. The individual informed TorrentFreak that AMD&#8217;s GPU source code was the content in question. (Responses edited for clarity)</p>
<p>&#8220;In November 2019, I found AMD Navi GPU hardware source codes in a hacked computer,&#8221; the person explained. &#8220;The user didn&#8217;t take any effective action against the leak of the codes.&#8221;</p>
<p>Questioned further on the route of extraction, we were told that a combination of factors led to the leak.</p>
<p>&#8220;The source code was unexpectedly achieved from an unprotected computer//server through some exploits. I later found out about the files inside it. They weren&#8217;t even protected properly or even encrypted with anything which is just sad.&#8221;</p>
<p>The individual, who claims to be female, told us that the package included code for Navi 10 and Navi 21 devices. She also confirmed that the source for the Xbox Series X GPU &#8216;Arden&#8217; was part of the haul.</p>
<p>When asked whether the person had spoken to AMD about the leak, the answer was negative.</p>
<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t spoken to AMD about it because I am pretty sure that instead of accepting their mistake and moving on, they will try to sue me. So why not just leak it to everyone?&#8221; we were told.</p>
<p>The alleged leaker further told us that one &#8220;source code packet&#8221; had already been released. Whether that is limited to the material made available via Github remains unclear but TF was able to find links to a file-hosting site where an archive claiming to be the content was stored. Given the potentially criminal route via which the content was obtained, we did not download the package.</p>
<p>That AMD is concerned about the leak was underlined once again late yesterday. Having indicated in its initial complaint to Github that the source couldn&#8217;t be found anywhere else, the company later backtracked, identifying at least <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/commit/34de6ac08e6945540db25dd0cdbca4dc9c57146e">four other locations on Github</a> where the project had been forked. All of those repos have been taken down.</p>
<p>While taking down the repositories is a logical first step for AMD, the gravity of this leak is hard to underestimate. The claimed hacker told TF that she valued the source at $100m but how that calculation was arrived at is unknown. While AMD considers its next steps, an even bigger storm may be heading the company&#8217;s way.</p>
<p>&#8220;If I get no buyer I will just leak everything,&#8221; the leaker concluded, adding that the files would be secured with passwords that will only be handed out to select individuals.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184208
title: The Pirate Bay’s Oldest Active Torrent Turns 16 Years Old Today
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-s-Oldest-Active-Torrent-Turns-16-Years-Old-Today
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NptNDKmbQqQ/
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 weathered quite a few storms since its inception. </p>
<p>The notorious torrent site, which is a piracy icon today, was originally founded by Swedish anti-copyright think tank Piratbyrån during the summer of 2003.</p>
<p>In the years that followed, a lot has happened. The site was raided twice, had various changes in ownership, and the original co-founders were sentenced to prison. And in recent years, prolonged downtime issues, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-uses-downtime-to-rewrite-some-code-200323/">as the site currently faces</a>, are the rule rather than the exception.</p>
<p>Despite all these setbacks and challenges, TPB is still here. It remains accessible on the Tor network, where the latest blockbusters, as well as some rare old torrents, remain readily available.</p>
<p>While torrents rely on at least one active seed to keep them alive, some files have proven to be quite resilient. In fact, quite a few torrents are older than some of the site&#8217;s younger users. </p>
<p>Today, The Pirate Bay&#8217;s oldest active torrent celebrates its sixteenth anniversary. The honor goes to an episode of the Swedish comedy show “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Chaparall">High Chaparral</a>,” which was uploaded by &#8216;kbdcb&#8217; on March 25, 2004. At the time of writing, the file has one seeder according to TPB&#8217;s statistics, but various public trackers list more. </p>
<p><center>The oldest active torrent on TPB</center><br /><center><img src="media/b0014264.chap.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/chap.jpg" alt="" width="652" height="458" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184597" /></center></p>
<p>The High Chaparral episode has been marked as the oldest active Pirate Bay torrent for a while. In the video category, it is currently followed by a copy of the 2001 documentary <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308808/">Revolution OS</a>, which still has over a dozen seeders.</p>
<p>Looking at other categories, we see that the oldest active music torrent is an album from  the Swedish pop group Gyllene Tider, titled &#8220;Samtliga hits!&#8221; The oldest game torrent is a copy of the Lord of the Rings strategy game War of the Ring, while a torrent for a really old version of ArcSoft&#8217;s photo editing software Funhouse leads the applications category. </p>
<p>If anything, this shows that no matter how much downtime a site like The Pirate Bay suffers, these torrents still survive. </p>
<p>That the High Chaparral episode is the longest surviving torrent on the site is remarkable for another reason as well. A few weeks after the torrent was uploaded, several people complained that they were stuck at 99%, which means that there was no seeder around at the time.</p>
<p>Years later, people started to notice that it had become the oldest torrent on The Pirate Bay, including MasterWAV, who dedicated an entry in his or her diary to this discovery. </p>
<p>&#8220;Dear diary, my heart burst of excitement to discover the oldest torrent in The Pirate Bay. I am happy to comment on this book and be part of the history of TPB. It&#8217;s like climbing Everest. Sincerely, thanks.&#8221;</p>
<p>Other commenters promised to keep seeding the file &#8220;forever,&#8221; which may be the prime reason why it&#8217;s still around today. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/5fa024e9.torrentcomm.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/torrentcomm.jpg" alt="" width="639" height="123" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184598" /></center></p>
<p>While sixteen years is impressive, there are even older torrents available on the Internet. &#8220;The Fanimatrix&#8221; torrent file <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/worlds-oldest-torrent-still-alive-after-15-years-180929/">holds the all-time record</a>. It was created in September 2013 and, after being previously resurrected, continues to be available today with more than 100 people seeding.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184616
title: Anti-Piracy Chief: Pirated Content is Now Harder to Find in Search Engines
uri: Anti-Piracy-Chief-Pirated-Content-is-Now-Harder-to-Find-in-Search-Eng
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6M0KXWX8g1s/
content:
<p><a href="media/2d238d92.searchman.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/searchman.jpg"><img src="media/2d238d92.searchman.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/searchman.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="156" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135409" /></a>In 2018, leading content companies and distributors plus Yandex, Rambler Group, Mail.Ru Group, vKontakte, and RuTube signed up to a landmark <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/landmark-anti-piracy-database-agreement-signed-in-moscow-181101/">anti-piracy memorandum</a> in Russia.</p>
<p>The aim of the voluntary agreement was to make pirated content harder to find in search engines. This, the organizers said, would be achieved by the creation of a centralized database of allegedly-infringing content to be regularly queried by Internet platforms so that delistings could take place.</p>
<p>The ultimate aim is to have the memorandum written into law but in the meantime, it&#8217;s being claimed that the system is already having the desired effect.</p>
<p>Formed in 2013 to protect the interests of several licensed online distribution platforms, the Internet Video Association has grown to become one of the most vocal anti-piracy groups in Russia. Its members support the memorandum and according to director general Alexei Byrdin, it is now considered to be achieving its aims.</p>
<p>Byrdin says a certain level of piracy comes hand-in-hand with any legal content business and achieving a complete victory over piracy can&#8217;t be achieved in Russia or anywhere else in the world. However, by removing infringing content from search engines, easy access to unlicensed content is being reduced.</p>
<p>&#8220;The correct measurement of the effect of the fight against piracy is a decrease or increase in the availability of pirated content. It is this indicator and approach that I consider the most correct,&#8221; Byrdin told <a href="https://regnum.ru/news/society/2895328.html">Regnum</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Pirated products in the Russian Federation have become less accessible. And by accessible, we mean the easy discovery of pirated content through search services. It was at this point that our anti-piracy memorandum struck home. Last year there were several high-profile premieres that managed to be practically shielded from the effects of pirate consumption, thanks to the memorandum.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the memorandum is indeed powerful (search engines have agreed to remove pirated content within six hours of it being reported in the centralized database), other factors have also played a part in reducing pirate consumption. Reducing piracy rates is of limited use if potential consumers have few viable options to buy licensed products but according to Byrdin, local consumers now see official platforms as an attractive proposition.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is a certain cumulative effect. For a very long time services have explained that they really have everything conveniently, inexpensively, with a large assortment, and users are finally believing this,&#8221; the anti-piracy chief explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is also due to the fact that in Russia the audience of smart TV users is growing year-on-year, and these consumers appreciate the convenience of such services. This really is simple and affordable home entertainment. Not much can be compared in terms of user experience.&#8221;</p>
<p>Like many countries around the world trying to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, Russia is also shutting down its entertainment venues, including cinemas. Byrdin will be hoping that consumers frustrated by the lack of options in search results will flock to licensed platforms for their entertainment fix. Whether this transpires will remain to be seen.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, those involved in the licensed distribution of entertainment content clearly see the memorandum as a great tool to achieve their aims. Writing it into law hasn&#8217;t been easy and delays caused it to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/russia-anti-piracy-agreement-expires-now-relies-on-goodwill-of-search-engines-191002/">time out in October 2019</a>.</p>
<p>After a short extension, the signatories agreed to keep the system running until the end of January 2021, by which time it&#8217;s hoped that agreement will be reached on some of the more contentious points, including the permanent delisting of entire sites considered to be repeat offenders.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184449
title: ‘Hellboy’ Must Explain Calculation For the $270,000 Piracy Damages Claim
uri: Hellboy-Must-Explain-Calculation-For-the-270-000-Piracy-Damages
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ookB5c7X-1w/
content:
<p><img src="media/832daf69.hellboy.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/hellboy.jpg" alt="" width="259" height="194" class="alignright size-full wp-image-174903" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/hellboy.jpg 259w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/hellboy-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 259px) 100vw, 259px" />Last summer, the makers of the movie “Hellboy” (HB Productions) filed a complaint against torrent site MKVCage at a Hawaii federal court.</p>
<p>The movie company accused the site and its operator of promoting and distributing pirated copies of the Hellboy movie while demanding an end to the activity. </p>
<p>The lawsuit quickly had an effect as MKVCage became unreachable. At the same time, the uploader stopped pushing torrents to other sites as well. This meant that part of the plan had succeeded, without the torrent site putting up a defense. </p>
<p>But HB Productions wanted more. The company argued that the site caused irreparable damage and demanded compensation from the operator, a Pakistani man named Muhammad Faizan.</p>
<p>Since Faizan didn&#8217;t show up in court, the movie company&#8217;s attorney Kerry Culpepper requested a default judgment totaling more than $270,000 in infringement damages. </p>
<p>&#8220;The certain sum of $270,902.58 […] was calculated by multiplying the number of instances of infringement in the United States logged by Plaintiff’s agent by the price for purchasing a copy of the motion picture in Hawaii,” Culpepper wrote to the court.</p>
<p>Despite a hefty damages award hanging over his head, Faizan remained quiet. This generally means that the court will side with the plaintiff but in this case, Magistrate Judge Kenneth J. Mansfield is reluctant.</p>
<p>In a recently issued report and recommendations, Mansfield advises the court to deny the damages request, as the &#8220;sum&#8221; is not as &#8220;certain&#8221; as Hellboy&#8217;s attorney makes it out to be. </p>
<p>&#8220;The First Amended Complaint and the Motion do not indicate how Plaintiff calculated its asserted $270,902.58 damages amount. Nor does Plaintiff’s Motion include documents setting forth amounts necessary to calculate a certain damages sum,&#8221; Judge Mansfield writes.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Without such information, the Court is unable to determine the formula Plaintiff used to calculate its alleged damages. The Court thus finds that Plaintiff fails to establish that its claim is for a &#8216;sum certain&#8217; and recommends that the district court deny the Motion,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>This recommendation serves as guidance to the federal court, which has yet to rule on the matter. However, before it could do so, HB Production&#8217;s attorney already withdrew his request for a default judgment. </p>
<p>The movie company now plans to file a new motion in the near future where it will provide more detail on its calculations. Among other things, it will have to explain in detail how many infringements were logged, and what retail price for the movie the company chose.</p>
<p>By law, the maximum statutory damages are $150,000 per work. Since HB Productions asked for a substantially higher amount here, these details are crucial in order to determine whether it will be granted, or not.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Magistrate Judge Kenneth J. Mansfield&#8217;s report and recommendations is <a href="media/3529a1e4.helldeny.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/helldeny.pdf">available here (pdf)</a></em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184511
title: Bad Boys For Life Leads Wave of Early Movie Releases Flooding Pirate Sites
uri: Bad-Boys-For-Life-Leads-Wave-of-Early-Movie-Releases-Flooding-Pirate-S
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8BYHLPQVzBw/
content:
<p><a href="media/70326b63.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png"><img src="media/70326b63.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" alt="" width="222" height="157" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108110" /></a>As the planet struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic, businesses around the world are looking at ways to mitigate the disruption caused by voluntary and in some cases mandatory isolation.</p>
<p>Social distancing is now vital to the health of billions of people and as a result, visiting cinemas is no longer an option. Instead, movie companies are bringing forward digital release dates for many movies, hoping that people will rent or buy these titles, as a temporary replacement for venturing out to the big screen.</p>
<p>Somewhat inevitably these releases are now appearing on pirate sites, available to download or stream depending on the platform. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-invisible-man-emma-and-the-hunt-hit-pirate-sites-after-rushed-vod-releases-200321/">Last Friday</a>, The Invisible Man, The Hunt and Emma were readily available for viewing and this week many new titles can be added to the list.</p>
<p>Despite the movie only hitting cinema screens in mid-January, the much-anticipated <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502397/">Bad Boys For Life</a> is now pulling in considerable numbers on unofficial platforms. It wasn&#8217;t expected until March 31 but this morning there are various HD copies culled from a digital source doing the rounds on torrent and streaming platforms.</p>
<p>Switching back and forth between second and third place in this batch is superhero movie <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1634106/">Bloodshot</a>. Starring Vin Diesel, the title was released early on March 13 but just a handful of days later, Sony Pictures said it would appear digitally on March 24 in response to the outbreak.</p>
<p>Next up is the Guy Ritchie action/comedy <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8367814/">The Gentleman</a>. Available in 1080p WEBRip format after being captured from platforms such as Amazon, the movie was previously slated for a home release on April 7. In the event, it appeared March 24 and almost immediately found itself on unlicensed platforms.</p>
<p>In no particular order (our regular weekly download chart will determine that in due course), several other titles are also readily available after early digital releases.</p>
<p>After being released digitally last Friday, animated release <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7146812/">Onward</a> was quickly made available unofficially. The same thing happened to the Harrison Ford movie <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7504726/">The Call of the Wild</a> today, just hours after being made available on Disney Plus.</p>
<p>Another Disney movie, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4558376/">Downhill</a> starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell, also appeared this morning but doesn&#8217;t appear to be particularly popular, at least for now.</p>
<p>Finally, after a February theatrical release, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7713068/">Birds of Prey</a>: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn was slated for a digital release on March 24 by DC. In the event, it actually appeared on pirate sites as early as March 21.</p>
<p>Quite how this state of play is being received at the studios is unclear. However, these are unprecedented times and since the vast majority of the public buy, rent or stream their movies legally, sales figures may yet be respectable &#8211; for the good films at least.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184652
title: Anti-Piracy Campaign Against YouTube-Rippers Has Very Little Effect
uri: Anti-Piracy-Campaign-Against-YouTube-Rippers-Has-Very-Little-Effect
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5h4c6k4V1Fs/
content:
<p><img src="media/72389cbc.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196" />Nowadays, most popular music is legally accessible on YouTube. While everyone is allowed to play it, downloading tracks without permission is strictly forbidden. </p>
<p>YouTube itself also prohibits downloading or ripping unless the uploader specifically allows it. However, there are third-party sites that have found ways around these restrictions. </p>
<p>These &#8216;YouTube-rippers&#8217; have been around for many years, much to the frustration of the music industry. The RIAA, in particular, is actively cracking down on these sites. </p>
<p>In recent months, the music group has <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/as-riaa-targets-yet-more-youtube-ripping-sites-heres-the-state-of-play-191005/">filed subpoenas</a> to identify several site operators. In addition, it sends takedown requests to search engines hoping that this will make the sites harder to find. </p>
<p>The latter strategy is relatively new and started <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-delists-youtube-rippers-from-google-using-rare-anti-circumvention-notices-191108/">just a few months ago</a>. The RIAA doesn&#8217;t use standard DMCA notices since most YouTube-rippers don&#8217;t host content. Instead, the sites are reported for violating the DMCA&#8217;s anti-circumvention provision. </p>
<p>Through this route, the RIAA has managed to remove thousands of URLs from Google&#8217;s search results. While that sounds effective, a closer look at the estimated traffic data, kindly shared with us by piracy tracking company <a href="https://www.muso.com/">MUSO</a>, shows that the measures have surprisingly little effect. </p>
<p>Below is an overview of the worldwide traffic to stream-ripper sites in the music category. It runs from September 2019, before the RIAA&#8217;s mass takedown campaign started, all the way to the end of January 2020. This reveals that traffic to these sites has remained relatively stable, without any sign of declining visitor numbers.</p>
<p><center><em>Global traffic in the music category to stream-rippers</em></center><br /><center><img src="media/90065b95.streamripmusic.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/streamripmusic.jpg" alt="" width="605" height="319" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184686" /></center></p>
<p>The lack of movement by itself doesn&#8217;t say much about search traffic, so we decided to take a detailed look at that as well. MUSO reports search traffic separately, and this shows a similar pattern. In fact, search traffic to stream-rippers briefly appeared to grow at the end of last year. </p>
<p>In September, search engines were sending roughly 7.5 million visitors to stream-rippers per day, and at the end of January, that figure was pretty much the same.</p>
<p><center><em>Global search traffic in the music category to stream-rippers</em></center><br /><center><img src="media/25208db0.streamrip-musicsearch.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/streamrip-musicsearch.jpg" alt="" width="602" height="192" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184687" /></center></p>
<p>These data are not entirely unexpected as YouTube-rippers are actively <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-rippers-battle-riaa-in-takedown-whack-a-mole-200128/">fighting back against the RIAA&#8217;s anti-piracy campaign</a>. As we highlighted earlier, several sites are switching to new URL structures, to make sure that they remain visible in search engines. </p>
<p>And indeed, if we search on Google for the phrase &#8220;YouTube to MP3,&#8221; we see several YouTube-rippers in the top results. </p>
<p><center><em>Google search for &#8220;YouTube to MP3&#8243;&#8221;</em></center><br /><center><img src="media/e6d06205.ripsearch.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ripsearch.jpg" alt="" width="634" height="505" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184690" /></center></p>
<p>Looking at the traffic statistics of individual sites we see some movement here and there. The two most popular stream-rippers, y2mate.com and ytmp3.cc, increased their traffic, while the third in line, flvto.biz, lost some visitors. </p>
<p>Flvto.biz&#8217;s sister site 2conv.com, however, saw its traffic go up. Both sites are also currently involved in a legal battle with the RIAA. While they won their first round, this case is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-appeal-legal-defeat-against-youtube-rippers-190130/">currently on appeal</a>. </p>
<p>The above shows that, thus far, the RIAA&#8217;s takedown efforts have had little effect. However, that doesn&#8217;t mean that there is nothing to celebrate at all. Onlinevideoconverter.com, which was the most popular stream-ripper just a year ago, is no longer a major threat. </p>
<p>The site saw its traffic drop from 207 million visitors in March 2019, <a href="https://www.similarweb.com/website/onlinevideoconverter.com#overview">to 15 million last month</a>. This loss in visitors isn&#8217;t directly linked to the RIAA&#8217;s efforts, however. Instead, it&#8217;s the result of the site&#8217;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popular-stream-ripper-voluntarily-disables-youtube-conversion-190723/">decision</a> to disable YouTube ripping, after YouTube started to block its servers.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184536
title: YouTube Refuses to Process DMCA Counternotice for ‘Creepy Bugs’ Cartoon
uri: YouTube-Refuses-to-Process-DMCA-Counternotice-for-Creepy-Bugs-Ca
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zHF-Y8G7cUc/
content:
<p><a href="media/cfb29099.wabbit-2-e1584952129255.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/wabbit-2-e1584952129255.png"><img src="media/cfb29099.wabbit-2-e1584952129255.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/wabbit-2-e1584952129255.png" alt="" width="270" height="213" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184460" /></a>Earlier this week we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-cartoon-featuring-creepy-bugs-bunny-copyright-claimed-by-warner-bros-200323/">reported</a> on a dark parody cartoon depicting a washed-out Bugs Bunny as a sex pest. The controversial video was created by Hunter Hancock, the person behind the MeatCanyon channel.</p>
<p>It was hit with a copyright complaint by Warner Bros. As a result, the MeatCanyon channel received a copyright strike and the cartoon was taken down.</p>
<p>When a video is targeted by a copyright holder with a manual complaint (i.e one not actioned as a result of ContentID matching), users can generally refer to the DMCA for guidance. This means that if they believe their content was not infringing (under fair use guidelines, for example), they can submit a DMCA counternotice to YouTube explaining why the content should not have been taken down.</p>
<p>This is exactly what Hancock did in response to the Warner complaint.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is my own creation. I animated every frame, composed the music, recorded the audio and made the backgrounds,&#8221; he told YouTube in his counternotice shared with TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;This creation is under fair use,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;The characters have been stylized by myself to not reflect directly with the traditional characters. There is no branded logo to incite that this is a real video owned by Warner Brothers, but is in fact a parody video created by none other than by myself.&#8221;</p>
<p>As required under the law, Hancock swore that he had a &#8220;good faith belief&#8221; that the material had been removed due to a mistake and also consented to the jurisdiction of his local federal court, in case Warner chose to sue him &#8211; something it must do within two weeks to prevent the content from being restored. Should that time pass with no lawsuit, then the content would&#8217;ve been put back up and the strike removed.</p>
<p>In the event, however, none of those things happened. In short, YouTube declined to accept the apparently valid DMCA counternotice filed by Hancock and refused to pass it on to Warner.</p>
<p>&#8220;Based on the information you provided, it appears that you do not have the necessary rights to post the content on YouTube. Therefore, we regretfully cannot honor your request. It has not been forwarded to the original claimant, and we will not be able to restore your video,&#8221; YouTube&#8217;s correspondence reads.</p>
<p>While this response from YouTube runs counter to what most people would expect under the DMCA counter-claim process, it is not unprecedented. The EFF previously reported that agreements YouTube has with rightsholders may effectively deny access to the system.</p>
<p>&#8220;In many instances, even if you successfully submit a DMCA counter-notice, the video will not be reinstated. These agreements are opaque, and scope of what&#8217;s allowed under them is unknown. They may be short-term, or long-term,&#8221; the EFF previously <a href="https://www.eff.org/issues/intellectual-property/guide-to-youtube-removals">explained</a>.</p>
<p>In this case, the refusal of YouTube to allow a counter-claim represents a double-edged sword. While Hancock submitted the notice in good faith, genuinely believing he was in a good position to put his side of the argument by insisting he was protected under fair use doctrines, the reality of dealing with a lawsuit, should one be initiated, is a serious proposition and not to be underestimated.</p>
<p>After being denied by YouTube and further consideration, he decided that fighting probably wasn&#8217;t the best option after all.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am in no place to fight this in court due to financial reasons. It seems unnecessary to start a GoFund me or ask for help, because it’s between me and Warner Brothers,&#8221; he told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;It also made me think YouTube wanted the video off the platform. It is a very crude video so I can’t blame them for that, but it would’ve been nice to have been given more information on why this video was unacceptable to stay up on my page. It’s very disheartening.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the decision by YouTube will be viewed by some as anti-consumer and a denial of due process, in this case the platform arguably did the animator a favor. Instead of expending resources he doesn&#8217;t have on a legal process that could go either way and could even prove financially ruinous, he can now concentrate on creating new content for fans.</p>
<p>Some battles are worth fighting but it&#8217;s definitely worth weighing the costs first.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184592
title: MPAA and RIAA’s Megaupload Lawsuits Remain on Hold
uri: 2020-03-28-MPAA-and-RIAA-s-Megaupload-Lawsuits-Remain-on-Hold
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Pk3BOC94EgE/
content:
<p><img src="media/37e6b3c4.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="208" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95191" />When the U.S. Government shut down Megaupload in 2012, Internet traffic volumes dropped all over the world.</p>
<p>The destruction of one of the largest file-hosting services came as a shock to hundreds of millions of users, but particularly to the key players involved.</p>
<p>While the authorities had hoped to resolve the case swiftly, the opposite happened. Aside from Andrus Nomm’s plea deal years ago, there hasn&#8217;t been any progress in the criminal proceedings against Megaupload’s founder and his co-indicted associates.</p>
<p>After more than eight years, it is still not clear whether Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and his associates will ever stand trial in the US. They have and continue to fight this request tooth and nail in New Zealand.</p>
<p>While all parties await the outcome, which could take several more years, the criminal case in the United States remains pending. The same goes for the civil cases launched by the MPAA and RIAA in 2014.</p>
<p>This brings us to two new filings Megaupload&#8217;s legal team submitted at a Virginia federal court this week. The defunct file-sharing platform requests to keep the RIAA and MPAA cases on hold for at least six more months, noting the lack of movement in the criminal case.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Criminal Action is still pending, and none of the individual defendants have been extradited,&#8221; writes Megaupload attorney Craig C. Reilly, asking the court to stay the cases.</p>
<p>This request and the court&#8217;s swift approval to extend the delay until October doesn&#8217;t come as a surprise. The MPAA and RIAA didn&#8217;t object to it and similar requests have been granted more than a dozen times already.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/53c54f3c.approvemega.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/approvemega.jpg" alt="" width="622" height="314" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184644" /></center></p>
<p>The civil cases are not expected to start until after the criminal case in the U.S. has been &#8216;resolved.&#8217; That can take several more years. Meanwhile, data from Megaupload&#8217;s servers remains securely stored, possibly to serve as evidence in the future. </p>
<p>Previously there have been attempts to make it possible for millions of former Megaupload users to <a href="http://megaretrieval.com/">retrieve their personal files</a>. However, in recent years there hasn&#8217;t been any update on this front.</p>
<p>Similarly, the U.S. Department of Justice announced eight years ago that it would work on a solution to allow rightsholders to check whether their content was shared on Megaupload or related sites. Today, this feature is still listed as being &#8220;<a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/release-victim-notification">under construction</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184445
title: YesPornPlease Restricts Access as PayPal & Cloudflare Are Asked to Unmask Operators
uri: YesPornPlease-Restricts-Access-as-PayPal-Cloudflare-Are-Asked-to-Unm
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Tgx9tAUtZMI/
content:
<p><a href="media/1a1e499c.mindgeek.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mindgeek.jpg"><img src="media/1a1e499c.mindgeek.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mindgeek.jpg" alt="" width="329" height="120" class="alignright size-full wp-image-183410" /></a>In September 2019, MG Premium went to court in the United States <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/brazzers-wants-cloudflare-to-identify-yespornplease-uploaders-190913/">requesting a DMCA subpoena</a> against Cloudflare.</p>
<p>Alleging mass infringement, the adult giant wanted the CDN company to hand over the personal details of the people behind &#8216;tube&#8217; site YesPornPlease and partner platform VShare.io.</p>
<p>With 100 million visitors in January 2020 alone, YesPornPlease is a huge player in the space. It reportedly carries huge volumes of MG Premium content, including videos published under the Reality Kings, Brazzers, MOFOS, Babes.com, and Twistys brands.</p>
<p>Progress on the earlier subpoena is unknown but in February, MG Premium filed a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/yespornplease-and-vshare-io-go-offline-following-massive-copyright-lawsuit-200302/">full-blown lawsuit</a> in a Washington court potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.</p>
<p>In the wake of that legal action both YesPornPlease and VShare went offline. At the time it appeared that the sites may not return but the situation was temporary. Now, however, visitors to the platform are being greeted by a strange &#8216;welcome&#8217; page.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our website is banned in your country,&#8221; the greeting claims. &#8220;Please use Tor Browser, VPN or if you don&#8217;t have any get this for free.&#8221;</p>
<p>The &#8220;this for free&#8221; is a VPN called VPN4Test and the suggestion is that it can unlock the site. However, there are a number of confusing aspects to the message and the recommendation.</p>
<p>Aside from countries where porn may be illegal in general, we&#8217;re not aware that YesPornPlease is &#8216;banned&#8217; in any country it was previously accessible from. That tends to suggest that the website hasn&#8217;t been banned by any authority and it&#8217;s the site&#8217;s operators that have put measures in place at their end to ensure access is hindered.</p>
<p>Furthermore, after extended testing with various VPNs and Tor, on what grounds access is granted by the site remains unclear. For example, in some cases UK IP addresses are allowed through yet VPN IP addresses in the same country are blocked. The same is true for those located in other regions, US and mainland Europe, for example.</p>
<p>After cycling through a dozen or so Tor IP addresses, access was granted roughly 50% of the time, which will please users of the site. However, people shouldn&#8217;t be streaming lots of unnecessary videos using Tor &#8211; it isn&#8217;t designed for it, especially in the volumes required to service a massive adult video site.</p>
<p>That leads to the question of whether one of the main aims of the blocking is to drive traffic to the promoted VPN. While it is reportedly free to use, it should come with all the usual warnings that other free VPNs carry &#8211; in a nutshell, free is rarely free and there are probably strings attached.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, VPN4Test is doing well out of the referrals. From very little traffic at all in December 2019, the service is now clocking up more than 1.5 million visits per month. Meanwhile, MG Premium is pressing ahead with its legal action.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear from its numerous filings that the main challenge the company faces is positively identifying the people who run the defendant sites. In a motion for early discovery, the adult giant says that can only be achieved with the assistance of several US-based companies that are doing or have done business with the site.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff seeks a Court order allowing it to serve discovery demands on PayPal, Inc.; Domain Protection Services; Name.com, Inc.; Cloudflare, Inc.; Namecheap.com; Tucows Domains, Inc.; Internet Security Research Group; and, Comodo, Inc. for identifying information of their customers, the Defendants in this case,&#8221; the filing reads.</p>
<p>According to MG, Domain Protection Services in Colorado anonymizes the YesPornPlease domain, while Name.com and Cloudflare provide registrar and DNS services. Vshare uses Namecheap and Cloudflare, with the latter being used by both sites to serve content in the United States. It&#8217;s further alleged that the affiliate program operated by VShare pays out through PayPal while using an SSL certificate from New Jersey-based Comodo, Inc.</p>
<p>MG says that its representatives contacted all of the companies with requests for cooperation but without exception they either &#8220;ignored requests for information or previously instructed that information will only be produced upon subpoena.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff is aware of no available information that would identify the infringing users, other than information maintained by the domain privacy service, registrar service and<br />
other service providers,&#8221; the motion for early discovery notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Due to the nature of on-line transactions which in this case includes in certain instances of the crypto currency Bitcoin, Plaintiff has no way of determining Defendants’ identities except through immediate discovery, and follow-up discovery.&#8221;</p>
<p>As a result, MG requests that the court issues an order allowing it to serve subpoenas on the companies listed above, compelling them to turn over &#8220;all information pertinent to the identity of the owners, operators, and principals operating the YesPornPlease.com, VShare.io, and ezcgwym5xp7ty.com websites, domain names, and relevant accounts for each.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>The motion for early discovery can be found here (<a href="media/71c2beb6.-05134-MG-Premium-v-YesPornPlease-Motion-for-early-discovery.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/3-20-cv-05134-MG-Premium-v-YesPornPlease-Motion-for-early-discovery.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184493
title: Copyright Holders Continue to Report Fewer Piracy Links to Google Search
uri: Copyright-Holders-Continue-to-Report-Fewer-Piracy-Links-to-Google-Sear
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/AcEBXpmXQuk/
content:
<p><img src="media/8776ded3.googlelogo.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/googlelogo.png" alt="" width="250" height="83" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135049" />For most people, search engines such as Google are an essential tool to discover and enjoy the web in all its glory.</p>
<p>With help from complicated algorithms, the company offers a gateway to billions of sites, many of which would otherwise remain undiscovered.</p>
<p>This also includes many ‘pirate’ sites. While there are plenty of people who don’t mind seeing these show up in search results, their presence is a thorn in the side of copyright holders.</p>
<p>Roughly a decade ago this was hardly recognized as a problem. At the time, Google was asked to remove a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-takedown-notices-surge-140325/">few dozen URLs per day</a>. In the years that followed, that changed drastically. </p>
<p>In 2012, Google was asked to remove more than <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-removed-50-million-pirate-search-results-this-year-121228/">50 million URLs</a> and by 2016, the search engine processed more than <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-asked-to-remove-a-billion-pirate-search-results-in-a-year-161128/">a billion</a> reported URLs a year. This increase in notices coincided in large part with heavy critique from copyright holders, which asked Google to do more to curb piracy. </p>
<p>These comments didn&#8217;t go unnoticed at the Googleplex in Mountain View. In recent years, the search engine has taken a variety of measures to ensure that pirate sites are less visible. This includes demoting known offenders in search results. </p>
<p>Around the same time, the number of takedown requests from copyright holders started to drop. While we don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s directly related to Google&#8217;s anti-piracy measures, it is clear that the number of reported URLs has gone down significantly. </p>
<p>According to Google&#8217;s <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/">transparency report</a>, the company processed little over 500 million takedown requests over the past 12 months. That&#8217;s a 50% decrease compared to the billion it received a few years ago, and a 25% decrease compared to two years ago, when we first noticed the shift. </p>
<p>The decrease is in large part caused by the most active senders of takedown requests. For example, three years ago UK music group BPI sent in an average of two million URLs per week, with peaks of over three million. This year, the same group is averaging less than a million per week.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/de93a2a1.googlebpi7.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/googlebpi7.jpg" alt="" width="646" height="317" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184713" /></center></p>
<p>Similarly, the Mexican music group APDIF previously reported over four million pirate links to Google every week. This has now dropped to a few thousand, including some weeks with zero requests.</p>
<p>Also, MarkMonitor, which works with many Hollywood studios, reduced its takedown requests <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/reporters/199">by roughly half</a>.</p>
<p>While the data can&#8217;t be linked directly to Google&#8217;s anti-piracy measures, BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bpi-has-reported-half-a-billion-pirate-links-to-google-290310/">informed us</a> earlier this month that demotion of known pirate sites “has significantly improved the quality of results presented to consumers.”</p>
<p>After years of animosity between copyright holders and Google, both in public and behind closed doors, that&#8217;s certainly a major change in attitude. </p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184741
title: Anime Fans Find ‘Pirate’ Subtitles in Netflix Streams of City Hunter
uri: Anime-Fans-Find-Pirate-Subtitles-in-Netflix-Streams-of-City-Hunt
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/08L7bBPCA6s/
content:
<p><a href="media/97118de6.netflixlogonew.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/netflixlogonew.png"><img src="media/97118de6.netflixlogonew.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/netflixlogonew.png" alt="" width="267" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145677" /></a>Every day massive volumes of movies and TV shows are shared on the Internet without the permission of copyright holders.</p>
<p>While the majority will be viewed by speakers of the default language, the addition of subtitles allows content to be consumed across continents and on a global scale.</p>
<p>As a result, anti-piracy groups often claim that the existence of subtitles &#8211; whether from original sources or so-called &#8216;fansub&#8217; creations &#8211; helps to drive up piracy levels everywhere. So, in response, several have taken legal measures in an effort to reduce their spread.</p>
<p>Of course, they can&#8217;t plug all of the holes but interestingly, it&#8217;s not just unlicensed consumers and platforms that can benefit from these leaks, as an incident reported on Twitter at the weekend revealed.</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="fr" dir="ltr">On est bien d&#39;accord que l&#39;inscription en haut, c&#39;est un truc de fansub ? Sur Netflix. Bravo Dybex. <a href="https://t.co/I6tuP02giT">pic.twitter.com/I6tuP02giT</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Momo (@Momo_CodeGawain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Momo_CodeGawain/status/1243634421011566594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>When translated, the tweet in question asks the following rhetorical question: &#8220;We agree that the inscription at the top is fan-made stuff? On Netflix. Well done Dybex.&#8221;</p>
<p>The screenshot is from the 1999 anime movie &#8216;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211310/">City Hunter: Death of the Vicious Criminal Ryo Saeba</a>&#8216; which in common with other anime titles is alternatively titled in various regions. However, what is unusual here is the caption at the top of the screen.</p>
<p>Rizon.net is an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network that has been around for approximately 17 years. Anyone can set up a channel (denoted by hashtag #<em>channelname</em>) for free to discuss any topic they like, uncensored. So, in this case, the caption relates to the channel #anime101 on the Rizon network, which means that the subtitles used by Netflix were obtained from an unofficial and unlicensed source.</p>
<p>TF visited the #anime101 channel on Rizon to ask questions but we found only a ghost town. A single user was idling in the channel so as a result, no conversation was taking place. It seems likely that the channel has been all-but-dead for some time, which raises the question of exactly how old these subtitles are.</p>
<p>Momo, the Twitter user who made the discovery on Netflix France, &#8216;credited&#8217; Dybex with the apparent subtitling &#8216;oversight&#8217;. Founded in the mid-nineties, Dybex is a company involved in the distribution of anime, originally on videotapes and DVD (<a href="https://www.dybex.com/en/dvd/city-hunter-integrale-films-et-oav">City Hunter</a> was available on this format just after the turn of the century) and more recently blu-ray and platforms like Netflix.</p>
<p>Thanks to Netflix having different libraries in various regions, the movie isn&#8217;t available everywhere. However, we managed to access the show this morning and tracked down the precise frame reported by Momo. The French subtitles were still there but as the image below shows, the marker indicating that they had been sourced from Rizon&#8217;s #anime101 had been removed.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/3e9d48bd.city-hunter-netflix-e1585561127944.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/city-hunter-netflix-e1585561127944.png"><img src="media/3e9d48bd.city-hunter-netflix-e1585561127944.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/city-hunter-netflix-e1585561127944.png" alt="" width="650" height="460" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184756" /></a></center></p>
<p>This development was also noted by Twitter user ViCklatereur who describes him/herself as an &#8216;audiovisual professional&#8217;. After confirming that the report by Momo was accurate at the weekend, now confirms that the &#8216;problem&#8217; has been fixed.</p>
<p>&#8220;The problem is solved,&#8221; ViCklatereur writes. &#8220;The pirate channel irc address has disappeared.&#8221;</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="fr" dir="ltr">Le problème est résolu. L’adresse irc du Channel Pirate a disparu. <a href="https://t.co/1T0e1RH4gy">https://t.co/1T0e1RH4gy</a></p>
<p>&mdash; ViCklatereur (@ViCklatereur) <a href="https://twitter.com/ViCklatereur/status/1244243926611042304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time that &#8216;pirate&#8217; subtitles have inadvertently found their way onto Netflix and other platforms. Back in 2012, subtitles created by fansub community “DivX Finland” were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-caught-using-pirated-subtitles-in-finland-121019/">shown to Netflix viewers</a> of Canadian-American science fiction series Andromeda.</p>
<p>More recently, Comcast-owned Sky Switzerland <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sky-streaming-service-uses-pirate-subtitles-on-chernobyl-episode-190614/">managed to show</a> pirated subtitles alongside the hit series Chernobyl. These were sourced from fansubbing site Addic7ed.com, a platform that is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/australian-court-orders-isps-to-block-181-pirate-domains-including-subtitle-sites-181220/">blocked by ISPs in Australia</a> for breaching copyright law.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184750
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 03/30/20
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-03-30-20
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/g6XmLZcMX-c/
content:
<p><img src="media/e45ba2c1.bloods.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/bloods.png" alt="" width="300" height="160" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184753" />This week we have six newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Bloodshot is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-on-bittorrent-03-23-20/">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="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1634106/">Bloodshot</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1634106/">5.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOUVVDWdXbo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7713068/">Birds of Prey</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7713068/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjpsGw7YlU8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7146812/">Onward</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7146812/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn5QmllRCn4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/">The Invisible Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pso0Aj_cTh0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8367814/">The Gentlemen</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8367814/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ify9S7hj480">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527338/">Star Wars: Episode IX</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527338/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qn_spdM5Zg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502397/">Bad Boys for Life</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502397/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKCj3XuPG8M">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">1917</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZjQROMAh_s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8544498/">The Way Back</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8544498/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzNJVSsjE-I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7504726/">The Call of the Wild</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7504726/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1LG9So2ZBk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184747
title: Affordable Legal Options Are the Best Anti-Piracy Tool, US Senators Are Told
uri: Affordable-Legal-Options-Are-the-Best-Anti-Piracy-Tool-US-Senators-Ar
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/v9a7OXVR49E/
content:
<p><img src="media/3d5a45b0.pirateflag.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pirateflag.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="174" class="alignright size-full wp-image-175547" />The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property is currently in the process of finding ways through which the U.S. can better address online piracy.</p>
<p>The initiative, launched by U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, aims to hear experts from various sides, to get a balanced view of the challenges and opportunities. </p>
<p>During a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee earlier this month, key movie industry players <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-industry-praises-the-effectiveness-of-pirate-site-blocking-in-u-s-senate-200311/">argued</a> that pirate site blocking and upload filtering are viable and effective options. However, not everyone agreed with this conclusion. </p>
<p>The senators also heard <a href="https://twitter.com/Senficon">Julia Reda</a>, former MEP for the Pirate Party, who currently works as a fellow at Harvard&#8217;s Berkman Klein Center for Internet &#038; Society. In her initial testimony, Reda pointed out that the EU&#8217;s &#8216;indirect&#8217; upload filter requirements, which are part of last year&#8217;s copyright reform, are problematic. </p>
<p>Reda&#8217;s comments and presentation triggered several follow up questions from senators, who asked her to address some issues in more detail. These answers, which came in a few days ago, caution against stringent measures such as site blocking and upload filters. </p>
<p>Responding to a question from Committee Chairman Tillis, Reda stresses that instead of focusing on restrictions and legislation, the best answer to piracy lies in the hands of copyright holders and the broader entertainment industry.</p>
<p>&#8220;When it comes to reducing copyright infringement online, I am convinced that the availability of affordable, attractive legal streaming services is paramount,&#8221; Reda writes, adding that legal options have made music piracy less relevant. </p>
<p>The former MEP acknowledges that piracy continues to be a major challenge in the TV and movie industries. However, she attributes this in large part to increased fragmentation and the lack of an affordable all-in-one video platform.</p>
<p>&#8220;While legal video streaming services have grown rapidly in popularity and revenue over the recent years, there is still a lack of comprehensive video streaming services that give users access to all the content they want to see in one place,&#8221; Reda writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Exclusive deals between rightsholders and streaming services are much more common than in the music industry, therefore users have to choose between a large number of different streaming services with distinct offerings. Subscribing to all major streaming services is not affordable to the average consumer,&#8221; she adds.</p>
<p>Next up is the response to Senator Chris Coons, who asked Reda specifically about her views on website blocking and upload filtering. These measures were presented as effective anti-piracy tools by copyright holders. </p>
<p>Reda, however, sees things differently. While she mentions that legal scholars are best placed to evaluate the applicability in the US context, caution against site-blocking measures is warranted. </p>
<p>For example, it can raise free speech concerns when there is overblocking, which has happened in the EU on a few occasions. </p>
<p>&#8220;From a free speech perspective, it is very difficult to implement site blocking that only blocks illegal content without adversely affecting users’ rights to access legal content,&#8221; Reda writes.  </p>
<p>In addition, blocking can make security measures more difficult. This includes the use of DNSSEC, which can be used against phishing attacks but uses the same re-routing techniques as website blockades.</p>
<p>Free speech is also a problem with upload filters, Reda warns. She points out that automated filters can&#8217;t check for factors such as fair use, something even the providers of filtering tools themselves openly admit.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don’t think there is any possibility, neither today nor in the near to medium-term future, to automate these decisions,&#8221; Reda writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Therefore, upload filters for copyrighted content will always lead to many instances of overblocking of legal speech, as many examples of automated notices sent under the current notice-and-takedown regime illustrate.&#8221;</p>
<p>Instead, Reda again points out that facilitating the development of affordable legal sources is a more reliable strategy. </p>
<p>This is also the message in response to questions from Senator Richard Blumenthal, who asked whether there are any examples of statutes or technological tools that have proven to curb online piracy. </p>
<p>Instead of focusing on enforcements or restrictions, Reda once again turns the tables, highlighting that the entertainment industry holds the key.</p>
<p>&#8220;When tracking the history of online copyright infringement over the course of the last 25 years, the single most successful intervention to increase industry revenues and reduce copyright infringement has been the introduction of affordable, convenient legal alternatives. </p>
<p>&#8220;I believe that rather than a legislative intervention, the support of better legal offers for online content is the more successful strategy to curb online copyright infringement and produce new revenue streams,&#8221; Reda adds.</p>
<p>These views are obviously one side of the debate. As we previously highlighted, copyright holders see things quite differently. It will be interesting to see if and how the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property can find some common ground.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>Julia Reda&#8217;s full answers to the senators&#8217; questions are <a href="media/1831ac61.Reda-Responses-to-QFRs.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/Reda-Responses-to-QFRs.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184780
title: Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library is “Vile” Says Copyright Alliance
uri: Internet-Archive-s-National-Emergency-Library-is-Vile-Says-Cop
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Yv3RMooXYN8/
content:
<p><a href="media/16a360f4.internet-archive.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/internet-archive.png"><img src="media/16a360f4.internet-archive.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/internet-archive.png" alt="" width="200" height="172" class="alignright size-full wp-image-55299" /></a>Millions of people around the planet rely on public libraries to seek out books and the knowledge and education they provide. Libraries operating in the physical realm are bound by obvious restrictions, including that they can only lend out as many books as they have to hand.</p>
<p>After a book is removed from a shelf, for example, it can only be re-lent once it has been returned by the borrower. In the digital space, on the other hand, more copies can be generated in an instant, resulting in a potentially inexhaustible supply &#8211; should no artificial &#8216;wait&#8217; times be implemented, of course. </p>
<p>The Internet Archive (IA) operates one such a library offering a massive repository of scanned books that generally restricts lending in line with &#8220;wait time&#8221; guidelines. Last week, however, the resource announced an unprecedented response to the challenges being <a href="http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2020/03/ala-executive-board-recommends-closing-libraries-public">faced by learners</a> due to the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>Rather than users having to wait for digital books to be &#8216;returned&#8217;, the IA revealed that at least until the end of June 2020, it would &#8220;<a href="http://blog.archive.org/2020/03/24/announcing-a-national-emergency-library-to-provide-digitized-books-to-students-and-the-public/">suspend waitlists</a>&#8221; for the 1.4 million books in its newly-formed <a href="https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary">National Emergency Library</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a response to the scores of inquiries from educators about the capacity of our lending system and the scale needed to meet classroom demands because of the closures,&#8221; wrote IA&#8217;s Director of Open Libraries Chris Freeland.</p>
<p>The response among borrowers, especially given the hard times currently being faced by all, was immediately positive. &#8220;You are an angel on earth,&#8221; one wrote. &#8220;Y’all have digitized a book that one of my faculty wants his students to read (by tomorrow! when they will virtually meet the author!). Author and professor will be thrilled,&#8221; another responded.</p>
<p>Perhaps inevitably, however, groups representing the rights of authors were less pleased with the new ground rules. Within days the initiative was slammed by the Authors Guild, which declared that it was &#8220;appalled&#8221; by the Internet Archive&#8217;s decision to expand the scope of the library.</p>
<p>&#8220;IA has no rights whatsoever to these books, much less to give them away indiscriminately without consent of the publisher or author,&#8221; the Guild <a href="https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/internet-archives-uncontrolled-digital-lending/">wrote</a>. &#8220;We are shocked that the Internet Archive would use the Covid-19 epidemic as an excuse to push copyright law further out to the edges, and in doing so, harm authors, many of whom are already struggling.&#8221;</p>
<p>The group says that while large swathes of the world are suffering due to the pandemic, authors should not be deprived of sales that might otherwise have taken place, had the IA not taken the decision to give free books to all, in whatever volumes are necessary to fulfill demand. This, the Authors Guild says, is contrary to federal law and even affects in-copyright books that authors rely upon for &#8220;critical revenue&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;Acting as a piracy site — of which there already are too many — the Internet Archive tramples on authors’ rights by giving away their books to the world,&#8221; the group wrote.</p>
<p>The Internet Archive believes it is staying on the right side of the law, with the process of supplying temporary copies of books to users falling under the banner of &#8216;Controlled Digital Lending&#8217; (CDL). Opponents, including some authors, authors&#8217; groups, and publishers, vigorously disagree.</p>
<p>The National Writers Union (NWU), for example, insists that &#8220;CDL infringes authors’ and publishers’ copyrights and deprives them of revenues that they would earn if readers obtained their works though other, legitimate channels.&#8221;</p>
<p>But even when considering the <a href="https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2018/03/article_0007.html">Public Lending Right</a>, which already exists in several countries around the world but not the United States, NWU remain unhappy. PLR ensures that authors are paid whenever their books are borrowed from libraries (in the UK authors should receive <a href="https://www.societyofauthors.org/Where-We-Stand/Public-Lending-Right-(PLR)">around 8.5p</a> for each withdrawal) but IA&#8217;s library even tramples on that concept according to NWU.</p>
<p>&#8220;[I]n addition to its other harms, CDL deprives authors of PLR compensation by diverting readers who would otherwise borrow books from foreign libraries to &#8216;borrow&#8217; bootleg CDL copies served up from the U.S. by the Internet Archive or other U.S. institutions,&#8221; NWU adds.</p>
<p>But of course, physical libraries aren&#8217;t operating as they should at the moment due to the pandemic, a point not lost on the Internet Archive.</p>
<p>&#8220;Right now, today, there are 650 million books that tax-paying citizens have paid to access that are sitting on shelves in closed libraries, inaccessible to them. And that’s just in public libraries,&#8221; IA wrote in a response to criticism last evening, adding that statements by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers &#8220;contain falsehoods that are being spread widely online.&#8221;</p>
<p>IA insist that the fair user doctrine underlies its system, as explained in the <a href="https://controlleddigitallending.org/statement">Position Statement</a> on Controlled Digital Lending. The organization also reiterates that there are restrictions in place to prevent loans from being any more permanent than they were before the crisis took hold.</p>
<p>&#8220;Readers who borrow a book from the National Emergency Library get it for only two weeks, and their access is disabled unless they check it out again. Internet Archive also uses the same technical protections that publishers use on their ebook offerings in order to prevent additional copies from being made or redistributed,&#8221; IA <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QjErbouWG7pUlzcxPcRk4YEtbYs8ItlVTgLa1DfGh68/">explains</a>.</p>
<p>But despite the fact that the Internet Archive believes it is on safe ground, yet more pro-copyright groups have been piling on in disgust. In a scathing attack on IA founder Brewster Kahle, last night the massive Copyright Alliance likened the lending library to looters taking advantage at a time of crisis.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, while most people are doing the right thing and rallying in support of one another, there are also those who are taking advantage of the mayhem to throw bricks through store windows and make things much worse for those that need our help. There is no better example of this than Brewster Kahle and the Internet Archive,&#8221; Copyright Alliance chief Keith Kupferschmid <a href="https://copyrightalliance.org/ca_post/the-emergence-of-copyright-looting/">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;At a time when authors, like many others, are struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table, Kahle and the Internet Archive, are throwing bricks through their windows and looting their houses.&#8221;</p>
<p>Noting that people including Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and the Clintons have all dipped into their own pockets to offer help to those in need, the library operated by Kayle is funded by &#8220;money out of the pockets of those who need it the most – American authors.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Under normal circumstances his actions would be reprehensible,&#8221; Kupferschmid added, &#8220;but given the current situation and Kahle’s enormous wealth, his actions are particularly vile.&#8221;</p>
<p>While most of the attacks on the National Emergency Library thus far have either declared it flat-out illegal or worthy of criticism for trying to expand the limits of copyright law, no one is yet putting their head above the parapet with a legal team in tow. The perils here are clear, of course.</p>
<p>Few copyright holders will want to get drawn into an ugly battle at a time of national crisis and even fewer will relish the prospect of emerging the other side with a defeat. Like the pandemic itself, that too would go down in history and would not be easily forgotten. </p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184786
title: RIAA Denies ‘False Takedown’ Allegations, Asks Court to Dismiss Case
uri: RIAA-Denies-False-Takedown-Allegations-Asks-Court-to-Dismiss-Ca
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Ota5KiNjAZI/
content:
<p><img src="media/6098d35b.riaalogo.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/riaalogo.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-178829" />Earlier this year, popular hip-hop mixtape website and app Spinrilla filed a lawsuit against the RIAA. </p>
<p>Spinrilla accused the music industry group of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mixtape-service-sues-riaa-for-sending-false-takedown-notices-200322/">sending false DMCA takedown notices</a> that waste resources and harm the site&#8217;s goodwill and reputation.</p>
<p>“False takedown notices needlessly waste Spinrilla’s time, disrupts its personnel’s work and puts at risk for terminating a user as a ‘repeat infringer’ when in fact the user uploaded non-infringing content,” Spinrilla wrote.</p>
<p>Yesterday the RIAA responded to the complaint in court. In its filing, the music group reminds the court of the legal history between both parties, which are involved in a separate and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-labels-sue-hip-hop-mixtape-download-site-spinrilla-170206/">ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit</a>.</p>
<p>According to the RIAA, the original lawsuit has demonstrated Spinrilla’s &#8220;persistent and flagrant pattern of facilitating and encouraging massive copyright infringement.&#8221; The new case is &#8220;an obvious and baseless attempt&#8221; to draw the court&#8217;s attention away from this matter.</p>
<p>These references clearly set the tone but are irrelevant for the new case. However, the RIAA is convinced that Spinrilla&#8217;s false DMCA notice allegations are baseless so is asking the court to dismiss the case. </p>
<p>Spinrilla&#8217;s complaint only referenced one file that was falsely claimed, <a href="https://spinrilla.com/songs/2480250-big-sean-and-jhene-aiko-twenty88-2-minute-warning-ft-detail-and-k-ci-jojo-chopped-and-screwed">this mix</a>, which allegedly infringed the copyrights for the Big Sean &#038; Jhené Aiko track ‘2 Minute Warning.’ In its reply, RIAA explains that this wasn&#8217;t a false takedown notice.</p>
<p>According to the music group, Spinrilla doesn&#8217;t present any evidence that the RIAA knew that the contested audio file was not infringing. In addition, it says that the site fails to allege that the contested file was actually removed, as is required for such as claim. </p>
<p>&#8220;[The complaint] does not allege that Spinrilla ever removed or disabled access to the sole audio file it identifies, or that Spinrilla suffered injury as a result of removing or disabling access to the file,&#8221; RIAA writes. </p>
<p>In addition, Spinrilla&#8217;s allegation that the music group relies on a faulty text-searching purely speculative and unsupported, RIAA notes. </p>
<p>RIAA&#8217;s reply comes with a declaration from Traci Crippen, the group&#8217;s Vice President of Operations, Content Protection. She mentions that the contested file was reviewed by both a Universal Music Group (UMG) employee and herself. </p>
<p><center><strong>From Crippen&#8217;s declaration</strong></center><br /><center><img src="media/0fba61e9.riaacripp.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/riaacripp.jpg" alt="" width="599" height="159" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184796" /></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Before sending the takedown notice, Ms. Crippen was informed that a UMG employee listened to the Audio File and determined that it infringed copyrighted UMG sound recordings. Ms. Crippen herself then listened to the Audio File and concluded it was infringing,&#8221; RIAA writes.</p>
<p>Although the track in question is mostly absent of any sound, the RIAA doesn&#8217;t believe that it can be classified under fair use. And even if it is non-infringing, Spinrilla&#8217;s false takedown claims are unwarranted because Ms. Crippen had &#8220;good faith belief&#8221; that it was.</p>
<p>Based on these and other arguments, the RIAA asks the court to dismiss the complaint. Or alternatively, issue a summary judgment in favor of the music group because it was not aware of any wrongdoing. </p>
<p>Whether Spinrilla has more examples of false takedown notices is unknown. If it does, it will likely present these in reply to RIAA&#8217;s response. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of RIAA&#8217;s response to Spinrilla&#8217;s complaint is <a href="media/06ed7610.riaadismiss.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/riaadismiss.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184828
title: Disney Deletes Print-on-Demand Sale Claiming Rights to Denmark’s The Little Mermaid Statue
uri: Disney-Deletes-Print-on-Demand-Sale-Claiming-Rights-to-Denmark-s-The
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZyOqF4XIVsY/
content:
<p><a href="media/6909e7d1.disney-pirate.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/disney-pirate.jpg"><img src="media/6909e7d1.disney-pirate.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/disney-pirate.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95935" /></a>With the world in turmoil right now, today is not the ideal time for jokes, pranks, and frivolity usually associated with April 1. That being said, US-resident Dani Payson could be forgiven for thinking that someone was yanking her chain this morning.</p>
<p>Payson (who uses the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/DaniPayson">Andrea Marie</a> on Twitter) operates a store on Australia-founded print-on-demand site RedBubble. She&#8217;s currently selling printed mugs, shower curtains and phone cases &#8211; plus t-shirts, of course. Visitors to her page today, however, will discover a notable omission &#8211; the removal of a photograph of the world-famous Copenhagen statue The Little Mermaid.</p>
<p>According to Payson, she took the photograph herself with her own DSLR camera during a visit to Denmark and uploaded it to RedBubble so that people could have it printed to an item of their choice. Given the subject matter, the photograph is similar in many respects to thousands of others online, as this image of the listing shows.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/d849f900.mermaid-redbubble-e1585732157277.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mermaid-redbubble-e1585732157277.png"><img src="media/d849f900.mermaid-redbubble-e1585732157277.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mermaid-redbubble-e1585732157277.png" alt="" width="650" height="456" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184833" /></a></center></p>
<p>The problem for her is that the listing has now been deleted by RedBubble following a takedown request by a rightsholder.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re sorry, but we had to remove some of your artwork from the RedBubble marketplace because it may contain material that violates someone&#8217;s rights,&#8221; RedBubble told the entrepreneur. &#8220;We identified this material in your artwork based on guidance provided to us by the owner of those rights.&#8221;</p>
<p>The owner of the rights in question was none other than Disney Enterprises, Inc. The basis for the movie giant&#8217;s claim is that Payson&#8217;s image depicts one of its &#8220;Disney Princesses&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because Disney likes to show how evil they can be they’re trying to remove my personal photos from the internet of this statue stating they own it,&#8221; Payson <a href="https://twitter.com/DaniPayson/status/1245141961129902080">complained</a> this morning.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/cf4a8d91.mermaid-complaint.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mermaid-complaint.png"><img src="media/cf4a8d91.mermaid-complaint.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mermaid-complaint.png" alt="" width="482" height="907" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184836" /></a></center></p>
<p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/DaniPayson/status/1245188980687036416/photo/1">claim</a> is laughable, of course. Not only is Payson the copyright holder of the image in question, but the subject matter is a statue that is 107-years-old, is not animated, and is not owned by Disney. Only adding to the ridiculous mix are several other awkward facts.</p>
<p>The statue was unveiled in Copenhagen to celebrate the fairy tale &#8216;The Little Mermaid&#8217; that was published in Denmark by Hans Christian Andersen on April 7, 1837 &#8211; <em>almost 183 years ago</em>. Disney&#8217;s &#8216;The Little Mermaid&#8217; was released in 1989 and is actually based on the original story by the Danish author.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s noteworthy that despite claiming the rights to an image that has nothing to do with them, Disney paid absolutely nothing to Hans Christian Andersen for his story because his book fell into the public domain long ago. The same is true for Disney&#8217;s &#8216;Frozen&#8217;, which is based on Anderson&#8217;s &#8216;Ice Queen&#8217;.</p>
<p>These movies, based on someone else&#8217;s work, have together made hundreds of millions of dollars and will be vigorously protected, by Disney, for decades to come. This is the basis upon which Disney took down the RedBubble listing, which was probably actioned following a basic and bungled keyword search.</p>
<p>April Fools&#8230;..</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184743
title: ETTV Moves to New Domain Name After Operator Goes Missing
uri: ETTV-Moves-to-New-Domain-Name-After-Operator-Goes-Missing
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TWZjFuDhhaM/
content:
<p><img src="media/88f2b6f3.ettvlo.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/ettvlo.png" alt="" width="225" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148211" />Three years ago, the torrent community was hit hard when the popular torrent site ExtraTorrent suddenly <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrent-shuts-down-for-good-170517/">shut its doors</a>.</p>
<p>The site provided a safe harbor for millions of file-sharers and was also the birthing ground for several popular releasers and distribution groups. This includes ETTV, which is short for ExtraTorrent TV. </p>
<p>With its home gone, ETTV decided to carry on independently by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrent-uploader-groups-launch-their-own-torrent-site-171031/">launching its own website</a>. Over the past years, this has grown out to become a medium-sized torrent site with a dedicated and vetted group of regular uploaders. </p>
<p>Although the site has operated as usual in recent months, behind the scenes staff faced a critical problem. The main ETTV operator who controlled the domains, servers, and ads, suddenly went missing.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke to ETTV administrator &#8216;sidekickbob&#8217; who informed us that the operator last logged in December last year. Around the same time, he also sent out an email telling the staffer that he had experienced health issues. </p>
<p>After almost four months had passed without an official word from the operator, &#8216;sidekickbob&#8217; decided to step into action. The first step was to disable the ads since he had no control over them. Coincidence or not, two days later someone canceled the server. </p>
<p>The admin doesn&#8217;t believe that ETTV&#8217;s operator did this. However, someone clearly was responding, as the server that hosted the torrents was also canceled. After paying the bills, Sidekickbob was able to get the site&#8217;s server back, but for the time being ETTV will use magnet links only.</p>
<p>To guarantee that he retained full control, Sidekickbob then decided to switch to a new domain name, ETTVdl.com. While he has access to the registrar login of the other domains, as well as root access to the server, he wants to prevent a &#8216;third-party&#8217; from taking over. </p>
<p>&#8220;I redirected all traffic from ettv.to,&#8221; sidekickbob tells us, adding that the other domains are set to expire later this year.</p>
<p>This domain change was also communicated in the forums, without any further background detail.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/9ed386c9.sidebob.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/sidebob.jpg" alt="" width="622" height="182" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184852" /></center></p>
<p>Unless the original operator reappears, the &#8216;new&#8217; admin will also reinstate some ads so he can pay the bills. However, sidekickbob has no intention of steering the ship any longer than needed. He is currently looking for a trusted person to take the lead, or else he will shut it down.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all left to me, and if I don&#8217;t manage to &#8216;transfer&#8217; it to somebody else I will eventually shut it down, most likely at the end of this year,&#8221; he says, adding that he doesn&#8217;t have enough time to manage the site himself. </p>
<p>This means that ETTV&#8217;s future is highly uncertain. In any case, the new admin doesn&#8217;t simply plan to sell the site to the highest bidder. If a third-party takes over, it has to be someone with a good track record and some experience</p>
<p>&#8220;Ultimately my intention is to sell it to somebody that wants to run the torrent site. Preferably somebody that has experience in running a medium traffic torrent site. I&#8217;m not going to give it to some random kids,&#8221; sidekickbob concludes.</p>
<p>Shutting down ETTV will certainly have an impact. While the site is not crucial, the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ettv-how-an-upload-bot-became-a-pirate-hero-171210/">ETTV and ETHD bots</a> supply torrents to a wide variety of even more popular torrent sites. If these go down as well, it will surely be noticed. </p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184878
title: Kendall Jenner Posts Video of Herself on Instagram, Gets Sued For Copyright Infringement
uri: Kendall-Jenner-Posts-Video-of-Herself-on-Instagram-Gets-Sued-For-Copy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rujcv8zb6WE/
content:
<p><a href="media/1777560b.instagram-logo.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/instagram-logo.png"><img src="media/1777560b.instagram-logo.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/instagram-logo.png" alt="" width="239" height="235" class="alignright size-full wp-image-182429" /></a><a href="https://boingboing.net/2007/11/17/infringement-nation.html">A paper</a> published back in 2007 pondered the possibility that on any given day, regular people may commit dozens of copyright infringements, without really knowing it.</p>
<p>While all pitfalls are difficult to predict, the public is much better informed 13 years on and tech-savvy individuals are now more likely to spot potential pitfalls, especially when they carry out more obvious acts such as uploading copyrighted content to social media.</p>
<p>But despite the millions of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bpi-has-reported-half-a-billion-pirate-links-to-google-290310/">takedown notices</a> filed <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rivendell-has-now-sent-half-a-billion-dmca-takedown-requests-to-google-200125/">every year</a> alongside <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-files-over-1000-piracy-lawsuits-in-half-a-year/">thousands of lawsuits</a>, even those with massive legal teams and vast resources can make costly errors. Case in point &#8211; Kendall Jenner, her Instagram account, and a video for which the model allegedly doesn&#8217;t own the copyrights.</p>
<p>Titled &#8216;bye nyc&#8217; and posted to Instagram on September 13, 2019, it <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2VU5TVj7HC/">features Jenner</a> leaving a building and being greeted by the usual crowd of photographers aiming to get a shot of the superstar model. It lasts just a few seconds but was nevertheless gobbled up by Jenner&#8217;s army of fans who, to date, have viewed the clip almost 22.8 million times.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/0b11623c.kendall-insta-e1585814858760.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/kendall-insta-e1585814858760.png"><img src="media/0b11623c.kendall-insta-e1585814858760.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/kendall-insta-e1585814858760.png" alt="" width="650" height="490" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-184882" /></a></center></p>
<p>While many of these kinds of clips attract no negative attention from the people who took them, that isn&#8217;t the case here. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in a California district court has New York resident Angela Ma suing Jenner (and her company Kendall Jenner, Inc.) for blatant copyright infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is an action for copyright infringement under Section 501 of the Copyright Act,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;This action arises out of Defendants’ unauthorized publication and public display of a copyrighted video (the &#8216;Video&#8217;) of defendant Kendall Jenner. The Video and the copyright in the Video are owned and registered by Plaintiff.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ma says she has registered the video with the Copyright Office (Reg. # PA 2-211-871) which is important as without an application she wouldn&#8217;t be able to sue. But sue she is.</p>
<p>Claiming that the video was viewed &#8220;over 13 million times&#8221; (a figure that is soon set to double), Ma says that the clip wasn&#8217;t licensed to anyone for any use and therefore Jenner did not have permission to post the video on Instagram.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants infringed Plaintiff’s copyright in the Video by reproducing and publicly displaying the Video on the Website. Defendants were not, and have never been, licensed or otherwise authorized to reproduce, publicly display, distribute and/or use the Video,&#8221; the complaint notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The acts of Defendants complained of herein constitute infringement of Plaintiff’s copyright and exclusive rights under copyright in violation of Sections 106 and 501 of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §§ 106 and 501.&#8221;</p>
<p>The lawsuit says that Jenner&#8217;s infringement wasn&#8217;t accidental. On the contrary, it was &#8220;willful, intentional, and purposeful&#8221; and in disregard of Ma&#8217;s rights as the copyright holder. As a result, Jenner must now compensate for the damage caused in one of two ways.</p>
<p>On the one hand, Jenner could pay damages and hand over all the income generated by the infringement. In that case, Ma wants Jenner to &#8220;account for all profits, income, receipts&#8221; so that can be entered into the calculation.</p>
<p>On the other, Ma states that she is entitled to statutory damages of up to $150,000 for the &#8220;willful&#8221; nature of the infringement. In any event, the New York resident also wants to be compensated for attorneys&#8217; fees and full costs.</p>
<p>In addition, Ma&#8217;s attorneys want the court to order Jenner to remove the video from Instagram. Why that wasn&#8217;t actioned earlier directly with the social media company isn&#8217;t detailed.</p>
<p>Angela Ma is demanding a trial by jury but it seems unlikely that the case will progress that far. Like many such actions, it will probably disappear into the ether following a private settlement.</p>
<p><em>The copyright infringement lawsuit filed in California can be found <a href="media/7b93d31b.2-20-cv-03011-Angela-Ma-v-Kendall-Jenner-Instagram.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2-20-cv-03011-Angela-Ma-v-Kendall-Jenner-Instagram.pdf">here</a> (pdf)</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184923
title: ‘YouTube is Not Required to Share Email and IP-Addresses of Movie Pirates’
uri: YouTube-is-Not-Required-to-Share-Email-and-IP-Addresses-of-Movie-Pi
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6PFPzJzs1Aw/
content:
<p><img src="media/c6f570e0.youtubehappy.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/youtubehappy.png" alt="" width="230" height="158" class="alignright size-full wp-image-130150" />YouTube’s users upload millions of hours of videos every month. As with any user-generated content site, this also includes copyright-infringing content.</p>
<p>This abuse is a thorn in the side of some copyright holders. Although they can send takedown requests to remove pirated content, some companies want to go after the infringers. </p>
<p>This is what happened in Germany, where the local company &#8220;Constantin Film&#8221; went after three YouTube users. These account holders had uploaded copies of the movies &#8220;Scary Movie 5&#8221; or &#8220;Parker&#8221; without permission, which were then viewed thousands of times.</p>
<p>The movie company demanded that Google and YouTube should share the email addresses, IP-addresses, and phone numbers that were tied to these accounts and took the matter to a local court. </p>
<p>Initially, this request was turned down by the Frankfurt District Court, but the Higher Regional Court later ruled that YouTube should hand over the associated email addresses, but not the IP-addresses and phone numbers. </p>
<p>Neither party was happy with this outcome and the case was sent to Germany&#8217;s Federal Court of Justice for another ruling. Before making a final judgment, the German court sent some questions to the EU Court of Justice, asking for input on how to interpret EU law in this matter.</p>
<p>While both German and EU legislation grant copyright holders the right to know who the copyright infringer is, it&#8217;s not clear what information should be handed over. Article 8 of the EU Copyright Directive from 2004 doesn&#8217;t go any further than mentioning &#8220;names and addresses&#8221; without any further specification.</p>
<p>To clarify the position, Germany&#8217;s Federal Court asked whether the law should be interpreted in a way that also covers email addresses, phone numbers, and IP-addresses. In <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&#038;docid=224899&#038;pageIndex=0&#038;doclang=EN&#038;mode=lst&#038;dir=&#038;occ=first&#038;part=1&#038;cid=359152">an advisory opinion</a> released by EU Advocate General Henrik Saugmandsgaard Øe, this should not be the case. </p>
<p>The Advocate General believes that the &#8216;names&#8217; and &#8216;addresses&#8217; mentioned in Article 8 should be interpreted literally. In other words, it refers to the usual meaning in <em>everyday language</em>, which doesn&#8217;t cover email addresses, IP-addresses, and certainly not phone numbers. </p>
<p>&#8220;There is little doubt that, in everyday language, the concept of a person’s ‘address’, about which the referring court asks in particular, covers only the postal address, as YouTube and Google have rightly submitted,&#8221; Saugmandsgaard Øe writes.</p>
<p>The Advocate General understands that Constantin Film would like this language to be updated, so it also includes digital addresses, but he adds that this is something that lawmakers must address, not the court. </p>
<p>&#8220;Article 8(2) [&#8230;] must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘names and addresses’ set out in that provision does not cover, in respect of a user who has uploaded files which infringe intellectual property rights, the email address, the telephone number, the IP address used to upload those files or the IP address used when the user’s account was last accessed.</p>
<p>&#8220;Accordingly, the Member States are not obliged, under that provision, to provide for the possibility, for the competent judicial authorities, to order that that information be provided in the context of proceedings concerning an infringement of an intellectual property right.&#8221;</p>
<p>This means that, based on this opinion, Germany&#8217;s Federal court can order YouTube and Google to hand over the names and postal addresses of the uploaders, but not the emails, IP-addresses, and phone numbers. </p>
<p>The Advocate General’s advice is not binding. However, in most cases the recommendations are followed by the EU Court of Justice, which will likely issue its final verdict later this year.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184881
title: Bulgaria Plans to Take Down Top Torrent Sites, with U.S. Assistance
uri: Bulgaria-Plans-to-Take-Down-Top-Torrent-Sites-with-U-S-Assistance
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7FfWRSMAIHY/
content:
<p><img src="media/c4d94531.people-3042093_640.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/people-3042093_640.jpg" alt="" width="288" height="192" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184915" />Last year, Bulgarian authorities carried out several sting operations to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-iptv-network-shut-down-after-police-raid-cable-operators/">take down</a> key players in the IPTV piracy ecosystem. It also provided key assistance in the police action against <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/xtream-codes-iptv-system-targeted-in-massive-police-operation/">Xtream Codes</a>.</p>
<p>The country&#8217;s increased efforts to protect copyright holders haven&#8217;t gone unnoticed in the United States. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) previously removed Bulgaria from their &#8216;Special 301 Watch List&#8217; and the country hopes to keep it that way. </p>
<p>This week, TorrentFreak obtained a transcript from the most recent hearing on the 2020 Special 301 review. The Government of Bulgaria also sent a representative to the meeting, Ivo Konstantinov, who informed the USTR about the country&#8217;s continued progress. </p>
<p>In addition to mentioning IPTV sting operations and legislative developments, Konstantinov stressed that more work has to be done. Specifically, Bulgaria is working on shutting down several major torrent sites with help from U.S. law enforcement. </p>
<p>&#8220;Most important of all, the elephant in our room are two of the largest torrent tracking servers that are operating in our country, whose servers are outside of the country,&#8221; Bulgaria&#8217;s representative said.</p>
<p>&#8220;[O]ur National Police and Combat Organized Crime Unit is preparing requests for legal assistance from the U.S. side to deface them and take them down from their host services, which are here in the United States.&#8221; </p>
<p>Konstantinov informed the USTR that &#8220;this is coming.&#8221; No concrete dates were given but the authorities are also working on indictments, which suggests that criminal prosecutions may follow as well. </p>
<p>During the hearing, no websites were mentioned. However, we managed to track down several USTR filings from earlier this year which identify the two trackers as Zamunda.net and ArenaBG. Both sites are among the top 25 most-visited websites in Bulgaria. </p>
<p>In one document the Bulgarian Government states that it intends to &#8220;terminate the activities of the Zamunda and Arena.bg torrent trackers,&#8221; adding that &#8220;5 pre-trial proceedings were opened&#8221; for &#8220;intellectual property and tax crimes.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bulgaria states that U.S. assistance is required as the sites in question use American services. This includes their domain names. Zamunda currently has a .net domain and ArenaBG operates from a .com domain, for example. Both are maintained by Verisign, which is based in the US.</p>
<p>The domains can also be targeted by going to ICANN, which oversees the entire domain name ecosystem. This route is also covered, as the Bulgarian Prosecutor&#8217;s Office and the Organized Crime Unit will request ICANN to withdraw the associated domain names. </p>
<p>Yet more pieces of the puzzle fell into place when we stumbled upon another document the Bulgarian Government sent to the USTR. This shows that the U.S. Department of Justice is already actively involved and that more sites are being targeted.</p>
<p>The document references a business trip Bulgarian representatives made to the US last October. These officials met with US law enforcement and businesses, discussing potential anti-piracy actions. </p>
<p>These actions include domain seizures relating to four websites. The aforementioned Zamunda.net and ArenaBG.com, but also Zelka.org and RarBG.to. The latter is a major target, as it&#8217;s one of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">most-used torrent sites</a> worldwide.</p>
<p>During the trip, Matthew Lamberti from the US Department of Justice agreed to help, under the mutual legal assistance treaty, to seize the associated domain names.</p>
<p>&#8220;During the meeting with Mat Lamberti an agreement was reached that an MLAT will be sent by our country, regarding initiated pre-trials concerning four torrent trackers – with the aim of seizing domains, registered in the USA,&#8221; the document reads.</p>
<p>If all goes well, Bulgaria will also enlist assistance from other countries to seize any other associated domain names, including mirrors.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the planned procedure is successful and the domains are seized, our country intends to send the MPP to the other countries where the mirror domains of the above are registered.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bulgaria also mentioned that Cloudflare, a US-based company, is used by most of the top torrent sites in the world. The sites use the CDN provider to &#8220;conceal the actual location&#8221; of these &#8220;criminalized Internet resources.&#8221; </p>
<p>During the USTR meeting in Washington, Konstantinov mentioned that Cloudflare is cooperative as it helps to identify the sites&#8217; true hosting locations. It&#8217;s now up to Bulgaria and the US to get the paperwork sorted, so domain names and possibly servers can be seized and shut down, he added. </p>
<p>The documents are remarkable, as they lay out in detail how Bulgaria and the US are working together to try and take down several top torrent sites. All the quotes and references, while not easy to find, have been made public by the USTR itself. </p>
<p>In some instances, the paperwork refers to &#8216;Arena.bg&#8217; and &#8216;Rar.bg&#8217; instead of ArenaBG.com and RarBG.to. While that&#8217;s confusing, the latter two are the largest sites by far and likely the main targets. </p>
<p>Finally, it&#8217;s interesting to note that, in this case, Bulgaria needs assistance from the US to shut target popular pirate sites. Especially, when taking into account that the US frequently points to lacking enforcement actions in other countries.</p>
<p>All in all, we can say that the documents clearly lay out the playbook to target the four torrent sites, but thus far, all targets are still operating as usual. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>The transcript from the USTR hearing is available <a href="media/c9168cd1.2020_Special_301_Report_Hearing_transcript.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2020_Special_301_Report_Hearing_transcript.pdf">here (pdf)</a> and the additional documents that were sent to the USTR can be found <a href="media/1be328af.IPR_report_2019_Bulgaria_Cybercrime_department_-_GDCOC.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/IPR_report_2019_Bulgaria_Cybercrime_department_-_GDCOC.pdf">here (pdf)</a> and <a href="media/ab2b46c6.2020_National_Trade_Estimate_Report.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2020_National_Trade_Estimate_Report.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184951
title: RIAA Declares “Victory” in Megaupload Case Despite Not Having a Trial
uri: RIAA-Declares-Victory-in-Megaupload-Case-Despite-Not-Having-a-Tr
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UEryI0yGu5Q/
content:
<p><a href="media/412867c7.riaa.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/riaa.png"><img src="media/412867c7.riaa.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/riaa.png" alt="" width="250" height="134" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108672" /></a>Mention the word &#8216;Limewire&#8217; to today&#8217;s file-sharers, downloaders, or streamers, and you&#8217;ll probably get a vacant stare in response. After being handed a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/limewire-loses-court-battle-with-riaa-shuts-down-101026/">massive defeat</a> at the hands of the RIAA in 2010, it&#8217;s now viewed as old technology, a redundant cassette tape in a brand new hi-tech world.</p>
<p>But if a decade seems like a long time for a technology like Limewire, spare a thought for Megaupload. In a few months&#8217; time, the shutdown of the site at the hands of US and New Zealand authorities (assisted by the MPAA and RIAA, of course) will be less than a year away from its own tenth anniversary. </p>
<p>Only a gambling man would dare to predict when or even if the multiple cases against Dotcom will ever be concluded but for chairman and RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier, none of that seems to be as crucial as it once was.</p>
<p>In an interview just published by <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/mitch-glazier-riaa-ceo-at-work-976192/">Rolling Stone</a>, Glazier recalls his time at the RIAA, covering a wide range of topics affecting the industry. In respect of copyright and piracy issues, he effectively declares victory over the German-born entrepreneur.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have had some huge significant victories along the way,&#8221; he told Rolling Stone.</p>
<p>&#8220;Going to the Supreme Court to show that music is protected online; winning that case against Kim Dotcom and the cyberlocker world to deter future Kim Dotcoms from doing the same thing.&#8221;</p>
<p>The statement is interesting on a number of fronts. Firstly, it&#8217;s important to note that Kim Dotcom has yet to set foot in a US court to face not only a criminal action by the US Government but also civil suits filed by Hollywood and the music industry, headed by the RIAA.</p>
<p>That, of course, is entirely down to the Megaupload founder. He&#8217;s been fighting tooth and nail to avoid extradition to the United States and with decades in prison on the table, who wouldn&#8217;t? </p>
<p>Nevertheless, a court-stamped victory in any of these procedures remains on the distant horizon. As reported last week, the cases filed by the RIAA and MPAA have been on hold for years and have just been delayed for <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-and-riaas-megaupload-lawsuits-remain-on-hold-200328/">another six months</a>.</p>
<p>So, from a technical perspective at least, the RIAA hasn&#8217;t had the pleasure of &#8220;winning the case against Kim Dotcom&#8221;. However, not all victories are achieved in court. In fact, &#8216;gone to trial and received a verdict&#8217; affects a tiny minority.</p>
<p>If the aim of the action was to destroy Megaupload, that has been achieved in no uncertain terms. Within minutes of the launch of the operation, the file-hosting site was brought to its knees and, shortly after, there was little left but a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/1103-megaupload-servers-still-gather-dust-virginia-warehouse-140404/">mountain of servers gathering dust</a>. This, of course, could be the significant victory Glazier was talking about.</p>
<p>And there are other matters too. The deterrent effect of the Megaupload raid was considerable and in the wake of its demise, other large file-sharing sites closed down. No one really knows how many other developers changed course as a result but it wouldn&#8217;t be a surprise if &#8216;many&#8217; was the answer.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, just a year later Dotcom launched Mega, a massive file-sharing site that is still going strong today, albeit not under his control. Given the way Mega operates, it&#8217;s unlikely it could ever be tackled in the same way as Megaupload was. In many respects, its formation was guided by the case against Megaupload, which effectively handed the platform a guidebook on how not to fall foul of the law.</p>
<p>As the years have ticked by since the destruction of Megaupload, the acquisition of free music hasn&#8217;t sat still. In common with many types of piracy, it continues today and presents new challenges for those seeking to mitigate its effects. While file-hosting services still provide a threat, it&#8217;s more likely these days for the RIAA to be tackling sites that help users to obtain content for free from legitimate sources like YouTube.</p>
<p>&#8220;Now in the stream-ripping world, we are trying to figure out from an anti-circumvention point of view how to stop somebody hacking into YouTube’s system,&#8221; Glazier explains.</p>
<p>This is a clear reference to so-called YouTube-ripping sites, that allow music fans to download rather than stream content. The RIAA is in a battle with these platforms using a mix of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-mp3-settles-with-riaa-site-will-shut-down-170904/">direct legal action</a> and the sending of large volumes of DMCA anti-circumvention notices. The latter might be proving an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-campaign-against-youtube-rippers-has-very-little-effect-200327/">irritant to ripping platforms</a> but they are not being put out of business.</p>
<p>Interestingly, Glazier hints that the anti-circumvention notice approach, which results in URLs of stream-ripping sites being permanently delisted from Google, may have in part been prompted by issues with the RIAA&#8217;s distribution platforms, the largest of which is YouTube.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he resources required to stop [stream-ripping] create tension between us and our licensing partners, so we have to see if we can address the issue through search or some other means. The brainstorm has been ever-changing,&#8221; he reveals.</p>
<p>But while there are always new challenges, some things never change. Pre-release leaks are a major source of distress to the record labels and Glazier says that these &#8220;emergencies&#8221; always keep him on his toes.</p>
<p>&#8220;If an artist has an album coming out and it goes up on a site before that, our job is to work with the other groups around the world — 24/7, 365 days a year — to get that down so the artist can receive the benefit of the release of their product,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Leaks apparently appear in Glazier&#8217;s email marked with a &#8220;little red flag&#8221; alongside what appears to be an action plan. Given the global reach of the labels, mitigation may start off in one time zone and then shift to another, to ensure that anti-piracy personnel are on the case around the clock. And that helps to blur the lines between Glazier&#8217;s working and social life too.</p>
<p>&#8220;[E]very 20 minutes there will be another ping from the label: &#8216;Is it down yet? Is it down yet? Is it down yet?&#8217; Because the artist is saying to the label: &#8216;Is it down yet? Is it down yet? Is it down yet?&#8217;,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s always emergencies at the weekend. It’s just Murphy’s Law.&#8221;</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184745
title: Russia Pirate Sites Dump 1XBET in Favor of Identical Yet Legal 1XStavka
uri: Russia-Pirate-Sites-Dump-1XBET-in-Favor-of-Identical-Yet-Legal-1XStavk
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/46VgbUTFEpw/
content:
<p><a href="media/9326d6ab.1XStavka-e1585828861703.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/1XStavka-e1585828861703.jpg"><img src="media/9326d6ab.1XStavka-e1585828861703.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/1XStavka-e1585828861703.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="141" class="alignright size-full wp-image-184902" /></a>Since 2018, pirates around the world have become familiarized with the term &#8216;1XBET&#8217;.</p>
<p>Included in the titles of thousands of pirate video filenames and advertised on dozens of pirate sites, the Russia-based gambling company has been controversial, if nothing else.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-cam-king-1xbet-becomes-russias-3rd-largest-online-advertiser-190604/">report</a> published last year by research company Mediascope, the scale of 1XBET&#8217;s advertising budget became even more apparent. While Google and PepsiCo took first and second places in a study charting online advertising spend in Russia, 1XBET came in third, ahead of food giant Danone and even Universal Pictures.</p>
<p>Mediascope has just published the results of its latest research which reveals yet another interesting development. 1XBET is no longer one of the most prolific online advertisers, far from it in fact. With PepsiCo taking the top sport, gambling platform 1XBET, which is illegal in Russia, has plummeted to 20th place.</p>
<div id="attachment_184906" style="width: 660px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="media/9a3e2438.top10-online-ads-russia-e1585831809692.jpeg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/top10-online-ads-russia-e1585831809692.jpeg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-184906" src="media/9a3e2438.top10-online-ads-russia-e1585831809692.jpeg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/top10-online-ads-russia-e1585831809692.jpeg" alt="" width="650" height="654" class="size-full wp-image-184906" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-184906" class="wp-caption-text">Mediascope data (credit: RBC)</p></div>
<p>Obtained by <a href="https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/30/03/2020/5e7ddc199a7947cac1edd67f">RBC</a>, the study reveals that despite not holding licenses with Russia&#8217;s Federal Tax Service, 1XBET sharply increased its advertising activity in early 2019. However, as the year progressed, the platform took its foot off the gas, dropping out of the top 10 and putting it at imminent risk of disappearing from the top 20.</p>
<p>While this development in isolation might have been welcomed by anti-piracy groups, there is a twist to the story. Leaping into the top six online advertisers in Russia is 1XStavka, a platform that is not only legal (it has licenses from the Tax Service) but is visually identical to 1XBET.</p>
<p>Only adding to the problem is that 1XStavka is now advertising on pirate sites and according to Alexei Byrdin of anti-piracy group Internet Video Association, that&#8217;s proving more profitable for them. It&#8217;s also making enforcement more difficult.</p>
<p>Byrdin told RBC that dealing with 1XStavka is a safer option than dealing with 1XBET because the latter is effectively banned in Russia. When a gambling platform is unlicensed, the Tax Service and telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor can quickly restrict access &#8211; not only to the service itself but also locations where it&#8217;s advertised.</p>
<p>This means after filling out a simple form, the Internet Video Association (IVA) can get sites blocked easily, something they did to tackle 1XBET and its ads during the course of 2019. Since 1XStavka is licensed, however, the process becomes more difficult, even though by advertising on pirate content the company is still be breaking the law.</p>
<p>This leaves only the standard mechanism to have pirate sites blocked, i.e through legal action in the Moscow City Court or via the search engine <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-chief-pirated-content-is-now-harder-to-find-in-search-engines-200326/">deindexing measures</a> available as part of the active anti-piracy memorandum, options currently pursued by IVA.</p>
<p>Finally, the report also notes a massive decrease in advertising by another known sponsor of piracy, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-is-booming-in-russia-with-help-from-online-casinos-180923/">Azino 777</a>. In 2018, the gambling site was the top online advertiser in the region but this time around only managed 24th place.</p>
<p>As a result, Mediascope&#8217;s latest report concludes that despite 1XStravka&#8217;s links to ads on pirate sites, the top 10 online advertisers are all currently legal. </p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184695
title: Accused Pirate Walks Free After Bank Statements Show he Was Not at Home
uri: Accused-Pirate-Walks-Free-After-Bank-Statements-Show-he-Was-Not-at-Hom
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/H4AnaJtZhns/
content:
<p><img src="media/efd05bc4.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977" />In recent years, millions of file-sharers all over the world have been pressed to pay hefty settlement fees, or face their day in court.</p>
<p>The process was pioneered in Germany where it turned into an industry in itself, and copyright holders later went after alleged pirates in the US, Canada, the UK, Sweden and elsewhere.</p>
<p>These so-called “copyright trolls” are also active in Denmark. While some ISPs have protested what they describe as &#8216;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/danish-isps-stand-up-against-mafia-like-copyright-trolls-170530/">mafia-like</a>&#8216; practices, well over 150,000 Internet subscribers are believed to have been targeted. A massive number, for a population of fewer than six million people.</p>
<p>While a large percentage of the targeted users choose to settle, some cases are litigated. In court, the judgments can vary quite a bit. When defendants have a secured Wifi network they can be held liable, but the Copenhagen City Court recently dismissed all claims against an accused pirate, despite having a secure WiFi connection.</p>
<p>The man, who was a student living in Odense at the time of the offense, was sued by a movie company. The name of the company is redacted in court records but the defendant stood accused of sharing a pirated film from his IP-address during the summer of 2015. </p>
<p>More than two years later, the movie company sent the suspected pirate a letter requesting a settlement. However, the man denied the allegations, after which the matter made its way to court. </p>
<p>Since the evidence showed that the pirated movie was indeed linked to the defendant&#8217;s IP-address on a properly secured network, the movie company thought it had a strong case. However, the defendant continued to deny the allegations and presented some strong counter-evidence in return.</p>
<p>Although his memory of that day, years ago, wasn&#8217;t crystal clear, bank records showed that the man used his payment card at 7:59 PM, roughly 160 kilometers from his home, while the download was logged at 6:39 PM.</p>
<p>Based on the evidence, as well as the defendant&#8217;s testimony that he took his computer with him, the Copenhagen City Court agreed that he was probably not at home when the offense was logged. Although it&#8217;s not indisputable, the court found it unlikely that the man shared the movie himself. </p>
<p>&#8220;The court finds that the defendant [through the bank records] and his explanation that he had his computer with him, has shown concrete circumstances that with great certainty exclude the possibility that he himself was present at the address, or via his computer, picked up the movie at the address while he was not at home. </p>
<p>&#8220;The defendant hereby disproves the presumption that he himself shared or downloaded the movie at the time, which is why the case is dismissed,&#8221; the Copenhagen City Court adds.</p>
<p>The ruling will add to the growing list of jurisprudence in the piracy realm.  As mentioned <a href="https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=6f083306-c8be-4316-afe7-ef5f1f43a61f&#038;utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&#038;utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&#038;utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&#038;utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2020-03-26&#038;utm_term=">by Lexology</a>, several file-sharing cases in Denmark are currently on hold, pending judgments from the Eastern High Court, which is likely to further clarify when account holders can be held liable.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184709
title: uTorrent is the Most Used BitTorrent Client By Far
uri: uTorrent-is-the-Most-Used-BitTorrent-Client-By-Far
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8sb2yt-xAkc/
content:
<p><img src="media/1cb28c9a.utorrent4.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/utorrent4.png" alt="" width="277" height="181" class="alignright size-full wp-image-154140" />The file-sharing landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade. To a certain degree, this is also true for the BitTorrent ecosystem.</p>
<p>Popular sites such as KickassTorrents. Torrentz.eu, and ExtraTorrent are no more, and the <em>original</em> YTS and EZTV groups have been long disappeared as well. </p>
<p>While sites have come and gone, there&#8217;s still one torrent client that the public at large prefers. When we last looked at the market share of BitTorrent clients, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-dominates-bittorrent-client-market-share-090624/">more than ten years ago now</a>, uTorrent was already firmly in the lead. Today, this is no different. </p>
<p>With help from <a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/">iknowwhatyoudownload</a> we looked at over 25 million logged BitTorrent connections on a single day last week. This reveals that more than two-thirds (68.6%) of these were using uTorrent&#8217;s desktop version. </p>
<p>The vast majority of these users were updated to the most recent 3.5.5 release, but dozens of older versions are in use as well. Although no longer officially supported, there are also hundreds of thousands of people who still use uTorrent for Mac. </p>
<p>The most popular Mac client, however, appears to be Transmission. This is a notable change compared to a decade ago when its market share was much lower. Although Transmission also has a beta Windows release, that userbase is believed to be relatively small. </p>
<p>Below is an overview of all software with at least 0.1% market share* which translates to roughly 25,000 logged connections. </p>
<table class="css hover" summary="Most downloaded movies on BitTorrent">
<caption>BitTorrent Client Market Share, March 2020</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="68%"><strong>Client</strong></th>
<th width="20%"><strong>Market Share</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td><a href="http://utorrent.com/">uTorrent</a></td>
<td>68.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td><a href="http://bittorrent.com">BitTorrent</a></td>
<td>6.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libtorrent">Libtorrent</a> (uTorrent Web e.a.)</td>
<td>6.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td><a href="https://transmissionbt.com/">Transmission</a></td>
<td>5.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td><a href="http://mediaget.com/">MediaGet</a></td>
<td>3.7%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td><a href="https://www.qbittorrent.org/">qBitTorrent</a></td>
<td>3.4%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td><a href="https://zona.ru/en/">Zona</a></td>
<td>3.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td><a href="https://deluge-torrent.org/">Deluge</a></td>
<td>0.9%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td><a href="https://www.bitcomet.com/en">Bitcomet</a></td>
<td>0.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td><a href="https://www.biglybt.com/">BiglyBT</a></td>
<td>0.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>11</strong></td>
<td><a href="https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/">FDM</a></td>
<td>0.2%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>12</strong></td>
<td><a href="http://www.bitspirit.cc/en/">BitSpirit</a></td>
<td>0.2%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>13</strong></td>
<td><a href="http://www.bitlord.com/">BitLord</a></td>
<td>0.1%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>The table shows more good news for uTorrent&#8217;s parent company BitTorrent Inc., as the Mainline BitTorrent client takes second place with 6.6%. This client has a different name but is developed by the same company. It&#8217;s also pretty much identical to uTorrent in terms of code and features. </p>
<p>Aside from the sheer dominance of uTorrent, the appearance of Libtorrent also stands out. Although very popular, this is not a torrent client but a library that is used by a wide variety of torrent applications.</p>
<p>The most-used Libtorrent version is 1.2.2.0. Some follow up research revealed that this is used by the latest version of uTorrent Web. Instead of its own &#8216;client ID,&#8217; the latest web version of uTorrent, which is being pushed as the main option now, identifies as Libtorrent. This means that uTorrent&#8217;s market share is even higher than the reported 69%. </p>
<p>Other surprising entries in the list of most-used clients are Zona and MediaGet. Both applications offer downloading and streaming functionality with an easy-to-use interface. While they are available in English, their userbases are mainly from Russia.</p>
<p>The list is further completed by qBitTorrent, Deluge, Free Download Manager (FDM), and BiglyBT. The latter is operated by former developers of Vuze, which was the second most-used torrent client ten years ago, but is no longer actively developed. </p>
<p>Other clients that were found in our sample but didn&#8217;t make the 0.1% cut are Tribler, Frostwire, Tixati, tTorrent, aTorrent, and PicoTorrent. These may still have thousands of active users on any given day, but their use pales in comparison to the top clients.</p>
<p>That is also true for Popcorn Time, which generated quite a bit of press attention over the years. None of the Popcorn Time forks, which identity as &#8216;webtorrent,&#8217; were anywhere close to the top of the list. </p>
<p>The Popcorn Time observation also highlights an important caveat. The data presented here represents clients from users who are actively sharing files. If a client, such as Popcorn Time, stops seeding after a movie is done, it will no longer be logged in the following days. As such, clients used by people who continue to seed files may be somewhat overrepresented.</p>
<p>We are planning to repeat these and similar analyses more frequently in the future, so we can spot more trends. However, it&#8217;s quite clear that uTorrent is not going to give up its top spot anytime soon.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>*BitTorrent clients are identified through the &#8216;client ID&#8217; which is publicly broadcasted to trackers and over DHT. The totals reported here are based on a sample of the client IDs with at least 10,000 connections. After that, different versions of the same client were added up.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184872
title: ‘Pirate’ Porn Sites Under Pressure as MG Premium Tightens the Screw
uri: Pirate-Porn-Sites-Under-Pressure-as-MG-Premium-Tightens-the-Scre
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ErhA93IfjvI/
content:
<p><a href="media/1a1e499c.mindgeek.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mindgeek.jpg"><img src="media/1a1e499c.mindgeek.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mindgeek.jpg" alt="" width="329" height="120" class="alignright size-full wp-image-183410" /></a>MG Premium, the adult entertainment giant behind brands including Reality Kings, Brazzers, MOFOS, Babes.com, and Twistys, appears to be increasing the pressure on sites that allegedly distribute its content without permission.</p>
<p>As previously reported, one of those targets is the massive adult tube site YesPornPlease. This February, MG Premium filed a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/yespornplease-and-vshare-io-go-offline-following-massive-copyright-lawsuit-200302/">full-blown lawsuit</a> against the site in a Washington court, potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars. However, the action began months earlier with a DMCA subpoena <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/brazzers-wants-cloudflare-to-identify-yespornplease-uploaders-190913/">directed at Cloudflare</a>.</p>
<p>Through processes like this, MG Premium hopes to obtain crucial identifying information about site operators and/or uploaders. At US courts this week, MG Premium made several similar requests targeting additional adult domains, all of which use the services of Cloudflare.</p>
<p>The first pair of subpoenas, filed at a Washington district court, target YesPornPlease.biz and YesPornPlease.best. Whether these are directly connected to MG&#8217;s earlier target isn&#8217;t made clear in the applications but the nature of the action is obvious.</p>
<p>&#8220;MG is the owner of numerous copyrighted audiovisual works. In the course of protecting its works, MG has determined that infringing copies of these works, posted at the direction of individual users and without authorization from MG, appear on Cloudflare, Inc.’s website &#8216;yespornplease.biz&#8217;,&#8221; one of the applications reads.</p>
<p>MG notes that it has been sending DMCA infringement notices to Cloudflare but it is now applying for a DMCA subpoena to obtain the identity of the individuals &#8220;who are posting the infringing content.&#8221; A closer examination of the wording in the subpoena shows that this can easily extend to the site&#8217;s operators too.</p>
<p>&#8220;For the period January 1, 2016 through the present, produce all documents and account records that identify the person(s) or entities that caused the infringement of the material described in the attached Exhibit B DMCA notifications to the DMCA Agent for Cloudflare, Inc., and/or who unlawfully uploaded MG Premium Ltd’s copyrighted works at the URLs listed in the notifications, including but not limited to identification by names, email addresses, IP addresses, user history, posting history, physical addresses, telephone numbers, and any other identifying information,&#8221; the request reads.</p>
<p>An almost identical application seeks the same information relating to alleged infringers at YesPornPlease.best, a domain that appears to have been put into use around October last year.</p>
<p>A third application, which in most key respects is a copy of the others, targets PornDish.com. At the time of writing and according to SimilarWeb stats, this &#8216;tube&#8217; site receives just under three million visits per month. Right on its front page it states that visitors can &#8220;Watch full premium Sis Loves Me, Brazzers, RealityKings, Teamskeet, Naughty America 2020 HD videos online for free!&#8221;, which is probably why MG Premium is interested in the site.</p>
<p>Yet another subpoena application, again filed at a Washington district court, demands the same information relating to watchxxxfree.org. According to traffic statistics, the site didn&#8217;t get any significant traction until December 2019 but steep gains since then now mean it&#8217;s pulling in around 1.4 million visits per month. This domain triggered malware warnings several times (apparently due to different threats) during our investigation so we backed away carefully.</p>
<p>XTapes.to, another MG Premium target, was also the subject of a cookie-cutter DMCA subpoena this week. With around 3.8 million visits in February, it&#8217;s bigger than the also-targeted XMoviesForYou.video but, unlike the latter, didn&#8217;t cause MalwareBytes to light up in panic.</p>
<p>Finally, MG Premium also fired off a subpoena application listing a domain called &#8216;PornForDays.net&#8217; as infringing its rights. Sadly, this had us running round in circles because there is no site of that name and the domain is yet to be registered.</p>
<p>After closely examining additional paperwork, however, it became clear that this was in fact an error by MG Premium&#8217;s law firm. The correct domain should have been listed as the 2.9 million visits per month tube site Porn4Days.net, which also triggered malware warnings during our checks.</p>
<p>Where these cases will go from here remains to be seen but if MG Premium&#8217;s action against YesPornPlease is any indicator, more lawsuits could appear on the horizon.</p>
<p><em>The DMCA subpoena applications can be found here (<a href="media/bf6212cf.12-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-YesPornPlease-best-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/3-20-mc-05012-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-YesPornPlease-best-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf">1</a>,<a href="media/b5090cdd.5013-MG-Premium-v-Clouflare-Yespornplease-biz-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/3-20-mc-05013-MG-Premium-v-Clouflare-Yespornplease-biz-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf">2</a>,<a href="media/2f8200fd.mc-05014-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-PornDish-com-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/3-20-mc-05014-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-PornDish-com-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf">3</a>,<a href="media/73b075a7.5015-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-watchxxxfree-org-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/3-20-mc-05015-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-watchxxxfree-org-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf">4</a>,<a href="media/572753a5.6-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-xmoviesforyou-video-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/3-20-mc-05016-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-xmoviesforyou-video-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf">5</a>,<a href="media/c2154e77.20-mc-05017-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-XTapes-to-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/3-20-mc-05017-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-XTapes-to-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf">6</a>,<a href="media/cde6dd94.05018-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-PornforDays-net-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/3-20-mc-05018-MG-Premium-v-Cloudflare-PornforDays-net-DMCA-subpoena1.pdf">7</a> (all pdf))</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184999
title: Movie & TV Giants Sue ‘Pirate’ Nitro IPTV For ‘Massive’ Copyright Infringement
uri: Movie-TV-Giants-Sue-Pirate-Nitro-IPTV-For-Massive-Copyri
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nijW306br3s/
content:
<p><a href="media/a7c0897c.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/a7c0897c.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034" /></a>Web-based streaming, torrent, and direct download sites have been targeted by the entertainment industries for years but the rise of subscription-based IPTV services is now considered a major threat to business.</p>
<p>These services, available for a relatively small monthly outlay, can (reliability permitting) not only replace licensed TV packages but also video-on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Considering the broad range of content on offer, they also compete with physical blu-ray sales and even titles still in their theatrical windows.</p>
<p>Perhaps one of the best-known IPTV brands in this space is Nitro TV / Nitro IPTV but whether that will remain the case in the weeks and months to come remains to be seen. Late Friday a coalition of entertainment industry companies filed a lawsuit against Alejandro Galindo, the supposed operator of Nitro TV, plus an additional 20 &#8216;Doe&#8217; defendants.</p>
<p>Filed in a California district court by companies owned by Columbia, Amazon, Disney, Paramount, Warner, and Universal, the lawsuit alleges that Nitro TV offers subscription packages consisting of thousands of &#8220;live and title-curated television channels&#8221; available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the United States and abroad.</p>
<p>&#8220;The channels available on Nitro TV include many of the world’s most popular television programs and motion pictures such as The Office, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Toy Story 3, Star Trek Beyond, Homecoming and Joker, including works whose copyrights Plaintiffs own or exclusively control,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs and/or their affiliates have invested and continue to invest substantial resources and effort each year to develop, produce, distribute, and publicly perform their Copyrighted Works through legitimate market channels that in aggregate create a content ecosystem that is safe and reliable for consumers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants’ unlawful conduct in operating Nitro TV directly and willfully subverts that ecosystem through pursuit of illicit profits from massive and blatant infringement of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works,&#8221; it continues.</p>
<p>Noting that the service can be accessed via the web, mobile devices, and smart TVs, the lawsuit continues with an overview of the Nitro TV business model.</p>
<p>At least in part, marketing is carried out via a Facebook group, with defendant Alejandro Galindo the alleged administrator. This group is described as a platform to promote Nitro TV subscriptions, with Galindo accused of using it to induce, encourage and facilitate infringement. It also doubles as a way to expand the number of individuals re-selling Nitro TV packages to end-users.</p>
<p>&#8220;Among other things..[.]..Defendants used this Facebook group platform to inform subscribers of Nitro TV’s new channels and program offerings, to provide subscribers with updates about the Nitro TV Platforms, and to invite subscribers to post on the Nitro TV Facebook Group page the TV shows they wanted added to Nitro TV,&#8221; the companies add.</p>
<p>According to the complaint, the website TekkHosting.com is the &#8220;primary interface&#8221; through which users can obtain Nitro logins, which are acquired in one of two ways &#8211; either via a direct purchase or from a Nitro TV reseller. These resellers, which are essentially middle-men, buy &#8216;credits&#8217; from Nitro which are then converted into end-user accounts, &#8220;typically&#8221; sold for $20 per month for two devices.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of Defendants’ resellers recently boasted about the success of his resell efforts: &#8216;Over 45,000 customers activated in the last 12 months.&#8217; That is just one Nitro TV reseller. There are scores of them,&#8221; the complaint notes.</p>
<p>Once signed up, these customers are able to access an expansive service offering thousands of channels and video-on-demand libraries via convenient interfaces.</p>
<p>&#8220;The live television channel offerings are streamed contemporaneously with the original source of the telecast. In other words, the television program airing on a television channel (e.g., FX, the Disney Channel, Paramount Network) through an authorized source (e.g., a cable operator, satellite TV provider) is available on the Nitro TV Platforms at the same time. Many of these television channels include the Copyrighted Works.&#8221; <em>(sample below)</em></p>
<p><center><a href="media/1d178fd7.mpa-v-nitro-movie-sample-e1586086115493.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mpa-v-nitro-movie-sample-e1586086115493.png"><img src="media/1d178fd7.mpa-v-nitro-movie-sample-e1586086115493.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mpa-v-nitro-movie-sample-e1586086115493.png" alt="" width="650" height="739" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-185010" /></a></center></p>
<p>While &#8220;thousands&#8221; of live channels being made available without the appropriate licensing is clearly contentious, at this stage this aspect doesn&#8217;t appear central to the complaint. Instead, it focuses on Nitro&#8217;s VOD services and so-called &#8217;24/7&#8242; channels.</p>
<p>Nitro subscribers have the ability to select a &#8216;catch up&#8217; feature through which they are able to watch shows that aired during the previous two days, on Disney Channel or Paramount Network, for example. This type of VOD service, the lawsuit claims, is &#8220;only possible by copying the programming.&#8221;</p>
<p>24/7 channels are offered by many IPTV services and usually consist of episodes of a single show or even a single movie played on a continuous loop. By way of example, the lawsuit highlights Peaky Blinders and Friends fin the TV category and Spider-Man and Captain America in the movie section.</p>
<p>Given the reach and scale of the Nitro service, the movie and TV companies believe that it not only undermines their business models but also those of their partners. These include legitimate online services that pay for licenses to show content that Nitro is obtaining for free.</p>
<p>&#8220;This unfair competition undermines the legitimate market for content streamed over the Internet, which is a robust and growing part of Plaintiffs’ businesses and an important option to many consumers,&#8221; they add, noting that Nitro is creating confusion in the market by misleading people as to what is legal and what is not.</p>
<p>&#8220;Nitro TV subscribers and potential subscribers may mistakenly view Nitro TV as a legal and sanctioned alternative to authorized distribution outlets and licensees, when it is not. This harms the market for legitimate services by drawing users away from Plaintiffs’ legitimate licensees.&#8221;</p>
<p>Alleging willful direct copyright infringement, the movie and TV company plaintiffs demand either damages and defendants&#8217; profits in amounts to be proven at trial or statutory damages up to $150,000 per infringed work.</p>
<p>Addressing the possibility that Nitro may claim that it is third-parties that are responsible for violating performance and reproduction rights under the Copyright Act, the companies note that the defendants are still &#8220;knowingly and materially contributing to such infringement&#8221; so are liable for contributory copyright infringement. As such, the plaintiffs are able to claim damages and Nitro&#8217;s profits or statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work.</p>
<p>The complaint further alleges that Nitro and the Doe defendants intentionally induce infringement by &#8220;supplying and promoting the use of the Nitro TV Platforms to connect customers to unauthorized online sources that stream Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, and by actively inducing, encouraging, and promoting the use of Nitro TV for copyright infringement.&#8221; Again, statutory damages of up to $150,000 are requested.</p>
<p>Finally, the lawsuit demands preliminary and permanent injunctions not only against all defendants, but also third-party companies.</p>
<p>They include Namecheap and Domain.com, the domain registrars for Tekkhosting.com and NitroIPTV.com respectively. It is requested that they maintain &#8220;unchanged&#8221; WHOIS records for the domains, change their name-servers to those controlled by the plaintiffs, prevent the transfer of the domains, and preserve all evidence relating to them. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the movie and TV show companies seek to take control of all Nitro domain names.</p>
<p><em>The full complaint plus sample movie and TV show list can be obtained <a href="media/88700416.2-20-cv-03129-MPA-v-Nitro-TV-Complaint-200403.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2-20-cv-03129-MPA-v-Nitro-TV-Complaint-200403.pdf">here</a> and <a href="media/60ae7af1.2-20-cv-03129-MPA-v-Nitro-TV-Exhibit-A.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2-20-cv-03129-MPA-v-Nitro-TV-Exhibit-A.pdf">here</a> (pdf)</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185031
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 04/06/20
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-04-06-20
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Lu3KmGmzAX4/
content:
<p><img src="media/b6b27f53.badb.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/badb.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-185033" />This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Bad Boys for Life is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-on-bittorrent-03-30-20/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502397/">Bad Boys for Life</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502397/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKCj3XuPG8M">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8367814/">The Gentlemen</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8367814/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ify9S7hj480">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1634106/">Bloodshot</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1634106/">5.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOUVVDWdXbo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5774060/">Underwater</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5774060/">5.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rszr56AH3Co">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7713068/">Birds of Prey</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7713068/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjpsGw7YlU8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3794354/">Sonic The Hedgehog</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3794354/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szby7ZHLnkA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7146812/">Onward</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7146812/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn5QmllRCn4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527338/">Star Wars: Episode IX</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527338/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qn_spdM5Zg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7504726/">The Call of the Wild</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7504726/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1LG9So2ZBk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/">The Invisible Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pso0Aj_cTh0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184830
title: Movie Company Boss Urges US Senators to Make Streaming Piracy a Felony
uri: Movie-Company-Boss-Urges-US-Senators-to-Make-Streaming-Piracy-a-Felony
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KBqmDUcvZmQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/fdb4ba62.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-125426" />The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property is actively looking for options through which the US can better address online piracy. </p>
<p>During a hearing last month, various experts voiced their opinions. They specifically addressed measures taken by other countries and whether these could work in the US, or not. </p>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-industry-praises-the-effectiveness-of-pirate-site-blocking-in-u-s-senate-200311/">Pirate site blocking and upload filtering</a> emerged as the main topics during this hearing. While pros and cons were discussed, movie industry insiders including Millennium Media co-president Jonathan Yunger framed these measures as attainable and effective. </p>
<p>After the hearing, senators asked various follow-up questions on paper. Last week we reported how former MEP Julia Reda answered these by stressing the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/affordable-legal-options-are-the-best-anti-piracy-tool-us-senators-are-told-300320/">importance of affordable legal options</a>. Yunger, however, takes another approach. </p>
<p>In his answers, which were published before the weekend, he reiterates the power of website blocking. In addition, Yunger also brings a second, previously unmentioned issue to the forefront: criminal penalties for streaming piracy. </p>
<p>&#8220;The second thing that we could easily do in the United States is close the legal loophole that currently allows streaming – which accounts for the vast majority of piracy today – to be treated as a misdemeanor rather than a felony,&#8221; Yunger writes. </p>
<p>Under US law, streaming and downloading piracy are seen as two different offenses. Not just from a technical point of view, but also in the way they are punished. Streaming is seen as a misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of one year in prison, while other forms are a felony, which can lead to five years of jail time.</p>
<p>Lawmakers tried to change this with the Commercial Felony Streaming Act in 2011, and later with the SOPA and PIPA bills. These bills all failed and as a result the gap between streaming and traditional file-sharing remains today.</p>
<p>In his answers, Yunger notes that &#8216;this loophole&#8217; was completely accidental as streaming wasn&#8217;t a thing yet when the DMCA was enacted. Putting it on par with other forms of piracy would greatly help to address the streaming piracy problem. </p>
<p>&#8220;If we could make this adjustment to the law, it would effectively shut down a cottage criminal industry of websites, app developers, and set top box sellers in America who are profiting enormously from illegal streams of movies, television shows, and live events,&#8221; Yunger notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;These streaming services are an existential threat to our industry. Both the Department of Justice and the Copyright Office have recognized this threat to creativity and the American economy and have supported this change to the law,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>Millennium Media&#8217;s co-president says that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of Americans who&#8217;ve made a business out of criminal streaming. This isn&#8217;t a surprise for the Department of Justice. However, it&#8217;s harder to effectively prosecute these people under current law.</p>
<p>&#8220;We must change existing law to create a more powerful deterrent for Americans to engage in streaming piracy, and to allow the DoJ to prosecute these criminals who are engaged in massive levels of infringement with the same felony penalties that apply to illegal downloading and distribution,&#8221; Yunger notes. </p>
<p>These comments are not entirely new. Several copyright holders and industry groups have argued the same in recent years. Thus far, this hasn&#8217;t resulted in any legislative changes, but it looks like pressure is building. </p>
<p>In a way, it feels like history is repeating itself. Almost ten years ago, the same arguments were being made. At the time, website blocking and felony steaming made their way into concrete bills. These were eventually &#8216;shelved&#8217; after massive public protests, but according to Yunger and others, it might be a good idea to reintroduce them, perhaps in a more modern form.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Jonathan Yunger&#8217;s full responses to the Senator&#8217;s questions is <a href="media/c4b546ba.Yunger-Responses-to-QFRs.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/Yunger-Responses-to-QFRs.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185028
title: Watch Tower DMCA Subpoena Case Hots Up as Anonymous Objector Gains Traction
uri: Watch-Tower-DMCA-Subpoena-Case-Hots-Up-as-Anonymous-Objector-Gains-Tra
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/IRumreI6lvU/
content:
<p><img src="media/eaf48e81.pray.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pray.png" width="270" height="180" class="alignright size-full" />Last month we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/jehovahs-witness-body-uses-dmca-to-subpoena-youtube-for-apostates-identity-200308/">reported</a> on what appeared to be a relatively straightforward DMCA subpoena application filed by the supervising body and publisher for the Jehovah’s Witness religious group.</p>
<p>After discovering that a number of its video sermons had been uploaded to YouTube, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania went to court in New York requesting that the video-hosting platform hand over the personal identifying information of &#8216;JW Apostate&#8217;, the operator of the channel of the same name.</p>
<p>Watch Tower told the court that it had fulfilled all the requirements for obtaining a subpoena and its sole purpose was to “obtain the identity of an alleged infringer or infringers” so that its copyrighted content could be protected. The subpoena was granted but before YouTube could hand over any information, a rather angry and apparently motivated individual stepped in.</p>
<p>In a motion to quash, Jane / John Doe &#8211; who identifies as a &#8220;noted author and journalist&#8221; &#8211; told the court that the DMCA subpoena application amounted to an illegal attempt by the religious group to violate the First Amendment rights of journalists by attempting to obtain information about confidential sources. From here, however, the objections became rather more personal.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/a4583779.jw-quash1-e1586195903861.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/jw-quash1-e1586195903861.png"><img src="media/a4583779.jw-quash1-e1586195903861.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/jw-quash1-e1586195903861.png" alt="" width="650" height="165" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-185044" /></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he Court utterly failed in its duty to balance the interests of news reporters from stupid fishing expeditions by angry pedophile and pedophile enablers in its hurried effort at rubber stamping whatever documents are handed to the Court in an effort by this judge to appease stupid religious cults who live in her neighborhood,&#8221; the motion continued.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is no stranger when it comes to DMCA subpoena applications or indeed Judge Seibel.  The religious cult has attempted to obtain several subpoenas in New York courts against Facebook and YouTube users, filing around 60 applications overall since June 2017.  This is complete BULLSHIT(to use a legal term).&#8221;</p>
<p>A little under two weeks later, Watch Tower attorney Paul Polidoro filed an opposition to the motion to quash, noting that Watch Tower had applied to the US Copyright Office for registration of all of the allegedly infringed works, citing the registration or application numbers for each.</p>
<p>Polidoro further noted that YouTube-owner Google had advised him that until the court ruled on the matter, no identifying information would be handed over. </p>
<p>&#8220;JW Apostate (hereinafter &#8216;Movant&#8217;) posted a number of Watch Tower’s complete videos. There were no transformative efforts made in these postings. Rather, as is clear from the motion, he/she asserts the right to unfettered use of Watch Tower’s corporate intellectual property,&#8221; Polidoro wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;The filthy diatribe he/she submitted claims this right is grounded in reporter’s shield laws, and the First Amendment right to anonymous speech. As both arguments are without any legal support, his/her motion should be dismissed.</p>
<p>&#8220;Movant also seeks refuge in the right of anonymous speech. The law in this circuit is clear: there is no right to anonymously infringe copyrights,&#8221; the attorney added. </p>
<p>Late last week, Jane / John Doe hit back in a new filing which describes the Jehovah&#8217;s Witnesses as a &#8220;notorious group of criminal pedophiles running a scam &#8216;religion&#8217; who are guilty of abuse of process and emotional extortion through sham litigation in their pathetic efforts at discovering leaks and moles and whistleblowers.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately for them,&#8221; the filing continues, &#8220;this is the year 2020 and things like VPNs, anonymous proxies, and TOR exit nodes frustrate them at every turn.&#8221;</p>
<p>With those claims out of the way, the Doe movant states that Watch Tower does not have a valid copyright claim for any of the videos allegedly made available via YouTube because the necessary registration process wasn&#8217;t completed before legal action was taken.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the movant alleges that the videos posted were either &#8220;secret recordings&#8221; or &#8220;edited videos&#8221; which only displayed material in such volumes necessary to &#8220;inform the public about these anti-government, child molesting religious fanatics.&#8221;</p>
<p>In a quite extraordinary filing, the movant makes additional, and at this stage totally unsupported, claims about the relationship between Watch Tower&#8217;s attorney and the presiding judge, suggesting that a friendship might be undermining the judicial process.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/a8bb0771.jw-quash2-e1586197673256.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/jw-quash2-e1586197673256.png"><img src="media/a8bb0771.jw-quash2-e1586197673256.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/jw-quash2-e1586197673256.png" alt="" width="650" height="117" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-185046" /></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;The whole point of this response, Judge Seibel, is to get you to think first before you pull out your rubber stamp when these assholes show up on your doorstep hollering about alleged copyright violations,&#8221; the anonymous movant continues.</p>
<p>&#8220;Lives are at stake here in what you do, Judge Seibel.  You need to be more cognizant of the fact that these people are a bunch of damn liars, pedophiles, and bullies.&#8221;</p>
<p>Given the outrageous tone of the filings objecting to Watch Tower&#8217;s demands for a DMCA subpoena, one could be forgiven for thinking that Judge Seibel might not respond as the movant might&#8217;ve hoped. However, the Judge now appears to be taking the objections seriously.</p>
<p>In initial comments, Judge Seibel rejects the notion that the movant is being asked to reveal a journalistic source. She further states that the First Amendment does not protect acts of copyright infringement. However, the claim that Watch Tower keeps requesting DMCA subpoenas appears to have piqued her interest.</p>
<p>&#8220;[M]ovant challenges the good faith of Watchtower&#8217;s representation that its purpose in seeking a DMCA subpoena is solely to identify a potential defendant for a copyright infringement action, alleging that Watchtower has invoked the [sic] 59 times without ever then bringing such a lawsuit,&#8221; Judge Siebel writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Court can imagine reasons for that fact (if it is a fact) that do not evidence lack of good faith, but Watchtower should address (by declaration or affidavit of someone with knowledge) whether it is true, and if so, why I should not conclude that it evidences lack of good faith.&#8221;</p>
<p>Furthermore, the Judge also wants to get a closer look at what content was obtained and the context in which it was posted to YouTube. This is important because, under certain circumstances, there may not have been any infringement at all.</p>
<p>&#8220;Watchtower suggests that Movant posted full videos produced by Watchtower. Movant says he posted: 1) &#8216;undercover&#8217; videos of meetings, in which (he suggests) Watchtower would have no copyright rights; and 2) portions of videos produced by Watchtower, which (he implies) would be fair use because it was part of criticism,&#8221; the memo reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Accordingly, Watchtower should address (by declaration or affidavit of someone with knowledge) what exactly it claims was infringed by Movant and how,&#8221; Judge Siebel concludes.</p>
<p>DMCA subpoena applications are usually open-and-shut cases but at least in this instance, the evidence will now be subjected to additional scrutiny. Where that will lead is open to question but determining fair use is often a complex not to mention expensive matter.</p>
<p>The various filings can be found here <a href="media/6cf775ca.7-20-mc-00119-Watchtower-quash-1.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/7-20-mc-00119-Watchtower-quash-1.pdf">1</a>,<a href="media/9d9b88de.7-20-mc-00119-Watchtower-quash-2.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/7-20-mc-00119-Watchtower-quash-2.pdf">2</a>,<a href="media/d57369ce.7-20-mc-00119-Watchtower-quash-3.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/7-20-mc-00119-Watchtower-quash-3.pdf">3</a>,<a href="media/589bc6ad.7-20-mc-00119-Watchtower-quash-4.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/7-20-mc-00119-Watchtower-quash-4.pdf">4</a> (pdf)</p>
<p><em>Image credit: <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/praying-god-christianity-belief-2179326/">Pixabay</a></em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185003
title: Company Registers YTS and Popcorn Time Trademarks to Promote Legal Streaming
uri: Company-Registers-YTS-and-Popcorn-Time-Trademarks-to-Promote-Legal-Str
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/AcyjfIb0QTY/
content:
<p><img src="media/f6e1debd.popcorn-1330014_640-e1586246986836.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-1330014_640-e1586246986836.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="184" class="alignright size-full wp-image-185061" />Copyright holders can take a wide variety of measures to address piracy, with some being more effective than others. </p>
<p>Hawaiian attorney Kerry Culpepper has tried different approaches. Given his profession, most of these take place in the legal realm. </p>
<p>That includes lawsuits against downloaders and owners of well-known pirate sites and apps, including YTS, MKVcage, Cotomovies, Popcorn Time, and Showbox. These actions have resulted in some successes, with sites and apps shutting down or paying thousands of dollars in settlements. </p>
<p>However, the piracy problem isn&#8217;t easy to defeat. This is why Culpepper recently added another option to his anti-piracy toolbox. Through the recently incorporate Hawaiian company 42 Ventures, he helped to register several piracy-related trademarks.</p>
<p>The current trademark portfolio of the company includes the popular brands &#8220;YTS,&#8221; &#8220;Popcorn Time,&#8221; and &#8220;Terrarium.&#8221; In addition, 42 Ventures also claimed the trademark for the Showbox arrow logo. </p>
<p>All trademarks are registered under the same description, &#8220;downloadable computer software for downloading and streaming multimedia content images, videos and audio.&#8221; The same description also applies to the pirate sites and apps.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/466d9b6e.popmark427.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/popmark427.jpg" alt="" width="607" height="384" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185071" /></center></p>
<p>The fact that one of the most prolific anti-piracy lawyers is connected to these trademarks, opens the door to new enforcement options. That also appears to be the goal here.  </p>
<p>For example, just a few days ago, a popular Popcorn Time fork had its <a href="https://twitter.com/popcorntimetv">Twitter account</a> suspended, following a trademark claim. The Popcorn Time <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PopcornTimedotsh">Facebook page</a> was also taken down, possibly following a similar complaint. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke to Culpepper, who confirmed that 42 Ventures is actively enforcing its trademarks. According to the lawyer, the company&#8217;s ultimate goal is to promote legal streaming.</p>
<p>&#8220;42 has partnered with various content providers to deliver a platform of LEGAL streaming media. One or more of these providers have been providing content since 2009 under same or related trademark,&#8221; Culpepper writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;42 greatly values its Intellectual Property and has taken steps to protect its valuable rights and will continue to do so in the future,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>The trademarks were only recently registered which brings up the issue of prior use. Popcorn Time, Terrarium, and YTS have been using their brands for years, and could technically object to any enforcement efforts. </p>
<p>42 Ventures, however, stresses that it has its own legal &#8220;Popcorn Time&#8221; website at Popcorntime4u.com, which links to content from the YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/secretsaucetv/featured">Popcorned Planet</a>. </p>
<p>The Popcorn Planet channel is operated by Andy Signore who&#8217;s also known as the creator of the popular YouTube channel Screen Junkies. This may also explain why 42 Ventures <a href="https://www.trademarkelite.com/trademark/trademark-owner/42%20Ventures,%20LLC">registered</a> the trademarks for &#8220;Movies Fights&#8221; and &#8220;Honest Trailers,&#8221; which are titles of shows that are linked to Screen Junkies and Popcorned Planet. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Popcorned Planet for a comment on the matter but, at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back. </p>
<p>With the trademarks in hand, 42 Ventures has been successful in shutting down some piracy-related social media channels. In addition, it resolved some issues privately behind closed doors. The company isn&#8217;t officially operated by a copyright holder, but part of its goal is to prevent piracy.</p>
<p>Interestingly, this isn&#8217;t the first time a third-party has registered a Popcorn Time trademark for enforcement purposes. A few years ago movie distributor <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/large-movie-distributor-grabs-popcorn-time-trademark-151008/">Dutch Filmworks registered Popcorn Time&#8217;s logo and word trademarks</a> at the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property. As far as we know, these haven&#8217;t been actively enforced.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=184953
title: Russia Wants New Fines For Platforms That Don’t Remove Pirated Content Fast Enough
uri: Russia-Wants-New-Fines-For-Platforms-That-Don-t-Remove-Pirated-Conte
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JxuieucjK-Q/
content:
<p><a href="media/5d56c0a5.russia.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/russia.jpg"><img src="media/5d56c0a5.russia.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/russia.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="121" class="alignright size-full wp-image-22592" /></a>Given Russia&#8217;s historically weak response to the availability of pirated content online, the past seven years have seen a dramatic turnaround.</p>
<p>While the laws of the United States, Russia&#8217;s most vocal critic, have remained largely static, Russia implemented new anti-piracy legislation in 2013 and has continually updated it. One of its major weapons is an expedited process to force platforms to remove content or face permanent blocking by ISPs. </p>
<p>Under the current system and following a request by copyright holders, telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor can order platforms and hosts to remove or block access to pirated content. This action must be taken three days after a related court process and can result in fines of 700,000 rubles (US$9,240) or up to 3,000,000 rubles (US$39,600) for repeat offenders. However, some targets are not responsive enough, or responsive at all, so the government plans to make that a more costly option.</p>
<p>According to a regulation filing spotted by <a href="https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4311117">Kommersant</a>, the Ministry of Culture wants to address these issues with amendments to the law. The bills, precise details of which are yet to be revealed by the government, are tweaks to the Code of Administrative Offenses. They propose new fines for failure to comply with the instructions of Roscomnadzor to remove content and a reduction of the window of opportunity to remove content following a request.</p>
<p>In comments made by a representative from the Ministry, Russia&#8217;s anti-piracy legislation needs to be tightened up, with the department citing the length of the legal procedure to have content blocked as a concern. The issue of extrajudicial processes against anonymous site owners will also need to be addressed, since by their very nature they tend to be less responsive. Kommersant sources describe violations following Roscomnadzor&#8217;s orders as &#8220;frequent&#8221;.</p>
<p>At this stage there is no detail on the scale of any new fines, nor is the government providing an indication on how quickly content should be removed in the future. Furthermore, while legitimate platforms can probably be forced to act more quickly, &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites likely won&#8217;t respond as required and won&#8217;t be responsive to fines, critics say.</p>
<p>&#8220;How can a pirate who is hiding his legal entity and identity be fined?” questioned one Kommersant source. Nevertheless, industry players are hoping that should new fines be introduced, they will be of a magnitude to act as a real deterrent against non-compliance.</p>
<p>The government has already penciled in a date of December 20, 2020, for the new amendments to come into force, so more detail should become available in the weeks to come. Whether they will have the desired effect will remain to be seen. In the meantime, however, the anti-piracy memorandum continues in the background.</p>
<p>The actions of the major companies party to the agreement don&#8217;t render content inaccessible at the source but according to recent reports, they are having <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-chief-pirated-content-is-now-harder-to-find-in-search-engines-200326/">considerable success</a> in making pirated material harder to find in search engines.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185086
title: Piracy and File-Sharing Traffic Surges Amidst Covid-19 Crisis
uri: Piracy-and-File-Sharing-Traffic-Surges-Amidst-Covid-19-Crisis
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZNbziP5FEgY/
content:
<p><img src="media/a34c6170.cassettapemusic.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/cassettapemusic.png" alt="" width="276" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-175024" />The coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. </p>
<p>In every continent, local governments have imposed restrictive measures, urging people to stay inside as much as possible. </p>
<p>As a result of these restrictions, Internet traffic has gone up. More people are working from home over remote connections while others pass the time by looking for online news and entertainment. </p>
<p>Traffic to several legal streaming services has gone up significantly. YouTube, in particular, has gained a lot of traffic. In March, traffic management company Sandvine reported a global <a href="https://www.sandvine.com/blog/video-streaming-management-during-covid">10% increase</a> in traffic to the streaming site, which helped it <a href="https://www.sandvine.com/blog/covid-19-update-growth-of-video-during-work-at-home">surpass Netflix</a> for the first time.  </p>
<p>The effects of the Covid-19 crisis are not limited to legal entertainment consumption, however. A few weeks ago we already signaled that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/coronavirus-lockdown-boosts-interest-in-pirate-sites-and-services-200316/">interest in pirate sites</a> had gone up in regions where a lockdown had been imposed. Using a variety of data sources, we can now show that piracy and file-sharing traffic is impacted around the world.</p>
<p>We start with China, where the virus impacted daily life first. Mid-January the new coronavirus started to make headlines and on January 23, 2020, authorities in Wuhan announced a quarantine and prevented travel in and out of the region. In the days that followed, more restrictions followed in China. </p>
<p>Looking at the number of Chinese visitors to pirate sites, from December to the end of February, we see that these measures had a clear impact. The data in question come from piracy tracking from <a href="https://www.muso.com/">MUSO</a> and were kindly shared with TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>The graph below shows that a sharp increase in pirate site visits started on January 24, reaching a peak on the 27th. Pirate site traffic started to drop off a bit after that, but at the end of February, it was still roughly 20% more than before the Coronavirus measures started.</p>
<p><center><strong>Chinese pirate site visits</strong></center><br /><center><img src="media/9a328866.chinapiratesitevisits.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/chinapiratesitevisits.jpg" alt="" width="663" height="354" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185112" /></center></p>
<p>While MUSO&#8217;s data are valuable, they only run to the end of February, while the measures in most other countries started around mid-March. </p>
<p>To cover the global trend we, therefore, obtained the number of daily BitTorrent downloads, as measured by <a href="https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/">iknowwhatyoudownload.com</a>. This service tracks millions of files that are available on public torrent sites, including The Pirate Bay and YTS.</p>
<p>The worldwide torrent download estimates show a clear increase from March 6 to April 6. They started off by hovering around 12 million daily recorded downloads and went up to 16 million a month later, which is a 33% increase.</p>
<p><center><strong>Tracked torrent downloads worldwide</strong></center><br /><center><img src="media/2973e09b.torrentdownloadsww.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/torrentdownloadsww.jpg" alt="" width="608" height="341" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185118" /></center></p>
<p>This spike is also visible at the torrent tracker level. The operator of <a href="http://openbittorrent.com/">OpenTrackr.org</a>, a widely used content-neutral tracker, informs us that he sees an uptick in the total number of connections as well as the number of connected peers.</p>
<p>OpenTrackr.org recently implemented a technical change, which makes it hard to compare numbers over a longer period of time. However, the number of connected peers were increasing both before and after the change.</p>
<p>As shown below, between March 31 and April 6, the peer count went up from little over 24 million to more than 26 million during the daily peak. </p>
<p><center><strong>Peer count on OpenTrackr</strong></center><br /><center><img src="media/dfb118fa.peers-selection2-e1586339317649.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/peers-selection2-e1586339317649.png" alt="" width="650" height="191" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185113" /></center></p>
<p>The data presented throughout this article clearly suggest that the coronavirus outbreak is increasing piracy and file-sharing traffic. This is visible on a global level, but we expect the country-specific trends to be even more pronounced.</p>
<p>We are still processing some additional data to shed some more light on local trends and hope to highlight these in a future article. </p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185156
title: ACE and MPA Help to Shut Down Taiwan’s Largest Pirate Movie and TV Show Site
uri: ACE-and-MPA-Help-to-Shut-Down-Taiwan-s-Largest-Pirate-Movie-and-TV-S
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ElPhv-PSHPY/
content:
<p><a href="media/70326b63.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png"><img src="media/70326b63.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" alt="" width="222" height="157" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108110" /></a>While English language &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites grab most mainstream headlines, anti-piracy groups have international platforms firmly on their radars. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of such sites in Asia but following coordinated police action, one of the largest has now fallen.</p>
<p>Following an investigation carried out by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, the Asia-Pacific division of the Motion Picture Association (MPA-APC), Japan-based Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), and local TV network Sanli TV, police in Taiwan have now shut down 8maple.ru, the country&#8217;s most popular pirate movie and TV show site.</p>
<p>According to SimilarWeb stats, 8maple has been attracting up to 35 million visits per month, making it not only the most-visited platform of its type in the region but also the 32nd most-visited site in Taiwan, period.</p>
<p><a href="media/1a034617.8maple-ru-traffic-e1586372975178.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/8maple-ru-traffic-e1586372975178.png"><img src="media/1a034617.8maple-ru-traffic-e1586372975178.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/8maple-ru-traffic-e1586372975178.png" alt="" width="650" height="386" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-185162" /></a></p>
<p>According to police sources, the Criminal Investigation Bureau in conjunction with the specialist Telecommunications Investigation Corps swooped to arrest 33-year-old Chen Su and 32-year-old Zhuang Su on <a href="https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/3127034">March 31, 2020</a>. Both are graduates of the Department of Science and Engineering at the Northern National University and are reported to have extensive software skills.</p>
<p>Authorities say the pair launched 8maple in 2014, creating a fake advertising company before offering Hollywood movies plus US, Taiwanese, Japanese, Chinese and Korean shows to the public for free viewing. The site allegedly operated servers in several regions including the United States, Canada, Ukraine, France, and Romania.</p>
<p>8maple generated income from advertising, with authorities currently estimating revenues of around NT$4,000,000 (US$133,000) per month.</p>
<p>Following the arrests, which have only just been made public, police seized a number of electronic items including 25 computers, mobile phones, and data in cloud storage in France and Canada (OVH). As the image below shows, the site&#8217;s main .ru domain was among several seized including 8maple.com and eyny.tv.</p>
<p><a href="media/6e723d12.8maple-seized-e1586366585341.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/8maple-seized-e1586366585341.png"><img src="media/6e723d12.8maple-seized-e1586366585341.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/8maple-seized-e1586366585341.png" alt="" width="650" height="332" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-185158" /></a></p>
<p>The business appears to have been profitable for the two men. During a press briefing, authorities revealed that Chen and Chuang had both acquired luxury mansions for around NT$16,000,000 (US$532,000) each, both paid for in cash. These we seized along with an estimated NT$ 60,000,000 (US$1,900,000) discovered in the pair&#8217;s bank accounts.</p>
<p>The suspects were arrested for copyright infringement offenses with Taiwan&#8217;s Telecommunications Investigation Corps estimating that 8maple caused around NT$1 billion (US$33.2m) in damages. </p>
<p>The anti-piracy groups involved in the action have yet to make a statement.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185160
title: Court Allows ISP to Question Rightscorp’s Credibility at Piracy Trial
uri: Court-Allows-ISP-to-Question-Rightscorp-s-Credibility-at-Piracy-Tria
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QCHAntKyLHw/
content:
<p><img src="media/3d6122ae.courtorderjustice.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/courtorderjustice.jpg" alt="" width="256" height="171" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147326" />Three years ago, a group of RIAA labels <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-sues-isp-grande-communications-for-failing-to-disconnect-pirates-170422/">sued the Texas ISP Grande Communications</a>.</p>
<p>The music companies accused the provider of not doing enough to stop pirating subscribers. Specifically, it alleged that Grande failed to terminate repeat infringers.</p>
<p>The case was initially scheduled to go to trial in February, but that was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-trial-between-record-labels-and-isp-grande-postponed-200306/">canceled at the last minute</a> due to time constraints. The legal battle is now set to conclude later this year. Before going ahead, however, some outstanding issues have to be resolved.</p>
<p>This week, US District Court Judge David Ezra ruled on the so-called motions <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_in_limine">in limine</a></em> from both sides. These are requests to exclude certain topics or evidence from being presented to the jury at trial. </p>
<p>The music companies, for example, asked the court to exclude certain details regarding Rightcorp, the company that sent the anti-piracy notices to Grande. These notices are crucial evidence, as Grande stands accused of not properly responding to them.</p>
<p>Specifically, the music companies wanted to exclude any “irrelevant or unfairly prejudicial” evidence or arguments about Rightscorp’s business practices, its finances, or the allegation that the anti-piracy firm destroyed evidence.</p>
<p>Grande objected, however, and the ISP pointed out that the jury is entitled to this information. The ISP pointed out that the credibility of Rightscorp is a significant issue at trial, while highlighting that the piracy tracking firm is financially dependant on the music companies.</p>
<p>&#8220;In short, Rightscorp’s relationship with Plaintiffs is the only thing keeping Rightscorp’s business afloat,&#8221; Grande <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-questions-rightscorps-credibility-and-objectivity-ahead-of-piracy-trial-200218/">previously</a> wrote. </p>
<p>In his ruling, Judge Ezra sides with the Internet provider. This means that Grande can question Rightscorp&#8217;s credibility and business practices at trial. The same is true for the fact that Rightscorp previously destroyed evidence. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/d6952769.grits.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/grits.jpg" alt="" width="620" height="346" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185181" /></center></p>
<p>And there is more good news for Grande. The music companies also asked the court to exclude evidence about the now-defunct Copyright Alert System. Under this music industry sanctioned program, other ISPs agreed to forward piracy notices. However, they were not required to terminate repeat infringers.</p>
<p>Grande can use this information to argue in its favor and it will have the option to do so at trial, as the music companies&#8217; motion to exclude evidence regarding the Copyright Alert System was denied.</p>
<p>Not everything in the ruling was positive for Grande though. The ISP also submitted motions in limine, several of which were denied. For example, it asked the court to exclude evidence regarding Grande&#8217;s termination of clients who failed to pay their subscription fees.</p>
<p>Judge Ezra denied this motion, allowing the music companies to address these issues in court. The companies could use that information to counter Grande&#8217;s defense that Internet terminations are drastic measures that should be used sparingly.</p>
<p>According to the current planning, the trial is scheduled to start in September. The jury selection has yet to take place. This could get interesting as well. As we reported before, the music labels plan to ask potential jurors if they <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-will-ask-potential-piracy-trial-jurors-if-they-read-torrentfreak-200202/">read TorrentFreak</a>. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of US District Court Judge Ezra&#8217;s order of the motions in limine is available <a href="media/b35bd9c9.grandelimine.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/grandelimine.pdf">here (pdf)</a></em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185144
title: Pirate Set-Top Box Seller Has Jail Sentence Overturned Due to Prosecution Error
uri: Pirate-Set-Top-Box-Seller-Has-Jail-Sentence-Overturned-Due-to-Prosecut
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_qK_243lpM0/
content:
<p><a href="media/a7c0897c.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/a7c0897c.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034" /></a>All around the world, content creators, distributors and associated anti-piracy groups are grappling with the thorny issue of piracy-configured set-top boxes.</p>
<p>These cheap devices were initially embraced by the tech-savvy but later attracted a broad audience among the general public, rendering piracy both easy and cheap to access for the masses.</p>
<p>Numerous legal actions have been launched in Europe and the United States but in recent years the fight has migrated to Asia too. In January 2018, it was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rightsholders-launch-landmark-case-against-pirate-android-box-sellers-180112/">reported</a> that telecoms, broadcasting, and sporting giants SingTel, Starhub, Fox Networks Group and the Premier League, had teamed up to launch a pioneering private prosecution against those involved in the supply of devices in Singapore.</p>
<p>The action targeted set-top box distributor Synnex Trading and its client and wholesale retailer, An-Nahl. The rightsholders also named Synnex Trading director Jia Xiaofen and An-Nahl director Abdul Nagib as defendants. Last April, Nagib&#8217;s case was concluded with a small fine of less than $1,000 but nevertheless marked the first successful prosecution of a &#8216;pirate&#8217; box seller in the country.</p>
<p>The case against Synnex Trading and director Jia Xiaofen was less straightforward. After pleading guilty to four charges of criminal copyright infringement, in October 2019 the director was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison and ordered to pay a fine of S$5,400 (US$3,800) while his company was fined S$160,800 (US$113,500). However, the <a href="https://www.agc.gov.sg/">Attorney-General&#8217;s Chambers</a> (AGC) quickly filed an appeal, claiming that the sentencing was flawed.</p>
<p>According to the AGC, sentencing submissions made by the parties involved in the private prosecution relied on an <a href="https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/man-convicted-over-copyrighted-works-escapes-jail-appeal">earlier court decision</a> where a man was initially sentenced to eight weeks in jail for selling modified Playstation2 consoles and copying pirated software to customers&#8217; machines. However, that jail sentence was later overruled and replaced with a fine. As a result, the jail sentence handed down to Jia Xiaofen was excessive, the AGC argued.</p>
<p>In submissions late March 2020, three Deputy Public Prosecutors wrote that the AGC should assist the court with sentencing in the Jia Xiaofen case, to ensure that an appropriate sentence was handed down based on accurate precedents.</p>
<p>“This responsibility undergirds a crucial aspect of the administration of criminal justice in Singapore — that all offenders are punished appropriately,” the DPPs wrote, as cited by <a href="https://www.todayonline.com/no-jail-time-android-tv-box-seller-after-public-prosecutor-wins-rare-appeal-against-excessive">TodayOnline</a>.</p>
<p>“It is in this context that the Public Prosecutor has taken the unusual but necessary step of filing the present appeal against the sentence of 12 weeks’ imprisonment imposed upon (Jia).”</p>
<p>During the prosecution, neither the defense nor the prosecution in Jia&#8217;s case mentioned the fact that the earlier prison sentence had been overruled, which meant that the District Court handed down a similar sentence when there was no precedent. As a result, this week the High Court overruled Jia&#8217;s 12-week prison term but the defendant didn&#8217;t escape punishment.</p>
<p>On the advice of the DPPs, Jia Xiaofen was <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/prosecutors-win-rare-appeal-quashing-excessive-jail-term">handed a fine</a> of S$32,100 (US$22,000) and the original and much larger fine against his company was ordered to stand.</p>
<p>What this means for sentencing in future cases isn&#8217;t yet clear but with no precedent for relatively harsh periods of imprisonment, larger fines in their place seem a potential solution.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185255
title: Pirate Bay No Longer Uses Cloudflare, Visitors Sent to ‘Black Hole’
uri: 2020-04-10-
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UlVHtTWf_uo/
content:
<p><img src="media/9dd69e0d.tpb-piratebay-thepiratebay-logo.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-piratebay-thepiratebay-logo.jpg" alt="" width="256" height="219" class="alignright size-full wp-image-142141" />The Pirate Bay&#8217;s original and main domain has been unreachable for <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-suffers-extended-downtime-200309/">more than a month</a>. </p>
<p>While the site operates as usual on the Tor network, visitors to ThePirateBay.org are welcomed by a Cloudflare error message mentioning that the “connection timed out.”</p>
<p>Two weeks ago, a source familiar with the matter informed us that the infamous torrent site faces some technical issues and the admin is taking this opportunity to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-uses-downtime-to-rewrite-some-code-200323/">rewrite some code</a>. After that, we received no updates. </p>
<p>Today, however, something appears to be changing. For the first time in years, the whois record for ThePirateBay.org has been updated. Instead of the domain pointing to Cloudflare&#8217;s nameservers, it is now linked to the default nameservers of the domain registrar <a href="https://easydns.com/">EasyDNS</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, the domain&#8217;s status code has changed from &#8216;client Transfer Prohibited&#8217; to &#8216;ok,&#8217; which means that there are no restrictions preventing it from being transferred to a new owner. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/5d18570d.tpbwhois-e1586520350403.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbwhois-e1586520350403.jpg" alt="" width="444" height="324" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185269" /></center></p>
<p>At the time of writing, all traffic to ThePirateBay.org is resolving to 127.0.0.1, which is the generic localhost IP-address. This means that the domain name is effectively null routed, with all requests dumped into a local black hole. </p>
<p>The new details are gradually propagating. The following query from <a href="https://www.whatsmydns.net/">WhatsMyDNS</a> shows that, in some places, it still resolves to the Cloudflare server. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/8e42a0f0.tpbdns.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbdns.jpg" alt="" width="530" height="333" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185270" /></center></p>
<p>The changes are highly unusual but without further details, it is hard to say what&#8217;s going on here. While it&#8217;s pure speculation, we can go over a few options. </p>
<p>The first and most likely option is that The Pirate Bay team intentionally made these changes. They may have moved away from Cloudflare to set up shop elsewhere, pointing the DNS to 127.0.0.1 for the time being. </p>
<p>That would not explain why they changed the status code, however. Nor is it clear why this intermediate step would be needed.</p>
<p>A second option is that Cloudflare may have kicked The Pirate Bay out. That seems unlikely, however, as The Pirate Bay would usually not update its DNS records this quickly. Also, there are no unusual errors in places where the domain name still resolves to Cloudflare.</p>
<p>Another option is that EasyDNS was ordered to take action by a court to null route the domain, and to allow it to be transferred to a third party. The latter would also explain the updated status code. This is not the case though. </p>
<p>EasyDNS CEO Mark Jeftovic informs TorrentFreak that it hasn&#8217;t taken any action regarding this domain. As standard procedure, the company did reach out to the registrant to make sure they&#8217;re aware of what&#8217;s happened and to double-check if everything is ok. </p>
<p>Until there&#8217;s an official announcement from the Pirate Bay team, the changes will remain a mystery. </p>
<p>Whatever the reason is, it&#8217;s worth keeping an eye on. We will continue to monitor the situation in the days to come and will update this article if more information becomes available.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185333
title: The Pirate Bay’s Main Domain ‘Returns’ After a Month of Downtime
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-s-Main-Domain-Returns-After-a-Month-of-Downtime
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/R26cPPK2O2Q/
content:
<p><img src="media/0e036607.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470" />Over the past several weeks, The Pirate Bay has suffered prolonged downtime. For many people, the popular torrent site was completely <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-suffers-extended-downtime-200309/">unreachable</a> through its main Thepiratebay.org domain.</p>
<p>While regular visitors knew that the site was still accessible over the Tor network, through a separate domain, the problems were unusual. </p>
<p>Yesterday, the situation for more confusing when the .org domain was updated. The usual Cloudflare nameservers were removed and replaced by EasyDNS nameservers. In addition, all traffic to the domain was sent to 127.0.0.1, which essentially meant that all requests dumped into a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-no-longer-uses-cloudflare-visitors-sent-to-black-hole200410/">local black hole</a>.</p>
<p>Without an official explanation from the Pirate Bay team, these changes were fuel for speculation. Today, however, the situation has already completely changed again. </p>
<p>Starting a few hours ago, Thepiratebay.org domain is back online. After another update of the domain records, it is operational again. Not just that, it also uses Cloudflare&#8217;s services. </p>
<p>There is a small update though. Over the past few years, The Pirate Bay used the dean.ns.cloudflare.com and sofia.ns.cloudflare.com nameservers. Today, the site uses deb.ns.cloudflare.com and sevki.ns.cloudflare.com.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c9537e15.cloudftbp.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudftbp.jpg" alt="" width="553" height="272" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185336" /></center></p>
<p>Other than the nameserver update, nothing has changed domain-wise. The domain is still registered through Fredrik Neij, one of the original Pirate Bay co-founders, and EasyDNS remains the registrar. </p>
<p>Why the Cloudflare nameserver changed is unknown. It is possible, however, that the domain had to be operated through a separate Cloudflare account for some reason. </p>
<p>Previously, we were told that The Pirate Bay team would use the downtime to implement some updates to the code. While that doesn&#8217;t have to be visible, there are a few changes in the site&#8217;s appearance as well. </p>
<p>Several links have been stripped from the homepage now, including those to the blog and the about page. In addition, the &#8216;login&#8217; and &#8216;register&#8217; links simply point back to the homepage. In addition, the site uses the torrindex.net domain to serve some static content.</p>
<p>Perhaps these modifications are part of the previously announced changes, or it&#8217;s something that&#8217;s still being worked on. Interestingly, the Tor version of the site still shows the old look, with all the other links intact.</p>
<p>We will keep an eye on any other changes during the days to come. If any new information becomes available we will update this article accordingly. </p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185094
title: Danish Court Throws Out Three Piracy Cases, Plaintiff Had No Right to Sue
uri: Danish-Court-Throws-Out-Three-Piracy-Cases-Plaintiff-Had-No-Right-to
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/PnMhEOENhxc/
content:
<p><a href="media/efd05bc4.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg"><img src="media/efd05bc4.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977" /></a>Legal actions against file-sharers come in all shapes and sizes but perhaps the most common are the mass lawsuits that target alleged BitTorrent users.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of these cases, which usually begin with a demand for cash settlement, end when the target pays up an amount to have a supposed lawsuit disappear. More rarely, however, cases end up in court and under the scrutiny of a judge, things don&#8217;t always go so well.</p>
<p>Like many countries in Europe, alleged file-sharers in Denmark have been receiving letters claiming that since they&#8217;ve been caught sharing porn without the copyright holders&#8217; permission, they must now pay an informal fine. The threat for non-payment is a court case but for one company and its beneficiaries involved in a pretty big scheme, this has not gone to plan.</p>
<p>Copyright Management Services (CMS) is known for its involvement in mass copyright litigation. Working with Danish law firm NJORD Law, it <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-bombarded-with-82000-demands-to-reveal-alleged-pirates-170513/">previously</a> demanded the identities of thousands of individuals in Sweden so it could pursue them for settlements relating to alleged porn downloads. It is also very active in Denmark.</p>
<p>CMS was incorporated in the UK during October 2014. Until fairly recently its sole director was Patrick Achache, who also operates German-based BitTorrent tracking company MaverickEye. Both were part of the notorious international trolling operation Guardaley, which recently changed ownership.</p>
<p>While actual copyright holders are perfectly able to sue alleged file-sharers, there is a tendency among some mass litigation outfits to use middle-man companies instead. There are theories that their purpose is to act as a buffer to protect the actual copyright holders should lawsuits go wrong but in the cases brought by middle-man CMS in Denmark, its involvement in the chain has caused things to unravel.</p>
<p>The development comes after CMS demanded cash settlements from three individuals who failed to pay and were later taken to court. The defendants were ISP account holders of IP addresses that CMS claimed were connected to illegal file-sharing. In all cases, district courts found in favor of CMS, ordering the defendants to pay 7,500 DKK ($1,039) to the company.</p>
<p>When the cases went to appeal, the defendants denied they committed the copyright infringements alleged by CMS. They further alleged that CMS was not a producer of the content, was not a distributor of content, and had no documentation to prove that it was entitled to sue on behalf of the actual copyright holders. </p>
<p>Countering, CMS referred to its successes in the district courts and insisted that it did indeed have agreements in place to prosecute the cases against the alleged pirates. That assertion was rejected this week by the Eastern High Court.</p>
<p>&#8220;In all three cases, the High Court found that the company had not proved that it had legal capacity to conduct the cases in its own name,&#8221; a statement from the court reads.</p>
<p>As a result, all three cases were dismissed.</p>
<p>&#8220;The cases are part of a large number of cases pending before the courts, about the sharing of films, in some cases porn films. The three cases are the first of such cases decided by the Eastern High Court,&#8221; the statement notes.</p>
<p>Quite how many other cases Copyright Management Services has filed on the same grounds (i.e with no right to sue) is unclear but having these cases thrown out could present problems for the company. In respect of the company itself, interesting facts are available from public sources.</p>
<p>As previously mentioned, Patrick Achache was the sole director of CMS. However, on November 19, 2019, he ceased to be a director and what Companies House describes as a &#8216;person with significant control&#8217;. In his place as the new officer with &#8216;significant control&#8217; stepped Lubesly Tellidua, who has the same name as a beauty queen from the Philippines.</p>
<p>This could have been a complete coincidence but thanks to detective work by Danish news site K-News, it&#8217;s possible to confirm that Lubesly Tellidua the beauty queen is not only the new person in control of CMS but is also <a href="https://www.k-news.dk/nyheder/rettighedshavere-vil-udfordre-manglende-retspraksis">directly linked to Achache</a>, as the photograph in their article shows.</p>
<p>A new director was also appointed to CMS last year, Eleanor Elizabeth Powell of Brecon, Wales, who chose to register modified names and addresses across two different companies &#8211; <a href="https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09276690/officers">Copyright Management Services Ltd</a> and <a href="https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/12012183/officers">Powtex Limited</a>. Adding a middle name and tweaking the details of an address is enough for Companies House not to link the same director to two companies, at least without manual research.</p>
<p>Anyone interested in venturing further down the CMS rabbit hole might consider visiting <a href="https://opencorporates.com/companies/gb/OC403458">Open Corporates</a> where several familiar names in copyright trolling and anti-piracy enforcement can be found doing business, past and present.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185039
title: WordPress DMCA Takedown Notices Drop But Abuse Remains Prevalent
uri: WordPress-DMCA-Takedown-Notices-Drop-But-Abuse-Remains-Prevalent
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/iMWnL-bwzkQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/410f3f07.wpwordpress1-e1489656793433.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/wpwordpress1-e1489656793433.png" alt="" width="270" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136592" />Automattic, the company behind the popular blogging platform WordPress.com, receives thousands of takedown requests from copyright holders.</p>
<p>For a number of years, the volume of notices continued to increase but that trend has slowly started to reverse.</p>
<p>This week, the company published its latest <a href="https://transparency.automattic.com/">transparency report</a>, revealing that it had processed 11,220 takedown notices during 2019. That is a significant drop compared to a year earlier when over 20,000 notices were handled.</p>
<p>Unlike other services, Automattic only reports the number of notices it receives for WordPress.com. Each of these notices can contain multiple URLs, in some cases even dozens.</p>
<p>The takedown notices are sent in by a variety of copyright holders. The most prolific sender was Image Protect, an anti-piracy service for photographers, followed by familiar names including the music groups IFPI and BPI. </p>
<p>Looking at the longer-term trend, we clearly see a decline in the number of takedowns requests, which reached an all-time high two years ago. The drop in numbers is in line with what other Internet services have noticed recently, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-holders-continue-to-report-fewer-piracy-links-to-google-search-200329/">including Google</a>.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/8b25c33c.wordpress.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/wordpress.jpg" alt="" width="658" height="316" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185242" /></center></p>
<p>It is worth noting that not all takedown requests are blindly accepted, with Automattic keeping a close eye on errors. This results in a relatively high rejection rate. Of all notices, more than three quarters didn&#8217;t result in any content being removed. </p>
<p>The vast majority of the notices were rejected because they were &#8216;incomplete,&#8217; meaning that some info was missing, and roughly 7% were classified as &#8216;abuse&#8217;.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8216;Abusive&#8217; notices may be formally complete, but are directed at fair use of content, material that isn’t copyrightable, or content the complaining party misrepresents ownership of a copyright,&#8221; Automattic explains. </p>
<p>Since Automattic began counting complaints in 2014, the company has processed 75,837 DMCA takedown requests. More than two-thirds of these were rejected and for the remaining 33%, no content was removed.</p>
<p>Whether the drop in the number of received notices for WordPress.com will continue to decrease remains to be seen. Although a similar pattern emerges at other services as well, it&#8217;s certainly not universal. For example, Reddit reported the opposite just a few weeks ago, with the number of takedowns <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/reddits-copyright-infringement-removals-increased-by-500-last-year-200226/">increasing 500%</a> in just a year.</p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185207
title: Judge in eBook.bike Piracy Case Asks Author to Consider a Massively Reduced Damages Claim
uri: Judge-in-eBook-bike-Piracy-Case-Asks-Author-to-Consider-a-Massively-Re
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-bza9CEAKL0/
content:
<p><img src="media/24879ea8.3geINt6a_400x400.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/3geINt6a_400x400.jpg" width="250" height="250" class="alignright size-full" />Just over a year ago, author John Van Stry filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in a Texas court against former Pirate Party Canada leader Travis McCrea, the operator of eBook download platform eBook.bike.</p>
<p>The complaint alleged that McCrea infringed the copyrights of Van Stry by making at least a dozen of his books available for download without a license, along with other titles by prominent authors including Stephen King and J.K. Rowling.</p>
<p>Following the case has been testing, to say the least. The discovery process was labored, disorganized, and at times not much short of chaotic. The parties, when they communicated at all, were beset by problems that were agonizingly detailed in pages of court filings. McCrea cited various defenses, including under the DMCA and on religious grounds, and was flat-out accused of frustrating the entire process by Van Stry&#8217;s legal team.</p>
<p>Behind that briefest summary of events, the case has been rumbling on the background, consuming large sums of time and money as it has done so. Given McCrea&#8217;s earlier claim that he would never be able to pay should he lose the case and Van Stry&#8217;s obvious financial investment in the matter, it was always going to be hard to pick a &#8216;winner&#8217;.</p>
<p>That being said, Van Stry seems determined to make a point about piracy, not only for him but for all authors. It might prove difficult to put a price tag on that but it is the court&#8217;s job to try. That leads us to a proposed motion for final summary judgment filed by Van Stry&#8217;s legal team that has just been dealt with by the judge.</p>
<p>The proposed summary judgment asks the court to find that McCrea &#8220;knowingly and intentionally&#8221; committed direct infringement in respect of 12 of Van Stry&#8217;s books and is &#8220;contributorily and vicariously responsible&#8221; for copyright infringements carried by Ebook.bike&#8217;s users in respect of the same works.</p>
<p>Demanding a broad injunction to prevent McCrea and his &#8220;agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and all persons in active concert and participation with him&#8221; from infringing, causing, enabling, facilitating, encouraging, contributing to, or participation in infringement of the works in future, it further proposes significant damages.</p>
<p>&#8220;Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §504(c)(1), the Court awards Mr. Van Stry $15,000 per each of the twelve works-at-issue, consisting of $3,800 in compensatory damages and, due to Mr. McCrea’s willful infringement, $11,200 in punitive damages, for a total of $180,000,&#8221; the proposal reads.</p>
<p>On top, of course, Van Stry is demanding full costs, including attorneys&#8217; fees, to ensure he isn&#8217;t left out of pocket. </p>
<p>In a memorandum and opinion issued this week, District Court Judge William Bryson notes that under the Copyright Act, Van Stry could&#8217;ve demanded a whole lot more in statutory damages &#8211; $150,000 per work, to be precise. The Judge then goes on to address several documents filed by McCrea in which he denied any wrongdoing because there was no evidence &#8220;that there had been any downloads of copyrighted material.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;At the same time, Mr. McCrea said that he was &#8216;practising [his] religion by helping authors connect with their readers&#8217;,&#8221; the Judge writes. &#8220;McCrea also claimed that his actions were protected by the safe harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. And, in the event of liability, Mr. McCrea disputed Mr. Van Stry’s contention as to the appropriate amount to be awarded in damages.&#8221; </p>
<p>On the DMCA issue, the Judge goes into some detail but ultimately notes that McCrea is not entitled to claim safe harbor due to his failure to register an agent at the Copyright Office.</p>
<p>In respect of some kind of defense under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 1993 (RFRA), the Judge states that the RFRA doesn&#8217;t apply because the case is a dispute between private parties.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even assuming the sincerity of Mr. McCrea’s beliefs and even if RFRA were applicable to this case, Mr. McCrea’s affirmative defense would still fail because he has provided no evidence that the government, or any entity, has substantially burdened his practicing of his religion,&#8221; the Judge notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The only religious practices Mr. McCrea identifies is &#8216;helping authors connect with their readers&#8217; and copying and sharing information. I fail to see the suggested conflict between those practices and abiding by the Copyright Act. Mr. McCrea certainly could have approached Mr. Van Stry to obtain a license to copy, make available, and distribute Mr. Van Stry’s copyrighted works, if that was how Mr. McCrea chose to help connect Mr. Van Stry with his readers.&#8221;</p>
<p>At this stage, the motion appears to be going nowhere good for McCrea but the Judge then reveals he won&#8217;t be rubber-stamping Van Stry&#8217;s request for damages as outlined in his proposed motion. The Supreme Court provides a right to a trial and the scale of statutory damages is a question for the jury, unless both sides agree to a decision being made by the court.</p>
<p>Given submissions from the parties, Judge Bryson says he believes Van Stry and McCrea want him to decide the appropriate amount of statutory damages. However, what Van Stry is demanding ($15,000 per work) conflicts with the statutory minimum suggested by McCrea ($750 per work).</p>
<p>As a result, the Judge wants both sides to write to the court to confirm that they want him to decide the amount, rather than a jury. This, however, raises other issues.</p>
<p>&#8220;[I] note that the right to a jury trial on the issue of statutory damages does not apply when the plaintiff seeks an award limited to the statutorily guaranteed minimum amount,&#8221; the Judge notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In light of Mr. Van Stry’s acknowledgement that damages in this case are likely to be illusory, he may wish to limit his request for statutory damages to the statutory minimum award of $750 per work —an amount that Mr. McCrea has already agreed would be appropriate. In that event, a jury trial on damages would not be necessary.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mr. Van Stry may, if he chooses, make the request to limit the award of statutory damages in the alternative. The request, that is, would only control in the event that Mr. McCrea does not waive his right to a jury trial,&#8221; Judge Bryson adds.</p>
<p>The parties have been given seven days to advise the Court whether they wish to have the Court &#8220;resolve all issues pertinent to an award of statutory damages&#8221; in excess of the statutory limit of $750 per work. We know that $750 is acceptable to McCrea but seems unlikely to be acceptable to Van Stry &#8211; 12 x $750 sounds like $9,000, a lot less than the $180,000 previously mentioned.</p>
<p>Should the author win the case he will, however, be entitled to recover his costs. Earlier this year, Van Stry indicated he was already in the hole for <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/author-fears-that-former-pirate-site-owner-is-trying-to-bankrupt-him-200202/">$60,000 in legal fees</a>, only half of which was covered by donations from fellow authors and other well-wishers.</p>
<p>But even that figure must&#8217;ve been surpassed by now, especially if the associated GoFundMe campaign&#8217;s <a href="https://uk.gofundme.com/f/bring-ebookbike-to-justice">target of $90,000</a> is anything to go by. That still leaves the question of whether he can recover anything at all &#8211; damages or costs &#8211; from McCrea, who doesn&#8217;t even live in the United States.</p>
<p>Either way, eBook.bike shut down many months ago.</p>
<p><em>The motion for summary judgment and memorandum opinion and order can be found <a href="media/d3663c21.-19-cv-00104-Van-Str-McCrea-proposed-summary-judgment-200306.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2-19-cv-00104-Van-Str-McCrea-proposed-summary-judgment-200306.pdf">here</a> and <a href="media/5795ca94.-cv-00104-Van-Str-McCrea-memorandum-opinion-and-order-200409.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2-19-cv-00104-Van-Str-McCrea-memorandum-opinion-and-order-200409.pdf">here</a></em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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feed_id: https://torrentfreak.com/?p=185096
title: ‘Copyright Troll’ Lawyer’s Request for a Temporary Prison Release Due to COVID-19 Threat Fails
uri: Copyright-Troll-Lawyer-s-Request-for-a-Temporary-Prison-Releas
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UZ1oShQL8oY/
content:
<p><img src="media/156f4109.prison.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/prison.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="182" class="alignright size-full wp-image-174207" />Last summer, a U.S. District Court in Minnesota sentenced Paul Hansmeier to<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-lawyer-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-190614/"> 14 years in prison</a>, followed by two years of supervised release.</p>
<p>Hansmeier was a key player in the Prenda Law firm, which pursued cases against people who were suspected of downloading pirated porn videos via BitTorrent.</p>
<p>This practice by itself is not illegal, but Hansmeier and his associate John Steele entered the criminal realm when they lied to the courts, committed identity theft, and created a honeypot by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-helps-to-expose-copyright-troll-honeypot-130604/">uploading self-produced</a> porn torrents to The Pirate Bay as bait.</p>
<p>Both lawyers were sentenced to long prison sentences, with the first receiving the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-lawyer-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-190614/">longest sentence</a> due to his lack of cooperation. Hansmeier <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-lawyer-appeals-14-year-prison-sentence-190627/">appealed his sentence</a> and previously asked the court if he could await this decision out of jail. </p>
<p>That effort failed initially, but with the Coronavirus spreading in the US, he&#8217;s now asking the court to reconsider.</p>
<p>A few days ago, Hansmeier sent a handwritten letter from the <a href="https://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/sst/">Sandstone prison</a> in Minnesota to the U.S. District Court, which included his motion for a release pending appeal.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7dcd840d.hansmeierreq.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/hansmeierreq.jpg" alt="" width="616" height="382" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185133" /></center> </p>
<p>In the letter, the disbarred lawyer explains that he is better off outside, as the risk of being infected by the Coronavirus is much greater in prison.</p>
<p>&#8220;If released pending appeal, Hansmeier would self-quarantine at his house for 14 days, and then continue to shelter in place per the Minnesota Governor&#8217;s executive order,&#8221; Hansmeier writes, adding that he would use the time to care for his children.</p>
<p>According to Hansmeier, there is no need to stay in prison pending the appeal. It is not likely that he will flee or pose a danger to the community, for example, and his appeal raises a substantial issue, as the U.S. code requires.</p>
<p>The main reason for the request, however, is the COVID-19 pandemic. The former Prenda lawyer cites several media reports that describe the challenges and risks prisons face, quoting one insider stating that it&#8217;s &#8220;chaos&#8221; and that things will &#8220;get worse.&#8221; These descriptions also apply to Sandstone, he notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Inmates at Sandstone share tight quarters in dormitory-style housing and spend much of their time together,&#8221; Hansmeier writes, adding that &#8220;&#8230;there is nothing that officials can do, short of releasing prisoners en masse, to even approach the recommendations of the CDC and the President&#8217;s Coronavirus Task Force.&#8221;</p>
<p>Hansmeier fears that the virus will rip through the entire prison population if it arrives, wreaking havoc, and potentially killing dozens of people. By allowing the release pending appeal, he would avoid this risk. </p>
<p>&#8220;[A]pplication of the current death rate associated with COVID-19, suggests that 25 inmates at Sandstone can expect to die,&#8221; Hansmeier warns.</p>
<p>While the disbarred lawyer argues that there is no reason for him to be exposed to unnecessary health risks, the prosecution sees things differently. In a reply motion, United States Attorney Erica MacDonald cast doubt over the request. </p>
<p>MacDonald refers to Hansmeier as &#8220;a healthy 38-year old man,&#8221; who &#8220;is thriving at Sandstone.&#8221; That he, because of the pandemic, now wants to be released to care for his children seems illogical.  </p>
<p>MacDonald stresses that the only case cited to support the motion is one where a court agreed to delay the surrender date of a convict. The reason for this was to not add any people to the prison population. However, Hansmeier is in prison already.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hansmeier, in contrast, cannot be added to the prison population because he is already part of the prison population, and has been since July 2019, before the pandemic even began,&#8221; MacDonald writes.</p>
<p>Instead of helping the situation, the disbarred lawyer may actually make things worse, she adds. </p>
<p>&#8220;Hansmeier’s request to be released, to care for his children, and then to return to BOP custody if he loses his appeal, would expose the prison community at Sandstone to a greater threat from COVID-19 than simply keeping the uninfected Hansmeier in custody as the pandemic runs its course,&#8221; the Attorney General adds.</p>
<p>Based on these and a variety of other arguments, including the Government&#8217;s position that there is no substantial issue raised in the appeal, MacDonald urgest the court to keep the convicted Prenda lawyer in prison. </p>
<p>After reviewing the details, US District Judge Joan Ericksen issued a brief but clear order on Friday. Instead of going into any of the COVID-19 arguments, she denied to consider the request for a temporary release because of Hansmeier argued it himself, even though he is represented by an attorney.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Hansmeier&#8217;s <a href="media/902c38f8.hansmeiercovidreply.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/hansmeiercovidreply.pdf">pro se motion for a release pending appeal is available here</a> and the <a href="media/902c38f8.hansmeiercovidreply.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/hansmeiercovidreply.pdf">Government&#8217;s objections can be found here</a>.</em></p>
<p>Drom: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2020-200105/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have an annual <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/">VPN</a> review.</p>
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