# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78665
title: Russian Facebook Not Responsible For Users’ Pirate Music Uploads
uri: Russian-Facebook-Not-Responsible-For-Users-Pirate-Music-Uploads
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZKC_x4OorbQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/2dca634d.vk.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vk.jpg" width="180" height="180" class="alignright" />VKontakte, Russia&#8217;s version of Facebook, is a huge operation with upwards of 45 million daily users. Thanks to its file-hosting features it&#8217;s also one of the world&#8217;s largest unauthorized repositories of copyright music.</p>
<p>As a result the site has drawn criticism from record companies around the world and earlier this year was sued by a local label.</p>
<p>In June 2013, <a href="http://studiasoyuz.ru/">Studia Soyuz</a> claimed that VKontakte was infringing its copyrights on more than 60 tracks and should therefore pay damages of 4,575,000 rubles ($144,000) to the label. The case has now been concluded and it didn&#8217;t go well for the company.</p>
<p>According to a statement on the website of the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad, Soyuz were left high and dry after the court held that Vkontakte could not be held responsible for its users&#8217; infringements.</p>
<p>The Court did recognize that VKontakte&#8217;s users had posted several dozen Soyuz-owned tracks to the file-sharing network but noted that none of VKontakte&#8217;s operators were directly involved in the &#8220;downloading, recording or dissemination&#8221; of the music detailed in the lawsuit. As a mere communications platform, VKontakte could not be held liable for its users&#8217; actions provided it took action to remove unauthorized content once informed.</p>
<p>The judgment also considered some of the practicalities of holding the social network liable for the many hundreds of millions of actions carried out by its users every single day.</p>
<p>The Court recognized that it would be impossible to monitor all of the submissions to the site and accepted that assessing whether those submissions were also copyright-infringing would be beyond VKontakte&#8217;s abilities. Some artists, Soyuz&#8217;s included, had previously uploaded their own songs to the social network.</p>
<p>As a result the Court concluded that if any copyright infringing activity had taken place it would be the responsibility of the users who carried it out and VKontakte could not be held liable.</p>
<p>While the decision will be welcomed by the social networking site, it is believed that VKontakte may soon become a useful ally of the music industry.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the site&#8217;s founder said that talks were underway with Universal, Warner and Sony with a view to making their content available to the site&#8217;s users as part of a licensing deal.</p>
<p>Any positive agreement along those lines would be welcome by the United States Trade Representative, who previously labeled VKontakte a &#8220;rogue site.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/russian-facebook-not-responsible-for-users-pirate-music-uploads-131026/">Russian Facebook Not Responsible For Users&#8217; Pirate Music Uploads</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78681
title: MPAA Reports Notorious Pirate Sites to U.S. Government
uri: MPAA-Reports-Notorious-Pirate-Sites-to-U-S-Government
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/psoHHdW3SEg/
content:
<p><a href="media/394b6768.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg"><img src="media/394b6768.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg" alt="mpaa-logo" width="200" height="112" class="alignright size-full wp-image-36694" /></a>Responding to a request from the Office of the US Trade Representative (<a href="http://www.ustr.gov/">USTR</a>), yesterday the MPAA submitted a new list of “notorious markets.”</p>
<p>In its latest filing the MPAA targets a wide variety of websites which they claim are promoting illegal distribution of movies and TV-shows, with declining incomes and lost jobs in the movie industry as a result.</p>
<p>&#8220;Copyright theft is not a victimless crime. The criminals who profit from the most notorious markets throughout the world threaten the very heart of our industry and in doing so they threaten the livelihoods of the people who give it life,&#8221; <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/179222763/MPAA-Notorious-Sites-via-TorrentFreak-com">the MPAA writes</a>. </p>
<p>According to the movie industry group, in recent years the piracy landscape has become more fragmented and harder to deal with, as torrent sites, cyberlockers, streaming sites and linking sites continue to gain ground. </p>
<p>&#8220;Today the online market has further fragmented and content thieves are taking advantage of new online technologies, with streaming sites and cyberlockers representing a growing share of unlawful conduct.&#8221;  </p>
<p>&#8220;Moreover, a secondary market has arisen in the form of &#8216;linking sites&#8217;, which are professional-looking sites that facilitate content theft by indexing stolen movie and television content hosted on other sites.</p>
<p>Despite these challenges the movie studios are also glad to report one of their recent successes, the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-shuts-down-after-110-million-settlement-with-the-mpaa-131017/">takedown of isoHunt.com</a>. Nevertheless, there are still many other sites that remain a problem for the group. </p>
<p>Below is the full list of &#8216;rogue&#8217; sites and their suspected location as defined by the MPAA in its USTR filing. </p>
<h2>BitTorrent / P2P sites:</h2>
<p>- ExtraTorrent.com (Ukraine)<br />
- Kickass.to (Canada)<br />
- RuTracker.org (Russia)<br />
- ThePirateBay.sx (Sweden)<br />
- Torrentz.eu (Canada)<br />
- Xunlei.com (China)<br />
- Kuaibo.com (China)</p>
<h2>Download/streaming:</h2>
<p>- Extabit.com (Netherlands)<br />
- Netload.in (Germany)<br />
- Nowvideo.sx (Netherlands)<br />
- Putlocker.com (United Kingdom)<br />
- Rapidgator.net (Russia)<br />
- Uploaded.net (Netherlands)<br />
- VK.com (Russia)</p>
<h2>Linking sites:</h2>
<p>- Cuevana.tv (Argentina)<br />
- Primewire.ag (Estonia)<br />
- Filmesonlinegratis.net (Brazil)<br />
- Free-tv-video-online.me (Czech Republic)<br />
- Megafilmeshd.net (Brazil)<br />
- Movie4k.to (Romania)<br />
- Seriesyonkis.com (Spain)<br />
- Solarmovie.eu (Latvia)<br />
- Telona.org (Sweden)<br />
- Yyets.com (China)</p>
<h2>Usenet:</h2>
<p>- Usenext.com (Germany)</p>
<p>The MPAA provides a short description for every site listed but doesn&#8217;t detail why these sites are considered &#8220;rogue&#8221; while others aren&#8217;t. Additionally, some of their other claims are not always accurate. </p>
<p>For example, the MPAA claims that Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm has been extradited to Denmark where he was supposedly sentenced following hacking related charges. </p>
<p>&#8220;In 2012, one of the site’s co-founders was found guilty on hacking charges in Sweden after his extradition from Cambodia. He was then extradited to Denmark and sentenced for similar charges in 2013,&#8221; MPAA writes. </p>
<p>However, Gottfrid is still in a Swedish prison and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-urges-sweden-to-stop-his-extradition-131022/">filed for an appeal at the Supreme Court</a> this week. He hasn&#8217;t even left for Denmark, let alone been tried and sentenced.</p>
<p>Similarly, the MPAA suggests that Pirate Bay&#8217;s PirateBrowser is linking to websites that are actually hosted on the Tor network, which is<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-anti-censorship-browser-clocks-1-million-downloads-131019/"> not what it does</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;ThePirateBay.sx promoted its tenth year as an index website by releasing the PirateBrowser, a self-contained portable web browser with preset bookmarks to BitTorrent websites hosted on the TOR network,&#8221; MPAA notes. </p>
<p>In a few weeks the US Trade Representative will use the submissions of the MPAA and other interested parties to make up its final list of piracy havens. The U.S. Government will then alert the countries where these sites are operating from, hoping that the local authorities take action.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-notorious-pirate-sites-to-u-s-government-131026/">MPAA Reports Notorious Pirate Sites to U.S. Government</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78672
title: Torrent Site Admin Who Turned Pigsty into Datacenter Jailed for a Year
uri: Torrent-Site-Admin-Who-Turned-Pigsty-into-Datacenter-Jailed-for-a-Year
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4gyv3JGO_60/
content:
<p><a href="media/4eb34cdb.powerbits.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/powerbits.jpg"><img src="media/4eb34cdb.powerbits.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/powerbits.jpg" alt="powerbits" width="180" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78678" /></a>While there are undoubtedly file-sharing sites in existence operated as individuals&#8217; sole source of income, many sites are run as side-projects by people in full-time employment elsewhere.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s common for sites to be run by people employed in the computing industry or by those still in education and hoping to get into that area in the future. However, a case brought to a conclusion yesterday is probably the first in which the accused was a farmer.</p>
<p>The case, brought by Antipiratbyran and the IFPI, dates back to December 2011 and claims that the defendant, a man from Sweden, was responsible for administering the PowerBits private BitTorrent tracker between 2007 and 2009.</p>
<p>As is so often the case, the plaintiffs in the case claimed that PowerBits was a &#8220;commercial file-sharing service” and its admin “regularly received and assimilated payments from the users.”</p>
<p>Those payments took the form of donations from PowerBits users but were framed as direct payment for illegal content by the anti-piracy companies. Making matters worse, the tax authorities said the income had been generated in the course of running an Internet business and as such was both undeclared and untaxed.</p>
<p>In June 2012 the Varberg District Court accepted that the then 34-year-old hadn&#8217;t uploaded content himself but had indeed assisted in the copyright infringements of PowerBits users. He was also found guilty of tax and accounting offenses relating to the income generated from the site.</p>
<p>The case went to appeal and yesterday the decision was handed down.</p>
<p>A Court of Appeal judge upheld the earlier ruling and found the now 35-year-old <a href="http://www.dn.se/ekonomi/bonde-fick-fangelse-for-fildelning/">guilty</a> of aiding in copyright infringement. He was also found guilty of accounting fraud and was sentenced to one year in jail.</p>
<p>In addition to the custodial sentence the man was told to pay almost $62,000 against an undeclared income of $126,600 generated from the 65,000 member site during 2007 and 2008, some of which was spent converting a pigsty into a datacenter.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/torrent-site-admin-who-turned-pigsty-into-datacenter-jailed-for-a-year-131027/">Torrent Site Admin Who Turned Pigsty into Datacenter Jailed for a Year</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78705
title: Reflections On The Long Fight Against The Copyright Monopoly – And What You Can Do
uri: Reflections-On-The-Long-Fight-Against-The-Copyright-Monopoly-And-W
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Vv5NpWq2Xpc/
content:
<p><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211" />It has been said, that nobody is as hard to convince of a fact as those whose paycheck depend on not understanding it. </p>
<p>This applies strongly to those copyright industry lobbyists who make a living dismantling our freedoms of speech, assembly, and opinion.</p>
<p>One of the more obscene arguments from the copyright industry lobby is that people who facilitate unlicensed manufacturing of culture and knowledge &#8211; breaking the copyright monopoly in the process &#8211; make money from facilitating this process, through ads and the like. At the same time, the people of the copyright industry lobby &#8211; the Dutch Tim Kuik, the Swedish Henrik Pontén, the Danish &#8220;child-porn-is-great&#8221; Johan Schlüter (yes, he <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100427/1437179198.shtml">said</a> that), you all know your local antagonists &#8211; are raking in money themselves on introducing censorship, tracking and wiretapping, while somehow claiming it is immoral to do so for those who spread knowledge and culture to humanity. It is sickening, really.</p>
<p>We know that we are winning, only that it takes an enormous amount of time to shift the overall direction of society. We come from the Internet, we&#8217;re used to changing the world in a weekend of coding. The nightmare with today&#8217;s copyright and patent monopoly laws is that they have their <a href="http://falkvinge.net/2011/02/17/history-of-copyright-part-7-hijacked-by-pfizer/">origin</a> in Industrial Protectionism (IP) in the United States directed against Japanese cars in the mid-1970s.</p>
<p>Yes, the anti-liberty, anti-market, and anti-humanity forces have been working for 40 years to take us where we are today. We&#8217;ve been making great strides in the past decade, but it&#8217;s going to take much more work &#8211; not to mention endurance &#8211; to save the world from a surveillance society nightmare where the copyright industry determines what we get to know, see, and learn.</p>
<p>The copyright industry has long been working in collusion with the wiretapping industry &#8211; the FRA, NSA, GCHQ, etc. &#8211; to get laws that enable more tracking, more wiretapping, and more surveillance. This, after all, is the only way the copyright monopoly can be preserved: by eliminating private communications as a concept. But we can turn the tide. Just look at the tipping point in public opinion brought about by Edward Snowden&#8217;s leaks, not to mention the outrage from affected politicians.</p>
<p>When activists fought software patent monopolies in Europe just under a decade ago, many of them burned out in the process and suffered from what can only be described as a post-traumatic stress disorder, even though the good side won the legislative process. (Which was immediately ignored by software patent monopoly lawyers, for which they should be sent to prison, but that&#8217;s a separate topic.)</p>
<p>That victory night, the activists met with the fell-funded corporate lobbyists where the activists had won, and the lobbyists smiled professionally, raised their glasses, and said &#8220;see you in another two years&#8221;. The corporate anti-liberty lobbyists, particularly from the copyright industry, will simply never stop. That&#8217;s why we need to strike at the root of the problem and work long-term, rather than thinking that a reduction or two in the scope of these monopolies will fix everything.</p>
<p>Christian Engström, one of the activists in that battle who is now an elected Member of the European Parliament, has a particularly good quote: &#8220;If you&#8217;re getting bitter and burnt out and feel you need to take a break from activism, that is always the right thing to do. There will always be something to do when you come back; you never need to worry about the world running out of evil while you&#8217;re away.&#8221;</p>
<p>Fortunately, there are small things that each of us can do every day that doesn&#8217;t require the exhausting effort of writing long articles or reading complex reports. When hundreds of thousands of people do these small things, it has a tremendous effect:</p>
<p>- Share articles with your social network on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Two kinds of articles are particularly valuable &#8211; those that expose the copyright industry&#8217;s <a href="http://falkvinge.net/2012/05/23/cynicism-redefined-why-the-copyright-lobby-loves-child-porn/">bottomless cynicism</a>, and those that propose a better alternative.</p>
<p>- Use correct language, and if you have the energy, call people out who don&#8217;t. Every time you say &#8220;copyright monopoly&#8221; instead of just &#8220;copyright&#8221;, it makes a difference. Every time you say &#8220;manufacturing their own copies&#8221; and reject &#8220;stealing movies&#8221;, it makes a difference. Every time you point out that people are manufacturing their own copies using their own property entirely, it makes a difference. Every time you point out that we never determined our freedoms of speech and expression based on who gets to make a profit or not, it makes a difference. See my previous TorrentFreak column on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/language-matters-framing-the-copyright-monopoly-so-we-can-keep-our-liberties-130714/">Language Matters</a>.</p>
<p>These two simple actions, when done by tens of thousands, have an immense impact &#8211; and can be done even if you&#8217;re tired and bitter of fighting what seems like an uphill battle.</p>
<p>I write more about this kind of swarm intelligence in my book Swarmwise, which you can <a href="http://falkvinge.net/books/">download for free</a>, by the way. If you want more arguments against the copyright monopoly, I recommend the book &#8220;The Case for Copyright Reform&#8221;, also <a href="http://falkvinge.net/">available for free</a>.</p>
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<div style="float:right;height:130px;width:39px;margin-left:20px;margin-right:10px"><img src="media/98818a80.Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" data-original-source="http://falkvinge.net/wp-content/themes/WpNewspaper/images/falkvinge/Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" style="border:none;-moz-box-shadow:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none" class="quimby_search_image"></div>
<p><span style="color:#3F3F3F;font-size:125%">About The</span> <span style="color:#FF3C78;font-size:125%">Author</span></p>
</h3>
<p style="font-family:PTSansRegular,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-weight:400;line-height:150%;margin-bottom:14px"><small>Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at <a href="http://falkvinge.net">falkvinge.net</a> focuses on information policy.</small></p>
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<p><small>Book Falkvinge <a href="http://falkvinge.net/keynotes/">as speaker</a>?</small></p>
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<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/reflections-on-the-long-fight-against-the-copyright-monopoly-and-what-you-can-do-131027/">Reflections On The Long Fight Against The Copyright Monopoly &#8211; And What You Can Do</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78755
title: RIAA Rogue Site Report Reveals Major Site Blocking in 48 Hours
uri: RIAA-Rogue-Site-Report-Reveals-Major-Site-Blocking-in-48-Hours
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/r1ad5g3A7pI/
content:
<p><a href="media/09fa6d0a.ustr.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ustr.jpg"><img src="media/09fa6d0a.ustr.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ustr.jpg" alt="ustr" width="175" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-44005" /></a>Responding to a request from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), on Friday the MPAA submitted a new list of so-called “<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-notorious-pirate-sites-to-u-s-government-131026/">notorious markets</a>.”</p>
<p>The MPAA&#8217;s report listed many of the usual suspects such as The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents, ExtraTorrent and Torrentz, plus a selection of file-hosting sites such as Netload, ExtaBit and PutLocker.</p>
<p>A little while ago TorrentFreak obtained a copy of the RIAA&#8217;s submission and aside from doubling up on some of the same sites listed by the MPAA, it also delivers a surprise.</p>
<h2>Torrent site blocking imminent</h2>
<p>The RIAA says that in just 48 hours time a new wave of site blocking will take place in the UK covering not only the usual BitTorrent indexes, but also dedicated search engines in the torrent and file-hosting space.</p>
<p>On October 30, <strong>ExtraTorrent</strong> will be blocked by the UK&#8217;s leading ISPs, presumably following action by the major labels of the BPI. ExtraTorrent has suffered at least two anti-piracy setbacks in the last week, first when City of London Police <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-orders-registrars-to-suspend-domains-of-major-torrent-sites-131009/">convinced</a> its registrar to take its domain and second when Google <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-removes-extratorrent-homepage-from-search-results-131024/">removed</a> the site&#8217;s homepage from its search results.</p>
<p>The second indexing site to be blocked on Wednesday will be <strong>BitSnoop</strong>, which earlier this year was the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2013-130106/">eighth most-popular</a> torrent site in the world. The RIAA says that since the site provided no way for rightsholders to make contact the decision was made to have ISPs block the site instead.</p>
<p>The third site to be rendered inaccessible this week will be <strong>Torrentz.eu</strong>. What is unusual about this development is that Torrentz is a so-called meta-search engine, in that it carries no torrents of its own but searches other torrent sites instead. Nevertheless, the site still complies with DMCA takedown notices, a fact acknowledged by the RIAA.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Torrentz] is currently hosted by Canadian providers. The site complies with take down notices by removing the torrents identified in those notices which provide access to infringing files. The site can take up to several days to remove infringing files following a request by right holders,&#8221; the RIAA explain.</p>
<p>In the rest of the USTR submission on torrent sites the RIAA lists many of the usual suspects, including The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents, Torrenthound.com, Fenopy.se, Monova.org, Torrentreactor.net and Sumotorrent.sx. Many of these sites are blocked around Europe already.</p>
<p>As usual, two resilient trackers from Bulgaria &#8211; Arenabg and Zamunda &#8211; also get a mention.</p>
<h2>Cyberlockers and related search engines</h2>
<p>While there are plenty of file-hosting sites to choose from that could certainly be considered rogue (refusing to take down content etc) it&#8217;s again somewhat of a surprise that this week a copyright-compliant site will become blocked at the ISP level.</p>
<p><strong>FilesTube</strong> is the most popular search engine for file-hosting sites and as such has been absolutely hammered by rightsholders looking for links to be taken down. It is by far the most targeted domain in Google&#8217;s Transparency Report with 9,242,032 URLs removed, double its closest &#8216;competitor&#8217;.</p>
<p>Interestingly the RIAA admits in its report that Filestube does respond to takedown notices. However, the industry can&#8217;t keep up so the implication is that this is FileTube&#8217;s fault.</p>
<p>&#8220;Industry reports links to infringing materials to the site operator, but any action by the operator is ineffective as the speed of the takedowns cannot match the speed at which new links are added,&#8221; the RIAA writes.</p>
<p>Along with the sites listed above, FilesTube will be blocked by the UK&#8217;s top six ISPs on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Other hosting sites singled out for detailed criticism by the RIAA include Uploaded.net, 4Shared.com, ZippyShare.com, Rapidgator.net, TurboBit.net and a selection of lesser known sites located in the Czech Republic. Three other sites are mentioned in passing &#8211; FreakShare.com, BitShare.com and Extabit.com.</p>
<p>&#8220;We greatly welcome this initiative designed to expose businesses who operate notorious markets for infringing materials, and who generally either directly profit from the sale or other distribution of infringing materials, or who profit from facilitating such theft—in many cases through the sale of advertising space,&#8221; the RIAA writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Quite simply, there is no place for open and notorious theft in a civilized world, regardless of how that theft is accomplished. Addressing the conduct of these notorious markets for piracy will go a long way towards promoting the rule of law, fuelling creativity and innovation, and maintaining US economic competitiveness,&#8221; the industry group concludes.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, every single site listed in the notorious market reports of both the RIAA and MPAA remain 100% accessible from all of the ISPs in the United States.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-rogue-site-report-reveals-major-site-blocking-in-48-hours-131028/">RIAA Rogue Site Report Reveals Major Site Blocking in 48 Hours</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78739
title: Piracy Monitoring and Settlement Firm Goes Public
uri: Piracy-Monitoring-and-Settlement-Firm-Goes-Public
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6zaSBRXaN9M/
content:
<p><img src="media/ef1215bb.rightscorp.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp.png" alt="rightscorp" width="222" height="54" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78740" />For years the entertainment industries have been complaining that online piracy is hurting their revenues. </p>
<p>The problem has motivated people to start anti-piracy companies such as <a href="http://digitalrightscorp.com/">Rightscorp</a>, a company which uses standard DMCA takedown requests to send settlement offers to alleged copyright infringers. </p>
<p>Rightscorp today announced that it has completed an alternative public offering (APO) and has begun trading on the OTCQB under the ticker RIHT. In addition, the company finalized a $2 million equity financing, money that will be used to expand its <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-chief-patents-pay-up-or-disconnect-scheme-121217/">patent-pending</a> technology so it can handle more clients. </p>
<p>The company says it&#8217;s pursuing an estimated &#8220;$2.3 billion opportunity&#8221; of revenue that&#8217;s now lost through online piracy. </p>
<p>As an anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp operates in between <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/six-strikescopyright-alert-system-costs-millions-131017/">the Copyright Alert System</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-verizon-and-co-want-to-stop-mass-piracy-lawsuits-131025/">mass-BitTorrent lawsuits</a> that are now common in the United States. The company tracks down copyright infringers and sends settlement requests to Internet providers, who forward them to their customers.</p>
<p>The typical settlement request is $20 per copyright infringement, but this sum increases if pirates continue to share the file after they received the first notice. For music albums every song counts as a single offense, which means that an album of 10 tracks can cost $200.</p>
<p>Rightscorp has a wide variety of clients, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-were-fining-file-sharers-who-use-non-six-strike-isps-130607/">including Warner Bros.</a> and BMG. Talking to TorrentFreak, the movie studio previously said that it uses the settlement approach to complement their anti-piracy efforts for customers whose ISPs don&#8217;t participate in the Copyright Alert System.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Warner Bros. settlement offer</h5>
<p><img src="media/f2a26bdd.wb-settle.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wb-settle.jpg" alt="wb-settle" width="569" height="543" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78744" /></center></p>
<p>Rightscorp CEO Christopher Sabec tells us that their approach is not only more effective than the Copyright Alert System, but generates revenue at the same time.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Copyright Alert System is simply not scalable. On October 26, 2013 there were 47m active peers on the Pirate Bay trackers,&#8221; Sabec says.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Recent stats show that there are hundreds of millions of monthly BitTorrent users. Without a model that recoups revenue from the infringers, a CAS-style system would have extraordinary costs to handle even 10% of the BitTorrent traffic.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the other hand, Rightscorp believes that their approach is fairer than mass-lawsuits, which cost alleged pirates thousands of dollars in settlement fees. </p>
<p>According to the company the copyright holders they represent will only take legal action against subscribers who ignore all warnings and continue to share pirated files for three months.</p>
<p>&#8220;The mass lawsuit approach is problematic because there is no appearance of due process to the public. With Rightscorp, if a copyright holder chooses to sue someone who received 90 of our notices over 90 days and continued file sharing, they had ample warning to stop file sharing,&#8221; Sabec tells TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>&#8220;We believe that our notice approach appears much more fair than someone getting sued with no warning. With the current mass lawsuit paradigm, people are sued for millions of dollars after having never received a warning. The public seems to feels that is extreme and unfair. We believe we fix that problem.&#8221; </p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that Rightscorp announced its public offering on the fifteenth birthday of the DMCA law. As far as we know that&#8217;s a complete coincidence. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-goes-public-131028/">Piracy Monitoring and Settlement Firm Goes Public</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78713
title: Site Blocking on the Agenda for Fresh Aussie Anti-Piracy Action
uri: Site-Blocking-on-the-Agenda-for-Fresh-Aussie-Anti-Piracy-Action
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/E0o3XgfyOJU/
content:
<p><a href="media/37afc61d.us-aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/us-aus.jpg"><img src="media/137166b0.us-aus-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/us-aus-150x150.jpg" alt="us-aus" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-45442" /></a>Ever since Hollywood and their Australia-based anti-piracy group AFACT lost their copyright infringement liability case against local ISP iiNet, authorities have been keen to find a way to restart negotiations on the issue of online piracy.</p>
<p>Pushed along by the Attorney General’s Department, discussions between rightsholders and ISPs took place during late 2011 and 2012 in the hope that a mutual agreement could be reached. That proved impossible. Frustrated at what one ISP said was a failure to get to the root of the problem &#8211; a reluctance to provide Australians with desirable content in a timely manner and at a fair price &#8211; iiNet walked out.</p>
<p>Now close to a year later it seems that the whole debate is set for a reboot, with the new Coalition Federal Government putting its weight behind both entertainment companies and Internet service providers in the hope of finding an urgent solution.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/digital/brandis-calls-time-on-online-piracy/story-fna03wxu-1226747867711#">The Australian</a>, the Attorney-General&#8217;s Department has sent out letters to Australia&#8217;s leading ISPs and content creators requesting their participation in a series of roundtable meetings. New Attorney-General George Brandis is reported to be treating copyright infringement as a priority issue.</p>
<p>So what will be on the agenda? Details are scarce, but traditionally there are at least a couple of areas where ISPs can help rightsholders.</p>
<p>The first is by the implementation of a three or six-strike style scheme, where subscribers are monitored by anti-piracy companies and issued with warnings that are passed on by their ISP. While these can be purely educational, rightsholders do like a punishment element for the most persistent of pirates. However, iiNet will not go along with that.</p>
<p>“iiNet won’t support any scheme that forces ISPs to retain data in order to allow for the tracking of customer behavior and the status of any alleged infringements against them,&#8221; <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isp-walks-out-of-piracy-talks-were-not-the-internet-police-121217/">said</a> iiNet Chief Regulatory Officer Steve Dalby. &#8220;Collecting and retaining additional customer data at this level is inappropriate, expensive and most importantly, not our responsibility.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="media/6cb6a973.censorship.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/censorship.jpg"><img src="media/906666ff.censorship-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/censorship-150x150.jpg" alt="censorship" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-47463" /></a>Since any agreement would have to implemented equally across the country&#8217;s main ISPs, a strike scheme with punishments seems to be dead in the water, without fresh legislation at least. So, the suggestion is that ISPs could be asked to do what many others are currently doing around the world &#8211; implement blocking of file-sharing sites. The notion has drawn the ire of the local Pirate Party who say they condemn any kind of censorship regime.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yet again we are faced with a government that is an enemy of the Internet,&#8221; said Simon Frew, President of Pirate Party Australia. &#8220;Previous Attorney-Generals organized secret meetings between ISPs and the copyright lobby, deliberately excluding consumers, and now history repeats. We demand that any consultation about the future of the Internet be conducted transparently and include competent and trusted representatives of the community, not just vested interests.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s no surprise that online piracy has again become a political issue in Australia. This past year the country has been in the news several times due to infringement issues, including a public <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/us-ambassador-pleads-stop-pirating-game-of-thrones-its-stealing-130426/">admonishment</a> by the U.S. Ambassador to Australia which referred to Aussie TV fans as &#8220;some of the worst offenders&#8221; in the world when it comes to downloading TV shows such as Game of Thrones.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/site-blocking-on-the-agenda-for-fresh-aussie-anti-piracy-action-131028/">Site Blocking on the Agenda for Fresh Aussie Anti-Piracy Action</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78700
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week
uri: 2013-10-28-Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lQypuNps1lo/
content:
<p><img src="media/585ff92a.turbo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/turbo.jpg" alt="turbo" width="275" height="149" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78702" />This week we have two newcomers in our chart. </p>
<p>Turbo is the most downloaded movie. </p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover" summary="Most downloaded movies on BitTorrent">
<caption>Week ending October 27, 2013</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-131021/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/turbo_2013/">Turbo</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1860353/">6.3</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-L5bzwdpVI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/despicable_me_2/">Despicable Me 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690953/">7.7</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwXbtZXjbVE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/superman_man_of_steel/">Man Of Steel</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770828/">7.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6DJcgm3wNY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pacific_rim_2013/">Pacific Rim</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/">7.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5guMumPFBag">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kick_ass_2_2013/">Kick-Ass 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650554/">7.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc6tL8cd9KQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elysium_2013/">Elysium</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535108/">7.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILNSgou5BY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/grown_ups_2/">Grown Ups 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2191701/">5.2</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYk6FBFeN58">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/white_house_down/">White house Down</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334879/">6.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wonLfgO5p8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_internship_2013/">The Internship</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234155/">6.3</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdnoqCViqUo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2_guns/">2 Guns</a> (TS/Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1272878/">7.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVNe3RK2fgI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-131028/">Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78715
title: Italy Plans to Wipe Out Pirate Sites and Expose Owners
uri: Italy-Plans-to-Wipe-Out-Pirate-Sites-and-Expose-Owners
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6WRqlY37RVw/
content:
<p><a href="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg"><img src="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg" alt="pirate-running" width="222" height="204" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78717" /></a>The best known notice and takedown process on the Internet is the United States&#8217; DMCA law, which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act">celebrated its fifteenth anniversary</a> yesterday. </p>
<p>The DMCA has a strict set of rules that defines how copyright holders and content providers should deal with pirated content. This works well as long as all parties play by the rules, which is unfortunately not always the case. </p>
<p>The entertainment industries in particular often complain about foreign sites that ignore their takedown requests. While the DMCA provides no remedy against this negligence, a new notice and takedown procedure introduced in Italy will.</p>
<p>AGCOM, Italy’s independent Electronic Communications Authority, has drafted a new regulation that will allow it to order a seizure or ISP blockade of any website that fails to promptly remove copyright infringing content, without a court order. </p>
<p>Under the new rules websites and ISPs will have a 72-hour window to process takedown notices. If they don&#8217;t respond appropriately within that time-frame AGCOM will take action. The new regulation is scheduled to be implemented early next year and is currently <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tris/pisa/app/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=pisa_notif_overview&#038;sNlang=EN&#038;iyear=2013&#038;inum=496&#038;lang=en&#038;iBack=9">under review</a> by the European Commission.</p>
<p>The proposal, which shows similarities with SOPA and new <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/russia-to-punish-isps-search-engines-users-over-content-blocking-130904/">anti-piracy legislation in Russia</a>, is meeting resistance from various sides including consumer groups, lawyers, scholars and Internet providers who have <a href="http://sitononraggiungibile.info/?lang=en">launched a petition</a> to curb the plans.</p>
<p>One of the complaints is that the current draft lacks due process, as AGCOM will decide whether a site should be blocked without a court order. </p>
<p>&#8220;AGCOM  has introduced these rules through an administrative process, without hearing the Italian Parliament and without oversight by a court, as is the case in all other countries,&#8221; Fulvio Sarzana, a lawyer with the Sarzana and Partners law firm specializing in Internet and copyright disputes, tells TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>&#8220;Websites and ISPs have three days to remove the infringing works or disable access to such content. If they fail to do so AGCOM gives an order to take down the entire site or to prevent access through the IP-address blocking,&#8221; Sarzana adds.</p>
<p>Another element of the new regulation causesing concern is that AGCOM can compel local and foreign Internet providers to hand over the personal details of site owners, again without judicial oversight. The telecoms regulator can then share these details with copyright holders who may want to take legal action.</p>
<p>The rightsholders don&#8217;t see any problems and welcome the new proposals, as it will help them to deal with rogue pirate sites more efficiently. </p>
<p>&#8220;We believe this regulation will improve the anti piracy efforts and speed up enforcement,&#8221; Enzo Mazza, president of Italian anti-piracy group FIMI, tells TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;Traditionally criminal cases are used to block sites, but this fast track will add value to our efforts. Similar regulations are already applied in the area of online gambling and antitrust, where the authorities can block sites with an administrative order,&#8221; Mazza adds.</p>
<p>The European Commission is still reviewing AGCOM&#8217;s proposal and is expected to hand down a decision by the end of November. </p>
<p>For the time being sites can only be blocked through court orders, which is standard procedure in Italy now. More than a dozen larger torrent sites, including The Pirate Bay and Kickass.to are <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/italian-court-orders-nationwide-block-of-torrentreactor-and-torrents-net-121204/">already blocked</a>, and last week Torrentcrazy.com and Sumotorrent.sx were added to the growing list.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/italy-plans-to-wipe-out-pirate-sites-and-expose-owners-131029/">Italy Plans to Wipe Out Pirate Sites and Expose Owners</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78789
title: Pirate Bay Founder’s Extradition Looms After Supreme Court Rejection
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-s-Extradition-Looms-After-Supreme-Court-Rejection
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BjIE2yZU8G4/
content:
<p><img alt="gottfrid" align="right" src="media/7557a16b.anakata1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/anakata1.jpg" />Earlier this year Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm was found guilty of hacking into IT company Logica and handed a 24 month sentence.</p>
<p>This verdict was later upheld at the Court of Appeal, although Gottfrid&#8217;s sentence was decreased from two years to one when it was decided that his involvement in a breach at the Nordea bank could not be proven.</p>
<p>In a final attempt to avert being sent to Denmark to stand trial in a separate case,  Gottfrid <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-urges-sweden-to-stop-his-extradition-131022/">filed an appeal</a> at the Supreme Court last week. Unfortunately for the 29-year-old, that has now been rejected.</p>
<p>As a result, all obstacles have been removed in respect of an extradition to Denmark, where Gottfrid is accused of hacking into the mainframe of IT company CSC. The Danes <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-will-be-extradited-to-denmark-130618/">successfully requested</a> Gottfrid&#8217;s extradition in June but had to wait until the Swedish case was finalized.</p>
<p>Gottfrid&#8217;s mother Kristina Svartholm told TorrentFreak that the quick rejection surprised her. The request for appeal was delivered to the Supreme Court on Tuesday and on Friday they heard that a decision was made not to look into it.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay founder previously sent open letters to both the Swedish and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-asks-danish-authorities-to-drop-hacking-case-131006/">Danish authorities</a> pleading his innocence, but those letters remain unanswered.</p>
<p>Gottfrid is now expected to be handed over to Denmark within a week, where he will face a new trial.</p>
<p>According to Danish authorities, Gottfrid and a co-conspirator used the hack to access thousands of files, including police records on wanted persons in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Information_System">the Schengen registers</a>. The motivation for the hacks remains unknown, but the police say it can&#8217;t be ruled out that changes were made to the records. </p>
<p>Commenting on the case, Danish National Police Commissioner Jens Henrik Hojbjerg noted that the security breach was unacceptable.</p>
<p>&#8220;The police take this matter very seriously. It is of course totally unacceptable that it has been possible to gain access to police records, despite the very high safety standards that we demand and expect from our IT supplier,&#8221; Hojbjerg said. </p>
<p>Gottfrid previously denied his involvement in the Danish hacks and said someone else must have gained access to his machine to carry them out. </p>
<p>In addition to the looming extradition, Gottfrid is once again being confronted with his sentence in The Pirate Bay trial. Movie studio Yellow Bird, one of the plaintiffs who were awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, has requested that Gottfrid <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.dn.se/kultur-noje/nyheter/svartholm-warg-ej-till-hd/&#038;hl=en&#038;langpair=auto|en&#038;tbb=1&#038;ie=UTF-8">should be declared bankrupt</a> in the hope of recouping some of this debt. </p>
<p>Previously Yellow Bird also asked the Stockholm District Court to declare Fredrik Neij bankrupt with the aim of clawing back some funds from the Pirate Bay founder. At the time Neij <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studio-wants-to-bankrupt-pirate-bay-founder-120824/">informed</a> TorrentFreak that there wasn&#8217;t much to take.</p>
<p>Considering Gottfrid&#8217;s troubled past in Cambodia, it is unlikely that the movie studio will gain much from a bankruptcy.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-hacking-case-rejected-by-supreme-court-131029/">Pirate Bay Founder&#8217;s Extradition Looms After Supreme Court Rejection</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78769
title: IsoHunt Resurrected Less Than Two Weeks After $110 Million MPAA Deal
uri: IsoHunt-Resurrected-Less-Than-Two-Weeks-After-110-Million-MPAA-Deal
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gHn3aT1XgK4/
content:
<p><img src="media/3e145208.isohunt-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/isohunt-logo.jpg" width="200" height="71" class="alignright" />Earlier this month some pretty surprising news hit the file-sharing scene. After many years battling aggressively with the MPAA, Canadian BitTorrent site isoHunt suddenly agreed to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-shuts-down-after-110-million-settlement-with-the-mpaa-131017/">a settlement</a> with the MPAA.</p>
<p>The amount that owner Gary Fung would have to pay to the MPAA was publicized at $110 million, a somewhat scary quantity of money by anyone&#8217;s standards. Of course, Fung doesn&#8217;t have that kind of money and wouldn&#8217;t pay it freely to the MPAA even if he did. The amount was put out there to act as a deterrent to those who might think of opening a similar site in future, the metaphorical head-on-a-pike if you will.</p>
<p>But despite the scary messages and veiled threats, just days after the settlement was announced a group calling themselves the ArchiveTeam <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/archiveteam-works-hard-to-avert-isohunt-data-massacre-131020/">told</a> TorrentFreak that they intended to save isoHunt&#8217;s torrent files, to save them for future generations. They had a big job ahead and a deadline of October 23 looming, the date that Fung had agreed to close down isoHunt.</p>
<p>Things wouldn&#8217;t pan out as planned. After hearing of the backup plan Fung <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-shuts-down-early-to-block-backup-plan-131021/">pulled the plug</a> days early, thwarting the ArchiveTeam&#8217;s attempts at preserving history.</p>
<p>However, in the background another project was already underway to breathe new life into isoHunt even after it had been shot and buried by the MPAA. Today <a href="http://isohunt.to">isoHunt.to</a> was launched, a site that looks identical to its now-dead namesake.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/ed43e7af.isohunt1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/isohunt1.png" alt="isoHunt" /></center></p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak the team behind the project, who have no connections to the ArchiveTeam, say that preserving a cultural icon is their main aim.</p>
<p>&#8220;IsoHunt has been a great part of the torrent world for more than a decade. It&#8217;s a big loss to everyone who used it over the years. Media corporations don&#8217;t like innovative or competition and isoHunt&#8217;s fate is one of the examples of how they deal with it,&#8221; our sources explain.</p>
<p>&#8220;IsoHunt can definitely be called a file-sharing icon. People got used to it and they don&#8217;t want to simply let it go. We want those people to feel like being at home while visiting isohunt.to. The main goal is to restore the website with torrents and provide users with the same familiar interface.&#8221;</p>
<p>While there is still work to be done and bugs to be ironed out, things are well underway. The interface is completely familiar, with categories to browse on the left hand side as usual. Torrent pages appear as they previously did although the &#8216;time added&#8217; box appears to show when the torrent was added to the new isoHunt site, not when it was added to the original isoHunt. </p>
<p>At the moment some of the community-driven modules of the site such as the forum and user profiles are unavailable and due to their nature it seems unlikely that they will return. User torrent comments are also absent but it at least seems possible that these might be recovered in a future update. Additionally, brand new torrents are also being added to the site so its usefulness will not only be limited to preserving the past.</p>
<p>With the original isoHunt gone there is no simple way of comparing the new isoHunt&#8217;s database with the old one but the team behind the resurrection inform TorrentFreak that so far around 75% of isoHunt&#8217;s torrent database has been restored.</p>
<p>&#8220;Only time will tell whether users like the site or not. If they like the idea and keep coming back we&#8217;ll be happy to develop the project even further,&#8221; the team conclude.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> A former employee of isoHunt.com has asked us to make it extra clear that isoHunt.to has nothing to do with the original isoHunt.com. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-resurrected-less-than-two-weeks-after-110-million-mpaa-deal-131029/">IsoHunt Resurrected Less Than Two Weeks After $110 Million MPAA Deal</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78826
title: RIAA: Bitcoin Makes it Hard to Track or Seize Pirate Bay Donations
uri: RIAA-Bitcoin-Makes-it-Hard-to-Track-or-Seize-Pirate-Bay-Donations
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/b7hNDIw5-sI/
content:
<p><img src="media/5e7d7bdd.btc-ltc.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/btc-ltc.png" alt="btc-ltc" width="222" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78834" />This week the RIAA submitted a new list of “notorious websites” to the U.S. Government, sites that the labels would like to see disappear.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay also made it onto the list and the RIAA points out that despite the criminal convictions of its founders, the site continues to operate. The identities of the current administrators of the site remain a mystery to the music industry group.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The true operators of the site remain unknown,&#8221; the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/180164717/Notorious-Markets-Report-2013-10-25-13-1-pdf">RIAA writes</a>. &#8220;The convicted individuals claimed the site is owned by a company based in the Seychelles, although no evidence has been provided.&#8221; </p>
<p>Interestingly, the RIAA also brings up the fact that The Pirate Bay is <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-bitcoin-donations-130423/">now accepting donations</a> through the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Litecoin. This apparently complicates law enforcement efforts to track and seize funds of the torrent site.</p>
<p>&#8220;In April 2013, the site started accepting donations from the public by Bitcoin, a digital currency, which operates using peer-to-peer technology,&#8221; RIAA notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are no central authority or banks involved  which makes it very difficult to seize or trace Bitcoin funds. In May 2013, the site also started accepting Litecoin, another peer-to-peer based internet currency.&#8221; </p>
<p>Bitcoin does indeed make it harder to seize funds, as law enforcement would need access to the computer where the wallet is kept. However, tracing where the Pirate Bay donations go isn&#8217;t all that hard. In fact, <a href="https://blockchain.info/address/1KeBs4HBQzkdHC2ou3gpyGHqcL7aKzwTve">all transactions are visible to the public</a> and we can today reveal where some of the Pirate Bay donations went. </p>
<p>In total, TPB has raised close to 100 Bitcoins spread over two addresses, which is roughly $20,000 at the current exchange rate. A quick look at the current wallet shows that The Pirate Bay received 64 Bitcoins which were all spent elsewhere. </p>
<p>As can be seen below, most recently 8.97 Bitcoins were spent <a href="https://www.fundfill.com/fund/4-spzFJdDQk211KJDAUfcOw==">on a fundraiser</a> for a public audit of the open source encryption software TrueCrypt. Before that, part of the donations were spent on a <a href="http://www.baatarworld.com/">charity rally</a> from Dover to Mongolia. Of course, Bitcoin addresses can also be used anonymously so it&#8217;s not always possible to identify or trace the recipients. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Pirate Bay spends Bitcoin</h5>
<p><img src="media/b4e53322.btc-tpb.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/btc-tpb.png" alt="btc-tpb" width="598" height="428" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78839" /></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak talked to The Pirate Bay team who told us that they don&#8217;t manage the Bitcoin donations themselves. They are grouped into one fund with donations to other projects, such as the PublicBitTorrent tracker, and end up in a central fund that&#8217;s managed by someone from the Pirate Party.</p>
<p>Considering the above, RIAA&#8217;s comments regarding the Bitcoin donations make it look much more suspicious than reality shows. But perhaps that&#8217;s exactly what the labels want to achieve?</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-bitcoin-makes-it-hard-to-track-or-seize-pirate-bay-donations-131030/">RIAA: Bitcoin Makes it Hard to Track or Seize Pirate Bay Donations</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78819
title: Top BitTorrent and Music Download Sites Pushed Underground in the UK
uri: Top-BitTorrent-and-Music-Download-Sites-Pushed-Underground-in-the-UK
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/S6Bld3_L5G0/
content:
<p><img src="media/8e3166f9.bpi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bpi.jpg" width="180" height="63" class="alignright" />During the past 15 years or so, online file-sharing has transformed from a relatively niche hobby into a mainstream activity. As Internet speeds and file availability have increased, most Internet users have contributed to the growth of the sharing phenomenon over the past decade.</p>
<p>But of course, as more and more copyrighted files such as music, movies and TV shows have been shared online over the years, rightsholders have employed varying techniques to try and bring that to a halt. Their latest tool is the blocking of entire domains by Internet service providers and thanks to the efforts of the music industry, the UK will today become the world leader.</p>
<p>As predicted by TorrentFreak <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/records-labels-prepare-massive-pirate-site-domain-blocking-blitz-130515/">back in May</a>, the BPI have been building cases against more than 20 sites that they say are infringing their members&#8217; copyrights. Today that work will come to fruition when six ISPs – BT, Sky, Virgin Media, O2, EE and TalkTalk &#8211; begin blocking them at the ISP level.</p>
<p>The range is the broadest so far, hitting BitTorrent indexing sites, a torrent meta-search engine, a cyberlocker search engine, and several MP3 search engines/download sites.</p>
<p><strong>Torrent sites:</strong>  1337x, BitSnoop, ExtraTorrent, Monova, TorrentCrazy, TorrentDownloads, TorrentHound, Torrentreactor and Torrentz.</p>
<p><strong>Others:</strong> Abmp3, BeeMP3, Bomb-MP3, FileCrop, FilesTube, MP3Juices, eMP3World, MP3Lemon, MP3Raid, MP3Skull, NewAlbumReleases and Rapidlibrary.</p>
<p>The list is almost identical to the original list sent by the BPI to record companies earlier in the year, but has a couple of interesting omissions.</p>
<p>Gone from the blocking proposals are music streaming service GrooveShark and music download service Dilandau. The former now holds several music licensing deals while the latter is the third most DMCA&#8217;d domain on the Internet according to Google&#8217;s Transparency Report. IsoHunt is also absent, having shut down earlier this month.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, the BPI said that over the summer they had contacted all 21 sites with a request that they &#8220;stop infringing copyright.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately they declined to co-operate in any meaningful way, so BPI applied to the High Court, where the judge considered the evidence and decided that the sites should no longer be accessible in the UK. The new blocks will come into force by Wednesday, 30 October 2013,&#8221; a spokesman said.</p>
<p>The music industry group, which represents all the major labels, defended its action as both &#8220;fair&#8221; and &#8220;proportionate&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;All of the sites were given a chance to stop infringing copyright before we went to Court, and the Orders were then only made once a High Court judge had fully considered our detailed evidence,&#8221; the BPI said. &#8220;We also believe that it is fair that the people who work to create music should be rewarded when it is downloaded, rather than sites overseas that are exploiting this music without permission.&#8221;</p>
<p><img src="media/85793bea.piratebrowser.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratebrowser.jpg" width="222" height="96" class="alignright" />Interestingly, when conducting a review of the Top 10 Torrent Sites 2013 as published earlier <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2013-130106/">this year</a>, after today none of them will be directly accessible in the UK, either due to BPI blocking or in the case of H33T and isoHunt, being taken offline following legal action.</p>
<p>The BPI told us that they accept that blocking can never be 100% effective, and that is something the team at The Pirate Bay know quite a bit about. Earlier this year they released PirateBrowser, an anti-censorsip tool designed to facilitate access to any blocked site.</p>
<p>PirateBrowser has been downloaded more than <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-anti-censorship-browser-clocks-1-million-downloads-131019/">a million times</a> and will be in even greater demand after today. TorrentFreak is informed that a fresh update will include bookmarks for all the blocked sites so that users can gain easy access.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-bittorrent-and-music-download-sites-pushed-underground-in-the-uk-131030/">Top BitTorrent and Music Download Sites Pushed Underground in the UK</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78862
title: Fox Lawyers Doorstep Alleged Simpsons Pirate With $10.5m Lawsuit
uri: Fox-Lawyers-Doorstep-Alleged-Simpsons-Pirate-With-10-5m-Lawsuit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vC99IvDGVzs/
content:
<p><a href="media/5e9d057b.fox-tv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fox-tv.jpg"><img src="media/5e9d057b.fox-tv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fox-tv.jpg" alt="fox-tv" width="200" height="143" class="alignright size-full wp-image-38083" /></a>While anti-piracy actions take place all around the world on a daily basis, it is relatively rare to hear of targeted lawsuits against individual sites. But as the MPAA case against <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-shuts-down-after-110-million-settlement-with-the-mpaa-131017/">isoHunt closes</a>, another large one is developing in its wake.</p>
<p>The story centers around two recently closed sites. The first is Watch The Simpsons Online, a site that had been around since 2008. The second, Watch Family Guy Online, had been online since 2009.</p>
<p>As their names suggest, the sites gave Internet users the opportunity to watch Fox TV shows The Simpsons and Family Guy online. This was achieved via embedded web players utilizing external video sources.</p>
<p>The sites did fairly well, with the later achieving around seven million visitors and the former around 80 million during their lifetimes. Due to unwanted attention from Fox, both had to employ domain switches to stay online, something which no doubt affected their traffic.</p>
<p>The first sign that Fox were sizing up Watch The Simpsons Online (WTSO) came in 2008. Sources inform TorrentFreak that Fox were &#8220;shutting the site down almost weekly&#8221; by threatening its hosts.</p>
<p>The domain being used at the time &#8211; WatchTheSimpsonsOnline.com &#8211; was eventually seized by Fox after the company won an uncontested <a href="http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2008/d2008-1982.html">WIPO dispute</a>. As can be seen in the image below, it is now listed as belonging to Fox&#8217;s IP department.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/5b38dc9d.wtsowhois.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wtsowhois.jpg" alt="WTSO" /></center></p>
<p>WTSO returned under a new domain but in 2010 the MPAA sent a cease and desist, including a complaint for WFGO (Watch Family Guy Online) for good measure. The site admin complied and later transferred the domain to a new owner, who some time later appears to have transferred it back.</p>
<p>Fox, however, had certainly not forgotten about the sites.</p>
<p>Records show that on October 2, 2013, Fox paid $50 to file a copyright infringement complaint at the Federal Court in Toronto, Canada. On the same day requests were filed to keep court documents &#8220;confidential&#8221; pending the issuing of a court order.</p>
<p>On October 8, a so-called &#8220;Anton Piller&#8221; order was granted by a judge in the Federal Court. This order grants entities the right to carry out searches and seize evidence without prior warning with the aim of preventing evidence destruction. They are often used in copyright and trademark disputes.</p>
<p>Order in hand, Fox wasted no time. On October 9, two lawyers from Fox, two court appointed lawyers, two IT professionals and a forensics specialist turned up at an address in Canada looking for the alleged admin of <a href="http://wtso.tv/">WTSO</a>. After gaining access to the property with the full permission of the court, they seized all of the defendant&#8217;s electronic devices and other related items.</p>
<p>The punchline was the handing over of a $10.5 million lawsuit alongside orders not to meddle with the sites.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/74f52159.simpsons.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/simpsons.jpg" alt="Simpsons" /></center></p>
<p>The seized devices were returned within 72 hours, presumably having been cloned, but it soon became clear the matter would press on. </p>
<p>The alleged admin of the site was given an opportunity to settle the case for a cool $1 million, an &#8220;impossible amount&#8221; according to our sources. Despite the lack of a formal agreement, both Watch The Simpsons Online and Watch Family Guy Online were taken down and now display links to Hulu and Fox.com.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/199248b8.wtso.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wtso.jpg" alt="WTSO" /></center></p>
<p>Nevertheless, the legal proceedings continued. On October 16 a review took place in the Federal Court which established that the Anton Piller order had been properly granted and executed. A date of October 22 was set for a court appearance by the defendant, but the hearing took place with no defendant present after he failed to appear.</p>
<p>Sources close to the case inform TorrentFreak that the likely outcome will be a $10m+ default judgment in favor of Fox, to be boosted by more than $600,000 to cover legal costs. We shouldn&#8217;t have to wait long to discover the full details.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/fox-lawyers-doorstep-alleged-simpsons-pirate-with-10-5m-lawsuit-131031/">Fox Lawyers Doorstep Alleged Simpsons Pirate With $10.5m Lawsuit</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78817
title: UK Government Funds Anti-Piracy Outfit With Taxpayer Money
uri: UK-Government-Funds-Anti-Piracy-Outfit-With-Taxpayer-Money
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pIGiZDDU7J8/
content:
<p><img src="media/ae7f065e.Muso-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Muso-logo.png" alt="Muso-logo" width="220" height="72" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78870" />The anti-piracy business is booming, with thousands of companies making a decent living by helping rightsholders to protect their work. </p>
<p>London-based <a href="http://www.muso.com/anti-piracy/">MUSO</a> is one of these outfits. The company has been around for a few years already and has evolved into one of the most active senders of DMCA requests to Google. </p>
<p>Earlier this month MUSO broke the <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/reporters/7801/MUSO-com-Anti-piracy/">one million URL</a> barrier in respect of their DMCA takedown requests, while charging their clients between <a href="http://www.muso.com/anti-piracy/services/film/pricing/">8 and 24 cents per link</a>. However, the company has bigger plans and is developing a new technology to convert pirates into paying customers.</p>
<p>To fund this new technology the company applied for a &#8220;<a href="https://www.innovateuk.org/en/-/smart">Smart Award</a>&#8221; grant from the Government’s<a href="https://www.innovateuk.org/"> Technology Strategy Board</a>. After a careful review of MUSO&#8217;s proposal the Government awarded the anti-piracy outfit £250,000.</p>
<p>MUSO director <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/christopher-elkins/46/25/879">Christopher Elkins</a> is delighted with the news and says that the money will eventually benefit the UK tech sector and copyright holders. </p>
<p>“The grant award gives our R&#038;D team an extremely robust financial position from which to develop this ambitious and forward-thinking product, to the benefit of the UK tech sector, and rights holders looking for new ways to further drive the online growth of great content,&#8221; Elkins <a href="http://startups.co.uk/anti-piracy-firm-muso-receives-250000-technology-strategy-board-grant/">says</a>.</p>
<p>The question is, however, to what degree the UK will benefit from the investment. A quick look at MUSO&#8217;s top clients based on Google&#8217;s Transparency Report shows only foreign copyright holders. </p>
<p>The top five consists of the Indian movie studio &#8220;Eros International&#8221;, Canadian based &#8220;Entertainment One&#8221;, the Dutch publisher &#8220;Meulenhoff Boekerij&#8221;, &#8220;Nuclear Blast&#8221; from Germany, and Norway&#8217;s &#8220;Nordisk Film Distribution Norway.&#8221;</p>
<p>Another prominent associate of MUSO is the Russian social network VKontakte, who <a href="http://www.muso.com/anti-piracy/media/press-releases/MUSO-reaches-landmark-anti-piracy-agreement%20with-VK.com/">signed an agreement</a> earlier this year allowing the UK company to monitor and report uploads of copyrighted material. </p>
<p>How the new technology will convert pirates into paying customers remains a mystery for now. The company is said to be starting a trial in the second quarter of next year but further details are lacking.  </p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted MUSO for more details on their plans but we have yet to receive a response. Previously the company <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/browser-plugin-reports-torrent-links-to-anti-piracy-company-130912/">announced</a> a browser addon which will allow people to report infringing torrent and cyberlocker links to the company, but these have yet to be released to the public.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-government-funds-anti-piracy-outfit-with-taxpayer-money-131031/">UK Government Funds Anti-Piracy Outfit With Taxpayer Money</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78915
title: GOP Politician and Attorney Accused of Being a “For Dummies” Book Pirate
uri: GOP-Politician-and-Attorney-Accused-of-Being-a-For-Dummies-Book
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/K8tzr-DxkSw/
content:
<p><img src="media/c7e9c1ba.dummies.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dummies.jpg" width="126" height="160" class="alignright" />Following in the footsteps of the RIAA, dozens of porn publishers and lesser-known movie studios, in 2011 John Wiley and Sons became the first book publisher to chase down alleged file-sharers in the United States.</p>
<p>The company has filed well over a dozen lawsuits in U.S. courts, together targeting hundreds of so-called John Doe defendants. Wiley is famous for its &#8220;For Dummies&#8221; series of books and the defendants in these actions are all accused of downloading or sharing the titles without permission.</p>
<p>Wiley attorney William Dunnegan previously told TorrentFreak that the company&#8217;s approach has three aims &#8211; to educate, obtain settlements, and prevent further infringement of the company&#8217;s products.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s not possible to say how many of Wiley&#8217;s targets have chosen to settle, there are some that dig in their heels and refuse to pay up. As <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/major-book-publisher-demands-jury-trial-against-bittorrent-pirates-120418/">reported</a> here in 2012, at least three Doe defendants were named by Wiley, with the company threatening to take their cases to jury trial.</p>
<p>One of those was the innocuous-sounding Ralph Mohr, but throw in a previously-unlisted middle initial, and one discovers that far from being just another defendant primed to be squeezed for a few thousand dollars, this one has public standing.</p>
<p>Ralph M. Mohr is a Republican commissioner on the Erie County Board of Elections. According to Wiley, the politician is also guilty of pirating one of their books, Essential Calculus For Dummies.</p>
<p>The dispute dates back to October 2011 when Wiley filed a case against 27 John Doe defendants. In November 2011 Judge William H. Pauley ordered the Does&#8217; ISPs to hand over their personal details to Wiley.</p>
<p>The case progressed into 2012, with Wiley eventually naming four defendants, Mohr included. But by May 2012 cases against the other three defendants were all marked as &#8216;terminated&#8217;, leaving the politician as the only remaining defendant.</p>
<p>Mohr says he tried to explain to Wiley that his computer wasn&#8217;t working on the date of the alleged offense and that his children were either too young to be interested in calculus or away at school at the time.</p>
<p>“I thought it was a scam at first,” Mohr told <a href="http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/federal-court/for-dummies-publisher-targets-erie-countys-gop-elections-commissioner-in-court-20131031">Buffalo News</a>. “I didn’t even have an operable computer when this happened.”</p>
<p>And this is where it gets really interesting. Mohr says he is determined to put up a fight to clear his name and protect his reputation, something that no other &#8220;copyright troll&#8221; defendant (RIAA targets aside) has yet done in a courtroom. A first time ever testing of BitTorrent-related evidence looks like it could be on the cards.</p>
<p>Adding to the excitement is that Mohr is a former county legislator and no stranger to the legal system. In 2012 he was <a href="http://www.wkbw.com/news/political/Southtowns-GOP-Chairs-Endorse-Langworthy-And-Mohr-For-Another-Term--168150426.html">described</a> as &#8220;the most experienced election law attorney in New York State.&#8221;</p>
<p>Brushing up on copyright law may very well be his next goal.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/gop-politician-and-attorney-accused-of-being-a-for-dummies-book-pirate-131101/">GOP Politician and Attorney Accused of Being a &#8220;For Dummies&#8221; Book Pirate</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78851
title: Rightsholders Urge Apple and Google to Remove Pirate Apps
uri: Rightsholders-Urge-Apple-and-Google-to-Remove-Pirate-Apps
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KqINodw_vUM/
content:
<p><a href="media/75474d78.pirateapple.gif" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirateapple.gif"><img src="media/75474d78.pirateapple.gif" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirateapple.gif" alt="pirateapple" width="180" height="160" class="alignright size-full wp-image-29587" /></a>When it comes to online piracy Ukraine has a pretty bad reputation. Last year the country was placed on the top of the USTR’s priority watch-list, the worst category possible. </p>
<p>To counter this image a group of Ukrainian copyright holders has started the “<a href="http://legalcontentua.com/en/">Clear Sky</a>” initiative. The coalition wants to emphasize that Ukraine is not the only country that has to take responsibility for piracy and says that U.S. companies must also do their part.</p>
<p>This week the group pointed the finger at Apple and Google, who are reportedly refusing to remove &#8216;infringing&#8217; apps from their respective stores. </p>
<p>The copyright holders say that apps such as LazyEXua, EX.ua Cinema, Music.ex.ua, EX Plus, and Kartina TV give users access to a wide variety of copyrighted videos and music, without compensating the owners. </p>
<p>Music.ex.ua, for example, is <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/music.ex.ua/id668433247?mt=8">available for free in the App Store</a>. It lists millions of songs on the Ukrainian file-hosting site Ex.ua, which iOS users all over the world can stream for free.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>One of The &#8216;Pirate&#8217; apps copyright holders want removed</h5>
<p><a href="media/3211ca00.music-ex.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/music-ex.jpg"><img src="media/3211ca00.music-ex.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/music-ex.jpg" alt="music-ex" width="593" height="610" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78853" /></a></center></p>
<p>In an attempt to get several infringing apps removed, the online video portal Divan TV recently complained to both Apple and Google. Divan TV owns distribution rights to a wide variety of titles which makes them a rightsholder much like the original creator, but reportedly both Apple and Google were reluctant to take action. </p>
<p>“We’ve got an automated answer that only rightholders, not services, are entitled to approach them,&#8221; Divan TV&#8217;s Katerina Diachenko said commenting on the issue. </p>
<p>Apple&#8217;s press center in Russia and Google Ukraine both noted that they have policies in place to deal with copyright infringement but refused to comment on individual cases. Why Divan TV was not seen as a rightsholder remains a mystery for now.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak searched for the apps Divan complained about and it appears that some have since been removed. However, the Clear Sky coalition notes that many other &#8216;pirate&#8217; apps remain available. </p>
<p>Pavel Mykolyuk, director of the law firm Vindex and a key member of the Clear Sky coalition, finds it unacceptable that two of the biggest technology brands are refusing to take action. </p>
<p>“It is obvious that certain Apple and Android mobile apps available for download are publishing pirated content. While Apple and Google take a strong stance on content considered inappropriate such as porn, both brands are unwilling to expand their remit to include content that breaches copyrights,&#8221; Mykolyuk informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>In part, Mykolyuk believes it&#8217;s because Ukrainian rightsholders are taken less seriously than their counterparts in the United States.</p>
<p>“Here in Ukraine, we are being made the scapegoat for online piracy and while we recognize and are acting on the problem within our country, we are increasingly fighting policy shortsightedness of Google and Apple regarding piracy enabling within their own marketplaces,&#8221; Mykolyuk adds. </p>
<p>By addressing these issues in public the alliance hopes to show that piracy is not just a Ukrainian problem, and that all countries have to take their responsibilities. Thus far, however, many of the apps in question remain available.    </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rightsholders-urge-apple-and-google-to-remove-pirate-apps-131101/">Rightsholders Urge Apple and Google to Remove Pirate Apps</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79003
title: Gmail Stays Up as Google Rejects Microsoft DMCA Takedown Notice
uri: Gmail-Stays-Up-as-Google-Rejects-Microsoft-DMCA-Takedown-Notice
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/uExhL83WXNs/
content:
<p><a href="media/1643c32c.gmail.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gmail.jpg"><img src="media/1643c32c.gmail.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gmail.jpg" alt="gmail" width="180" height="82" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78981" /></a>As thousands of news reports, articles and research papers agree, today&#8217;s Internet is absolutely awash with infringing content. As a result, dozens of companies have appeared to try and stem the tide by sending out DMCA takedown notices on behalf of rightsholders.</p>
<p>The number of notices being sent out is nothing short of incredible. During the last full week of September, Google reported that it had processed a record breaking <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-now-taking-down-eight-pirate-links-every-single-second-131005/">5.3 million</a> URL takedowns, that&#8217;s around eight every second. But yet again the record was short lived.</p>
<p>During the first full week of October, Google processed very close to 6.5 million notices in a single week, that&#8217;s an incredible 10.7 notices every single second of every single day.</p>
<p>Faced with a monumental task it&#8217;s no surprise that rightsholders make mistakes, everyone is prone to them of course, but some have the potential to cause real havoc.</p>
<p>In an effort to keep an eye on the situation TorrentFreak regularly scours Google&#8217;s Transparency Report and the archives on Chilling Effects, and every now and again we find some classics. Yesterday was one of those days.</p>
<p>On the front page of Google&#8217;s report the company now lists a few takedown notices that it received but decided not to take action against. As can be seen from the image below listing four instances, the final one targets Gmail.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/cc82ef09.PiracyPatrol1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/PiracyPatrol1.png" alt="PiracyPatrol" /></center></p>
<p>The notice, which can be found <a href="http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1216443">here</a>, was sent by a company called Piracy Patrol. It clearly lists <strong>https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/</strong> as an infringing URL. Of course, that cannot sensibly be the case, and Google spotted the mistake on this occasion and on several others (<a href="http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1216443">1</a>,<a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512c/notice.cgi?NoticeID=1236509">2</a>,<a href="http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1059514">3</a>).</p>
<p>&#8220;I can only say it was human error &#8211; and a rather silly one at that,&#8221; Piracy Patrol&#8217;s Michael Ward told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>Of course we all make mistakes, but this incident piqued our interest &#8211; do other companies also try to take down parts of Gmail in error? It turns out they do.</p>
<p>In an effort to protect its products from piracy, Microsoft Russia has been sending Google DMCA takedown notices over the past year, around 61,400 in total. One of the products it targets is Windows 8 but as can be seen from <a href="http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=864309">this</a> DMCA notice and the accompanying image below, Microsoft can make pretty big errors.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7c0d0652.microdmca.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/microdmca.png" alt="MicroDMCA" /></center></p>
<p>Strangely enough, there are even more instances. UK-based anti-piracy company RipBlock has targeted Gmail on many occasions over the past year, the image below illustrates just one.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/b9de6383.ripblockdmca.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ripblockdmca.jpg" alt="RipBlockDMCA" /></center></p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, RipBlock said that the submissions were a genuine mistake.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a simple case of human error. We are not in any way trying to have parts of Google mail taken down,&#8221; operations director Lee explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;All URLs we submit to Google for removal are checked by our staff, who do their best to avoid submitting incorrect URLs &#8211; but we are human and we occasionally make mistakes. Embarrassing for us, for sure, but that&#8217;s all.&#8221;</p>
<p>Other companies targeting Gmail during the past year include Czech takedown outfit Netlook (<a href="http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=854102">notice</a>).</p>
<p>We&#8217;re not sure what would&#8217;ve happened if Microsoft or the others had been successful in taking down <strong>https://mail.google.com/mail/</strong>, but we can&#8217;t imagine it would help the operation of Gmail. Fortunately Google appears to be staying sharp.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/gmail-stays-up-as-google-rejects-microsoft-dmca-takedown-notice-131102/">Gmail Stays Up as Google Rejects Microsoft DMCA Takedown Notice</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78882
title: RIAA and BPI Use “Pirated” Code on Their Websites
uri: RIAA-and-BPI-Use-Pirated-Code-on-Their-Websites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KuNfE6ZitKU/
content:
<p><img src="media/c7105c3f.delete.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/delete.jpg" alt="delete" width="200" height="141" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78884" />Copyright is a double-edged sword, and those who sharpen one side often get cut by the other. </p>
<p>Two weeks ago we reported that the new Healthcare.gov website had <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/obama-administration-uses-pirated-code-on-healthcare-gov-131019/">stripped the copyright notice</a> from one of the scripts it used. This blatant act of &#8216;piracy&#8217; prompted us to take a closer look at the websites of several anti-piracy organizations, and today we present our findings.  </p>
<p>As it turns out the U.S. Government is not the only one violating copyright licenses. The websites of music industry groups RIAA and BPI also use infringing code. </p>
<p>On both sites we found open source JQuerys scripts that are released under the <a href="http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php">MIT license</a>. This license permits any person or organization to use, copy, modify, merge, distribute, or even sell copies of the software. There&#8217;s only one condition users have to agree to; that the original copyright notice stays intact.</p>
<p>Ironically, the scripts used on the RIAA and BPI websites have the copyright licenses removed. </p>
<p>BPI uses the depreciated template script jQuery.tmpl.min.js, and as can be seen below, yesterday there was no reference to the MIT license or the copyright holder listed at the top of the file. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>BPI violation</h5>
<p><img src="media/8538ee79.bpi-script.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bpi-script.png" alt="bpi-script" width="555" height="313" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78886" /></center></p>
<p>The image below shows what the 2011 copy of the script should look like, with the proper copyright credits and applicable licenses included.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Proper credits</h5>
<p><img src="media/754169c6.bpi-min-orig.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bpi-min-orig.png" alt="bpi-min-orig" width="554" height="298" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78889" /></center></p>
<p>The RIAA makes a similar mistake with the image slider plugin jquery.orbit.min.js. This software is copyrighted by the design firm <a href="http://zurb.com/about">ZURB</a> but the version in use at the RIAA website yesterday fails to mention this, or the MIT license. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>RIAA violation</h5>
<p><img src="media/8405f1ca.riaa-script.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/riaa-script.png" alt="riaa-script" width="554" height="311" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78887" /></center></p>
<p>Here is what a copy of ZURB&#8217;s plugin should look like when the copyright holder and MIT license are properly mentioned.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Proper credits</h5>
<p><img src="media/153a6613.riaa-orig.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/riaa-orig.png" alt="riaa-orig" width="555" height="304" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78891" /></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak asked both RIAA and BPI for a comment yesterday. RIAA said it was looking into the issue and appears to <a href="http://riaa.com/js/jquery.orbit.min.js">have added</a> the copyright notice now (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131013001047/http://www.riaa.com/js/jquery.orbit.min.js">Internet archive copy</a>). BPI has not responded to our question but clearly received our email as they also updated the file with <a href="http://www.bpi.co.uk/Scripts/jQuery.tmpl.min.js">proper credits</a> (cf. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130921222419/http://www.bpi.co.uk/Scripts/jQuery.tmpl.min.js">Internet archive</a>).  </p>
<p>These type of violations are not unique, and can be found in many websites all over the Internet. Still, from outfits whose raison d&#8217;être is protecting copyrights, we have to expect that these issues are carefully checked. </p>
<p>The violations were probably caused by the web developers who coded the RIAA and BPI sites. We doubt that any of the higher ranked executives know about it, but next time they may want to instruct their coders to keep their site free from copyright infringements.</p>
<p>This is not the first time that an anti-piracy group has been accused of pirating software. A few years ago the MPAA removed the linkware license form Patrick Robin&#8217;s Forest Blog software. The movie industry group later said that this was a mistake, and it was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-we-were-only-testing-forest-blog/">only used for testing purposes</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Instant Update:</strong> A final check upon publication revealed that RIAA and BPI both fixed the infringements, probably more swiftly than the average website processes DMCA requests. Neither group provided a comment on the copyright violations.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-and-bpi-use-pirated-code-on-their-websites-131102/">RIAA and BPI Use &#8220;Pirated&#8221; Code on Their Websites</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79028
title: Registrars Clash at Verisign Over Seized “Pirate” Site Domains
uri: Registrars-Clash-at-Verisign-Over-Seized-Pirate-Site-Domains
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/p5GniCFhfEU/
content:
<p><a href="media/59d613bd.easydns.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/easydns.png"><img src="media/59d613bd.easydns.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/easydns.png" alt="easydns" width="200" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79030" /></a>Early October City of London Police <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-orders-registrars-to-suspend-domains-of-major-torrent-sites-131009/">approached several domain registrars</a>, demanding that they suspend the domains of various torrent and other file-sharing sites. </p>
<p>Although there appeared to be no legal basis for the requests, India-based registrar PublicDomainRegistry (<a href="http://publicdomainregistry.com/">PDR</a>) was quick to suspend several domains, including those belonging to Extratorrent.com and SumoTorrent.com, some of the largest torrent indexes on the web today. </p>
<p>The Canadian company <a href="https://web.easydns.com/">easyDNS</a> responded very differently. The company is outraged by the seemingly unsubstantiated police threats and has refused to take action, arguing that the police request has no legal basis. </p>
<p>EasyDNS&#8217;s approach was welcomed by the operators of several torrent sites, and motivated the owner of three domains to transfer his suspended domains from PDR to easyDNS. However, this was easier said than done, as the Indian registrar is refusing to transfer the domains out without the blessing of City of London Police. </p>
<p>After inquiries from easyDNS and the domain owner PDR did restore the original nameservers, but the domain names in question remain locked. </p>
<p>According to easyDNS this refusal to transfer the domains <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/seized-torrent-domains-must-be-released-says-domain-registrar-131011/">goes against the policy</a> of domain regulation body <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN">ICANN</a>, and this week the Canadian company took action against PDR. </p>
<p>EasyDNS <a href="http://blog.easydns.org/2013/10/29/tdrp-proceedings-initiated-in-response-to-uk-police-shakedown/">filed a Request For Enforcement</a> (RFE) with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verisign">Verisign</a>, the registry responsible for .COM/.NET domains. Through this enforcement request easyDNS hopes that PDR can be compelled to transfer-out three domains, as ICANN&#8217;s Tranfers Dispute Resolution Policy prescribes.</p>
<p>In a blog post easyDNS CEO Mark Jeftovic voices his disbelief over PDR&#8217;s stubborn refusal to cooperate. </p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s hard to understand why they are taking their marching orders directly from the UK Police, given the stated aims of the London Police ICPU (to shut down the domains of websites they have summarily declared to be criminal) it&#8217;s not likely that they will admit the truth of the matter,&#8221; Jeftovic notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In other words, the London Police are not going to come back and tell them: &#8216;Since we don&#8217;t have a court order, we guess you have to let those domains transfer away to some other registrar who has a better understanding of the utter lack of legal basis behind these takedowns than you do&#8217;,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>Instead of waiting for a green light from the City of London Police, Jeftovic believes PDR should comply with the rules and regulations of ICANN as all other domain name registrars do.</p>
<p>&#8220;They should not be waiting for the London Police to articulate this, what they should be doing is reading up on the ICANN Inter-Registrar Transfers Policy, since they are actually bound by their Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) to abide by it,&#8221; Jeftovic says. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted the apparent operator of the three domain names in question but we are yet to receive a response. </p>
<p>The City of London Police crackdown has had minimal impact thus far, as all affected sites we are aware of have continued their operations under new domain names. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/registrars-clash-at-verisign-over-seized-pirate-site-domains-131103/">Registrars Clash at Verisign Over Seized &#8220;Pirate&#8221; Site Domains</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78993
title: Too Much Cash Causes Pirate Admin to Quit, 43K Ebook Dump Imminent
uri: Too-Much-Cash-Causes-Pirate-Admin-to-Quit-43K-Ebook-Dump-Imminent
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MDe1lOy4jQo/
content:
<p><img src="media/31ccbd18.e-books.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/e-books.jpg" width="220" height="150" class="alignright" />In early September we reported on TorBoox, a site on the Tor network providing millions of unauthorized ebooks to the public.</p>
<p>The site made the news when reporters in Germany were subjected to a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/journalists-face-criminal-complaint-for-mentioning-name-of-pirate-site-130830/">criminal complaint</a> by publishers who objected to the site being named.</p>
<p>With that complaint withdrawn, TorBoox indicated they were about to take radical action to shake up the ebook market by hurting Amazon. The idea was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirates-plan-to-beat-up-amazon-disrupt-the-ebook-market-130906">quite complex</a>, but essentially involved offering all-you-can-eat books to the public for a flat fee &#8211; a Spotify for ebooks with eyes on legitimacy.</p>
<p>However, with 1.2 million ebook downloads per day things couldn&#8217;t continue the way they were. TorBoox implemented a paywall and asked users for 3.33 euros per month to try and pay for the servers. Around a third of the site&#8217;s users left, but according to the site&#8217;s operator things went better than expected.</p>
<p>&#8220;Every user had to pay € 10.00 with Paysafecard (which is the minimal amount at the stores). We were in need of about € 500 per month but got much, much more. The money we were in need of we got in a few hours. Ordinary German citizens of any age and background went to the petrol stations and asked for a coupon that has no other imaginable purpose than an illegal one,&#8221; TorBoox operator Spiegelbest informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;We could easily have deactivated the monthly payments from the start. Just the newcomers would have contributed much more money than we would have needed for books and servers. The initial payment would have be sufficient for a year long membership &#8211; at least. My concept was to spend the money before asking for new payments.&#8221; </p>
<p>But while things were taking off, they were also getting out of hand.</p>
<p><img src="media/2efdb268.dollar-money.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dollar-money.jpg" width="180" height="135" class="alignright" />&#8220;I saw the amounts of money steeply rising to five-digit [euro] amounts from the start. And without a lot of imagination a six-digit number of euros will be reached by the middle of November,&#8221; Spiegelbest explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you look at a currency like Bitcoin you can handle it this way or that way. A steep rise in the value of Bitcoins lately helped to tear down any remaining caution and reluctance. A decent and reasonable ending to all this money accumulation became more and more out of sight.&#8221;</p>
<p>Running alongside this somewhat unusual financial crisis was TorBoox&#8217;s quest for legitimacy and things weren&#8217;t looking good there either.</p>
<p>&#8220;We tried to get into contact with &#8216;Börsenverein&#8217; which is the organization of German Publishers. We tried to keep our titles safe from any other site to have something to offer. For us and for me it would have been okay if the people get their books with a legal low-cost flatrate &#8211; I am not illegal by principle. But we were ignored completely,&#8221; Spiegelbest reveals.</p>
<p>With too much money at hand and no deal with the publishers, Spiegelbest quit TorBoox as an operator.</p>
<p>What will happen with TorBoox now remains uncertain, but TorrentFreak is informed that the archives of TorBoox have been obtained unknown individuals, possibly members of the warez scene. As a result, sometime during today, November 3, TorBoox&#8217;s archives &#8211; 43,000 ebooks &#8211; will flood onto the Internet for the free-of-charge enjoyment of all. An announcement of some kind is expected to be published on <a href="http://avaxhome.ws">Avaxhome.ws</a> during the evening.</p>
<p>&#8220;This archive does not belong to TorBoox. It comes from all the sources surrounding it,&#8221; a source close to the forthcoming leak told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sources go back to the early days of scanning. TorBoox was just like a magnet. If anyone has a right to get the archive it is the poeople having done all the work on it in the last year. But even those people didn&#8217;t have access to the archive which is very odd indeed and rather paranoic. The operators themselves did not do much work other than keeping the archive locked away.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whether the publishers will consider the above developments as good or bad news is a matter for them, but if Spiegelbest is to be believed there is a real demand for a Spotify-for-books, if it comes at the right price. Food for thought.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/too-much-cash-causes-pirate-admin-to-quit-43k-ebook-dump-imminent-131103/">Too Much Cash Causes Pirate Admin to Quit, 43K Ebook Dump Imminent</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79055
title: Pirate Bay Downloaders Inspire Free-to-Play Game Model
uri: Pirate-Bay-Downloaders-Inspire-Free-to-Play-Game-Model
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DhXJcaNfEuA/
content:
<p><img src="media/dab91bf7.notimetopirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/notimetopirate.jpg" width="200" height="179" class="alignright" />While unauthorized copying on Xbox and Playstation has largely been kept under control, complaints about piracy on the PC platform are a regular occurrence.</p>
<p>Studios including Ubisoft have even stated that some games might not be released on the format due to its vulnerability.</p>
<p>There are, however, clear signs that developers are finding ways around the problem. One particularly cute approach was taken in 2011 by game developers Alex Nichiporchik and Tom Brien. The baby of their new company tinyBuild was &#8216;No Time To Explain, a title that was funded through a Kickstarter campaign.</p>
<p>Like all games it ended up on The Pirate Bay but this one came with a twist. The characters in the game were donned in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/indie-game-devs-post-pirated-game-on-the-pirate-bay-110909/">pirate attire</a>.</p>
<p>“We thought it’d be funny to leak a pirate version ourselves which is literally all about pirates and pirate hats,” Alex told TorrentFreak at the time. “I mean, some people are going to torrent it either way, we might as well make something funny out of it.”</p>
<p>And, as Nichiporchik now explains to <a href="http://www.pcgamesn.com">PCGamesN</a>, it worked out really well. tinyBuild received dozens of emails from Pirate Bay users who found the game on torrents but went on to buy it afterwards.</p>
<p>&#8220;The press coverage spiked our sales,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Don&#8217;t buy into developers blaming piracy for lost sales, it&#8217;s just silly.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="media/7c8350dc.speedrunners.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/speedrunners.jpg"><img src="media/7c8350dc.speedrunners.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/speedrunners.jpg" alt="speedrunners" width="170" height="84" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79061" /></a>So, with tinyBuild&#8217;s new game <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/207140/">SpeedRunners</a>, the company intends to give pirates what they want &#8211; a version of the game for free.</p>
<p>“I&#8217;ve seen it multiple times when people pirate some sort of software, fall in love with it, and then due to constant updates reminders end up buying it, just for the convenience. Basically, when developers provide a good service, people see the value in spending money,&#8221; Nichiporchik says.</p>
<p>The game will allow users to play the single player for free and then if they like it they get to choose whether to pay to take the game online. This try-before-you-buy approach is often put forward as a reason for piracy and surprisingly Nichiporchik not only agrees, but also participates in it himself.</p>
<p>“I am pirating Battlefield 4 right now,” he told PCGamesN.</p>
<p>“It&#8217;s a 23gb download. I want to see if it runs fine on my Bootcamp installation of Windows 8, as in if it&#8217;s playable. If it runs fine, I&#8217;ll happily install Origin and buy BF4 for the multiplayer.”</p>
<p>There&#8217;s no indication that there will be a special &#8216;pirate&#8217; version of SpeedRunners this time around, but it&#8217;s nonetheless interesting to see how a reality that few can do much about is able to be better framed and redirected towards a net positive. In a sea of negativity surrounding piracy, that&#8217;s something fans can get behind.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-downloaders-inspire-free-to-play-game-model-131104/">Pirate Bay Downloaders Inspire Free-to-Play Game Model</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79047
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week
uri: 2013-11-04-Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JKuR97OzrLU/
content:
<p><a href="media/724b0830.red2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/red2.jpg"><img src="media/724b0830.red2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/red2.jpg" alt="red2" width="275" height="173" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79052" /></a>This week we have five newcomers in our chart and one returnee.</p>
<p>Red 2 is the most downloaded movie. </p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover" summary="Most downloaded movies on BitTorrent">
<caption>Week ending November 03, 2013</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-131028/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_2/">Red 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821694/">6.9</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfB8QwYBPxY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(back)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/were_the_millers/">We&#8217;re The Millers</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723121/">7.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUR0NxUX4PU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_last_days_on_mars/">The Last Days on Mars</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1709143/?">6.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6JiCJ5x3Qw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/turbo_2013/">Turbo</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1860353/">6.3</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-L5bzwdpVI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/despicable_me_2/">Despicable Me 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690953/">7.7</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwXbtZXjbVE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_to_do_list/">The To Do List</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1758795/">5.8</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUZFjuNElWc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/percy_jackson_sea_of_monsters/">Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters</a> (Cam audio)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1854564/">6.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KoOtiuSjuI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/superman_man_of_steel/">Man Of Steel</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770828/">7.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6DJcgm3wNY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wolverine_2012/">The Wolverine</a> (Webrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/">7.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh1LdTFkm7I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elysium_2013/">Elysium</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535108/">7.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILNSgou5BY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-131104/">Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79073
title: VPN Provider Details DMCA and User Data Requests in Transparency Report
uri: VPN-Provider-Details-DMCA-and-User-Data-Requests-in-Transparency-Repor
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6wxMmvfCSPA/
content:
<p><img src="media/3f37a159.proxyshlogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/proxyshlogo.jpg" alt="proxyshlogo" width="180" height="95" class="alignright size-full wp-image-77387" />Nearly all VPN providers promise some form of anonymity, but if push comes to shove there are significant differences in how people&#8217;s personal information is protected. </p>
<p>For example, some VPN providers are required by law to keep logs and can be <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-providers-really-take-anonymity-seriously-111007/">compelled by court to hand these over</a>. Needless to say, whistle-blowers and activists are at risk of being identified by these services.</p>
<p>To increase transparency TorrentFreak previously asked several of the most prominent VPN providers about <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">their logging policies</a>. With this information prospective users are able to make a more informed decision before they sign up. </p>
<p>However, this is just a start and VPN providers should take additional steps to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/how-nsa-proof-are-vpn-providers-131023/">gain more trust</a>. The Seychelles based VPN provider Proxy.sh has taken an important step in the right direction with the launch of its very own transparency report.</p>
<p>Last month <a href="http://proxy.sh">Proxy.sh</a> appeared in the news after it started <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/proxy-sh-vpn-provider-monitored-traffic-to-catch-hacker-130930/">monitoring one of its users</a> based on a complaint from a third-party. The user&#8217;s alleged actions violated the &#8220;ethical policy&#8221; of the provider which all users agreed to when they signed up. </p>
<p>One of the critiques against Proxy.sh&#8217;s decision was that the process lacked transparency. The company did inform users about the temporary logging, but details about the alleged offense weren&#8217;t posted. Responding to this, Proxy.sh is now the first VPN provider to openly publish all data and takedown requests it receives, as well as the action it takes in response.</p>
<p>&#8220;This section provides absolutely all the notices we receive either from third-party or the justice of Seychelles, as well as a precise description of the actions we take in response to them,&#8221; the company announces.</p>
<p>The first notices were posted before the weekend, and thus far all requests deal with the alleged distribution of pirated content. For example, yesterday Proxy.sh received a <a href="https://proxy.sh/panel/knowledgebase/287/03or11or2013-DMCA-HOME-BOX-OFFICE-INC-at-Singapore-2-56854.html">DMCA notice from HBO</a> for a Game of Thrones episode that was shared through the IP-address 173.255.143.218.</p>
<p>Proxy.sh doesn&#8217;t keep logs, so it can&#8217;t forward the notice to the user in question. Instead, the VPN provider closed the port (56854) that was used to transfer the file.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Proxy.sh transparency report</h5>
<p><img src="media/761f62f4.proxy-transparency.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/proxy-transparency.png" alt="proxy-transparency" width="589" height="369" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79076" /></center></p>
<p>With its transparency report Proxy.sh hopes to inform its users how the company responds to various abuse notifications and user data requests. </p>
<p>&#8220;We hope that by providing such transparency report, you will be able to adjust your usage but also make sure you are not being tracked by behind-the-scene interventions. We have always been clear: we will never collaborate with third-party if this involves providing data about you unless you do activities harmful to human beings,&#8221; the company notes.</p>
<p>In addition to the transparency report, several VPN providers are working on founding an independent body that can regulate and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/can-you-trust-your-vpn-provider-130929/">audit VPN providers to increase trust</a>. In addition, TorrentFreak has learned that other VPN providers are hoping to start similar transparency reports in the near future.</p>
<p>Proxy.sh is to be applauded for taking the lead on this front, and we encourage other VPN providers to follow suit.  </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-provider-details-dmca-and-user-data-requests-in-transparency-report-131104/">VPN Provider Details DMCA and User Data Requests in Transparency Report</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79128
title: BitTorrent Sync Hits 1 Million Users, 30 Petabytes Transfered
uri: BitTorrent-Sync-Hits-1-Million-Users-30-Petabytes-Transfered
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2zd_y9rt88k/
content:
<p><a href="media/9ab45579.bittorrent-sync.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-sync.png"><img src="media/9ab45579.bittorrent-sync.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-sync.png" alt="bittorrent-sync" width="200" height="112" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79129" /></a>BitTorrent Sync is a relatively new tool that allows users to securely sync folders across multiple devices using the BitTorrent protocol. </p>
<p>In terms of functionality it&#8217;s comparable to most cloud-based sync tools, except for the fact that there’s no cloud involved. Users simply share their files across their own devices, or the devices of people they invite to their private folders.</p>
<p>Combine the above with no limit on file-sizes or bandwidth and a smash hit is born. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.bittorrent.com/sync">free application</a> was first released to the public in January and today BitTorrent inc. announced that it has already passed the one million user mark. The company further informs TorrentFreak that together these users have synced over 30 petabytes of data thus far, up from eight petabytes back in July.</p>
<p>The success has motivated the San Francisco company to put a dedicated team of developers on the software, which has resulted in several updates and improvements in recent months. </p>
<p>Today BitTorrent Sync 1.2 was released and one of the key changes is a doubling of the maximum transfer speed. Sync was already quite fast as files are not stored in the cloud, but the latest release bumps the transfer speeds to 90 MB/s.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sync skips the cloud to deliver files faster than server-based alternatives, like Dropbox. And with 1.2, we’ve boosted Sync’s speed performance. The app’s been clocked at 90 MB/s on the LAN. Which means your 10 GB file will be synced in less than two minutes,&#8221; the BitTorrent Sync team <a href="http://blog.bittorrent.com/">notes</a>.</p>
<p>The new release also offers several updates and improvements for iOS users, including an iPad app to sync photos. </p>
<p>&#8220;We’ve updated Sync to include an updated design, improved connection speed, iOS7 compatibility, and a native iPad app. We’ve also added to the iOS feature set. You can now send and sync files in other apps using Sync, and save media from your Sync folders direct to your camera roll.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, BitTorrent has <a href="http://www.bittorrent.com/sync/developers">released an API</a>. The company hopes this will encourage developers to create a wide variety of Sync based apps, such as <a href="http://vole.cc/">social networking</a> or <a href="http://missiv.es/">secure chat</a> tools. </p>
<p>&#8220;The new API will allow developers to create distributed social media, communications, and enterprise apps on top of the platform. It’s designed to work across major operating systems; including Windows, Mac, and Linux.&#8221;</p>
<p>With the latest improvements and the new tools BitTorrent hopes to reach an even wider audience, especially among those who want full control over their own data</p>
<p>&#8220;Our goal is to build a sharing tool that lets you move big files, and big ideas, freely. Without surveillance. Without speed limits. And without size caps. Your data belongs to you. Sync is designed to keep your stuff yours; with you and your team, wherever you are,&#8221; the Sync team notes.</p>
<p>The latest version of BitTorrent Sync is now available <a href="http://www.bittorrent.com/sync">for download here</a>, completely free of charge.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/044jIZfnyqQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-sync-hits-1-million-users-30-petabytes-transfered-131105/">BitTorrent Sync Hits 1 Million Users, 30 Petabytes Transfered</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79092
title: Movie Studios Prepare Police Report Against ‘Netflix Proxy’ ISP
uri: Movie-Studios-Prepare-Police-Report-Against-Netflix-Proxy-ISP
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_2dyRiUh8gU/
content:
<p><a href="media/cf399f6d.netflix.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix.png"><img src="media/cf399f6d.netflix.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix.png" alt="netflix" width="185" height="64" class="alignright size-full wp-image-26779" /></a>If you travel north and slightly to the west of the UK you&#8217;ll eventually arrive at the little island of Iceland. It has a small population of around 320,000 and became an international financial nightmare in 2008 when its entire banking system collapsed.</p>
<p>Five years on things are really improving, but the same cannot be said about its citizens&#8217; access to international media products.</p>
<p>For reasons best known to Apple, Icelanders have no access to iTunes. In fact the company doesn&#8217;t directly sell iPhones to Iceland so people have to obtain them through resellers. If locals want access to content through Netflix and even Amazon, well, they can think again.</p>
<p>Of course, faced with this dearth of availability it comes as little surprise that there are plenty of services around that seek to solve the problem. Googling &#8220;VPN Iceland Netflix&#8221; produces dozens of results from international outfits but it is a new product from a local company that&#8217;s currently causing waves.</p>
<p>The product is the brainchild of Icelandic telecoms company Tal, who are now offering what they call their <a href="http://luxusnet.tal.is/">Lúxusnet</a> package. Among other things it allows customers to access sites outside Iceland by exchanging a local IP address for an international one.</p>
<p>&#8220;We want an Internet that is open and accessible to all, no matter where in the world they are born or residing. We want things to be simple and easy to use so that you can do what you really want. Therefore, we have added a little luxury to your network,&#8221; the company explains.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/76403876.TAL1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/TAL1.jpg" alt="TAL1" /></center></p>
<p>While Icelanders will no doubt be pleased at the prospect of accessing content from services such as Netflix and Hulu, a local anti-piracy outfit has rather a different attitude.</p>
<p>Founded 20 years ago, the MPA-affiliated Association of Film Rights-Holders of Iceland (SMÁÍS) represents the interests of local and international movie companies. It says that the service being offered by Tal is illegal. Tal, on the other hand, think that they are offering a tool and how that tool is used is down to the user.</p>
<p>&#8220;The use of foreign content providers and websites is always the responsibility of the customer,&#8221; said Tal director Petreu Ingileifar Guðmundsdóttur in a comment.</p>
<p>According to the anti-piracy group, this attempt at shifting liability away from the ISP and onto the customer simply doesn&#8217;t wash.</p>
<p>&#8220;This argument does not hold, either morally or legally, in our opinion,&#8221; says SMÁÍS general manager Snæbjörn Steingrímsson. &#8220;In fact, we hear this exact same argument about torrent-sites.&#8221;</p>
<p>SMÁÍS insist that Tal&#8217;s product (and another similar one offered by <a href="http://flix.is/">Flix.is</a>) are tools designed to circumvent technical measures (in this case geo-blocking mechanisms) put in place to protect copyright, which are illegal under local law.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are very surprised that a great company such as Tal is offering this sort of thing, but we will challenge them and Flix.is too,&#8221; Snæbjörn <a href="http://visir.is/aetla-ad-kaera-tal-og-flix-til-logreglunnar/article/2013710299945">says</a>.</p>
<p>According to local media SMÁÍS will try to get Tal to cooperate but in parallel preparations are being made to take the case to the police.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is like saying people can buy contraband goods legally as long as they come to this country legally,&#8221; Snæbjörn concludes. &#8220;There is no commercial or other economic activity in Iceland that could survive against such competition.&#8221; </p>
<p>It is of course interesting that SMÁÍS cites circumvention issues as the basis for its complaint but ends up talking about competition.</p>
<p>One of the anti piracy group&#8217;s most prominent members is a company called 365 Media, who just happen to be Iceland&#8217;s largest television, radio and publications giant. For a company that supplies movies to locals at premium prices, the prospect of competition from Netflix and Hulu at much more competitive U.S. rates will no doubt be proving less than attractive.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-prepare-police-report-against-netflix-proxy-isp-131105/">Movie Studios Prepare Police Report Against ‘Netflix Proxy’ ISP</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79094
title: Movie Studios Drop Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit Against LimeWire
uri: Movie-Studios-Drop-Multi-Million-Dollar-Lawsuit-Against-LimeWire
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/I2ymrbR6lrY/
content:
<p><img src="media/752f5dd3.limewire-sqeeze.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/limewire-sqeeze.jpg" alt="limewire-sqeeze" width="222" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79098" />Towards the end of the last decade LimeWire was one of the most-used pieces of software on earth, installed on nearly one in five computers.</p>
<p>By the end of 2010 the situation changed somewhat when LimeWire was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/limewire-loses-court-battle-with-riaa-shuts-down-101026/">forced to cease its operations</a> after a U.S. federal judge granted an injunction in favor of the RIAA. </p>
<p>According to the ruling LimeWire “intentionally encouraged infringement,” its software was used “overwhelmingly for infringement” and the company was aware of the “substantial infringement being committed” by LimeWire users. The evidence further showed that LimeWire marketed its application to Napster users and that its business model depended on mass copyright infringements.</p>
<p>The record labels then went after the company for damages and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/limewire-pays-riaa-105-million-artists-get-nothing-110513/">settled for a record-breaking $150 million</a>. </p>
<p>This big win prompted Twentieth Century Fox, Viacom, Comedy Partners, Disney, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. to launch a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-sues-limewire-back-from-the-dead-120206/">separate lawsuit</a> last year. The movie outfits accused LimeWire of infringing the copyrights of approximately 2,000 of their videos and demanded several hundred million dollars in damages. </p>
<p>In addition, the studios requested a ruling in their favor because they feared that LimeWire could launch a similarly infringing platform in the future, through which their copyrights may be infringed. </p>
<p>Over the past few months the two parties have been battling in court but without much progress being made. Last week the movie studios dismissed the entire case with prejudice, meaning that the case is effectively over. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>LimeWire dismissal</h5>
<p><img src="media/4129be24.dismiss-lime.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dismiss-lime.jpg" alt="dismiss-lime" width="577" height="753" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79113" /></center></p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear why the case was dropped, but one possibility is that the case required more resources than the studios were prepared to commit. The studios hoped that a new trial on several key issues wasn&#8217;t required as the RIAA already did much of the groundwork. </p>
<p>However, LimeWire objected to the motion for summary judgment and wanted to treat the case as distinct from the RIAA ruling. The software maker argued that they operated differently in the 2009 / 2010 period the studios claim the infringements were committed, and said that the RIAA case only applied to musical works, not video.</p>
<p>While the dismissal is good news for LimeWire, vulture&#8217;s keep circling over the company. </p>
<p>Early last month LimeWire was sued by the independent music publisher <a href="http://www.microhits.com/">Microhits</a>, who also demand millions in damages. Microhits appears to have a preference for defunct file-sharing services as it also <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/copyright-vultures-sue-megaupload-for-millions-120323/">sued Megaupload</a> last year, a case that&#8217;s still pending.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-drop-multi-million-dollar-lawsuit-against-limewire-131105/">Movie Studios Drop Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit Against LimeWire</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79154
title: Demonoid Will Come Back Soon, Rebuild in Progress
uri: Demonoid-Will-Come-Back-Soon-Rebuild-in-Progress
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/byyV_qyhscw/
content:
<p><img src="media/24f1ba2b.demonoid.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/demonoid.jpg" align="right" alt="demonoid" />As the single largest semi-private BitTorrent tracker that ever existed, Demonoid offered a home to millions of file-sharers. </p>
<p>This <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-busted-as-a-gift-to-the-united-states-government-120806/">changed abruptly August last year</a> when a series of troubled events took the site offline. When it was still down after a year, many had given up hope that it would ever return. </p>
<p>Today there&#8217;s a glimmer of hope to report to estranged Demonoid members, as the site is preparing for a glorious comeback. TorrentFreak contacted the Demonoid team via its demonoid.com email address where the Demonoid team confirmed the plans. </p>
<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t give you any specifics at the moment, but yeah, we are planning to bring the site back,&#8221; we were told. </p>
<p>A follow-up request, for more details and whether the same people are behind the site, remains unanswered for now. However, a landing page on Demonoid.com and Demonoid.me brings more hope. </p>
<p>&#8220;We will rebuild! Coming back soon, please check back later. Thanks for your visit!,&#8221; <a href="http://demonoid.com">it reads</a>, with a Bitcoin donation option below. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Demonoid coming back?</h5>
<p><img src="media/0dbeeae7.demonoid-back.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/demonoid-back.jpg" alt="demonoid-back" width="595" height="663" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79155" /></center></p>
<p>It is currently unknown whether the site&#8217;s legal troubles are still ongoing. </p>
<p>When Demonoid had its servers <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-busted-as-a-gift-to-the-united-states-government-120806/">taken down</a> by Ukrainian hosting company Colocall last year local authorities explained that Interpol had requested the action as part of a criminal investigation into the site’s alleged owners in Mexico. </p>
<p>Months earlier Mexican authorities had carried out <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-operators-face-criminal-investigation-in-mexico-120807/">raids in Monterrey</a>, the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León. Their prime target was a Demonoid operator, and one person connected to the BitTorrent tracker was subsequently imprisoned <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-operator-released-from-jail-case-stalled-130212/">but later released</a>.</p>
<p>At this point TorrentFreak is unable to confirm whether the Demonoid domains are still in the hands of the old crew. Neither do we know if the planned resurrection will be with the old user and torrent database.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-resurrected-an-interview-with-the-admins-of-d2-vu-130509/">mysterious D2.vu site</a> launched using a copy of the Demonoid user and torrent database. The operator of the spin-off claimed not to be related to the Demonoid owners and thus far the site hasn&#8217;t gotten much traction.  </p>
<p>The people behind the planned resurrection of Demonoid have access to the site&#8217;s original .com and .me domains so there&#8217;s a good chance that the site may return fully, backed by part of the old crew.</p>
<p>Time will tell whether that&#8217;s the case.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-will-come-back-soon-rebuild-in-progress-131106/">Demonoid Will Come Back Soon, Rebuild in Progress</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79160
title: Apple Takedown Notice Makes iPhone 5s and iPad Air Less Easy to Find
uri: Apple-Takedown-Notice-Makes-iPhone-5s-and-iPad-Air-Less-Easy-to-Find
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/m-rShBG9oYU/
content:
<p><a href="media/a3dc0bfb.iphone5s.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iphone5s.jpg"><img src="media/a3dc0bfb.iphone5s.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iphone5s.jpg" alt="iphone5s" width="180" height="166" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79184" /></a>Unprecedented pre-launch hype and massive day one queues are things that Apple thrive on and are achieved at pretty much every major product launch.</p>
<p>With a huge and fanatical customer base the launch of a new iPhone always ticks every box and the launch of the 5s model in September was no different. With people reportedly selling their places in the lines outside US and UK stores for hundreds of dollars and pounds, the atmosphere was as frenzied as Apple had hoped for.</p>
<p>Inevitably stocks were diminished as Apple failed to keep up with supply, of iPhone 5s in particular.</p>
<p>&#8220;One week later and there&#8217;s still a line about the length of a football field outside the GSP Apple Store,&#8221; came <a href="https://twitter.com/zacharye/status/383966420453060608">the word</a> on Twitter September 28.</p>
<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re idiots,&#8221; came the <a href="https://twitter.com/TheMcClaneShow/status/383966663164444672">response</a>. &#8220;We have had tons of them in inventory at VZW [Verizon Wireless]&#8221;</p>
<p>Realizing that stock may well be available if people looked in the right place, a solution to the problem was created by developer Mordy Tikotzky. His web-based iPhone-Check tool scanned Apple&#8217;s retail store site and allowed users to enter their ZIP code, specify a color and a carrier, and then be presented with a list of available phones at Apple stores in the area. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.apple-tracker.com/iphone-5s">site</a> was a real hit with both potential Apple customers and the press, and was covered in articles on CNET, Gizmodo [image credit], LA Times, Time, CNN, Forbes and Huffington Post to name just a few. Just days ago Tikotzky added iPad Air support but sadly the fun is now over.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/f8a4cdb8.checker.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/checker.jpg" alt="checker" /></center></p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve decided to turn off the site. I&#8217;m not doing this because I want to, but rather because I received a DMCA takedown notice&#8230;from Apple,&#8221; Tikotzky just announced.</p>
<p>The notice, sent by the Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton law firm, invites responses to an email address that begins APPLE_COPYRIGHT.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have a good faith belief that the website identified by URL below is unlawful because, among other things, the page scrapes and collects data from apple.com in violation of the apple.com Internet Service Terms of Use,&#8221; the notice reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;You may not use any &#8216;deep-link&#8217;, &#8216;page-scrape&#8217;, &#8216;robot&#8217;, &#8216;spider&#8217; or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology, or any similar or equivalent manual process, to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of the Site or any Content, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site or any Content, to obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not purposely made available through the Site. Apple reserves the right to bar any such activity.&#8221;</p>
<p>Although Tikotzky frames the cease and desist as a DMCA notice, the DMCA isn&#8217;t specifically cited. Copyright is mentioned several times though, including that the information scraped/obtained from Apple&#8217;s site had important copyright-related information removed.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have a good faith belief that the removal of copyright management information from the material listed above is not authorized by law,&#8221; the notice adds.</p>
<p>Copyright Management Information (CMI) includes things such as the title of the work, its copyright notice, plus items that identify the author and terms and conditions for use of the work. Under the DMCA it is unlawful to remove CMI from a work, but whether stock information amounts to a &#8216;work&#8217; is arguable.</p>
<p>Tikotzky admits that he scraped Apple&#8217;s website to get the information for his tool, but whether that <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090605/2228205147.shtml">constitutes an infringement</a> or a simple terms of use violation is clearly something he doesn&#8217;t have the patience to find out.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not really interested in picking a fight with Apple so&#8230;.. I guess it time to just say good bye,&#8221; Tikotzky concludes.</p>
<p>While it seems likely that the site could have generated sales for Apple, a commenter on Gizmodo who claims to be a former company employee explained that they company likes to do it their way.</p>
<p>&#8220;Apple wants people to come into the store and ask and seek out. Their entire goal is to get you to repeatedly come to the store. Why? Because if you&#8217;re in the store you&#8217;re more likely to buy something. If you&#8217;re in a line outside the store, you&#8217;re creating free advertising for Apple,&#8221; he <a href="http://gizmodo.com/actually-you-make-no-sense-and-neither-does-your-t9-ci-1440311503">said</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;In either case, Apple is -very- strict about controlling the flow of information about itself, wherever possible. I used to work for Apple, I know full well that they don&#8217;t like this sort of thing.&#8221; </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/apple-takedown-notice-makes-iphone-5s-and-ipad-air-less-easy-to-find-131106/">Apple Takedown Notice Makes iPhone 5s and iPad Air Less Easy to Find</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78945
title: Pirate Bay Backs Disruptive Activists, Startups, Charity and More
uri: Pirate-Bay-Backs-Disruptive-Activists-Startups-Charity-and-More
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6TOPq-87VWo/
content:
<p><img src="media/f9c7acb7.promo-reimag.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/promo-reimag.png" alt="promo-reimag" width="222" height="229" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79152" />The Pirate Bay is not particularly liked by most entertainment industry companies, but there are tens of thousands of artists who are eager to get a plug from the notorious torrent site. </p>
<p>To help this group the site launched <a href="http://promobay.org/">The Promo Bay</a> last year and many artists have profited from a banner on the site&#8217;s frontpage since. Every weekend The Pirate Bay showed off one or more content creators to its millions of visitors, until last August when the project was suddenly halted.</p>
<p>The Promo Bay team informed us that <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-shuts-down-artist-promotions-130917/">due to personnel changes</a> they could no longer continue the promo platform, but said that it may return in the future. And so it happened. After a three-month hiatus a reimagined version of The Promo Bay relaunches today. </p>
<p>The new promo platform is currently promoted by a banner on The Pirate Bay&#8217;s frontpage. The main difference is that the site is no longer restricted to artists &#8211; activists, startups, charities and other groups are also welcome to join. </p>
<p>Promo Bay coordinator Will Dayble felt that the focus on &#8220;content creators&#8221; was too narrow and he and his team used the break to expand the project&#8217;s reach.</p>
<p>&#8220;The main goal of the new Promo Bay is to draw attention to disruptive things happening around the world. Art, activism, charity, startups, the weird and wonderful, the game changers and indie,&#8221; Dayble tells TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;We’re shifting how we work, play interact, speak, live and fall in love. Hopefully, we can reveal some of the good stuff to a wider audience,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>In addition to the broadened scope The Promo Bay also wants to open source their code. They further hope to add an option to track the impact of their promotion campaigns through in-swarm monitoring of the numbers of downloads and download locations.</p>
<p>&#8220;We’re in talks with another Aussie startup that does in-swarm monitoring, for more complex measurement of our impact,&#8221; Dayble says. More news on these future improvements will be announced later, first the Promo Bay needs some fresh submissions.</p>
<p>Do you have something to plug? Head over to the new <a href="http://promobay.org/">Promo Bay</a> and perhaps your idea will soon be in front of millions of Pirate bay visitors. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>The New Promo Bay</h5>
<p><img src="media/31a54e81.promo-bay2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/promo-bay2.jpg" alt="promo-bay" width="599" height="482" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78962" /></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-backs-disruptive-activists-startups-charity-and-more-131106/">Pirate Bay Backs Disruptive Activists, Startups, Charity and More</a></p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=78813
title: Mega Exits Beta With 5 Million Users and Big Plans
uri: Mega-Exits-Beta-With-5-Million-Users-and-Big-Plans
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6Pd056ltM3k/
content:
<p><img src="media/ddc76781.mega3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mega3.png" alt="mega" width="222" height="103" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79246" />On January 20, a year after Megaupload was raided in 2012, Kim Dotcom <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dotcoms-mega-launches-to-unprecedented-demand-130120/">launched</a> his new file-storage service Mega. </p>
<p>In a matter of days the site’s membership shot from zero to more than a million and in the months that followed the site continued to develop and expand its userbase.</p>
<p>Today the company announced that <a href="http://mega.co.nz">Mega</a> had exited beta and <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/nzvikramkumar">CEO Vikram Kumar</a> informs TorrentFreak that the service now has about five million users who together have uploaded 435 million files.</p>
<p>While Mega is sometimes described as a file-hosting site, its future plans are to be much more than that. &#8220;The immediate focus right now is to give Mega the equivalent function of Dropbox,&#8221; Kumar says. </p>
<p>Later this month the company plans to release its long-awaited sync client, which will allow users to keep files backed up across multiple devices. Around the same time the iOS app will also be ready for a public release.  </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Mega&#8217;s iOS app</h5>
<p><a href="media/a26ebb25.iOS_1_page.png" data-original-source="https://eu.static.mega.co.nz/images/mega/blogs/retina/iOS_1_page.png"><img src="media/6ad0b629.ios-mega.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ios-mega.jpg" title="click to enlarge" alt="click for to enlarge" width="599" height="349" size-full wp-image-79248" /></a><</center></p>
<p>Once Mega can rival Dropbox it will finalize the development of several encrypted communication tools. These are expected to be launched in a few months and include text, voice and video communication, all straight from the browser.</p>
<p>&#8220;The second focus is going to be on encrypted communications, which will build on cloud storage and collaboration,&#8221; Kumar tells TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>&#8220;There will be chat, voice and video, all in the browser without having to download a separate application or install plugins, it should just work,&#8221; he adds.  </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Mega&#8217;s encrypted chat/h5><a href="media/094eb729.video_page.png" data-original-source="https://eu.static.mega.co.nz/images/mega/blogs/fullsize/video_page.png"><img src="media/09a0dcb0.mega-video-chat.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mega-video-chat.jpg" title="click to enlarge" alt="click to enlarge" width="599" height="374" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79249" /></a></center></p>
<p>The third focus of the company is to combine the first two and create a solid encrypted storage platform that app developers can use to develop their own privacy-focused tools. </p>
<p>After all, Mega has branded itself the Privacy Company. </p>
<p>&#8220;For us privacy means that the user controls their data and files, and that it can&#8217;t be snooped on. Mega can only see encrypted bits of information. We never look at the file or the message, and if we can&#8217;t look at it we can never give it to anyone else to have a look at it either,&#8221; Kumar says.</p>
<p>When Mega launched in January there was some skepticism from copyright holders who feared that it would cause as much trouble as Megaupload, but according to the company&#8217;s CEO these worries have mostly waned away. </p>
<p>&#8220;435 million files have been uploaded to Mega in the first nine months and the amount of alleged copyright infringement notices is 0.05 percent. A very low number compared to other services,&#8221; Kumar says. </p>
<p>Mega is currently pushing 160 gigabits in bandwidth per second, which at the current growth rate is expected to rise to 500 gigabits per second in the first quarter of next year.</p>
<p>Finally, Mega&#8217;s CEO responded to our previous commentary that while Mega may be very secure, it is certainly <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mega-is-brilliantly-secure-but-not-anonymous-130118/">not anonymous</a>. The company stores users&#8217; email addresses permanently and IP-address logs are retained for months, depending on the location of the server.</p>
<p>&#8220;We store IP-addresses with a time-stamp. The retention period tends to vary based on the legal requirements. For example, Germany requires six months of data storage, so the retention periods have to be in line with the countries we operate in,&#8221; Kumar says. </p>
<p>However, Mega&#8217;s CEO stresses that users can be as anonymous as they wish by using Tor or another anonymizing service, in combination with a throwaway email address. </p>
<p>&#8220;Mega is compatible with anonymizing techniques such as Tor. We don&#8217;t take any steps whatsoever to try to determine is a person is using Mega anonymously or not, that&#8217;s their choice,&#8221; he says.  </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see how Mega&#8217;s new services are received in the coming months. With all the talk about intercepted communication and other forms of spying, the timing is certainly right. And with Kim Dotcom as <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-u-s-government-used-echelon-to-spy-on-me-121009/">expert witness</a>, the company has an excellent poster child. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79198
title: MPA Will Begin Norway File-Sharing Crackdown This Month
uri: MPA-Will-Begin-Norway-File-Sharing-Crackdown-This-Month
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gRNFzD8Udqc/
content:
<p><a href="media/32cbee81.mpa.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpa.jpg"><img src="media/32cbee81.mpa.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpa.jpg" alt="mpa" width="180" height="117" class="alignright size-full wp-image-77324" /></a>For years file-sharers in Norway have had somewhat of an easy rise after it was determined in 2011 that the only entity allowed to monitor and collect data on P2P networks would not longer be permitted to do so.</p>
<p>By May that same year it became clear that the government wouldn&#8217;t stand idly by, with a Ministry of Culture announcing amendments to the country&#8217;s Copyright Act. The promise was that movie and record companies would be given &#8220;the tools they need&#8221; to tackle infringement.</p>
<p>On July 1 the new law was passed and along with it a framework that would allow any rightsholder or trade group to spy on file-sharers providing they inform the data inspectorate in advance. After a somewhat slow start, copyright holders are now getting themselves organized and are almost ready to start.</p>
<p>The MPA, the international branch of the MPAA, and its associates including the Norwegian Videograms Association, Norwegian Association of Film Distributors, and the Norwegian Society of Composers and Lyricists, are among the organizations that have recently advised the inspectorate that their monitoring will soon begin.</p>
<p>Of course, all the data gathered will need to be subsequently handled and processed. That task will be carried out by the infamous pirate-hunting lawfirm, Simonsen.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/4265f45e.simon1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/simon1.png" alt="Simon1" /></center></p>
<p>According to Rune Ljøstad, a partner at Simonsen, the project will begin in just over three weeks.</p>
<p>&#8220;From 29 November we will be able to process personal data for [the purpose of tracking file-sharers],&#8221; Ljøstad <a href="http://www.tu.no/it/2013/11/06/na-starter-piratjakten-i-norge">explains</a>.</p>
<p>As can be seen from the excerpt from Simonsen&#8217;s notification below, the aim of the exercise is to protect the MPA and its members.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/6223884c.simon2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/simon2.png" alt="Simon2" /></center></p>
<p>Ljøstad, meanwhile, has been explaining that uploaders will be the MPA&#8217;s key target.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our goal is that most of the uploads and downloads stop and people instead go over to legal alternatives,&#8221; Ljøstad told Tu.no.</p>
<p>&#8220;To achieve this goal you have to prioritize what is most important. Typically licensees are affected more by uploads than downloads. An upload can provide the basis for 1,000 downloads, while one download is just one download,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>But despite the assurances that this will be an effort aimed at the &#8216;worst&#8217; offenders, there is a key problem. It is virtually guaranteed that BitTorrent users will be the first targets of the new crackdown and by the protocol&#8217;s very nature, every downloader is also an uploader. This effectively puts most of Norway&#8217;s file-sharers under the microscope.</p>
<p>The MPA&#8217;s next move remains unclear, but several scenarios come to mind. Although it will already be in possession of the data having harvested it from abroad, initially the MPA will suck up as much Norwegian file-sharing data as possible so it can be used officially in local procedures.</p>
<p>That data will be used in several ways. It&#8217;s possible that a few hand-picked unlucky individuals will be singled out for punishment, but it seems more likely having come this far that the data will be used for more broad action. There are two likely candidates.</p>
<p>First, the data could be used to justify a letter-writing or &#8220;three strikes&#8221; style regime, something all rightsholders have expressed an interest in.</p>
<p>Second, the data could be used to show how bad the piracy situation is in order to obtain court orders to have sites like The Pirate Bay blocked at the ISP level. There are already provisions in the new law to block sites and rightholders have <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/new-anti-piracy-group-will-monitor-file-sharers-and-block-all-major-torrent-sites-130619/">signaled</a> they&#8217;re ready for it, so expect this outcome sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79207
title: Copyright Troll Must Repay Alleged BitTorrent Pirates, Court Rules
uri: Copyright-Troll-Must-Repay-Alleged-BitTorrent-Pirates-Court-Rules
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zeE-Q1xOcSk/
content:
<p><a href="media/fbb32cb9.trolloridiot.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trolloridiot.png"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-68500" alt="trolloridiot" src="media/fbb32cb9.trolloridiot.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trolloridiot.png" width="180" height="135" /></a>The world&#8217;s most famous porn pirate hunters have been on quite a losing streak just recently.</p>
<p>Over the past year they&#8217;ve been hit for <a href="http://wiki.ktetch.co.uk/index.php?title=Monetary_awards" target="_blank">roughly $311,000</a> in damages and costs, while <a title="Comcast, Verizon and Co. Want to Stop Mass Piracy Lawsuits" href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-verizon-and-co-want-to-stop-mass-piracy-lawsuits-131025/">hitting a roadblock</a> in developing new revenue.</p>
<p>Little over a month ago the ongoing saga received yet another twist when a significant blow was dealt to the embattled law firm <a title="Were Prenda Undone by Steele Family Member?" href="http://torrentfreak.com/were-prenda-undone-by-steele-family-member-131001/">by the mother-in-law</a> of Prenda front-man John Steele.</p>
<p>After a month of deliberation the court has now handed down additional good news for five accused BitTorrent pirates. Yesterday&#8217;s <a href="http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/182260064?access_key=key-1v7wo6j0ur34mllzfr1w&#038;allow_share=true&#038;show_recommendations=false&#038;view_mode=scroll">ruling</a> made it clear that there is no evidence that AF Holdings holds the copyrights to the titles they sued the individuals over.</p>
<p>&#8220;The copyright-assignment agreements [...] in each of these five cases are not what they purport to be. Alan Cooper denies signing either agreement and also denies giving anyone else the authority to sign them on his behalf. AF Holdings failed to produce any credible evidence that the assignments were authentic.&#8221; </p>
<p>As a result of this fraud, U.S. Magistrate Judge Franklin Noel ordered the company to repay the four defendants who already settled their cases, including their legal fees. In addition, the judge dismissed the suits against all five alleged file-sharers.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Court has been the victim of a fraud perpetrated by AF Holdings, LLC. The Court concludes that the appropriate remedy for this fraud is to require AF Holdings to return all of the settlement money it received from all of the Defendants in these cases, and to pay all costs and fees incurred by the Defendants.&#8221; </p>
<p>The order further suggests that there may need to be more investigation into the Prenda law firm and its principles. As a result, the court ordered the following (among other things):</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">The Clerk of Court shall send a copy of this order to the following individuals and entities for the purpose of further investigation:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">- The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">- The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">- The Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">- The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois</p>
<p>With the above, the ruling echoes that of <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/search/judge+wright">Judge Wright</a>, bringing the firm to the attention of lawyer disciplinary boards and criminal investigators.</p>
<p>Of course, the total amount of damages so far doesn&#8217;t even come close to the alleged $1.9 million that Prenda <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/prenda-massive-trolling-take-revealed-at-least-1-9-million-in-2012/" target="_blank">took in settlements during 2012</a>, but with the IRS, FBI and even state law enforcement investigating, asset forfeiture is always a possibility.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79273
title: Hotfile Wants MPAA to Stop Using Piracy, Theft and Stealing Terms in Court
uri: Hotfile-Wants-MPAA-to-Stop-Using-Piracy-Theft-and-Stealing-Terms-in-C
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/CUPNE_wxxZU/
content:
<p><a href="media/1c69e722.downloadcar.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/downloadcar.png"><img src="media/1c69e722.downloadcar.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/downloadcar.png" alt="downloadcar" width="200" height="132" class="alignright size-full wp-image-76166" /></a>In August the MPAA scored a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-wins-piracy-battle-against-hotfile-130829/">major victory</a> in its case against file-hosting service <a href="http://hotfile.com/">Hotfile</a>. </p>
<p>The file-hosting site was cleared of direct copyright infringement, but the movie studios <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/169898030/Hotfile-Mpaa-Redacted">won summary judgment</a> on the issues of DMCA defense and vicarious liability. The remaining issues will be fought out in a trial later this year for which preparations are well underway. </p>
<p>The two parties are currently fighting over several trial related details, including which evidence can be presented and how. As part of this process, Hotfile has submitted <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/182679600/Hotfile-no-Theft">a motion</a> asking the court to prevent the MPAA from using pejorative terms such as &#8216;piracy,&#8217; &#8216;theft&#8217; and &#8216;stealing&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
<p>According to the file-hosting service these terms are derogatory and their use would therefore mislead the jury and possibly influence their judgment. Because of this, the terms should be excluded from the trial under <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_403">rule 403</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Plaintiffs have declined to stipulate that they will refrain from the use of the terms &#8216;pirates&#8217; or &#8216;thieves&#8217; with respect to the Defendants or the founders of Hotfile, nor would they refrain from referring to those individuals as having engaged in &#8216;theft&#8217; or &#8216;stealing&#8217;,&#8221; Hotfile&#8217;s lawyers write. </p>
<p>&#8220;Such derogatory comments fall well within the purview of Rule 403, which precludes the admission of evidence which is significantly more prejudicial than it is probative.&#8221;</p>
<p>According to Hotfile there is no ground to substantiate the use of terms such as &#8220;piracy&#8221; and &#8220;theft.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;In the present case, there is no evidence that the Defendants (or Hotfile’s founders) are &#8216;pirates&#8217; or &#8216;thieves,&#8217; nor is there evidence that they were &#8216;stealing&#8217; or engaged in &#8216;piracy&#8217; or &#8216;theft.&#8217; Even if the Defendants had been found to have directly infringed on the Plaintiffs’ copyrights, such derogatory terms would add nothing to the Plaintiffs’ case, but would serve to improperly inflame the jury.&#8221; </p>
<p>In a reply to Hotfile&#8217;s motion the MPAA points out that there is absolutely no reason to exclude words that are commonly used in cases related to copyright infringement. According to the movie studios the request is little more than an attempt to masquerade Hotfile&#8217;s wrongful actions. </p>
<p>&#8220;Terms like &#8216;piracy&#8217; and &#8216;theft&#8217; are commonplace terms often used in court decisions, statutes, and everyday speech to describe the conduct in which Hotfile and its users engaged, and for which the Court has already found Defendants liable,&#8221; MPAA&#8217;s legal team writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants, knowing that the conduct referenced by the words &#8216;theft&#8217; and &#8216;piracy&#8217; is opprobrious, want to block Plaintiffs from using words that denote such conduct. But it would be unreasonable to prohibit the Plaintiffs from using commonplace words to describe wrongful conduct simply because the conduct they describe is unsavory.&#8221; </p>
<p>The MPAA further notes that banning &#8220;piracy&#8221; and related terms from the trial would mean that witnesses can&#8217;t use the language they are used to in their day jobs. Instead, the studios and their witnesses would have to switch to &#8220;awkward phrases and euphemisms.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;The relief Defendants request, moreover, would prejudice the Plaintiffs by forcing their witnesses to testify without using the words they employ as part of their everyday job responsibilities combating the online theft of their works,&#8221; the MPAA writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants insist that Plaintiffs’ witnesses must resort to awkward phrases and euphemisms rather than using the more commonplace terms that the witnesses typically use and the jury will readily understand. This is nearly impossible – references to terms like “piracy” are pervasive in the testimony and trial exhibits in this case.&#8221; </p>
<p>In addition, the movie studios point out that avoiding the terms will prove to be quite a challenge. For example, Warner’s corporate representative, who will testify in the trial, has the word &#8220;piracy&#8221; in his job title. </p>
<p>District Court Judge Kathleen Williams is expected to rule on this, and several other motions, within a few days. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79271
title: Court Jails Torrent Site Owner and Issues Three Year Website Work Ban
uri: Court-Jails-Torrent-Site-Owner-and-Issues-Three-Year-Website-Work-Ban
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OnpL8P2usg0/
content:
<p><a href="media/31a0f46d.spain-flag.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spain-flag.jpg"><img src="media/31a0f46d.spain-flag.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spain-flag.jpg" alt="spain-flag" width="200" height="133" class="alignright size-full wp-image-22866" /></a>For many years Spain has been referred to as somewhat of a safe haven for file-sharing websites, with courts around the country regularly dismissing copyright cases brought by the mainstream entertainment companies.</p>
<p>But under pressure from the United States in particular, Spain has been forced to introduce new legislation or face the consequences of being labeled a bad player and commercial partner. To that end the country has amended its copyright law and indicated that it is prepared to get tough on facilitators of copyright infringement.</p>
<p>This week there was another sign that when the circumstances are right, Spain is indeed prepared to take a tough line against operators of file-sharing websites.</p>
<p>The case dates back to 2006 when IFPI affiliate PROMUSICAE (Spanish Music Producers) and MPA affiliate the Federation for the Protection of Intellectual Property (<a href="http://www.fap.org.es/">FAP</a>) teamed up to file complaints against local file-sharing sites.</p>
<p>What followed was police action in February and March 2007 which saw the closure of 21 websites including Bajatetodo (plus linked sites Bajateseries, Bajateanime and SoloDVDrip) and the <a href="http://www.elmundo.es/navegante/2007/03/28/tecnologia/1175082918.html">arrest</a> of 10 locals, none of whom had previous criminal records.</p>
<p>The case against Bajatetodo and associated sites has just concluded after more than six and a half years and it&#8217;s particularly bad news for the site&#8217;s former owner.</p>
<p>In a decision handed down October 30 but only just made public, the head of the Castellón criminal court sentenced David León Marín to 18 months in jail along with a fine of 21,000 euros.</p>
<p>The court said Marin had &#8220;..made available to Internet users content protected by intellectual property rights without authorization from the legal owner for profit and to the detriment of others.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition to the jail sentence and fines the 32-year-old was handed a ban which forbids him from creating or administering any website for a total of three years.</p>
<p><Center><img src="media/d4e90b64.bajatetodo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bajatetodo.jpg" alt="Bajetotodo" /></center></p>
<p>&#8220;With his technical intervention and having indexed, classified and discussed the works, [Marin] made the works directly available for download. It was his direct work and acts as an intermediary which gave access to the work in question,&#8221; anti-piracy group <a href="http://www.europapress.es/cultura/noticia-juez-castellon-condena-18-meses-carcel-propietario-web-enlaces-paginas-piratas-20131107114825.html">FAP</a> said in a statement.</p>
<p>FAP further adds that the verdict is in line with the decision in a <a href="http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/06/27/navegante/1372334025.html">case</a> concluded earlier this year which found that the admin of three sites &#8211; Divxonline.info, Estrenosonline.es and Seriesonline.es &#8211; was guilty of &#8220;communicating a work to the public&#8221;. He was sentenced to one year and seven months in prison. </p>
<p>&#8220;The significance of this ruling is that it confirms what other Spanish judges have also estimated and what we have always maintained in our defense of intellectual property, which is that linking is an act of making available to the internet user and should be considered a continuing offense against intellectual property.&#8221;</p>
<p>The decision to jail Marin comes just a day after former Minister of Culture Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde, whose name was used to refer to Spain&#8217;s anti-piracy &#8216;Sinde Law&#8217;, <a href="http://www.elmundo.es/tecnologia/2013/11/06/527a3db50ab740e45c8b4577.html">said</a> that the problem of unauthorized links appearing online would not be solved by putting citizens in jail.</p>
<p>David León Marín has 10 days to appeal.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79288
title: European Parliament Members Explore Decriminalizing File-Sharing
uri: European-Parliament-Members-Explore-Decriminalizing-File-Sharing
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nNPAv4xurgE/
content:
<p><img src="media/23e20654.europe-flag.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/europe-flag.png" alt="europe-flag" width="222" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79290" />The European Copyright Directive (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Directive">Infosoc</a>) dates back more than a decade.</p>
<p>At the time the Internet looked entirely different from how it does today and as a result many lawmakers believe that significant reforms are needed to bring legislation into line with present reality. </p>
<p>Last year several Members of the European Parliament sent a <a href="http://www.marietjeschaake.eu/2012/12/letter-to-president-barroso-on-the-need-for-copyright-reform/">letter</a> to the President of the European Commission to take up this issue.  </p>
<p>&#8220;People all over the EU are increasingly concerned that the copyright system is no longer for them, and that many aspects of copyright law as it is currently applied, managed and interpreted by courts in the member states is not satisfactory or relevant,&#8221; the letter read. </p>
<p>However, thus far the Commission has not followed this up, which has prompted the MEPs to take more concrete action themselves. This coming Tuesday European Parliament Members <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Andersdotter">Amelia Andersdotter</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marietje_Schaake">Marietje Schaake</a> and <a href="http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawe%C5%82_Zalewski">Pawel Zalewski</a> will host <a href="http://copyright4creativity.eu/2013/10/29/the-case-of-text-and-data-mining-12-nov-2013-european-parliament-brussels/">an event</a> to highlight the lack of progress and the need for change.</p>
<p>Talking to TorrentFreak, hostess and Pirate Party MEP Amelia Andersdotter explains that the current copyright directive is heavily outdated. It restricts people&#8217;s ability to enjoy and share culture, as they constantly have to worry about the legal ramifications.</p>
<p>&#8220;Infosoc has created a horrible licensing nightmare that no one is able to penetrate. Those who make use of culture &#8211; filesharers, DJs, libraries, schools &#8211; live in a constant state of uncertainty,&#8221; Andersdotter tells TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s really difficult to find out what the freedoms and rights are of those who use culture. What is permitted and not permitted? When is someone at risk of getting sued? The law really needs to make that more clear.&#8221;</p>
<p>Decriminalization of file-sharing is one of the issues that&#8217;s on the agenda. This directly affects over hundred million Europeans and will facilitate the development of new business models.  </p>
<p>But, while the file-sharing issue is good for grabbing headlines, the changes called for by Andersdotter and her colleagues are much broader.</p>
<p><img src="media/f66cffe6.amelia1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/amelia1.jpg" alt="amelia" width="222" height="265" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79292" />Information in general should be more readily available across Europe, without complex copyright limitations and restrictions. </p>
<p>&#8220;We want a reform of the copyright framework to enable greater legal certainty for those who make use of cultural works. Considerably more flexibilities should be worked into the system to enable better access to culture for libraries, online archives, research, visually impaired people and educators,&#8221; Andersdotter says. </p>
<p>&#8220;Decriminalizing file-sharing should of course be included in such a reform. That would decrease a lot of the negative pressure on new business models online, and on non-commercial uses of works.&#8221;</p>
<p>This coming Tuesday these and other issues will be discussed during &#8220;<a href="http://copyright4creativity.eu/2013/10/29/the-case-of-text-and-data-mining-12-nov-2013-european-parliament-brussels/">The Case of Text and Data Mining</a>&#8221; event. This event has been setup to encourage a more coordinated effort among MEPs of various parties to get the copyright reform ball rolling.</p>
<p>&#8220;My hopes are that this event will be the first step towards a longer-term platform for collaboration between like-minded members of Parliament who keep the interests of the European public at heart,&#8221; Andersdotter says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Starting next year, we have a new parliament and a new Commission, so I have a strong feeling that we need to coordinate early how to ensure that better legal certainty, and more freedom to use culture is established as a norm. More than any other time in Internet history, it&#8217;s important to build common and shared platforms of cultural exchange and dialogue,&#8221; she concludes.</p>
<p>For those who are interested, tickets for the event &#8211; which will also be <a href="http://eventstream.streamovations.be/copyright-research-and-innovation-policy.php">streamed live</a> &#8211; are still available. </p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> a <a href="http://eventstream.streamovations.be/copyright-research-and-innovation-policy.php">recorded version of the stream is available here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79302
title: Major Labels Prepare to Take Another Bite Out of Grooveshark
uri: Major-Labels-Prepare-to-Take-Another-Bite-Out-of-Grooveshark
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pfmS8sXdwNs/
content:
<p><img src="media/66f02b27.grooveshark1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grooveshark1.jpg" width="200" height="104" class="alignright" />When discussing Grooveshark with representatives of the company, they are very clear indeed. The music streaming service is 100% legitimate and is always looking to work with artists to monetize their content.</p>
<p>However, over the past several years Grooveshark has been tangled up in legal battles with all of the major labels over copyright and licensing related issues, conflicts which appear to have <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/groovesharks-future-in-doubt-after-settlements-with-big-music-130517/">cooled</a> but have yet to go away.</p>
<p>But despite a toning down of the war rhetoric and a recently <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/grooveshark-signs-with-sony-steps-over-that-wavy-piracy-line-130828/">signed deal</a> with Sony, Grooveshark has failed to become a service the labels are prepared to recommended to the public as they would a product like Spotify. In fact, there are signs that the labels still have bad feeling towards the US-based company, and not just on home soil either.</p>
<p>The BPI has now embarked on two major rounds of bulk site blocking in the UK. These initiatives first appear as communications sent out to members of music licensing outfit PPL in which they are asked if the sites listed have procured any licenses. The information is sent back to the BPI and then several months later court-ordered High Court blocking takes place.</p>
<p><img src="media/8e3166f9.bpi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bpi.jpg" width="180" height="63" class="alignright" />After learning of the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/music-labels-prepare-to-block-major-bittorrent-sites-120704/">first batch</a> mid 2012, in May 2013 TorrentFreak learned that the BPI was preparing the way for a second site <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/records-labels-prepare-massive-pirate-site-domain-blocking-blitz-130515/">blocking blitz</a>.</p>
<p>That process was completed on October 30 when the majority but not all sites on the May list were <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-bittorrent-and-music-download-sites-pushed-underground-in-the-uk-131030/">blocked </a>by UK ISPs.</p>
<p>As we noted at the time, one of the sites that remained unblocked despite being on the list was Grooveshark. Had the labels decided to let Grooveshark go, free to swim another day? New information received by TorrentFreak this week suggests that is almost certainly not the case.</p>
<p>In fresh correspondence sent out by PPL on behalf of the BPI, members are being asked about Grooveshark in the same format as they have been in previous preludes to site blocking.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/8cbdd5fd.PPL-Grooveshark.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/PPL-Grooveshark.png" alt="PPL-Grooveshark" /></center></p>
<p>While it seems fairly obvious what this is all about and where it will lead, speaking with TorrentFreak the BPI was a little more circumspect over the nature of this member polling.</p>
<p>&#8220;BPI regularly carries out intelligence on unlicensed websites. This helps to help protect musicians and support the growth of legal music services,&#8221; the music group told us. </p>
<p>&#8220;Checking with our and PPL’s members to see if they have licensed particular websites is an ongoing part of this process.  It’s something we did in respect of Grooveshark earlier this year and we are now updating our records to ensure they remain accurate.”</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Grooveshark to discuss the information detailed above but in line with our requests for comment on similar topics in the past, the company failed to respond to our emails.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79304
title: Trading & Selling Torrent Site Invites – Public Service or Outright Menace?
uri: Trading-Selling-Torrent-Site-Invites-Public-Service-or-Outright
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/06zUyfgJOiY/
content:
<p><a href="media/d8ee7766.private.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/private.jpg"><img src="media/d8ee7766.private.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/private.jpg" alt="private" width="180" height="120" class="alignright size-full wp-image-75301" /></a>Very generally there are three types of torrent site, each requiring a different level of commitment from the user.</p>
<p>First there are the no-signup required types that give free access to all of their features with no commitment required by the end user. Next there are the free to access sites that also offer additional features if the user is prepared to sign up with an email address. Finally we have private torrent sites that have all of their features behind a subscription wall. </p>
<p>Gaining access to this latter category can vary from a fairly simple process to an almost impossible one. Some private sites let new members sign up via an ordinary page with no additional restrictions but many operate an invite-only regime and are very strict about who should obtain them.</p>
<h2>The first hurdle, trading and cash</h2>
<p>Herein lies the problem. If a user wants access to BestTrackerInTheWorld.com he needs to have an online buddy already on the site with invites to spare &#8211;  if he doesn&#8217;t then he can&#8217;t get in. However, there are ways for people to obtain invites without having any &#8216;real&#8217; friends at all.</p>
<p>Firstly, there are sites around where people in possession of invites to site X are able to trade them with people who have invites to site Y. By sharing in this fashion a user with access to a couple of sites&#8217; invites can find himself with double or triple the amount, if he plays the game cautiously.</p>
<p>This activity is strictly against the rules of many private trackers but that doesn&#8217;t stop those wishing to trade. Many traders build up vast collections of invites which are not only valuable in terms of the access they provide, but in a real monetary way too. And when there&#8217;s cash on the table, getting access to that all-important first invite isn&#8217;t hard at all.</p>
<p>There are plenty of places online where people can buy an invitation to a low-end private tracker for just a few bucks. Furthermore, those with deep pockets should have no problems gaining access to even the most exclusive private trackers, providing the price is right.</p>
<h2>Trading scum</h2>
<p><a href="media/2162d4ce.danger.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/danger.jpg"><img src="media/91c96310.danger-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/danger-150x150.jpg" alt="danger" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-51238" /></a>At this point many admins, moderators, staffers and users of private torrent sites will be screaming at the screen. Trading and selling invites is almost always completely banned on invite-only sites and those who participate in either activity are often viewed as the lowest of the low.</p>
<p>&#8220;These scum put our security in jeopardy,&#8221; a moderator of one site told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;Any anti-piracy company can buy an invite and put the whole site at risk. We don&#8217;t want traders on the tracker and them being there undermines our work.&#8221;</p>
<p>However, trackers do allow members who have proved themselves in some way to give out a few invitations of their own. They are supposed to do this carefully, to people they already trust and only to those who will contribute positively to the site. But how can site operators be sure that&#8217;s going to happen?</p>
<p>&#8220;Well if they screw up and invite a trader/seller/cheater whatever, they&#8217;re gonna get their account banned aren&#8217;t they?&#8221; a staffer on another site told us.</p>
<p>But just as an anti-piracy company might threaten a file-sharer with prosecution for his transgressions (and be completely ignored of course), invite sellers and traders don&#8217;t follow tracker rules either.</p>
<h2>Getting organized &#8211; trading and selling invites on the web</h2>
<p>One site that aims to drive a bus through the invite wall is <a href="http://torrentinvites.org">TorrentInvites.org</a> (TI). This site and its users give away and sell/trade invites (plus <a href="http://torrentinvites.org/f9/lets-get-party-started-75152/#post363151">other items</a> such as seedboxes) and its operator is only too aware that his work is unappreciated by many private trackers.</p>
<p>&#8220;I know that trackers are calling us scumbags or whatever, because they want users to invite only REAL friends on their sites. But come on&#8230; we&#8217;re in 2013. The power of the net is HUGE and our virtual friends are (unfortunately in my opinion) in many cases more than our real friends,&#8221; he told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;I find it funny that these guys who are breaking federal copyright laws are calling us scumbags, because we are breaking their (shitty in my opinion) anti-trading and anti-selling invites rules.&#8221;</p>
<p>We asked the operator of one private tracker for his opinion of TI and while he didn&#8217;t use the word &#8216;scumbag&#8217; he did get to the point in a four letter word that you rarely hear even in the movies. He also threatened to nuke anyone even slightly associated with the site. However, the admin of TI doesn&#8217;t see his operation as the natural enemy of torrent sites.</p>
<h2>Let&#8217;s be friends</h2>
<p><a href="media/3f418234.friends.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/friends.jpg"><img src="media/3f418234.friends.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/friends.jpg" alt="friends" width="180" height="147" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79345" /></a>&#8220;We are just giving the chance to many thousands of users to join some good private trackers. To users who are not lucky enough to have real friends to invite them. To users who can prove in the near future that they really deserved this chance,&#8221; TI explains.</p>
<p>While the trackers&#8217; stance is understandable, to his credit TI does put forward what appear to be some logical arguments in support of his operation being of use to trackers.</p>
<p>&#8220;A guy who is willing to pay for an invite is probably the kind of user who is going to donate to a tracker as well. I think it makes sense!&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Another interesting example. Let&#8217;s suppose that an HDBits.org account costs $200. A guy doesn&#8217;t really need his account and he is selling it to another user. Isn&#8217;t it obvious that the new owner needs it more and will make better use of the account than the previous user?</p>
<p>&#8220;What trackers want are good users. Why the hell will they ban this account if they find out<br />
that there was a deal involved? If [the trackers] would let each user to do whatever he likes with his account, after a while they would have the best possible user base.&#8221;</p>
<p>Countering, the retired sysop of another tracker told us that anyone buying invites for large amounts of cash should always be viewed with suspicion as anti-piracy outfits tend to have deep pockets. That may well be, but aren&#8217;t they also just as capable of infiltrating communities, making online &#8216;friends&#8217; and obtaining invites for free?</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure it happens but we wanted to try to reduce the odds,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if it worked or not, all I can say is that it seemed effective at the time. What I hated most was seeing some kid punting our invites all over the place and making good money when we were struggling to pay our server bills.&#8221;</p>
<h2>Trackers sell invites too</h2>
<p><a href="media/c9e6482e.cash1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cash1.jpg"><img src="media/c9e6482e.cash1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cash1.jpg" alt="cash" width="200" height="121" class="alignright size-full wp-image-24443" /></a>While the sysop above clearly wasn&#8217;t prepared to step over the line and sell his own invites, there are quite a few sites who are currently doing that.</p>
<p>Visitors to some of the larger private trackers will be aware that while the sites are advertised as full, room can apparently be made for those prepared to donate in return for an invite. However, while not always advertised as blatantly as this, other sites are indeed involved in selling their own invites.</p>
<p>One trader who asked to remain anonymous told TorrentFreak that over the past year he has obtained an official supply of invites from almost a dozen private trackers which he sells and sends back a cut.</p>
<p>&#8220;Some they are wanting me to sell invites only to the best users but others they do not care about it,&#8221; he explains. &#8220;I give them money and they give me invites, beyond that does not concern me.&#8221;</p>
<h2>Selling, trading or giving away &#8211; can security ever be assured?</h2>
<p>TI notes that just because an invite channel is official &#8211; whether that is via the site itself or some other sanctioned source &#8211; it doesn&#8217;t necessarily follow that the quality of new members will be high.</p>
<p>&#8220;Just keep in mind that MANY (bad) users are getting invites in a &#8216;legit&#8217; way, through tracker&#8217;s forums or official recruitment threads [on sites such as Reddit etc] and they are selling/trading these invites,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>The issue of invites is controversial and unlikely to disappear soon. Trackers obviously have an interest in having some sort of control over who gets them when their security is at stake. On the other hand, however, trackers themselves are giving invites to people that they do not personally know yet are asking their members not to follow suit.</p>
<p>In the meantime sites like TI ignore all the rules in order to give the community what they believe it really wants. Who is right? You decide&#8230;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79356
title: McAfee Brands The Pirate Bay as a Security Threat
uri: McAfee-Brands-The-Pirate-Bay-as-a-Security-Threat
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zzZRCY_m6gU/
content:
<p><img src="media/e8d75bee.mcafee.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mcafee.png" align="right" alt="mcafee" />For years the MPAA and RIAA have been warning people not to visit The Pirate Bay and other sites where pirated files are traded. These sites pose a threat to the public, they argue, and now McAfee appears to agree. </p>
<p>McAfee&#8217;s free diagnostic tool <a href="http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/freescan.aspx">Security Scan Plus</a> is currently branding several file-sharing related sites and services (The Pirate Bay included) as &#8220;harmful.&#8221;  </p>
<p>Interestingly, McAfee&#8217;s tool is not very consistent. The Pirate Bay stopped being a threat when we performed a new scan, with Torrentz.eu and Kat.ph taking its place. When we pushed the &#8220;scan again&#8221; button once more ThePirateBay.org reappeared together with PirateProxy.net. </p>
<p>Adding to the already confusing results, it&#8217;s also quite odd that only The Pirate Bay&#8217;s former .org domain is listed, as this currently acts as little more than a redirect to the newer .sx domain name.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Security threats according to McAfee</h5>
<p><a href="media/63147832.mcafee-threat.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mcafee-threat.png"><img src="media/63147832.mcafee-threat.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mcafee-threat.png" alt="mcafee-threat" width="577" height="555" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79357" /></a></center></p>
<p>Security Scan Plus is not much more that a marketing vehicle to get people to buy McAfee products, so perhaps we shouldn&#8217;t expect too much from it. That said, it would be helpful to get some additional information on why these sites are classified as security threats. </p>
<p>One option could be that these sites work with suspicious ad networks. However, this doesn&#8217;t apply to <a href="http://btguard.com">BTGuard</a>, a BitTorrent proxy and VPN provider that doesn&#8217;t have any advertising on its website.</p>
<p>We assume that McAfee pulls the threat data from its SiteAdvisor tool. Here ThePirateBay.org is <a href="http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/thepiratebay.org">categorized</a> as &#8220;Potential Illegal Software,&#8221; the same label as <a href="http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/kat.ph">many</a> <a href="http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/torrentz.eu">other</a> torrent sites. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Potential Illegal Software</h5>
<p><a href="media/987dfff3.suspicious.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/suspicious.png"><img src="media/987dfff3.suspicious.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/suspicious.png" alt="suspicious" width="577" height="316" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79361" /></a></center></p>
<p>BTGuard is even <a href="http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/btguard.com">more dangerous</a> according to the security company, but no additional information other than categorizing the site as &#8220;Potential Illegal Software, Anonymizers&#8221; is offered.</p>
<p>The above isn&#8217;t exactly promising for the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mcafee-patents-technology-to-detect-and-block-pirated-content-130424/">new anti-piracy tool</a> the company is developing to extend its SiteAdvisor service. Earlier McAfee submitted a patent for a system that can detect and block pirated material from any website and present users with authorized and legal alternatives. </p>
<p>By preventing people from inadvertently visiting pirate websites, McAfee hopes that the technology will educate consumers on how to make the right choices when looking for entertainment online. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, at the moment McAfee is mostly showing how inaccurate classification systems can lead to overblocking.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79409
title: BitTorrent Traffic Drops in America, Grows in Europe
uri: BitTorrent-Traffic-Drops-in-America-Grows-in-Europe
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fwli-qqPz3A/
content:
<p><a href="media/59d6682b.download-keyboard.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/download-keyboard.jpg"><img src="media/59d6682b.download-keyboard.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/download-keyboard.jpg" alt="download-keyboard" width="200" height="138" class="alignright size-full wp-image-73383" /></a>Over the years we have been following various reports on Internet traffic changes, specifically in relation to BitTorrent. </p>
<p>One of the emerging trends is BitTorrent and P2P traffic as a whole losing its share of total Internet traffic, in North America at least. A new report published <a href="https://www.sandvine.com/trends/global-internet-phenomena/">by Sandvine</a> this morning confirms the downward spiral but also suggests that there is actually less BitTorrent traffic. </p>
<p>Previously BitTorrent only lost some of its share of overall Internet traffic, but now the actual bandwidth consumed by the protocol also appears to be in decline.</p>
<p>Compared to six months ago BitTorrent&#8217;s share of all Internet traffic during peak hours in North America dropped by 20% to 7.39%. At the same the average bandwidth consumed by Internet subscribers remained relatively stable at 44.5 gigabyte per month, suggesting that BitTorrent traffic has gone down overall.</p>
<p>This would be the first time in history that the bandwidth consumed by BitTorrent transfers has declined. However, the results should be interpreted with caution as the lack of growth in bandwidth consumption is suspicious, especially when compared to previous years.</p>
<p>The graph below shows the usage for various types of traffic during peak hours, where BitTorrent takes up 36.35% of all upstream bandwidth. Netflix is the absolute king in terms of downstream traffic here, accounting for nearly one-third of all traffic during peak hours.</p>
<p>Impressively, Netflix and YouTube together are good for half of all downstream traffic during peak hours in North America.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>op 10 Peak Period Applications (North America, Fixed Access</h5>
<p><img src="media/8c9d8363.sandvine-2013-h2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sandvine-2013-h2.jpg" alt="sandvine-2013-h2" width="594" height="319" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79414" /></center></p>
<p>The Sandvine report further shows that the decline in BitTorrent traffic is limited to North America. In Europe, for example, BitTorrent&#8217;s share of total Internet traffic increased over the past half-year, as did the total volume of BitTorrent traffic. </p>
<p>During peak hours nearly half of all upstream traffic (48%) in Europe can now be attributed to BitTorrent. In Asia-Pacific and Latin America, BitTorrent traffic is still on the rise according to Sandvine&#8217;s data, with 21% and 11% of total Internet traffic during peak hours.</p>
<p>Assuming that BitTorrent traffic did indeed decline in North America, there are several factors that may explain this finding. It could be that the start of the U.S. Copyright Alert System in February caused people to stop downloading, or download less. </p>
<p>In addition, the increased availability of legal download and streaming options may have steered people away from sharing copyrighted material via BitTorrent. </p>
<p>Time will tell whether the downward trend in North America will continue in the months to come, and how the global differences in BitTorrent usage will develop.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79389
title: Piracy Release Group Has Been Spying on Downloaders For 9 Months
uri: Piracy-Release-Group-Has-Been-Spying-on-Downloaders-For-9-Months
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HLP63gzUyt4/
content:
<p><a href="media/0fdc72be.warez.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warez.jpg"><img src="media/0fdc72be.warez.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warez.jpg" alt="warez" width="200" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-45883" /></a>If the RIAA and MPAA are to be believed, torrent and other file-sharing sites are incredibly dangerous places. Anyone visiting them should be prepared to become infected with a virus, infiltrated by malware, or be otherwise exposed to similar threats.</p>
<p>The actual situation is nowhere near as bad as some would like to make out, but every now and again something happens to remind us that it is very possible for something nasty to slip through the net.</p>
<p>On February 12, 2013 a new warez group appeared calling themselves MeGaHeRTZ. Their first release was BurnAware Professional v6.0 plus a patch to remove the software&#8217;s protection. Over the months that followed the group released a lot of noteworthy products such as SmartFTP, DVDFab, FlashFXP, Incredimail, Traktor and hundreds more, each with the obligatory &#8216;freebie&#8217; patch.</p>
<p>Tomorrow the group will have been operating for a full nine months and during that time their releases have spread to every corner of the Internet. However, far from merely wanting to do downloaders a favor, MeGaHeRTZ have been playing a little dirty.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h1>A small sample of MeGaHeRTZ releases</h1>
<p><img src="media/e9e6e6d3.megahertz.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megahertz.png" alt="Megahertz" /></center></p>
<p>Over the weekend a notice spread around the warez scene which detailed how one individual became alarmed by unusual firewall activity after he had installed, ironically, a MeGaHeRTZ release of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro.</p>
<p>The problem reportedly came from patch that MeGaHeRTZ supplied with the release which attempted to send out traffic on port 25, a port commonly used to send email. The same individual who found the strange activity then ran the patch through a debugger and to his alarm found that it was harvesting information from the host machine.</p>
<p>The data being gathered from infected machines includes the username, computer name/drive serial obtained from the Windows API, and the host machine&#8217;s IP address. This information is then packaged up and sent off to any of three predetermined email addresses, all of which have account names containing some variation of the MeGaHeRTZ group name.</p>
<p>Further tests were carried out on several other MeGaHeRTZ releases and they were all found to carry similar mechanisms for pulling data from host machines and funneling it back to the release group.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h1>The scene reacts &#8211; all MeGaHeRTZ releases get nuked</h1>
<p><img src="media/6e0e7754.megahertz1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megahertz1.png" alt="Megahertznuke" /></center></p>
<p>Quite what MeGaHeRTZ intend to do with the data is unclear but it appears that as an active release group they are now finished, at least under their current identity. On Saturday the warez scene took action to &#8216;nuke&#8217; every MeGaHeRTZ release, which means they won&#8217;t be allowed to release anymore.</p>
<p>Revealing malware in scene releases is a very unusual occurrence and malicious content is usually added at a later stage by third parties. Still, the damage has now been done. MeGaHeRTZ releases are now all over the Internet and there is nothing that anyone can do to get them back. Avoidance is the only solution now.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79375
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week
uri: 2013-11-11-Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/J0_8r_hTUDY/
content:
<p><a href="media/3e27bfb4.wolverine1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wolverine1.jpg"><img src="media/3e27bfb4.wolverine1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wolverine1.jpg" alt="wolverine" width="250" height="205" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79378" /></a>This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>The Wolverine is the most downloaded movie. </p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover" summary="Most downloaded movies on BitTorrent">
<caption>Week ending November 10, 2013</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-131104/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wolverine_2012/">The Wolverine</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1272878/">6.9</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh1LdTFkm7I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/percy_jackson_sea_of_monsters/">Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1854564/">6.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KoOtiuSjuI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2_guns/">2 Guns</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/">7.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVNe3RK2fgI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_2/">Red 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821694/">6.9</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfB8QwYBPxY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_smurfs_2/">The Smurfs 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017020/">5.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQbSGLaVJ5c">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/were_the_millers/">We&#8217;re The Millers</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723121/">7.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUR0NxUX4PU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_last_days_on_mars/">The Last Days on Mars</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1709143/?">6.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6JiCJ5x3Qw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hours_2013/">Hours</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2094018/">5.5</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM78CUp451Q">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elysium_2013/">Elysium</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535108/">7.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILNSgou5BY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/despicable_me_2/">Despicable Me 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690953/">7.7</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwXbtZXjbVE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79427
title: Australian Government Funds BitTorrent Release Sci-Fi TV Series
uri: Australian-Government-Funds-BitTorrent-Release-Sci-Fi-TV-Series
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_O7qNUzPPbk/
content:
<p><a href="media/9fc5ad33.screenaussie.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/screenaussie.jpg"><img src="media/9fc5ad33.screenaussie.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/screenaussie.jpg" alt="screenaussie" width="200" height="75" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79442" /></a>In June 2010, Julian Harvey and Enzo Tedeschi who together form Australia-based Distracted Media, announced a crowd-funding campaign for a brand new movie.</p>
<p>The Tunnel, a horror movie set in the abandoned real-life tunnels under Sydney, was to be financed by the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-tunnel-buy-a-frame-of-a-bittorrent-only-horror-movie-100617/">135K Project</a>, a reference to the 135,000 frames that people could buy individually to make up the finished product.</p>
<p>The movie launched on BitTorrent during 2011 in a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-tunnel-seals-distribution-deal-with-bittorrent-inc-and-vodo-110513/">tie up</a> with BitTorrent Inc. and indie platform VODO, was shown on TV, and also pulled <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/paramount-pictures-partner-with-bittorrent-release-movie-110317/">off a deal</a> with Paramount Pictures.</p>
<p>While BitTorrent releases are now much more common than they were a few years ago, Distracted Media&#8217;s new BitTorrent project is of particular interest due to the way it&#8217;s being funded.</p>
<p>Next year Distracted Media will start filming Airlock, a new sci-fi thriller TV series set on a derelict space ship and an isolated space station. They&#8217;re going to be looking to raise $100,000 via a Kickstarter campaign set to launch in the next few hours but Enzo and Julian have already secured additional significant funding from an interesting source.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/">Screen Australia</a> is the Australian Federal Government’s main funding body for the promotion, development and distribution of Australian screen content. The government body has dug deep, awarding $350,000 to produce the series, a first for a BitTorrent-focused release.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/df44a8ee.airlock.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/airlock.jpg" alt="Airlock" /></center></p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been talking with Screen Australia&#8217;s various departments since The Tunnel was released. To their credit, some of them actually sought us out in order to work out what we did and why,&#8221; Distracted Media&#8217;s Enzo Tedeschi told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s still a certain amount of mystery surrounding it for many, but they get that there&#8217;s a huge potential audience there for legitimately released shows and films.&#8221;</p>
<p>Once the show is produced it will premiere on BitTorrent, although at the moment the show isn&#8217;t locked into BitTorrent Inc. or VODO as The Tunnel was. The episodes are likely to be released on torrents each week with other formats following after.</p>
<p>But despite the successes, there have been problems for Distracted to negotiate on the way.</p>
<p>&#8220;We faced a sizable backlash from &#8216;traditional&#8217; media when we did The Tunnel, despite the torrent release being completely authorized by us and on the up-and-up,&#8221; Enzo explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;We even got blocked from major retailers stocking the DVDs at release despite having Transmission / Paramount on board distributing them in Australia. We also encountered resistance from Movie Extra when we wanted to release our last online show &#8211; Event Zero &#8211; via torrents as well.&#8221;</p>
<p>So considering those obstacles, what does it feel like to have financial backing from the government for a BitTorrent release?</p>
<p>&#8220;With Australia having such a huge rate of piracy per capita, the dreaded &#8216;t&#8217;-word is often a problem politically, so to speak, in the film and TV industry. To have Screen Australia fund Airlock with its torrent release strategy and no other traditional &#8216;broadcast partners&#8217; locked in<br />
is pretty significant for us. It feels like a vindication of the last couple of years, that people have actually been listening,&#8221; Enzo concludes.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.distractedmedia.tv/">Airlock homepage</a> currently features a countdown which by the time you read this should be nearing its conclusion, signaling the launch of the Kickstarter campaign which will feature all the usual perks for contributors.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79384
title: Google Deleted 200 Million “Pirate” Search Results in 2013
uri: Google-Deleted-200-Million-Pirate-Search-Results-in-2013
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/AtVWnXJEcTc/
content:
<p><img src="media/3a6fa524.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg" align="right" alt="google" />Since last year copyright holders have started to increase the number of DMCA takedown requests they send to Google. </p>
<p>In 2011 Google was asked to remove less than 10 million links from its search engine. Last year this quickly grew to more than 50 million and in 2013 this might quintuple again to a quarter billion allegedly infringing links. </p>
<p>Google doesn’t report yearly figures, but TorrentFreak compiled all the <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/">weekly reports</a> and found that the number of URLs submitted by copyright holders just surpassed the 200 million mark &#8211; 202,230,523 to be precise &#8211; of which roughly 99% were removed from Google&#8217;s search results. </p>
<p>The BPI and RIAA are the most active senders of DMCA takedown requests. The music groups have sent notices for <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/reporters/?r=last-year">43 million and 31 million URLs</a> respectively over the past year. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/dd65581f.google-dmca1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-dmca1.png" alt="google-dmca" width="582" height="295" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79412" /></center></p>
<p>In total 29,434 copyright holders asked Google to remove links from 295,726 domains. File-hosting search engine FilesTube is the <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/domains/?r=last-year">most targeted site</a> &#8211; the Polish company had a huge 7,677,420 links removed from Google&#8217;s search results over the past year.</p>
<p>While Google responds swiftly to takedown requests, copyright holders are far from satisfied.  </p>
<p>For the RIAA the staggering amount of takedown requests only confirms the notion that the process isn&#8217;t very effective, and that search engines need to do more. Brad Buckles, RIAA executive vice president of anti-piracy, previously suggested that Google should start banning <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-20-million-piracy-takedowns-sent-to-google-still-no-end-in-sight-130522/">entire domains</a> from its search results.</p>
<p>“Every day produces more results and there is no end in sight. We are using a bucket to deal with an ocean of illegal downloading,”  Buckles said.</p>
<p>“Isn’t it simply logical and fair at some point to conclude that such links are infringing without requiring content owners to keep expending time and resources to have the link taken down?”</p>
<p>On the other side of the entertainment spectrum the MPAA also sees room for improvement. Last month the movie studio group released a new report suggesting that Google and other search engines are <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-accuses-google-of-breeding-pirates-130919/">major piracy facilitators</a>. In line with the RIAA, the MPAA urges Google to do more to keep people away from &#8220;pirate&#8221; sites. </p>
<p>“Search engines bear responsibility for introducing people to infringing content &#8212; even people who aren’t actively looking for it,&#8221; MPAA boss and former Senator Chris Dodd said at the time. </p>
<p>&#8220;The television and movie community is working every day to develop new and innovative ways to watch content online, and as the Internet’s gatekeepers, search engines share a responsibility to play a constructive role in not directing audiences to illegitimate content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Google hasn&#8217;t been completely deaf to the concerns of copyright holders and recently released a report of their own, detailing the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/how-google-helps-copyright-holders-to-fight-piracy-130911/">various anti-piracy measures</a> it uses. However, the company also noted the importance of legal offerings. Without legal options it’s hard to beat unauthorized copying, Google argued.</p>
<p>“Piracy often arises when consumer demand goes unmet by legitimate supply. As services ranging from Netflix to Spotify to iTunes have demonstrated, the best way to combat piracy is with better and more convenient legitimate services,&#8221; the company explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;The right combination of price, convenience, and inventory will do far more to reduce piracy than enforcement can.”</p>
<p>From the above it&#8217;s clear that there is still a wide gap between the demands of rightsholders and what Google is willing to offer them. Since lawmakers in the United States are looking to update the current DMCA, the outcome of the battle may in part shape future copyright law.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79481
title: First Leaked TPP Chapter Evokes Memories of SOPA
uri: First-Leaked-TPP-Chapter-Evokes-Memories-of-SOPA
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/beEZl8PY31c/
content:
<p><img src="media/6a814442.tpp.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpp.png" alt="tpp" width="177" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79498" />The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is currently working towards the creation of a regional free-trade agreement between several Asia-Pacific countries which together account for around 40% of the world&#8217;s GDP.</p>
<p>The agreement aims to create deep economic ties between a dozen countries &#8211; Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, United States, Vietnam, Mexico, Canada and New Zealand &#8211; by easing trade in goods and services, encouraging investment, and forging understandings across a wide range of policy issues.</p>
<p>Negotiations between the nations have been running for around two and a half years and the TPP agreement itself is now reportedly more than 1,000 pages deep. Overall the negotiations have drawn criticism for their secrecy but today Wikileaks announced that they had obtained a copy of the &#8220;most controversial chapter&#8221; from the TPP agreement which reveals the negotiation positions for all 12 countries on IP and copyright issues.</p>
<p>Many topics are covered in the chapter including DRM and other &#8216;technical measures&#8217;, extended copyright terms, increased penalties for infringement and ISP liability, the latter with a proposal for &#8220;adopting and reasonably implementing a policy that provides for termination in appropriate circumstances of the accounts of repeat infringers.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reception to the leaked agreement has so far been highly critical. Knowledge Ecology International <a href="http://keionline.org/node/1825">notes</a> that the TPP IPR chapter not only proposes the granting of more patents, expansion of rightsholder privileges and increased penalties for infringement, but also plans the creation of intellectual property rights on data.</p>
<p>&#8220;The TPP text shrinks the space for exceptions in all types of intellectual property rights. Negotiated in secret, the proposed text is bad for access to knowledge, bad for access to medicine, and profoundly bad for innovation,&#8221; KEI concludes.</p>
<p>Burcu Kilic, an intellectual property lawyer with Public Citizen, says that some of the proposals in the text evoke memories of the controversial SOPA legislation in the United States.</p>
<p>“The WikiLeaks text also features Hollywood and recording industry inspired proposals – think about the SOPA debacle – to limit Internet freedom and access to educational materials, to force Internet providers to act as copyright enforcers and to cut off people’s Internet access,” Kilic says.</p>
<p>Collectively the items in this version of the leaked draft reveal argument and opposition on dozens if not hundreds of points from one or several countries. In fact while there are many, many proposals, it is striking that there is a clear lack of final agreement across the board on almost all of the issues.</p>
<p>Kilic describes the proposals as having reached a &#8220;negotiation stalemate.&#8221; His colleague, Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s global access to medicines program, lays the blame for that at the feet of the United States.</p>
<p>“Given how much text remains disputed, the negotiation will be very difficult to conclude,” Maybarduk says. “Much more forward-looking proposals have been advanced by the other parties, but unless the U.S drops its out-there-alone demands, there may be no deal at all.”</p>
<p>The full agreement can be <a href="media/07a4b1b6.Wikileaks-secret-TPP-treaty-IP-chapter.pdf" data-original-source="http://wikileaks.org/tpp/static/pdf/Wikileaks-secret-TPP-treaty-IP-chapter.pdf">downloaded here</a> (PDF).</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79434
title: Bram Cohen Understands Why Pirates Prefer BitTorrent Over Netflix
uri: Bram-Cohen-Understands-Why-Pirates-Prefer-BitTorrent-Over-Netflix
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4bPThc033_Y/
content:
<p><img src="media/5376061e.bc1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bc1.jpg" alt="bc" width="190" height="189" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79438" />Earlier this year the season finale of Game of Thrones was pirated by <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-tv-shows-of-the-season-130622/">more than five million people</a> using the popular BitTorrent protocol. </p>
<p>While unauthorized downloading is nothing new, it appears that many of these pirates still prefer the BitTorrent option even though they can watch the show for free on Netflix. And we&#8217;re not talking about trivial numbers here.</p>
<p>News Corp CEO Robert Thomson estimated that <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/subscribers-pirate-game-of-thrones-even-though-they-already-paid-for-it-130925/">no less than 20%</a> of all Foxtel subscribers who already paid for access to the show chose to pirate it instead. With other popular shows <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/breaking-bad-finale-clocks-500000-pirated-downloads-130930/">such as Breaking Bad</a> a similar pattern emerges. </p>
<p>According to Bram Cohen, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Cohen">inventor of BitTorrent</a> and <a href="http://www.bittorrent.com/company/about/management">chief scientist</a> of the similarly named company, this doesn&#8217;t come as a surprise. Talking with the BBC&#8217;s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03j0qq3/Click_09_11_2013/">Click</a>, Cohen notes that in terms of video delivery BitTorrent is far superior to the systems currently used by Netflix and other video services.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fact is that by using BitTorrent it&#8217;s possible to give customers a much better experience with much less cost than has ever been possible before. It&#8217;s really not being utilized properly and that&#8217;s really unfortunate,&#8221; Cohen says.</p>
<p>BitTorrent&#8217;s inventor says he doesn&#8217;t own a TV at home, but he does watch Netflix on occasion. However, not with too much pleasure as the video quality that&#8217;s offered by the streaming service is less than acceptable. </p>
<p>&#8220;I actually don&#8217;t have a TV at home myself, but I do watch stuff on Netflix and I find it very frustrating because the video quality is really terrible,&#8221; Cohen says. </p>
<p>Cohen believes that many pirates share similar frustrations, which may explain why so many people pirate video content via BitTorrent, even those who have a Netflix account and can watch it legally. In fact, if he wasn&#8217;t such a prominent figure he probably be a pirate himself. </p>
<p>&#8220;I really go out of my way to not do the slightest hint of pirating anything ever, but if I were just some nobody [...] I would probably pirate some of the stuff that I can watch on Netflix and already paid for, because I&#8217;d like to watch it in higher resolution.&#8221;</p>
<p>Moving on to the legal aspects of piracy, Cohen doesn&#8217;t believe that copyright infringement is a crime that&#8217;s on par with manslaughter or shoplifting, but stops short of explaining exactly what it is.</p>
<p>&#8220;Copyright infringement is not a crime in the way that beating up someone is a crime, or stealing an actual physical good form a store is a crime. It&#8217;s something else.&#8221;</p>
<p>Looking at the future, Cohen says he eventually hopes to be remembered for more than just creating one of the most disruptive technologies for the entertainment industries. According to him there are more important things he can delve into, including  power generation and <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/shops/bram_cohen">3D printing</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think my work is done,&#8221; Cohen says.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79500
title: Movie Studios Win ISP Blockade Against SolarMovie and TubePlus
uri: Movie-Studios-Win-ISP-Blockade-Against-SolarMovie-and-TubePlus
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xYtUcr6x8G0/
content:
<p><a href="media/0689e57a.tubeplus.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tubeplus.png"><img src="media/0689e57a.tubeplus.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tubeplus.png" alt="tubeplus" width="190" height="102" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79503" /></a>In recent years the UK has become the easiest country in the world in which to have a website censored on copyright grounds.</p>
<p>With several successful court orders in hand it is now a mere formality to have a torrent site or streaming portal blocked under Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.</p>
<p>Today another round of blocks was announced in a case initiated by the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The High Court ruled in favor of the major movie studios who had filed demands for six major Internet providers to block subscriber access to the streaming sites TubePlus and SolarMovie.</p>
<p>As in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/music-biz-refines-technique-large-scale-web-blocking-just-around-the-corner-130614/">previous cases</a> the ISPs did not contest the case in court, while the sites in question were not given express opportunity to defend themselves. This means that both sites will be blocked by BT, Sky, Virgin Media, O2, EE and TalkTalk in the near future. </p>
<p>TubePlus and SolarMovie are two of the most popular streaming sites and are ranked as the <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/tubeplus.me#trafficstats">558th</a> and <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/solarmovie.so#trafficstats">346th</a> most-visited websites in the UK respectively. Worldwide the streaming portals are estimated to have dozens of millions of visitors every month. </p>
<p>UK movie industry anti-piracy group FACT is happy with the ruling, which they say will help to protect the work of rightsholders. According to FACT both TubePlus and SolarMovie were contacted, but the sites repeatedly ignored takedown requests from copyright holders.</p>
<p>“FACT’s members create exciting entertainment for audiences of all ages and we work to protect the jobs of tens of thousands of people in the UK and the investments made in new content,&#8221; a FACT spokesman told TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>&#8220;All of the sites in recent actions have been asked to comply with UK and international law and have refused to do so.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Solarmovie.so</h5>
<p><img src="media/4db9b798.solarmovie.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/solarmovie.jpg" alt="solarmovie" width="599" height="619" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79502" /></center></p>
<p>The movie studios are not the only ones cheering on the new verdict. Christine Payne of the UK actor&#8217;s union Equity <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/uk-court-orders-isps-block-655614">described</a> the ruling as &#8220;a great step forward in the fight to ensure creators’ rights are respected online.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;These websites steal creative works for their own, untaxed, profit whilst paying nothing back to creators themselves. It is right and proper that legal, proportionate action be taken to tackle these sites to help turn the tide of widespread online copyright infringement,&#8221; Payne added.</p>
<p>The UK Pirate Party and several civil rights groups have been more critical of the ever-growing list of banned sites. In particular, they are worried about the lack of transparency as most court orders are not made public.  </p>
<p>“In the Pirate Party we have always maintained that website blocking is dangerous. Where does this end?&#8221; UK Pirate Party leader Loz Kaye previously <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-start-blocking-kickasstorrents-h33t-and-fenopy-130321/">told TorrentFreak</a>.</p>
<p>FACT told us that an end to site blocking requests is not in sight, on the contrary in fact. Alongside other entertainment industry groups they will continue to file new cases against &#8220;pirate&#8221; sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sites that continually allow infringing material to be hosted, linked or streamed can be in no doubt that sanctions will be taken against them,” FACT explained.</p>
<p>And so the game of Whack-A-Mole will continue, and undoubtedly more websites will be added to the country’s unofficial ban list in the months to come. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79531
title: MPAA Wants Advanced Anti-Piracy Measures at Movie Theaters
uri: MPAA-Wants-Advanced-Anti-Piracy-Measures-at-Movie-Theaters
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/d1ULEHtss-E/
content:
<p><img src="media/3973814a.night-vision-goggles.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com//images/night-vision-goggles.jpg" align="right" alt="goggles" />To prevent movie piracy, theaters nowadays are becoming more secure than some airports.</p>
<p>During pre-release screenings and premieres employees are often equipped with night-vision goggles and instructed to closely monitor movie goers. In some cases members of the public are instructed to hand over all recording-capable devices including phones, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/movie-goer-searched-for-camming-kit-threatened-over-candy-090317/">or even their candy</a>. </p>
<p>While these measures are not always appreciated by the average movie goer they appear to have had some effect, as so-called &#8220;CAM&#8221; releases are becoming more rare. Perhaps motivated by this success, the MPAA has now updated its &#8220;Best Practices to Prevent Film Theft&#8221; guide for movie theaters.</p>
<p>In the revised guide the MPAA has stripped the billions of dollars in claimed losses that were included previously, but stresses that illegal camcording remains a significant problem. The movie industry group therefore advises theater owners to strictly prohibit the use of equipment that can record audio, video, or even take photographs.</p>
<p>&#8220;The MPAA recommends that theaters adopt a Zero Tolerance policy that prohibits the video or audio recording and the taking of photographs of any portion of a movie,&#8221; MPAA states.</p>
<p>The best practices now also clarify that when a suspect individual is spotted, theater employees should take immediate action. Even when in doubt, the local police should be notified as soon as possible.</p>
<p>&#8220;Theater managers should  immediately alert law enforcement authorities whenever they suspect prohibited activity is taking place.    Do not assume that a cell phone or digital camera is being used to take still photographs and not a full-length video recording.&#8221; </p>
<p><a href="media/79c1b654.lcbusted.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lcbusted.jpg"><img src="media/79c1b654.lcbusted.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lcbusted.jpg" alt="lcbusted" width="200" height="276" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79534" /></a>&#8220;Let the proper authorities determine what laws may have been violated and what enforcement action should be taken.&#8221;</p>
<p>The MPAA further stresses that all possible recording equipment locations in the theater should be considered, including cup holders. In addition, employees should be alert on possible concealed recording equipment, as often seen in the movies.    </p>
<p>&#8220;Movie thieves are very ingenious when it comes to concealing cameras. It may be as simple as placing a coat or hat over the camera, or as innovative as a specially designed concealment device (e.g., a small camera built into eyeglass frames or a camera built into the lid of  a beverage container).&#8221; </p>
<p>While it&#8217;s not a new recommendation, the MPAA also notes that movie theater employees must be wary of co-workers who invite friends into the theater, as these may be up to no good. </p>
<p>&#8220;Does one member of your staff frequently have &#8216;friends&#8217; joining them at the theater at odd times? Look for non-employees coming or going out of the projectionist’s booth or those arriving at odd hours claiming to be &#8216;friends&#8217; of an employee or manager,&#8221; MPAA writes.</p>
<p>The MPAA adds that even third-party security firms should be carefully vetted before they are hired for a job, as there may be rogue agents embedded in these teams.</p>
<p><img src="media/33a81dd9.recillegal.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/recillegal.jpg" alt="recillegal" width="200" height="299" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79543" /></p>
<p>While all forms of camcording are a problem for the movie industry, the most stringent security procedures  should be applied for pre-release screenings. </p>
<p>For these events, theater owners are advised to post signs in- and outside the theater explaining that people who record movies &#8220;will be prosecuted.&#8221;</p>
<p>Pre-release screenings are also events where night vision binoculars should be used to inspect movie-goers. In addition, &#8220;low light security measures&#8221; may also have to be deployed to augment security. The MPAA doesn&#8217;t explain what these measures entail, but they were not mentioned in the previous guide.</p>
<p>&#8220;If your theater maintains night vision devices or low light binoculars, please employ these during the screening in the darkened auditorium,&#8221; MPAA writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;In the event that MPAA Investigators have been requested to augment the theater security for the event, additional low light security measures may be implemented.&#8221; </p>
<p>Finally, movie theater employees can score themselves a $500 reward for catching a movie pirate. This <em><a href="http://natoonline.org/initiatives/movie-theft/nato-mpaa-take-action-reward-program/">Take Action! Reward</a></em> was introduced a decade ago and is meant to motivate personnel to be more vigilant. </p>
<p>How many of these movie pirate bounties have been claimed since is unknown.</p>
<p>The latest version of MPAA&#8217;s &#8220;Best Practices to Prevent Film Theft&#8221; is <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/184155847/Movie-Theft-Best-Practices-MPAA-pdf">available here</a>, including an application for the Take Action! Reward.  </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Pre-release screening guidelines</h5>
<p><img src="media/3817fd35.prerelsc.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/prerelsc.png" alt="prerelsc" width="596" height="643" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79536" /></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79519
title: Google Shatters Insane Glass DMCA Notice on Impact
uri: Google-Shatters-Insane-Glass-DMCA-Notice-on-Impact
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8H9iSCwGwj8/
content:
<p><a href="media/fbb32cb9.trolloridiot.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trolloridiot.png"><img src="media/fbb32cb9.trolloridiot.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trolloridiot.png" alt="trolloridiot" width="180" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-68500" /></a>In February 2013, Techdirt&#8217;s Mike Cushing wrote an excellent <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130211/20400521946/bizarre-attribution-troll-bullies-twitter-users-into-compliance-with-baseless-legal-threats.shtml">article</a> detailing the ridiculous antics of On Press Inc.</p>
<p>The company had been running around Twitter and other social media platforms admonishing and bullying individuals who had dared to quote a poem by a guy called Shaun Shane.</p>
<p>&#8220;If only our tongues were made of glass,&#8221; the single line composition began, &#8220;how much more careful we would be when we speak.&#8221;</p>
<p>For kicks, Cushing even administered some <a href="https://twitter.com/TimCushing/status/299287346342404096">troll-bait</a> of his own, which was duly gobbled up by On Press who sent the Techdirt writer similar threats and referred to him as <a href="media/4b1c5020.B7O9iNe.png" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/B7O9iNe.png">&#8220;stupid&#8221; and &#8220;idiotic&#8221;</a> for good measure.</p>
<p>Of course, before long word started to spread. Among many others Rob Beschizza covered the story for BoingBoing only to <a href="http://boingboing.net/2013/02/14/crazy-copyright-enforcement-tw.html">get threatened too</a>.</p>
<p>The irrepressible Ken White at Popehat also <a href="http://www.popehat.com/2013/02/20/the-hardest-game-on-the-internet/">joined in on the fun</a>, describing the brains behind the On Press campaign as having &#8220;a grasp of law cobbled together by listening to 13-year-olds swearing at each other on Xbox Live.&#8221;</p>
<p>A fuss even broke out in the comments section of a Michael Geist <a href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6784/125/">article</a> covering a completely different topic after an On Press shill stepped in to inform a poster who dared to align the words of the Shane poem with the acts of an anti-piracy lobby group.</p>
<p>But while things may have gone quiet since, the whole sorry episode is about to blow up again.</p>
<p>Earlier this month TorrentFreak discovered that On Press had filed a DMCA notice with Google against one of our articles, asking the search engine to delist it from the company&#8217;s search results. The <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/twitter-copyright-complaints-up-76-since-last-report-130801/">article</a> was about Twitter copyright complaints but buried away in the comments section was a few paragraphs from Gene Poole, who said the following:</p>
<p><center><img src="media/6e9dce29.TFcomment.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/TFcomment.png" alt="TFComment" /></center></p>
<p>Shane was clearly back, more crazy than ever before &#8211; and he wasn&#8217;t finished yet. In the same DMCA notice On Press targeted a who&#8217;s-who of its critics from earlier in the year.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly Techdirt was on the top of the hit list, with Google being ordered to remove a total of 43 URLs that On Press (incorrectly) claimed were infringing copyright, which bizarrely included a URL designed to call up all articles on the site which contained the words &#8220;legal&#8221; and &#8220;threat&#8221;.</p>
<p>Adding to the catastrophe, On Press ordered Google to remove the articles written by Rob Beschizza and also Michael Geist, even though the latter was on an unrelated topic. Quite deliciously, mainly because we can&#8217;t wait for the Popehat reaction, On Press also ordered Google to censor Ken White&#8217;s article.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h1>A small sample of the DMCA takedown sent by On Press to Google</h1>
<p><img src="media/d08ab73e.OnPressDMCA1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/OnPressDMCA1.png" alt="OnPressDMCA1" /></center></p>
<p>The full <a href="http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1277149">DMCA notice</a> sent to Google targeted an unbelievable 134 URLs across a total of 58 domains including Huffington Post, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, DeviantArt, WordPress, Linkedin and OKCupid.</p>
<p>But aside from the notice&#8217;s very existence, what was important to us was Google&#8217;s reaction to it. That response has <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/requests/850613/">just come in</a> and it shows just how misguided On Press are when it comes to copyright law. </p>
<p>So far Google has deemed just 16 URLs to be infringing and has refused to remove 91 others, including all of the articles on Techdirt, Popehat, BoingBoing, Michael Geist&#8217;s blog and TorrentFreak. A decision on 27 URLs is still pending, quite possibly sitting on the desk of a Google lawyer who has much better things to spend his time on.</p>
<p>If only On Press Inc&#8217;s DMCA agent had a tongue made of glass, we wouldn&#8217;t have to listen to their nonsense anymore.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79567
title: Denmark Blocks Major Movie Sites, Norway Prepares Pirate Bay Blockade
uri: Denmark-Blocks-Major-Movie-Sites-Norway-Prepares-Pirate-Bay-Blockade
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VmldARLsHnU/
content:
<p><a href="media/d1139a9f.movie2kFP.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/movie2kFP.jpg"><img src="media/a15a2b19.movie2kFP-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/movie2kFP-150x150.jpg" alt="movie2kFP" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-66954" /></a>Website blocking has become a hot topic in the last couple of years and now makes the headlines every couple of weeks and oftentimes more regularly than that.</p>
<p>On top of many previous ventures, just this week the MPA achieved a fresh set of blocks in the UK <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-win-isp-blockade-against-solarmovie-and-tubeplus-131113/">to black out</a> SolarMovie and TubePlus, a pair of movie streaming portals that have been growing in popularity for some time. The recent action only adds to a long list of sites currently blocked in the country on copyright grounds.</p>
<p>But while concerted UK action is a fairly recent development, another country not too far away has been getting in on the web censorship action for some time. In addition to wiping out at least 20 gambling-related sites, during 2006/7 legal action in Denmark resulted in the blocking of two famous MP3 download sites, Russia-based AllofMP3 and MP3Sparks. In 2008, then key domain of The Pirate Bay, thepiratebay.org, was added to the list.</p>
<p>After a break of four years, in 2012 three more domains were censored on copyright grounds &#8211; thepiratebay.se, homelifespain.com and streaming music service GrooveShark.com. And now a year later, rightsholders have returned once again.</p>
<p>Court documents reveal that Fox-Paramount, Sony Music, Disney, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and several local companies went to court to have ISP Telia block four of the most popular movie and TV show sites in the region &#8211; Movie4K.to, PrimeWire.ag, Swefilmer.com and Dreamfilm.se. The Copenhagen City Court granted the request.</p>
<p><a href="media/b986f96b.primewire.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/primewire.png"><img src="media/3d49f86f.primewire-150x150.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/primewire-150x150.png" alt="primewire" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-71685" /></a>&#8220;The four sites are the most popular among users, and the sites each offer thousands of movies without paying money back to the people who have invested in the films. Prime Wire for example offers around 55,000 movies,&#8221; anti-piracy group Rights Alliance said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is a problem for filmmakers because they miss out on the revenue needed if they are to make new films in the future. Instead the money is flowing to the people behind the illegal movie sites. These activities are illegal and web blocking helps us to stop them.&#8221;</p>
<p>The anti-piracy group says that while some of the sites offered to remove infringing links, attempts at giving them the opportunity to defend themselves failed.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have tried to give the organizers behind the sites a chance to meet up and argue their case by sending information via their domain name registrations but none have thus made themselves known,&#8221; Rights Alliance said.</p>
<p>What is interesting about these new Danish blocks is that unlike in the UK where users are simply advised that a page has been banned, local ISPs display a banner which directs users to <a href="http://sharewithcare.dk/">ShareWithCare.dk</a>,  a site that offers links to legal content. It is operated by Johan Schlüter Advokatfirma, the law firm acting on behalf of the plaintiffs in the blocking case.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/cf4e7f92.sharewithcare.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sharewithcare.jpg" alt="ShareWithCare" /></center></p>
<p>Meanwhile in Norway this week, an anti-piracy group confirmed they are taking the next steps to having sites in the country blocked on copyright grounds. Unsurprisingly The Pirate Bay is on the top of the list.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have been <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-will-use-new-law-to-block-the-pirate-bay-130724/">preparing</a> the process for a couple of months, and we anticipate that we will shortly be in talks with several Internet service providers in Norway to block illegal sites. First and foremost we will go after The Pirate Bay,&#8221; said Willy Johansen, Secretary General of the Norwegian Videograms Association.</p>
<p>Those talks are expected to get underway early December but although a new law in Norway does allow the blocking of sites, according to lawyer Olav Torvund, the threshold remains fairly high.</p>
<p>&#8220;First, you have to prove that there are violations of copyright on a large-scale, then the court must weigh up whether to shut down access to freedom and freedom of information,&#8221; Torvund <a href="http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&#038;artikel=5701046&#038;playaudio=4758045">said</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79571
title: Warner Bros: Our False DMCA Takedowns Are Not a Crime
uri: Warner-Bros-Our-False-DMCA-Takedowns-Are-Not-a-Crime
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JQQgbg_FLA4/
content:
<p><img src="media/d5859e0c.warner.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warner.jpg" align="right" alt="warner" />In response to a copyright infringement lawsuit launched by the MPAA, Hotfile <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hotfile-sues-warner-bros-for-copyright-fraud-and-abuse-110913/"> counter sued Warner Bros.</a> two years ago for abuse of its DMCA takedown process on numerous occasions. </p>
<p>The file-hoster alleged that after giving Warner access to its systems the studio wrongfully took down hundreds of files including demos and Open Source software without holding the copyrights to them. The takedowns continued even after the movie studio was repeatedly notified about the false claims.</p>
<p>While Warner later admitted the accusations, the movie studio argue that they are not to blame because the mistakes were made by a computer, not a person. As a result, the false takedown request were not &#8220;deliberate lies.&#8221;</p>
<p>However, not all false takedowns were unintentional. Warner admitted that one of their employees deleted Open Source software from Hotfile on purpose. Their rationale for this was that the software in question could have speeded up infringing downloads.</p>
<p>Warner nonetheless asked the court for summary judgment in its favor, but in September Florida District Court Judge Kathleen Williams decided to let the issue be heard before a jury later this year. She stated that there is enough evidence showing that &#8220;Warner intentionally targeted files it knew it had no right to remove.&#8221;</p>
<p>Through several new filings Warner is hoping to limit the potential damage, by asking the court to exclude two issues from being discussed during the upcoming trial. The first issue deals with Hotfile&#8217;s claim that Warner committed perjury, and the other relates to an audit of the movie studio&#8217;s anti-piracy system.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/184511852/Hotfile-Warnerperj3cbecf3c-1b4b-45ea-b81e-1d958d38dc2f">perjury motion</a> relates to Hotfile’s Special Rightsholder Account (SRA) which Warner used to remove links from the site. This tool required the movie studio to check a box confirming “under penalty of perjury that I am owner or an authorized legal representative of the owner of the copyrights in this material.”</p>
<p>Since Warner admitted that they submitted false takedown requests and Hotfile specified the above requirements in its terms of service, the file-hoster argued that the studio committed a crime. However, <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/184407656/warnperj542724ff-69be-4202-a6f7-de772fa4e074">Warner disagrees</a> with this line of reasoning.</p>
<p>&#8220;That is not how perjury works, not how the DMCA works, is irrelevant to the claims the jury must decide, and would unfairly prejudice the jury against Warner by suggesting that Warner’s errors amounted to criminal acts,&#8221; Warner writes. </p>
<p>Warner adds that the DMCA only requires the penalty of perjury statement to confirm that the sender represents the copyright holder, not that the allegedly infringing links point to their copyrighted material, they say. </p>
<p>&#8220;The DMCA &#8216;penalty of perjury&#8217; language is thus narrower than the SRA language that Hotfile employed. The DMCA’s language applies only to impersonating a copyright owner or sending notices on their behalf without authorization; mere misidentification of the files being taken down or the works represented therein are at most incorrect &#8216;statements&#8217;.&#8221; </p>
<p>However, Warner also removed copies of JDownloader, which they were certainly not authorized to do. But this was also not a crime either according to the the studio, since it never claimed to be representing JDownloader’s developer Appwerk GmbH.</p>
<p>&#8220;To fall under the &#8216;penalty of perjury&#8217; language in [the DMCA section], however, Warner would have needed not to misidentify instances of JDownloader as infringing Warner works (which is what happened), but instead to correctly identify the taken-down files as JDownloader and then misrepresent itself as acting under authority from Appwerk GmbH, JDownloader’s developer.&#8221; </p>
<p>Interestingly, the above reasoning confirms that Warner deliberately used Hotfile&#8217;s DMCA tools to take down files that they are not the owner of, an issue that will certainly be brought up during trial. </p>
<p>Warner believes that the above is reason enough to exclude the &#8220;perjury&#8221; issue from trial. Hotfile can&#8217;t just make up crimes by extending the scope of the DMCA, and should not be allowed to present an argument which could mislead the jury, they claim.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/184407687/warnaudit4ca56ff2-9c2d-4090-811c-e216a9e039c3">separate motion</a> Warner wants the court to exclude evidence Hotfile has gathered on an audit of the movie studio&#8217;s anti-piracy system, and changes that were made as a result. Warner argues that the audit is irrelevant, since it was performed after the false takedown notices were sent. </p>
<p>If Hotfile would use the audit to argue that the movie studio was aware of the errors in their system, this could potentially confuse the jury. </p>
<p>&#8220;There is a substantial risk that the jury will see evidence of Warner’s efforts to investigate the claims in Hotfile’s lawsuit and correct any sources of errors as evidence that Warner &#8216;knew&#8217; about potential inaccuracies in its system at the relevant times, and improperly attribute such knowledge to Warner months earlier.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;Because Hotfile has selectively cherry-picked the instances in which Warner located and corrected errors as part of its August 2011 audit, there is further risk that the jury will misread the evidence as &#8216;proving&#8217; that Warner’s system was error-prone and seek to punish Warner for it,&#8221; Warner adds. </p>
<p>The above suggests that Warner is not totally confident that the trial will end well for them. It is now up to the judge to decide whether or not the issues above can be raised during trial. </p>
<p>The judge is also still considering <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hotfile-wants-mpaa-to-stop-using-piracy-theft-and-stealing-terms-in-court-131108/">a motion</a> from Hotfile to exclude terms such as &#8220;piracy,&#8221; &#8220;theft&#8221; and &#8220;stealing&#8221; from their trial against the MPAA.</p>
<p>To be continued. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79621
title: Top Torrent and Streaming Sites Not Blocked in the UK
uri: Top-Torrent-and-Streaming-Sites-Not-Blocked-in-the-UK
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4yukCrBU6hQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg"><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076" /></a>While Hollywood and the music industry are currently working hard to have <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-deleted-200-million-pirate-search-results-in-2013-131112/">dozens of millions</a> of infringing links removed from Google, they are increasingly trying to cut off users&#8217; access to those links by way of website censorship.</p>
<p>Interestingly this is being driven by United States-based companies yet no sites have yet been blocked in their homeland. Instead, the major studios and recording labels have zoomed in on Europe &#8211; the UK in particular &#8211; and between them have had close to 30 sites blocked by the country&#8217;s major ISPs.</p>
<p>Users of BitTorrent, streaming and other file-sharing sites in the UK are soon going to have to get used to a new reality. Currently none of the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2013-130106/">top 10 torrent sites</a> listed in our 2013 chart are available by direct means. Furthermore, the MPA are slowly but surely taking out the top streaming sites while the BPI concentrates on some of the big MP3 download portals.</p>
<p>To find out what kind of a dent these actions have had on accessibility, TorrentFreak took a look at the list of top 30 torrent sites in the world to see which ones remain unblocked in the UK. We used Alexa ranks to put them in general order, which is sufficient for this exercise. Later we&#8217;ll take a look at one or two other interesting findings.</p>
<h4>1. <a href="http://yify-torrents.com/">YIFY-Torrents</a></h4>
<p>Ranked 890 worldwide by Alexa, surprisingly YIFI Torrents has somehow managed to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/yify-hollywood-nemesis-becomes-iconic-piracy-brand-131005/">remain unblocked</a> in the UK. Quite why this growing site is being left to flourish is unknown, especially since <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-asked-to-block-eztv-and-yify-torrents-130619/">a request</a> to block the site was made six months ago.</p>
<h4>2. <a href="http://rarbg.com/">RARBG</a></h4>
<p>According to data obtained from meta-search engine Torrentz.eu, RARBG has a relatively small database of around 400,700 torrents. Despite that figure being dwarfed by the availability on other lower-placed sites in this list, RARBG has a global Alexa rank of 1,986.</p>
<h4>3. <a href="http://limetorrents.com/">LimeTorrents</a></h4>
<p>Targeted by the RIAA <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-starts-going-after-bittorrent-sites-110708/">back in 2011</a>, LimeTorrents has continued business as usual ever since. The site has a clean design and a reported 3,395,599 torrents. Alexa ranks the site 6,515.</p>
<h4>4. <a href="http://torrents.net/">Torrents.net</a></h4>
<p>Just slightly less popular than LimeTorrents in terms of traffic, Torrents.net has a similar sized database of just over 3.4 million torrents.</p>
<h4>5. <a href="http://torlock.com/">Torlock</a></h4>
<p>Created in 2010, Torlock has a database of more than 1.25 million torrents. However, the site claims that there are zero fake files in its listings. In fact, they are so confident this is the case that they offer $1 for every one a user can find.</p>
<h4>6. <a href="http://torrentfunk.com">TorrentFunk</a></h4>
<p>According to the site&#8217;s records, TorrentFunk has more than 5.5 million torrents in its databases, which is more than any site in this &#8216;unblocked&#8217; top 10. Alexa ranks the site 10,398 in the world.</p>
<h4>7. <a href="http://yourbittorrent.com">YourBitTorrent</a></h4>
<p>YourBitTorrent claims to be the &#8220;ONLY non-egoist torrent website.&#8221; The site says that since 2003 it has donated to multiple large organizations that care for the interests of animals. It has more than 4.1 million torrents and has just added a feature to add torrents to Putdrive accounts for downloading on any device.</p>
<h4>8. <a href="http://seedpeer.me">SeedPeer</a></h4>
<p>According the site&#8217;s stats, SeedPeer currently carries around 4.7 million torrents, 186,000 of which are verified as definitely not fake. Overall the site&#8217;s torrents are being serviced by more than a billion seeds. The site is ranked 12,634 by Alexa.</p>
<h4>9. <a href="http://Vertor.com">Vertor</a></h4>
<p>Vertor is one of the few torrent sites to concentrate on having only quality torrents, i.e none that are fake, locked by passwords or containing a virus. The site claims to run on five dual-core servers with 8 GB RAM and currently hosts just over a million torrents.</p>
<h4>10. <a href="http://fulldls.com">FulldLs</a></h4>
<p>With a claimed 3.39 million torrents in its database, Fulldls takes the final spot in the top 10 unblocked list. To give an idea of just how far the rankings of sites readily available in the UK have dropped due to ISP blocking, Fulldls has an Alexa ranking of 26,536. The top 10 position in our pre-blocking chart earlier in the year was taken by H33T with an Alexa rank of 1,430</p>
<h4>Other findings</h4>
<p>To complete our investigation, TorrentFreak examined every site currently listed in Alexa&#8217;s chart of the Top 500 most-visited sites overall in the UK.</p>
<p>Notably, streaming portal PrimeWire.ag is ranked 209 in the UK having quickly grown in popularity following domain issues. Other unblocked streaming sites riding high include Watchseries.lt (Alexa UK #278) and Vodly.to (Alexa UK #301). SolarMovie.so is currently placed at #364 but will soon be <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-win-isp-blockade-against-solarmovie-and-tubeplus-131113/">blocked by the leading ISPs</a>.</p>
<p>Since The Pirate Bay is blocked to around 90% of UK internet subscribers, it comes as no surprise that people are looking for workarounds. Clearly many are accessing the site through PirateProxy.se, a proxy now listed as the 241st most popular site in the UK.</p>
<p>Also riding high (Alexa UK #413) is <a href="http://come.in/">Come.in</a>, a multi-site proxy that unlocks several sites including TorrentReactor, ExtraTorrent, KickassTorrents and The Pirate Bay. Interesting, VPN provider HideMyAss is now the UK&#8217;s 415th most popular site.</p>
<h4>Conclusion</h4>
<p>It is almost certain that the BPI and MPA will be back time and again to have fresh sites blocked in the UK and will continue to do so until the top 50 to top 100 sites have been added to the country&#8217;s unofficial blocklist. Whether this will encourage people towards official outlets is not yet clear, but the rise of the proxy and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a> listed above (and tools such as <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-anti-censorship-browser-clocks-1-million-downloads-131019/">PirateBrowser</a>) shows that there is definitely a desire to circumvent rather than succumb to bans.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=77876
title: Oops! BitTorrent Forgets to Strip Piracy Terminology From uTorrent
uri: Oops-BitTorrent-Forgets-to-Strip-Piracy-Terminology-From-uTorrent
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3nWMyVIvZ_8/
content:
<p><a href="media/21af8fa2.bittorrent-crime.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-crime.jpg"><img src="media/21af8fa2.bittorrent-crime.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent-crime.jpg" alt="bittorrent-crime" width="222" height="202" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79637" /></a>Invented more than a decade ago by Bram Cohen, BitTorrent has become the protocol of choice for file-sharers. This includes those who download copyrighted material.</p>
<p>While BitTorrent is used by many pirates, the technology itself is neutral and does a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/too-legit-to-quit-124-2m-legal-bittorrent-music-downloads-in-2012-120922/">lot of good</a> for content creators as well. This is also the message BitTorrent Inc, the parent company of the popular uTorrent client, has tried to communicate over the past year.</p>
<p>On numerous occasions the company has distanced itself from those who download infringing content, including the majority of their 150+ million users. </p>
<p>“We do not endorse piracy. We do not encourage it. We don’t point to piracy sites. We don’t host any infringing content,” BitTorrent’s CEO <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-makers-distance-themselves-from-piracy-121219/">said previously</a>. In addition, the company launched <a href="http://www.doesbittorrentequalpiracy.com/">a website</a> to show the public that BitTorrent does not equal piracy.</p>
<p>BitTorrent is right to stress the legal use of its software, but whether that&#8217;s successful is another question. It only draws attention to a connection that they want people to believe is not there, which is the opposite of what they want to achieve.</p>
<p>For example, when we tried to setup <a href="http://www.utorrent.com/help/guides/rss">uTorrent&#8217;s RSS downloader</a> at TorrentFreak headquarters the other day we couldn&#8217;t help but notice a list of &#8220;pirate&#8221; terms that were included. </p>
<p>The RSS feature allows users to add RSS feeds for various torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay, and filter downloads based on search phrases, episode numbers and video quality. This last option includes a dropdown box with several quality options, including DSRip, DVBRip, DVDScr, DVDRip, PDTV, Satrip and WebRip.</p>
<p>Most of these terms originate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirated_movie_release_types">from piracy release groups</a> and have little or no legal use. </p>
<p>DVDScr, for example, identifies a ripped copy of DVD screeners that are sent out to reviewers and are not intended for public viewing. Likewise, the terms DVBRip/PDTV are used exclusively by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDTV">TV-piracy groups</a> to identify the source of a recording.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>Piracy references in uTorrent / BitTorrent</h5>
<p><img src="media/98c52482.piracy-ref.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-ref.jpg" alt="piracy-ref" width="599" height="528" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79638" /></center></p>
<p>Given BitTorrent&#8217;s efforts to distance itself from all things piracy, it was quite a surprise for us to see these references in their most popular software. We can&#8217;t think of any RSS feeds with legal content where these filters would come in handy.</p>
<p>To find out why these terms were included TorrentFreak asked the company for clarification a couple of weeks ago, but we have yet to receive a response. </p>
<p>The listing of these &#8220;pirate&#8221; terms in uTorrent&#8217;s RSS downloader is of course not a crime by itself. However, should the company ever run into legal trouble it won&#8217;t be hard for outfits such as the MPAA and RIAA to argue that the feature is facilitating illegal downloading. </p>
<p>And that&#8217;s exactly what BitTorrent Inc has been trying to avoid with their recent marketing campaigns.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79596
title: Stealthed from Hollywood, Usenet Indexer Begins Life in the Deep Web
uri: Sealthed-from-Hollywood-Usenet-Indexer-Begins-Life-in-the-Deep-Web
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QpUpdgMpPl0/
content:
<p><a href="media/70b5782e.pirateusenet.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirateusenet.jpg"><img src="media/70b5782e.pirateusenet.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirateusenet.jpg" alt="pirateusenet" width="190" height="165" class="alignright size-full wp-image-61696" /></a>For various reasons 2012 was not a good year for Usenet indexing services. First, pressure on payment processors such as PayPal, Mastercard and Visa became evident when the infamous Newzbin2 site shut itself down due to financial difficulties. Shortly after another giant bit the dust.</p>
<p>NZBMatrix was a very popular site in the newsgroup community and for many was the go-to place for NZB files linking to the latest content. In December 2012 the site was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/nzbmatrix-shuts-down-citing-piracy-troubles-121209/">forced to close</a> due to increased pressure from Hollywood studios who were sending more takedown notices than the site could handle.</p>
<p>Over the past year several sites have popped up to try to bridge the gap but while of decent quality, most are inherently prone to the same sort of attacks. If a site&#8217;s servers can be located then there is always a risk of litigation (or the threat of it at least) later down the line.</p>
<p>However, this week TorrentFreak has been speaking with Tyrion, the administrator of a fairly new <a href="http://www.newznab.com/">Newznab-based</a> site, who hopes to avoid some of the external pitfalls of running a Usenet indexer.</p>
<p>As its name suggests NNPbeta is in beta and at the time of writing is close to backfilling 340 groups to a total of 6,077,496 releases. But unlike other indexers the site is being built on an unusually secure footing right from the start.</p>
<p>&#8220;When I look back on the last few years of file sharing, I see the various organizations such as RIAA, MPAA, FACT, and Prenda getting ever-more aggressive in their hunting down of file sharers and search indexers,&#8221; Tyrion explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;For the file sharers and users of the services, the environment is getting to be one of Guerilla Warfare. They have taken away our ability to use centralized services and instead made us use small-force tactics in order to get our content.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="media/490dcef9.tor-onion.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tor-onion.jpg"><img src="media/490dcef9.tor-onion.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tor-onion.jpg" alt="tor-onion" width="189" height="184" class="alignright size-full wp-image-34644" /></a>NNPbeta has no conventional web presence and cannot be found using Google. The site itself can be accessed via http://nnpbetabzsneptym.onion, but this link only works <a href="https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en">for users of Tor</a>. The site is situated in what has become known as the Deep Web.</p>
<p>Tyrion naturally won&#8217;t say where his servers are other than they could be anywhere in the world. All users need to know is that by jumping onto Tor they are able to find the site as easily as they could a regular webpage but with much better security.</p>
<p>&#8220;Tor, I believe, is part of our evolution. By using Tor as the base of operations, we have reduced the risk of our users being discovered as well as the risk of the site being discovered, therefore providing a more reliable, long-term solution for indexing,&#8221; Tyrion says. </p>
<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t know who our users are (unless they chose to provide a valid email) and they don&#8217;t know who we are. We hold the user&#8217;s privacy above all else and feel that this is the only way to accomplish our goal of providing a service that is stable, reliable, and resistant to external pressure.&#8221; </p>
<p>In describing what Tor does for the site (which he acknowledges isn&#8217;t entirely bulletproof), Tyrion uses a nightclub security analogy.</p>
<p>&#8220;We like to think of Tor as that bouncer at the front of the club that only lets people into our club that we want to let in. Yes, he can be overpowered if someone sets their mind to getting into the club regardless of the design of the system but we have a really good bouncer and the bad guys need significant manpower in order to beat him down,&#8221; said.</p>
<p>Tyrion believes there is a balance to be considered. Given the right manpower and resources it would be possible to bring down the site, but at some point the mounting costs versus the potential gains stop making financial sense.</p>
<p>Another thing for NNPbeta to consider is DMCA notices, not served on the site itself, but on external Usenet providers. One of the things pointed out by NZBMatrix in its goodbye message is that anti-piracy groups are becoming so fast at taking down infringing content from Usenet itself, Usenet indexers are being rendered much less useful. Tyrion believes that can be mitigated by acting quickly.</p>
<p><a href="media/bf089152.data.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/data.jpg"><img src="media/bf089152.data.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/data.jpg" alt="data" width="180" height="120" class="alignright size-full wp-image-75303" /></a>&#8220;From the time something is released on Usenet, [NNPbeta] users will have (at absolute maximum) about 30 minutes until we are able to identify that release until we are done with backfill. Once we are done, users can depend on knowing about a release in two minutes which provides that much more opportunity to grab files before something happens to them,&#8221; Tyrion concludes.</p>
<p>NNPbeta also plans on not succumbing to the payment processing issues suffered by other sites such as Newzbin2. Tyrion insists there will be no ads or affiliate links on the site, ever. As expected, the site will accept donations into a Bitcoin account.</p>
<p>Whether NNPbeta will grow to become a site as successful as NZBMatrix remains to be seen but they have significant hurdles to overcome. Not being indexed by search engines and sitting quietly in the Deep Web may be good for security, but it&#8217;s also likely to prove a hindrance to people who are just passing by.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the emergence of sites hidden by Tor and other cloaking systems such as those employed by The Pirate Bay are an interesting development in the file-sharing space and a trend only like to increase in the months and years to come.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79661
title: We Must Start Punishing Copyright Monopoly Abuse To At Least Symmetry
uri: We-Must-Start-Punishing-Copyright-Monopoly-Abuse-To-At-Least-Symmetry
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gLXHQq1Wot4/
content:
<p><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211" />One recurring problem with the copyright industry is that it gets away scot-free with every glaring and egregious abuse of copyright monopoly law to silence other people, despite breaking the social contract. </p>
<p>We have seen examples of the copyright monopoly law being abused into outright censorship <a href="http://falkvinge.net/2012/06/20/oil-company-sues-isp-kills-greenpeace-protest-site/">again</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-our-false-dmca-takedowns-are-not-a-crime-131115/">again</a> and <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/16/microsoft_dmca_takedown_requests_targeting_openoffice/">again</a> and <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/202810/Developer_accused_of_using_copyright_takedown_to_censor_critic.php">again</a> and <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130925/01355924650/copyright-as-censorship-using-dmca-to-take-down-websites-accurately-calling-out-racist-comments.shtml">again</a> and <a href="https://www.eff.org/takedowns/religious-group-shows-little-tolerance-parody">again</a> and <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120223/15102217856/">again</a> and <a href="http://craphound.com/homeland/2013/04/22/fox-sends-fraudulent-takedown-notices-for-my-novel-homeland/">again</a> and <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110706/00200314983/monkey-business-can-monkey-license-its-copyrights-to-news-agency.shtml">again</a> and&#8230; well, you get the picture. The glaring, egregious cases happen on a daily basis. The ones we never hear about probably happen in the tens or hundreds per second.</p>
<p>The premise is simple: since the copyright industry and other bullies <strong>risk absolutely nothing</strong> by sending out a copyright monopoly claim, they will keep doing so to silence protected speech, crush competition, and stifle legitimate criticism. This isn&#8217;t just fraud, it is a real problem for society and it is an audacious breaking of the social contract. In a word, it is &#8211; or should be &#8211; criminal.</p>
<p>Further, another serious consequence of this non-stop hammering against competition, criticism, satire, and fair use is that it moves the gray area for what is acceptable and what isn&#8217;t. If the copyright industry can relentlessly launch unfounded lawsuits against people who can&#8217;t defend themselves, despite the copyright industry knowingly being in the wrong, then the result over a number of years is a shift of the expected norm. This is a deliberate strategy from the copyright industry to skew the social norms away from a free market and idea of free speech, and toward a total control of people&#8217;s communications, leading to yet more harshening of the harmful copyright monopoly.</p>
<p>If we are to have this kind of distribution monopoly, the very least we can demand is that punishments for abuses of the monopoly come symmetrically: that the punishments are equal for violating the monopoly as a non-monopoly-holder or as a monopoly-holder.</p>
<p><strong>In cleartext, this means that the same punishments and damages would be handed out for falsely using the copyright monopoly to silence criticism, free speech, or competition, as are handed out today for violating the distribution and duplication monopoly. And making the punishments symmetrical like that is absolutely, 100% reasonable.</strong></p>
<p>Remember how the RIAA and MPAA expect everybody else to know when they are violating the copyright monopoly, but at the same time, violate that monopoly themselves <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-and-bpi-use-pirated-code-on-their-websites-131102/">regularly</a> on what can&#8217;t be described as any more than an &#8220;oops&#8221; basis? Remember how copyright monopoly cases are so complex they can end up in the Supreme Court, yet the copyright industry demands that each and every Average Joe should know instinctively what is legal and what is not?</p>
<p>It&#8217;s all bullshit, of course. What the copyright industry is trying to push is a general blanket ban for anybody <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-net-vs-the-power-of-narratives-120429/">but themselves</a> to copy freely. As for themselves, the copyright industry has <a href="http://www.salon.com/2000/06/14/love_7/">ripped off</a> artists since the 1950s.</p>
<p><strong>It&#8217;s more than time that the harsh punishments for violating this monopoly go fully symmetrical. If you send out a copyright takedown notice or otherwise assert monopoly rights, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/microsofts-bogus-dmca-notices-censor-bbc-cnn-wikipedia-spotify-and-more-121007/">automated or not</a>, you must be held responsible for it &#8211; and possibly go to jail for a few years and pay up to $150,000 in statutory damages, per infraction, if the takedown notice is false or erroneous. That&#8217;s what the copyright industry holds as &#8220;reasonable&#8221; in one direction, and therefore, it must be reasonable in the other direction, too.</strong></p>
<p>Obviously, the copyright industry would go ballistic over this &#8211; that there would be an idea of power symmetry in the copyright monopoly. That&#8217;s because the copyright industry has never been held to one shred of accountability. Such a day is several decades overdue.</p>
<div style="border:2px solid #3F3F3F;width:521px;padding:15px;padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:4px;margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:10px;border-radius:10px">
<h3 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:10px">
<div style="float:right;height:130px;width:39px;margin-left:20px;margin-right:10px"><img src="media/98818a80.Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" data-original-source="http://falkvinge.net/wp-content/themes/WpNewspaper/images/falkvinge/Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" style="border:none;-moz-box-shadow:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none" class="quimby_search_image"></div>
<p><span style="color:#3F3F3F;font-size:125%">About The</span> <span style="color:#FF3C78;font-size:125%">Author</span></p>
</h3>
<p style="font-family:PTSansRegular,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-weight:400;line-height:150%;margin-bottom:14px"><small>Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at <a href="http://falkvinge.net">falkvinge.net</a> focuses on information policy.</small></p>
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<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79517
title: MPAA and RIAA Urge Government to Keep High Fines for Copyright Infringers
uri: MPAA-and-RIAA-Urge-Government-to-Keep-High-Fines-for-Copyright-Infring
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Fw8NpnG6ReA/
content:
<p><a href="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg"><img src="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg" alt="pirate-running" width="222" height="204" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78717" /></a>When copyright holders go to court in the United States they have the option to demand statutory damages in addition to the actual losses they have suffered. </p>
<p>Depending on the severity of the offense, these damages can reach $150,000 per infringement. </p>
<p>In 2009 Jammie Thomas-Rasset learned about these massive fines the hard way when she was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/woman-hit-with-192-million-fine-in-riaa-case-090619/">fined $1,920,000</a> for sharing 24 songs online, an amount that was eventually reduced to $220,000 after several appeals. In a similar case, Boston student Joel Tenenbaum was ordered <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/court-of-appeals-orders-student-to-pay-675k-file-sharing-damages-130626/">to pay $675,000</a> for sharing 30 songs. </p>
<p>Fines of this magnitude are often viewed by the public as disproportionate, but copyright holders argue that they are needed to deter the public from engaging in unauthorized file-sharing.</p>
<p>In court, the Obama administration <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-govt-harsh-punishments-needed-to-deter-music-pirates-130212/">sided with copyright holders</a> earlier this year. However, in its recent <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/185093419/Copyright-Green-Paper">Green Paper</a> the Department of Commerce&#8217;s Internet Policy Task Force suggests that the current limits may need an update.</p>
<p>&#8220;Much public attention has focused on the size of the awards in the two infringement cases against individual file sharers that have gone to trial,&#8221; the Task Force wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;These cases have led to calls for further calibration of levels of statutory damages. The Task Force reiterates the importance of statutory damages in online copyright enforcement, but believes that there are certain areas where recalibration of their scope may be appropriate.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Internet Policy Task Force asked the public to share their thoughts on this, and several other copyright related issues that were addressed in the paper. The comments, which have now been made public, include several from copyright industry groups such as the MPAA and RIAA in which they advise the Government not to lower the maximum fines.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/185099060/Motion-Picture-Association-of-America-Comments">MPAA argues</a> that the current Internet landscape doesn&#8217;t warrant a policy change. </p>
<p>&#8220;While we understand the concerns giving rise to the discussion around statutory damages in the Green Paper, the MPAA does not believe the experience in practice supports altering the existing regime, which has fostered investment and innovation not just in the production of content but also with respect to applications, devices and other digital technologies.&#8221; </p>
<p>The movie group says that P2P file-sharing, cyberlockers and streaming sites remain a massive threat to the industry and since it&#8217;s not always possible to accurately calculate the losses that are generated by piracy, statutory damages are helpful to come to a sizable punishment.</p>
<p>&#8220;Statutory damages play an essential role in redressing the financial harm caused by such infringement and punishing the wrongdoers. But, perhaps most importantly, statutory damages deter others from engaging in similar misconduct, advancing the societal goal of promoting innovation and creativity,&#8221; MPAA writes. </p>
<p>The studios don&#8217;t fear disproportionate fines and are confident that juries will eventually decide on an amount that is fitting in each case. </p>
<p>&#8220;The MPAA is confident that juries will continue to award statutory damages only in appropriate cases, in appropriate amounts, taking into consideration all salient factors, to serve the public interest.&#8221; </p>
<p>The RIAA also submitted <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/185098934/Recording-Industry-Association-of-America-Comments">their comments</a> in response to the Internet Policy Task Force paper. In line with the MPAA the music group sees no reason to change the current policy, and says that &#8220;proper consequences&#8221; are needed in response to copyright infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;We do not believe that recalibration of statutory damages is appropriate,&#8221; RIAA writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Statutory damages must be meaningful, serving as a deterrent beyond mere restitution. And the law recognizes the need for flexibility within this statutory damages construct, and provides juries with wide discretion to determine the appropriate award,&#8221; RIAA adds.</p>
<p>The RIAA adds that in the Thomas and Tenenbaum cases the Appeal courts held that the &#8220;damage awards were entirely appropriate, based on the facts of each case.&#8221;</p>
<p>The music group does say that it&#8217;s open to discussing alternatives to statutory damages, as long as the deterrent function of the punishments for copyright infringement remain a core issue. </p>
<p>Besides copyright holders, there were also many comments from civil rights groups, copyright experts and the public that argued against high penalties. Copyright lawyer Andrew Bridges, for example, <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/185098764/Bridges-Comments">highlights that</a> a potential $150,000 fine per shared file is ammunition for &#8220;predatory&#8221; copyright trolls such as Prenda and Righthaven.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The current structure of statutory damages gives Predatory Enforcers (PEs) the weapons they need to extract significant settlements from accused infringers without regard to the truth of their allegations or the harm of the alleged infringing, just as Righthaven and Prenda did,&#8221; Bridges writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;One need only allege that there was copying in order to seek a subpoena unmasking anonymous online defendants, at which point PEs can send letters threatening maximum damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work and extract settlements without proving infringement, much less any harm.&#8221; </p>
<p>According to Bridges the Government may want to follow the example of Canada, where statutory damages for non-commercial file-sharing <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/canadians-better-protected-from-copywrath-starting-today-121107/">were reduced</a> to an amount of between $100 and $5,000 per offense.</p>
<p>All comments in response to the Green Paper have been <a href="http://www.ntia.doc.gov/federal-register-notice/2013/comments-received-department-commerce-green-paper-11132013">published on</a> the Internet Policy Task Force website. The issue of statutory damages, as well as many related subjects, will be discussed during a public meeting on December 12 and will be followed by another round of comments.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79681
title: Defending the ‘Little Guy’ from Bogus DMCA Takedown Bullies
uri: Defending-the-Little-Guy-from-Bogus-DMCA-Takedown-Bullies
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lJ3v59ReioY/
content:
<p><a href="media/6cc9f1b3.deano.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deano.jpg"><img src="media/6cc9f1b3.deano.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deano.jpg" alt="deano" width="180" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79688" /></a>There can be no doubt that copyright holders have a huge task ahead of them if they are to make even the slightest dent in the availability of unauthorized online content. Google has received more than <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-deleted-200-million-pirate-search-results-in-2013-131112/">200 million notices</a> this year alone and it&#8217;s still a breeze to obtain almost anything within a few minutes.</p>
<p>In an operation of this scale mistakes will be made and we&#8217;ve seen on dozens of occasions how content has been taken down wrongfully. But while Google is increasingly sharp when it comes to rejecting false claims against its search listings, the same cannot be said about its approach to YouTube where the playing field is much more tricky.</p>
<p>While it can be easy to see that a link to a blockbuster movie or music album might be unlawful, judging whether each and every video uploaded to YouTube is legal would amount to a full-time job for hundreds of lawyers, something that is simply not realistic. Due to these limitations illegal content is uploaded every day, while at the same time companies exploit the situation to silence their critics.</p>
<p>Dean Salter is a regular guy. He loves football, lives in Essex (UK) and has a passion for video games. Together with a few friends he spends his spare time creating videos for their <a href="http://www.youtube.com/gameovermanpodcast">Game Over Man podcast</a> on YouTube, a non-monetized video gaming channel put up there purely for fun and the enjoyment of others.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/211d0def.gameover.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gameover.jpg" alt="GameOver" /></center></p>
<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t have a dedicated audience of any sort, we just enjoy the idea of meeting up, discussing our opinions and excitements within the gaming world, record these discussions and then upload them to iTunes and release them on to the internet to who ever happens to stumble across them, free of charge of course,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Just recently Dean made a video about Infestation: Survivor Stories, a zombie survival game previously titled The War Z that was renamed after receiving negative reviews. Dean&#8217;s video review, which is pretty damn funny if a little unconventional, went up on YouTube. Here it is, well worth a couple of minutes viewing to appreciate the context of what follows.</p>
<p><center><iframe frameborder="0" width="599" height="337" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x17cl8b"></iframe></i></center></p>
<p>Anything illegal there? Absolutely not. But of course, the fact that it&#8217;s hosted in <strike>Vimeo</strike> Dailymotion pretty much predicts what has happened here. Following a copyright complaint from Hammerpoint Interactive, the company behind the game, the video has been taken down.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/1aee08c1.hammerdmca.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hammerdmca.jpg" alt="HAmmer DMCA" /></center></p>
<p>As readers will recall, last month famous game reviewer TotalBiscuit <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/game-devs-abuse-copyright-to-censor-negative-youtube-review-131021/">suffered a similar fate</a> when Wild Games Studio censored his critical video of their game Day One: Garry&#8217;s Incident.</p>
<p>Commenting on his own woes, TotalBiscuit encapsulated the dilemma of users with less visibility than himself.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve gotta be honest, I am fortunate, my channel is large as is my following. I am backed by a great network with a lot of resources,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I can get my voice heard but what about the smaller channels that can&#8217;t?</p>
<p>TotalBiscuit&#8217;s problems were indeed widely covered in the press (after all, he has more than 1.3 million YouTube subscribers). Dean and his friends have only 66 subscribers, which is probably why they&#8217;re currently struggling to get the interest of the gaming press.</p>
<p>Also, the channel&#8217;s relative obscurity makes the perfect environment for the censors since after silencing it no one will care.</p>
<p>Wrong.</p>
<p>The entire point of sites like YouTube, the whole user-generated content movement, and even the Internet itself, is that anyone can have their voice heard. TotalBiscuit once had 66 subscribers, YouTube once had 66 subscribers and so did Google. Everyone has to start somewhere and abusing a law to bully someone offline and take their voice away is something that no company should be allowed to get away with.</p>
<p>Dean is currently awaiting a response from YouTube and Hammerpoint Interactive, whose <a href="http://hammerpointinteractive.com/">awful website</a> provides no contact details whatsoever. Let&#8217;s see what excuses they can come up with this time.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> The Vimeo video was taken down as well and it&#8217;s now hosted on Dailymotion.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79669
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week
uri: 2013-11-19-Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mLekcZqYLkU/
content:
<p><img src="media/fb162727.percy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/percy.jpg" alt="percy" width="275" height="221" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79673" />This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is the most downloaded movie. </p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover" summary="Most downloaded movies on BitTorrent">
<caption>Week ending November 17, 2013</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-131118/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/percy_jackson_sea_of_monsters/">Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1854564/">6.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KoOtiuSjuI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elysium_2013/">Elysium</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535108/">7.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILNSgou5BY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/prisoners_2013/">Prisoners</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392214/">8.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpXfcTF6iVk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wolverine_2012/">The Wolverine</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1272878/">6.9</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh1LdTFkm7I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_2/">Red 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821694/">6.9</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfB8QwYBPxY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2_guns/">2 Guns</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/">7.4</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVNe3RK2fgI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_smurfs_2/">The Smurfs 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017020/">5.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQbSGLaVJ5c">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/were_the_millers/">We&#8217;re The Millers</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723121/">7.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUR0NxUX4PU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_mortal_instruments_city_of_bones/">The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1538403/">6.0</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHlwRsl2uFk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/machete_kills/">Machete Kills</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2002718/">6.1</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO1WwOQowlg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79721
title: Court Orders ISPs to Block Russia’s Facebook and Rapidgator
uri: Court-Orders-ISPs-to-Block-Russia-s-Facebook-and-Rapidgator
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/qOscRd9bhA8/
content:
<p><a href="media/86b6cae8.berlusconi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/berlusconi.jpg"><img src="media/86b6cae8.berlusconi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/berlusconi.jpg" alt="berlusconi" width="162" height="157" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79722" /></a>While entertainment companies are able to chase down suspected owners of file-sharing sites in order to issue them with copyright complaints, the process can be both complex and expensive.</p>
<p>Even when an action gets underway it can be months or years before the matter is brought to a conclusion and despite having a pretty decent success rate, it is relatively rare for rightsholders to tackle their rivals in this manner.</p>
<p>More popular at the moment is to impact a site&#8217;s traffic in a particular region by appealing directly to a court. If a judge can be convinced that a site is causing immediate damage to a copyright holder that is likely to continue unless action is taken, having that site blocked at the ISP level is now a very real option in several countries across Europe.</p>
<p>Understandably people are concerned that the path could lead to serious overblocking and today we have the first signs that shadowy sites such as The Pirate Bay won&#8217;t be the only ones to face being censored.</p>
<p>VKontakte is Russia’s version of Facebook. It is a massive operation with upwards of 45 million daily users. The site allows its users to upload video and audio content which of course means that some will store copyrighted material. According to a company called Medusa Film, the site has been hosting a copy of its film Sole a Catinelle (Sun in Buckets).</p>
<p>Medusa Film is owned by Mediaset, a communications and media giant founded by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and owned by his family. According to their complaint, something dramatic needed to be done against not only VK.com but a range of other file-hosting sites actively making their content available.</p>
<p><img src="media/0f641a7e.rapidgator1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rapidgator1.png" width="180" height="84" class="alignright" />The Public Prosecutor of Rome agreed and has now issued an order for all local Internet service providers to begin a blockade of vKontakte and several other hosting sites including Rapidgator.net, one of the largest file-hosters around.</p>
<p>The remaining sites to be blocked include movshare.net, nowdownload.ch, nowvideo.ch, topvideo.tv, upshared.com, usefile.com and videopremium.tv.</p>
<p>Marco d’Itri who runs <a href="http://censura.bofh.it/elenchi.html">Osservatorio Censura</a>, a site dedicated to reporting on Italian web censorship, informs TorrentFreak that action is being taken before a hearing on the full merits of the case.</p>
<p>&#8220;As usual this is an &#8216;urgent&#8217; confiscation request which happens well before a trial,&#8221; d’Itri explains.</p>
<p>It is not known whether Medusa reached out to vKontakte, Rapidgator or any of the other sites involved before they decided to go to court with a request for a web blockade. In any event, it seems unlikely that the two big ones will sit back and do nothing.</p>
<p>Earlier this year Rapidgator successfully <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rapidgator-and-isps-appeal-domain-name-blockade-and-seizure-130419/">fought back</a> against another web blocking action initiated by the distributor of a cartoon movie. Fulvio Sarzana, a lawyer with the Sarzana and Partners law firm who specializes in Internet and copyright disputes, represented the site and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rapidgator-not-responsible-for-pirating-users-court-lifts-isp-blockade-130530/">convinced the court</a> that Rapidgator was not responsible for user uploads.</p>
<p>The case with vKontakte is considerably more broad. The site is equivalent to Facebook and as such Russian citizens in Italy will now find themselves not only disconnected from files, but completely cut off from their social networking contacts.</p>
<p>However, as the number one visited site in Russia, VKontakte has incredible resources. Putting up a defense in a case like this should be well within its capabilities and there is a very real possibility that the decision will be overturned in due course. For the others (Rapidgator aside) the outlook seems much less positive.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Fulvio Sarzana informs TorrentFreak that although not formally instructed in the case by Rapidgator at the present moment, he feels the site should appeal.</p>
<p>&#8220;Once again they have seized dozens of portals for a single film, which among other things, has already made 50 million Euros at the box office,&#8221; Sarzana says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Millions of files are being seized for a single film, a measure that appears disproportionate and contrary to European standards in terms of proportionality, adequacy and effectiveness of the measure.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79485
title: IsoHunt Founder Promotes “Freedom to Share” With New Clothing Line
uri: IsoHunt-Founder-Promotes-Freedom-to-Share-With-New-Clothing-Line
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Pa4GMjAFGCs/
content:
<p><a href="media/a40dd8e5.garyobama.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/garyobama.jpg"><img src="media/a40dd8e5.garyobama.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/garyobama.jpg" alt="garyobama" width="125" height="187" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79745" /></a>After a legal battle of nearly eight years isoHunt founder Gary Fung announced the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-shuts-down-after-110-million-settlement-with-the-mpaa-131017/">site&#8217;s closure last month</a>. </p>
<p>Fung signed a $110 million settlement with the MPAA and shut down isoHunt.com as stipulated in the agreement with the movie studios. Initially the domain was completely dead, but visitors to what was once one of the largest torrent sites are now <a href="http://isohunt.com/">greeted by the following message</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;A United States federal court has permanently shut down isoHunt.com because it was in violation of copyright law. If you are looking for your favorite movies or TV shows online, there are more ways than ever today to get high quality access to them on legal platforms.&#8221;</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Fung, who said he couldn&#8217;t go into detail about why the notice was put up, or who drafted the language. However, he did point out that his ideas on &#8220;sharing&#8221; haven&#8217;t changed a bit. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5></h5>
<p><img src="media/50254c06.isohuntclosed.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/isohuntclosed.jpg" alt="isohuntclosed" width="575" height="397" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79729" /></center></p>
<p>On the contrary, his work on isoHunt taught him that the freedom to share information is one of the core values of the Internet, and despite the setbacks he suffered Fung is still motivated to defend these ideas. </p>
<p>&#8220;I shut isoHunt down on October 23 to end the seven year battle with Hollywood, but for 11 years while I worked on isoHunt I&#8217;ve witnessed one thing: the Internet is about sharing, and file-sharing is a movement that is about more than mere files or copyright. It&#8217;s about the Freedom to share, the Freedom to create. And relatedly nowadays, the Freedom to not be spied on.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It is these freedoms, at the intersection of isoHunt closing and the erosion of privacy and other information freedoms, that gave me the idea for a clothing line. One that carries social statements with ironic twists, statements and designs in the form of t-shirts, sweaters and hoodies.&#8221;</p>
<p>This idea quickly turned into a new venture in which Fung teamed up with an old friend,  Clifford Joe, who had already been working on starting his own clothing company. Today, the duo announced their plan to the world through a <a href="http://prefundia.com/projects/view/10-23-apparel/382/">pre-Kickstarter project</a> that has just gone public.  </p>
<p>The clothing will carry the brand &#8220;Viva 10.23,&#8221; a reference to the day isoHunt was officially shut down. People can not fund anything yet, but are able to leave their email address so they are notified when the Kickstarter project goes live in a month or so.</p>
<p>The project page currently lists a handful of designs, including a Obama-style poster of Gary with the text &#8220;Share,&#8221; and shirts with the slogans &#8220;Stop Watching Us&#8221; and &#8220;Freedom to Share.&#8221; Fung told us that this is just an initial sample, and that Viva 10.23 invites designers from all over the world to submit their ideas and expand the product line. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5></h5>
<p><img src="media/82b5647b.rememberiso.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rememberiso.jpg" alt="rememberiso" width="575" height="514" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79741" /></center></p>
<p>The project page describes the concept as &#8220;political fashion&#8221; and Fung hopes to cover a wide range of Internet activism with the clothing line. </p>
<p>&#8220;What I&#8217;ve learned in my time working on isoHunt, is that the social, legal and political underpinnings of my work are just as important if not more so than the tech, and I see an opportunity now to bring both designers and &#8216;users&#8217; together to casually campaign for what we believe in: information freedom, the freedom to share,&#8221; Fung says.</p>
<p>As for the revenue model, Fung notes that he will get a dollar as a consulting fee. The majority of profits Viva 10.23 makes will be donated to organizations that support Internet freedom issues, such as EFF, Openmedia.ca, as well as various charities and funds for emerging musicians and filmmakers. </p>
<p>&#8220;This is clothing we wear to advertise causes we believe in, and clothing that funds those causes,&#8221; Fung concludes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79781
title: Court Orders ISPs to Police the Internet for Pirate Bay Proxies
uri: Court-Orders-ISPs-to-Police-the-Internet-for-Pirate-Bay-Proxies
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Ha2tRli-t28/
content:
<p><img src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" alt="tpb-logo" width="222" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-67837" />In 2011 Belgium was one of the first countries to implement a court-ordered Pirate Bay blockade.</p>
<p>The action was the result of a lawsuit between the Belgian Anti-Piracy Foundation (BAF) and ISPs Belgacom and Telenet. Through the lawsuit BAF hoped to force the Internet providers to block subscriber access to the famous torrent site.</p>
<p>Initially the Antwerp Commercial Court <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isps-dont-have-to-block-the-pirate-bay-court-rules-100710/">ruled in favor</a> of the ISPs, describing the notion of wholesale site blocking as “disproportionate”. However, this decision was later <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/belgian-isps-ordered-to-block-the-pirate-bay-111004/">overturned</a> by the Court of Appeal and access to The Pirate Bay has been blocked ever since. </p>
<p>As in other countries, however, Pirate Bay users soon found other ways to access their favorite torrent site. With hundreds of proxies to choose from they simply changed their bookmarks and continued to download and share as usual. </p>
<p>To address this issue a new verdict was issued last year, requiring all Belgian Internet Providers to block &#8220;current and future domains&#8221; that provide access to The Pirate Bay. </p>
<p>Several ISPs decided to challenge this broad order, but <a href="http://www.tijd.be/nieuws/politiek_economie_belgie/Belgie_legt_piraterij_op_internet_aan_banden.9432818-3136.art?ckc=1">without result</a>. This week the Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the lower court.</p>
<p>This effectively means that all providers have to actively police the Internet for domains that provide access to The Pirate Bay, report these sites to the authorities, and add these domains to their blocklist. </p>
<p>The verdict, which has yet to be published, is permanent and there are no further options to appeal in Belgium. At this point it is unclear whether the order is limited to The Pirate Bay, or if other sites such as ExtraTorrent and Kickass.to are also covered.</p>
<p>The Internet providers are not happy with their new duties as Internet police, with Belgacom spokesman Jan Margot describing the verdict as &#8220;disproportionate&#8221;. </p>
<p>&#8220;Internet providers are obliged to continue to block The Pirate Bay, even if the site moves to another domain. That is a very broad definition which obliges providers to police the entire Internet. This is something we can not accept,&#8221; <a href="http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20131120_00847340">Margot says</a>.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay is not the only torrent site that&#8217;s currently blocked in Belgium. A few months ago several ISPs quietly expanded their blocklists with Kat.ph, BitSnoop, ExtraTorrent other domains. </p>
<p>With the new Supreme Court ruling, this lists is expected to grow indefinitely. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79765
title: Largest Ever BitTorrent Tracker Movie Uploader Trial Concludes
uri: Largest-Ever-BitTorrent-Tracker-Movie-Uploader-Trial-Concludes
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/e95qwP0ucbQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/f2594d4d.swebits.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/swebits.jpg" width="222" height="132" class="alignright" />In 2004 during some of the early days of the Swedish BitTorrent scene, a new private tracker appeared online. Swebits maintained a membership of up to 40,000 and was very popular with locals.</p>
<p>Seven years later in February 2011 the site announced it would close. News from the site suggested it had been targeted by a DDoS attack and alongside had suffered a catastrophic hardware disaster. Perhaps coincidentally, just a week before the site&#8217;s closure a Swebits user was arrested at his home following an investigation carried out by anti-piracy outfit Antipiratbyran (now Rights Alliance).</p>
<p>It transpired that the then 25-year-old was a moderator on Swebits and between April 2008 and November 2011 had allegedly shared huge quantities of content with the site’s users. The prosecution in the case insisted that he had uploaded many thousands of movies and TV shows after obtaining them from so-called ‘topsites’ affiliated with the warez scene.</p>
<p>The final case, which involved the uploading of 518 titles, concluded yesterday afternoon in the Västmanlands District Court after being reduced to &#8216;just&#8217; 517 titles on a technicality.</p>
<p>&#8220;A film was dropped [from the case] because the statute of limitations expired,&#8221; explained prosecutor Henrik Rasmusson.</p>
<p>However, out of the significant remainder the defendant confessed to just 13 of the charges, the number of titles Antipiratbyran / Rights Alliance said they downloaded directly from the man and later tested. As more than 500 titles remained untested, the former Swebits moderator believes he is innocent of those charges.</p>
<p>Despite the reduction and counterclaim, Rasmusson <a href="http://salaallehanda.com/nyheter/1.2285891-fildelande-salabo-kravs-pa-miljoner">said</a> that never before had a court dealt with someone who had uploaded so many movies and TV shows online. In what is generally seen as an aggravating factor, the court heard that many of the uploads took place before the products were officially available on DVD.</p>
<p>Although more than 500 titles were involved in the trial, it appears only one producer is seeking damages from the now 28-year-old. Nevertheless, they are substantial.</p>
<p>Represented by infamous pirate-hunter Henrik Pontén of Rights Alliance, Nordisk Film AS are trying to recover more than a million dollars in damages after their title &#8220;Buried Alive&#8221; was released onto the Internet two days before its official DVD release.</p>
<p>According to the prosecutor, a request for a custodial sentence will be the likely outcome.</p>
<p>&#8220;I will probably insist on imprisonment,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79778
title: Amazon to Lawmakers: Keep the Internet Open & Limit Copyright Excesses
uri: Amazon-to-Lawmakers-Keep-the-Internet-Open-Limit-Copyright-Excesses
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4t_Q9ADwGOQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/c3fc2e30.representatives.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/representatives.jpg"><img src="media/c3fc2e30.representatives.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/representatives.jpg" alt="representatives" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79805" /></a>A hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet has heard opinions from leading content providers and technology advocates on how best to progress online digital distribution.</p>
<p>The Rise of Innovative Business Models: Content Delivery Methods in the Digital Age heard testimony from Amazon, the MPAA, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and PreEmptive Solutions, an anti-piracy and reverse engineering mitigation company.</p>
<p>John McCoskey, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at the Motion Picture Association of America, began with an overview of how video content is currently being consumed. No longer are people simply sat in a theater or in front of a TV.</p>
<p>&#8220;Nearly 42 million homes in the United States now have any number of Internet-connected media devices, including game consoles, smart TVs, and online set-top boxes. More than 90 legitimate online services are already enabling those homes to download or stream movies and TV shows, offering a service for every type of content consumer out there,&#8221; McCoskey said.</p>
<p><a href="media/394b6768.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg"><img src="media/394b6768.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg" alt="mpaa-logo" width="200" height="112" class="alignright size-full wp-image-36694" /></a>He went on to speak of MPAA member companies embracing portability and flexibility so that viewers can &#8220;watch what they want, when they want, where they want.&#8221;</p>
<p>This innovation, McCoskey said, is a testament to a robust copyright regime that encourages the creation and delivery of content, adding that working together to crack down on infringement will be of benefit to all.</p>
<p>&#8220;We all share a responsibility to curb abusive practices online that stunt investment in content, hurt the rapidly evolving digital marketplace, and harm the interests of consumers who benefit from these innovations. That means finding ways of working together in good faith on voluntary solutions where everyone shares in the responsibility of creating a healthy digital marketplace for the exchange of ideas, goods, and services; one that promotes creativity, investment, innovation, and job creation,&#8221; McCoskey explained.</p>
<p>Also speaking at the hearing was Paul Misener, Amazon.com’s Vice President for Global Public Policy. He began with a brief history of his company and how it has developed from an Internet-based distributor of physical goods into one increasingly supplying digital products online.</p>
<p>&#8220;The content is the same, of course: digital bits that, once delivered, various electronic devices can convert into text, sounds, and images. And so our digital delivery business today is a natural continuation of our origins as a place where customers can find and discover content they want to buy online,&#8221; Misener said.</p>
<p><a href="media/ac019d43.amazon.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/amazon.jpg"><img src="media/ac019d43.amazon.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/amazon.jpg" alt="amazon" width="180" height="79" class="alignright size-full wp-image-76512" /></a>In common with the MPAA, Misener said that Amazon also recognizes the importance of supplying content for consumption on a wide range of platforms, but <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-and-riaa-urge-government-to-keep-high-fines-for-copyright-infringers-131118/">unlike their movie industry counterparts</a> the company had a warning concerning unnecessarily tough copyright law and punishing damages for infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;The risk of exorbitant statutory damage awards that the current system allows could chill the development of new products and services designed to help consumers enjoy copyrighted works,&#8221; Misener said.</p>
<p>&#8220;It may make sense to limit the availability of statutory damages in certain situations, such as where the defendant acted with a good faith belief that its use of copyrighted works was non-infringing or fair, or where the outcome turns on a novel question of law.&#8221;</p>
<p>After noting that digital music distributors have to negotiate a tough path to offering official content due to the lack of centralized information on music creators/publishers and no system for blanket licensing, Misener moved onto perhaps the most important issue of all &#8211; the preservation of the Internet itself.</p>
<p>&#8220;Continued growth and innovation in digital content delivery assumes that the Internet will remain a non-discriminatory, open platform, where bits are bits and arbitrary limits do not<br />
inhibit consumer access to content. Consumer choice, without impairment, must be preserved,&#8221; Misener concluded. </p>
<p>The importance of giving customers what they want was later underlined by David Sohn, General Counsel and Director at the Center for Democracy &#038; Technology. The success of iTunes proves that it is indeed possible to &#8220;compete with free&#8221; as long as services offer great choice and are easy to use. Failure to do so, Sohn said, can result in consumers making other choices.</p>
<p><a href="media/e2ca04d4.CDT.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/CDT.jpg"><img src="media/e2ca04d4.CDT.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/CDT.jpg" alt="CDT" width="183" height="128" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79810" /></a>&#8220;If lawful services fail to give consumers what they want, when they want it, unlawful sources will be out there, waiting to fill the gaps and satisfy the unmet demand.</p>
<p>&#8220;In a world in which information technology has made incredibly powerful tools for copying and disseminating data cheap and ubiquitous, no amount of wishing and no enforcement strategy will be able to fully eliminate unlawful sources of copyrighted material,&#8221; Sohn warned.</p>
<p>When considering reform of copyright law, Sohn said that Congress should keep in mind that the best defense against widespread infringement is via a &#8220;robust and evolving content marketplace&#8221; that satisfies consumer demand via convenient and attractive alternatives to piracy.</p>
<p>The key to that, he said, is by recognizing the importance of existing innovation-boosting elements in current law &#8211; the safe-harbor provisions of the DMCA, the &#8220;Sony doctrine&#8221; concerning products with substantial non-infringing uses, and fair use.</p>
<p>&#8220;Continued innovation and development in the online content marketplace would suffer greatly if Congress were to narrow or otherwise undermine any of these three legal principles,&#8221; Sohn said.</p>
<p>With technology companies and advocates recommending a softening of statutory damages while maintaining safe harbor and the expansion of fair use, the MPAA and other entertainment companies are again finding themselves at odds with their potential distribution partners. Bridging that gap will be an important challenge in the months and years to come.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79828
title: File-Sharing Giant MediaFire Adds Desktop Syncing and Online Streaming Support
uri: File-Sharing-Giant-MediaFire-Adds-Desktop-Syncing-and-Online-Streaming
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GvYiSdW_kkg/
content:
<p><a href="media/7e211cf9.mediafire1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mediafire1.jpg"><img src="media/7e211cf9.mediafire1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mediafire1.jpg" alt="mediafire" width="225" height="73" class="alignright size-full wp-image-49142" /></a>Operating from Texas, <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/">MediaFire</a> has evolved into one of the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-becomes-1-file-sharing-site-cyberlockers-collapse-130330/">largest file-sharing services</a>, serving 30 million registered users and a massive 150 million monthly visitors.</p>
<p>This popularity also put the site in the crosshairs of the Hollywood studios, who branded it a &#8220;<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-targets-fileserve-mediafire-wupload-putlocker-and-depositfiles-120331/">rogue cyberlocker</a>&#8221; last year. Shocked by this characterization, MediaFire <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mediafire-shocked-by-hollywood-smear-campaign-120404/">emphasized</a> that it has always cooperated with rightsholders by taking down infringing content.</p>
<p>At the same time the company worked hard behind the scenes to expand its service into more than just a plain old file-sharing platform. Today MediaFire is ready to reveal the fruits of this effort to the world, with the release of its desktop syncing application and an overhaul of its website.   </p>
<p>The sync software allows Mac and Windows users to back up the files stored in their MediaFire account directly to their computers. This means that with up to 50 gigabytes of free storage, MediaFire now is a direct competitor of other cloud hosting services such as Dropbox and Google Drive. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>MediaFire desktop sync (<a href="media/2a9f5132.winnot.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/winnot.jpg">large</a>)</h5>
<p><a href="media/2a9f5132.winnot.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/winnot.jpg"><img src="media/eaea09b9.winnots.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/winnots.jpg" alt="winnots" width="599" height="451" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79829" /></a></center></p>
<p>One of the advantages of the sync application is that it allows users to share files directly from their hard drive. For example, people can put audio and video files in their MediaFire folder and get a link to share these with a friend, a group of friends, or the public at large. </p>
<p>To make sharing more convenient, MediaFire has also overhauled its web interface. The service now supports automatic media file transcoding and streaming support guarantees that over 200 file formats can be viewed directly from a web browser. </p>
<p>Besides streaming, users can download a copy of the files to their computers as well, <a href="media/7fb34938.Sample20-20The20M20Machine20-20Tiny20Anthem.mp4" data-original-source="http://www.mediafire.com/watch/lb6ii1715xo2wpn/Sample%20-%20The%20M%20Machine%20-%20Tiny%20Anthem.mp4">as this example shows</a>. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>MediaFire streaming support (<a href="media/95f902d1.mediafvideo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mediafvideo.jpg">large</a>)</h5>
<p><a href="media/95f902d1.mediafvideo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mediafvideo.jpg"><img src="media/05362c92.mediafvideos.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mediafvideos.jpg" alt="mediafvideo" width="1105" height="738" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79831" /></a></center></p>
<p>While the above are already major changes, it is just the beginning for the ambitious file-sharing service. The ultimate goal of MediaFire is to make sharing and discovering content easy and convenient across a variety of platforms through the new API. </p>
<p>Brent Bucci, MediaFire&#8217;s Vice President of Brands and Developer Relations, informs TorrentFreak that MediaFire&#8217;s API will open doors to video playback on other platforms, including Xbox, Playstation and Smart TV.</p>
<p>After the launch of the desktop sync application MediaFire plans to add sync support for mobile devices early next year. A few months later the service will also add search capability, which will make it easier for the public to find files that others share, much like YouTube. </p>
<p><center><br />
<h5>MediaFire&#8217;s new web interface (<a href="media/da96ef26.mediafweb.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mediafweb.jpg">large</a>)</h5>
<p><a href="media/da96ef26.mediafweb.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mediafweb.jpg"><img src="media/d8c7e760.mediafwebs.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mediafwebs.jpg" alt="mediafweb" width="1102" height="740" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79833" /></a></center></p>
<p>The timing of MediaFire&#8217;s new sync tools announcement is interesting as it comes days before Kim Dotcom&#8217;s Mega <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mega-exits-beta-with-5-million-users-and-big-plans-131107/">is expected</a> to release similar applications. However, according to MediaFire this is a mere coincidence.</p>
<p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t seen ourselves a competitor to Mega,&#8221; Bucci says, explaining that MediaFire has chosen to focus on the social sharing aspect rather than encryption.</p>
<p>&#8220;Encryption is very hard to do, and at the end of the day really good security, transparent policies and not pissing off the powers that be, are all essential parts to running a cloud service that can be trusted,&#8221; Bucci says </p>
<p>Dropbox, one of the most used file-syncing tools, is not a competitor MediaFire worries about either, as storage is much more expensive there. &#8220;If people want two gigabytes of storage, perhaps Dropbox is right for them,&#8221; Bucci says.</p>
<p>MediaFire users can store a maximum of 50 gigabytes with a free account (starting with 10 GB), and paid subscriptions start at $4.99 a month for 100 gigabytes.</p>
<p>Finally, the topic of online piracy can&#8217;t be ignored. When MediaFire adds discovery tools it may also become easier to find infringing content being shared on the service, something which has the potential to raise eyebrows in the entertainment industry.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Of course, dealing with piracy and fair-use is a balancing act. We&#8217;ve developed some pretty innovative tools in order to identify pirated content, while at the same time, we are committed to protecting our users&#8217; data and media,&#8221; Bucci says.</p>
<p>However, instead of focusing on the negative MediaFire prefers to highlight the advantages of sharing. Many musicians and even major labels and movie studios are beginning to realize that sharing can also have benefits, and this is exactly what MediaFire wants to excel at.</p>
<p>&#8220;The industry is changing, and entertainment companies and artists are beginning to see clear advantages when it comes to providing free content to their fans. Remixes, mash-ups, and social promotions are creating a new generation of artists that understand their fans,&#8221; Bucci concludes.</p>
<p>Those interested in the new MediaFire and its fresh streaming support and sync tools <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/">can check it out here</a>. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79767
title: Pirate Party Gets Observer Status at World Trade Organization
uri: Pirate-Party-Gets-Observer-Status-at-World-Trade-Organization
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JNh-Nv8Zx7I/
content:
<p><a href="media/6e2bc354.ppi-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ppi-logo.png"><img src="media/6e2bc354.ppi-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ppi-logo.png" alt="ppi-logo" width="200" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79769" /></a>Following the launch of the first Pirate Party in Sweden the &#8220;Pirate&#8221; movement quickly spread all over the world, and not without success. </p>
<p>During the German elections earlier this year <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_2013#Results">nearly a million people</a> voted for the local Pirate Party, in Iceland the national Parliament has <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-enters-icelands-national-parliament-after-historic-election-win-130428/">three Pirate MPs</a>, and the Swedish branch of the Pirates currently <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-wins-and-enters-the-european-parliament-090607/">has two seats</a> at the European Parliament. </p>
<p>To coordinate the international agenda <a href="http://www.pp-international.net/about">Pirate Parties International</a> (PPI) was founded in 2010. The organization currently represents the interests of 43 parties worldwide, from China to Chile. </p>
<p>One of the goals of the umbrella organization is to facilitate international operation with other global organizations, to monitor and influence the political agenda. This week PPI took a big step towards this goal when it was granted observer status for the upcoming meeting of the <a href="http://wto.org/index.htm">World Trade Organization</a> (WTO) in Bali.</p>
<p>The WTO Secretariat approved the application of the international Pirate organization, which means that it can participate in WTO conferences and related meetings. <a href="http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/igo_obs_e.htm">Observer status</a> also allows PPI to submit papers to be circulated among WTO members. </p>
<p>Previously PPI was denied observing member status at the World intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) after several member states, including the United States, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/member-states-block-pirate-parties-wipo-application-130925/">objected</a> to its application.</p>
<p>Gregory Engels, Co-Chairman of PPI, says they have already sent a new application to WIPO, and he hopes that the recent developments will help the group to get accepted there as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of WIPO&#8217;s points of critique was that they were not aware of any existing cooperations between UN bodies and international political organizations. By being admitted to the WTO meeting we have created such a precedent. This is definitely a door opener for us,&#8221; Engels tells TorrentFreak. </p>
<p>In addition to WTO and WIPO, Pirate Parties International hopes to join various other UN organizations to raise their profile. The status as WTO observer is definitely a breakthrough, but also just the beginning.</p>
<p>&#8220;Overall I think that we need more connections with other international global players &#8211; NGOs and academia. By being admitted to Bali we have the chance to deepen those relationships and gain visibility,&#8221; Engels says. </p>
<p>&#8220;I consider the WTO conference an accolade for us in the field of international lobbying, and a door opener to more international participation,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79836
title: IOC Demands 2014 Olympics Piracy Takedowns & Blocks “Within Minutes”
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Bzx_E80aYmQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/11cfc54e.sochi2014.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sochi2014.jpg"><img src="media/11cfc54e.sochi2014.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sochi2014.jpg" alt="sochi2014" width="160" height="90" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79843" /></a>One only has to look at how hard countries work to become Olympics hosts to know that the games involve huge sums of money, on both sides of the ledger. While it certainly bought in some tidy sums for the Chinese, the 2008 Beijing games are believed to have cost around $40 billion.</p>
<p>The outlays associated with the Olympics need to be clawed back in every possible way and one of the options is the selling of TV rights. In 2012, NBC paid the International Olympic Committee around $1 billion for broadcasting rights and as a result wanted to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/nbc-and-ioc-ready-to-crackdown-on-olympic-pirates-120725/">protect</a> their investment.</p>
<p>Next year it&#8217;s expected that Russia will spend a record $50 billion to put on the Sochi winter games. Local broadcasting deals have already been sewn up by the IOC, with Channel One, RTR, NTV and RIA Novosti securing the key rights and other broadcasters having to settle for putting out a maximum of just six minutes of footage per day.</p>
<p>Needless to say, the Internet isn&#8217;t going to care about the IOC&#8217;s rules, much less abide by them. There will be hundreds of unauthorized streams and downloadable torrents of the games, from the opening ceremony through to the closing moments &#8211; and everything available for capture in between.</p>
<p>The IOC is familiar with the problem. In 2008 the body went as far as writing to the Swedish government to do something about Olympic events on The Pirate Bay. By 2012 illegal live streams caused the biggest problems and this time round in Russia the IOC wants to take an even more aggressive approach.</p>
<p>According to a letter obtained by Russian publication <a href="http://www.gazeta.ru">Gazeta</a>, the IOC has written to Russian authorities and Olympic-related bodies demanding an extraordinary effort to rid the Internet of unauthorized Olympic content in record time.</p>
<p>The IOC is calling on the organizing committee for the games to create a &#8220;rapid response team&#8221; with the authority to remove unauthorized streams, links and other content from the Internet &#8220;in a few minutes or hours&#8221;, not days as is the current norm.</p>
<p>The adoption of a new anti-piracy law earlier in the year is an inadequate mechanism  to protect the Olympics, the IOC said, as responses to copyright holder complaints take too long to process. Instead, they have a better idea.</p>
<p>The IOC appears to be suggesting the creation of a &#8216;blacklist&#8217; of sites where Olympic events and streams are likely to appear without permission. Once on the list the IOC wants the sites to create tools that will &#8220;automatically and immediately carry out the removal of unauthorized content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Details are unclear, but the IOC also seems to be seeking government-administered punishment for sites that fail to efficiently remove infringing content.</p>
<p>When asked about the IOC&#8217;s demands the Ministry of Communications said they had not received a letter and refused to comment on &#8220;rumors&#8221;. The Olympic Organizing Committee simply refused to comment.</p>
<p>Communications watchdog Roscomnadzor, who would need to be involved in any initiative of this type, said they had not seen the letter but were willing to look at the proposals.</p>
<p>&#8220;If at the highest political and legislative level decisions are taken and Roscomnadzor receives the necessary powers, we will study this,&#8221; a spokesperson said.</p>
<p>By law, Roscomnadzor currently has the power to block access to any site or service that fails to remove reported copyrighted content or links within 72 hours. To meet the requirements of the IOC, legal adjustments will almost certainly be required.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, TV-focused torrent site EZTV said that they will be distributing torrents of the Olympics as they have done in the past. In their view the games should be an inspiration to everyone, not simply viewed as a money-making exercise.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Olympics is about people from all over the world coming together to show their skills and sportsmanship. And the IOC is purely interested in making as much money from broadcasting as possible,&#8221; the site told us.</p>
<p>&#8220;We think differently, we believe everyone should be able to see these events freely and inspire future sport heroes!&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79887
title: Spanish Police Arrest First Ever Music Leaker After Man Taunts Band
uri: Spanish-Police-Arrest-First-Ever-Music-Leaker-After-Man-Taunts-Band
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4fS-c0IStKc/
content:
<p><a href="media/8d252f04.sadpirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadpirate.jpg"><img src="media/8d252f04.sadpirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadpirate.jpg" alt="sadpirate" width="160" height="187" class="alignright size-full wp-image-47490" /></a>Pre-release music and movie piracy is always viewed as particularly damaging by the entertainment industries. When an item leaks in advance of an official product becoming available there is no legal competition, meaning that pirates scoop up what in some instances could be sales.</p>
<p>Leakers come in all shapes and sizes and many have been arrested in countries including the United States and UK. Some are serial leakers with so-called &#8216;scene&#8217; groups but others have simply got their hands on an album via legal means a couple of days ahead of an official release.</p>
<p>While many of its European neighbors have, up until recently Spain had never identified or arrested a music leaker. At a press conference yesterday, police confirmed that progress has been made.</p>
<p>The story began on October 24 when a posting appeared on the web forum Manerasdevivir.com offering a pre-release copy of an album by Warner-signed rock band Extremoduro. For 10 euros the poster said that site users could obtain a copy, posting a photograph of the CD plus a couple of low-quality rips to show he had the goods in hand.</p>
<p>However, somehow the band itself found out about the offer and decided to try to stem the leak themselves. Through a representative they spoke to the soon-to-be-leaker and pleaded with him not to allow the album into the wild. It didn&#8217;t go well.</p>
<p>&#8220;Do not threaten to report me, because [if you do] tomorrow I will [release the album] to all music forums and YouTube,&#8221; the leaker reportedly responded.</p>
<p>That &#8220;cocky&#8221; attitude resulted in a complaint to Spain&#8217;s Guardia Civil who launched Operation Agila to track the potential leaker down.</p>
<p>The man turned out be a 31-year-old employee of Novodisc, the company hired to manufacture the band&#8217;s CD. He worked in the warehouse which backed up his earlier claims of being able to get other albums in advance of their official release. Police raided the man&#8217;s home and found evidence that the forum poster and the warehouse worker were one and the same person.  </p>
<p><a href="media/345bcf99.promusicae.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/promusicae.jpg"><img src="media/345bcf99.promusicae.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/promusicae.jpg" alt="promusicae" width="180" height="82" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79910" /></a>Police say that the arrest marks the first time they have been able to identify and detain someone responsible for leaking music on to the Internet in advance of its official release. But despite their achievement and swift action, they still couldn&#8217;t stop the inevitable.</p>
<p>On November 4 the man apparently made good on his threats to dump the album online. According to the IFPI-affiliated industry group Promusicae by November 7 the album was available for download on 54 sites. Warner Music reacted by incurring costs of 120,000 euros to get the album out in double-quick time.</p>
<p>&#8220;The leak of [the album] has been particularly severe because the record company that publishes it was forced to advance their release date by 20 days in order to mitigate the effect of the thousands of illegal downloads taking place,&#8221; Guardia Civil said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Activity in some illegal file-sharing networks increased by over 1,000 percent as a result of this leak. Mainly affected are the producers, artists and distributors, since a disk that they had invested many months of work in was being distributed in lower quality files without any financial benefit to their rightful owners.&#8221; </p>
<p>Without managing to sell even a single copy for a measly 10 euros, the man now faces copyright infringement charges and a sentence of between six months and two years, four years if the case is deemed to be &#8220;serious&#8221;.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the album &#8211; titled &#8220;For all Audiences&#8221; &#8211; has gone straight into Spain&#8217;s charts at the number one position.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79879
title: UK Piracy Blocklist Expands With YIFY, PrimeWire, Vodly and Others
uri: UK-Piracy-Blocklist-Expands-With-YIFY-PrimeWire-Vodly-and-Others
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OfjyKTBV6eU/
content:
<p><a href="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg"><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076" /></a>The number of “pirate” websites being blocked in the UK is growing at a rapid pace.</p>
<p>This week a new High Court ruling went into effect ordering BT, Sky, Virgin Media, O2, EE and TalkTalk to block access to the popular torrent site <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/yify-hollywood-nemesis-becomes-iconic-piracy-brand-131005/">YIFY-Torrents</a>, as well as streaming portals <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vodly-to-primewire-ag-letmewatchthis-1channel-is-a-streaming-fiasco-130815/">PrimeWire, Vodly</a>, WatchFreeMovies and Project Free TV.</p>
<p>The major UK Internet providers have stopped defending themselves against entertainment industry requests, making it a mere formality for copyright holders to have a torrent or similar site blocked by order of the High Court.</p>
<p>Talking to TorrentFreak Virgin Media confirmed the latest additions. </p>
<p>“We obey court orders when addressed to the company,” Virgin&#8217;s Gareth Mead said, noting that the streaming sites SolarMovie and Tubeplus will <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-win-isp-blockade-against-solarmovie-and-tubeplus-131113/">also be blocked</a> next month.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5></h5>
<p><img src="media/2704d838.virgin-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/virgin-blocked.jpg" alt="virgin-blocked" width="599" height="519" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79880" /></center></p>
<p>The total number of websites blocked on copyright grounds is 33, not counting proxies and other alternative domains. This list includes all the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2013-130106/">10 most visited torrent sites</a> including The Pirate Bay, and is expected to expand further in the weeks and months to come.</p>
<p>Whether the measures will be successful in preventing people from downloading and watching &#8220;pirated&#8221; content entirely has yet to be seen. These are still hundreds of alternative sites <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-torrent-and-streaming-sites-not-blocked-in-the-uk-131116/">still available</a>, as well as many proxies that provide access to blocked sites via a detour.</p>
<p><center><br />
<h5></h5>
<p><img src="media/b6d3cc22.SKY-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/SKY-blocked.jpg" alt="SKY-blocked" width="599" height="302" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-79881" /></center></p>
<p>The entertainment industries, however, are confident that their actions will not be in vain. The movie studios and record labels will continue to press site owners to take down their services, and will submit complaints to the High Court for those that fail to comply. </p>
<p>“All of the sites in recent actions have been asked to comply with UK and international law and have refused to do so,” a FACT spokesman told TorrentFreak in response to the recent blocking orders.</p>
<p>“We have made it clear that we will seek action against sites that continue to provide unremitting mass access to infringing content following due legal process,” the Hollywood group said.</p>
<p>And so the Whack-a-Mole continues.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>The full list of sites that are currently blocked in the UK is as follows:</p>
<p><em>Primewire, Vodly, Watchfreemovies, Project-Free TV, Yify-Torrents, 1337x, Bitsnoop, Extratorrent, Monova, Torrentcrazy, Torrentdownloads, Torrentreactor, Torrentz, Ambp3, Beemp3, Bomb-mp3, Eemp3world, Filecrop, Filestube, Mp3juices, Mp3lemon, Mp3raid, Mp3skull, Newalbumreleases, Rapidlibrary, EZTV, FirstRowSports, Download4all, Movie2K, KickAssTorrents, Fenopy, H33T and The Pirate Bay.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79929
title: Why Even Doctor Who Has Trouble Following Copyright
uri: Why-Even-Doctor-Who-Has-Trouble-Following-Copyright
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yPEohxW_dFk/
content:
<p><a href="media/61438ccd.doctorwho.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/doctorwho.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-7976" alt="doctorwho" src="media/61438ccd.doctorwho.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/doctorwho.jpg" width="180" height="265" /></a>Last month, a post <a href="http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/13/10/03/2232213/">on Slashdot</a> suggested that the early episodes of Dr Who will soon fall into the public domain. </p>
<p>But in copyright nothing is ever so simple. In fact, even a TimeLord’s brain, capable of dealing with the intricacies of time and space, would find it a complex subject.</p>
<p>At the heart of the assertion is that in the New Year the first episodes of Dr Who will fall into the public domain. However, the reality isn’t as clear-cut as it seems. While the broadcast copyright will expire, the other copyrights in the episode will still exist. This means that the broadcast may well fall into the public domain but the episode itself won’t.</p>
<p>Under the UK’s 1956 Copyright Act, <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/14" target="_blank">broadcast copyright</a> expires 50 years from the end of the year when a show was first broadcast. This means that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_serials#Season_1_.281963.E2.80.9364.29" target="_blank">first six episodes</a> (the four comprising An Unearthly Child – the first story – as well as the first two of the seven episodes in The Daleks) will expire 50 years from the end of 1963, on January 1 2014.</p>
<p>However, the episode as a whole won’t be in the public domain. That’s a whole lot more complex.</p>
<p>Copyrights <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/13B" target="_blank">for the episodes</a> themselves expire at the end of the year that is 70 years after the death of the following persons, whichever comes last:</p>
<p>- The principal director<br />
- The author of the screenplay<br />
- The author of the dialog, or<br />
- The composer of music specially created for and used in the film</p>
<p>Since the director of the first four episodes, Waris Hussein, is still alive, the 70 year clock hasn’t even started. Likewise, Christopher Barry, the director of the majority of the Dalek’s episodes, is also still alive. So we’re looking at 1 January 2085 as a realistic earliest date (assuming neither die in the next month, and they’re the last surviving).</p>
<p>Legal blogger William Tovey has <a href="http://willtovey.tumblr.com/post/63359156599/the-copyright-in-doctor-who" target="_blank">done some investigation</a> on the topic and found that the earliest definitive date an episode drops into the public domain will be The Aztecs (the sixth story of season 1) in 2083. However, if (still living) script-editor Donald Tosh didn&#8217;t contribute to the dialogue, then The Time Meddler (season 2, story 9) will beat it into the public domain in 2057, followed by The Smugglers (season 4 opener) in 2068.</p>
<p>And this is where even the Gallifreyan brain goes crazy.</p>
<p>Ninety-four years before the first Doctor Who episode drops into the public domain in the UK is just nuts, and that’s not the actual first episode. That will have been under copyright for at least 130 years before entering the public domain. And this all depends on the term not being extended again.</p>
<p>Worse, this is only for the UK. Copyrights in every other country will be calculated using their own systems and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries%27_copyright_length" target="_blank">timescales</a>, and one is left with the belief that the real reason time travel was invented concerned perpetual copyright.</p>
<p>So while people in the UK will be able to share the broadcasts come January 1, in order to do anything more they’ll need to wait at least 45 years, while people in other countries will have to run the gauntlet of their own local copyright laws. </p>
<p>The complexity and extended term length is enough to drive anyone interested in honesty and fairness crazy. It&#8217;s a no-brainer to suggest that a paragon of virtue like the Doctor, more interested in doing right than following the letter of the law, would have real trouble following copyright law as it&#8217;s currently written around the world.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79915
title: Pirate Bay Founder’s Imminent Extradition Raises Big Questions
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-s-Imminent-Extradition-Raises-Big-Questions
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GnULkgexCLs/
content:
<p><img src="media/7557a16b.anakata1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/anakata1.jpg" width="225" height="146" class="alignright" />In June 2013, authorities in Denmark requested the extradition of Gottfrid Svartholm following accusations that he was involved in hacking into a Danish company.</p>
<p>Their request would have to wait, however, pending the outcome of a parallel hacking case against The Pirate Bay founder in Sweden.</p>
<p>In the event Gottfrid was found guilty and handed two years in jail, but on appeal that was reduced to 12 months when it was decided that his involvement in a breach at the Nordea bank could not be proven.</p>
<p>This outcome was important. In the Nordea case the court found that although Gottfrid&#8217;s computer had been used in the hack, it was possible it had been remotely controlled. This doubt led to an acquittal and the sparking of new hope as the case in Denmark involved the same computer during the same time period in a similar case.</p>
<p>With this in mind, last month Gottrid filed a last-ditch appeal at the Supreme Court in Sweden. It was a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-hacking-case-rejected-by-supreme-court-131029/">failed exercise</a> and as a result Gottfrid faces extradition to Denmark where he is accused of hacking into the mainframe computers of IT company CSC.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Gottfrid&#8217;s mother Kristina says that while the similarities in the cases are obvious, the Danish police appear to have other things on their minds.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Danish police have shown a significantly greater interest in what a person mentioned by name and called ‘Swedish police’ in the documents has had to say about the computer and its remote control possibilities,&#8221; Kristina says. &#8220;According to his person, Gottfrid’s computer could not have been remotely controlled.&#8221;</p>
<p>This, of course, is completely the opposite of the conclusion arrived at by the Court of Appeal.</p>
<p>Furthermore, Kristina says that the person from the Swedish Security Police told Danish authorities that Gottfrid used the nickname &#8220;My Evil Twin&#8221;, yet that name has never appeared in the Swedish investigation or in another situation related to him.</p>
<p>&#8220;This ‘nick’ is given, however, such a distinction in the investigation that it is even to be found in a separate heading, along with the two names that are familiar from the Swedish investigation, ‘Anakata’ and ‘tLt’. The basis for this? Well, the name was found in a file in the computer. And, according to the person from Säpo, the computer could not have been used by someone else. And therefore that nickname must be Gottfrid’s,&#8221; Kristina explains.</p>
<p>Notably, the Säpo employee was also the person who originally tipped off Danish police about the intrusion made against CSC. That tipoff led to the issuing of an arrest warrant for Gottfrid on the basis that he had sabotaged and caused &#8220;the extensive disruption of information systems,&#8221; but up until this point they had no idea that there was anything wrong.</p>
<p>But even though the Danish authorities still believe they have a strong case that warrants extradition, it is interesting that up until now no indictment has appeared.</p>
<p>&#8220;The documentation that the Danish police have presented to Gottfrid is, in his own words, extremely thin. Time has passed and no indictment has yet been presented. But the demand for extradition remains,&#8221; Kristina explains.</p>
<p>There are other problems too. In the documents seen by Kristina the Danish police&#8217;s case against Gottfrid references the &#8216;guilty&#8217; judgment handed down by the District Court earlier in the year but of course that was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-hacking-sentence-slashed-in-half-on-appeal-130925/">later repealed</a> by the Court of Appeal. There is no mention of the acquittal.</p>
<p>&#8220;[The police] obviously do not want to let the Danish court take note of this assessment of the remote control of the computer. If they did the suspicions against Gottfrid would fall,&#8221; Kristina explains.</p>
<p>In correspondence with the Danish prosecutor in September, Kristina was informed that the authorities do not intend to take note of the Court of Appeal ruling, despite any similarities in the cases. As a result Gottfrid will be sent to Denmark next week where he will likely be imprisoned for many months before he faces trial. If he had remained in Sweden he would have been free by the end of the year, a point not lost on his mother.</p>
<p>&#8220;Is this all about keeping Gottfrid locked up as long as possible, regardless of cost, human and financial?&#8221; she questions. &#8220;Why, in that case? To punish him? In order to set an example?&#8221;</p>
<p>If convicted in Denmark, Gottfrid faces up to six years in jail.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=79925
title: Kim Dotcom Links €20,000 Wikileaks Donation to Megaupload Raid
uri: Kim-Dotcom-Links-20-000-Wikileaks-Donation-to-Megaupload-Raid
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/E555RF9cHtY/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-79938" alt="dotcombook" src="media/6b435a90.dotcombook.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcombook.jpg" width="200" height="275" />Few people would disagree that Kim Dotcom is a fascinating man. After his file-sharing service Megaupload was raided early 2012, Kim Dotcom became an instant Internet celebrity. </p>
<p>The success and controversy surrounding Megaupload as well as Dotcom&#8217;s personal life in the years leading up to the raid are now detailed in a biography. </p>
<p>Written by David Fisher, &#8220;The Secret Life of Kim Dotcom &#8211; Spies, Lies and the War for the Internet&#8221; reveals intimate family details, but it also provides additional details on Dotcom&#8217;s perception of the Megaupload raid, and how the entertainment industry dealt with the site before it was taken down.</p>
<p>Some of these details are being published for the first time, including Kim Dotcom&#8217;s suspicions that his support for Wikileaks was one of the main reasons for the U.S. Government to go after him. </p>
<p>In the book Dotcom explains that he donated €20,000 to Wikileaks after the Collateral Murder video came out early 2010. It&#8217;s a controversial allegation, but Dotcom believes that it is no coincidence that the prosecutor who investigated Julian Assange was also appointed to the Megaupload case.</p>
<p>The passage below is taken directly from the book, with permission from the publisher.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;"><center><strong>The Wikileaks Connection</strong></center></p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">Dotcom believes one of the reasons he was targeted was his support for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. He says he was compelled to reach out to the site after US soldier Bradley Manning leaked documents to it. The infamous video recording of the Apache gunship gunning down a group of Iraqis (some of whom, despite widespread belief to the contrary, were later revealed to have been armed), including two Reuters journalists, was the trigger.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">“Wow, this is really crazy,” Dotcom recalls thinking, watching the black-and-white footage and hearing the operators of the helicopter chat about firing on the group. He made a €20,000 donation to Wikileaks through Megaupload’s UK account. “That was one of the largest donations they got,” he says. According to Dotcom, the US, at the time, was monitoring Wikileaks and trying better to understand its support base. “My name must have popped right up.”</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">The combination of a leaking culture and a website dedicated to producing leaked material would horrify the US government, he says. A willing leaker and a platform on which to do it was “their biggest enemy and their biggest fear . . . If you are in a corrupt government and you know how much fishy stuff is going on in the background, to you, that is the biggest threat — to have a site where people can anonymously submit documents.”</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">Neil MacBride was appointed to the Wikileaks case, meaning Dotcom shares prosecutors with Assange. “I think the Wikileaks connection got me on the radar.”</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">Dotcom believes the US was most scared of the threat of inspiration Wikileaks posed. He also believes it shows just how many secrets the US has hidden from the public and the rest of the world. “That’s why they are going after that so hard. Only a full transparent government will have no corruption and no back door deals or secret organisations or secret agreements. The US is the complete opposite of that. It is really difficult to get any information in the US, so whistleblowing is the one way you can get to information and provide information to the public.”</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>The book doesn&#8217;t offer more details to substantiate Dotcom&#8217;s claims, but it&#8217;s clear that the New Zealand entrepreneur sees Megaupload&#8217;s takedown as more than just &#8220;a favor&#8221; to Hollywood and the major record labels.</p>
<p>In addition to the Wikileaks angle the book also describes tense pre-raid relationships between Megaupload and various copyright holders. As Dotcom <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/entertainment-industry-was-eager-to-work-with-megaupload-120326/">previously told TorrentFreak</a>, several players in the entertainment industry, including Disney, were eager to partner with the file-sharing empire.</p>
<p>On the other hand, however, the major record labels and Hollywood also actively frustrated attempts by Dotcom to license content for his Megabox and Megamovie ventures. The passage below describes the tense relationship in detail.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;"><center><strong>Tense Relationships With Big Content</strong></center></p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">While Hollywood executives railed against the company in public, they were privately finding ways to engage with the business. There were emails from studios, looking for ways to work with Megaupload that would see their content hosted on the website. “Disney proposed to us a contract of co-operation where there were some conditions in there we simply couldn’t accept. They wanted to use us as a distribution platform (but) they just had completely bizarre ideas of how that would work. They would basically take control of the whole process.”</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">Ideas from the studios included allowing old or little-known new content to find its own life on Megaupload. The old content could be linked to new content which would be paid for, while new artists with low public profile would be able to build a fan base through viral appeal. “For us it was bizarre, on the one hand, they were like wanting to do something with us and being nice and thanking us for all the co-operation. You would never think they would go and try and start criminal action against us.”</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">Dotcom said he struggled to understand why Hollywood and the record Industry Association of America spent so much effort on attack when there were easier ways to manage the evolution of copyright on the internet. An outlay of up to $2 million would fund the development of a call centre — he suggested India or the Philippines. “You employ say 50 to 100 people, and you train them to look for infringing links all over the internet.” The centre would develop search skills ranging from the ubiquitous google to sites dedicated to infringing content. He said with the funding of “a relatively small investment” and the use of available tools like the Digital Millennium copyright Act “they could have sorted this piracy problem out”.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">In the months leading up to the destruction of Megaupload, there was a growing friction between it and the copyright industry. Megaupload was bigger and bolder than ever, talking of new business plans which cut across territory considered by the copyright industry to be traditionally theirs. One of those ventures was MegaMovie, intended to be an online database of films. There was also MegaBox, the proposed music site which would allow users to buy tracks from popular artists — but also allow artists to sell directly to the public.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">“I was having meetings with Hollywood producers trying to establish communication and trying to work with them. I wanted to license content for MegaBox from the music labels.”For each move Dotcom made, the copyright industry would make another to head him off. When Megaupload agreed a deal with a company which held the database of cover art for CDs, the deal was sunk by the recording industry. “They stopped us from becoming a proper licensor of their content and their cover art. They didn’t even allow us to become a partner.”</p>
<p style="padding-left: 20px;">While Hollywood was keeping the eager Mega team at arm’s length, Dotcom could only see common sense in some sort of deal. He wanted to turn the infringing links into an opportunity to make money, diverting traffic attempting to download infringing material to an MPAA-approved website where they could buy it. “We had great ideas for them,” said Dotcom. “So let’s say Hollywood identifies the Terminator 2 movie. Their team has taken it down from Megaupload. By providing us with a content ID . . . we know what it was and we link to the site where they sell it legitimately. They weren’t interested in that — can you believe that? We were going to give them so much traffic so they could sell this stuff and they didn’t do it.”</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Perhaps one of the reasons why Hollywood and the RIAA kept Megaupload at a distance is because they knew what was coming. Not much later Megaupload was raided, effectively destroying a multi-million dollar empire. </p>
<p>The above are just a few highlights from the book, which is well worth a read for those who want to know more about Dotcom&#8217;s life. While the book doesn&#8217;t delve deeply into some of the more controversial issues, it is a fascinating read. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Secret Life of Kim Dotcom &#8211; Spies, Lies and the War for the Internet&#8221; is available <a href="http://www.smallfish.co.nz/shops/paul-little-books-shop">for sale here</a>, and an Ebook version is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-Life-Kim-Dotcom-ebook/dp/B00GR7AF46/">available on Amazon</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/copyright-issues/">copyright</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/category/pirate-talk/">file-sharing</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/">VPN services</a>.</p>
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