# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156085
title: Movie Studios Sue Founder & Distributors of Popular ‘Pirate’ App Showbox
uri: Movie-Studios-Sue-Founder-Distributors-of-Popular-Pirate-App-S
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/u8sNU53V9zM/
content:
<p><img src="media/6a6d1bfc.showb.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/showb.png" alt="" width="289" height="215" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156100" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/showb.png 321w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/showb-200x150.png 200w" sizes="(max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px">For many years media companies have focused their anti-piracy efforts on pirate sites, including torrent and streaming portals. </p>
<p>More recently, these efforts expanded to streaming boxes, with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) targeting several <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-amazon-and-hollywood-sue-kodi-powered-dragon-box-over-piracy-180111/">vendors</a> of such devices. </p>
<p>This week, a group of independent movie studios has targeted yet another largely overseen element of the piracy ecosystem. Dallas Buyers Club, Cobbler Nevada, Bodyguard Productions, and several other studios are going after the popular Android-based app Showbox.</p>
<p>Showbox hasn&#8217;t caught many headlines, but the tool is used by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. It allows users to stream movies and TV shows via torrents and direct sources, all through a Netflix-style interface.</p>
<p>In a lawsuit filed at the US District Court of Hawaii, the movie companies are now taking action against several people and sites which distribute the application. </p>
<p>This includes the alleged founder and developer &#8216;Andrew Crow,&#8217; Showboxappdownload.co founder &#8216;Mark Willow,&#8217; and the people behind Showboxappdownload.com and Showbox.en.uptodown.com/android. </p>
<p>In addition, the complaint also targets the persons who made the application available on Rawapk.com/showbox-apk-download/, a repository of APK files.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs bring this action to stop the massive piracy of their motion pictures brought on by the software application Show Box app,&#8221; the complaint reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Defendants misleadingly promote the Show Box app as a legitimate means for viewing content to the public, who eagerly install the Show Box app to watch copyright protected content, thereby leading to profit for the Defendants.&#8221;</p>
<p>The lawsuit follows <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/phone-store-employee-sued-for-promoting-pirate-app-showbox-180523/">on the heels</a> of another case where a phone store employee was accused of promoting the Showbox app. Similar to that case, the current lawsuit also relies on input from an alleged user of the application. In this case, that&#8217;s Hawaiian resident James Sosa.</p>
<p>&#8220;I visited the website showboxappdownload.com and followed the instructions on the website to download the Show Box app to my Dell tablet,&#8221; Sosa testifies. &#8220;The language on the website led me to believe that I could use the Show Box app to watch free movies legally.&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>From the complaint</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/dd841c2f.showboxsuit1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/showboxsuit1.png" alt="" width="600" height="241" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156096"></center></p>
<p>According to the movie studios, most of which have thus far been very active in filing lawsuits against individual BitTorrent downloaders, Showbox is a pirate tool, plain and simple.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants promote the use of the Show Box app user for overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, infringing purposes, and that is how the users use the Show Box app,&#8221; the studios write.</p>
<p>The defendants all stand accused of contributory copyright infringement. The studios are asking the court for actual or statutory damages to compensate their losses, as well as temporary, preliminary and permanent injunctions to stop the allegedly infringing activities. </p>
<p>In addition, the studios also request an order preventing internet search engines, hosting companies, domain-name registrars, and domain name registries to stop facilitating access to the allegedly infringing domain names and websites.</p>
<p>The two recent Showbox related cases reveal an interesting trend. Where many of these movie studios were previously engaged in so-called copyright trolling lawsuits, they are now going after the people who promote, develop, and distribute a popular streaming app. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the complaint filed by Venice PI, Headhunter, MON, LHF Productions, Cook Productions, Glacier Films, Colossal Movie Productions, Automata Productions, Criminal Productions, Dallas Buyers Club, Clear Skies Nevada, Bodyguard Productions, I.T. Productions, SVZ Productions, Splintered, Cobbler Nevada and Justice Everywhere Productions is <a href="media/9065577a.showboxcomplaint.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/showboxcomplaint.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156143
title: Legal Blackmail: Zero Cases Brought Against Alleged Pirates in Sweden
uri: Legal-Blackmail-Zero-Cases-Brought-Against-Alleged-Pirates-in-Sweden
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QT2OtZS1TPI/
content:
<p><a href="media/67ffec03.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg"><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977"></a>While several countries in Europe have wilted under sustained pressure from copyright trolls for more than ten years, Sweden managed to avoid their controversial attacks until fairly recently.</p>
<p>With Germany a decade-old pit of misery, with many hundreds of thousands of letters &#8211; by now probably millions &#8211; sent out to Internet users demanding cash, Sweden avoided the ranks of its European partners until two years ago</p>
<p>In September 2016 it was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/attention-swedish-pirate-bay-users-copyright-trolls-have-arrived-160902/">revealed</a> that an organization calling itself Spridningskollen (Distribution Check) headed up by law firm Gothia Law, would begin targeting the public.</p>
<p>Its spokesperson described its letters as &#8220;speeding tickets&#8221; for pirates, in that they would only target the guilty. But there was a huge backlash and just a couple of months later Spridningskollen <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-trolls-abandon-sweden-in-blaze-of-bad-publicity-161101/">headed for the hills</a>, without a single collection letter being sent out.</p>
<p>That was the calm before the storm.</p>
<p>In February 2017, Danish law firm Njord Law was found to be at the center of a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-internet-users-face-new-wave-of-piracy-cash-demands-170225/">new troll operation</a> targeting the subscribers of several ISPs, including Telia, Tele2 and Bredbandsbolaget. Court documents revealed that thousands of IP addresses had been harvested by the law firm&#8217;s partners who were determined to link them with real-life people.</p>
<p>Indeed, in a single batch, Njord Law was granted permission from the court to obtain the identities of citizens behind 25,000 IP addresses, from whom it hoped to obtain cash settlements of around US$550. But it didn&#8217;t stop there.</p>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-trolls-hit-thousands-of-swedish-pirates-with-550-fines-171023/">Time</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/yet-more-copyright-trolls-invade-sweden-demanding-much-more-money-171221/">again</a> the trolls headed back to court in an effort to reach more people although until now the true scale of their operations has been open to question. However, a new investigation carried out by <a href="https://www.svt.se/nyheter/granskning/ug/expertens-kritik-mitt-intryck-ar-att-det-missbrukas">SVT</a> has revealed that the promised copyright troll invasion of Sweden is well underway with a huge level of momentum.</p>
<p>Data collated by the publication reveals that since 2017, the personal details behind more than 50,000 IP addresses have been handed over by Swedish Internet service providers to law firms representing copyright trolls and their partners. By the end of this year, Njord Law alone will have sent out 35,000 letters to Swede&#8217;s whose IP addresses have been flagged as allegedly infringing copyright.</p>
<p>Even if one is extremely conservative with the figures, the levels of cash involved are significant. Taking a settlement amount of just $300 per letter, very quickly the copyright trolls are looking at $15,000,000 in revenues. On the perimeter, assuming $550 will make a supposed lawsuit go away, we&#8217;re looking at a potential $27,500,000 in takings.</p>
<p>But of course, this dragnet approach doesn&#8217;t have the desired effect on all recipients.</p>
<p>In 2017, Njord Law said that only 60% of its letters received any kind of response, meaning that even fewer would be settling with the company. So what happens when the public ignores the threatening letters?</p>
<p>“Yes, we will [go to court],” said lawyer Jeppe Brogaard Clausen last year.</p>
<p>“We wish to resolve matters as much as possible through education and dialogue without the assistance of the court though. It is very expensive both for the rights holders and for plaintiffs if we go to court.”</p>
<p>But despite the tough-talking, SVT&#8217;s investigation has turned up an interesting fact. The nuclear option, of taking people to court and winning a case when they refuse to pay, has never happened.</p>
<p>After trawling records held by the Patent and Market Court and all those held by the District Courts dating back five years, SVT did not find a single case of a troll taking a citizen to court and winning a case. Furthermore, no law firm contacted by the publication could show that such a thing had happened.</p>
<p>&#8220;In Sweden, we have not yet taken someone to court, but we are planning to file for the right in 2018,&#8221; Emelie Svensson, lawyer at Njord Law, told SVT.</p>
<p>While a case may yet reach the courts, when it does it is guaranteed to be a cut-and-dried one. Letter recipients can often say things to damage their case, even when they&#8217;re only getting a letter due to their name being on the Internet bill. These are the people who find themselves under the most pressure to pay, whether they&#8217;re guilty or not.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is a risk of what is known in English as &#8216;legal blackmailing&#8217;,&#8221; says Mårten Schultz, professor of civil law at Stockholm University.</p>
<p>&#8220;With [the copyright holders&#8217;] legal and economic muscles, small citizens are scared into paying claims that they do not legally have to pay.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a position shared by Marianne Levine, Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Stockholm University.</p>
<p>&#8220;One can only show that an IP address appears in some context, but there is no point in the evidence. Namely, that it is the subscriber who also downloaded illegitimate material,&#8221; she told SVT.</p>
<p>Njord Law, on the other hand, sees things differently.</p>
<p>&#8220;In Sweden, we have no legal case saying that you are not responsible for your IP address,&#8221; Emelie Svensson says.</p>
<p>Whether Njord Law will carry through with its threats will remain to be seen but there can be little doubt that while significant numbers of people keep paying up, this practice will continue and escalate. The trolls have come too far to give up now.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156081
title: TRON Cryptocurrency Founder Plans to Buy BitTorrent Inc
uri: TRON-Cryptocurrency-Founder-Plans-to-Buy-BitTorrent-Inc
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2Aw5W0qFVN8/
content:
<p><img src="media/63ae51b5.bittorrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent.png" alt="" width="263" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156117">Founded by BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen, BitTorrent Inc. is best known for its torrent client uTorrent, which has more than 100 million users. </p>
<p>Despite this massive userbase, however, the company never transformed into the next billion-dollar tech giant, as some as the early investors had hoped. </p>
<p>In fact, it has only gone downhill in recent years, in part due to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bram-cohen-lashes-out-against-bittorrents-former-starfucker-ceos-170423/">questionable</a> management practices. Things have calmed down since, but according to new information gathered by TorrentFreak, there is a major change afoot. </p>
<p>A few weeks ago we reported that BitTorrent Inc. quietly renamed its company to &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-changed-its-name-to-rainberry-180512/">Rainberry</a>&#8221; last year. The company informed us that this was &#8220;purely a corporate decision.&#8221; While that may be the case, it could also be related to the company&#8217;s plans to be acquired.</p>
<p>Legal paperwork filed earlier this year reveals that Rainberry was sued because it allegedly violated a &#8220;No Shop&#8221; clause in an agreement with a potential buyer. This potential buyer, who signed a letter of intent, is none other than TRON founder <a href="https://twitter.com/justinsuntron">Justin Sun</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://tron.network/">TRON</a> is one of the hottest and controversial cryptocurrencies. After a successful ICO, it now has a market cap of <a href="https://www.worldcoinindex.com/">more than $4 billion</a>, only surpassed by a few others. And with Sun at the helm, it makes headlines nearly every day.</p>
<p>The TRON mainnet, which will go live in a few days, has the ultimate goal to &#8220;decentralize the web.&#8221; BitTorrent would fit well in this picture, and the <a href="media/567514b5.TronWhitepaper_en.pdf" data-original-source="https://o836fhe91.qnssl.com/tron/whitebook/TronWhitepaper_en.pdf">TRON whitepaper</a> mentions torrents as one of the pillars. </p>
<p><center><strong>TRON</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/9268d0e2.tron.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tron.png" alt="" width="540" height="254" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-156116"></center></p>
<p>Sun first began pursuing the acquisition of BitTorrent Inc.&#8217;s assets in September last year. In January 2018, both parties finalized a letter of intent for the acquisition, of which Sun returned a signed copy. </p>
<p>While it appeared that things were moving along nicely, BitTorrent Inc. CEO Ro Choy came back with a surprising reply.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Within literally hours after the parties agreed to the Letter of Intent, and after Ro Choy began performing the terms of the Letter of Intent, Defendant claims it received three &#8216;superior&#8217; bids from companies that David Chao admitted they had been communicating with,&#8221; Sun claims in the lawsuit. </p>
<p>Sun asked the court for a restraining order to prevent BitTorrent from talking to other potential buyers, as was agreed in the letter of intent. The case was swiftly <a href="https://woodsroundup.com/2018/02/16/are-no-shop-clauses-kosher-2/">dismissed</a> by the court, but not without leaving a paper trail. </p>
<p>While it is clear that TRON&#8217;s founder is eager to acquire BitTorrent, less is known about what happened afterward. Did both parties throw their letter of intent in the trash mid-February, or was the deal still on? </p>
<p>Then, our research pointed out another interesting fact which suggests that the deal is going forward. At the end of February, right when the exclusivity period set in the letter of intent ended, a holding company named &#8220;<a href="https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/C4123842">Rainberry Acquisition</a>&#8221; was registered in California. </p>
<p>This company is registered to none other than TRON founder Justin Sun, who completed the statement of information last month, as can be seen below. </p>
<p><center><strong>Rainberry Acquisition paperwork</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/f151f011.sun.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sun.png" alt="" width="590" height="292" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156115"></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Justin Sun, but TRON&#8217;s founder did not immediately reply to our request for comment.</p>
<p>When we confronted BitTorrent Inc. with the information, the company confirmed our findings and the interest from Sun, but it noted that the acquisition is not 100% finalized yet. More information will likely be released at a later stage, if all goes well.</p>
<p>At this point, Sun&#8217;s plans for BitTorrent Inc. remain unclear. He has not spoken about the acquisition in public, obviously, but it&#8217;s likely that it will be used to the advantage of TRON.  </p>
<p>Interestingly, BitTorrent Inc. founder Bram Cohen has also taken an interest in cryptocurrencies, with the goal of creating a superior one called <a href="https://chia.net/">Chia</a>. As far as we know, he is not part of TRON&#8217;s future in any way. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Sun&#8217;s complaint against Rainberry (f/k/a BitTorrent) is available <a href="media/37872df8.suncomplaint.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/suncomplaint.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156217
title: Steal This Show S03E16: The TAO of the DAO Pt. 2
uri: Steal-This-Show-S03E16-The-TAO-of-the-DAO-Pt-2
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tAxBs0GFDiw/
content:
<p><img src="media/d01749d9.stslogo180.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stslogo180.png" alt="stslogo180" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-113928"><strong><sup><em>If you enjoy this episode, consider becoming a patron and getting involved with the show. <a href="https://patreon.com/user?u=4275705">Check out Steal This Show&#8217;s Patreon campaign</a>: support us and get all kinds of&nbsp;fantastic benefits!</em></sup></strong></p>
<p>This is the second part of our interview with Chris Beams, founder of the decentralised cryptocurrency exchange, <a href="https://bisq.network/">Bisq</a>. We discuss the inner workings of the Bisq service, how it compares to the widely used platform Local Bitcoins, and the intricacies of designing decentral P2P systems for financial operations. </p>
<p>From there, we move into some of the political/philosophical implications of Bisq as a Distributed Autonomous Organisation (DAO): are we evolving, with Bitcoin and other P2P networks, functionalities which parallel certain present-day institutions, and which could one day eliminate the need for establishment altogether? </p>
<p>And could a future democracy be composed of “opt-in” components that actually do better at providing for our basic human needs?</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><a href="https://stealthisshow.com">Steal This Show</a> aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing copyright and file-sharing news. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary, and analysis. </p>
<p>The guests for our news discussions will vary, and we&#8217;ll aim to introduce voices from different backgrounds and persuasions. In addition to news, STS will also produce features interviewing some of the great innovators and minds. </p>
<p><strong>Host:</strong> Jamie King</p>
<p><strong>Guest:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/cbeams?lang=en">Chris Beams</a></p>
<p><center><iframe width="100%" height="180px" src="//stealthisshow.com/?lpe-frame=1&#038;lpe-season=3&#038;lpe-episode=16" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p><strong>Produced </strong> <em>by </em>Jamie King<br>
<strong>Edited &#038; Mixed</strong> <em>by</em> Riley Byrne<br>
<strong>Original Music</strong> <em>by</em> David Triana<br>
<strong>Web Production</strong> <em>by</em> Siraje Amarniss</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156109
title: Social Media Sites Are Full of Pirate Champions League Streamers
uri: Social-Media-Sites-Are-Full-of-Pirate-Champions-League-Streamers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/B1gKfN19ZXQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/cdf782ee.cl.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cl.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156184">This evening, Liverpool and Real Madrid will go head to head in the <a href="http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/index.html">Champions League</a> final, one of the biggest sports events of the year.</p>
<p>Hundreds of millions of football fans from around the world will be glued to their televisions to follow the spectacle, while the hashtags #RMALIV and #UCLfinal are trending on social media. </p>
<p>While Twitter, Facebook and other social media are great ways to keep fans engaged and generate traction, they also present a threat. According to data released by the global anti-piracy outfit <a href="https://irdeto.com/">Irdeto</a>, social media rivals traditional pirate streaming sites.</p>
<p>The company analyzed the number of pirated streams it ran into during the knockout stages of the Champions League and found 5,100 unique illegal streams that were rebroadcasting the matches.</p>
<p>Roughly 40 percent of these unauthorized broadcasts came from &#8216;social&#8217; platforms including Periscope, Facebook and Twitch. Irdeto found 2,093 streams on these sites with an estimated 4,893,902 viewers.</p>
<p>Regular web-based streams on traditional sports pirate sites were the most popular (2,121), followed by ones found through Kodi-addons (886).</p>
<p>&#8220;These viewing figures combined with the number of UEFA Champions League streams detected across a variety of channels suggests that more needs to be done to stop the illegal distribution of high profile live European football matches,&#8221; the company writes. </p>
<p><center><strong>Red card&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/bcec8972.piracyred.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracyred.png" alt="" width="616" height="689" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156203"></center></p>
<p>Rory O’Connor, Irdeto&#8217;s Senior Vice President of Cybersecurity Services, notes that criminals are &#8220;earning a fortune&#8221; from these activities. At the same time, he stresses that people who stream the matches on social media could face criminal action.</p>
<p>“The criminals who profit from these illegal streams have little regard for their viewers and are exposing them to cybercrime, inappropriate content and malware infection. Also, viewers of illegal content can face criminal penalties if they decide to share content with friends on social media,” O’Connor says. </p>
<p>Besides sharing <a href="https://resources.irdeto.com/infographics/infographic-giving-privacy-a-red-card">infographics</a> and reporting interesting statistics, including that Real Madrid was the most viewed team with 2,856,011 viewers of illegal social media streams during the knock out stage, Irdeto can also take action. </p>
<p>Whether they already work for UEFA or if this is an unsolicited application is not known to us, but they do work for <a href="https://irdeto.com/news/turk-telecom-group-selects-irdeto-security-services-for-new-satellite-service-built-around-live-sports.htm">other rightsholders</a>. </p>
<p>So instead of tuning into the final tonight, they will probably be busy tracking down pirate broadcasts on social media and elsewhere, hoping to shut them down as soon as possible.</p>
<p>The game is on.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156021
title: Putin Asked to Investigate Damage Caused By Telegram Web-Blocking
uri: Putin-Asked-to-Investigate-Damage-Caused-By-Telegram-Web-Blocking
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DhM8elKh_fk/
content:
<p><a href="media/6bfc8224.cameraspy.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cameraspy.jpg"><img src="media/f408e481.cameraspy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cameraspy.jpg" alt="" width="170" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-49625"></a>After a Moscow court gave the go-ahead for Telegram to be banned in Russia last month, the Internet <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/russias-encryption-war-1-8m-google-amazon-ips-blocked-to-silence-telegram-180417/">became a battleground</a>.</p>
<p>On the instructions of telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor, ISPs across Russia tried to block Telegram by blackholing millions of IP addresses. The effect was both dramatic and pathetic. While Telegram remained stubbornly online, countless completely innocent services suffered outages as Roscomnadzor charged ahead with its mission.</p>
<p>Over the past several weeks, Roscomnadzor has gone some way to clean up the mess, partly by removing innocent Google and Amazon IP addresses from Russia&#8217;s blacklist. However, the collateral damage was so widespread it&#8217;s called into question the watchdog&#8217;s entire approach to web-blockades and whether they should be carried out at any cost.</p>
<p>This week, thanks to an annual report presented to President Vladimir Putin by business ombudsman Boris Titov, the matter looks set to be escalated. &#8216;The Book of Complaints and Suggestions of Russian Business&#8217; contains comments from Internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev, who says that the Prosecutor General&#8217;s Office should launch an investigation into Roscomnadzor&#8217;s actions.</p>
<p>Marinichev said that when attempting to take down Telegram using aggressive technical means, Roscomnadzor relied upon &#8220;its own interpretation of court decisions&#8221; to provide guidance, <a href="http://tass.ru/obschestvo/5222034">TASS</a> reports.</p>
<p>&#8220;When carrying out blockades of information resources, Roskomnadzor did not assess the related damage caused to them,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>More than 15 million IP addresses were blocked, many of them with functions completely unrelated to the operations of Telegram. Marinichev said that the consequences were very real for those who suffered collateral damage. </p>
<p>&#8220;[The blocking led] to a temporary inaccessibility of Internet resources of a number of Russian enterprises in the Internet sector, including several banks and government information resources,&#8221; he reported.</p>
<p>In advice to the President, Marinichev suggests that the Prosecutor General&#8217;s Office should look into &#8220;the legality and validity of Roskomnadzor&#8217;s actions&#8221; which led to the &#8220;violation of availability of information resources of commercial companies&#8221; and &#8220;threatened the integrity, sustainability, and functioning of the unified telecommunications network of the Russian Federation and its critical information infrastructure.&#8221;</p>
<p>Early May, it was reported that in addition to various web services, around 50 VPN, proxy and anonymization platforms <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/russia-blocks-50-vpns-anonymizers-in-telegram-crackdown-viber-next-180504/">had been blocked</a> for providing access to Telegram. In a May 22 report, that number had swelled to <a href="https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3636337">more than 80</a> although 10 were later unblocked after they stopped providing access to the messaging platform. </p>
<p>This week, Roscomnadzor has continued with efforts to block access to torrent and streaming platforms. In a new wave of action, the telecoms watchdog ordered ISPs to block at least 47 mirrors and proxies providing access to previously blocked sites.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=155991
title: MPAA Revenue Drops 20% as Movie Studios Cut Back
uri: MPAA-Revenue-Drops-20-as-Movie-Studios-Cut-Back
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/uk-lhi4eWuA/
content:
<p><img src="media/1f9a16ec.mpaa-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-1.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-119098">As a united front for Hollywood, the MPAA has booked many anti-piracy successes in recent years.</p>
<p>Through its involvement in the shutdowns of Popcorn Time, YIFY, isoHunt, Hotfile, Megaupload and several other platforms, the organization has worked hard to get results. </p>
<p>Less visibly but at least as important, the MPAA uses its influence to lobby lawmakers, while orchestrating and managing anti-piracy campaigns both in the United States and abroad.</p>
<p>All this work doesn&#8217;t come for free, obviously. To pay the bills the MPAA relies on six major movie studios for financial support. Over the past several years, these revenues had stabilized, but according to its latest tax filing, they are dropping now. </p>
<p>The IRS filing, covering the fiscal year 2016, puts total revenue at $57 million, down from $73 million. The Hollywood studios paid the bulk of this sum through membership fees which total $50 million. That&#8217;s a 22% reduction compared to a year earlier. </p>
<p>At the end of the year, this resulted in a significant loss of $8 million. While that&#8217;s a lot of money, the MPAA is not in imminent danger, as the organization still has over $10 million in net assets and funds. </p>
<p>We haven&#8217;t seen any explanation for the lower membership fees. It could be more permanent, but it may also be an agreed decision, as there&#8217;s enough money in the bank.</p>
<p>Going over the numbers, we see that salaries make up a large chunk of the expenses. Chris Dodd, the former MPAA Chairman and CEO, was the highest paid employee with a total income of more than $3.4 million, including a $275,000 bonus.</p>
<p>This compensation was for Dodd&#8217;s last full year as CEO. He was replaced by Charles Rivkin last year, another political heavyweight, who previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs in the Obama administration.</p>
<p>Dodd&#8217;s compensation took up nearly 10% of the entire salary budget. The rest is divided over the MPAA&#8217;s other 196 employees. This brings the total workforce to 197, which is down as well, from 224 employees a year earlier. </p>
<p>Moving on, it&#8217;s always interesting to see where the MPAA&#8217;s grants and other types of funding go to. </p>
<p>As reported previously, the group donates handsomely to various research initiatives. This includes a recurring million dollar grant for Carnegie Mellon’s ‘Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics’ (IDEA), which focuses on piracy related topics.</p>
<p>Another major beneficiary is the Copyright Alliance, a non-profit that represents copyright holders large and small on a variety of issues. The group was co-founded by the MPAA and received $750,000 in support according to the latest filing.</p>
<p>The total grants budget is $3.1 million and includes many smaller payments, which is not that different from previous years. Other large cost items are the lobbying budget, which totaled $3.6 million, and $5.3 million in legal fees. </p>
<p>Aside from the big dip in revenues, there are no real outliers in the filing. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the MPAA&#8217;s latest form 990 is available <a href="media/3c0fa2de.mpaa-2016-990.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-2016-990.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=155987
title: How Effective is The UK Pirate Bay Blockade?
uri: How-Effective-is-The-UK-Pirate-Bay-Blockade
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/A7tzD08RCSE/
content:
<p><img src="media/2759597c.blocked-censor.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blocked-censor.jpg" alt="blocked-censor" width="250" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-124850">Website blocking is without a doubt one of the favorite anti-piracy tools of the entertainment industries.</p>
<p>The UK is a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/megashare-viooz-watch32-zmovie-blocked-140311/">leader on this front</a> after the High Court ordered the largest ISPs to block access to popular file-sharing sites. Over time the number of blocked URLs in the UK has grown to well over 1,000, including many popular torrent, streaming, and direct download sites. </p>
<p>The Pirate Bay is arguably the biggest target of all. Not only is the site itself blocked by major ISPs, many proxy sites and proxy linking sites are blacklisted as well. The goal of these efforts is to prevent people from accessing the notorious torrent site, but that&#8217;s easier said than done. </p>
<p>This week, we decided to take a look at the most visited &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites in the UK. For this quest, we used data from the traffic monitoring company Alexa, which is often cited by copyright holders as well. Despite the blocking efforts, we spotted quite a few pirate sources among the UK&#8217;s top sites. </p>
<p>As it stands, Pirateproxy.sh tops the list. This Pirate Bay proxy is the 115th most-visited site in the UK, which is good for an estimated fifteen million visits per month.</p>
<p>Looking at the list of the 500 most-visited sites in the UK, Pirateproxy.sh is just one of the many Pirate Bay oriented sites. The proxy indexer Unblocked.mx is ranked 227th, for example, while Piratebays.be, Proxybay.bz, Unblocked.lat, Piratebayproxylist.net and Proxyof.com all make an appearance as well. </p>
<p>Most surprising, perhaps, is that the regular ThePirateBay.org still gets a decent amount of traffic too, as it&#8217;s currently ranked 319th. That&#8217;s more popular than in some other countries where there are no ISP restrictions. This traffic comes in part from VPNs. </p>
<p><center><strong>Pirateproxy.sh</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/39ad757a.pirateproxy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirateproxy.png" alt="" width="600" height="205" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-155998"></center></p>
<p>Does this mean that the blockades have no effect at all? No, that&#8217;s impossible to conclude based on these observations. What it does show, however, is that there is still plenty of Pirate Bay traffic in the UK, even to the original site. </p>
<p>Pirateproxy.sh, for example, is part of the &#8216;<a href="https://twitter.com/ThePirateProxy?lang=en">Unblocked</a>&#8216; team which operates a series of proxies and proxy indexes. Since 2013, they&#8217;ve been actively providing people with workarounds for blocked sites and continuously launch new domains when theirs are added to the blocklists.</p>
<p>The Unblocked operator believes that while some people may be deterred by the ISP blocks, many are not.</p>
<p>&#8220;Although the blocks have had the intended effect of blocking popular file-sharing sites, I don&#8217;t believe they are effective since users have access to many workarounds to access these sites,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;For any given blocked site, there will be countless proxy sites available with new domains constantly being created.&#8221;</p>
<p>Unblocked regularly updates its domains after they are added to the blocklist, which is usually once a month. Just a few weeks ago the main proxy index moved from Unblocked.mx to Unblocked.lat, and that&#8217;s probably not the last change.</p>
<p>The new domains are accessible for a few weeks, or sometimes months, and if they are blocked, other ones will simply replace them.</p>
<p>This is not limited to The Pirate Bay and its proxies either. Looking more closely at the most-visited sites in the UK we see more &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites, some of which are supposed to be blocked. </p>
<p>An overview of the ten most-used pirate sites in the UK is presented below. Some of these will likely be added to the ISP blocklists in the near future, if they aren&#8217;t already. </p>
<p>However, similar to regular takedown notices and domain seizures, ISPs blockades have also turned into a game of whack-a-mole.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em>The label &#8220;pirate site&#8221; applies to sites that have been classified as such by entertainment industry groups. Unblocked.mx already started redirecting to a new domain name.</em></p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th><strong>Site</strong></th>
<th width="20%"><strong>Alexa rank</strong></th>
<th width="25%"><strong>Type</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Original site blocked?</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="http://pirateproxy.sh/">Pirateproxy.sh</a></strong></td>
<td>115</td>
<td>Torrent proxy</td>
<td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="http://openload.co/">Openload.co</a></strong> </td>
<td>194</td>
<td>Cyberlocker</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="http://0123movies.com">0123movies.com</a></strong> </td>
<td>215</td>
<td>Streaming</td>
<td>Yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="http://rutracker.org/">Rutracker.org</a></strong> </td>
<td>222</td>
<td>Torrents</td>
<td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="https://Unblocked.mx/">Unblocked.mx</a></strong> </td>
<td>227</td>
<td>Proxy links</td>
<td>Yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="http://Piratebays.be/">Piratebays.be</a> </strong></td>
<td>255</td>
<td>Torrent proxy</td>
<td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="http://Kissanime.ru/">Kissanime.ru</a></strong></td>
<td>310</td>
<td>Streaming</td>
<td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="https://thepiratebay.org/">Thepiratebay.org</a></strong></td>
<td>319</td>
<td>Torrents</td>
<td>Yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="http://Solarmoviez.ru/">Solarmoviez.ru</a></strong></td>
<td>327</td>
<td>Streaming</td>
<td>No</td>
<tr>
<tr>
<td><strong><a href="http://Proxybay.bz/">Proxybay.bz</a></strong></td>
<td>338</td>
<td>Proxy links</td>
<td>No</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156034
title: Google’s Chrome Web Store Spammed With Dodgy ‘Pirate’ Movie Links
uri: Google-s-Chrome-Web-Store-Spammed-With-Dodgy-Pirate-Movie-Link
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/P1i6YKdH2Wc/
content:
<p><a href="media/1d5ba269.chrome.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/chrome.jpg"><img src="media/53764347.chrome.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-100967" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome.jpg 222w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px"></a>Launched in 2010, Google&#8217;s Chrome Store is the go-to place for people looking to pimp their Chrome browser.</p>
<p>Often referred to as apps and extensions, the programs offered by the platform run in Chrome and can perform a dazzling array of functions, from <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/https-everywhere/gcbommkclmclpchllfjekcdonpmejbdp">improving security</a> and <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/privacy-badger/pkehgijcmpdhfbdbbnkijodmdjhbjlgp">privacy</a>, to <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/videostreamcom/maphjaiffpndplboobmblddjbhfknpfj">streaming video</a> or <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/torrentz2-magnet-links-%2B/ldknhpjddofdohocbhakahagoepainmo">adding magnet links</a> to torrent sites.</p>
<p>Also available on the Chrome Store are themes, which can be installed locally to change the appearance of the Chrome browser.</p>
<p>While there are certainly plenty to choose from, some additions to the store over the past couple of months are not what most people have come to expect from the add-on platform.</p>
<p><center><strong>Free movies on Chrome&#8217;s Web Store?</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/f23cce4a.chrome-theme1-e1527080397686.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome-theme1-e1527080397686.png"><img src="media/f23cce4a.chrome-theme1-e1527080397686.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome-theme1-e1527080397686.png" alt="" width="600" height="333" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-156055"></a></center></p>
<p>As the image above suggests, unknown third parties appear to be exploiting the Chrome Store&#8217;s &#8216;theme&#8217; section to offer visitors access to a <a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=site:chrome.google.com+Full+Movie+online">wide range of pirate movies</a> including Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Rampage.</p>
<p>When clicking through <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/watch-ready-player-one-20/pdaijbjfoklgoolhddekflmcogjhdkhb">to the page</a> offering Ready Player One, for example, users are presented with a theme that apparently allows them to watch the movie online in &#8220;Full HD Online 4k.&#8221;</p>
<p>Of course, the whole scheme is a dubious scam which eventually leads users to Vioos.co, a platform that tries very hard to give the impression of being a pirate streaming portal but actually provides nothing of use.</p>
<p><center><strong>Nothing to see here</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/4e48a9d4.chrome-theme3-e1527082978839.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome-theme3-e1527082978839.png"><img src="media/4e48a9d4.chrome-theme3-e1527082978839.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome-theme3-e1527082978839.png" alt="" width="600" height="312" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-156062"></a></center></p>
<p>In fact, as soon as one clicks the play button on movies appearing on Vioos.co, visitors are re-directed to another site called Zumastar which asks people to &#8220;create a free account&#8221; to &#8220;access unlimited downloads &#038; streaming.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;With over 20 million titles, Zumastar is your number one entertainment resource. Join hundreds of thousands of satisfied members and enjoy the hottest movies,&#8221; the site promises.</p>
<p>With this kind of marketing, perhaps we should think about this offer for a second. Done. No thanks.</p>
<p>In extended testing, some visits to Vioos.co resulted in a redirection to EtnaMedia.net, a domain that was immediately blocked by MalwareBytes due to suspected fraud. However, after allowing the browser to make the connection, TF was presented with another apparent subscription site.</p>
<p>We didn&#8217;t follow through with a sign-up but further searches revealed <a href="https://www.scamguard.com/etnamedianet/">upset former customers</a> complaining of <a href="https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/etnamedia.net">money being taken from their credit cards</a> when they didn&#8217;t expect that to happen.</p>
<p>Quite how many people have signed up to Zumastar or EtnaMedia via this convoluted route from Google&#8217;s Chrome Store isn&#8217;t clear but a worrying number appear to have installed the &#8216;themes&#8217; (if that&#8217;s what they are) offered on each &#8216;pirate movie&#8217; page.</p>
<p>At the time of writing the &#8216;free Watch Rampage Online Full Movie&#8217; &#8216;theme&#8217; has 2,196 users, the &#8220;Watch Avengers Infinity War Full Movie&#8221; variant has 974, the &#8216;Watch Ready Player One 2018 Full HD&#8217; page has 1,031, and the &#8216;Watch Black Panther Online Free 123putlocker&#8217; &#8216;theme&#8217; has more than 1,800. Clearly, a worrying number of people will click and install just about anything.</p>
<p>We haven&#8217;t tested the supposed themes to see what they do but it&#8217;s a cast-iron guarantee that they don&#8217;t offer the movies displayed and there&#8217;s always a chance they&#8217;ll do something awful. As a rule of thumb, it&#8217;s nearly always wise to steer clear of anything with &#8220;full movie&#8221; in the title, they can rarely be trusted.</p>
<p>Finally, those hoping to get some guidance on quality from the reviews on the Chrome Store will be bitterly disappointed.</p>
<p><center><strong>Garbage reviews, probably left by the scammers</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/cc3ef598.chrome-theme4-e1527083692295.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome-theme4-e1527083692295.png"><img src="media/cc3ef598.chrome-theme4-e1527083692295.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome-theme4-e1527083692295.png" alt="" width="600" height="274" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-156063"></a></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156236
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 05/28/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-05-28-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0ZyNFrzcP0Y/
content:
<p><img src="media/6bcd6a6e.deadpool2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deadpool2.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156239">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Deadpool 2 is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-05-21-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">Deadpool 2</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D86RtevtfrA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">Avengers: Infinity War</a> (HDCam)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">9.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwievZ1Tx-8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">7.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDjIWPwcPU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/">Pacific Rim: Uprising</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BAhwgjMvnM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">A Quiet Place</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7cc5t7tv8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">Ready Player One</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSp1dM2Vj48">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1137450/">Death Wish</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1137450/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzILu6yyA20">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1413492/">12 Strong</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1413492/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Denciie5oA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3721964/">Gringo</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3721964/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-bZLM3I-C0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2873282/">Red Sparrow</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2873282/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmUL6wMpMWw&amp;t=17s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156190
title: Pirate IPTV Sellers Sign Abstention Agreements Under Pressure From BREIN
uri: Pirate-IPTV-Sellers-Sign-Abstention-Agreements-Under-Pressure-From-BRE
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YUl71Rj1EaI/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034"></a>Earlier this month, Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN revealed details of its case against Netherlands-based company Leaper Beheer BV.</p>
<p>BREIN&#8217;s complaint, which was filed at the Limburg District Court in Maastricht, claimed that<br>
Leaper sold access to unlicensed live TV streams and on-demand movies. Around 4,000 live channels and 1,000 movies were included in the package, which was distributed to customers in the form of an .M3U playlist.</p>
<p>BREIN said that distribution of the playlist amounted to a communication to the public in contravention of the EU Copyright Directive. In its defense, Leaper argued that it is not a distributor of content itself and did not make anything available that wasn’t already public.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-pirate-iptv-linker-to-shut-down-or-face-penalties-up-to-e1-25m-180911/">detailed ruling</a> the Court sided with BREIN, noting that Leaper communicated works to a new audience that wasn&#8217;t taken into account when the content&#8217;s owners initially gave permission for their work to be distributed to the public.</p>
<p>The Court ordered Leaper to stop providing access to the unlicensed streams or face penalties of 5,000 euros per IPTV subscription sold, link offered, or days exceeded, to a maximum of one million euros. Further financial penalties were threatened for non-compliance with other aspects of the ruling.</p>
<p>In a fresh announcement Friday, BREIN revealed that three companies and their directors (Leaper included) have signed agreements to cease-and-desist, in order to avert summary proceedings. According to BREIN, the companies are the biggest sellers of pirate IPTV subscriptions in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>In addition to Leaper Beheer BV, Growler BV, DITisTV and their respective directors are bound by a number of conditions in their agreements but primarily to cease-and-desist offering hyperlinks or other technical means to access protected works belonging to BREIN&#8217;s affiliates and their members.</p>
<p>Failure to comply with the terms of the agreement will see the companies face penalties of 10,000 euros per infringement or per day (or part thereof).</p>
<p>DITisTV&#8217;s former website now appears to sell shoes and a search for the company using Google doesn&#8217;t reveal many flattering results. Consumer website <a href="https://www.consumentenbond.nl/nieuws/2016/klachtenpiek-ditistv-nl">Consumentenbond.nl</a> enjoys the top spot with an article reporting that it received 300 complaints about DITisTV.</p>
<p>&#8220;The complainants report that after they have paid, they have not received their order, or that they were not given a refund if they sent back a malfunctioning media player. Some consumers have been waiting for their money for several months,&#8221; the article reads.</p>
<p>According to the report, DiTisTV pulled the plug on its website last June, probably in response to the European Court of Justice <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/selling-piracy-configured-media-players-is-illegal-eu-court-rules-170426/">ruling</a> which found that selling piracy-configured media players is illegal.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156234
title: ISP Wants US Marshals to Help Serve Piracy Tracking Outfit
uri: ISP-Wants-US-Marshals-to-Help-Serve-Piracy-Tracking-Outfit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bGHFcyQPMGY/
content:
<p><img src="media/9ef4b702.marhal.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/marhal.png" alt="" width="249" height="129" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156246">Two years ago we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-phishing-scam-targets-u-s-isps-subscribers-160624/">revealed</a> how scammers were abusing the DMCA to extract cash payments from innocent Internet subscribers. </p>
<p>They used the name of piracy-tracking firm IP-Echelon and several major copyright holders, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/scam-targets-game-thrones-pirates-160708/">including HBO</a>, to demand settlements for allegedly pirated content. </p>
<p>The DMCA scam was pretty convincing. The emails lacked IP-Echelon&#8217;s PGP signature but were good enough to fool some Internet providers into forwarding them. If anything, it revealed that these type of notices should be carefully vetted.</p>
<p>While we haven&#8217;t seen any reports of these fraudulent notices since, Internet provider Grande Communications has taken an interest in the matter, in preparation for its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-books-partial-victory-against-riaa-in-piracy-lawsuit-180405/">piracy liability case</a> against the RIAA. </p>
<p>This case relies on DMCA notices sent by <a href="https://www.ip-echelon.com/">IP-Echelon</a> competitor Rightscorp. The ISP is therefore eager to hear out IP-Echelon to find out more about the issue, noting that they received the scam emails as well.   </p>
<p>&#8220;Grande has also received IP-Echelon infringement notices, which include both authenticated, PGP-signed infringement notices from IP-Echelon, as well as fake, non-PGP-signed notices which falsely claim to be from IP-Echelon,&#8221; Grande informed the court late last week. </p>
<p>&#8220;In light of this phishing scam involving IP-Echelon and Grande, as well as the similarity of IP-Echelon’s role in investigating and sending infringement notices regarding alleged BitTorrent-based infringements to the role played by Rightscorp for Plaintiffs in this case, Grande decided to subpoena IP-Echelon to produce certain documents and appear for a deposition.&#8221; </p>
<p>Grande&#8217;s interest in IP-Echelon is understandable. Getting in touch with the company, which has offices in the US and Australia, has proven to be rather complicated though. </p>
<p>The ISP used a private process server to serve the subpoena at IP-Echelon’s <a href="https://www.ip-echelon.com/about-us/">Los Angeles office</a>, but these efforts failed more than once. The ISP&#8217;s legal team also reached out to the piracy tracking firm via telephone and email, but again, without any success. </p>
<p>This prompted Grande to ask the court for help from some heavy hitters in law enforcement. The ISP would like U.S. Marshals to get involved, so they can use their arsenal to track down and serve IP-Echelon.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the absence of proper service of the subpoena on IP-Echelon, Grande would be prejudiced because it would be unable to obtain evidence from IP-Echelon,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Accordingly, Grande requests the assistance of the U.S. Marshal to complete service on IP-Echelon.&#8221;</p>
<p>As far as we know IP-Echelon still works for several Hollywood studios so there must be a way to reach them, especially if the Marshals get involved in locating the piracy tracking company. </p>
<p>Whether evidence and a deposition of IP-Echelon are going to help Grande&#8217;s case is unclear, but that&#8217;s for another time.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Grande Communications&#8217; motion to order the U.S. Marshal for the Central District of California to serve Grande’s Subpoena on IP-Echelon is available <a href="media/2188f343.ipechelon.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ipechelon.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156281
title: PUBG Sues Fortnite over Copyright Infringement
uri: PUBG-Sues-Fortnite-over-Copyright-Infringement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/l4bI0DvrvI0/
content:
<p><img src="media/2cf4a60c.pubg2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pubg2.jpg" alt="" width="299" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156291">PUBG and Epic Games, two gaming heavyweights, are going head to head in court. </p>
<p>PUBG filed a lawsuit in South Korea earlier this year, alleging that Epic copied &#8220;Fortnite&#8221; from &#8220;PlayerUnknown&#8217;s Battlegrounds&#8221; (PUBG).</p>
<p>&#8220;We filed the suit to protect our copyright in January,&#8221; a PUBG official <a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2018/05/129_249598.html">informed</a> the Korea Times. On Friday the company requested an injunction at the Seoul Central District Court, hoping to stop the alleged infringement. </p>
<p>The report does not provide details on the alleged infringements, but the lawsuit likely accuses Epic Games of copying specific Fortnite elements from PUBG.</p>
<p>PUBG&#8217;s complaints are not new. Last year the Korean game developer already hinted at a lawsuit, after it accused Fortnite of being very similar. At the time, the company said that it was <a href="https://www.usgamer.net/articles/pubg-dev-concerned-about-fortnites-battle-royale-pondering-further-action">contemplating</a> further action.</p>
<p>The lawsuit between the pair of gaming giants runs in parallel with legal action against other users and developers accused of infringing the companies&#8217; rights. Over the past several months, Epic Games has filed several copyright infringement lawsuits <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/epic-settles-with-copyright-infringing-fortnight-cheater-pubg-cheaters-arrested-180502/">against cheaters</a> in the US, for example.</p>
<p>PUBG hasn&#8217;t been sitting still either. The game company recently filed a copyright infringement <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pubg-files-copyright-lawsuit-to-shut-down-competition-180405/">lawsuit</a> against the developer of the mobile games &#8220;Rules of Survival&#8221; and &#8220;Knives Out,&#8221; accusing these of copying specific elements from PUBG.</p>
<p>In addition, PUBG cheaters are being chased as well. Earlier this month Chinese authorities reported that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/epic-settles-with-copyright-infringing-fortnight-cheater-pubg-cheaters-arrested-180502/">fifteen people</a> had been arrested in connection with PUBG cheating.</p>
<p>“We take cheating extremely seriously. Developing, selling, promoting, or using unauthorized hacking/cheating programs isn’t just unfair for others playing PUBG — in many places, it’s also against the law,” the company said, commenting on the news.</p>
<p>Suing Epic Games over Fortnite is definitely something of a different scope of course. With dozens of millions of players, it is a massive target, with a very active and engaged user base. </p>
<p>It doesn&#8217;t seem likely that PUBG&#8217;s lawsuit is going to be the end of Fortnite though. If the court agrees with PUBG, which is far from certain, the game could probably survive with alterations. Or the companies could agree to some kind of settlement, in or out of court. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156270
title: Hong Kong Customs Arrest Pirate Streaming Device Vendors
uri: Hong-Kong-Customs-Arrest-Pirate-Streaming-Device-Vendors
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UwKPmwOOkFQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/6ba5f758.Android-Box.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Android-Box.png"><img src="media/b57c5448.Android-Box.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Android-Box.png" alt="" width="250" height="165" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143296"></a>As Internet-capable set-top boxes pour into homes across all populated continents, authorities seem almost powerless to come up with a significant response to the growing threat.</p>
<p>In standard form these devices, which are often Android-based, are entirely legal. However, when configured with specialist software they become piracy powerhouses providing access to all content imaginable, often at copyright holders&#8217; expense.</p>
<p>A large proportion of these devices come from Asia, China in particular, but it&#8217;s relatively rare to hear of enforcement action in that part of the world. That changed this week with an announcement from Hong Kong customs detailing a series of raids in the areas of Sham Shui Po and Wan Chai.</p>
<p>After conducting an in-depth investigation with the assistance of copyright holders, on May 25 and 26 Customs and Excise officers launched Operation Trojan Horse, carrying out a series of raids on four premises selling suspected piracy-configured set-top boxes.</p>
<p>During the operation, officers arrested seven men and one woman aged between 18 and 45. Four of them were shop owners and the other four were salespeople. Around 354 suspected &#8216;pirate&#8217; boxes were seized with an estimated market value of HK$320,000 (US$40,700).</p>
<p>&#8220;In the past few months, the department has stepped up inspections of hotspots for TV set-top boxes,&#8221; a statement from authorities reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have discovered that some shops have sold suspected illegal set-top boxes that bypass the copyright protection measures imposed by copyright holders of pay television programs allowing people to watch pay television programs for free.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Some of the devices seized by Hong Kong Customs</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/cbf731e6.20180528_1_l-e1527578976400.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/20180528_1_l-e1527578976400.jpg"><img src="media/cbf731e6.20180528_1_l-e1527578976400.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/20180528_1_l-e1527578976400.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-156294"></a></center></p>
<p>During a press conference yesterday, a representative from the Customs Copyright and Trademark Investigations (Action) Division said that in the run up to the World Cup in 2018, measures against copyright infringement will be strengthened both on and online.</p>
<p>The announcement was welcomed by the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia&#8217;s (CASBAA) <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-coalition-against-piracy-will-crack-down-on-pirate-streaming-boxes-171017/">Coalition Against Piracy</a>, which is back by industry heavyweights including Disney, Fox, HBO Asia, NBCUniversal, Premier League, Turner Asia-Pacific, A&#038;E Networks, Astro, BBC Worldwide, National Basketball Association, TV5MONDE, Viacom International, and others.</p>
<p>“We commend the great work of Hong Kong Customs in clamping down on syndicates who profit from the sale of Illicit Streaming Devices,&#8221; said General Manager Neil Gane.</p>
<p>&#8220;The prevalence of ISDs in Hong Kong and across South East Asia is staggering. The criminals who sell ISDs, as well as those who operate the ISD networks and pirate websites, are profiting from the hard work of talented creators, seriously damaging the legitimate content ecosystem as well as exposing consumers to dangerous malware.&#8221;</p>
<p>Malware warnings are very prevalent these days but it&#8217;s not something the majority of set-top box owners have a problem with. Indeed, a study carried by Sycamore Research <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-are-not-easily-deterred-by-viruses-and-malware-study-finds-170913/">found</a> that pirates aren&#8217;t easily deterred by such warnings.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, there are definite risks for individuals selling devices when they&#8217;re configured for piracy.</p>
<p>Recent cases, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/fully-loaded-kodi-box-sellers-receive-hefty-jail-sentences-180524/">particularly in the UK</a>, have shown that hefty jail sentences can hit offenders while over in the United States (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-amazon-and-hollywood-sue-kodi-powered-dragon-box-over-piracy-180111/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">2</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-amazon-and-hollywood-sue-set-tv-over-iptv-piracy-180422/">3</a>), lawsuits filed by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">ACE</a>) have the potential to end in unfavorable rulings for multiple defendants.</p>
<p>Although rarely reported, offenders in Hong Kong also face <a href="https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap528!en@2016-05-27T00:00:00">stiff sentences</a> for this kind of infringement including large fines and custodial sentences of up to four years.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156313
title: FCC Asks Amazon & eBay to Help Eliminate Pirate Media Box Sales
uri: FCC-Asks-Amazon-eBay-to-Help-Eliminate-Pirate-Media-Box-Sales
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nbyMmsPhkRQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/43a6d784.amazonkodilisting-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/amazonkodilisting-1.png"><img src="media/14a947a2.amazonkodilisting-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/amazonkodilisting-1.png" alt="" width="280" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-137254"></a>Over the past several years, anyone looking for a piracy-configured set-top box could do worse than search for one on Amazon or eBay.</p>
<p>Historically, people deploying search terms including &#8220;Kodi&#8221; or &#8220;fully-loaded&#8221; were greeted by page after page of Android-type boxes, each ready for illicit plug-and-play entertainment consumption following delivery.</p>
<p>Although the problem persists on both platforms, people are now much less likely to find infringing devices than they were 12 to 24 months ago. Under pressure from entertainment industry groups, both Amazon and eBay have tightened the screws on sellers of such devices. Now, however, both companies have received requests to stem sales from a completetey different direction.</p>
<p>In a letter to eBay CEO Devin Wenig and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos first spotted by <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/05/amazon-is-willing-to-expand-crackdown-on-sale-of-pirate-tv-boxes/">Ars</a>, FCC Commissioner Michael O&#8217;Rielly calls on the platforms to take action against piracy-configured boxes that fail to comply with FCC equipment authorization requirements or falsely display FCC logos, contrary to United States law.</p>
<p>&#8220;Disturbingly, some rogue set-top box manufacturers and distributors are exploiting the FCC&#8217;s trusted logo by fraudulently placing it on devices that have not been approved via the Commission&#8217;s equipment authorization process,&#8221; O&#8217;Rielly&#8217;s letter reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Specifically, nine set-top box distributors were referred to the FCC in October for enabling the unlawful streaming of copyrighted material, seven of which displayed the FCC logo, although there was no record of such compliance.&#8221;</p>
<p>While O&#8217;Rielly admits that the copyright infringement aspects fall outside the jurisdiction of the FCC, he says it&#8217;s troubling that many of these devices are used to stream infringing content, &#8220;exacerbating the theft of billions of dollars in American innovation and creativity.&#8221;</p>
<p>As noted above, both Amazon and eBay have taken steps to reduce sales of pirate boxes on their respective platforms on copyright infringement grounds, something which is duly noted by O&#8217;Rielly. However, he points out that devices continue to be sold to members of the public who may believe that the devices are legal since they&#8217;re available for sale from legitimate companies.</p>
<p>&#8220;For these reasons, I am seeking your further cooperation in assisting the FCC in taking steps to eliminate the non-FCC compliant devices or devices that fraudulently bear the FCC logo,&#8221; the Commissioner writes <em>(<a href="media/a5fd322f.DOC-350985A1.pdf" data-original-source="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-350985A1.pdf">pdf</a>)</em>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Moreover, if your company is made aware by the Commission, with supporting evidence, that a particular device is using a fraudulent FCC label or has not been appropriately certified and labeled with a valid FCC logo, I respectfully request that you commit to swiftly removing these products from your sites.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the event that Amazon and eBay take action under this request, O&#8217;Rielly asks both platforms to hand over information they hold on offending manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers.</p>
<p>Amazon was quick to respond to the FCC. In a <a href="media/660f5f69.Response-Letter-Commissioner-ORielly-5-25-18.pdf" data-original-source="https://arstechnica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Response-Letter-Commissioner-ORielly-5-25-18.pdf">letter</a> published by Ars, Amazon&#8217;s Public Policy Vice President Brian Huseman assured O&#8217;Rielly that the company is not only dedicated to tackling rogue devices on copyright-infringement grounds but also when there is fraudulent use of the FCC&#8217;s logos.</p>
<p>Noting that Amazon is a key member of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">ACE</a>) &#8211; a group that has been taking legal action against sellers of infringing streaming devices (ISDs) and those who make infringing addons for Kodi-type systems &#8211; Huseman says that dealing with the problem is a top priority.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our goal is to prevent the sale of ISDs anywhere, as we seek to protect our customers from the risks posed by these devices, in addition to our interest in protecting Amazon Studios content,&#8221; Huseman writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In 2017, Amazon became the first online marketplace to prohibit the sale of streaming media players that promote or facilitate piracy. To prevent the sale of these devices, we proactively scan product listings for signs of potentially infringing products, and we also invest heavily in sophisticated, automated real-time tools to review a variety of data sources and signals to identify inauthentic goods.</p>
<p>&#8220;These automated tools are supplemented by human reviewers that conduct manual investigations. When we suspect infringement, we take immediate action to remove suspected listings, and we also take enforcement action against sellers’ entire accounts when appropriate.&#8221;</p>
<p>Huseman also reveals that since implementing a proactive policy against such devices, &#8220;tens of thousands&#8221; of listings have been blocked from Amazon. In addition, the platform has been making criminal referrals to law enforcement as well as taking civil action (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-amazon-and-hollywood-sue-kodi-powered-dragon-box-over-piracy-180111/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">2</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-amazon-and-hollywood-sue-set-tv-over-iptv-piracy-180422/">3</a>) as part of ACE.</p>
<p>&#8220;As noted in your letter, we would also appreciate the opportunity to collaborate further with the FCC to remove non-compliant devices that improperly use the FCC logo or falsely claim FCC certification. If any FCC non-compliant devices are identified, we seek to work with you to ensure they are not offered for sale,&#8221; Huseman concludes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156333
title: Hollywood Pushes to Expand Swedish Pirate Bay Blockade
uri: Hollywood-Pushes-to-Expand-Swedish-Pirate-Bay-Blockade
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FNcQ9nfm4jA/
content:
<p><img src="media/3c7ffcd6.hollywood.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hollywood.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="221" class="alignright size-full wp-image-154793">Last year, the Swedish Patent and Market Court of Appeal ordered local Internet provider Bredbandsbolaget <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-must-be-blocked-in-sweden-court-of-appeal-rules-170213/">to block The Pirate Bay</a> and streaming site Swefilmer. </p>
<p>While having the notorious torrent site blocked on its home turf was seen as a major success, the ruling only covered a subsection of Swedish Internet subscribers. </p>
<p>This week, a coalition of major film companies hopes to broaden the scope. The Swedish Film Industry, Nordisk Film, Disney Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. and several other companies are taking Internet provider Telia to court.</p>
<p>Through the lawsuit filed on Monday and picked up by <a href="https://www.nyteknik.se/">Ny Teknik</a>, they request Sweden&#8217;s largest Internet provider to block access to a range of pirate sites. This includes The Pirate Bay, Dreamfilm, Nyafilmer, and Fmovies, as well as several related proxies and mirror sites. </p>
<p>&#8220;Telia currently provides its subscribers with unrestricted access to these illegal services, thereby enabling these illegal services to utilize Telia&#8217;s Internet service to infringe the rights of rights-holders and others,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p><center><strong>Some of the TPB domains listed in the complaint</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b78b2202.dozens.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dozens.png" alt="" width="519" height="310" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156350" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/dozens.png 519w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/dozens-220x130.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 519px) 100vw, 519px"></center></p>
<p>The movie companies estimate that Telia has a market share of roughly 36% of all Swedish Internet subscribers. They add that the ISP has the means to block these infringing sites, which would be both proportional and effective, in line with EU regulation. </p>
<p>While this isn&#8217;t the first blocking lawsuit in Sweden, the movie companies are taking a slightly different approach this time. </p>
<p>In their complaint they ask for a preliminary ruling, so the blockades can be implemented before the case is fully litigated. This is similar to what Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/brein-wants-to-speed-up-dutch-pirate-bay-blockade-170720/">did last year</a> in the Netherlands. </p>
<p>The movie companies already list dozens of domain names in their filing but also request the option to add new ones should any appear in the future. They, therefore, request a blocking request against the pirate services as a whole, not limited to the domains that are in use now.</p>
<p>Without this option &#8220;the rights holders will have to burden the legal system with repeated blocking requests if and when the operators behind the illegal services change domain names,&#8221; the film industry companies argue.</p>
<p>At the time of writing Telia has not responded to the allegations yet. When copyright holders asked the ISP to block The Pirate Bay last year, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/wont-block-pirate-bay-swedish-telecoms-giant-says-170221/">it said</a> it would only do so following a court order.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the complaint, in Swedish, is available <a href="media/4ced44d5.Stockholms-TR-PMT7262-18-Aktbil-1.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Stockholms-TR-PMT7262-18-Aktbil-1.pdf">here (pdf)</a>. </em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156381
title: Michael Jackson Estate Turns The ‘Fair Use’ Tables on Disney
uri: Michael-Jackson-Estate-Turns-The-Fair-Use-Tables-on-Disney
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ocZoWDMlE08/
content:
<p><img src="media/d2bc4cd5.mj-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mj-1.jpg" alt="" width="290" height="193" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156386">Every week dozens of new copyright cases are filed in the United States. While our reporting is mostly limited to online piracy cases, on occasion there are other lawsuits worth highlighting. </p>
<p>Yesterday, the <a href="https://michaeljackson.com/">Michael Jackson Estate</a> filed a copyright infringement complaint against The Walt Disney Company and ABC, who aired the primetime special &#8220;The Last Days of Michael Jackson&#8221; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Days_of_Michael_Jackson">last week</a>.</p>
<p>According to the claim, Disney and ABC&#8217;s broadcast used at least thirty different copyrighted works owned by the Estate, without permission. In fact, Michael Jackson&#8217;s heirs specifically urged the media titans not to use its intellectual property without a license. </p>
<p>Since Disney is known to be an avid protector of its own rights, the Estate calls out the company&#8217;s double standard. </p>
<p>&#8220;Apparently, Disney’s passion for the copyright laws disappears when it doesn’t involve its own intellectual property and it sees an opportunity to profit off of someone else’s intellectual property without permission or payment,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>The complaint stresses that Disney is known for its strict copyright enforcement actions and a narrow view of copyright law’s “fair use” doctrine.</p>
<p>&#8220;For example, just a few years ago, [Disney] sent DMCA takedown notices to Twitter, Facebook, and other websites and webhosts, when consumers posted pictures of new Star Wars toys that the consumers had legally purchased. </p>
<p>&#8220;Apparently, Disney claimed that simple amateur photographs of Star Wars characters in toy form infringed Disney’s copyrights in the characters and were not a fair use,&#8221; the state writes.</p>
<p>However, when the Estate urged Disney not to use any of its copyrighted works without permission, Disney&#8217;s attorney used fair use as a defense. The company argued that it could legally use Jackson&#8217;s copyrighted material since the broadcast was labeled as a documentary.</p>
<p>This is &#8220;absurd&#8221; and &#8220;dead wrong&#8221; according to Jackson&#8217;s heirs, who see it as a blatant form of infringement which even the founders of Napster would recognize.</p>
<p>&#8220;Disney’s fair use argument is patently absurd. Even setting aside Disney’s blatant hypocrisy given its notorious history regarding third party uses of its own copyrights, Disney’s argument here is one that would probably make even the founders of Napster pause,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>Turning the tables on Disney, the Estate gives several examples of cases where the media giant is likely to object to its own fair use arguments. </p>
<p>&#8220;[I]f Disney’s position on fair use of the Estate’s copyrights were accepted one could create a two-hour documentary about the Star Wars franchise, by summarizing each film and using extensive clips from each film while playing the iconic Star Wars music in the background of interviews and narration, and all without permission from Disney. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are confident that Disney would not react kindly to attempts by others to create such projects without getting permission from Disney and paying Disney for the use of its property,&#8221; the Estate adds.</p>
<p>The arguments sound convincing, but it has to be noted that documentary makers can indeed claim fair use under the right conditions. Whether that is the case here is up to the California District Court to decide. </p>
<p>According to Jackson&#8217;s heirs, it&#8217;s clear that Disney and ABC have gone too far. They, therefore, request an injunction preventing any further infringement as well as damages for the losses they&#8217;ve suffered.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the Michael Jackson Estate&#8217;s complaint against The Walt Disney Company and ABC is available <a href="media/6bf383d3.Jackson-Disney.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Jackson-Disney.pdf">here (pdf)</a>. (thanks <a href="https://twitter.com/byucopyright/status/1001916749841817600">BYU Copyright</a>)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156359
title: Majority of Canadians Consume Online Content Legally, Survey Finds
uri: Majority-of-Canadians-Consume-Online-Content-Legally-Survey-Finds
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Gby1ww4TcY0/
content:
<p><a href="media/4d2ce87e.canada.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/canada.jpg"><img src="media/c89c2205.canada.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/canada.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="165" class="alignright size-full wp-image-60888"></a>Back in January, a coalition of companies and organizations with ties to the entertainment industries <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-anti-piracy-coalition-calls-for-canadian-website-blocking-180130/">called on</a> local telecoms regulator CRTC to implement a national website blocking regime.</p>
<p>Under the banner of Fairplay Canada, members including Bell, Cineplex, Directors Guild of Canada, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Movie Theatre Association of Canada, and Rogers Media, spoke of an industry under threat from marauding pirates. But just how serious is this threat?</p>
<p>The results of a new survey commissioned by Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) in collaboration with the Department of Canadian Heritage (PCH) aims to shine light on the problem by revealing the online content consumption habits of citizens in the Great White North.</p>
<p>While there are interesting findings for those on both sides of the site-blocking debate, the situation seems somewhat removed from the Armageddon scenario predicted by the entertainment industries.</p>
<p>Carried out among 3,301 Canadians aged 12 years and over, the Kantar TNS study aims to cover copyright infringement in six key content areas &#8211; music, movies, TV shows, video games, computer software, and eBooks. Attitudes and behaviors are also touched upon while measuring the effectiveness of Canada&#8217;s copyright measures.</p>
<p><strong>General Digital Content Consumption</strong></p>
<p>In its introduction, the report notes that 28 million Canadians used the Internet in the three-month study period to November 27, 2017. Of those, 22 million (80%) consumed digital content. Around 20 million (73%) streamed or accessed content, 16 million (59%) downloaded content, while 8 million (28%) shared content.</p>
<p>Music, TV shows and movies all battled for first place in the consumption ranks, with 48%, 48%, and 46% respectively.</p>
<p><strong>Copyright Infringement</strong></p>
<p>According to the study, the majority of Canadians do things completely by the book. An impressive 74% of media-consuming respondents said that they&#8217;d only accessed material from legal sources in the preceding three months.</p>
<p>The remaining 26% admitted to accessing at least one illegal file in the same period. Of those, just 5% said that all of their consumption was from illegal sources, with movies (36%), software (36%), TV shows (34%) and video games (33%) the most likely content to be consumed illegally.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the study found that few demographic factors &#8211; such as gender, region, rural and urban, income, employment status and language &#8211; play a role in illegal content consumption.</p>
<p>&#8220;We found that only age and income varied significantly between consumers who infringed by downloading or streaming/accessing content online illegally and consumers who did not consume infringing content online,&#8221; the report reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;More specifically, the profile of consumers who downloaded or streamed/accessed infringing content skewed slightly younger and towards individuals with household incomes of $100K+.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Licensed services much more popular than pirate haunts</strong></p>
<p>It will come as no surprise that Netflix was the most popular service with consumers, with 64% having used it in the past three months. Sites like YouTube and Facebook were a big hit too, visited by 36% and 28% of content consumers respectively.</p>
<p>Overall, 74% of online content consumers use licensed services for content while 42% use social networks. Under a third (31%) use a combination of peer-to-peer (BitTorrent), cyberlocker platforms, or linking sites. Stream-ripping services are used by 9% of content consumers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Consumers who reported downloading or streaming/accessing infringing content only are less likely to use licensed services and more likely to use peer-to-peer/cyberlocker/linking sites than other consumers of online content,&#8221; the report notes.</p>
<p><strong>Attitudes towards legal consumption &#038; infringing content</strong></p>
<p>In common with similar surveys over the years, the Kantar research looked at the reasons why people consume content from various sources, both legal and otherwise. </p>
<p>Convenience (48%), speed (36%) and quality (34%) were the most-cited reasons for using legal sources. An interesting 33% of respondents said they use legal sites to avoid using illegal sources.</p>
<p>On the illicit front, 54% of those who obtained unauthorized content in the previous three months said they did so due to it being free, with 40% citing convenience and 34% mentioning speed.</p>
<p>Almost six out of ten (58%) said lower costs would encourage them to switch to official sources, with 47% saying they&#8217;d move if legal availability was improved.</p>
<p><strong>Canada&#8217;s &#8216;Notice-and-Notice&#8217; warning system</strong></p>
<p>People in Canada who share content on peer-to-peer systems like BitTorrent without permission run the risk of receiving an infringement notice warning them to stop. These are sent by copyright holders via users&#8217; ISPs and the hope is that the shock of receiving a warning will turn consumers back to the straight and narrow.</p>
<p>The study reveals that 10% of online content consumers over the age of 12 have received one of these notices but what kind of effect have they had?</p>
<p>&#8220;Respondents reported that receiving such a notice resulted in the following: increased awareness of copyright infringement (38%), taking steps to ensure password protected home networks (27%), a household discussion about copyright infringement (27%), and discontinuing illegal downloading or streaming (24%),&#8221; the report notes.</p>
<p>While these are all positives for the entertainment industries, Kantar reports that almost a quarter (24%) of people who receive a notice simply ignore them. </p>
<p><strong>Stream-ripping</strong></p>
<p>Once upon a time, people obtaining music via P2P networks was cited as the music industry&#8217;s greatest threat but, with the advent of sites like YouTube, so-called stream-ripping is the latest bogeyman.</p>
<p>According to the study, 11% of Internet users say they&#8217;ve used a stream-ripping service. They are most likely to be male (62%) and predominantly 18 to 34 (52%) years of age.</p>
<p>&#8220;Among Canadians who have used a service to stream-rip music or entertainment, nearly half (48%) have used stream-ripping sites, one-third have used downloader apps (38%), one-in-seven (14%) have used a stream-ripping plug-in, and one-in-ten (10%) have used stream-ripping software,&#8221; the report adds.</p>
<p><strong>Set-Top Boxes and VPNs</strong></p>
<p>Few general piracy studies would be complete in 2018 without touching on set-top devices and Virtual Private Networks and this report doesn&#8217;t disappoint.</p>
<p>More than one in five (21%) respondents aged 12+ reported using a VPN, with the main purpose of securing communications and Internet browsing (57%).</p>
<p>A relatively modest 36% said they use a VPN to access free content while 32% said the aim was to access geo-blocked content unavailable in Canada. Just over a quarter (27%) said that accessing content from overseas at a reasonable price was the main motivator.</p>
<p>One in ten (10%) of respondents reported using a set-top box, with 78% stating they use them to access paid-for content. Interestingly, only a small number say they use the devices to infringe.</p>
<p>&#8220;A minority use set-top boxes to access other content that is not legal or they are unsure if it is legal (16%), or to access live sports that are not legal or they are unsure if it is legal (11%),&#8221; the report notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Individuals who consumed a mix of legal and illegal content online are more likely to use VPN services (42%) or TV set-top boxes (21%) than consumers who only downloaded or streamed/accessed legal content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Kantar says that the findings of the report will be used to help policymakers evaluate how Canada&#8217;s Copyright Act is coping with a changing market and technological developments.</p>
<p>&#8220;This research will provide the necessary information required to further develop copyright policy in Canada, as well as to provide a foundation to assess the effectiveness of the measures to address copyright infringement, should future analysis be undertaken,&#8221; it concludes.</p>
<p>The full report can be found here <em>(<a href="media/b5c21458.summary.pdf" data-original-source="http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/pwgsc-tpsgc/por-ef/innovation_science_economic_development_canada/2018/011-17-e/summary/summary.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156489
title: UK Man Convicted After Sharing Cam Copies of Movies
uri: UK-Man-Convicted-After-Sharing-Cam-Copies-of-Movies
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/al-5aFB5TGw/
content:
<p><img src="media/72ea8c10.cinema.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cinema.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="143" class="alignright size-full wp-image-40568">The UK has been rather tough on pirates in recent years but despite calls from the film industry, recording a movie in a cinema is not specifically a crime in itself. </p>
<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean that camming, as it&#8217;s called, is always without consequences. People who attempt to distribute the recordings are among the most sought-after targets. </p>
<p>Jordan Quartermain learned this the hard way. This week, the 21-year-old from Sunderland was convicted by the Newcastle Crown Court for several crimes that were uncovered following his camming activity. </p>
<p>The ball started rolling due to an investigation by the Film Content Protection Agency (FCPA) and the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT). In 2015, they reported that a cammed version of the film Ant-Man had been recorded at the Empire Cinema in Sunderland.</p>
<p>During the months that followed, cammed copies of Deadpool and London Has Fallen were recorded at the same cinema, after which Northumbria Police got involved. This eventually led the authorities to Quartermain, who was arrested at the movie theater in early 2016 after another offense.</p>
<p>While camcording may not be a crime according to UK law, distributing copyrighted movie without permission certainly is. According to the <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/16264044.Man_convicted_for_illegally_recording_films_at_his_local_cinema/">Northern Echo</a>, Quartermain&#8217;s computer revealed that he shared 17 films online between April 2015 and March 2016.</p>
<p><center><strong>Empire Cinema </strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/9b37eae6.empirecinema.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/empirecinema.png" alt="" width="599" height="390" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156490"></center></p>
<p>Faced with the evidence, Quartermain pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of articles for use in fraud, two counts of distributing copyright infringing articles, and one count of conspiracy to distribute copyright infringing articles. </p>
<p>He was sentenced to a two-year community order and must carry out 200 hours of community service.</p>
<p>“This is another great example of police working efficiently with our partners to bring an offender to justice,&#8221; Northumbria Police&#8217;s Chief Inspector Michelle Robson comments on the conviction. </p>
<p>“Hopefully this case acts as a reminder that such activity is not acceptable and we will continue to pursue people believed to be committing or deliberately facilitating such offences.”</p>
<p>FCPA director Simon Brown is also happy with the outcome and claims that most pirated films are the result of these camming activities. </p>
<p>“As most pirated films originate from copies taken in cinemas worldwide, it’s vital that offenders are identified as swiftly as possible, and we thank all parties involved in bringing Mr Quartermain to justice.”</p>
<p>The latter claim seems doubtful, as high-quality rips of films tend to be far more common, but that&#8217;s nitpicking. We also won&#8217;t complain about any <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/16264044.Man_convicted_for_illegally_recording_films_at_his_local_cinema/">headlines</a> which suggest that Quartermain was convicted for simply recording the films, instead of distributing them too.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156307
title: GoDaddy to Suspend ‘Pirate’ Domain Following Music Industry Complaints
uri: GoDaddy-to-Suspend-Pirate-Domain-Following-Music-Industry-Compla
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vXw5pI3HGRA/
content:
<p><img src="media/72daaf41.godaddy.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/godaddy.jpg" width="200" height="192" class="alignright size-large">Most piracy-focused sites online conduct their business with minimal interference from outside parties. In many cases, a heap of DMCA notices filed with Google represents the most visible irritant.</p>
<p>Others, particularly those with large audiences, can find themselves on the end of a web blockade. Mostly court-ordered, blocking measures restrict the ability of Internet users to visit a site due to ISPs restricting traffic.</p>
<p>In some regions, where copyright holders have the means to do so, they choose to tackle a site&#8217;s infrastructure instead, which could mean complaints to webhosts or other service providers. At times, this has included domain registries, who are asked to disable domains on copyright grounds.</p>
<p>This is exactly what has happened to Fox-MusicaGratis.com, a Spanish-language music piracy site that incurred the wrath of IFPI member UNIMPRO &#8211; the Peruvian Union of Phonographic Producers.</p>
<p><center><strong>Pirate music, suspended domain</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/52d364ed.fox-musica.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/fox-musica.png"><img src="media/73be2dfb.fox-musica.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fox-musica.png" alt="" width="600" height="590" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-156427"></a></center></p>
<p>In a process that&#8217;s becoming more common in the region, UNIMPRO initially filed a complaint with the Copyright Commission (Comisión de Derecho de Autor (CDA)) which conducted an investigation into the platform&#8217;s activities.</p>
<p>&#8220;The CDA considered, among other things, the irreparable damage that would have been caused to the legitimate rights owners, taking into account the large number of users who could potentially have visited said website, which was making available endless musical recordings for commercial purposes, without authorization of the holders of rights,&#8221; a statement from CDA reads.</p>
<p>The administrative process was carried out locally with the involvement of the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi), an autonomous public body tasked with handling anti-competitive behavior, unfair competition, and intellectual property matters.</p>
<p><center><strong>Indecopi HQ</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/92b5d9ef.article-e1522140720162.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/article-e1522140720162.jpg"><img src="media/92b5d9ef.article-e1522140720162.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/article-e1522140720162.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-153394"></a></center></p>
<p>The matter was decided in favor of the rightsholders and a subsequent ruling included an instruction for US-based domain name registry GoDaddy to suspend Fox-MusicaGratis.com. According to the copyright protection entity, GoDaddy agreed to comply, to prevent further infringement. </p>
<p>This latest action involving a music piracy site registered with GoDaddy follows on the heels of a similar <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/godaddy-ordered-to-suspend-four-music-piracy-domains-180327/">enforcement process</a> back in March.</p>
<p>Mp3Juices-Download-Free.com, Melodiavip.net, Foxmusica.site and Fulltono.me were all music sites offering MP3 content without copyright holders’ permission. They too were the subject of an UNIMPRO complaint which resulted in orders for GoDaddy to suspend their domains.</p>
<p>In the cases of all five websites, GoDaddy was given the chance to appeal but there is no indication that the company has done so. GoDaddy did not respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156323
title: ISP Questions Impartiality of Judges in Copyright Troll Cases
uri: ISP-Questions-Impartiality-of-Judges-in-Copyright-Troll-Cases
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hjIGZligPFU/
content:
<p><a href="media/1043c1fd.bahnhof.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bahnhof.png"><img src="media/0439e552.bahnhof.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bahnhof.png" alt="" width="222" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128056"></a>Following in the footsteps of similar operations around the world, two years ago the copyright trolling movement landed on Swedish shores.</p>
<p>The pattern was a familiar one, with trolls harvesting IP addresses from BitTorrent swarms and tracing them back to Internet service providers. Then, after presenting evidence to a judge, the trolls obtained orders that compelled ISPs to hand over their customers&#8217; details. From there, the trolls demanded cash payments to make supposed lawsuits disappear.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a controversial business model that rarely receives outside praise. Many ISPs have tried to slow down the flood but most eventually grow tired of battling to protect their customers. The same cannot be said of Swedish ISP Bahnhof.</p>
<p>The ISP, which is also a strong defender of privacy, has become known for fighting back against copyright trolls. Indeed, to thwart them at the very first step, the company deletes IP address logs after just 24 hours, which prevents its customers from being targeted.</p>
<p>Bahnhof says that the copyright business appeared &#8220;dirty and corrupt&#8221; right from the get go, so it now operates <a href="https://utpressningskollen.se">Utpressningskollen.se</a>, a web portal where the ISP publishes data on Swedish legal cases in which copyright owners demand customer data from ISPs through the Patent and Market Courts.</p>
<p>Over the past two years, Bahnhof says it has documented 76 cases of which six are still ongoing, 11 have been waived and a majority 59 have been decided in favor of mainly movie companies. Bahnhof says that when it discovered that 59 out of the 76 cases benefited one party, it felt a need to investigate.</p>
<p>In a detailed report compiled by Bahnhof Communicator Carolina Lindahl and sent to TF, the ISP reveals that it examined the individual decision-makers in the cases before the Courts and found five judges with &#8220;questionable impartiality.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the judges, we can call them Judge 1, has closed 12 of the cases, of which two have been waived and the other 10 have benefitted the copyright owner, mostly movie companies,&#8221; Lindahl notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Judge 1 apparently has written several articles in the magazine NIR &#8211; Nordiskt Immateriellt Rättsskydd (Nordic Intellectual Property Protection) &#8211; which is mainly supported by Svenska Föreningen för Upphovsrätt, the Swedish Association for Copyright (SFU).</p>
<p>&#8220;SFU is a member-financed group centered around copyright that publishes articles, hands out scholarships, arranges symposiums, etc. On their website they have a public calendar where Judge 1 appears regularly.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bahnhof says that the financiers of the SFU are Sveriges Television AB (Sweden’s national public TV broadcaster), Filmproducenternas Rättsförening (a legally-oriented association for filmproducers), BMG Chrysalis Scandinavia (a media giant) and Fackförbundet för Film och Mediabranschen (a union for the movie and media industry). </p>
<p>&#8220;This means that Judge 1 is involved in a copyright association sponsored by the film and media industry, while also judging in copyright cases with the film industry as one of the parties,&#8221; the ISP says.</p>
<p>Bahnhof&#8217;s also has criticism for Judge 2, who participated as an event speaker for the Swedish Association for Copyright, and Judge 3 who has written for the SFU-supported magazine NIR. According to Lindahl, Judge 4 worked for a bureau that is partly owned by a board member of SFU, who also defended media companies in a &#8220;high-profile&#8221; Swedish piracy case.</p>
<p>That leaves Judge 5, who handled 10 of the copyright troll cases documented by Bahnhof, waiving one and deciding the remaining nine in favor of a movie company plaintiff.</p>
<p>&#8220;Judge 5 has been questioned before and even been accused of bias while judging a high-profile piracy case almost ten years ago. The accusations of bias were motivated by the judge’s membership of SFU and the Swedish Association for Intellectual Property Rights (SFIR), an association with several important individuals of the Swedish copyright community as members, who all defend, represent, or sympathize with the media industry,&#8221; Lindahl says.</p>
<p>Bahnhof hasn&#8217;t named any of the judges nor has it provided additional details on the &#8220;high-profile&#8221; case. However, anyone who remembers the infamous trial of &#8216;The Pirate Bay Four&#8217; a decade ago might recall complaints from the defense (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-lawyer-is-biased-calls-for-a-retrial-090423/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-getting-closer-to-a-retrial-090511/">2</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/two-more-pirate-bay-appeal-judges-accused-of-bias-090925/">3</a>) that several judges involved in the case were members of pro-copyright groups.</p>
<p>While there were plenty of calls to consider them biased, in May 2010 the Supreme Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/designated-pirate-bay-appeal-judges-100512/">ruled</a> otherwise, a fact Bahnhof recognizes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Judge 5 was never sentenced for bias by the court, but regardless of the court’s decision this is still a judge who shares values and has personal connections with [the media industry], and as if that weren’t enough, the judge has induced an additional financial aspect by participating in events paid for by said party,&#8221; Lindahl writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The judge has parties and interest holders in their personal network, a private engagement in the subject and a financial connection to one party – textbook characteristics of bias which would make anyone suspicious.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>The decision-makers of the Patent and Market Court and their relations.</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/f4ff552c.sfu-natverk-webbversion-e1527676923200.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sfu-natverk-webbversion-e1527676923200.jpg"><img src="media/f4ff552c.sfu-natverk-webbversion-e1527676923200.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sfu-natverk-webbversion-e1527676923200.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="496" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-156370"></a></center></p>
<p>The ISP notes that all five judges have connections to the media industry in the cases they judge, which isn&#8217;t a great starting point for returning &#8220;objective and impartial&#8221; results. In its summary, however, the ISP is scathing of the overall system, one in which court cases &#8220;almost looked rigged&#8221; and appear to be decided in favor of the movie company even before reaching court.</p>
<p>In general, however, Bahnhof says that the processes show a lack of individual attention, such as the court blindly accepting questionable IP address evidence supplied by infamous anti-piracy outfit MaverickEye.</p>
<p>&#8220;The court never bothers to control the media company&#8217;s only evidence (lists generated by MaverickMonitor, which has proven to be an unreliable software), the court documents contain several typos of varying severity, and the same standard texts are reused in several different cases,&#8221; the ISP <a href="https://www.bahnhof.se/press/press-releases/2018/05/25/bahnhof-avslojar-tveksam-opartiskhet-pa-patent-och-marknadsdomstolen">says</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The court documents show a lack of care and control, something that can easily be taken advantage of by individuals with shady motives. The findings and discoveries of this investigation are strengthened by the pure numbers mentioned in the beginning which clearly show how one party almost always wins.</p>
<p>&#8220;If this is caused by bias, cheating, partiality, bribes, political agenda, conspiracy or pure coincidence we can’t say for sure, but the fact that this process has mainly generated money for the film industry, while citizens have been robbed of their personal integrity and legal certainty, indicates what forces lie behind this machinery,&#8221; Bahnhof&#8217;s Lindahl concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156325
title: “Fight Club” Author Chuck Palahniuk Apologizes For Piracy Rants
uri: Fight-Club-Author-Chuck-Palahniuk-Apologizes-For-Piracy-Rants
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/EmkjkE-jzvE/
content:
<p><img src="media/7c230b45.fightclub.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fightclub.png" alt="" width="257" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156328">When it comes to the link between piracy and sales, there are thousands of different opinions. This applies to music, movies, software and many other digital products, including ebooks.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/best-selling-author-turns-piracy-into-profit-080512/">authors</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-doesnt-harm-ebook-sales-publisher-says-130820/">publishers</a> see no harm in piracy, while others see it as a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/furious-author-cancels-pirated-book-080904/">massive threat</a>. </p>
<p>Although there is no definite or universal answer we can give, piracy is certainly an easy scapegoat. This is what novelist and &#8220;Fight Club&#8221; author Chuck Palahniuk found out first hand. </p>
<p>When his income started to dwindle, online piracy was often mentioned as one of the culprits. People were copying books without paying &#8211; &#8216;stealing&#8217; from authors &#8211; so that seemed plausible.</p>
<p>&#8220;For several years my income has dwindled.  Piracy, some people told me.  Or the publishers were in crisis and slow to pay royalties, although the publishers insisted they&#8217;d sent the money,&#8221; Palahniuk <a href="http://chuckpalahniuk.net/news/the-big-secret-why-behind-everything-so-far">wrote</a> this week. </p>
<p>However, the article in question was not another piracy rant. Quite the opposite. It was actually an apology for the previous times he blamed online pirates and his publishers for the significant drop in revenue.</p>
<p>As it turns out someone was stealing &#8216;for real.&#8217; Not by sharing copies of books, but by messing with royalties, as the New York post <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/05/26/accountant-embezzled-3-4m-from-famed-literary-agency/">explains</a> in detail. </p>
<p>The alleged mastermind is Darin Webb, an accountant who&#8217;s accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the prestigious literary agency Donadio &#038; Olson. Webb was indicted by the US Government and confessed his wrongdoings in a video interview, according to the complaint. </p>
<p>One of the secondary victims of the scheme was Palahniuk, who finally found an explanation for his dwindling income. And it was closer to home than he could have imagined. </p>
<p>The main suspect, who now faces 20 years in jail, is the same person who forwarded his mail.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;ve written to me chances are that your letter passed through the hands of the accused. He&#8217;d collect the mail and forward it to me.  He seemed like a good guy. Like a prince of a guy. Like man-crush material. And then he wasn&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
<p>The &#8216;plus&#8217; side of the revelation is that Palahniuk has his explanation. However, it does come at an expense, as the author is close to going broke. Also, he regrets putting the blame onto others and apologizes for his previous piracy rants.</p>
<p>&#8220;So on the minus side, I apologize for cursing my publishers. And I apologize for any rants about piracy. My publishers had paid the royalties. Piracy, when it existed, was small scale. </p>
<p>&#8220;I do hereby humbly apologize,&#8221; Palahniuk concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=154667
title: UK Pirate Site Blocks are “Opaque and Poorly Administered”
uri: UK-Pirate-Site-Blocks-are-Opaque-and-Poorly-Administered
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/adsbxbautOY/
content:
<p><img src="media/579e4e24.ukflagwallblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ukflagwallblocked.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-154673">Following a series of High Court orders handed down in recent years, the UK’s major ISPs are required to block access to dozens of the world’s most popular ‘pirate’ sites.</p>
<p>Over time the number of blocked URLs has expanded to well over 1,000, with popular torrent, streaming, and direct download sites being the main targets.</p>
<p>Many of these URLs are proxies and mirrors. These come and go and the High Court permits copyright holders to expand the blocklists with these domains, provided that they are alternative ways to reach already blocked websites.</p>
<p>In the past, we have regularly covered this whack-a-mole and one issue has repeatedly came to the forefront. There is very little transparency. There doesn&#8217;t appear to be a master list of blocked domains and ISPs all block different URLs, which has turned into a bit of a mess. </p>
<p>This prompted the Open Rights Group to see if they could bring some order to the chaos, hoping to establish a definite list of blocked sites, or something close to that at least. Their findings show that there is plenty of room for improvement. </p>
<p>&#8220;We were concerned by TorrentFreak reporting on the scale of the blocking due to copyright blocking,&#8221; Jim Killock, director of the Open Rights Group (<a href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org">ORG</a>), tells us.</p>
<p>&#8220;When we looked at what was blocked, it was clear that the lists of blocks were wildly inaccurate. The lists for each ISP were different, so it was obvious that there were going to be a lot of mistakes. So we wanted to find out exactly what kind of errors they are.&#8221;</p>
<p>This quest to determine which sites are blocked by court order, and how many of these were returning errors, took months to complete. This week ORG is ready to present <a href="https://www.blocked.org.uk/legal-blocks">the results</a> to the public and by their standards, the word &#8220;mess&#8221; is warranted.</p>
<p>As can be seen below, the group found <a href="https://www.blocked.org.uk/legal-blocks/errors">1,071 blocked URLs</a> of which more than a third (412) are &#8216;incorrectly&#8217; blocked by at least one Internet provider. This includes sites which no longer exist, are inactive, for sale, or point to entirely different content. </p>
<p><center><strong>Legal block errors</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/5dcdb453.bloerror.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bloerror.png" alt="" width="616" height="233" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156437"></center></p>
<p>While many of these sites no longer link to infringing content, they are still blocked. While there&#8217;s little harm in blocking a site that no longer exists, ORG is mainly worried about the apparent lack of transparency and oversight.</p>
<p>Some sites also appear to be blocked as collateral damage, because a proxy site links to both blocked and non blocked sites for example, ORG explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are a number of blocks which are simply inexplicable. Some of these may be due to blocks being placed on proxies, and blocking everything the proxy tool unblocks, whether subject to an injunction or not.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;The fact that about a quarter of the blocks are incorrect should send alarm bells. This legal process is both opaque and poorly administered,&#8221; Killock tells us.</p>
<p>The question is whether copyright holders see the &#8220;errors&#8221; which ORG reports as a problem. They may argue that a site may return to its pirate habits, even though it&#8217;s inactive, and that a block is therefore warranted. </p>
<p>Still, the fact that the blockades differ from ISP to ISP and that it&#8217;s unknown which sites are supposed to be blocked, is messy. </p>
<p>Several ISPs expand their blocklists with new domains on a monthly basis. At the same time, other domains are removed. This explains why BT has 100 errors, and Virgin Media as many as 288. </p>
<p>Couchtuner.es, for example, no longer links to anything remotely related to Couchtuner. Several ISPs no longer block the site, but <a href="https://www.blocked.org.uk/site/http://www.couchtuner.es">TalkTalk still does</a>, referencing a court order. While the site now appears to sell suspiciously cheap Tod&#8217;s shoes, that&#8217;s not part of any injunction.</p>
<p>ORG hopes that the courts will allow for more transparency to address this issue. Publishing an updated list of all sites that are supposed to be on the list is a good start, they believe.</p>
<p>&#8220;Courts could insist that ISPs publish a list of everything that is being blocked. This would be the failsafe means to ensure that blocking is correct. Other steps could be to publish a list of everything that has been unblocked. This would at least let people check that unblocking actually is implemented,&#8221; Killock says. </p>
<p>In addition, the group plans to share its findings with the relevant Internet providers so they can take action if needed. By correcting errors, for example, or sharing more details on what sites they block. </p>
<p>Finally, ORG plans to publish all of the court documentation in relation to the UK blocklist. To do so, they require some funding and have just started a campaign, asking the public to help out. </p>
<p>&#8220;Please help us make UK court orders transparent and accountable,&#8221; a message on the site reads, noting that it needs £5,000 in support. </p>
<p>People who are interested in the findings can take a look at the blocked site reports on <a href="https://www.blocked.org.uk/legal-blocks">ORG&#8217;s website</a>. The list may not be fully complete and will be updated continuously. </p>
<p><center><strong>ORG asking for support</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/6d3bb0d6.orgdonate.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/orgdonate.png" alt="" width="562" height="234" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156278"></center><br>
…</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156512
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 06/04/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-06-04-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/v17REIEWRzk/
content:
<p><img src="media/935b302b.tombr.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tombr.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156514">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Tomb Raider is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-05-28-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1365519/">Tomb Raider</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1365519/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOEHpkZCc1Y">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">Avengers: Infinity War</a> (HDCam)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">9.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwievZ1Tx-8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">A Quiet Place</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7cc5t7tv8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">Deadpool 2</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D86RtevtfrA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5164432">Love, Simon</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5164432">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0cbWdlQg_8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">7.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDjIWPwcPU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/">Pacific Rim: Uprising</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BAhwgjMvnM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">Ready Player One</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSp1dM2Vj48">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2873282/">Red Sparrow</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2873282/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmUL6wMpMWw&amp;t=17s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1137450/">Death Wish</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1137450/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzILu6yyA20">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156399
title: When Joe Public Becomes a Commercial Pirate, a Little Knowledge is Dangerous
uri: When-Joe-Public-Becomes-a-Commercial-Pirate-a-Little-Knowledge-is-Dan
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JcdwsaJbF1U/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034"></a>Back in March and just a few hours before the Anthony Joshua v Joseph Parker fight, I got chatting with some fellow fans in the local pub. While some were intending to pay for the fight, others were going down the Kodi route.</p>
<p>Soon after the conversation switched to IPTV. One of the guys had a subscription and he said that his supplier would be along shortly if anyone wanted a package to watch the fight at home. Of course, I was curious to hear what he had to say since it&#8217;s not often this kind of thing is offered &#8216;offline&#8217;.</p>
<p>The guy revealed that he sold more or less exclusively on eBay and called up the page on his phone to show me. The listing made interesting reading.</p>
<p>In common with hundreds of similar IPTV subscription offers easily findable on eBay, the listing offered &#8220;All the sports and films you need plus VOD and main UK channels&#8221; for the sum of just under £60 per year, which is fairly cheap in the current market. With a non-committal &#8220;hmmm&#8221; I asked a bit more about the guy&#8217;s business and surprisingly he was happy to provide some details.</p>
<p>Like many people offering such packages, the guy was a reseller of someone else&#8217;s product. He also insisted that selling access to copyrighted content is OK because it sits in a &#8220;gray area&#8221;. It&#8217;s also easy to keep listings up on eBay, he assured me, as long as a few simple rules are adhered to. Right, this should be interesting.</p>
<p>First of all, sellers shouldn&#8217;t be &#8220;too obvious&#8221; he advised, noting that individual channels or channel lists shouldn&#8217;t be listed on the site. Fair enough, but then he said the most important thing of all is to have a disclaimer like his in any listing, written as follows:</p>
<p>&#8220;PLEASE NOTE EBAY: THIS IS NOT A DE SCRAMBLER SERVICE, I AM NOT SELLING ANY ILLEGAL CHANNELS OR CHANNEL LISTS NOR DO I REPRESENT ANY MEDIA COMPANY NOR HAVE ACCESS TO ANY OF THEIR CONTENTS. NO TRADEMARK HAS BEEN INFRINGED. DO NOT REMOVE LISTING AS IT IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH EBAY POLICIES.&#8221;</p>
<p>Apparently, this paragraph is crucial to keeping listings up on eBay and is the equivalent of kryptonite when it comes to deflecting copyright holders, police, and Trading Standards. Sure enough, a few seconds with Google reveals <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22PLEASE+NOTE+EBAY%3A+THIS+IS+NOT+A+DE+SCRAMBLER+SERVICE%2C+I+AM+NOT+SELLING+ANY+ILLEGAL+CHANNELS+OR+CHANNEL+LISTS+NOR+DO+I+REPRESENT+ANY+MEDIA+COMPANY+NOR+HAVE+ACCESS+TO+ANY+OF+THEIR+CONTENTS%22&#038;rlz=1C1AVNE_en__666GB666&#038;oq=%22PLEASE+NOTE+EBAY%3A+THIS+IS+NOT+A+DE+SCRAMBLER+SERVICE%2C+I+AM+NOT+SELLING+ANY+ILLEGAL+CHANNELS+OR+CHANNEL+LISTS+NOR+DO+I+REPRESENT+ANY+MEDIA+COMPANY+NOR+HAVE+ACCESS+TO+ANY+OF+THEIR+CONTENTS%22&#038;aqs=chrome..69i57.7294j0j1&#038;sourceid=chrome&#038;ie=UTF-8">the same wording</a> on dozens of eBay listings and those offering IPTV subscriptions on external platforms.</p>
<p>It is, of course, absolutely worthless but the IPTV seller insisted otherwise, noting he&#8217;d sold &#8220;thousands&#8221; of subscriptions through eBay without any problems. While a similar logic can be applied to garlic and vampires, a second disclaimer found on many other illicit IPTV subscription listings treads an even more bizarre path.</p>
<p>&#8220;THE PRODUCTS OFFERED CAN NOT BE USED TO DESCRAMBLE OR OTHERWISE ENABLE ACCESS TO CABLE OR SATELLITE TELEVISION PROGRAMS THAT BYPASSES PAYMENT TO THE SERVICE PROVIDER. RECEIVING SUBSCRIPTION/BASED TV AIRTIME IS ILLEGAL WITHOUT PAYING FOR IT.&#8221;</p>
<p>This disclaimer (which apparently no sellers displaying it have ever read) seems to be have been culled from the <a href="https://www.zgemma.co.uk/">Zgemma site</a>, which advertises a receiving device which can technically receive pirate IPTV services but wasn&#8217;t designed for the purpose. In that context, the disclaimer makes sense but when applied to dedicated pirate IPTV subscriptions, it&#8217;s absolutely ridiculous.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear why so many sellers on eBay, Gumtree, Craigslist and other platforms think that these disclaimers are useful. It leads one to the likely conclusion that these aren&#8217;t hardcore pirates at all but regular people simply out to make a bit of extra cash who have received bad advice.</p>
<p>What is clear, however, is that <em>selling</em> access to thousands of otherwise subscription channels without permission from copyright owners is definitely illegal in the EU. The European Court of Justice says so (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/selling-piracy-configured-media-players-is-illegal-eu-court-rules-170426/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-court-not-for-profit-hyperlinking-usually-not-infringement-160908/">2</a>) and it&#8217;s been backed up by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-pirate-iptv-linker-to-shut-down-or-face-penalties-up-to-e1-25m-180911/">subsequent cases</a> in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>While the odds of getting criminally prosecuted or sued for reselling such a service are relatively slim, it&#8217;s worrying that in 2018 people still believe that doing so is made legal by the inclusion of a paragraph of text. It&#8217;s even more worrying that these individuals apparently have no idea of the serious consequences should they become singled out for legal action. </p>
<p>Even more surprisingly, TorrentFreak spoke with a handful of IPTV suppliers higher up the chain who also told us that what they are doing is legal. A couple claimed to be protected by communication intermediary laws, others didn&#8217;t want to go into details. Most stopped responding to emails on the topic. Perhaps most tellingly, none wanted to go on the record. </p>
<p>The big take-home here is that following some important EU rulings, knowingly linking to copyrighted content for profit is nearly always illegal in Europe and leaves people open for targeting by copyright holders and the authorities. People really should be aware of that, especially the little guy making a little extra pocket money on eBay.</p>
<p>Of course, people are perfectly entitled to carry on regardless and test the limits of the law when things go wrong. At this point, however, it&#8217;s probably worth noting that IPTV provider Ace Hosting recently handed over £600,000 rather than fight the Premier League (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-iptv-service-goes-bust-after-premier-league-deal-exposing-users-180913/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-iptv-service-gave-customer-details-to-premier-league-but-whats-the-risk-180515/">2</a>) when they clearly had the money to put up a defense.</p>
<p>Given their effectiveness, perhaps they should&#8217;ve put up a disclaimer instead?</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156510
title: Flight Sim Company Threatens Reddit Mods Over “Libelous” DRM Posts
uri: Flight-Sim-Company-Threatens-Reddit-Mods-Over-Libelous-DRM-Posts
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/J5AB5OlAOss/
content:
<p><a href="media/68832f33.reddit-alien.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/reddit-alien.jpg"><img src="media/346d0419.reddit-alien.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/reddit-alien.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-100659" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/reddit-alien.jpg 180w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/reddit-alien-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px"></a>Earlier this year, in an effort to deal with piracy of their products, flight simulator company FlightSimLabs took drastic action by installing malware on customers&#8217; machines.</p>
<p>The story began when a Reddit user <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/flight-sim-company-embeds-malware-to-steal-pirates-passwords-180219/">reported</a> something unusual in his download of FlightSimLabs’ A320X module. A file &#8211; test.exe &#8211; was being flagged up as a ‘Chrome Password Dump’ tool, something which rang alarm bells among flight sim fans.</p>
<p>As additional information was made available, the story became even more sensational. After first dodging the issue with carefully worded statements, FlightSimLabs admitted that it had installed a password dumper onto ALL users’ machines &#8211; whether they were pirates or not &#8211; in an effort to catch a particular software cracker and launch legal action.</p>
<p>It was an incredible story that no doubt did damage to FlightSimLabs&#8217; reputation. But the now the company is at the center of a new storm, again centered around anti-piracy measures and again focused on Reddit.</p>
<p>Just before the weekend, Reddit user <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/flightsim/comments/8nfozz/cmdhostexe_what_is_it/">/u/walkday</a> reported finding something unusual in his A320X module, the same module that caused the earlier controversy.</p>
<p>&#8220;The latest installer of FSLabs&#8217; A320X puts two cmdhost.exe files under &#8216;system32\&#8217; and &#8216;SysWOW64\&#8217; of my Windows directory. Despite the name, they don&#8217;t open a command-line window,&#8221; he reported.</p>
<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re a part of the authentication because, if you remove them, the A320X won&#8217;t get loaded. Does someone here know more about cmdhost.exe? Why does FSLabs give them such a deceptive name and put them in the system folders? I hate them for polluting my system folder unless, of course, it is a dll used by different applications.&#8221;</p>
<p>Needless to say, the news that FSLabs were putting files into system folders named to make them look like system files was not well received. </p>
<p>&#8220;Hiding something named to resemble Window&#8217;s &#8220;Console Window Host&#8221; process in system folders is a huge red flag,&#8221; one user <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/flightsim/comments/8nfozz/cmdhostexe_what_is_it/dzvbnnb/">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a malware tactic used to deceive users into thinking the executable is a part of the OS, thus being trusted and not deleted. Really dodgy tactic, don&#8217;t trust it and don&#8217;t trust them,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/flightsim/comments/8nfozz/cmdhostexe_what_is_it/dzv93tf/">opined</a> another.</p>
<p>With a disenchanted Reddit userbase simmering away in the background, FSLabs took to Facebook with a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/flightsimlabs/posts/2021738057901153">statement</a> to quieten down the masses.</p>
<p>&#8220;Over the past few hours we have become aware of rumors circulating on social media about the cmdhost file installed by the A320-X and wanted to clear up any confusion or misunderstanding,&#8221; the company wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;cmdhost is part of our eSellerate infrastructure &#8211; which communicates between the eSellerate server and our product activation interface. It was designed to reduce the number of product activation issues people were having after the FSX release &#8211; which have since been resolved.&#8221;</p>
<p>The company noted that the file had been checked by all major anti-virus companies and everything had come back clean, which does indeed appear to be the case. Nevertheless, the critical Reddit thread remained, bemoaning the actions of a company which probably should have known better than to irritate fans after February&#8217;s debacle. In response, however, FSLabs did just that once again.</p>
<p>In private messages to the moderators of the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/flightsim/">/r/flightsim</a> sub-Reddit, FSLabs&#8217; Marketing and PR Manager Simon Kelsey suggested that the mods should do something about the thread in question or face possible legal action.</p>
<p>&#8220;Just a gentle reminder of Reddit&#8217;s obligations as a publisher in order to ensure that any libelous content is taken down as soon as you become aware of it,&#8221; Kelsey wrote.</p>
<p>Noting that FSLabs welcomes &#8220;robust fair comment and opinion&#8221;, Kelsey gave the following <a href="media/c31ac52f.Xt9iLB1.png" data-original-source="https://i.imgur.com/Xt9iLB1.png">advice</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The &#8216;cmdhost.exe&#8217; file in question is an entirely above board part of our anti-piracy protection and has been submitted to numerous anti-virus providers in order to verify that it poses no threat. Therefore, ANY suggestion that current or future products pose any threat to users is absolutely false and libelous,&#8221; he wrote, adding:</p>
<p>&#8220;As we have already outlined in the past, ANY suggestion that any user&#8217;s data was compromised during the events of February is entirely false and therefore libelous.&#8221;</p>
<p>Noting that FSLabs would &#8220;hate for lawyers to have to get involved in this&#8221;, Kelsey advised the /r/flightsim mods to ensure that no such claims were allowed to remain on the sub-Reddit.</p>
<p>But after not receiving the response he would&#8217;ve liked, Kelsey <a href="media/04832f20.KCujbJB.png" data-original-source="https://i.imgur.com/KCujbJB.png">wrote once again</a> to the mods. He noted that &#8220;a number of unsubstantiated and highly defamatory comments&#8221; remained online and warned that if something wasn&#8217;t done to clean them up, he would have &#8220;no option&#8221; than to pass the matter to FSLabs&#8217; legal team.</p>
<p>Like the first message, this second effort also failed to have the desired effect. In fact, the moderators&#8217; response was to post an open letter to Kelsey and FSLabs instead.</p>
<p>&#8220;We sincerely disagree that you &#8216;welcome robust fair comment and opinion&#8217;, demonstrated by the censorship on your forums and the attempted censorship on our subreddit,&#8221; the mods wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;While what you do on your forum is certainly your prerogative, your rules do not extend to Reddit nor the r/flightsim subreddit. Removing content you disagree with is simply not within our purview.&#8221;</p>
<p>The letter, which is worth <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/flightsim/comments/8nxcl5/an_open_letter_to_flight_sim_labs/">reading in full</a>, refutes Kelsey&#8217;s claims and also suggests that critics of FSLabs may have been subjected to Reddit vote manipulation and coordinated efforts to discredit them.</p>
<p>What will happen next is unclear but the matter has now been <a href="media/c23e9590.6NAgWwo.png" data-original-source="https://i.imgur.com/6NAgWwo.png">placed in the hands</a> of Reddit&#8217;s administrators who <a href="media/52c1bb28.mQgktFy.png" data-original-source="https://i.imgur.com/mQgktFy.png">have agreed</a> to deal with Kelsey and FSLabs&#8217; personally.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a little early to say for sure but it seems unlikely that this will end in a net positive for FSLabs, no matter what decision Reddit&#8217;s admins take.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156456
title: Judgment Day Nears for EU’s ‘Piracy Filters’
uri: Judgment-Day-Nears-for-EU-s-Piracy-Filters
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HoTSlqSatJ8/
content:
<p><img src="media/3edc9128.delete13.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/delete13.png" alt="" width="278" height="182" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156462">September 2016, the European Commission published its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-proposes-mandatory-piracy-filters-for-online-services-160914/">proposal</a> for a modernized copyright law. Among other things, it proposed measures to require online services to do more to fight piracy.</p>
<p>Specifically, Article 13 of the proposed Copyright Directive will require online services to track down and delete pirated content, in collaboration with rightsholders. </p>
<p>The Commission stressed that the changes are needed to support copyright holders. However, many <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mandatory-piracy-filters-may-violate-eu-law-scholars-warn-161203/">legal scholars</a>, <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/03/eu-internet-advocates-launch-campaign-stop-eus-dangerous-copyright-filtering">digital activists</a>, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mandatory-piracy-filters-could-breach-human-rights-eu-members-170906/">politicians</a>, and members of the public worry that they will violate the rights of regular Internet users.</p>
<p>Last month the EU Council <a href="https://edri.org/eu-member-states-agree-on-monitoring-filtering-of-internet-uploads/">finalized</a> the latest version of the proposal. This means that the matter now goes to the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament (JURI), which must decide how to move ahead. This vote is expected to take place in two weeks. </p>
<p>Although the term &#8220;filter&#8221; is commonly used to describe Article 13, it is not directly mentioned in the <a href="http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8672-2018-INIT/en/pdf">text itself</a>.</p>
<p>According to Pirate Party Member of Parliament (MEP) <a href="https://juliareda.eu/">Julia Reda</a>, the &#8220;filter&#8221; keyword is avoided in the proposal to prevent a possible violation of EU law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. However, the outcome is essentially the same. </p>
<p>In short, the relevant text states that online services are liable for any uploaded content unless they take &#8220;effective and proportionate&#8221; action to prevent copyright infringements, identified by copyright holders. That also includes preventing these files from being reuploaded. </p>
<p>The latter implies some form of hash filtering and continuous monitoring of all user uploads. Several companies, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and YouTube already have these types of filters, but many others don&#8217;t.</p>
<p>A main point of critique is that the automated upload checks will lead to overblocking, as they are often ill-equipped to deal with issues such as fair use.</p>
<p>&#8220;The proposal would require platforms to filter all uploads by their users for potential copyright infringements – not just YouTube and Facebook, but also services like WordPress, TripAdvisor, or even Tinder. We know from experience that these algorithmic filters regularly make mistakes and lead to the mass deletion of legal uploads,&#8221; Julia Reda tells TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Especially small independent creators frequently see their content taken down because others wrongfully claim copyright on their works. There are no safeguards in the proposal against such cases of copyfraud.&#8221; </p>
<p>Besides affecting uploads of regular Internet users and smaller creators, many businesses will also be &#8216;hit&#8217;. They will have to make sure that they can detect and prevent infringing material from being shared on their systems. </p>
<p>This will give larger American Internet giants, who already have these filters in place, a competitive edge over smaller players and new startups, the Pirate Party MEP argues.</p>
<p>&#8220;It will make those Internet giants even stronger, because they will be the only ones able to develop and sell the filtering technologies necessary to comply with the law. A true lose-lose situation for European Internet users, authors and businesses,&#8221; Reda tells us.</p>
<p>Based on the considerable protests in recent days, the current proposal is still seen as a clear threat by many.</p>
<p><center><strong>Tell your MEP&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/53b91e53.tellmep1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tellmep1.png" alt="" width="600" height="252" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156528" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/tellmep1.png 600w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/tellmep1-500x210.png 500w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></center> </p>
<p>In fact, the &#8220;<a href="https://saveyourinternet.eu/">Save your Internet</a>&#8221; campaign, backed by prominent organizations such as Creative Commons, EFF, and Open Media, is ramping up again. They urge the European public to reach out to their Members of Parliament before it&#8217;s too late. </p>
<p>&#8220;Should Article 13 of the Copyright Directive proposal be adopted, it will impose widespread censorship of all the content you share online. The European Parliament is the only one that can step in and Save your Internet,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>The full Article 13 text includes some language to limit its scope. The nature and size of online services must be taken into account, for example. This means that a small and legitimate niche service with a few dozen users might not be directly liable if it operates without these anti-piracy measures.</p>
<p>Similarly, non-profit organizations will not be required to comply with the proposed legislation, although there are calls from some member states to change this.</p>
<p>In addition to Article 13, there is also considerable pushback from the public against Article 11, which is regularly referred to as the &#8220;<a href="https://juliareda.eu/eu-copyright-reform/extra-copyright-for-news-sites/">link tax</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>At the moment, several organizations are planning a protest day next week, hoping to mobilize the public to speak out. A week later, following the JURI vote, it will be &#8216;judgment day.&#8217;</p>
<p>If they pass the Committee the plans will progress towards the final vote on copyright reform next Spring. This also means that they&#8217;ll become much harder to stop or change. That has been done before, such as with ACTA, but achieving that type of momentum will be a tough challenge.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156577
title: IPVanish “No-Logging” VPN Led Homeland Security to Comcast User
uri: IPVanish-No-Logging-VPN-Led-Homeland-Security-to-Comcast-User
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JbVPBQolCcY/
content:
<p><a href="media/5f0dfd25.spy.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/spy.jpg"><img src="media/3d881413.spy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spy.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-39770"></a>On May 4, 2016, Scott Sikes, a Special Agent with the Department of Homeland Security, was engaged in a child abuse investigation.</p>
<p>Acting undercover, Sikes was monitoring a channel on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) when a suspect posted a link. When Sikes opened it he discovered an image of child pornography. </p>
<p>Sikes struck up a one-on-one chat session with the suspect who subsequently posted three more links, each containing the same kind of material. It was later discovered that the suspect had posted 17 other links leading to similar abuse imagery.</p>
<p>Having captured the suspect&#8217;s IP address (209.197.26.72), Sikes traced it back to <a href="https://www.highwinds.com/">Highwinds Network Group</a>, a cloud storage, CDN, and colocation company that is perhaps best known among file-sharers for its massive Usenet-related business.</p>
<p>Homeland Security followed up by issuing a Summons for Records on Highwinds, demanding that it hand over the details of the user behind that IP address at the times the IRC user posted the links.</p>
<p>Although not directly mentioned by name in court documents, at the time Highwinds owned the VPN provider IPVanish, a company that has repeatedly claimed to carry zero logs relating to its customers&#8217; activities. It appears that the suspect tracked by Homeland Security was an IPVanish customer but any hope he would remain anonymous was soon dismissed.</p>
<p>On May 26, Highwinds responded to the summons, confirming that the IP address belonged to its VPN service. Initially, the company told HSI that to protect customer data, &#8220;we do not log any usage information. Therefore, we do not have any information regarding the referenced IP.&#8221;</p>
<p>However, after Sikes contacted Highwinds again, the company suggested that HSI submit a second summons requesting more detailed subscriber information.</p>
<p>On June 9, 2016, HSI served a second summons on Highwinds, requesting &#8220;any data associated with IRC traffic using IP 209.197.27.72, port 6667.&#8221; On June 21, Highwinds came up with the goods.</p>
<p>In a response to HSI, Highwinds provided information which allowed HSI to identify the suspect connecting to the VPN server, connecting to the IRC server, and then disconnecting from the VPN server. Highwinds also handed over the suspect&#8217;s name (Vincent Gevirtz), his email address, plus details of his VPN subscription.</p>
<p>Also made available to HSI was Gevirtz&#8217;s real IP address (Comcast 50.178.206.161) &#8220;as well as dates and times [he] connected to, and disconnected from, the IRC network,&#8221; times which coincided with the activity being investigated by HSI.</p>
<p>HSI then issued a summons on Comcast, requesting customer information on the IP address in question. Comcast responded three days later with a slightly different name &#8211; Julian Gevirtz &#8211; plus an address in Indiana. Vincent Gevirtz was subsequently found at that address with his parents and later admitted to the conduct carried out in the IRC channel. He further admitted to having shared images of abuse online for at least seven years.</p>
<p>While there will be few people disappointed that Gevirtz was tracked down by HSI, there was considerable uproar yesterday when the <a href="media/0fb9e279.gov.uscourts.insd.67065.2.0.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.insd.67065.2.0.pdf">court documents</a> were posted to the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/8ogup1/ipvanish_claims_0_log_policy_busted_for_logging/">/r/piracy</a> discussion page on Reddit.</p>
<p>IPVanish has always been extremely vocal about its no-logging policies but the court documents in the Gevirtz case appear to show that the company logged extensively, apparently down to what services were accessed and when.</p>
<p>So, with this apparent contradiction in hand, TF contacted StackPath, the company that bought Highwinds and therefore IPVanish back in 2017. How can its &#8220;zero logs&#8221; policy exist alongside the handing over of so much information?</p>
<p>&#8220;We are glad you asked. That lawsuit was from 2016 &#8211; long before StackPath acquired IPVanish in 2017,&#8221; said Jeremy Palmer, Vice President, Product &#038; Marketing.</p>
<p>&#8220;IPVanish does not, has not, and will not log or store logs of our users as a StackPath company. I can&#8217;t speak to what happened on someone else&#8217;s watch, and that management team is long gone. But know this &#8211; in addition to not logging, StackPath will defend the privacy of our users, regardless of who demands otherwise.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s pretty clear from this statement that StackPath doesn&#8217;t want to get into what went before and at least to a degree, that&#8217;s understandable. That being said, these things must have some kind of paper trail &#8211; logs if you like &#8211; that document what went on and who was responsible. So we asked again, this time tacking on some more questions to try and nail things down.</p>
<p>We began by asking about the general logging policies of IPVanish <em>before</em> StackPath took over. Clearly, if the old policy was to log (as the court papers suggest), at some point StackPath must&#8217;ve seen those policies and realized they were incompatible with their new approach to privacy. If that was the case, what were the old policies and when were they revised to StackPath standards?</p>
<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t speak on behalf of the former executive or legal team (involved in this issue) as they are no longer part of Highwinds Network Group, and haven&#8217;t been since the acquisition,&#8221; Palmer reiterated.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s impossible for me to speculate or comment about what may have happened under different ownership/management. We don&#8217;t keep VPN logs [now]. We value our customer&#8217;s privacy above everything else.&#8221;</p>
<p>The problem here is that at least as far as the IPVanish privacy statements go, the old policies are exactly the same as the new ones &#8211; no logs. Clearly, something has to give. At this point, Palmer provided us with a statement from StackPath CEO Lance Crosby.</p>
<p>Crosby is an industry heavyweight, there is little doubt about that. Founder, CEO and Chairman of Softlayer until its sale to IBM in 2013, Crosby was also former COO of ThePlanet. He doesn&#8217;t offer any clear proof but says that the HSI case could&#8217;ve been a one-off.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the time of the acquisition 2/6/17, the StackPath team and a third party performed due diligence on the platform. No logs existed, no logging systems existed and no previous/current/future intent to save logs existed,&#8221; Crosby says.</p>
<p>&#8220;The same is true today. We can only surmise, this was a one time directed order from authorities. We cannot find any history of logging at any level. Your privacy is paramount and we will fight any persons or government agencies seeking to infringe upon such.</p>
<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t speak to what happened on someone else&#8217;s watch but Technology is my life and I&#8217;ve spent my career helping customers build on and use the Internet on their terms. StackPath takes that even further — security and privacy is our core mission. I also happen to be a lawyer and I will spend my last breath protecting individuals&#8217; rights to privacy, especially our customers,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>While having Crosby&#8217;s word on a no-logging future carries weight, we are sadly no closer to finding out what happened back in 2016. There is no mention in the court documents of the one-time logging scenario outlined above although that is certainly possible. The big question of whether it could happen again is up for debate.</p>
<p>Moving forward, IPVanish says it is committed to its &#8216;no-logging&#8217; policy and says that the difference today is a &#8220;completely different management team&#8221; and a CEO who is &#8220;a strong privacy advocate&#8221; who &#8220;built StackPath on this foundation.&#8221;</p>
<p>IPVanish is the latest high-profile VPN to have provided information to the authorities after earlier claiming security for their users. Back in 2011, HideMyAss <a href="https://blog.hidemyass.com/lulzsec-fiasco">handed over</a> information that would help to jail LulzSec hacker Cody Kretsinger. Last year <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/purevpn-explains-how-it-helped-the-fbi-catch-a-cyberstalker-171016/">it was revealed</a> that PureVPN helped the FBI catch a cyberstalker.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156578
title: PC Software Piracy Decreases Worldwide, But Remains Rampant
uri: PC-Software-Piracy-Decreases-Worldwide-But-Remains-Rampant
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zHw4MA-3rfk/
content:
<p><img src="media/fead0c04.bsasoftlogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bsasoftlogo.png" alt="" width="205" height="187" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156595">For more than two decades, The Software Alliance (<a href="http://www.bsa.org">BSA</a>) has supported major software companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, and Symantec in their battle against piracy.</p>
<p>The industry group is involved in legal action and lobbying efforts, but it also keeps an eye on the latest developments in the use of pirated software.</p>
<p>This week BSA published the latest edition of its &#8220;Global Software Survey&#8221; which reveals the various piracy rates around the world. According to the report there&#8217;s good news since software piracy is decreasing. </p>
<p>The survey, which only looks at PC software, shows that piracy rates worldwide dropped to 37 percent in 2017, down from 39 percent two years earlier. The commercial value of the pirated software dropped by 8 percent, to $46.3 billion globally.</p>
<p>While this is a positive sign for the industry, BSA tempers the optimism by pointing out that piracy remains widespread.</p>
<p>&#8220;Despite a global two-point drop in unlicensed software installation rates during the last two years, unlicensed software is still being used around the globe at alarming rates, accounting for 37 percent of software installed on personal computers. </p>
<p>&#8220;Although the overall commercial value of unlicensed software has also been declining, the majority of all countries in the survey still have unlicensed rates of 50 percent or higher,&#8221; BSA notes.</p>
<p>The organization has a point. Looking at the various piracy rates we see enormous differences from country to country.</p>
<p>In the US, for example, &#8216;only&#8217; 16 percent of software is used without permission, but in other parts of the world, rates are well over 80 percent. In countries where the average consumer has little money to spend, piracy rates are often very high. </p>
<p>This includes many African countries, such as Libya, where 90 percent of all software is used without permission. The same is true for Eastern Europe and Asia, where Armenia, Belarus, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and others have piracy rates above 80 percent.</p>
<p><center><strong>Piracy rates in the Asia Pacific and Central/Eastern Europe regions</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/1b44a17a.rates.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rates.png" alt="" width="600" height="569" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156585"> </center></p>
<p>According to BSA, these high piracy rates hinder economic growth. At the same time, they could also subject people to malware risks, as more pirated software is correlated with more malware, the group warns. </p>
<p>&#8220;These high rates don’t just delay the local economic benefits that are associated with thriving technology use, they impede growth in a company’s bottom line and induce unprecedented security risks,&#8221; BSA notes. </p>
<p>Interestingly, not everyone sees piracy as something inherently bad. </p>
<p>Previously, BSA&#8217;s own numbers were used by the African Governance and Development Institute to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/research-piracy-increases-literacy-and-access-to-knowledge-150405/">show</a> that piracy increases literacy and the spread of knowledge.</p>
<p>Similarly, in 2007 Traian Băsescu, Romania&#8217;s President at the time, said that piracy actually helped locals to develop computer skills.</p>
<p>“Piracy helped the young generation discover computers. It helped Romanians improve their creative capacity in the IT industry, which has become famous around the world,” he told Bill Gates.</p>
<p>BSA clearly sees things differently. To reduce piracy even further the organization hammers on the security risks, while encouraging governments to modernize laws, facilitate enforcement, and increase public awareness.  </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of The Software Alliance&#8217;s latest Global Software Survey is available <a href="media/9499ab0a.2018_BSA_GSS_Report_en.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/2018_BSA_GSS_Report_en.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156639
title: Pirates Are Valuable Customers, Not The Enemy
uri: Pirates-Are-Valuable-Customers-Not-The-Enemy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0nbnww7sXrs/
content:
<p><img src="media/e5c08c23.sharing-is-caring.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sharing-is-caring.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="173" class="alignright size-full wp-image-39387">Online piracy is often portrayed as a simple problem. People download or stream something that&#8217;s not theirs because they don&#8217;t want to pay. </p>
<p>While this may apply in some cases, the reality is much more complex. In fact, over the years <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-are-the-music-industrys-most-valuable-customers-100122/">research</a> has <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/most-aussie-pirates-are-the-industrys-best-customers-150722/">repeatedly</a> shown that pirates are often the entertainment industry&#8217;s best customers. </p>
<p>Today, there are new findings to back this claim up. And to add some weight, they are released by the London-based anti-piracy company <a href="https://www.muso.com/">MUSO</a>, which works closely with various copyright holders.</p>
<p>The company conducted a survey among 1,000 UK adults, through CitizenMe, to shed more light on how and why pirates consume content the way they do. The findings are noteworthy, to say the least. </p>
<p>Of all the people surveyed the vast majority, 60 percent, admitted that they illegally streamed or downloaded music, film or TV-shows in the past. This could have been yesterday or even two years ago.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the same pirates often try legal sources first. In fact, 83 percent say they usually try to find what they are looking for through official channels before trying anything else. This suggests that most pirates are also legal consumers.</p>
<p>“The entertainment industry tends to envisage piracy audiences as a criminal element, and writes them off as money lost &#8211; but they are wrong to do so,” says Paul Briley, CCO of MUSO, commenting on the findings. </p>
<p>“The reality is that the majority of people who have gone through the effort of finding and accessing such unlicensed content are, first and foremost, fans &#8211; fans who are more often than not trying to get content legally if they can.&#8221;</p>
<p>The problem appears to be that these pirates often can&#8217;t find what they&#8217;re looking for through their preferred legal channels. The top reasons for people to &#8216;pirate&#8217; are that content is not available (34.9%), that it&#8217;s siloed or difficult to access (34.7%), or that they can&#8217;t afford it (35.2%).</p>
<p>MUSO notes that copyright holders should not dismiss the pirate audience as these people are actually engaged and valuable consumers. Instead, the entertainment industries should look for better ways to serve this crowd. </p>
<p>In recent years Hollywood has already made a lot of effort to make content available online. And while Netflix and other streaming services have made a positive impact, they&#8217;re not a silver bullet. </p>
<p>MUSO&#8217;s survey reveals that 91% of all pirates already have a streaming subscription, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify or Apple Music. That&#8217;s more than their non-pirating counterparts, of which less than 80% subscribe to one of these services. </p>
<p>The problem is that people sometimes need over a dozen separate subscriptions to access all the content they want. There&#8217;s no single service that offers everything in one place. This is one of the main reasons why piracy is still very relevant.</p>
<p>“There is a prevailing myth that streaming services have killed piracy, but unfortunately this just isn&#8217;t the case,” Briley notes.</p>
<p>“While streaming services have made huge amounts of content more readily available, it’s still siloed. The results of this survey demonstrate that if the show consumers are looking for isn’t available on their particular on-demand service, they will turn to unlicensed alternatives because it is too expensive to subscribe to every single service.&#8221; </p>
<p>MUSO&#8217;s previous research has shown that streaming piracy remains on the rise and this trend could continue going forward, for video at least. </p>
<p>While people&#8217;s reasons to pirate are clear, the solution is not as straightforward. Simply offering all content under one roof might solve the piracy problem, but it doesn&#8217;t automatically mean that more revenue will come in.</p>
<p>The film industry, in particular, relies heavily on complex rights deals, windowed releases, and exclusivity agreements. And with Disney <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_streaming_service">launching its own</a> streaming service, this may only get worse.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156623
title: Private Internet Access’ “No-Logging” Claims Proven True Again in Court
uri: Private-Internet-Access-No-Logging-Claims-Proven-True-Again-i
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZjfZKUNJzsk/
content:
<p><a href="media/f6d1592a.pia1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pia1.jpg"><img src="media/ff34a468.pia1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pia1.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="141" class="alignright size-full wp-image-112870"></a>In April 2017, San Francisco resident Ross M. Colby was <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/13/man-accused-of-hacking-into-bay-area-media-websites-is-indicted/">arraigned</a> in U.S. District Federal Court in San Jose following an FBI investigation into alleged hacking offenses.</p>
<p>The 34-year-old was accused of hacking into several local media websites owned by Embarcadero Media Group including the Palo Alto Weekly and the Almanac. He was charged with intentional damage to a computer, attempted damage, and misdemeanor computer intrusion.</p>
<p>According to the indictment, Colby illegally accessed Embarcadero Media email accounts in July 2015. Then, in September 2015, several of the company&#8217;s websites were hacked to display the Guy Fawkes image associated with Anonymous. The message &#8220;Unbalanced Journalism for profit at the cost of human right. Brought to you by the Almanac&#8221; was also left behind.</p>
<p>Facing more than two decades in prison and fines totaling several hundred thousand dollars, Colby pleaded not guilty and was freed on bail. On May 29, 2018, Colby&#8217;s trial began in federal court in San Jose. Palo Alto Online has been reporting (<a href="https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2018/05/29/accused-palo-alto-online-hacker-sought-economic-damage">1</a>,<a href="https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2018/05/31/second-day-of-hacking-trial-focuses-on-fbi-investigation">2</a>) on the case, which has thrown up something of interest to VPN users.</p>
<p>According to evidence provided by FBI Special Agent Anthony Frazier, between July and September 2015, IP addresses operated by VPN provider Private Internet Access (PIA) were used to access email accounts and systems belonging to Embarcadero Media.</p>
<p>A former Colby roommate claims that the pair discussed computer security and frequently had discussions about the use of VPNs. He had even helped Colby set one up, he said. Last Friday, the San Jose Federal Court also heard that Colby told his roommate that he&#8217;d hacked a news website for pay.</p>
<p>Also giving testimony was John Allan Arsenault, general counsel for London Trust Media, the owner of Private Internet Access.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2018/06/02/alleged-hacker-claimed-he-was-paid-to-attack-news-site-witness-says">Almanac News</a>, Arsenault told the Court that some VPN companies, PIA included, do not retain logs of customers&#8217; Internet activities. This means they are unable to produce useful information in response to a subpoena.</p>
<p>Arsenault told the Court that PIA accepts several payment methods, including cryptocurrency, but doesn&#8217;t keep records of customers&#8217; names and addresses. The only thing the company holds is the email address used when the customer signs up. There was no record of Ross Colby signing up to PIA with his two known email addresses, Arsenault said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We’re limited to search by what the government gives us. Just because we can’t find it doesn’t mean they didn’t use the VPN service,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Someone could create a throw-away (email) account to subscribe to us,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>But while PIA could not connect Colby&#8217;s IP addresses to any illegal activity, the same could not be said of other companies. Evidence presented to the Court showed that in addition to the PIA addresses that were used to access the Embarcadero Media email accounts, an IP address belonging to Comcast was also used on 20 occasions.</p>
<p>Records provided by Comcast showed that John Colby, Ross Colby&#8217;s father and a retired Massachusetts state trooper, was assigned that particular IP address between June 2015 and October 2015, the date of the FBI&#8217;s subpoena to Comcast. John Colby further testified that his son stayed with him for about 10 days in July 2015, a period which coincided with the email breaches at Embarcadero Media.</p>
<p>Evidence provided by the FBI also showed that an IP address used by Ross Colby at his home in San Francisco was used to access Embarcadero accounts, as was an IP address registered to a cafe frequently used by Colby.</p>
<p>The case highlights some important points for those interested in Internet security. </p>
<p>The most interesting for privacy advocates is that this is the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-providers-no-logging-claims-tested-in-fbi-case-160312/">second time</a> that Private Internet Access&#8217;s &#8220;no-logging&#8221; policy has been tested in court. Such claims are notoriously difficult to prove but PIA has now passed twice with flying colors.</p>
<p>However, the big lesson is that if an Internet crime is serious enough to involve the FBI, IP address evidence will be just part of the equation, with testimony from family and associates playing a major role too.</p>
<p>The final decision on Colby&#8217;s plea lies with the jury, which is yet to render its decision.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>Disclaimer: PIA is one of our sponsors. This article was written completely independently of that fact, as always.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156694
title: YouTube Can Be Liable For Copyright Infringing Videos, Court Rules
uri: YouTube-Can-Be-Liable-For-Copyright-Infringing-Videos-Court-Rules
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NLzmRDtVcCo/
content:
<p><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196">YouTube is known to be a breeding ground for creators. At the same time, however, it’s also regularly used to share copyrighted material without permission.</p>
<p>While copyright holders can issue takedown notices to remove infringing content, a preliminary ruling by the Commercial Court in Vienna has decided this is not sufficient. </p>
<p>The ruling follows a complaint from local television channel Puls 4. After a thorough review of YouTube&#8217;s functionalities, the Court concluded that YouTube has an obligation to prevent third parties from uploading infringing content.</p>
<p>In its defense, YouTube argued that it&#8217;s a neutral hosting provider under the provisions of the E-Commerce Act. As such, it should be shielded from direct liability for the actions of users. </p>
<p>However, the Commercial Court disagreed, noting that YouTube takes several motivated actions to organize and optimize how videos are displayed. By doing so, it becomes more than a neutral hosting provider.</p>
<p>&#8220;Through the connections, sorting, filtering and linking, in particular by creating tables of contents according to predefined categories, determining the surfing behavior of users and creating a tailor-made surfing proposal, offering help etc, YouTube leaves on the role of a neutral intermediary and therefore cannot claim the host provider privilege,&#8221; the Court declared.</p>
<p>As a consequence, YouTube will have to take measures to ensure that no copyright-infringing videos are uploaded in the future. This sounds a lot like the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/judgment-day-nears-for-eus-piracy-filters-180604/">upload filters</a> which are part of the EU&#8217;s planned copyright reform.</p>
<p>According to Puls 4, the Court&#8217;s decision has &#8220;the potential to revolutionize the Internet.&#8221; While it is limited to copyright infringement and YouTube, the company notes that it could be expanded to other areas and services as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;The media, who call themselves social networks, will have to recognize that they must also take responsibility for the content through which they earn many millions. This is a real gamechanger,&#8221; <a href="https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20180606_OTS0177/puls-4-gewinnt-prozess-gegen-youtube">says</a> Markus Breitenecker, Managing Director of Puls 4.</p>
<p>YouTube responded by informing <a href="https://diepresse.com/home/techscience/internet/5441910/Puls-4-meldet-Triumph-gegen-YouTube-vor-Gericht">Austrian press</a> that the judgment will be &#8220;examined in detail&#8221;. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are keeping all options open, including an appeal,&#8221; a spokesman said. &#8220;YouTube takes copyright protection very seriously and provides rights owners with tools and resources to protect and exploit their content.&#8221;</p>
<p>The current ruling is not yet legally binding, as it has yet to be confirmed, so this isn&#8217;t the last we&#8217;ll hear of the case.</p>
<p>TF reached out to Puls 4 to find out how YouTube&#8217;s Content ID system factors into the case, and whether that is sufficient or not in their view, but at the time of publication we had yet to receive a response.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156685
title: EU Advocate General: Right to Private Life Shouldn’t Hinder Copyright Enforcement
uri: EU-Advocate-General-Right-to-Private-Life-Shouldn-t-Hinder-Copyrigh
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yWlxVRQI4VA/
content:
<p><a href="media/6542fb40.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg"><img src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985"></a>On May 8, 2010, German citizen Michael Strotzer was the operator of an Internet connection from where an audiobook was made available on a peer-to-peer network.</p>
<p>Germany company Bastei Lübbe AG owned the copyrights to that content and had not given Strotzer permission to share it online. So, on October 28, 2010, Bastei Lübbe wrote to Strotzer with a demand for him to stop infringing their copyrights.</p>
<p>When the company&#8217;s letter failed to have the desired effect, Bastei Lübbe took Strotzer to court in Germany in an effort to obtain financial compensation for the alleged damages caused.</p>
<p>Strotzer denied that he had personally carried out the copyright infringement and said that his home network was secure. He also noted that his parents, who lived at the same address, had access to his network.</p>
<p>However, they did not have the audiobook on their computer and did not use file-sharing networks. In addition, he said that their computer had been turned off at the time when the audiobook was shared online.</p>
<p>The Court dismissed the action against Strotzer on the grounds that the copyright infringement could not be directly attributed to him since his parents could also have shared the audiobook. in response, Bastei Lübbe filed an appeal with the Regional Court of First Instance in Munich.</p>
<p>The Court said it was inclined to assume that Michael Strotzer was responsible for the infringement since it wasn&#8217;t clear from his statements that third parties had used his network and it was &#8220;highly likely&#8221; that the infringement was committed by him.</p>
<p>Case law, however, presented issues. The Federal Court previously ruled that it is for the copyright holder to prove the infringement. It also ruled that the Internet connection owner is likely to have committed the infringement if no-one else could have used his Internet connection at the time of the infringement.</p>
<p>That being said, if the internet connection was not sufficiently secure or was available to use by other people at the time of the infringement, the connection owner should disclose the identity of those people, effectively putting those people in the frame.</p>
<p>However, under Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which ensures the right to respect for a citizen&#8217;s private and family life, it was argued that the owner of the connection is not required to provide further information if a family member has had access to his network.</p>
<p>With this in mind, the Munich court referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for guidance. Advocate General Szpunar published his <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&#038;docid=202612&#038;pageIndex=0&#038;doclang=DA&#038;mode=req&#038;dir=&#038;occ=first&#038;part=1&#038;cid=544257">opinion</a> yesterday in 21 different languages (except English) but thanks to lawyer <a href="http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2018/06/respect-of-family-life-cannot-be-abused.html">Eleonora Rosati</a>, we have his findings in a nutshell.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Advocate General Szpunar] advised the CJEU to rule that EU law does not require to provide, at the national level, a presumption of liability of the owner of an internet connection for copyright infringements committed through such connection,&#8221; Rosati writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, if national law envisages such presumption to ensure the protection of copyright, this shall be applied coherently to guarantee effective copyright protection.</p>
<p>&#8220;In this sense, the right to family and private life under Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights may not be interpreted in such as way as to deprive copyright owners of any possibility of effective protection of their own intellectual property, the protection of which is mandated by Article 17(2) of the EU Charter,&#8221; Rosati adds.</p>
<p>In other words, if a country (in this case Germany) has national laws that reduce the burdens of proof in order to help protect copyright law (something which is not mandatory under EU law), it should not be the case that rightsholders are unable to enforce their rights due to an apparent conflict with the right to respect for private family life.</p>
<p>&#8220;If one was able to invoke Article 7 of the Charter to avoid having to disclose the names of those who might have used the connection, then the copyright owner would be deprived of his IP right,&#8221; Rosati explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;In any case, should a national court deem such intrusion into one’s own right to family life inadmissible, then the owner of the internet connection should be presumed liable for the relevant infringement, insofar as the copyright owner has no other means to identify the actual infringers.&#8221;</p>
<p>When cases are referred to the CJEU, the opinions and subsequent decisions of the Court often contain language which aims to balance what are often seen as conflicting rights. In this case, it&#8217;s suggested that the right to family life should not be (ab)used in order to avoid liability in a matter where the rights of another party have been infringed.</p>
<p>The opinion of the Advocate General is not binding but the CJEU generally follows such advice.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156696
title: Russian Govt Approves Fines For Search Engines Linking to Banned VPNs
uri: Russian-Govt-Approves-Fines-For-Search-Engines-Linking-to-Banned-VPNs
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/cHTPrASVXn4/
content:
<p><a href="media/560a9ef5.searchman.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/searchman.jpg"><img src="media/e92721d2.searchman.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/searchman.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="156" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135409"></a>For the past several years, Russia has been attempting to censor the Internet by restricting access to a large range of sites. With thousands blocked, pirate sites are some of the main targets but any site with content objectionable to the state can find itself in the crosshairs.</p>
<p>As more blocks have been introduced, the response by many Internet users has been to circumvent them. For pirate sites, proxies and mirrors have been a key mechanism but increasingly citizens have turned to VPNs and other anonymizers that are able to skirt around any ban.</p>
<p>As a result, VPNs and anonymizers themselves have come under scrutiny, with authorities demanding that those operating in Russia register themselves with the state. Of course, many do not, which has led to a cat-and-mouse game.</p>
<p>Historically it&#8217;s been easy to find a VPN or similar service using search engines but the Russian Government has a new tool to make that harder. This week, following a third and final reading, the State Duma adopted a bill introducing fines for search engines that provide links to outlawed sites, VPNs and anonymization tools.</p>
<p>According to the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, failure of online services to stop publishing links to blocked information resources will result in fines of 3,000 to 5,000 rubles ($48 to $80) for citizens, up to 50,000 rubles ($800) for officials, and between 500,000 to 700,000 ($8,019 to $11,227) for legal entities.</p>
<p>In order to advise which sites and services are banned in the country, the Federal State Information System (FGIS) will provide access to an up-to-date database of blocked domains. Search engines will be required to connect to this system within 30 days and those who fail to do so will face fines similar to those detailed above.</p>
<p>TASS <a href="http://tass.ru/obschestvo/5263440">reports</a> that the amendments are concomitant with the law on anonymizers adopted at the end of the spring session of the State Duma in 2017. This legislation requires owners and operators of VPN and anonymization systems to first register their identities with the authorities and then connect to the blocked sites register.</p>
<p>Those who fail to comply with the requirements can find themselves fined and placed on the blocked sites register, which is maintained by Russian telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156352
title: Streaming Sports Site Operator Handed 10 Month Suspended Sentence
uri: Streaming-Sports-Site-Operator-Handed-10-Month-Suspended-Sentence
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2I08Oq67Xhk/
content:
<p><a href="media/811ab89d.oldball.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/oldball.jpg"><img src="media/67f652bb.oldball.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/oldball.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-150389"></a>While the majority of downloads over the past 15 years have featured pre-recorded content, one of the fastest growing areas in 2018 features live TV.</p>
<p>Hundreds of websites now offer live broadcasts, sports in particular, without payment to copyright holders. Quality isn&#8217;t always great but for those looking for a cheap and cheerful sporting fix, the latest matches, games, and races are never more than a few clicks away.</p>
<p>As one of the most popular games in the world, soccer or football is also one of the most pirated. An endless stream of sites provides access to the world&#8217;s greatest leagues, either for free or modest fee, something that&#8217;s a thorn in the side of outfits like the Premier League who otherwise like to charge premium fees.</p>
<p>Over in Poland, <a href="https://ncplus.pl/">NC+</a> broadcasts football to the masses but like its counterparts all over the world, also has a piracy problem.</p>
<p>Aiming to tackle this unfair competition, NC+ filed a complaint against unlicensed sports streaming platform FutbolHD.tv, which had been offering its football broadcasts without permission. Legal proceedings took place last year and have now been made final.</p>
<p>For disseminating content for which he held no rights and making his service a regular source of income from which he obtained a material benefit, the operator of FutbolHD was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, suspended for three years.</p>
<p>He was also ordered to pay a fine of PLN 160,000 (US$43,317) to ITI Neovision SA, the Canal+ Group-owned operator of NC+.</p>
<p>&#8220;The court ruled that the website owner acted to the detriment of ITI Neovision SA, the operator of the NC+ platform, which has the exclusive right to broadcast the above-mentioned content,&#8221; the company said in a statement.</p>
<p>Dealing with sports piracy is a priority for broadcasters all over the world but it seems unlikely that tackling them on a case-by-case basis will solve the problem. Custodial sentences do provide some deterrent but creative thinking is required.</p>
<p>Outfits like the UK&#8217;s Premier League recognize this and have been taking measures to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-premier-league-blocking-disrupts-pirate-iptv-providers-170814/">block pirate streams at source</a>, something which is claimed to have had a negative effect on availability.</p>
<p>Not even this approach provides a silver bullet but it is much more effective than taking legal action against endless sites that are easily replaced in a matter of days, or even hours.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156752
title: Court Orders Finnish ISPs to Block RARBG and YIFY
uri: Court-Orders-Finnish-ISPs-to-Block-RARBG-and-YIFY
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8prl4jKBJ0o/
content:
<p><img src="media/5451b1e2.finland1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/finland1.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="143" class="alignright size-full wp-image-25779">Finland was one of the pioneers of blocking pirate websites. Back <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/finnish-isp-ordered-to-block-the-pirate-bay-111026/">in 2011</a>, it was one of the first countries where Internet providers were ordered to block The Pirate Bay. </p>
<p>The process wasn&#8217;t straightforward. Several ISPs <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-blockades-upheld-by-court-of-appeal-120212/">appealed</a> the rulings and one even <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/supreme-court-denies-isp-permission-to-appeal-pirate-bay-blockade-121029/">tried</a> to have the matter heard at the Supreme Court, but eventually, the blocks remained. </p>
<p>Despite the hard-fought blocking measures, there hasn&#8217;t been much activity in Finland recently. However, that changed this week when copyright holders obtained two fresh blocking orders.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.markkinaoikeus.fi/">Market Court</a>, a venue specialized in copyright, competition, and market law disputes, issued a verdict which compels seven Internet providers to block access to the popular torrent sites RARBG and YIFY. </p>
<p>The order applies to the three largest providers DNA, Elisa and TeliaSonera Finland, as well as Blue Lake Communications, Kaisanet, Lounea and MPY. It requires the ISPs to use DNS blocking while also restricting access to the sites&#8217; IP-addresses.</p>
<p>According to the Court, the operators of the sites in question are unknown, but it is clear that they generate a significant amount of advertising revenue by facilitating copyright infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;The anonymous administrators of both services earn substantial sums of advertising money by illegally sharing content made by others,&#8221; the Market Court notes, quoted by <a href="https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000005710310.html">Helsingin Sanomat</a>.</p>
<p>Recent research suggests that Finns download roughly 12 million movies and 32 million TV-shows from unauthorized sources per year. RARBG and YIFY are among the most popular sites in the country, with an estimated 520,000 visits per month. </p>
<p>While the blockades are bound to frustrate users, it remains to be seen how effective they are. History has shown that users bypass these type of restrictions through proxies and VPNs, or simply by switching to sites that are not blocked yet.</p>
<p>It is not clear whether any of the ISPs plan to appeal the Market Court&#8217;s most recent decision. Considering the outcome of the previous blocking cases, that&#8217;s not going to be easy.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156536
title: RIAA: ISP’s Interest in Piracy Phishing Scam Is a ‘Fishing Expedition’
uri: RIAA-ISP-s-Interest-in-Piracy-Phishing-Scam-Is-a-Fishing-Expedi
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MHaiNx3P7nk/
content:
<p><img src="media/57110c1a.gonefishing.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/gonefishing.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="201" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156722">Late last month, Internet provider Grande Communications <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-wants-us-marshals-to-help-serve-piracy-tracking-outfit-180528/">requested assistance</a> from U.S. Marshals to serve piracy tracking company IP-Echelon. </p>
<p>The unusual request is linked to the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-books-partial-victory-against-riaa-in-piracy-lawsuit-180405/">RIAA lawsuit</a>, where Grande stands accused of failing to disconnect repeat infringers. </p>
<p>Specifically, the ISP wants to find out more about a DMCA notice scam <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-phishing-scam-targets-u-s-isps-subscribers-160624/">where scammers</a> tried to extract payments. </p>
<p>This phishing scam used fake piracy notifications, abusing IP-Echelon&#8217;s name. Since the RIAA lawsuit is partly based on evidence from IP-Echelon&#8217;s competitor Rightscorp, Grande believes that it has grounds to find out more about the scam.</p>
<p>After the ISP was unable to reach the piracy tracking company at its Hollywood office it requested help from the Marshals. However, this week the cavalry was called off, as IP-Echelon&#8217;s attorney came forward to accept service of the subpoena.</p>
<p>While assistance from US law enforcement is no longer needed, the legal paperwork makes clear that the RIAA is not happy with Grande&#8217;s efforts. </p>
<p>Earlier this week, before the call for Marshal assistance was retracted, the RIAA opposed the request. While the issue is moot now, it does reveal the music industry&#8217;s views on using the phishing scam as evidence in the lawsuit.</p>
<p>The RIAA told the court that the lawsuit against Grande is about copyright infringements of subscribers, who were put on notice by Rightscorp, not IP-Echelon.</p>
<p>&#8220;IP-Echelon appears to provide services similar to Rightscorp’s services. But IP-Echelon is not a party to this litigation. Plaintiffs have not retained IP-Echelon in connection with this litigation or in connection with Grande in any way,&#8221; the RIAA wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;Instead, Grande seeks to serve its subpoena because IP-Echelon was apparently the victim of a &#8216;phishing&#8217; scam in which certain ISPs, including Grande, received fake infringement notices related to copyrighted movies purporting to be from IP-Echelon.&#8221;</p>
<p>The RIAA doesn&#8217;t deny that Grande and others may have fallen prey to this scam. However, the music group doesn&#8217;t see how this is relevant in this case. Instead, they see the efforts to obtain additional evidence as a fishing expedition.</p>
<p>&#8220;Grande’s subpoena for evidence about this phishing scam is itself a fishing expedition,&#8221; the RIAA writes.</p>
<p>If Grande questions the authenticity of Rightcorp&#8217;s notices it can do so through discovery directed to Rightscorp, the RIAA stresses. The music group sees no justification for going after IP-Echelon. </p>
<p>Thus far Grande hasn&#8217;t provided any details about its intentions regarding the issue at hand. However, it is likely that they want to use the scam to argue that not all notices can be trusted. </p>
<p>The RIAA clearly doesn&#8217;t see the point in doing so and it informs the court that the ISP has already pursued a series of non-party subpoenas, claiming that Grande tries to shift the focus of the case away from its own conduct. </p>
<p>If IP-Echelon testifies, the RIAA expects that anything they&#8217;ll bring to the table will be inadmissible.</p>
<p>&#8220;The subpoena to IP-Echelon will not lead to the discovery of any admissible evidence; it will only cause the Court and the parties to waste time on pointless discovery that will not aid resolution of the issues in this case,&#8221; the RIAA concludes.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of RIAA&#8217;s opposition to Grande&#8217;s motion is available <a href="media/929428cc.echelonresponse.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/echelonresponse.pdf">here (pdf)</a>. Grande&#8217;s notice to withdraw its motion can be found <a href="media/9c1a0387.echelon.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/echelon.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156742
title: Sony Sends Preemptive FIFA World Cup Copyright Warnings
uri: Sony-Sends-Preemptive-FIFA-World-Cup-Copyright-Warnings
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Rix5oJlqhRI/
content:
<p><a href="media/811ab89d.oldball.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/oldball.jpg"><img src="media/67f652bb.oldball.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/oldball.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-150389"></a>In years gone by, an event like the upcoming FIFA World Cup wouldn&#8217;t have been drastically affected by piracy. </p>
<p>Most people like to watch matches as they happen so systems like BitTorrent, that offer after-the-fact content, weren&#8217;t particularly useful.</p>
<p>These days, however, there are hundreds of unlicensed platforms fully capable of transmitting live content, meaning that the World Cup is within reach of anyone with a half decent Internet connection.</p>
<p>With this in mind, anti-piracy companies are likely to be working overtime during the World Cup in an effort to take down live streams as soon as matches get underway. Whether they will enjoy much success will remain to be seen but for the Sony Entertainment Network, the battle has already begun.</p>
<p>Through Indian anti-piracy outfit Markscan, Sony has this week been sending out preemptive warnings to pirate sites. A copy shared with TorrentFreak by a sports streaming platform reveals Sony claiming TV, radio, mobile and broadband broadcasting rights to the World Cup in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The company warns of serious consequences if sites don&#8217;t heed their warnings.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Our] Client will be showing the matches live and content related to FIFA 2018 in various languages across the following channels comprising of Sony Entertainment Network which are designated to the official broadcasters of FIFA 2018,&#8221; the letter from Markscan reads.</p>
<p>The company then lists 10 channels that will be broadcasting content, including Sony ESPN, a collaboration between the two companies in India.</p>
<p>“By way of the present caution notice issued to you, we caution you and your website, not to indulge in any broadcasting, rebroadcasting, making available for viewing and / or communicating to the public, the FIFA 2018 matches and any content associated thereof, without obtaining permission / authorization from our client,&#8221; it continues.</p>
<p>Markscan states that the site in question will be monitored for any acts of infringement and if any take place it shall be compelled to &#8220;initiate legal proceedings (civil and/or criminal) should you engage in violation of our Client&#8217;s rights despite the present notice.&#8221;</p>
<p>The person who received the notice from Markscan asked for his identity and his site to remain anonymous. However, he confirmed that he streams sports and the warning won&#8217;t make any difference.</p>
<p>&#8220;No, that&#8217;s not gonna stop us,&#8221; he told TF. &#8220;We will stream the whole FIFA World Cup in our platform.&#8221;</p>
<p>Due to the sheer number of legal services the World Cup will be made available on, stopping all unauthorized streams will prove absolutely impossible. Indeed, due to the huge number of unlicensed sites around today, it&#8217;s likely to be one of the most-pirated live sports tournaments of all time.</p>
<p>This means that despite best and preemptive efforts, any takedowns will prove a drop in the ocean.</p>
<p><center><strong>Preemptive FIFA takedown</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/d0fe3f5d.Sony-FIFA-small.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Sony-FIFA-small.png"><img src="media/cb606f4f.Sony-FIFA-small.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Sony-FIFA-small.png" alt="" width="600" height="297" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-156745"></a></center></p>
<p>Full size <a href="media/14835d50.Sony-FIFA.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/Sony-FIFA.png">here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156680
title: Google Blacklists Millions of Pirate URLs Before They’re Indexed
uri: Google-Blacklists-Millions-of-Pirate-URLs-Before-They-re-Indexed
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/itaGJispPZk/
content:
<p><img src="media/3c5b1a66.googlepiratebay.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlepiratebay.png" alt="" width="267" height="257" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128445">In recent years, Google has had to cope with a continuous increase in takedown requests which target pirate sites in search results.</p>
<p>The total number of &#8216;removed&#8217; URLs just reached <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/overview">3.5 billion</a> and millions more are added every day. </p>
<p>While that&#8217;s nothing new, Google just started sharing some additional insight into the nature of these requests. </p>
<p>As it turns out, millions, if not hundreds of millions, of the links copyright holders target have never appeared in Google&#8217;s search index. </p>
<p>Earlier this year Google copyright counsel Caleb Donaldson <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-blocks-pirated-search-results-prophylactically-180103/">revealed</a> that the company had started to block non-indexed links &#8216;prophylactically.&#8217; In other words, Google blocks URLs before they appear in the search results, as some sort of piracy vaccine.</p>
<p>“Google has critically expanded notice and takedown in another important way: We accept notices for URLs that are not even in our index in the first place. That way, we can collect information even about pages and domains we have not yet crawled,” Donaldson noted.</p>
<p>“We process these URLs as we do the others. Once one of these not-in-index URLs is approved for takedown, we prophylactically block it from appearing in our Search results,” he added.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Google provided no easy way to see how many links in a request were not indexed, but that has now changed. </p>
<p>Over the past week or so the search engine added a new signal to its DMCA transparency report listing how many of the submitted URLs in a notice are not indexed yet. In some cases, this is the vast majority. </p>
<p>Take the Mexican branch on the anti-piracy group APDIF, <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/reporters/18634">for example</a>. This organization is one of the most active DMCA reporters and has asked Google to remove over a million URLs last week alone.</p>
<p>As can be seen below, the majority of the links appear to be non-indexed links. We browsed through dozens of recent listings from APDIF and these reveal a pattern where in most cases over 90% of the submitted URLs are not in Google&#8217;s search results.</p>
<p><center><strong>Google now reporting non-indexed takedown requests</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/88d51990.APDIF.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/APDIF.png" alt="" width="585" height="323" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156689"></center></p>
<p>These URLs are obviously not removed since they weren&#8217;t listed. According to the company&#8217;s earlier statement, they are put on a separate blocklist instead, which prevents them from being added in the future.</p>
<p>APDIF is not the only reporter that does this though. Rivendell, the most active sender of all, also has a high rate of non-indexed links, <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/reporters/42234">often well over 50%</a>. </p>
<p>The tactic turns out to be rather common. Well known players such as <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/reporters/10070">Fox</a>, <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/reporters/7667">Walt Disney</a>, <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/reporters/2516">NBC Universal</a>, <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/reporters/1847">BPI</a>, and <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/reporters/1594">the RIAA</a>, all report non-indexed links as well, to varying degrees.</p>
<p>Not all reporting agencies have such high rates as APDIF. However, it is clear that millions of non-indexed pirate URLs are added to the preemptive blocklist every month. </p>
<p>Technically, the DMCA takedown process is meant for links and content which actually exist on a service, but it appears that Google doesn&#8217;t mind going a step further.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to the search giant several days ago, hoping to find out what percentage of the overall requests are not in Google&#8217;s search results, but at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=155375
title: Amazon Sues Pirate Streaming Boxes, but Sells ‘Piracy’ Tutorials?
uri: Amazon-Sues-Pirate-Streaming-Boxes-but-Sells-Piracy-Tutorials
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bn8_OYQmAKQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/818aee91.missingguide.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/missingguide.png" alt="" width="263" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156807">Last summer saw the birth of a new anti-piracy initiative, which has already made quite a few headlines. </p>
<p>A coalition of the major Hollywood studios, Amazon, Netflix and several other media properties teamed up, launching the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment</a> (ACE). </p>
<p>Their ultimate goal is to beat piracy, with pirate streaming boxes as the main target. </p>
<p>In the months that followed, several third-party Kodi-addon developers received <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ace-warns-kodi-addon-developer-to-sign-settlement-agreement-or-else-180306/">threatening letters</a> in the mail and on top of that<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/"> ACE filed lawsuits</a> against three vendors of alleged pirate streaming boxes.</p>
<p>Their show of force hasn&#8217;t gone unnoticed. It triggered some developers and sellers to lay low or move out of the game entirely. At the same time, fully-loaded pirate boxes are now harder to find at ACE member Amazon, which has removed tens of thousands of listings. </p>
<p>These boxes, which ship with a built-in media player as well as pirate addons, were not always hard to find though. </p>
<p>In fact, Dragon Box, which is now being sued by Amazon and the others, was previously sold on Amazon. This is perhaps what prompted the company to argue as a defense that it had &#8220;Amazon’s implied authorization to promote and sell the device.&#8221;</p>
<p>Clearly, these Dragon Boxes have now been stripped from Amazon&#8217;s inventory, but it&#8217;s still not hard to find several alleged piracy inducing items there today. </p>
<p>For starters, there are still hundreds if not thousands of cheap media players for sale. While these may be perfectly legal, reviews of Amazon members show, sometimes with screenshots, how these can be easily set up to run pirate addons.</p>
<p>Arguably, without 24/7 moderation this is hard to avoid. After all, people may also buy a PC on Amazon and recommend people to bookmark The Pirate Bay. Perhaps we&#8217;re nitpicking.</p>
<p>What may be more problematic for Amazon is the widespread availability of &#8220;Kodi tutorials.&#8221; While Kodi is perfectly legal, <em>some</em> of these books go into detail on how to add &#8220;pirate&#8221; addons. The same tools Amazon is suing Tickbox, Set TV, and Dragon Box over. </p>
<p>&#8220;Do you want to install Area 51 IPTV or Set TV on your Kodi and Amazon Fire TV Stick or Fire TV?&#8221; one guide mentions, referencing <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-amazon-and-hollywood-sue-set-tv-over-iptv-piracy-180422/">Set TV</a> specifically. &#8220;Do you want to install Supremacy, Dogs Bollock, Covenant, Genesis Reborn and Neptune Rising?&#8221; it adds.</p>
<p><center><strong>One of the many Kodi guides</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/5bb2642f.kodiaddon.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodiaddon.png" alt="" width="438" height="323" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156804"></center></p>
<p>Another book offers help on &#8220;How To Install Kodi And The Latest Downloads On Any Firestick&#8221; mentioning the addon Exodus, among others. Exodus was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-sees-illegal-streaming-devices-as-piracy-3-0-170502/">famously highlighted</a> as a &#8220;pirate&#8221; addon by the MPA.</p>
<p>And then there are books discussing how to install a wide range of addons with a &#8220;pirate&#8221; reputation, including Covenant which is specifically highlighted in the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">ACE lawsuits</a> as a bad actor. </p>
<p>None of these addons have been declared illegal in court, as far as we know, and writing about it isn’t illegal by definition. But, it is clear that Amazon itself sees these as pirate tools.</p>
<p>This leads to the awkward situation where, on the one hand, Amazon is suing vendors who sell devices that ship with the Covenant addon, while they sell books that show people how to set this up themselves.</p>
<p>We won&#8217;t make any judgments on whether these books or addons encourage infringement in any way, that&#8217;s not up to us. But for Amazon it&#8217;s not a good look, to say the least, especially since part of the profits for these titles go into its own pockets.  </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156679
title: Rampant Kodi Malware? It’s Time to Either Put Up or Shut Up
uri: Rampant-Kodi-Malware-It-s-Time-to-Either-Put-Up-or-Shut-Up
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hMUgiwICypA/
content:
<p><a href="media/13c1e1a2.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png"><img src="media/8aa05985.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png" alt="" width="256" height="256" class="alignright size-full wp-image-144339"></a>Faced with a tsunami of pirated movies and TV shows being accessed at will through millions of piracy-enabled set-top boxes, entertainment industry groups have had to come up with a new anti-piracy strategy.</p>
<p>The main goal seems to demonize these devices in the press, creating the impression that anyone using them puts themselves in danger, either due to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-truth-behind-the-kodi-boxes-can-kill-their-owners-headlines-171118/">fire risk</a> or exposure to the perils of viruses and malware.</p>
<p>These claims are perfect tabloid material. Newspapers, particularly in the UK, gobble up press releases and quickly spin them out, whether they have any substance to them or not. While there&#8217;s little evidence that the scare stories are working as a deterrent among the pirating masses, they are a continuous source of irritation for those who know better.</p>
<p>This week a new Kodi-related video appeared on YouTube. Filmed at the RSA conference and presented by CyberScoop editor Greg Otto, it consists of a short interview with Kurtis Minder, CEO of security company <a href="https://groupsense.io">GroupSense</a>. &#8220;How malware is growing on the Kodi/XMBC platform&#8221; was the topic.</p>
<p>After a brief introduction on so-called &#8216;Kodi boxes&#8217;, Otto put it to Minder that his company had been looking into the &#8220;malware that has been floating through these boxes&#8221; and asked him to elaborate.</p>
<p>Minder said his company started its research around two months ago, working with the Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA). Of course, DCA has been one of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-piracy-scaremongering-video-depicts-dangerous-raspberry-pi-171202/">main sources</a> of Kodi-related malware stories, ostensibly for the protection of consumers.</p>
<p>However, DCA is affiliated with the entertainment industries and there is little doubt they&#8217;re being used to promote an anti-piracy agenda. There is nothing inherently wrong with companies trying to protect their content, of course, but doing so in a way that has the potential to mislead the public is bound to raise questions.</p>
<p>Back to the video, Minder told interviewer Otto that his company had been looking at &#8220;what the attack footprint would be for malware on the media that would show up on any given Kodi box that would be in someone&#8217;s home.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a curious statement to talk about the streaming media itself providing an attack vector but Minder doubled down, stating that they&#8217;d discovered several places on the dark web &#8220;where people are selling malware-enabled media.&#8221;</p>
<p>Otto didn&#8217;t ask Minder to elaborate on these claims and Minder didn&#8217;t respond to TF&#8217;s request for comment, so we still have no idea what he&#8217;s referring to. However, Otto did pour fuel on the confusion by asking Minder about malware which requires capabilities that no &#8216;Kodi box&#8217; has.</p>
<p>&#8220;What happens with [that malware]? Is it a RAT [Remote Access Trojan] that takes over a TV that hooks up to a camera and is almost like spyware? Is it ransomware? What are we seeing?&#8221; he asked the security expert.</p>
<p>&#8220;Some of that is [to be determined], we don&#8217;t know exactly what all of it does,&#8221; Minder responded. &#8220;But we do know there is a fair amount that enable DDoS capability from the boxes.&#8221; </p>
<p>We have no idea what constitutes a &#8220;fair amount&#8221; of malware but it sounds like multiple instances. Here on TF back in 2017, we broke the news that a single Kodi addon was programmed to repeatedly visit the websites of rivals.</p>
<p>In that single case, the architect of that addon quickly <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popular-kodi-addon-exodus-turned-users-into-a-ddos-botnet-170203/">apologized for his actions</a>, the whole thing was concluded inside a week, and we haven&#8217;t heard of any similar incident since. But Minder said there are additional risks too.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is malware that will actually take over some of the components. We don&#8217;t know to what extent, if it&#8217;s actually listening to the people in the room or not, that stuff hasn&#8217;t really been netted out,&#8221; he told Otto.</p>
<p>Indeed, such a thing has never been reported anywhere, not least since &#8220;Kodi boxes&#8221; don&#8217;t have microphones. But after more prompting from Otto, Minder then went on to talk about Kodi installed on platforms other than Android devices. His revelations about supposed &#8216;Kodi malware&#8217; in this respect are also controversial.</p>
<p>&#8220;The delivery mechanism [for the malware] appears to be two primary ways. It&#8217;s the Kodi platform itself, which means whatever you load that on. For instance, if you did load that on an [Amazon] Firestick it could still be effective as an attack vector. The other one is the streaming media itself. Embedded in the media itself there are some malware variants,&#8221; he said. </p>
<p>As far as we know, malware embedded in streaming media that can be consumed via Kodi or indeed any regular media player is unheard of these days. Nathan Betzen, President of the <a href="https://kodi.tv/">XBMC Foundation</a>, the group behind Kodi, told TorrentFreak that at least as far as he is aware, such a thing doesn&#8217;t exist.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’ve never heard of malware in a video stream. I guess anything is possible, but to my knowledge, there have been no reports to that effect,&#8221; Betzen said.</p>
<p>Bogdan Botezatu, Senior E-threat Analyst at <a href="https://www.bitdefender.com">BitDefender</a>, also told TorrentFreak that he&#8217;d seen nothing like that in the wild.</p>
<p>&#8220;Malformed video could leverage vulnerabilities in the player itself, but I’m not aware of such attacks happening in the wild,&#8221; Botezatu told us.</p>
<p>&#8220;Actually, the last time I saw malicious videos distributed via torrent websites was years ago, back in the days when Trojan.Wimad was making the headlines.&#8221;</p>
<p>Trojan.Wimad was a trojan discovered in 2005 that was able to download remote files from websites by exploiting the Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology available in Windows. The trojan got onto users&#8217; computers as a licensed-protected video file. Kodi users are certainly not interested in those and in any case, Android-based Kodi boxes are unaffected.</p>
<p>So, apart from the addon incident that lasted for a week in 2017, we&#8217;ve never heard of a live Kodi-related malware attack anywhere in the wild. Betzen told us that he&#8217;d heard of an instance where a coin miner had spread via third-party code but that&#8217;s an issue for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/11/government-websites-hit-by-cryptocurrency-mining-malware">thousands of mainstream websites</a> too.</p>
<p>All that being said, we aren&#8217;t known as security experts, so we asked security firm <a href="https://www.avast.com">AVAST</a> if they could provide information on all Kodi-related malware incidents they have on record.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, we have not observed any Kodi-related malware risks in the wild,&#8221; AVAST Communications Manager Stefanie Smith told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>Bogdan Botezatu at BitDefender also had no specific instances to report.</p>
<p>&#8220;There has been a lot of attention towards Kodi in the past year and most of the &#8216;security risks&#8217; go around the fact that some addons allow users to stream media directly from websites, so this is mostly a legal issue rather than a cyber-security one,&#8221; Botezatu said.</p>
<p>The BitDefender expert did, however, point us to a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/malicious-subtitles-threaten-kodi-vlc-and-popcorn-time-users-researchers-warn-170523/">security advisory</a> from CheckPoint which detailed a software vulnerability affecting Kodi, VLC, and other players using subtitles, which TF reported last year.</p>
<p>&#8220;Kodi 17.1 was known to have been vulnerable to a subtitle parsing bug that allowed an attacker to remotely control the Kodi box. This is one of the most serious threats I know of because third parties could rig subtitles uploaded to various repositories and this would go unnoticed for a while,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>While this vulnerability could have been used for nefarious purposes, there is no evidence of it ever being exploited in the wild. And, in common with all responsible platforms, Kodi and all others involved <a href="https://blog.checkpoint.com/2017/05/23/hacked-in-translation/">fixed the issue</a> before any damage could be done.</p>
<p>Moving through our list of vendors, TorrentFreak also asked Symantec if they had ever encountered any actual Kodi-related malware. The company told us they had nothing to report at this time but did highlight the same subtitle vulnerability pointed out by BitDefender.</p>
<p>To be clear, vulnerabilities can affect any software, including Windows, but that doesn&#8217;t make them inherently dangerous to the consumer as long as they&#8217;re disclosed and then fixed in a responsible and timely manner.</p>
<p>However, listening to the entertainment industries and those aligned with them, Kodi use presents an active and serious malware danger to the public, but one with almost zero evidence to support it.</p>
<p>Minder himself didn&#8217;t respond to our request for elaboration but we did manage to obtain a copy of a presentation his company prepared for the Conference of Western Attorneys General detailing supposed Kodi threats. The document, dated May 2018, makes for interesting reading.</p>
<p>Perhaps referencing the claims that Kodi malware is available on the dark web, the presentation slides show an advert discovered on the hidden &#8216;Dream Market&#8217; marketplace. The advert offers subscriptions to an illicit IPTV service but it&#8217;s actually one that&#8217;s easily accessible on the regular open web. Perhaps most importantly, there is no mention of malware anywhere on the slide. </p>
<p><center><strong>Dark web IPTV but no malware</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/fa2d564c.groupsense1-e1528369684991.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/groupsense1-e1528369684991.png"><img src="media/fa2d564c.groupsense1-e1528369684991.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/groupsense1-e1528369684991.png" alt="" width="600" height="339" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-156724"></a></center></p>
<p>The next slide proved interesting since it covers a topic <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/is-your-kodi-setup-being-spied-on-180101/">first published</a> here on TorrentFreak at the start of 2018. We revealed how some Kodi setups can be accessed by outside parties if users aren&#8217;t careful about the settings for Kodi&#8217;s web interface. While this is a known issue, this has nothing to do with malware.</p>
<p>Finally, the last slide had this to say about Kodi and third-party Kodi addons.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unbeknownst to the consumer these third‐party add‐ons further introduces [users] to risks such as copyright violations, malware infection, disclosure of IP address and Internet behavior, and the loss of the confidentiality of their communications,&#8221; the slide reads <em>(<a href="media/58c949a9.0-panel-GroupSense-CWAG-2018-Chairs-Initiative-Kodi-v3-notes.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.cwagweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/230-panel-GroupSense-CWAG-2018-Chairs-Initiative-Kodi-v3-notes.pdf">PDF</a>)</em>.</p>
<p>While it can&#8217;t be argued that copyright violations can take place, the ever-present malware claim isn&#8217;t backed up by any publicly-available information indicating that such an event has happened more than once or twice. To put that into perspective, the AV-TEST Institute <a href="https://www.av-test.org/en/statistics/malware/">says</a> it registers over 250,000 new malicious programs every day.</p>
<p>Furthermore, IP addresses are always disclosed no matter what content users access online, so that point is moot too, along with the supposed issues with confidentiality of communications. However, GroupSense has more to add.</p>
<p>&#8220;Additionally, the communication between their Kodi application and the third‐party add‐ons are unencrypted and unauthenticated meaning that an attacker can introduce malicious code into the communication stream or compromise the third‐party add‐on before the recipient (consumer) receives the data; thereby, infecting their device to incorporate into a botnet or steal privileged information such as user credentials,&#8221; the slide reads.</p>
<p>We presented these claims to <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/kodi-avoids-malware/">TVAddons</a>, the world&#8217;s largest repository of third-party addons and the developer of many, past and present. They weren&#8217;t impressed with the claims.</p>
<p>&#8220;That argument is quite the stretch. Technically the same would apply to any website you visit that doesn&#8217;t use forced-HTTPS. Almost every unofficial add-on repository is hosted through GitHub, which forces encryption,&#8221; the site said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Kodi &#8216;boxes&#8217; are used on home networks, not public Wi-Fi. By the time someone could perform a [Man-in-the-Middle] attack on your Kodi box, it would mean that they would have already had to compromise your router. If someone were to go through all that, they could likely do a lot more damage without even considering exploiting Kodi.</p>
<p>&#8220;Furthermore, most users use Kodi on their media boxes, where little to no privileged information would be present,&#8221; the site added.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s be clear, every single piece of hardware and software, whether on or offline, can be exploited in some way by nefarious players or simply the curious. However, the persistent claim that Kodi users are somehow under constant malware attack isn&#8217;t borne out by any publicly available information.</p>
<p>Indeed, one of the world&#8217;s most popular anti-piracy vendors in AVAST says they have no record of ANY Kodi-related malware. And Marius Buterchi, PR Manager at the highly-respected BitDefender, couldn&#8217;t point us to any specific instances either.</p>
<p>&#8220;I just talked with the Lab guys and they told me that they actually haven&#8217;t seen any Kodi-related malware in the wild,&#8221; he told us Friday.</p>
<p>With that, it now seems the perfect time to either put up or shut up in respect of &#8220;Kodi malware.&#8221;</p>
<p>If there is malware out there affecting users of Kodi, security and entertainment industry companies making these claims should back them up with solid evidence because, as it stands, the horror stories seem designed to frighten the masses, rather than protect them. </p>
<p>The benefits of full disclosure, detailing the EXACT NAMES of the malware, WHEN they were discovered and by WHO, and what EXACTLY THEY DO, would be two-fold.</p>
<p>Firstly, the aim of scaring people away from Kodi would have more impact, since the evidence of malware would be hard to ignore. That would be a big plus for the movie and TV industries who are quite rightly concerned about protecting their business.</p>
<p>Secondly, and just as importantly, Kodi users could take steps to protect themselves, which should be the number one priority of any group, organization, or company that claims to be acting in the best interests of consumers and the public in general.</p>
<p>With that in mind, we understand that the Digital Citizens Alliance will publish a new Kodi malware report in the coming weeks. Perhaps it will contain actual evidence of the malware being spoken of continuously in the media.</p>
<p>We would certainly welcome the publication of a specific and detailed list of all malware variants in the wild which specifically target Kodi users. At that point, we can alert the major anti-virus and malware vendors who currently appear to be strangely in the dark.</p>
<p><center><strong>The interview</strong><br></br></center><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bRK13Xgt8c0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156848
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 06/11/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-06-11-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2kW0zNqteoY/
content:
<p><img src="media/935b302b.tombr.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tombr.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156514">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Tomb Raider is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-06-04-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1365519/">Tomb Raider</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1365519/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOEHpkZCc1Y">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/">Pacific Rim: Uprising</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BAhwgjMvnM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">Avengers: Infinity War</a> (HDCam)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">9.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwievZ1Tx-8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5164432">Love, Simon</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5164432">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0cbWdlQg_8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4976192/">211</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4976192/">4.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKBFCPAGNo4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">A Quiet Place</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7cc5t7tv8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">7.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDjIWPwcPU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2296777/">Sherlock Gnomes</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2296777/">4.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC9b1orltc8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2873282/">Red Sparrow</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2873282/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmUL6wMpMWw&amp;t=17s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">Deadpool 2</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5463162/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D86RtevtfrA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156842
title: Set TV Suddenly Goes Offline But is the ACE Lawsuit to Blame?
uri: Set-TV-Suddenly-Goes-Offline-But-is-the-ACE-Lawsuit-to-Blame
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pKu8rD0NVbQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/12fdf7b4.settv.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/settv.jpg" width="277" height="181" class="alignright size-large">Unauthorized IPTV services that provide competition to traditional broadcasters and VOD providers are a huge thorn in the side of mainstream entertainment industry companies.</p>
<p>As a result, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), an anti-piracy partnership forged between Hollywood studios, Netflix, Amazon, and more than two dozen other companies, is now fighting on the front line, attempting to bring these competitors down.</p>
<p>Two early targets were the Kodi-powered <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">Tickbox</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-amazon-and-hollywood-sue-kodi-powered-dragon-box-over-piracy-180111/">Dragonbox</a> services, who are both been tackled in US courts.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, ACE members launched <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-amazon-and-hollywood-sue-set-tv-over-iptv-piracy-180422/">similar action</a> against Florida-based Set Broadcast, LLC, the company behind the popular IPTV service <a href="https://setvnow.com/">SET TV</a>. The complaint, filed at a California federal court in April, claimed that Set TV was nothing but a piracy tool which offered copyright-infringing streams to a large number of subscribers.</p>
<p>Despite the threats and a lawsuit, Set TV has continued to provide service to thousands of customers who access media via set-top boxes, laptops, tablets, phones and various other hardware devices. Just before the weekend, however, trouble appeared on the horizon.</p>
<p>A message published on Set TV&#8217;s homepage indicated that the platform might be facing difficulties.</p>
<p><center><strong>Set TV down</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/2295dcfb.set-tv-down-e1528702027267.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/set-tv-down-e1528702027267.png"><img src="media/2295dcfb.set-tv-down-e1528702027267.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/set-tv-down-e1528702027267.png" alt="" width="600" height="316" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-156854"></a></center></p>
<p>Given that Set TV is under intense pressure from ACE, many observers and some media reports put two and two together, concluding that Set TV had probably buckled under the pressure and thrown in the towel.</p>
<p>While that might still transpire at a later date, no official messages appeared on Set TV&#8217;s social media accounts to confirm or deny. So, to learn more, TorrentFreak contacted Set TV who emailed back a short message Sunday.</p>
<p>&#8220;We apologize for this inconvenience. We are working on getting our system back online,&#8221; the company said in response.</p>
<p>A call to the company&#8217;s support line was met with a similar message.</p>
<p>This morning Set TV&#8217;s service still appears to be down and no updates are available detailing when (or indeed if) the platform will return. The statement that efforts are underway to bring the service back suggest that technical issues may be behind the downtime but what they might be is pure guesswork at this point.</p>
<p>As far as we can see, Set TV was still encouraging potential customers to sign up via Twitter last Thursday, with the downtime apparently coinciding with an unknown event on Friday.</p>
<p>More than 72 hours later the service is still down with no concrete news, so it&#8217;s hardly surprising that people are jumping to conclusions. The fact that the company erased all of the posts in its Facebook timeline isn&#8217;t helping either.</p>
<p>Only adding to the intrigue are reports from claimed Set TV customers that they were advised that a new IPTV service called <a href="http://Simply-TV">https://www.simply-tv.com/</a> was just Set TV under another name.</p>
<p>That site is only partially operational but does have Android APK files on offer. However, trying to buy the service prompts the user with a newsletter option instead and users report that using their Set TV credentials with the service (which is certainly not advised at this point) doesn&#8217;t provide any kind of service.</p>
<p>On the other hand, several others <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IPTV/comments/8ph0ai/set_tv_unavailable/e0cde2e/">report</a> that everything works fine with the new service but a user with a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/spaceman860/comments/">single post</a> giving precise details should be approached with a healthy amount of caution, at least for now.</p>
<p>In situations like these, it&#8217;s difficult to know who to trust but as one former user points out, sometimes it&#8217;s best to trust no-one if information isn&#8217;t being provided directly by the companies involved.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am highly disappointed with the lack of response from Set TV or Simply Tv or whoever they are,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IPTV/comments/8ph0ai/set_tv_unavailable/e0fwpzr/">wrote</a> on Reddit.</p>
<p>&#8220;I paid for 3 months and got only one. I&#8217;ve emailed them and nothing. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll go with Simply TV either. I don&#8217;t trust them.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156898
title: Soccer League Turns App Users Into Piracy Spies
uri: Soccer-League-Turns-App-Users-Into-Piracy-Spies
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VowrEyjVhPI/
content:
<p><img src="media/fc01da58.laliga.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/laliga.png" alt="" width="189" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156904">Even though sports streaming services are widely available in most countries, people are not always willing to pay for them. </p>
<p>This applies to individuals, who turn to pirate sites or other unauthorized channels, but also to businesses such as bars and restaurants.</p>
<p>The latter group is seen as a thorn in the side by many rightsholders. This includes the Spanish soccer league &#8220;<a href="http://www.laliga.es/">La Liga</a>,&#8221; which broadcasts some of the most viewed matches in the world. </p>
<p>In an effort to curb this type of piracy, &#8220;La Liga&#8221; has recently started to use modern technology, and its users, to its advantage. In an unprecedented move, the soccer league has turned its official Android app into a piracy spying machine. </p>
<p>The app in question, which has been installed by millions of users, will use the microphone and GPS readings of the devices its installed on to report possible instances of streaming piracy. </p>
<p>With consent from the user, the app will analyze the audio in its surroundings to check if one of La Liga&#8217;s matches is being played. It then pairs that with GPS data to see if that location is an authorized broadcaster.</p>
<p>&#8220;Protect your team,&#8221; users read when they are prompted to enable this type of data collection.</p>
<p><center><strong>Protect your team (photo: <a href="https://twitter.com/Jorge_Morell/status/1005736734255210496">Jorge Morell Ramos</a>)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/2dc9a34e.protextyourteam.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/protextyourteam.png" alt="" width="600" height="494" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156902"></center></p>
<p>The unusual functionality is detailed in the <a href="http://www.laliga.es/aficionesunidas/aviso-legal">privacy policy</a> which mentions tackling piracy as one of the main purposes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The purposes for which this functionality will be used are: (i) to develop statistical patterns on soccer consumption and (ii) to detect fraudulent operations of the retransmissions of LaLiga football matches (piracy).&#8221;</p>
<p>The microphone will only be activated when La Liga is broadcasting its football matches, the policy further clarifies. </p>
<p>The spying tool was spotted by <a href="https://www.eldiario.es/tecnologia/Liga-Futbol-microfono-telefono-aficionados_0_780772124.html">Eldiario.es</a>, which reached out to &#8220;La Liga&#8221; for additional information.</p>
<p>The Spanish soccer league informed the publication that &#8220;nobody accesses the audio fragments captured by the microphone&#8221; as the audio &#8220;automatically becomes a signal, a binary code.&#8221; This happens only in Spain and &#8220;without storing any recording or content.&#8221;</p>
<p>The organization states that it has to resort to these kinds of measures since piracy is resulting in losses of up to 150 million euros. It doesn&#8217;t mention how the data will be used, but establishments who broadcast their matches without consent, are warned. </p>
<p>Users who&#8217;ve enabled the functionality but no longer want to operate as piracy spies can go into the settings of their phone to disable audio and location sharing.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156933
title: BitTorrent Sells to TRON Cryptocurrency Founder Justin Sun
uri: BitTorrent-Sells-to-TRON-Cryptocurrency-Founder-Justin-Sun
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/WK9CMbBNPlw/
content:
<p><img src="media/63ae51b5.bittorrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent.png" alt="" width="263" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156117">Last month we were the first to report that Justin Sun, the entrepreneur behind the popular cryptocurrency <a href="https://tron.network/index?lng=en">TRON</a>, was in the process of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tron-founder-plans-to-buy-bittorrent-inc-180525/">acquiring BitTorrent Inc</a>. </p>
<p>The San-Francisco based file-sharing company confirmed the interest from Sun but noted that the acquisition was not yet 100% finalized. </p>
<p>This position appears to have shifted in the weeks that followed. Last week Sun&#8217;s company Rainberry Aquisition filed <a href="http://California Secretary of State">paperwork</a> related to a merger at California Secretary of State, <a href="https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/bittorrent-acquisition-tron-justin-sun-1202841793/">Variety reports</a>, and BitTorrent did the same. </p>
<p>BitTorrent changed its name to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-changed-its-name-to-rainberry-180512/">Rainberry</a> last year, and new information suggests that the acquisition by Sun was recently finalized. </p>
<p>This is further backed up by Variety which learned that BitTorrent management informed employees about the deal last week. The staffers were told not to share any information with the press, but word got out eventually. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear how much was paid for the acquisition. Sun&#8217;s plans for BitTorrent also remain a mystery. </p>
<p>In the short term, not much is expected to change. However, it could be that Sun will eventually use BitTorrent&#8217;s user base of over 100 million users to popularize TRON even further. With the acquisition, Sun will also own several BitTorrent patents, including one for <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inventor-granted-p2p-live-streaming-patent-150731/">P2P live streaming</a>. </p>
<p>TRON is one of the hottest and most controversial cryptocurrencies. After a successful ICO, it now has a market cap of more than $3 billion, which is surpassed by few others. </p>
<p>The TRON mainnet, which went live two weeks ago, has the ultimate goal to “decentralize the web.” BitTorrent would fit well in this picture, especially since the TRON whitepaper mentions torrents as one of its pillars.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156929
title: Anti-Piracy Lawyers Sentenced to Years in Prison For Defrauding Copyright Holders
uri: Anti-Piracy-Lawyers-Sentenced-to-Years-in-Prison-For-Defrauding-Copyri
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-LnZhnM9X6E/
content:
<p><a href="media/339209a8.jail.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/jail.jpg"><img src="media/9c39c603.jail.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jail.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="148" class="alignright size-full wp-image-70302"></a>In the early 2000s, international and Danish entertainment industry groups joined forces to tackle the rising threat of piracy affecting movies, TV shows, music, and similar products.</p>
<p>The result was the anti-piracy group Antipiratgruppen (now RettighedsAlliancen / Rights Alliance), an organization dedicated to tackling the problem of unlicensed sharing.</p>
<p>Like all such operations, Antipiratgruppen needed legal representation and local law firm Johan Schlüter was hired for the job, representing groups including the MPAA.</p>
<p>In subsequent years, Johan Schlüter (which was founded by a lawyer of the same name) was involved in numerous anti-piracy cases. However, something was seriously amiss in this company that had long claimed to protect the interests of its entertainment industry clients.</p>
<p>Following an investigation into the company’s accounts by auditing company Deloitte, financial irregularities amounting to millions of dollars were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-lawfirm-defrauded-rightsholders-out-of-millions-150702/">reported</a> in the media during 2015.</p>
<p>The Johan Schlüter law firm should have been distributing huge sums to movie and TV industry associations and their underlying rightsholders but its three partners – Johan Schlüter himself, Lars Halgreen and Susanne Fryland &#8211; had been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-lawyer-milked-copyright-holders-for-millions-151208/">lining their own pockets instead</a>. Massive sums were siphoned away from their clients.</p>
<p>Yesterday, after more than 20 hearings during which the defendants maintained their innocence (with Schlüter and Halgreen painting themselves as victims of Fryland&#8217;s actions), all three were found guilty of fraud and false accounting to the tune of 100 million Danish kroner (US$15.83m).</p>
<p>Johan Schlüter was sentenced to four years in prison, Susanne Fryland was ordered to serve five and a half years, and Lars Halgreen was sentenced to nine months. Because of his age, Schlüter&#8217;s sentence is conditional. Due to his relatively minor role, so is Halgreen&#8217;s.</p>
<p>&#8220;The court has ruled that gross economic crime has been committed. And the prison sentences take into account the crime committed,&#8221; special prosecutor Malene Stage Christensen <a href="https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/advokater-idoemt-faengsel-millionsvindel-mod-tv-selskaber">told</a> DR News.</p>
<p>The Johan Schlüter law firm went bankrupt in 2015 and, during the trial, events leading up to its demise were placed under the spotlight.</p>
<p>It transpired that in addition to being a partner in the law firm, Susanne Fryland was also a director of a subsidiary company which was responsible for managing registration, collection and administration rights for various film and TV associations.</p>
<p>The prosecutor presented an email sent by Fryland to the account manager at the subsidiary noting that Johan Schlüter in Copenhagen was &#8220;screaming for liquidity&#8221;. When asked who was screaming, Fryland pointed the finger at Schlüter and Halgreen.</p>
<p>&#8220;When they looked at liquidity in Copenhagen, did Susanne Fryland print an invoice to an association?&#8221; the prosecutor asked.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; Fryland <a href="https://www.business.dk/raadgivning/efter-mere-end-20-retsmoeder-johan-schluter-og-susanne-fryland-faar">confirmed</a>.</p>
<p>The trial heard that this kind of fraud, including but not limited to issuing unwarranted invoices, had been ongoing for at least four years.</p>
<p>Schlüter, a former director general of IFPI, was banned from practicing law and running a company. His lawyer, Jakob Arrevad, says he will read the verdict before deciding whether to file an appeal, DR.dk <a href="https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/johan-schluter-fra-kongen-af-copyright-til-doemt-svindler">reports</a>.</p>
<p>Susanne Fryland, who wasn&#8217;t in court to hear the decision, was also banned from practicing law and running a company. She immediately filed an appeal, as did former associate Halgreen, who was banned from practicing law for two years.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156916
title: DeUHD Beats ‘New’ AACS 2.1 UHD Blu-ray Disc Protection
uri: DeUHD-Beats-New-AACS-2-1-UHD-Blu-ray-Disc-Protection
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xstC22Saflc/
content:
<p><img src="media/56c3283b.fury-e1528742278534.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fury-e1528742278534.png" alt="" width="222" height="247" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156924">The ongoing battle between copyright holders and pirates is often described as a cat and mouse game, especially when it comes to content protection. </p>
<p>Hollywood studios release their movies with copy protection. Pirates break it. New protection is released. Pirates break it again. And so forth.</p>
<p>With UHD Blu-rays, copyright holders have long had the upper hand in this game. The discs are protected with AACS 2.0 encryption which was long believed to unbreakable. </p>
<p>This changed late last year. While the encryption technically wasn&#8217;t &#8216;cracked,&#8217; at least not publicly, various <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/first-pirated-ultra-hd-blu-ray-disk-appears-online-aacs-2-0-cracked-170503/">pirated UHD Blu-ray movies were released</a>. After several years behind, the &#8216;pirates&#8217; were in front again.</p>
<p>Not much later, another breakthrough came when a Russian company released a Windows tool <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-deuhd-tool-can-rip-uhd-blu-ray-discs-171002/">called DeUHD</a> that could rip UHD Blu-ray discs. While this was initially another win for pirates, bad news was on the horizon.</p>
<p>Last month, the UHD Bluray releases of the movies Fury and The Patriot came out with a new encryption version, labeled AACS 2.1. This addition made it impossible to rip the discs and some feared that bypassing the protection could take a long time.</p>
<p>Yesterday, however, Arusoft released a new version of its DeUHD ripping tool that is now able to rip AACS 2.1 discs.</p>
<p><center><strong>DeUHD announcement</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/86eefdea.deuhd21.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deuhd21.png" alt="" width="524" height="324" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156927"></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Arusoft who informed us that the AACS 2.1 discs come with a crucial difference. The main file has a fmts extension, an encrypted m2ts format, which contains forensic information.</p>
<p>&#8220;[I]t&#8217;s extension is fmts instead of m2ts because it contains some extra info used by studios to track the player used for decryption, which is the major difference from aacs2.0 discs,&#8221; Arusoft notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is not too difficult to bypass this protection, just takes some time to do it,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>While Arusoft doesn&#8217;t condone piracy, as <a href="https://www.myce.com/news/arusoft-removes-aacs-2-1-copy-protection-with-deuhd-1-0-3-0-release-84427/">MyCE notes</a>, the new DeUHD release opens the door for pirates to share releases to a wider audience. </p>
<p>And indeed, a few hours ago several UHD Blu-ray rips of Fury have appeared online. </p>
<p>Interestingly, there is some concern among the broader public whether this would be &#8216;safe&#8217; or not. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s obviously illegal, but the main worry is that AACS 2.1 presumably added <a href="https://www.myce.com/news/future-aacs-version-can-contain-watermark-with-device-serial-84330/">forensic watermarks</a> could help to identify the source of a leak. DeUHD&#8217;s developers, however, suggest that these data have been stripped. </p>
<p>&#8220;All redundant data has been cleared from the disc,&#8221; Arusoft tells TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>In a similarly worded statement, MyCE was informed that DeUHD &#8220;clears the garbage from the file&#8221; but other than that no definite claims were made.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak previously reached out to the licensing outfit AACS LA to find out more about the new encryption. The company said it would review our request but has yet to comment.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156982
title: Crunchyroll Addon For Kodi Hit With Fatal Copyright Complaint
uri: Crunchyroll-Addon-For-Kodi-Hit-With-Fatal-Copyright-Complaint
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aarXfA4sQV8/
content:
<p><a href="media/13c1e1a2.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png"><img src="media/8aa05985.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png" alt="" width="256" height="256" class="alignright size-full wp-image-144339"></a>The ever-popular Kodi media center is in the press every week, usually due to complaints from the entertainment industries that it poses a threat to their businesses.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, enthusiasts know that Kodi has plenty of other uses, not least that it can bring the consumption of legal content under one roof. Through the use of innovative addons that are not designed to infringe copyright, Kodi users can enjoy many legitimate services without having to leave the Kodi platform.</p>
<p>For the majority of services accessed in this manner, Kodi users are a welcome addition. However, it&#8217;s clear that not all companies are happy with people using unconventional consumption routes, even when they&#8217;re already paying to access a platform.</p>
<p>The latest case involves Crunchyroll, an online video service that has built a reputation for offering the best in Japanese anime and Asian entertainment. For a fee, Crunchyroll is accessible via a <a href="http://www.crunchyroll.com/devices">wide range of devices</a> from iOS, Android and Windows, to Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, and gaming consoles.</p>
<p>Until recently it was also available, albeit unofficially, via a dedicated Kodi addon. Users needed to have a premium subscription already, so piracy wasn&#8217;t a factor. However, the company has now flexed its considerable muscles and forced its creators to withdraw it from the public on copyright grounds.</p>
<p>In an email sent to development platform Github, anti-piracy outfit Remove Your Media explained that it is authorized to act on behalf of Crunchyroll and that the addon was infringing the video company&#8217;s rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;The works in question is copyrighted source code developed by CrunchyRoll Inc. Code has been reversed engineered, in bad faith, to disrupt owner&#8217;s rights,&#8221; the email reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have a good faith belief that the items or materials listed below are not authorized by the above owners, their agents or the law and therefore infringe the owner&#8217;s rights. Please act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the infringing material.&#8221;</p>
<p>What followed was a list of URLs operated by two Github users &#8211; Yoshiofthewire and MattRK. All are now unavailable after the repos were deleted.</p>
<p>Writing on the <a href="http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-1021185/crunchyroll-plugin-for-kodi-dmca-takedown">official Crunchyroll</a> and Kodi forums, Yoshiofthewire explained that if only he&#8217;d been asked directly, he would&#8217;ve taken the addons down. Instead, he was compelled to take action after Github received a complaint directly.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is with a heavy heart that I report that the Kodi (XBMC) plugin to view Crunchyroll has been hit with a DMCA take down,&#8221; Yoshiofthewire wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;Over the 4 years of its existence it was used by (as of 2016) 5000 monthly active PAYING users. I stress the Paying part because the version that was taken down, mostly unchanged since 2016, required a paid subscription.&#8221;</p>
<p>Noting that the addon worked in exactly the same way as the existing Crunchyroll app, Yoshiofthewire noted that no additional functionality was available.</p>
<p>&#8220;While I feel the take down was in bad faith, if I was contacted I would have removed the plugin,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>According to information made available by Github, Crunchyroll&#8217;s complaint targeted a subset of code made available on the addon&#8217;s repository, not the whole thing. </p>
<p>&#8220;In this case only certain files were identified as allegedly infringing,&#8221; Github told Yoshiofthewire.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since it&#8217;s not possible to disable individual files within a GitHub repository, we&#8217;re giving you a 24 hour opportunity to remove the content named in the takedown.&#8221;</p>
<p>That was enough to kill the project. Instead of fighting, Yoshiofthewire deleted the repository.</p>
<p>The news was met with <a href="https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=129709">disappointment</a> on the official Kodi forums, but over on Crunchyroll, the mood was even more critical.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s reassuring to see Crunchyroll caring about its paying customers by not fixing their apps in years, and by DMCA&#8217;ing an app extension that actually worked,&#8221; one user <a href="http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-1021185/crunchyroll-plugin-for-kodi-dmca-takedown?fpid=57649859">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Well, about time I cancel my premium for end of the payment period then,&#8221; <a href="http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-1021185/crunchyroll-plugin-for-kodi-dmca-takedown?fpid=57650017">added</a> another.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Kodi addon worked for me better than the official apps/website, especially under Linux, and was in fact the very reason I even considered premium. Not much reason to continue with it for me any longer.&#8221; </p>
<p>In response to the critics, one user pointed former addon fans to Vrv.co, which apparently has an improved official player. However, according to Yoshiofthewire, that too has its issues.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we have to use the [Crunchyroll] app or the VRV app, can you fix it so the login doesn&#8217;t break once a month?&#8221; he asked.</p>
<p>Whether the unofficial addon will raise its head elsewhere will remain to be seen, but in the meantime, it will be missed by those who used it alongside their paid subscriptions.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156994
title: The Pirate Bay Suffers Extended Downtime, Again…
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-Suffers-Extended-Downtime-Again
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Nt9tTAfsepg/
content:
<p><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="pirate bay" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470">The Pirate Bay has been hard to reach for nearly 48 hours now.</p>
<p>For most people, the site currently displays a CloudFlare error message across the entire site, with the CDN provider mentioning that a &#8220;bad gateway&#8221; is causing the issue.</p>
<p>No further details are available to us and there is no known ETA for the site&#8217;s full return. However, judging from past experience, it&#8217;s likely a small technical issue that needs fixing.</p>
<p><center><strong>TPB 502 Cloudflare error</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/f4db1b65.tpb5021.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb5021.png" alt="" width="600" height="407" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-156996"></center></p>
<p>The Pirate Bay has had quite a few stints of downtime in recent months. The popular torrent site usually returns after several hours, but an outage of more than a day has happened before as well.</p>
<p>Amid the downtime, there’s still some good news for those who desperately need to access the notorious torrent site. </p>
<p>TPB is still available via <a href="http://uj3wazyk5u4hnvtk.onion/recent">its .onion address</a> on the Tor network, accessible using the popular Tor Browser, for example. The site’s Tor traffic goes through a separate server and works just fine.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay team has a <a href="https://pirates-forum.org/misc.php?page=tpbstatus">status page</a> in the forums where people can check to see if an outage is affecting everyone or not. This also shows that the Tor version of the site is working fine, although it doesn&#8217;t show any new torrents. </p>
<p>The main .org domain will probably be back in action soon enough, but seasoned TPB users will probably know the drill by now…</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157062
title: Pirate Bay Co-Founder Relieved of Looming €1 Million Fine Plus €350K Damages
uri: Pirate-Bay-Co-Founder-Relieved-of-Looming-1-Million-Fine-Plus-35
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/b19hbilhT7M/
content:
<p><img src="media/63e83df5.sunde-1-e1489786417533.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sunde-1-e1489786417533.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136726">Former Pirate Bay spokesperson Peter Sunde paid the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-peter-sunde-released-prison-141011/">ultimate price</a> for his involvement with the notorious pirate site, by sacrificing his freedom.</p>
<p>Since his release from prison over three years ago he has been busy with several old and new projects, ranging from <a href="https://flattr.com/">Flattr</a> to his <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-builds-the-ultimate-piracy-machine-151219/">art projects</a>, and even a TV-show in Finland. </p>
<p>However, even though he hasn&#8217;t been involved with TPB for nearly a decade, his past association still haunts him. </p>
<p>Previously, the District Court in Finland <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-co-founder-must-pay-record-labels-395000-160616/">ordered</a> him to pay €350,000 for 60 music tracks that were shared illegally by the site&#8217;s users, as well as a looming € 1,000,000 fine if he ever operated the site in future.</p>
<p>Sunde appealed this decision with help from his lawyer <a href="https://www.turre.com/">Herkko Hietanen</a>, and not without success. </p>
<p>This week the Helsinki District Court decided to drop the million euro threat hanging over his head. Also, the record labels voluntarily abandoned their €350,000 damages claim. </p>
<p>The Pirate Bay co-founder doesn&#8217;t walk away completely unscathed though. While he doesn&#8217;t have to pay the legal fees of the record labels, the Court did order him to pay €7,769 in various costs that arose from the case.</p>
<p>The Court concluded that Sunde was liable for The Pirate Bay during the period 2010 to 2014. The reasoning behind this is that he opposed a request from a company that tried to trademark &#8220;The Pirate Bay&#8221; and its logo. Also, he used the word &#8220;we&#8221; and &#8220;us&#8221; when referring to the site in public. </p>
<p>Sunde doesn&#8217;t agree with this conclusion and has already announced an appeal. </p>
<p>The Pirate Bay&#8217;s co-founder says he saw it as his public duty to defend The Pirate Bay as a member of the public. And referring to TPB with terms such as &#8220;we&#8221; or &#8220;us&#8221; simply refers to his history with the site, he says.</p>
<p>&#8220;The &#8216;trademark&#8217; of TPB belongs to the public, and not any individual or commercial entity. On a moral level, it&#8217;s important to oppose when commercial entities are trying to limit anyone from what belongs to the public,&#8221; Sunde informs TF. </p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s like having been part of a rock band, I still care about the band, even if I split because I couldn&#8217;t stand the bass player. It&#8217;s absurd expecting that person to not use words as &#8216;us&#8217; or &#8216;we&#8217; when talking about that group anymore.&#8221; </p>
<p>Despite the dropped claims, music industry group IFPI is still happy with the outcome. The lawsuit was primarily needed to declare the Pirate Bay illegal, so it could demand that ISPs should block it. This blockade will remain in place.</p>
<p>&#8220;The most important thing was to stop The Pirate Bay&#8217;s operations in Finland, thus keeping the service blocked for Finns. It was the copyright owners&#8217; real intention to start the trial in 2011,&#8221; Jaana Pihkala, head of the local anti-piracy group TTVK, told <a href="https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2018/06/13/peter-sunde-bakom-the-pirate-bay-slipper-hot-om-vite-pa-1-miljon-euro-finska">Svenska Yle</a>.</p>
<p>Sunde, however, notes that the record labels may want to take a closer look at the people they employ, adding that this whole case was just another effort to censor the Internet.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s time that the record companies start paying for their own injustices. Just two days ago a core member of the Danish anti-piracy organization, Johan Schlüter, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-lawyers-sentenced-to-years-in-prison-for-defrauding-copyright-holders-180612/">got convicted</a> to four years of probation after embezzling 100 Million Danish kroner from his clients.</p>
<p>&#8220;The same person has previously claimed that &#8220;child porn is great&#8221; because it opens up doors for copyright companies to censor the internet,&#8221; Sunde adds. </p>
<p>&#8220;This is exactly what the current case is about, censoring the internet. By suing an individual with little means to defend himself, the record companies found a backdoor into censoring a website. They don&#8217;t care about the damages to the individual, as long as they can get control of the internet.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157064
title: TVAddons: Telco Bailiffs Enter Operator’s Home Over Unpaid Attorney’s Fees
uri: 2018-06-14-
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/PFF6esM1GI0/
content:
<p><a href="media/0adb6d74.tvaddons-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tvaddons-1.png"><img src="media/b2863a48.tvaddons-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tvaddons-1.png" alt="" width="270" height="117" class="alignright size-full wp-image-137958"></a>On June 2, 2017, Canadian telecoms giants including Bell Canada, Bell ExpressVu, Bell Media, Videotron, Groupe TVA, Rogers Communications and Rogers Media, filed a complaint in Federal Court against Montreal resident, Adam Lackman.</p>
<p>Lackman is the founder of Kodi addon repository <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/">TVAddons</a> and someone described by the telecoms companies as a serial infringer of their intellectual property rights.</p>
<p>The companies demanded injunctions against Lackman, preventing him from developing, promoting or distributing allegedly infringing add-ons and software. The plaintiffs also requested damages and costs on top.</p>
<p>Without Lackman being present or able to mount a defense, on June 9, 2017, the Federal Court handed down a time-limited interim injunction. Bailiffs took control of TVAddons’ domains, shutting TVAddons down. They also obtained an Anton Piller order, a civil search warrant which granted no-notice permission to enter Lackman’s premises to secure evidence.</p>
<p>On June 12, 2017, Lackman&#8217;s home was searched <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-returns-ugly-war-canadian-telcos-kodi-addons-170801/">against his wishes</a>, but on June 29, 2017, a judge decided that Lackman had been mistreated. The Anton Piller order was vacated and the application for interlocutory injunction was dismissed.</p>
<p>The plaintiffs took this decision to appeal during November 2017. A three-judge panel handed down its decision February 2018, effectively turning the earlier ruling <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-suffers-big-setback-as-court-completely-overturns-earlier-ruling-180221/">on its head</a>.</p>
<p>The telecoms companies emerged victorious with the Anton Piller order and interim injunctions declared legal. As the image below shows, Lackman was also told to pay the telecoms companies attorney&#8217;s fees of CAD$50,000.</p>
<p><center><strong>Pay CAD$50,000 to the plaintiffs</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/acc7cc07.tva-costs-e1528913837780.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tva-costs-e1528913837780.png"><img src="media/acc7cc07.tva-costs-e1528913837780.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tva-costs-e1528913837780.png" alt="" width="600" height="194" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-157082"></a></center></p>
<p>Yesterday, just one day after the anniversary of the original search of Lackman&#8217;s home, representatives of the plaintiffs were back again to carry out yet another search.</p>
<p>&#8220;Bell, Rogers, and Videotron showed up once again to force their way into our founder’s home,&#8221; TVAddons <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/lawsuit-seizure-founder/">said</a> in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;They had a court order that allowed them to search through anything and everything, in order to mark down things of value which would be sold to repay the debt.&#8221;</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Lackman said he could find no deadline dates on the order issued by the court and believed he had much more time to tackle the issue.</p>
<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t think they expected to be paid prior to the conclusion of the [full] lawsuit,&#8221; Lackman told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve already been forced to fundraise in order to defend myself, they have seized millions worth of property (domains, social media) and destroyed my only source of revenue already. Harassing me to pay them when I don&#8217;t even have money to pay my own lawyers is really disruptive to my general well being.&#8221;</p>
<p>But surely the TVAddons founder was given notice that the monies were due and a visit was imminent? Not so, he insists.</p>
<p>&#8220;Other than the appeal judgment, I had not heard from them since. I had no clue they could even show up again. How could I expect that collections would begin while the entire lawsuit on the actual merits (the only important part) is still ahead?&#8221; he told us.</p>
<p>But turn up they did. Yesterday morning three bailiffs working for <a href="http://www.smart-biggar.ca/en/index.cfm">Smart &#038; Biggar Fetherstonhaugh</a> on behalf of Bell, Rogers, and Videotron arrived at Lackman&#8217;s home and made their presence known.</p>
<p>&#8220;As soon as I opened my door, one of the bailiffs put his foot in it and said that they had the right to enter. I called my lawyer who told me I should comply with their demands,&#8221; Lackman says.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the bailiffs appeared to be there for &#8216;muscle.&#8217; The other bailiff was extremely aggressive, even asking me to show them copies of my invoices with lawyers. And the third bailiff (who seemed to be in charge, he was also part of the original seizure last year) was a bit harsh, but it seemed like he was just trying to do his job.&#8221;</p>
<p>Lackman says the visit wasn&#8217;t particularly fruitful. The bailiffs found a laptop and &#8220;two near worthless&#8221; prints on his wall. The goods will be sold at auction come July 31 unless Lackman can either come up with the funds (now CAD$57,500, up from the original CAD$50,000) or get a court to suspend the action. But for a man with no money, it&#8217;s a catch-22 situation.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am hoping that we will be able to get a sort of stay of proceedings on the collections, at least until the court hears the merits of the lawsuit at trial. The problem is that the goods they are going to seize probably aren&#8217;t even worth what it will cost to return to Federal Court. They&#8217;re trying to ruin me,&#8221; Lackman adds.</p>
<p>With Lackman&#8217;s back up against the wall, he&#8217;s still relying on well-wishers to help <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/donate-credit/">bail him out</a>. However, the case is already a year old with many thousands spent in legal fees and no end in sight.</p>
<p>When or if a trial on the merits will ever take place is still anyone&#8217;s guess but with powerful deep-pocketed adversaries, there&#8217;s a possibility that Lackman might be worn down without ever having had his day in court.</p>
<p>&#8220;If they are going to harass me on an ongoing basis for every little thing I have (such as my laptop), I&#8217;ll have no chance of ever being able to fight the merits, which is what they want,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156846
title: YouTube Download Sites Throw in the Towel Under Legal Pressure
uri: YouTube-Download-Sites-Throw-in-the-Towel-Under-Legal-Pressure
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Btt5DPfGwaU/
content:
<p><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196">The music industry sees stream ripping as one of the largest piracy threats, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/stream-ripping-problem-worse-than-pirate-sites-ifpi-says-160913/">worse</a> than torrent sites or direct download portals.</p>
<p>The RIAA, IFPI, and BPI showed that they&#8217;re serious about the issue when they filed legal action against YouTube-MP3, the largest stream ripping site at the time. </p>
<p>This case eventually resulted in a settlement where the site, once good for over a million daily visitors, agreed to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-mp3-settles-with-riaa-site-will-shut-down-170904/">shut down</a> voluntarily last year.</p>
<p>YouTube-MP3&#8217;s demise was a clear victory for the music groups, which <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-identifies-top-youtube-mp3-rippers-and-other-pirate-sites-171006/">swiftly identified</a> their next targets, putting them under pressure, both in public and behind the scenes. </p>
<p>This week this appears to have taken its toll on several &#8216;stream ripping&#8217; sites, which allowed users to download videos from YouTube and other platforms, with the option to convert files to MP3s.</p>
<p>The targets include <a href="http://pickvideo.net">Pickvideo.net</a>, <a href="https://video-download.co/">Video-download.co</a> and <a href="https://easyload.co/">Easyload.co</a>, which all inform their users that they&#8217;ve thrown in the towel. </p>
<p>With several million visits per month, Pickvideo is the largest of the three. According to the site, they took the drastic measures following a cease -and-desist letter. </p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re sorry to inform you that all downloading and conversion services have been disabled to comply with a &#8216;Cease &#038; Desist&#8217; request,&#8221; a message on Pickvideo&#8217;s homepage reads.</p>
<p><center><strong>PickVideo</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/78644526.pickvideo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pickvideo.png" alt="" width="600" height="128" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-157109"></center></p>
<p>The German-based site Video-download.co doesn&#8217;t mention a specific threat. However, it does reference the aforementioned YouTube-MP3 case, which shows that it&#8217;s worried about the legal ramifications.</p>
<p>&#8220;Bad news&#8230; We decided to disable all functionality for video-download forever due to the recent takedown of the bigger site youtube-mp3.org, which was based in Germany (so are we).&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>Video-download.co</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/cc91577b.videodownload.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/videodownload.png" alt="" width="600" height="122" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-157111"></center></p>
<p>The same is true for EasyLoad. In a message directed to its users, the site also cites YouTube-MP3&#8217;s legal troubles as the reason for shutting down its video downloading and conversion service.</p>
<p>&#8220;Due to the recent takedown of the site youtube-mp3.org we are forced to disable the functionality of our site. Sorry and thanks for your feedback and support,&#8221; EasyLoad writes.</p>
<p><center><strong>EasyLoad</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/2cc1b146.easyload.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/easyload.png" alt="" width="600" height="173" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-157110"></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to the three sites, but at the time of publishing, they are yet to respond. It seems likely that they were targeted by music industry representatives recently, but that&#8217;s not confirmed. </p>
<p>While the music industry groups can scrap a few targets this week, their &#8216;stream ripping&#8217; problem isn&#8217;t going away. A quick search for terms such as &#8220;Youtube download Mp3&#8221; reveals dozens of working alternatives.</p>
<p>UK music group <a href="https://www.bpi.co.uk/">BPI</a> informed TorrentFreak today that the YouTube-MP3 case is having an impact on the operations of other ripping sites, but the industry is well-aware that their battle isn&#8217;t over yet.</p>
<p>&#8220;These sites are making large sums of money from music without paying a penny to those that invest in and create it,&#8221; a BPI spokesperson tells TF.  </p>
<p>&#8220;We continue to pursue our strategy to clear these illegal sites, to prevent music fans from being ripped off and to further encourage the use of legal music sites.&#8221;</p>
<p>It is worth noting that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mp3-stream-rippers-are-not-illegal-sites-eff-tells-us-government-171021/">previously stressed</a> that not all stream ripping sites are facilitating copyright infringement by definition.</p>
<p>While some people may use these sites to ‘pirate’ tracks there are also legitimate purposes, the digital rights group said. Some creators specifically allow others to download and modify their work, for example, and in other cases ripping can be seen as fair use.</p>
<p>“There exists a vast and growing volume of online video that is licensed for free downloading and modification, or contains audio tracks that are not subject to copyright,” the EFF stressed.</p>
<p>“Moreover, many audio extractions qualify as non-infringing fair uses under copyright. Providing a service that is capable of extracting audio tracks for these lawful purposes is itself lawful, even if some users infringe.”</p>
<p>Despite these arguments, however, the music industry is not going to stop applying pressure against the sites they see as clear infringers. And as today&#8217;s examples show, that sometimes pays off.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156880
title: UK Govt Mulls Options to Make Anti-Piracy Enforcement Easier
uri: UK-Govt-Mulls-Options-to-Make-Anti-Piracy-Enforcement-Easier
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Ha0jm7Uqjso/
content:
<p><a href="media/a7e273b1.ukflagwallblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ukflagwallblocked.jpg"><img src="media/579e4e24.ukflagwallblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ukflagwallblocked.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-154673"></a>The UK has some of the toughest intellectual property legislation to be found anywhere in the world and rightsholders have plenty of options available, from civil action through to criminal referrals.</p>
<p>For the past several years the government has also shown a willingness to engage with the private sector in respect of online piracy. It has provided funding and resources to initiatives including the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit and the multi-faceted <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tag/operation-creative/">Operation Creative</a>, a commitment that looks set to continue.</p>
<p>At the heart of many of these matters sits the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the government department responsible for copyrights, trademarks, patents and designs. This week the IPO published two documents, one detailing its corporate plan for 2018-2019 and the other outlining its overall strategy to 2021. Both contain statements relating to online copyright enforcement.</p>
<p>&#8220;IP matters. It touches everything that makes modern life, easier, safer, prosperous and more enjoyable,&#8221; the IPO Strategy 2018 report begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our work gives researchers, inventors and creators, whether as individuals or businesses, the confidence to invest their time, energy and money in doing something new and making life better.&#8221;</p>
<p>The IPO says its aim is to help the UK become the most creative and innovative country in the world by providing excellent IP services, a world-leading IP environment, and by making the IPO itself a great place to work. Much of the information in the reports focuses on how that progress will be made in the broader sense, including via the reduction of IP crime and infringement.</p>
<p>The IPO believes this can be achieved in a number of ways, including by investing in enforcement and improving access to enforcement options for rights holders. Investment in intelligence and an increased capacity for strategic leadership are foreseen, in addition to spending boosts to convince everyone that infringement is unacceptable.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will work towards a time where infringement is seen as socially unacceptable by all,&#8221; the IPO writes.</p>
<p>Periodically over the past couple of years, the government has stepped into the middle of disputes between rightsholders and Internet intermediaries, suggesting that if agreements to curb piracy aren&#8217;t reached, legislation could follow.</p>
<p>The IPO sees this kind of work continuing over the next couple of years with an offer to &#8220;broker greater engagement from online intermediaries in the fight against infringement and IP crime.&#8221;</p>
<p>The IPO Corporate Plan 2018-2019 touches on similar issues, promising to ensure that appropriate resources are available to deliver on promises made as part of the government&#8217;s enforcement strategy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Reducing IP crime requires a multi-faceted approach. The UK is already a world leader in the enforcement of IP. We want to build upon what we are doing to create a paradigm shift around infringement,&#8221; the IPO writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Before we can make this happen we need to improve our knowledge around consumer understanding of IP crime and infringement and what works to change behavior in this space. We need to understand the strengths and challenges of our enforcement approach, continue to invest in education and intelligence, and maintain and increase our capacity to lead.&#8221;</p>
<p>The IPO says it will consider if there are ways to reduce the costs of enforcement for rights holders, such as reducing the time taken to bring a matter to court and reducing costs once there.</p>
<p>The Office also wants to consider the possibility of more administrative approaches, including &#8220;administrative blocking injunctions&#8221;, something which it hopes to understand the &#8220;pros and cons&#8221; of by March 2019. But the plans don&#8217;t stop there.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media &#038; Sport [DCMS] and industry to support the proposed program of roundtable discussions outlined in the Creative Industries’ Sector <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-sector-deal-launched">Deal</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;A key aspect will be ensuring they are used effectively to assess the evidence for, and where appropriate, to agree future action to tackle the infringement of IP rights online,&#8221; the IPO notes.</p>
<p>In conjunction with industry, the IPO hopes to develop &#8220;voluntary measures&#8221; to target online marketplaces, social media, and digital advertising, while continuing to co-fund the Creative Content UK (CCUK) educational campaign in conjunction with DCMS.</p>
<p>&#8220;To begin the work towards making the infringement of IP socially unacceptable, we need a better view of consumer attitudes to IP crime and what messaging changes behavior.</p>
<p>&#8220;We know that behavioral change is long-term and never easy, but we want to secure general cultural change where respecting IP is seen as the right thing to do. This work will link up with the messaging on IP’s economic and career impact,&#8221; the IPO concludes.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>The IPO Strategy 2018 report can be found here <em>(<a href="media/4b76c20f.IPO-strategy-2018.pdf" data-original-source="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/713563/IPO-strategy-2018.pdf">pdf</a>)</em><br>
The IPO Corporate Plan 2018-2019 can be found here <em>(<a href="media/7ce6e7be.IPO-Corporate-Plan-2018-2019.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/713565/IPO-Corporate-Plan-2018-2019.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156980
title: Epic’s Fortnite Copyright Infringement Claims Need Work, Court Says
uri: Epic-s-Fortnite-Copyright-Infringement-Claims-Need-Work-Court-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/URu2Nto63MA/
content:
<p><img src="media/56a4e275.battlefortnite.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/battlefortnite.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="212" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145747">Frustrated by thousands of cheaters who wreak havoc in Fortnite’s “Battle Royale,” game publisher <a href="https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/home">Epic Games</a> decided to take several to court.</p>
<p>The game developer isn&#8217;t trying to bankrupt these people financially. It is mainly interested in preventing them from cheating in the future. </p>
<p>The main strategy thus far has been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/epic-settles-with-copyright-infringing-fortnight-cheater-pubg-cheaters-arrested-180502/">to &#8216;settle&#8217;</a> the cases. Several accused cheaters have signed consent judgments, promising not to cheat or engage in any copyright infringing activity going forward. </p>
<p>This tactic doesn&#8217;t work in all cases. One of the accused, a man from Russia going by the name of Konstantin Vladimirovich Rak, has failed to respond to the allegations in court. </p>
<p>This failure prompted Epic Games to file for a default judgment, requesting an injunction that would prevent the defendant from using Epic&#8217;s copyrighted works to develop cheats, as well as other infringing activity.</p>
<p>Without Rak being able to put up a defense, one might expect an easy win for Fortnite&#8217;s developer, but that&#8217;s certainly not the case.</p>
<p>In an order published this week, United States Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler notes that the balance currently weighs against granting the default judgment.</p>
<p>Judge Beeler is specifically concerned with the merits of Epic&#8217;s claims and the sufficiency of the complaint. This includes the copyright infringement accusations, which need work.</p>
<p>One of the claims is that Mr. Rak engaged in direct copyright infringement. This requires Epic to show that the alleged infringer violates its exclusive rights, but that&#8217;s not the case here,</p>
<p>&#8220;Epic alleges that users can download Mr. Rak’s cheat and then inject the cheat into Fortnite code, but it does not allege that Mr. Rak himself injected the cheat into Fortnite code or created an unauthorized derivative work,&#8221; Judge Beeler notes. </p>
<p>In addition, the defendant allegedly displayed the cheat in action by posting gameplay on YouTube, thereby violating its exclusive right &#8216;to perform the copyrighted work publicly.&#8217; However, without further details, the court is not convinced that this is copyright infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Epic does not allege what exactly Mr. Rak publicly performed or address whether its copyright extends to that performance. On this issue, Epic’s complaint says only that the Rak Video &#8216;showed full-screen gameplay using the cheat,&#8217; without more,&#8221; Judge Beeler writes.</p>
<p>Then, there is the issue of whether posting gameplay material on YouTube is, in fact, copyright infringement. The court doesn&#8217;t want to draw any hard conclusions without hearing both sides but concludes that Epic&#8217;s claims are not sufficient.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]the court declines to rule on whether posting a video on YouTube of gameplay from a video game does or does not infringe upon a copyright holder’s [&#8230;] rights. The court will just say this: if it does infringe, Epic has not met its burden of demonstrating that to the court.&#8221;</p>
<p>Besides issues with the copyright claims, the trademark allegations are also lacking. Epic claims that the defendant uses the Fortnite trademark without authorization, but doesn&#8217;t link this to the sale of goods or services, as it should.</p>
<p>&#8220;Epic does not plead that Mr. Rak proposed any commercial transaction or offered anything for sale, much less that consumers would be misled into buying something from him or any other third party under the mistaken belief that it was coming from Epic,&#8221; Judge Beeler writes. </p>
<p>Before making a final recommendation, the court will allow Epic to amend its complaint to address the deficiencies. In addition, Epic has to provide the defendant with Russian translations of its filings. </p>
<p>If it chooses not to do so, however, the default judgment will be denied. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler&#8217;s order is available <a href="media/5d2600ee.epicdefaultno.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/epicdefaultno.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156855
title: PayPal Bans Soulseek Over Piracy Concerns, Again
uri: PayPal-Bans-Soulseek-Over-Piracy-Concerns-Again
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/a96zD1fjJ48/
content:
<p><img src="media/2573370c.paypal-1-e1528702955199.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/paypal-1-e1528702955199.png" alt="" width="277" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156859">Founded around the turn of the last century, <a href="http://www.slsknet.org">Soulseek</a> is a small dinosaur in the file-sharing world. </p>
<p>Created by former Napster programmer Nir Arbel, the application swiftly turned into a tight community of music fans, which is still active today. </p>
<p>Over the years Soulseek operators Nir and Roz Arbel have seen other file-sharing tools come and go, but all this time they remained dedicated to their principles. Despite its name, Soulseek had long found its purpose.</p>
<p>While it kept a relatively low profile, Soulseek is not immune to the &#8220;stigma&#8221; that comes with being a file-sharing tool. In 2015, PayPal <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/paypal-bans-file-sharing-classic-soulseek-after-14-years-151205/">cut off</a> its ability to collect donations, claiming that sharing tools required pre-approval, even though that policy didn&#8217;t exist when it signed up. </p>
<p>Soulseek is not a profit-oriented platform but donations are welcomed. Without PayPal, this became a challenge, but luckily for the developers, the Electonic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was able to intervene. </p>
<p>February 2016 everything returned to normal when the PayPal account <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/file-sharing-sites-paypal-account-returns-after-eff-intervention-160227/">was restored</a>, for a while at least. Earlier his year, PayPal apparently changed its mind and booted the application once again. </p>
<p>Soulseek operator Roz Arbel was told that the application violated the payment service&#8217;s acceptable use policy and that &#8216;pre-approval&#8217; was required for &#8216;file-sharing&#8217; tools. It was pretty much the same recycled argument from years before.</p>
<p>Faced with this deja-vu, Soulseek turned to <a href="https://www.eff.org/">EFF</a> for help once again, but this time PayPal wouldn&#8217;t budge. </p>
<p>&#8220;PayPal made it clear that they’re not willing to offer Soulseek financial services any longer. The company did give the Arbels access to their funds and tax documentation, after a request from EFF,&#8221; the digital rights group writes. </p>
<p>EFF asked whether PayPal&#8217;s latest ban was linked to a concrete copyright complaint, but the payment processor didn&#8217;t provide any further information. It just confirmed that Soulseek was banned, apparently for good.</p>
<p>This stance doesn&#8217;t come as a complete surprise. PayPal is widely known for its aggressive stance towards <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/paypal-demands-invites-to-private-bittorrent-trackers-130108/">BitTorrent sites</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/paypal-bans-usenet-providers-over-piracy-concerns-121121/">Usenet providers</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/paypal-bans-major-file-hosting-services-over-piracy-concerns-120710/">file-hosting</a> services after all.</p>
<p>While some cases may be clearer than others, EFF sees the Soulseek example as a clear illustration of financial censorship.</p>
<p>&#8220;What the Arbels are experiencing is a form of financial censorship that has, unfortunately, become increasingly widespread. Following the law isn’t enough—PayPal apparently expects a small message board service with a file-sharing function to do far more than the law requires.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;PayPal explained to us that they will cut off sites that &#8216;allow for the transfer or download of copyrighted material.&#8217; Taken literally, that’s a staggeringly broad claim,&#8221; EFF writes.</p>
<p>EFF points out that pretty much all content on the Internet is automatically copyrighted. Still, there are thousands of online services that allow people to share it. Downloading copyrighted material is also possible on Dropbox and Google Drive, for example. </p>
<p>In PayPal&#8217;s policy, the company suggests that merchants must have a procedure to both &#8220;monitor&#8221; the files on their service and &#8220;remove or otherwise prevent access&#8221; to copyright-infringing work. Perhaps that&#8217;s where Soulseek goes wrong, but that wouldn&#8217;t be fair according to EFF.</p>
<p>&#8220;If payment processors were to cut off Internet services simply because they could be used for copyright infringement, a huge swath of the web would lose the ability to accept payments,&#8221; EFF writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;As a matter of policy, Soulseek respects its users’ privacy by not surveilling their conversations or file exchanges. Violating users’ privacy shouldn’t be the price of entry for using a payment processor.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear that Soulseek and PayPal have parted ways. While EFF may not be able to change that, it <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/06/following-copyright-law-should-be-enough-even-when-payment-processors-say-it-isnt">encourages</a> PayPal and other Internet companies to be more transparent about when and how often they terminate accounts due to complaints from governments or copyright holders.</p>
<p><center><strong>PayPal&#8217;s file-sharing service policy</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/d39fc10c.paypalpolicy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/paypalpolicy.png" alt="" width="600" height="671" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156873"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157024
title: Yandex and Google Put on Notice Over ‘Pirate’ Search Results
uri: Yandex-and-Google-Put-on-Notice-Over-Pirate-Search-Results
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/h1eEgOd0fwU/
content:
<p><a href="media/560a9ef5.searchman.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/searchman.jpg"><img src="media/e92721d2.searchman.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/searchman.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="156" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135409"></a>With the online piracy wars about to enter their third decade, there&#8217;s an increasing emphasis on pressurizing influential third-parties to tackle the problem.</p>
<p>As a result, much blame is laid at the feet of companies like Google, who are regularly blamed for not doing more to tackle infringements carried out by individuals and entities outside of their control.</p>
<p>Search results are a particularly sticky subject. Google, Bing, and Yahoo, for example, wish to provide the most comprehensive indexes possible. On the flip side, entertainment industry companies insist that those indexes shouldn&#8217;t help people find pirated content. If they do, it&#8217;s argued that these companies act as piracy facilitators.</p>
<p>This familiar battle is now underway in Russia, where Yandex is in receipt of a strongly-worded letter which accuses the search giant of being a big part of the piracy problem. </p>
<p>According to local publication <a href="https://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2018/06/08/772298-pravoobladateli-obvinili-yandeks">Vedomosti</a>, the letter is signed by Leonid Agronov,  general director of the National Federation of the Music Industry, Alexei Byrdin, general director of the Internet Video Association, Sergei Selyanov, director of the Association of Film and Television Producers, and Pavel Stepanov, president of the Media Communication Union.</p>
<p>The entertainment giants explain that due to &#8216;pirate&#8217; search results appearing in its indexes, Yandex is contributing to the growth of online piracy. They want the company to show responsibility by adopting measures to both find and remove infringing links from search and related products.</p>
<p>&#8220;We urge Yandex to use all available methods to detect illegal content and eliminate it both from search results and from the applications and services of Yandex,&#8221; the letter reads.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s suggested that Yandex should take a similar path to that taken by search companies in the UK, via the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding which declares common interests in fighting piracy. </p>
<p>Yandex won&#8217;t be alone, however.</p>
<p>A spokesman for the Media and Communications Union, which is one of the groups behind the letter, told Vedomosti that a similar letter would be sent to Google in the near future. Needless to say, Google is no stranger to these kinds of allegations, whether in Europe or the United States.</p>
<p>In the letter, search engines like Yandex are accused of promoting illegal resources over legal content, resulting in revenue being siphoned away from legitimate players and into the hands of criminals. The search engine is also accused of taking down material in response to demands under the DMCA, but not doing enough in Russia.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yandex actively cooperates with copyright holders and is working to improve the culture of legal content consumption,&#8221; the company said in a statement, adding that it actually stands to benefit from ads promoting sales of non-infringing content.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yandex stands for an honest Internet, in which quality legal content is available to the user and rightsholders earn from that legitimate consumption,&#8221; the company said.</p>
<p>Unlike in the United States under the DMCA, content isn&#8217;t as readily taken down in Russia. Yandex also opposes filtering search results, warning that the system is easily abused by rightsholders and others looking to stifle competition.</p>
<p>That being said, Yandex says that rightsholders are welcome to take advantage of the local site-blocking mechanism which tackles both source sites and their mirrors. With these inaccessible, &#8216;pirate&#8217; search results become useless.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=156786
title: U.S. Drops Indictment Against Alleged Operator of Pirate App Store
uri: U-S-Drops-Indictment-Against-Alleged-Operator-of-Pirate-App-Store
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/d2ff-Twu5yo/
content:
<p><img src="media/8baeb686.applanet.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/applanet.jpg" alt="applanet" width="250" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-55966" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/applanet.jpg 250w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/applanet-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px">Assisted by police in France and the Netherlands, the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/fbi-seizes-pirate-android-app-domains-120822/">FBI took down</a> the “pirate” Android stores Appbucket, Applanet, and SnappzMarket during the summer of 2012.</p>
<p>During the years that followed several people connected to the Android app sites were arrested and indicted, resulting in prison sentences for some. </p>
<p>SnappzMarket&#8217;s Scott Walton was handed a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-android-app-store-member-jailed-for-46-months-160831/">46-month prison sentence</a> for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, and his colleague Joshua Taylor was sentenced to a 16-month term.</p>
<p>While some defendants pleaded guilty in order to get a reduced sentence, not all did. David Lee, a California man linked to Applanet, decided to fight the case instead, and not without success.</p>
<p>The US Government had charged Lee with aiding and abetting criminal copyright infringement (<a href="media/1702b301.complaint.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/complaint.pdf">pdf</a>). In addition, he was charged with conspiring to infringe copyrights and violating the DMCA&#8217;s anti-circumvention provision.</p>
<p>As the case progressed, it became clear that the U.S. Government&#8217;s evidence wasn&#8217;t as strong as initially thought. Before the trial even started, the prosecution voluntarily <a href="media/bf6a891c.dismiss.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dismiss.pdf">dropped</a> the criminal copyright infringement charge. </p>
<p>What remained was the conspiracy charge, but after hearing evidence and testimony from both sides of the case, the jury was unable to issue a unanimous decision. As a result, the case ended in a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/android-pirate-app-store-case-ends-in-mistrial-jury-undecided-161021/">mistrial</a> two years ago.</p>
<p>The Department of Justice did not let the case go though. Soon after the mistrial, it informed the court that it would re-try Lee. This second trial was delayed a few times but never took place. </p>
<p>Instead, the US Government asked the court <a href="media/d5849b3a.dismiss.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dismiss.png">to dismiss</a> the indictment against the alleged pirate app store operator, without providing any context. This request was granted earlier this week, which means that Lee is relieved of all charges.</p>
<p>It is not clear what moved the US to dismiss the case. TorrentFreak contacted both Lee&#8217;s lawyers and the US Department of Justice for comment, but at the time of publication, we have yet to hear back.</p>
<p>However, with the indictment dismissed, Lee can close this chapter of his life after nearly six years.</p>
<p><center><strong>Indictment dismissed</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/e44f42fe.leedismissed.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/leedismissed.png" alt="" width="598" height="483" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-156976"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157053
title: Sceper Set to Return After Attempted Sale “Turned Into a Scam”
uri: Sceper-Set-to-Return-After-Attempted-Sale-Turned-Into-a-Scam
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/suO7DyuMY00/
content:
<p><a href="media/56521848.sceper-logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sceper-logo.png"><img src="media/cbaa2783.sceper-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sceper-logo.png" alt="" width="221" height="111" class="alignright size-full wp-image-157129" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/sceper-logo.png 221w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/sceper-logo-220x111.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 221px) 100vw, 221px"></a>Earlier this year, TorrentFreak received a steady stream of emails from users of Sceper.ws, one of the most popular &#8220;release blog&#8221; sites.</p>
<p>After about eight years of serving up links to large volumes of mainstream content, the site had apparently disappeared. There was no warning or indication of what may have transpired, but several weeks ago a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180501011014/http://sceper.ws/">message</a> appeared on its homepage, indicating the platform was up for sale.</p>
<p>Intrigued as to why its operators had decided to throw in the towel, TF made contact seeking information. This week we received a response from part owner and long-standing editor &#8216;Error&#8217; but it wasn&#8217;t what we were expecting.</p>
<p>&#8220;The problems started when we stopped paying attention to our website due to real-life issues,&#8221; Error explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;Once we forgot to renew our domain which caused a few days of down time and more recently we switched to a new server and the payment renewal was not automated, so it expired. In the end, I decided it would be better to sell the site to a person who can actually take care of it and run it as we used to years back.&#8221;</p>
<p>Error says that after putting the site up for sale they had a lot of responses from people with bids, but one individual stood out as a reasonable person with a decent offer.</p>
<p>In the world of &#8216;warez&#8217;, however, not many things are straightforward. Few people want to make their identities known and meeting people face to face is mostly out of the question. Error says he asked the prospective buyer to nominate an intermediary, such as a trusted and well-known person within the warez scene. The offer was declined.</p>
<p>&#8220;[The buyer] said that he didn&#8217;t trust anyone and was fine sending the money in two payments, half before he received the database and half after he was satisfied that he can work with the old database. Then the domain transfer could happen,&#8221; Error explains.</p>
<p>The buyer identified himself as a former editor of a Sceper rival which had <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/warez-download-site-oneddl-calls-it-quits-citing-legal-concerns-120614/">shut down</a> under legal pressure back in 2012. </p>
<p>Additional proof came in the form of a panel screenshot which showed the buyer had access to a current scene release blog and other related domains. An email address used in correspondence with Error also belonged to the same blog, confirming the buyer&#8217;s identity.</p>
<p>Error says he hadn&#8217;t heard of the release blog until that moment, but he concluded that Sceper would be safe under this potential new ownership. However, when asked to send the first payment before receiving the Sceper database, the buyer asked for the database in advance, ostensibly to see it working first. Error put trust in him.</p>
<p>&#8220;After a couple of days he told me that the database had some issues, it was too big and consuming a lot of hardware resources, so he needed to run it live,&#8221; Error explains. After some back and forth, Error agreed to add the buyer&#8217;s nameservers to the Sceper.ws domain.</p>
<p>&#8220;The site went live and I came back to check the next day. He said MySQL had some issues and he needed more time to extract posts and import everything to a fresh installation to resolve the issues completely.&#8221;</p>
<p>With technical discussions underway on Skype, chats seen by TF dating back to May reveal Error repeatedly asking for an initial payment. Each time, the prospective buyer &#8211; who we will call &#8216;FD&#8217; &#8211; gave reasons not to pay.</p>
<p>&#8220;I know you waited long, but it was very hard work. I worked whole days on it, please be a little more patient. I am not sure many people would be able to fix this, if any, so basically you found the right person,&#8221; FD said.</p>
<p>What followed was a discussion about what money system to use, such as bitcoin, but the conversation suddenly died on Saturday, May 26. Messages sent on a daily basis after that went ignored.</p>
<p>On May 30, FD finally responded, informing Error that he&#8217;d been in an accident and asking for more time. Error asked for more details but received no response. It took until June 3 before radio silence was broken by a person on Skype claiming to be FD&#8217;s brother.</p>
<p>Apparently, &#8216;FD&#8217; had been involved in a &#8220;direct hit&#8221; with another car whose driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and veered onto the other side of the road. FD reportedly had significant injuries and was in hospital but had managed to brief his brother on the Sceper deal, from both technical and financial perspectives. </p>
<p>Messages reviewed by TF show clear similarities in writing style between the supposed brothers, something which didn&#8217;t go unnoticed by Error. Nevertheless, in correspondence Error remained both calm and polite, showing concern for the reportedly injured party and assisting with the transfer.</p>
<p>&#8220;I just didn&#8217;t want to be too rude and out of courtesy gave him the benefit of doubt,&#8221; he says. </p>
<p>&#8220;Of course, I did not believe it, it was too obvious the way he was messaging, acting like he knows every technical detail like his brother but backing off the moment I brought up the topic of money.&#8221;</p>
<p>From June 6, several messages to FD and/or his supposed brother went unanswered but with Error dealing with real-life issues, the site became less of a priority. </p>
<p>A couple of days later, however, Error noticed that the Sceper homepage had an announcement advising former users of Sceper.ws to switch to Sceper.net. This coincided with several posts to Reddit (by an account known to be affiliated with the release blog run by the prospective buyer) telling people to use the .net domain.</p>
<p>Sceper.net itself, which was <a href="http://whois.domaintools.com/sceper.net">registered</a> just days before, also carried a notice claiming to be the new home of Sceper.ws.</p>
<p>&#8220;That rang the alarm bell. I logged in to my Skype and FD was no longer in my friend list. I removed his name servers and placed an image on Sceper.ws,&#8221; Error explains.</p>
<p>From there the dispute moved to email, with FD insisting that he&#8217;d been in the hospital for the previous 15 days. However, he did offer an explanation for the mysterious and coincidental promotion of the Sceper.net domain.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am investigating the happening around Sceper at the moment,&#8221; he wrote in a June 12 email to Error.</p>
<p>&#8220;I see that someone redirected Sceper.ws traffic somehow. The leak might be coming from the server, there&#8217;s been a couple of brute force attacks recently, so some data might have been compromised.&#8221;</p>
<p>In response, Error pointed out the mounting issues. The reluctance to pay, the posts on Reddit and elsewhere advertising the .net domain, being blocked on Skype, not to mention the disabling of Error&#8217;s WordPress account.</p>
<p>FD responded by doubling down on the malware claims and stating that at this point he was simply glad to be alive. Ever polite, Error wished FD a speedy recovery but was then offered something extraordinary in return.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since you&#8217;ve been very patient and understanding I will neglect your accusations pointed at me. I can help you bring down Sceper.net cause I found out how and where my data got stolen,&#8221; FD said.</p>
<p>The quid pro quo for this generous act was that FD wouldn&#8217;t be paying for the database anymore because it had failed to live up to expectations and wouldn&#8217;t generate the traffic he hoped. Instead, there would be a new deal, with him buying just the Sceper.ws domain in two installments. Error flatly refused and said that he&#8217;d only accept payment for the full amount.</p>
<p>&#8220;Have a nice day,&#8221; Error concluded. And that was that.</p>
<p>After reviewing all chat logs and emails detailing the proposed sale and negotiations after that, TorrentFreak contacted &#8216;FD&#8217; for his take on the above allegations. At the time of publication, we had not received a response.</p>
<p>So now a new wait continues, not necessarily for the sale of Sceper.ws, but for its relaunch. With a fresh outlook, Error says the site will relaunch &#8220;very soon.&#8221; He&#8217;ll be hoping that moving forward, any drama will be kept to a minimum.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157039
title: Torrents Turn Rambo-Prequel Novel into a Success
uri: Torrents-Turn-Rambo-Prequel-Novel-into-a-Success
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FYUMJxxUvmc/
content:
<p><img src="media/695060bb.rambo-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rambo-1.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="316" class="alignright size-full wp-image-157042">In this day and age, aspiring artists have access to a wide variety of tools they can use to create a decent product.</p>
<p>Creating something is easy, but the real challenge is to escape obscurity and get noticed by the public. </p>
<p>Traditionally, this task has been fulfilled by major publishers and other media distributors, but there are also alternative routes.</p>
<p>The stories of YouTube sensations who turned into their own media empires come to mind. But in darker corners of the web, which are mostly associated with piracy, there are success stories too. </p>
<p>This week we spoke to Italian author Wallace Lee, whose unofficial Rambo-prequel &#8220;<a href="http://www.ramboyearone.com/">Rambo Year One</a>&#8221; received great reviews after relying on torrents as a main distribution channel. </p>
<p>Lee&#8217;s story starts several years ago, when he began publishing short Rambo stories on a personal blog hosted by WordPress. It was fan-fiction in its purest form, but the author soon realized that not everyone was happy with his work.</p>
<p>&#8220;Two years before free-sharing my first novel, I had a blog where I used to post my Rambo prequel short tales for free. And yet, a few months later, my site was shut down because the laws in the US allow copyright owners to stop fanfiction too, and even if it&#8217;s just for free.&#8221;</p>
<p>It turned out that a rightsholder objected to his use of the Rambo character. While Lee doesn&#8217;t recall the sender of the notice, it meant that he could no longer publish his work as he pleased.</p>
<p>Caught in a copyright stranglehold, the author felt limited in his creative expression. Ironically, he saw torrents as his way out. If he published his works on The Pirate Bay, copyright holders couldn&#8217;t touch him, he thought. </p>
<p>It was a defiant thought, which may have worked, but luckily for him, it didn&#8217;t get that far. Instead of becoming a &#8216;pirate writer,&#8217; Lee received permission from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Morrell">David Morrell</a>, author of the novel &#8220;First Blood&#8221; on which the Rambo empire was built.</p>
<p>&#8220;Frankly, I feel very lucky things ended up this way because I did not want to be at war with the same guys who owned Rambo in the first place,&#8221; Lee tells TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>With permission to freely share his book, the unofficial Rambo-prequel was finally released. While Lee no longer had to turn to piracy, he was still committed to using torrent sites to get exposure and escape obscurity.</p>
<p>That worked to a certain degree. The book was picked up here and there, but without a major publisher, it was hard to be taken seriously by literary critics.</p>
<p>&#8220;The prejudice was extremely harsh and lasted for a very long time. For one whole year at least, I was just &#8216;the crazy guy who was writing a Rambo-prequel saga for nothing&#8217;,&#8221; Lee says. </p>
<p>That changed when the author started to point people toward the historical accuracy of the book, which has the Vietnam war as the backdrop, and using that as one of the main selling points.</p>
<p>&#8220;Everyone was astonished by the idea that a Rambo prequel aspired to be a good historical novel too, and that was when important people decided to finally give me a chance. And when they did, they were pleased.&#8221;</p>
<p>This eventually led to more and more positive reviews, including a reading recommendation from the Calvino literary awards in Italy. </p>
<p><center><strong>Recognition</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/a74332ff.awardsbpoook.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/awardsbpoook.png" alt="" width="610" height="145" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-157132"></center></p>
<p>Looking back, Lee doesn&#8217;t think he would have come this far without torrents. They helped, not only to keep distribution costs low, but also to make his work visible to an audience of millions.</p>
<p>&#8220;Torrents helped a lot, and they&#8217;re still doing so in terms of distribution. Distribution is the most important part of the success of ANY artwork: books, music, films, everything,&#8221; Lee tells us. </p>
<p>&#8220;Torrents solved the problem by making my work worldwide both visible and available at the same time. Without the torrents, thousands of people in the world would have never found my websites and novels on the internet.&#8221;</p>
<p>Now, a few years later, the book has been translated by fans into two more languages, German and Spanish. They are all available for free in Epub, Mobi, and Pdf format, and the author uploaded new torrents on several sites just last week.</p>
<p><center><strong>Rambo Year One</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/2a2537ec.ramboyearone.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ramboyearone.png" alt="" width="600" height="405" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-157048"></center></p>
<p>In addition to public sites such as <a href="https://thepiratebay.org/torrent/22640281/Rambo_Year_One_%5BEnglish_Italiano_Deutsch_Espanol%5D_EPUB_MOBI_PDF">The Pirate Bay</a>, <a href="https://1337x.to/torrent/3040322/Rambo-Year-One-English-Espanol-Deutsch-Italiano-PDF_EPUB_MOBI/">1337X</a> and <a href="https://www.ettv.tv/torrent/rambo-year-one-english-italiano-deutsch-espanol-pdf-epub-mobi--216817">Ettv</a>, Lee also uploaded the release to the Italian private tracker TNT Village, which helped him a lot over the years. </p>
<p>Looking back, the whole experience has been a great success. In addition to getting recognized internationally as an Italian author, he is now in talks with several publishing companies to publish his non-Rambo novels.</p>
<p>Lee currently accepts donations on <a href="http://www.ramboyearone.com/">his site</a>, where people can also find his other novels, for free. He never made a penny from the Rambo-prequel though, and never intended to. What he got instead was worth much more than that.</p>
<p>&#8220;Receiving words of appreciation from actual US veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for your Rambo-prequel novels, has no price,&#8221; Lee says.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157207
title: Foxtel Pirate Site Blocking Application Could Be Granted in Record Time
uri: Foxtel-Pirate-Site-Blocking-Application-Could-Be-Granted-in-Record-Tim
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bFsUBG6omGY/
content:
<p><a href="media/0702e6e5.blocked-censor.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/blocked-censor.jpg"><img src="media/2759597c.blocked-censor.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blocked-censor.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-124850"></a>Back in April, pay TV company Foxtel <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/aussie-federal-court-orders-isps-to-block-pirate-iptv-service-180427/">filed</a> the latest in a series of blocking applications, this time targeting more than two dozen domain names facilitating access to 15 torrent and streaming services.</p>
<p>To save on time and costs, Foxtel envisioned things going a little bit differently this time around. The company didn&#8217;t want to have expert witnesses present in court and asked whether live demonstrations of websites could be replaced by videos and screenshots instead.</p>
<p>Foxtel also said that if the ISPs expected to block the domains agree, it wouldn&#8217;t serve its evidence on them as it had done previously.</p>
<p>The company then asked Justice Nicholas to deal with the entire injunction application “on paper.”  He declined, instead scheduling a hearing to take place today.</p>
<p>As hoped by Foxtel, events were indeed more streamlined. According to a <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/foxtel-continues-fight-against-pirates/">ZDNet</a> report, the hearing lasted for just an hour, with no live website demonstrations and the requested videos being allowed. </p>
<p>The application targeted 15 torrent site domains and ten streaming sites located overseas (a requirement for blocking under Australian law), each of which &#8220;unashamedly and flagrantly&#8221; infringes copyright.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/642565/foxtel-takes-court-action-over-prison-drama-pirates/">ComputerWorld</a> lists the torrent sites as ETTV, MagnetDL, Torrent Download (possibly TorrentDownloads.me), Torrent Room (TorrentRoom.com), and Torrents.me. A domain facilitating access to the previously-blocked Pirate Bay was also included in the application.</p>
<p>Also demonstrated in Court was a search bar that can be used to access content on torrent sites including 1337x and The Pirate Bay. No further details on the bar have been made available, but as a standalone item, blocking seems unlikely.</p>
<p>The streaming services targeted by Foxtel include HDO, HDEuropix, 123Hulu, Watch32, Sockshare, NewEpisodes, 1Movies, 5Movies, WatchFreeMovies and SeriesTop. They represent just a handful of the hundreds of similar domains offering streaming today.</p>
<p>Both the torrent and streaming sites stand accused of facilitating access to a range of popular TV shows including Game of Thrones, Grey&#8217;s Anatomy and Fear the Walking Dead plus movies including Jason Bourne, Pacific Rim, and Red Sparrow.</p>
<p>Under Section 115a of the Copyright Act, Foxtel wants the usual ISPs &#8211; Optus, Vocus, Telstra, TPG plus their subsidiaries &#8211; to render the sites inaccessible by the usual means.</p>
<p>None were present in Court today, and none turned up at the case management hearing on Friday either. It&#8217;s a pattern that&#8217;s likely to continue moving forward.</p>
<p>Due to no special systems or technology being deployed by any of the websites in question, the application is expected to run smoothly. Indeed, reports suggest that Justice Nicholas could hand down a decision as soon as 21 June.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157209
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 06/18/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-06-18-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/LLnjlLUiwf4/
content:
<p><img src="media/c7933ceb.escape2-e1529304788106.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/escape2-e1529304788106.png" alt="" width="300" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-157212">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Escape Plan 2: Hades is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-06-11-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">Escape Plan 2: Hades</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513656/">3.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q7vVt-MeXk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1365519/">Tomb Raider</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1365519/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOEHpkZCc1Y">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/">Pacific Rim: Uprising</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BAhwgjMvnM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">Avengers: Infinity War</a> (HDCam)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/">9.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwievZ1Tx-8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6063050/">Acrimony</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6063050/">5.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlpunOUxYSo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2296777/">Sherlock Gnomes</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2296777/">4.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC9b1orltc8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">A Quiet Place</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7cc5t7tv8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4976192/">211</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4976192/">4.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKBFCPAGNo4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">7.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDjIWPwcPU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4669264/">Beirut</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4669264/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SagsqxiVStM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157219
title: YouTube’s Piracy Filter Blocks MIT Courses, Blender Videos, and More
uri: YouTube-s-Piracy-Filter-Blocks-MIT-Courses-Blender-Videos-and-More
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KrFODp0Gq1A/
content:
<p><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196">To protect copyright holders, YouTube uses an advanced piracy recognition system that flags and disables videos which are used without permission. </p>
<p>This system, known as Content ID, works well most of the time, but it is far from perfect. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s not well equipped to determine whether content deployment is protected under &#8216;fair use&#8217;, and in some cases it even views <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/musicians-white-noise-youtube-video-hit-with-copyright-complaints-180105/">white noise</a> or <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3637124">birds chirping</a> as piracy.</p>
<p>Over the past several days, an even more worrying trend has appeared. Several popular YouTube accounts including those belonging to &#8216;<a href="https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm">MIT OpenCourseWare</a>&#8216; and the &#8216;<a href="https://www.blender.org/">Blender Foundation</a>,&#8217; have suddenly had all their videos blocked. </p>
<p>People who try to watch one of the freely available <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4b9U9m9MQA">MIT courses on YouTube</a> get the following message, which typically appears if an uploader doesn&#8217;t have the rights to show content locally.</p>
<p>&#8220;This video contains content from MIT. It is not available in your country.&#8221; </p>
<p>The message appears in all locations that we were able to check, suggesting that it may very well apply worldwide. In any case, on social media there&#8217;s no shortage of people mentioning that they can no longer access the courses.</p>
<p><center><strong>Blocked courseware&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/38b3a454.course-e1529312774179.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/course-e1529312774179.png" alt="" width="567" height="379" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-157240"></center></p>
<p>The issue hasn&#8217;t gone unnoticed by MIT&#8217;s OpenCourseWare team which is investigating the matter, without pointing fingers.</p>
<p>&#8220;You may have noticed that we are having some trouble with our videos! Please stand by. The elves are working around the clock to fix the issue,&#8221; they <a href="https://twitter.com/MITOCW/status/1007943441035268096">write</a>, referring people to non-video content in the meantime.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the MIT case doesn&#8217;t appear to be an isolated incident. Another organization that was hit by the same mysterious blocking efforts is the Blender Foundation. </p>
<p>The nonprofit organization, which is leading the development of the open source 3D content-creation application Blender, has also had its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-rmzh0PI3c">videos blocked</a>.</p>
<p>Ton Roosendaal, Chairman of the Blender Foundation, noticed the issue on Saturday and contacted YouTube. &#8220;This is most probably an error from their side,&#8221; Roosendaal said.</p>
<p>At the time of writing, the issue still hasn&#8217;t been resolved. </p>
<p><center><strong>What the heck&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/7f5f1a35.tontweet.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tontweet.png" alt="" width="578" height="397" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-157233"></center></p>
<p>Both organizations have verified YouTube accounts and many subscribers, which makes them high profile targets. However, two days have passed and it&#8217;s still unclear what&#8217;s going on. </p>
<p>The blocking message is part of YouTube&#8217;s piracy filter system, but why it was triggered is unknown. As the original publishers, both certainly have the right to publish the videos in question.</p>
<p>Looking even further, we were able to spot dozens of accounts which show similar &#8220;blocking&#8221; messages. They include verified ones, such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/pibindia/videos">India&#8217;s Press Information Bureau</a>, soccer club <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZyW4IFf1-E">Sparta Praha</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW9zh_9V0SQ&#038;list=TL4s-H0g91xaEI_XL2yG9w-a8irMWSM-An">England Rugby</a>.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to YouTube to ask why the videos of these accounts have been blocked but at the time of publication, we had yet to hear back. Something appears to be awfully wrong though.</p>
<p>The timing of the incident is interesting, to say the least. This week there&#8217;s an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/judgment-day-nears-for-eus-piracy-filters-180604/">important vote</a> scheduled in the European Parliament, which will determine the course of EU copyright law.</p>
<p>One of the most contested changes is the so-called &#8220;upload filter,&#8221; which is detailed in Article 13 of the copyright reform proposal. According to opponents, such YouTube-like piracy filters are a threat to free speech. </p>
<p>These apparent &#8220;mistakes&#8221; show that there is a point to that. </p>
<p>Ironically, even French politicians, who were expected to vote in favor of the upload filters, may now reconsider <a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2018/06/politicians-about-to-vote-in-favor-of-mandatory-upload-filtering-in-europe-get-channel-deleted-by-youtubes-upload-filtering/">their stance</a> after YouTube temporarily <a href="http://www.europe1.fr/medias-tele/le-compte-youtube-de-la-chaine-dextreme-droite-tv-libertes-ferme-le-rn-sinsurge-3683666">disabled their account</a> following three copyright strikes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157273
title: BitTorrent Is Reportedly Selling for $140 Million
uri: BitTorrent-Is-Reportedly-Selling-for-140-Million
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Jc4ljkgUoBg/
content:
<p><img src="media/63ae51b5.bittorrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent.png" alt="" width="263" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156117">Last month, TF broke the news that Justin Sun, the entrepreneur behind the popular cryptocurrency <a href="https://tron.network/index?lng=en">TRON</a>, was in the process of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tron-founder-plans-to-buy-bittorrent-inc-180525/">acquiring BitTorrent Inc</a>. </p>
<p>The San-Francisco based file-sharing company confirmed the interest from Sun and last week sources added that details of the sale <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-sells-to-tron-cryptocurrency-founder-justin-sun-180612/">had been finalized</a>.</p>
<p>One of the questions that remained unanswered is how much the company is worth. This gap has now been filled by TechCrunch, which <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/18/bittorrent-tron/">reports</a> that TRON&#8217;s founder agreed to pay $140 million to acquire the company.</p>
<p>According to the report, there are still some outstanding issues regarding the terms of the deal. More than one person claims to have introduced Sun to BitTorrent, which guarantees an extra payout. This has yet to be resolved.</p>
<p>It is unclear what Sun&#8217;s plans are for BitTorrent but the existing products, including uTorrent, are not expected to go away. According to a shareholder quoted by TechCrunch, one of the plans is to use the acquisition to “legitimize” TRON’s business, which currently has a controversial reputation.</p>
<p>This is an interesting goal, as BitTorrent itself has also dealt with some controversy of its own. The company was previously asked to do more to combat piracy and a few weeks ago, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas launched an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-mexico-ag-wants-utorrent-to-report-child-exploiting-users-180509/">investigation</a> into the links between uTorrent usage and images of child exploitation.</p>
<p>While the final details are worked out, BitTorrent &#8211; or <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-changed-its-name-to-rainberry-180512/">Rainberry</a> as it&#8217;s called now &#8211; has begun hiring new personnel. The company is currently looking for a recruiter to hire new talent as well as several developers, including a <a href="https://job-openings.monster.com/Sr-iOS-Engineer-San-Francisco-CA-US-BitTorrent/31/60cb1e34-a134-48fa-a637-f6550ac73b92">senior iOS Engineer</a>.</p>
<p>BitTorrent is currently working on a new iOS app which will allow users to play videos on their mobile devices. When completed, it will be released on Apple&#8217;s App Store. </p>
<p>The $140 million acquisition follows a turbulent time for BitTorrent during which the company was nearly destroyed due to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bram-cohen-lashes-out-against-bittorrents-former-starfucker-ceos-170423/">questionable</a> management practices. At the same time, none of the new products, services, and business models it developed managed to surpass the early success it had with uTorrent.</p>
<p>Whether the deal with TRON&#8217;s founder is a turning point has yet to be seen. TorrentFreak reached out to the company to find out more about its future plans but, at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=129409
title: The Pirate Bay’s Frozen in Time, No New Uploads
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-s-Frozen-in-Time-No-New-Uploads
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lhAMvaLOJb0/
content:
<p><img src="media/932e6d7d.thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" alt="thepirate" width="220" height="206" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116122">The Pirate Bay has more than its fair share of technical inconveniences. Every other week the site goes down for a few hours, or days, just to reappear as if nothing ever happened. </p>
<p>In recent days many users have noticed some hiccups as well, as TPB&#8217;s upload functionality is currently broken. According to the recent uploads page, no new torrents have been added since last weekend.</p>
<p>The last torrent was uploaded on Sunday and the recent torrents page suggests that the problems started just before 7:00 a.m. Central European Time.  </p>
<p>After that, things went quiet and the official Pirate Bay status page confirms that no new uploads are coming through. What&#8217;s causing the trouble is unknown at the moment.</p>
<p><center><strong>Recent torrents</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/edbb7717.tpbrecent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbrecent.png" alt="" width="600" height="168" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-157294"></center></p>
<p>Several trusted VIP uploaders have mentioned the problem in the TPB forums. They reportedly see an &#8220;Error &#8211; File empty&#8221; notice on their end, no matter what they try. </p>
<p>These upload issues are not completely new, but it&#8217;s been a while since problems have lasted this long.</p>
<p>TPB moderator &#8220;workerbee&#8221; <a href="https://pirates-forum.org/Thread-Error-File-empty--84637?pid=233399#pid233399">points</a> people to the <a href="https://pirates-forum.org/misc.php?page=tpbstatus">status page</a> and confirms that the situation is the same for all.</p>
<p>&#8220;Everyone is experiencing the same problem. The situation will be sorted out in due course,&#8221; the mod notes.</p>
<p>Seasoned uploaders have weathered quite a few stormy periods on the site, so they might not be bothered too much. However, some are losing patience and are growing more pessimistic by the day.</p>
<p>&#8220;Been down since Sat.. for uploads,&#8221; VIP uploader psspss2 <a href="https://pirates-forum.org/Thread-Error-File-empty--84637?pid=233574#pid233574">writes</a>. &#8220;TPB sinking ship too many holes.&#8221; </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=157267
title: Think Tank: Congress Should Make Streaming Piracy a Felony
uri: Think-Tank-Congress-Should-Make-Streaming-Piracy-a-Felony
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VAxls8Ki3es/
content:
<p><a href="media/096bd33d.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg"><img src="media/468f0769.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-125426"></a>Soon after the turn of the century, P2P consumption of unlicensed media quickly dominated the file-sharing landscape.</p>
<p>The BitTorrent protocol emerged as the unchallenged kind of peer-to-peer transfers and for many years no rival could get anywhere near its level of market saturation.</p>
<p>Then, soon after the turn of the decade, the tide began to turn. With cheaper, faster bandwidth becoming increasingly available to a broader user base, opportunities to stream content directly from websites gathered unprecedented momentum. What began several years earlier as a relatively niche activity, soon turned into a content monster.</p>
<p>This critical shift in consumption habits was interesting on several fronts, not least since it made piracy accessible to relative novices via the growing Internet-enabled set-top box market.</p>
<p>As a result, illegal streaming is now considered one of the major threats, but various pro-copyright groups are concerned that current legislation doesn&#8217;t go far enough to tackle those involved in supply.</p>
<p>The problem was summed up in April 2015 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee by then-Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante.</p>
<p>&#8220;Currently, criminals who engage in unlawful internet streaming can only be charged with a misdemeanor, even though those who unlawfully reproduce and distribute copyrighted material can be charged with a felony,&#8221; Pallante <a href="https://archive.org/stream/gov.gpo.fdsys.CHRG-114hhrg94408/CHRG-114hhrg94408_djvu.txt">said</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;This distinction makes no sense. As streaming becomes a dominant method of obtaining content online, unlawful streaming has no less of an adverse impact on the rights of copyright owners than unlawful distribution.&#8221;</p>
<p>In a new paper published by the Free State Foundation (FSF), a think tank founded in 2006 which receives regular donations from the MPAA, streaming is again described as a misdemeanor offense and one that should be taken more seriously to protect copyright holders.</p>
<p>In its report &#8216;Modernizing Criminal Copyright Law to Combat Online Piracy&#8217;, FSF notes that copyright holders face difficulties prosecuting mass-scale willful infringement via civil lawsuits. So, to give them the assistance they require, Congress should upgrade piracy via streaming to a felony offense.</p>
<p>&#8220;Congress should update criminal copyright law to better address growing copyright piracy taking place through online streaming sites and enabled by illicit streaming devices,&#8221; FSF writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Currently, willful copyright infringement via online streaming is only a misdemeanor, whereas willful infringement via digital downloading is a felony when statutory minimums are satisfied.</p>
<p>&#8220;This disparate treatment of streaming and downloading has no principled basis. Consumers increasingly access copyrighted video and music through streaming.&#8221;</p>
<p>FSF states that punishments for misdemeanor copyright infringement (willful infringements of exclusive rights other than reproduction and distribution) include up to a year of prison and a fine of up to $100,000, or both. </p>
<p>Punishments for felony copyright infringement usually include up to five years in prison or a $250,000 fine, or both. Due to its scope, the latter option for serious offenses is viewed by FSF as a more significant deterrent that can better protect copyright holders.</p>
<p>&#8220;By making willful infringement of multiple or high value copyrighted works via online streaming a felony, Congress would empower law enforcement to better combat black market online traffickers in copyrighted content,&#8221; FSF adds.</p>
<p>In addition to the more severe sentencing of those who stream to the public, FSF would like to see law enforcement given more tools to catch them in the act in the first instance. In some quarters, its suggestions are likely to be viewed as extremely controversial.</p>
<p>&#8220;Additionally, Congress should consider providing federal law enforcement with more tools, including the authority to seek wiretaps to obtain evidence of suspected criminal copyright activities, to combat online piracy. Similar wiretap authority already exists in the case of theft of trade secrets and economic espionage,&#8221; FSF writes.</p>
<p>The report isn&#8217;t specific as to which players should be disrupted via such legislation, but repeated references to piracy-enabled set-top boxes, addon-enabled software, hosting services and others in the streaming ecosystem indicates a tendency towards plugging loopholes across the board in a largely untested and still-developing market.</p>
<p>What also seems clear is a desire to shift enforcement costs onto the state, rather than them being carried entirely by copyright holders who would otherwise have to engage in difficult and expensive civil litigation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Despite suffering substantial harm on account of online piracy, copyright owners are often ill-equipped and financially unable to combat such piracy through civil lawsuits,&#8221; FSF reports. </p>
<p>&#8220;Pirates of copyrighted content are not often amenable to service of process and to civil litigation. Unsurprisingly, many technically sophisticated online piracy operations are designed to avoid accountability to copyright holders and to the civil justice system.</p>
<p>&#8220;Thus, circumstances clearly exist in which the civil justice system is inadequate or unable to address or combat online piracy operations.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the terminology used in the FSF report can at times suggest a tightening of the law against those who stream to the public and those who consume streaming content, it eventually makes clear that such legislation should be directed &#8220;to online traffickers in copyrighted content, not individual Internet users.&#8221;</p>
<p>It also states that &#8220;reasonable safe harbor provisions&#8221; should exist for online service providers to receive immunity from criminal and civil liability, providing they remove or disable access to infringing content when advised by a rightsholder.</p>
<p>Considering the donations FSF receives from the MPAA, it&#8217;s probably safe to assume that the report&#8217;s recommendations are broadly aligned with those of the Hollywood group. In that respect, it&#8217;s interesting that the studios feel that current law exposes them in some way.</p>
<p>Thus far, tools to tackle administrators of pirate streaming sites in the US don&#8217;t <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ninjavideo-founder-sentenced-to-22-months-in-prison-120106/">appear to have been lacking</a> but perhaps there is currently a little too much room for maneuver.</p>
<p><em>The full report can be downloaded here (<a href="media/c8da2a80.nizing_Criminal_Copyright_Law_to_Combat_Online_Piracy_061818.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.freestatefoundation.org/images/Modernizing_Criminal_Copyright_Law_to_Combat_Online_Piracy_061818.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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