# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=108994
title: Russia Mulls Anti ‘Cut-and-Paste’ Piracy Law
uri: Russia-Mulls-Anti-Cut-and-Paste-Piracy-Law
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5D_HVKtViR4/
content:
<p><img src="media/273d96fc.russia.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/russia.jpg" alt="russia" width="180" height="121" class="alignright size-full wp-image-22592">Russia&#8217;s recent efforts to combat online infringement date back to 2013 with the introduction of a new anti-piracy law. Initially protecting only movies, the law compels local ISPs to blocking infringing sites if they fail to respond to takedown complaints.</p>
<p>In 2014 the law received further amendment when it was expanded to cover other digital media, with the notable exception of images. Fresh noises from Russia now suggest that its copyright laws could be expanded again, this time in an effort to protect written text.</p>
<p>According to comments made to local news agency <a href="http://tass.ru/obschestvo/2161668">TASS</a> this week, politicians are preparing to tackle infringement in some elements of the media.</p>
<p>&#8220;Indeed, there is a conversation with the journalistic community on the topic of additional changes in legislation, including for copy-paste [infringement],&#8221; said Leonid Levin, deputy head of the Duma Committee on information politics.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will analyze this situation and we are certainly going to look at the possibility of changes, including for the protection of media publications.&#8221;</p>
<p>At this stage it seems likely that Levin is referring to the wholesale online &#8216;piracy&#8217; of complete articles and publications but no further details have yet been made public. But whatever the intent, plenty of space will be required to report news, generate analysis, express opinion and offer criticism.</p>
<p>More details should become available later in the year.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think that in the fall session we will analyze the legislation in this matter,&#8221; Levin concludes.</p>
<p>Last month YouTube was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-faces-russia-web-block-over-pirate-content-150723/">just days away</a> from having sections of its site blocked in Russia after failing to remove copyrighted content in a timely manner. That dispute appears to have ended peacefully.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=108903
title: iTunes is Illegal Under UK Copyright Law
uri: iTunes-is-Illegal-Under-UK-Copyright-Law
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/L34uAgtIDcc/
content:
<p><img src="media/4d28e669.uk-flag.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uk-flag.jpg" alt="uk-flag" width="200" height="179" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86005">Late last year the UK Government <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-government-legalizes-cd-ripping-cloud-backups-today-141001/">legalized</a> copying for private use, a practice which many citizens already believed to be legal.</p>
<p>The UK Intellectual Property Office noted that the changes were “<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-dvd-cd-ripping-will-legalized-summer-140328/">in the best interest</a>” of consumers and that they would bring copyright law into the 21st century. </p>
<p>However, the new regulation was short-lived. Fearing a loss of income several music groups objected at the High Court, which subsequently agreed that the new legislation is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uks-legalization-of-cd-ripping-is-unlawful-court-rules-150619/">unlawful</a>. </p>
<p>As a result the changes were overturned last month and the previous limitations were reinstated. To find out what the public can and can&#8217;t do under the law, TF reached out to the UK Intellectual Property Office, which provided some very clear answers.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is now unlawful to make private copies of copyright works you own, without permission from the copyright holder – this includes format shifting from one medium to another,&#8221; a spokesperson informed us. </p>
<p>The IPO specifically notes that copying a CD to an MP3 player is not permitted. This means that iTunes&#8217; popular ripping feature, which Apple actively promotes during the software&#8217;s installation, is illegal. </p>
<p>Also, under the current law iTunes is actively facilitating copyright infringement by promoting their CD-ripping functionality. This means that the company could face significant claims for damages.</p>
<p><center><strong>Apple&#8217;s iTunes installer offers ripping advice</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b6b6753a.iTunespromo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iTunespromo.png" alt="iTunespromo" width="436" height="228" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-108949"></center></p>
<p>There is more though, as the law affects much more than just ripping CDs. Simply copying a song in an automated computer backup or storing a copy on a private cloud hosting service is also against the law.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;it includes creating back-ups without permission from the copyright holder as this necessarily involves an act of copying,&#8221; we were informed by the Government spokesperson.</p>
<p>Strictly speaking this means that UK citizens are not allowed to make a backup of their computer. After all, pretty much every computer contains copyrighted media. Needless to say, this turns almost the entire country into &#8216;outlaws&#8217;.</p>
<p>The Government is not happy with the High Court decision but it hasn&#8217;t decided whether it will propose revised private copying exceptions in the future. Copyright holders previously suggested allowing private copying in exchange for <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/record-biz-wants-to-tax-brits-for-copying-their-own-music-141126/">a tax</a> on blank CDs and hard drives.</p>
<p>&#8220;As this is a complex area of law, the Government is carefully considering the implications of the ruling and the available options, before deciding any future course of action.&#8221;</p>
<p>As reassurance, the Government notes that that people shouldn&#8217;t be too concerned because copyright holders are not known to come after people who make a backup of their computers.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Government is not aware of any cases of copyright holders having prosecuted individuals for format shifting music solely for their own personal use,&#8221; the IPO spokesperson says.</p>
<p>However, copyright holders can take people to court over both CD-ripping and computer backups, if they want to. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109056
title: Millions of Songs Deleted in Piracy Crackdown
uri: Millions-of-Songs-Deleted-in-Piracy-Crackdown
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0lrwivh9SwU/
content:
<p><img src="media/76fd4240.nopiracy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nopiracy.png" alt="nopiracy" width="183" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-83919">Just like the citizens of most developed nations, the Chinese public has developed a healthy appetite for movies, music and TV shows. However, much to the disappointment of countries such as the United States, many have become accustomed to obtaining that content for free.</p>
<p>Faced with a massive piracy problem that will take years to erode, Chinese companies have been looking towards improving legitimate services in an effort to tempt more than 650 million Internet users away from the dark side.</p>
<p>Leading international record labels including Sony and Warner have forged local licensing deals but revenues remain low, in part due to cheap licensed services (one offered by Internet giant Tencent costs just $1.60 per month) and in part due to online piracy. </p>
<p>Now, after years of relative inaction, the Chinese government seems willing to do more for the music industry. Early July an announcement from the National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China (NCAC) made it clear that unlicensed music would no longer be tolerated.</p>
<p>As part of the &#8220;Sword Net 2015&#8243; anti-piracy campaign designed to strengthen copyright enforcement supervision, promote the establishment of &#8220;good order&#8221; and develop the online music ecosystem, NCAC said that it was drawing a line in the sand.</p>
<p>Starting last Saturday, all online music providers were ordered to cease distribution of unlicensed music and permanently remove such content from their systems. Or, if they prefer, face criminal consequences.</p>
<p>&#8220;After 31 July 2015, online music service providers who continue to disseminate unauthorized pieces of music online will be investigated by the State Copyright Bureau and dealt with severely according to the law,&#8221; the NCAC announced.</p>
<p>With just days having passed since its deadline, the government department says the response to the directive has been encouraging. Already local music sites are reported to have deleted in excess of 2.2 million unlicensed tracks, with action taken by Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba and others. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the NCAC <a href="http://www.ncac.gov.cn/chinacopyright/contents/518/257270.html">says</a> that site operators are also increasing their efforts to generally comply with copyright law and cooperate with the wishes of the government.</p>
<p>&#8220;In carrying out self-examination and rectification of their online music services, providers continue to strengthen their self-discipline and increase their copyright cooperation efforts,&#8221; NCAC adds.</p>
<p>In addition to the threats, the copyright agency says it will continue to support service providers to explore ways to obtain official licensing, offer pay services, and &#8220;disseminate musical works in an orderly fashion.&#8221;</p>
<p>Only time will tell if the actions of the Chinese government will live up to its words though, but the labels appear to be optimistic.</p>
<p>&#8220;International record companies have gained a firm foothold in China and are looking to step up their ownership and investment in local music,&#8221; IFPI reports.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109063
title: Torrent Site Proxies Rife With Malware Injecting Scripts
uri: Torrent-Site-Proxies-Rife-With-Malware-Injecting-Scripts
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/P2cmzQB_V4U/
content:
<p><img src="media/40fc3a89.warning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warning.png" alt="warning" width="250" height="213" class="alignright size-large wp-image-109065">In many countries including the UK, Italy, Denmark and France, the leading torrent sites are no longer freely accessible. </p>
<p>These court-ordered blockades requested by the music and movie industries are becoming widespread, but so are the tools to circumvent them.</p>
<p>For every domain name blocked, many proxies and mirrors emerge. These sites allow people to access the blocked sites and effectively bypass the restrictions put in place by the court.</p>
<p>Initially, the proxy sites were launched to help users gain access to their favorite torrent sites. However, more recently the demand for circumvention tools is being abused by people who are out to make hard cash.</p>
<p>Instead of offering a simple workaround, many proxies add their own scripts. In some cases these scripts are harmless, but according to security researcher <a href="http://gaborszathmari.me/">Gabor Szathmari</a> the majority serve questionable content.</p>
<p>Szathmari examined a sample of 6,158 proxy sites and found that over 99% added their own code. Only 21 sites in the sample did not modify the original site.</p>
<p>&#8220;99.7% of the tested torrent mirrors are injecting additional JavaScript into the web browsing traffic. A great share of these scripts serve content with malicious intent such as malware and click-fraud,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>The researcher informs TF that many of the researched proxies are suspicious because they use code that is either obfuscated or has a lot of random redirects. These scripts pretty much all use the proxyads.net domain name.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/fc2ff25a.number-of-script-injecting-proxies.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/number-of-script-injecting-proxies.png" alt="number-of-script-injecting-proxies" width="600" height="371" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109072"></center></p>
<p>Taking a closer look at the proxies reveals that several of the ads link to malware. In addition, one of the scripts generated fake views of car racing videos in the background.</p>
<p>The original torrent sites, including The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents and ExtraTorrent, are aware of the problem and are trying to minimize the damage by blocking suspicious proxies and mirrors.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a serious issue. We have been fighting against it for a long time,&#8221; the ExtraTorrent team informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Most unauthorized proxy websites loaded ExtraTorrent in a frame and added malware JavaScript code or replaced ET’s banners with others,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>ExtraTorrent has been able to block several proxies, but they can&#8217;t do anything against those that use a cached version of the site. To guide users in the right direction they therefore publish a list of <a href="media/dbef69d1.0DnvXgk.png" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/0DnvXgk.png">official mirrors</a> on their site.</p>
<p>Copyright holders often warn that pirate sites may serve malware, but this research suggests that they are only making the problem worse by censoring the original sites.  </p>
<p>&#8220;I am an advocate for unfiltered Internet, and this example shows that censorship can violate the security of end-users,&#8221; Szathmari tells TF. </p>
<p>Of course, some of the original sites may also run dubious ads, but the malicious proxies appear to be much worse and should be avoided.</p>
<p>&#8220;I would advise downloaders to always use the original sites or the official proxy sites whenever possible,&#8221; the researcher says. </p>
<p>&#8220;If the original sites are blocked by the ISP, I would recommend to bypass the filtering with a reputable VPN service that does not modify traffic, or a reputable mirror that does not alter the website in any way.&#8221;</p>
<p>Szathmari published the full findings and his research methodology in a recent <a href="https://blog.gaborszathmari.me/2015/08/05/malware-injecting-torrent-mirrors/">blog post</a>. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109127
title: Sky News’ Live Stream Shut Down By Fox News DMCA Notice
uri: Sky-News-Live-Stream-Shut-Down-By-Fox-News-DMCA-Notice
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xyAVKvoXsOQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/326b1cf4.skynews.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/skynews.png" alt="skynews" width="235" height="102" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109134">Week in and week out copyright holders scour the Internet to detect and report millions of alleged infringements. </p>
<p>On YouTube most takedown notices are automated through the Content-ID system, a tool which allows rightsholders to upload their work and take down unauthorized copies. </p>
<p>Unfortunately this process is far from flawless which results in many false and inaccurate DMCA claims. We’ve <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/youtubes-content-id-piracy-filter-wreaks-havoc-110908/">highlighted this issue before</a>, but today it&#8217;s literally hitting mainstream news.</p>
<p>Starting a few hours ago the online <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqafQVNkyN4">live feed</a> of Sky News stopped working. Not because of a technical issue, but due to a copyright complaint from fellow news network Fox News, which is also owned by Rupert Murdoch.</p>
<p>As a result, visitors to the Sky News Live stream page, which is hosted by YouTube, are now welcomed by the following message.</p>
<p>&#8220;This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Fox News Network, LLC.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Sky News Live</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/fcef632a.skyliveyou.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/skyliveyou.jpg" alt="skyliveyou" width="940" height="773" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109129"></center></p>
<p>There is no further information available on the reason for the takedown, but it seems plausible that it&#8217;s the result of a Content-ID mismatch. </p>
<p>Fox News is adding its broadcasts to YouTube&#8217;s system and this most likely included the same footage Sky News showed. This would make sense, as many news organizations rely on the same independently licensed material. </p>
<p>At the time of writing the official Sky News Live feed on YouTube is still <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqafQVNkyN4">offline</a>. There is an alternative live feed available through YouTube that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geXLHd4IZ8s">still works</a>. </p>
<p>Unless there&#8217;s a real copyright feud between Sky News and Fox News this latest example shows that YouTube&#8217;s Content-ID system is far from optimal. In this case, the error will probably be swiftly corrected, but for independent publishers it can take <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/why-youtubes-automated-copyright-takedown-system-hurts-artists-140223/">weeks</a> for their content to be reinstated.</p>
<p>TF contacted Sky News and Fox News Network for a comment. At the time of publication we haven&#8217;t heard back yet. </p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Fox also took down <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/08/07/gop-debate-businesses/">its own livestream</a> briefly, which supports the theory that it&#8217;s the result of a Content-ID mismatch.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> After at least 8 hours Sky News has now changed the embed on their <a href="http://news.sky.com/watch-live">live stream page</a>. The original video is still down.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109100
title: EFF Told to “Shut the Hell Up” About SOPA
uri: EFF-Told-to-Shut-the-Hell-Up-About-SOPA
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/f6Ydd764iGA/
content:
<p><img src="media/2aa8451f.eff.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eff.jpg" alt="eff" width="190" height="129" class="alignright size-full wp-image-31200">After a massive wave of opposition more than three years ago, the Stop Online Piracy Act died and dozens of technology-focused companies and websites breathed a sigh of relief. But despite its demise the memory of SOPA has lived on, particularly in the minds of those who opposed it.</p>
<p>On that front there can be few more notable than the EFF who played an important role in bringing SOPA to its knees. It should therefore come as no surprise that when the EFF spots efforts by corporations to achieve SOPA-like powers through other means, the group quickly tells the world.</p>
<p>This week in a piece titled &#8216;<a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/08/movie-studios-seek-sopapower-through-broad-site-blocking-order">Movie Studios Seek SOPA Power Through Broad Site-Blocking Order</a>&#8216;, EFF lawyer Mitch Stoltz <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-sues-movietube-sites-over-mass-piracy-150725/">told the story</a> of how the MPAA aims to wipe a group of websites from the Internet without trial.</p>
<p>[The] studios are asking for one court order to bind every domain name registrar, registry, hosting provider, payment processor, caching service, advertising network, social network, and bulletin board—in short, the entire Internet—to block and filter a site called Movietube,&#8221; Stoltz warned.</p>
<p>&#8220;If they succeed, the studios could set a dangerous precedent for quick website blocking with little or no court supervision, and with Internet service and infrastructure companies conscripted as enforcers.&#8221;</p>
<p>The piece appears to have touched a nerve with elements of the movie industry who have lined up over the past 24 hours to criticize both Stoltz and the EFF. First up, filmmaker and anti-piracy activist <a href="http://voxindie.org/author/eseidler/">Ellen Seidler</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Stoltz sounded the alarm by dusting off the well-worn SOPA canard and cries of &#8216;censorship&#8217; and &#8216;abuse.&#8217; His love of the word &#8216;abuse&#8217; was so strong, in fact, variations of the term appear 9 times in his piece,&#8221; Seidler <a href="http://voxindie.org/hollywood-diversity-movie-piracy-and-the-eff/">writes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Isn’t it time for those at the EFF and others who yell &#8216;SOPA&#8217; each time the movie industry takes legal action against online pirates to shut the hell up?  What is abusive is the way online piracy (for profit) is allowed to flourish, made sacrosanct by tech apologists.&#8221;</p>
<p>Next up to admonish the EFF is filmmaker <a href="http://davidnewhoff.com/about/">David Newhoff</a>. Likening the rights group to Monty Python&#8217;s &#8216;Knights Who Say Ni&#8217; and suggesting that at best they maintain a &#8220;loose relationship&#8221; with reality, Newhoff accuses the EFF of trying to scare the public.</p>
<p>&#8220;For instance, in this recent missive, EFFer Mitch Stoltz uses the acronym SOPA seven times in the first four paragraphs, which might lead the reader to think that the subject of the article has something to do with SOPA. Of course, it has nothing to do with SOPA,&#8221; Newhoff <a href="http://illusionofmore.com/knights-sopa/">writes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;They say SOPA, and hope the peasants cringe,&#8221; the filmmaker adds. &#8220;Thus, the EFF invests tremendous energy in this strategy, breathlessly warning us about the inevitable doom that will surely follow if, heaven-forbid, the rule of law might apply to trade across our precious tubes.&#8221;</p>
<p>Last but certainly not least, Ruth Vitale of anti-piracy group <a href="http://creativefuture.org">Creative Future</a> weighs in with her take on the EFF piece in her rebuttal titled &#8216;<a href="http://www.culturalweekly.com/if-youre-reading-this-the-internet-aint-broke/">If You&#8217;re Reading This The Internet Ain&#8217;t Broke</a>&#8216;.</p>
<p>&#8220;I know that &#8216;stop censorship&#8217; and &#8216;don’t break the internet&#8217; were effective talking points more than three years ago. That’s the past and a reference to legislative history. I think we’re all a bit wiser now. Can we finally collectively agree that piracy is not free speech?&#8221; Vitale writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;If we can come to that understanding, I and many in Hollywood would applaud EFF’s efforts to eliminate real censorship all over the world – but EFF’s relentless attacks on efforts by creative industries to protect their work damages its credibility.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the EFF and its critics are naturally miles apart on the topic, what&#8217;s puzzling here is the apparent unwillingness to grasp what Internet users are driving at when they refer to &#8216;SOPA-like&#8217; activity.</p>
<p>From the day of its public outing to the day of its demise and beyond, the SOPA acronym has become synonymous with any legislative effort to clamp down on Internet piracy by forcing hosting providers, domain companies, the DNS system, payment processors, advertisers and social networks to become entertainment industry enforcers. It&#8217;s an extremely unpopular proposal.</p>
<p>Underlying all of this is the nature of the entities pushing for these powers. One only has to look at the unfolding nightmare that is the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-emails-expose-dirty-media-attack-against-google-150727/">MPAA&#8217;s assault</a> on Google via Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood to see how far Hollywood is prepared to go to get its way.</p>
<p>&#8220;[This kind of power] will be abused, which is why it’s important to stop it from being created in the first place,&#8221; the EFF warns.</p>
<p>Call it SOPA-like or call it something else, it&#8217;s difficult to argue with that conclusion. But as long as it has a recognizable name, people will understand what&#8217;s at stake, and for the EFF and other activists that&#8217;s more than half the battle.</p>
<p>SOPA might be dead but its name will live on &#8211; and the EFF isn&#8217;t likely to shut the hell up anytime soon.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109033
title: Anti-Piracy Group Hits Indie Creators For Using the Word ‘Pixels’
uri: Anti-Piracy-Group-Hits-Indie-Creators-For-Using-the-Word-Pixels
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aypFV6jPKSI/
content:
<p><img src="media/957809ba.abortretryfail.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/abortretryfail.jpg" alt="abortretryfail" width="200" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-29802">Tens of millions of DMCA-style notices are sent to online services every week complaining about copyright infringement. While most are accurate, some contain errors.</p>
<p>Some take screwing up to a whole new level.</p>
<p>This week anti-piracy group Entura International <a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/11039982">sent a notice</a> to Vimeo in what first appeared to be an effort to stop piracy of the Columbia movie &#8216;Pixels&#8217;. Not only did it fail to do that in every way possible, it hit a number of indie creators and filmmakers instead.</p>
<p>Founded in November 2004, <a href="http://www.neme-imca.org">NeMe</a> describes itself as a non-profit NGO and an &#8216;Independent Museum of Contemporary Art&#8217;.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our NGO has just received a DMCA notice for a video we produced in 2006 entitled &#8216;Pixels&#8217;,&#8221; the group <a href="https://vimeo.com/forums/help/topic:269260">told</a> Vimeo this week.</p>
<p>&#8220;The video was directed by a Cypriot film-maker using his own photos and sounds/music on a shoestring budget and infringes no copyright.&#8221;</p>
<p>Sadly for NeMe, however, it has now been resigned to history.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/bb51819f.pixels-dmca.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pixels-dmca.png" alt="pixels-dmca" width="650" height="274" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109035"></center></p>
<p>But upsetting the NGO was just the tip of the iceberg. <a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/11039982">The notice</a> goes on to hit an embarrassing array of entirely non-infringing works.</p>
<p>&#8220;Life Buoy is my project for my degree at the National University of Arts from Bucharest,&#8221; creator Dragos Bardac <a href="http://dragos.bardac.net/pages/life-buoy/">explains</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The film was made in mid 2010 and it is a music video for the song Life buoy by the band The Pixels. I used a mix of stop motion animation techniques in order to tell the story.&#8221;</p>
<p>But it doesn&#8217;t stop there.</p>
<p>Published on Vimeo in 2011, &#8220;Pantone Pixels&#8221; <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/982161/Pantone-Pixels">is described</a> by creator Rob Penny as a &#8220;personal project that took me a very long time&#8221;.</p>
<p>Thanks to Entura, however, the image below now greets users of his website.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/42dc3cec.pixels-pantone-gone.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pixels-pantone-gone.png" alt="pixels-pantone-gone" width="626" height="578" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109039"></center></p>
<p>And it gets worse.</p>
<p>&#8216;Pixels&#8217; is a 2010 award-winning short film created by Patrick Jean. Its tagline &#8220;8Bit creatures are invading New York City&#8221; only tells half the story of this extremely cool short movie. It&#8217;s now wiped out on Vimeo but luckily <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou8vRWTSsJo">YouTube still retains copies </a> which together have been viewed millions of times.</p>
<p>Also falling victim is VJLoops.com, a royalty free stock footage &#038; media site. They put up a video on Vimeo titled &#8216;Love Pixels&#8217; which turned out to be a big mistake. Same goes for a 42 second video concerning this year&#8217;s Pixels Festival in Mons, Belgium.</p>
<p>Last, but certainly not least, Entura rounded off this disaster by taking down the <a href="https://vimeo.com/130431754">official Pixels movie trailer</a>, even though their very own notice lists their errors clearly.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/d3969496.pixels-notice.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pixels-notice.png" alt="pixels-notice" width="630" height="443" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109041"></center></p>
<p>Of course, in addition to the hassle of having had their content wrongfully taken down, each person subjected to a notice from Entura will have a &#8216;strike&#8217; placed against their Vimeo account.</p>
<p>&#8220;The notice we received says that this is strike 1 which we do not accept for the aforementioned reasons. It also says that for Vimeo to accept to return the video online we have to give our name address and an assortment of statements,&#8221; the NeMe project told Vimeo in a response.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d suggest filling a counter notice,&#8221; Mark from the company responded. &#8220;This is in the hands of our trust and safety team and unfortunately our support team cannot help you with this issue.&#8221;</p>
<p>Sorry folks, apparently you&#8217;re on your own.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109153
title: Comcast Sends Spongebob ‘Pirate’ 44 Letters For One Download
uri: Comcast-Sends-Spongebob-Pirate-44-Letters-For-One-Download
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/86zrl7NLKNY/
content:
<p><img src="media/e93ed6da.sponge.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sponge.jpg" alt="sponge" width="300" height="193" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109157">Like many large Internet providers in the United States, Comcast forwards DMCA notices to subscribers who have allegedly downloaded pirated material. </p>
<p>These <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-mpaa-copyright-warnings-facts-and-fiction-090328/">copyright infringement warnings</a> list the title, IP-address, and other download details. They are also accompanied by a stark warning notifying the subscriber of a possible account termination. </p>
<p>Usually, alleged downloaders only receive one notice per offence, but one Comcast subscriber received a whole stack in the mail this week.</p>
<p>The subscriber in question, who posted his story <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/3g3v8b/comcast_sent_44_letters_notifying_me_of_a/">on Reddit</a>, was sent 44 letters for one and the same torrent. The Spongebob Season 8 torrent was downloaded by his brother and is apparently well tracked. </p>
<p>The notices, which come from by Viacom, all list Spongebob Season 8 as the infringing file name and point to the same torrent. They appear to be quite sloppy as some say &#8220;null&#8221; under infringing work section. </p>
<p>From the information available it&#8217;s unclear what triggered the avalanche of DMCA notices. It could be that the copyright holder sent one for all files in the torrent, or perhaps a port change triggered a new warning. </p>
<p>In any case, it kept Comcast and the post office busy for a while. </p>
<p><center><a href="media/20b163c5.FFuWBzY.jpg" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/FFuWBzY.jpg"><img src="media/22e34779.comcastletter.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/comcastletter.jpg" alt="comcastletter" width="600" height="900" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109182"></a></center></p>
<p>As for the repercussions, Comcast informs the subscriber that he may have his account terminated. Since the notices are not part of the Copyright Alert System, this is indeed an option.</p>
<p>&#8220;Comcast reminds you that use of the Service in any manner that constitutes an infringement of any copyrighted work is a violation of Comcast&#8217;s Acceptable Use Policy and may result in the suspension or termination of your Service account.&#8221;</p>
<p>While many users would be concerned about the pile of alleged infringements, this Reddit user isn&#8217;t particularly bothered. </p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not concerned at all with the actual claims. Comcast doesn&#8217;t actually care all that much,&#8221; he writes.  </p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m protected by law from the copyright owner themselves, and it&#8217;s up to Comcast&#8217;s discretion whether they want to do something with your service like suspension or termination, but as long as they have your money, they generally don&#8217;t care.&#8221; </p>
<p>The above is indeed correct. Comcast would never share any personal details with copyright holders, unless they obtain a valid subpoena. Copyright trolls aside, this rarely ever happens. The same is true for account terminations.</p>
<p>What does happen, is that copyright holders send settlement requests for single torrents with multiple files. </p>
<p>While Comcast doesn&#8217;t forward these, we recently saw an example where a single download triggered <a href="https://my.liquidvpn.com/knowledgebase/544/California---106-Notices-of-Claimed-Infringements-May-11.html">106 settlement notices</a> of $300 each. This represents $31,800 in settlement fees for just one torrent. </p>
<p>That&#8217;s usually scary enough for people to start panicking.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109019
title: MPAA Recruits Software Programmer to Combat Piracy
uri: MPAA-Recruits-Software-Programmer-to-Combat-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xTq_hHsmBF4/
content:
<p><img src="media/394b6768.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg" alt="mpaa-logo" width="200" height="112" class="alignright size-full wp-image-36694">In its quest to stamp out piracy, the MPAA continues to evolve its anti-piracy strategies and tools. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s no secret that the movie industry group often hires outsiders to track down pirates, but it&#8217;s now also recruiting fresh blood to bring some of this technology in-house.</p>
<p>The MPAA currently has several <a href="http://www.mpaa.org/careers/">open positions</a> including one for a <a href="https://home.eease.adp.com/recruit2/?id=13961411&#038;t=1">Software Programmer</a>. This is an interesting job application as it reveals a bit more about what the MPAA is up to behind the scenes.</p>
<p>The person hired for the programmer job will work under the supervision of Vice President of Internet Content Protection and will be tasked with developing monitoring tools and investigating piracy trends.</p>
<p>Among other things, the MPAA is looking for candidates who can create tools to automatically gather large amounts of data. This could be related to the sending of DMCA notices, for example, which the MPAA hasn&#8217;t done much of recently.</p>
<p>&#8220;They will develop and use automated tools for gathering large amounts of data from online websites and resources, and generate meaningful statistics to help guide and bolster enforcement actions,&#8221; the application reads.</p>
<p>The key responsibilities also reveal other anti-piracy tasks, such as forensic analysis of websites, monitoring and reporting infringements, and gathering intelligence on pirate sites.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8211; Monitor, investigate and report on copyright infringement occurring online via established and emerging content distribution technologies.<br>
&#8211; Develop scripts for conducting automated scrapes of online information for intelligence gathering and enforcement purposes.<br>
&#8211; Conduct detailed forensic analysis of online content, including reviewing technical infrastructure of online platforms and sites.</em></p></blockquote>
<p><center><img src="media/f57c4494.mpaa-keyresponse.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-keyresponse.png" alt="mpaa-keyresponse" width="607" height="305" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109026"></center></p>
<p>Another job opening at the MPAA that&#8217;s worth a mention is that of <a href="https://home.eease.adp.com/recruit2/?id=12973771&#038;t=1">Cisco Network Engineer</a>. This is another tech position and a crucial one as it involves the operation and management of the MPAA&#8217;s local network and file-storage services. </p>
<p>With the recent Sony hack in mind, this is quite a sensitive job and the Hollywood group points out that applicants must possess the &#8220;highest level of work ethics and integrity&#8221; and be able to &#8220;maintain confidential information.&#8221;</p>
<p>Both positions are still vacant so readers looking for a job at one of the best known anti-piracy firms are welcome to respond. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109061
title: Pornhub Uploaders Targeted By Copyright Troll
uri: Pornhub-Uploaders-Targeted-By-Copyright-Troll
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/a4JleiBGZGU/
content:
<p><img src="media/0fa2bc98.pornhub.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pornhub.jpg" alt="pornhub" width="180" height="182" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109094">Having existed in the file-sharing space for at least a decade, copyright trolling is not a new phenomenon. As regularly reported though, it&#8217;s generally BitTorrent users that are targeted.</p>
<p>The IP addresses of torrent users are easily extracted from file-sharing swarms and through a subpoena to their Internet service providers, trolls can unmask sharers&#8217; true identities. That being said, other methods have also been employed.</p>
<p>Earlier this year users of adult torrent site Empornium began receiving cash settlement demands from porn outfit TaylorMadeClips (TMC) but none appeared to have been tracked down by regular means. Empornium later <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-site-copyright-troll-had-staff-access-to-member-data-150211/">revealed</a> that a moderator account had been compromised and personal details of sharers leaked.</p>
<p>Subsequently, the co-owner of TMC <a href="http://www.bodyinflation.org/node/33586#comment-34987">admitted in public</a> that information on alleged pirates had been purchased.</p>
<p>&#8220;We paid for a couple email addresses and sent a couple uploaders emails asking that they remove the torrents,&#8221; he explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;When that didn&#8217;t work they offered a list of people who had downloaded our content and I eventually paid for the information on people who had downloaded AND seeded the torrents because we have never had our lawyer contact downloaders, just uploaders.&#8221;</p>
<p>Given the way that situation played out, chins will now be scratched in response to the news that users of Pornhub are currently receiving similar threats from TMC.</p>
<p>A tip passed to TorrentFreak by troll monitoring site <a href="http://dietrolldie.com/">DieTrollDie</a> indicates that several people who allegedly uploaded TaylorMadeClips content to Pornhub are now receiving demands to settle with the company for thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>&#8220;It has come to our client&#8217;s attention that you have distributed our client&#8217;s videos without authorization and in violation of our client&#8217;s rights,&#8221; the correspondence from TMC lawyer Mark Borghese begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;In particular, you have shared [..] our client&#8217;s videos on Pornhub under the username [redacted]. Each illegal distribution made of those videos constitutes a separate act of copyright infringement directly attributable to you.&#8221;</p>
<p>After threats to &#8220;forensically examine every single hard drive and other electronic storage device&#8221; in alleged infringers&#8217; homes, Borghese provides &#8220;one last attempt&#8221; to settle. Unsurprisingly demands go up to several thousand dollars.</p>
<p>Considering the less than ethical Empornium case and the fact that Pornhub users&#8217; details (IP addresses and emails) aren&#8217;t public on the site, TorrentFreak contacted Borghese asking him how he and TMC managed to track down the true identities of the Pornhub users.</p>
<p>Did Pornhub hand over the details to his lawfirm after legal action? Did the Pornhub users&#8217; Internet service providers provide him with their real-life identities? Were alleged pirates&#8217; identities obtained by other less conventional means? </p>
<p>Borghese did not respond to our requests for comment. We also contacted Pornhub who were equally silent. </p>
<p>Unfortunately that leaves only speculation, but nevertheless the situation provides food for thought. While obtaining information from services like Pornhub and ISPs might be the conventional route for trolls, if done properly it&#8217;s usually expensive.</p>
<p>Borghese previously told TF that TMC like to keep costs down. So, given TMC&#8217;s track record, taking a short-cut or two doesn&#8217;t seem out of the question.</p>
<p>What we do know is that these cases have common denominators, including that some targets bought their content directly from TMC. Watermarking of purchases might have been possible, but sources familiar with the situation suggest this is unlikely.</p>
<p>Additionally, some alleged infringers received notification from Pornhub that there had been complaints filed against their uploaded content. After the videos were deleted, some accounts were subsequently shut down by Pornhub, sometimes within days of a letter arriving from TMC&#8217;s lawyer.</p>
<p>Of course, it&#8217;s also possible (and likely) that more basic detection methods were used.</p>
<p>In all cases that we know of thus far, alleged pirates were contacted via direct email only (not via ISP), which is relatively unusual for trolls. However, some people have a habit of employing the same usernames and email addresses across several sites and as we&#8217;ve seen in the past, those can prove <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/how-file-sharers-ruin-their-online-privacy-150322/">extremely revealing</a>.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s impossible to say with any certainty if TMC intends to carry through with their threats to chase those who don&#8217;t settle, but a public confession by one of TMC&#8217;s co-owners earlier this year in the wake of the Empornium incident might shine a little light.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you haven&#8217;t acted on the letter then nothing else will happen since we don&#8217;t follow up except for in the most extreme cases where there is malicious intent or the pure volume of files being pirated by one person is too large,&#8221; <a href="http://www.bodyinflation.org/node/33586">he wrote</a>.</p>
<p>In any event, the case detailed above shows that some trolls are comfortable in tracking down pirates, not just on BitTorrent, but wherever they roam &#8211; and by any means possible.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109185
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 08/10/15
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-08-10-15
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tYalZ0goAIU/
content:
<p><img src="media/22bb04fe.termingene.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/termingene.jpg" alt="termingene" width="300" height="190" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109188">This week we have three newcomers in our chart. </p>
<p>Terminator Genisys 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 BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-080315/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/terminator_genisys/">Terminator Genisys</a> (Subbed HDrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340138/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62E4FJTwSuc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pitch_perfect_2/">Pitch Perfect 2 </a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2848292/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBwOYQd21TY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dont_mess_with_texas_2014/">Hot Pursuit</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2967224/">4.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUeOBdxSjc8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mission_impossible_rogue_nation/">Mission: Impossible &#8211; Rogue Nation</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381249/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIsauUFIguE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/furious_7/">Furious 7</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2820852/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skpu5HaVkOc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/insurgent">Insurgent</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2908446/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suZcGoRLXkU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/antman/">Ant Man</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478970/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdKf3MneyI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aloha_2015/">Aloha</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1243974/">5.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3mf_ewjc7s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/minions/">Minions</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2293640/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eisKxhjBnZ0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jurassic_world/">Jurassic World</a> (TS/Subbed HDrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369610/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFinNxS5KN4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109192
title: Minority Report, Lucifer and Blindspot Pilots Leak Online
uri: Minority-Report-Lucifer-and-Blindspot-Pilots-Leak-Online
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QL4A2qe1Xpw/
content:
<p>While movies often appear online during their theatrical windows and TV shows shortly after their network debut, leaks in advance of these events are rather more uncommon.</p>
<p>On the movie front so-called &#8216;DVD screeners&#8217; appear in waves each year after leaking from the Oscar nomination process but TV show leaks are much less regular. Nevertheless, downloaders are celebrating this morning after the pilot episodes to several big upcoming TV shows unexpectedly appeared online a few hours ago.</p>
<p>The first (and thus far the most popular with downloaders) is upcoming sci-fi crime drama <a href="http://www.fox.com/minority-report">Minority Report</a>. Scheduled to premiere on September 21, 2015, the Steven Spielberg sanctioned series (which sees the man himself as executive producer) is set in Washington, D.C. in 2065, fifteen years after the events of the 2002 film of the same name.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7f4aeecd.minority-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/minority-1.png" alt="minority-1" width="600" height="337" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109202"></center></p>
<p>The leak, which comes courtesy of Scene group LOL/DIMENSION, is available via a sub 400mb download or, for those craving quality, a 5GB 1080p release. As can be seen by the screenshots, presentation is good with no visible watermarks.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/b5769669.minority-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/minority-2.png" alt="minority-2" width="600" height="334" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109203"></center></p>
<p>Second up is the pilot to upcoming crime-horror &#8216;<a href="http://www.fox.com/lucifer">Lucifer</a>&#8216;. Based on a comic book character created by Neil Gaiman for the comic book series The Sandman (and spin-off series &#8216;Lucifer&#8217;), Fox and Warner Bros. completed a deal for the show <a href="http://deadline.com/2015/02/lucifer-pilot-order-len-wiseman-director-jerry-bruckheimer-producer-fox-1201376635/">in February</a>.</p>
<p>Tom Ellis takes the lead who &#8220;bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the gorgeous, shimmering insanity of Los Angeles, where he opens an exclusive piano bar called Lux.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/d63fe10c.lucifer-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lucifer-1.png" alt="lucifer-1" width="600" height="336" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109197"></center></p>
<p>Releasing two versions of the pilot up to 1080p, Scene group LOL/DIMENSION are again behind the leak, which comes way ahead of Lucifer&#8217;s planned 2016 premiere. As can be seen from the screenshots from the leak itself, the quality is very high indeed with no visible watermarks.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/fd5691dd.lucifer-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lucifer-2.png" alt="lucifer-2" width="600" height="337" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109198"></center></p>
<p>The source of the leak is currently unknown but the pilot was screened exactly a month ago at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con where according to Fox it was <a href="http://www.fox.com/lucifer/">well received</a>.</p>
<p>Despite the brewing controversy, Lucifer character co-creator Neil Gaiman is unlikely to shout too loudly about the leak. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/neil-gaiman-loves-piracy-its-advertising/">In 2011 he admitted</a> that in some instances piracy had boosted his book sales by 300%.</p>
<p>“I started to realize, that actually, you’re not losing sales by having stuff out there,” he said.</p>
<p>Also leaked in the past few hours was upcoming U.S. drama <a href="http://www.nbc.com/blindspot">Blindspot</a>. Starring  Jaimie Alexander and Sullivan Stapleton, the series was ordered by NBC on May 1 and was due to premiere September 21. While download numbers are currently brisk, <a href="http://www.nbc.com/blindspot">Blindspot</a> is nowhere near as popular with pirates as Minority Report and Lucifer.</p>
<p>Again, the leak comes courtesy of Scene group LOL/DIMENSION. A pair of releases are available, SD at around 300MB and 1080p closer to 5GB.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/eecb30d9.blindspot.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blindspot.png" alt="blindspot" width="600" height="336" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109207"></center></p>
<p>Also getting an unofficial Internet airing today is the upcoming NBC sitcom <a href="http://www.nbc.com/the-carmichael-show">The Carmichael Show</a>. Starring Jerrod Carmichael, the show features a fictional version of his family.</p>
<p>The leaks, which happened just a few hours ago, follow in the footsteps of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/supergirl-pilot-leaks-to-torrent-sites-six-months-early-150522">Supergirl and Crowded pilot leaks</a> of May 2015 and are destined to reignite the piracy vs promotion debate.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109219
title: Tolkien Lawyers Target “Hobbit House” With Copyright Threats
uri: Tolkien-Lawyers-Target-Hobbit-House-With-Copyright-Threats
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/j37Yq7Nkiis/
content:
<p><img src="media/c576592e.hobbith.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hobbith.jpg" alt="hobbith" width="300" height="203" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109222">Last month Jan and Ed Lengyel decided to launch a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/491537843/poddit-hole-holidays-live-your-fantasy-halfling-ad">Kickstarter</a> campaign for the Hobbit house they&#8217;re building at their Suffolk countryside campsite.</p>
<p>The married couple are running a successful holiday ‘glamping‘ (glamorous camping) business and thought the idyllic location would be very suitable for small house inspired by the popular movie.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.podditon.co.uk/">The project</a> received a lot of positive press and thousands of pounds were raised in the days that followed. However, lawyers at Warner Bros. and the Tolkien estate were less enthusiastic.  </p>
<p>Following a complaint from Warner Bros. the Kickstarter campaign was pulled offline without warning. The movie studio didn&#8217;t want the couple to use Hobbit references arguing that they infringe on their copyrights and trademarks.</p>
<p>Faced with the sudden removal the Suffolk couple saw no other option than to give in to the demands and started editing the page. </p>
<p>&#8220;Due to Copyright issues with Warner Bros. &#038; Tolkien Estate, all references to Tolkien &#038; The Hobbit have been removed,&#8221; a message on Kickstarter now reads.</p>
<p>As a result the &#8220;Poddit Hole&#8221; house now resides in &#8216;Centre-Earth&#8217; instead of &#8216;Middle-Earth,&#8217; and several other references were removed as well. However, that didn&#8217;t end the trouble. </p>
<p>Lawyers from the Tolkien Estate claim that &#8216;Centre Earth&#8217; is too similar and want &#8216;Poddit Hole&#8217; gone too. In fact, the lawyers ask the couple to remove all words that rhyme with Hobbit.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Tolkien Estate has asked us not to use &#8216;Poddit Hole&#8217;, which is absolutely ridiculous. We have got to call the project something, what would they like us to call it?&#8221; Ed Lengyel <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3189267/Tolkien-s-estate-threatens-sue-couple-hobbit-glamping-site.html">tells</a> Daily Mail.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even though we have bent over backwards to meet their demands they are still wanting more,&#8221; she adds.</p>
<p>The campsite owners say they don&#8217;t want to damage the brand. On the contrary, they want to give visitors the option to enjoy the Hobbit experience. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are not trying to damage their brand or do anything offensive and there&#8217;s a lot of local and national interest in the project,&#8221; Lengyel says.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s exactly what the problem is. Warner Bros. and the Tolkien Estate don&#8217;t want others to use their intellectual property to entertain people. Unless it&#8217;s properly licensed of course. </p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time that the Hobbit trademark and copyrights have caused trouble in Britain. Previously Hollywood lawyers went after a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-lawyers-threaten-hobbit-pub-120313/">little pub in Southampton</a> which had been using the Hobbit name for the past 20 years.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109249
title: Google, Facebook and Twitter Protest Hollywood’s ‘SOPA Resurrection’
uri: Google-Facebook-and-Twitter-Protest-Hollywood-s-SOPA-Resurrectio
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6fNGTRL9E_M/
content:
<p><img src="media/4b05c4f2.goofactwi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/goofactwi.jpg" alt="goofactwi" width="240" height="240" class="alignright size-large wp-image-109259">In recent months there have been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-domain-seizures-are-easy-in-the-united-states-150521/">several lawsuits</a> in the U.S. in which copyright holders were granted broad injunctions, allowing them to seize domain names of alleged pirate sites.</p>
<p>In addition, these injunctions were sometimes directed at hosting providers, search engines and social networks, preventing these companies from doing business with these sites.</p>
<p>Most recently, such a request came from Hollywood&#8217;s major movie studios, who previously sued several <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-sues-movietube-sites-over-mass-piracy-150725/">MovieTube websites</a>. The companies asked for a preliminary injunction ordering several third-party companies to stop linking or providing services to the pirate sites. </p>
<p>This proposal reminded some opponents of the blocking provisions that were listed in the controversial SOPA bill. Among the opposition are some of the largest tech firms in the world. </p>
<p>A few hours ago Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Yahoo submitted an amicus brief (<a href="media/b7e70b99.sopa-resurrection-stop.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sopa-resurrection-stop.pdf">pdf</a>) asking the New York federal court not to include neutral service providers in the injunction. </p>
<p>According to the tech giants the proposed language goes too far. An injunction should not target companies that are not in &#8220;active participation&#8221; with MovieTube, nor should it circumvent the rules that are outlined in the DMCA, they argue. </p>
<p>The tech companies suggest that the MPAA is trying to resurrect SOPA-powers through this lawsuit and ask the court to halt their efforts.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs now appear to be repackaging the excesses of SOPA into the All Writs Act. Indeed, the injunction proposed here would require the same online intermediaries targeted by SOPA to engage in the same kind of content and domain blocking that would have been required under SOPA had it been enacted,&#8221; the tech companies argue. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Court should not allow intellectual property rightsholders to obtain through the existing statutes the very sort of third-party blocking orders that failed to gain legislative approval.&#8221;</p>
<p>Instead, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Yahoo ask the court to rule that online services can&#8217;t be targeted by broad injunctions against websites they are not actively involved in. </p>
<p>&#8220;Such a ruling would be all the more appropriate in light of the fact that Congress recently rejected a push to change the law to authorize exactly these kinds of broadbased online blocking orders,&#8221; they note, referring to SOPA.</p>
<p>While the requested injunctions are not new, this is the first time that a broad coalition of tech companies has voiced its opposition. As a result, the MovieTube case may set a crucial precedent for the future of website blocking in the U.S.</p>
<p>Last week the EFF also warned against the potential danger of the MPAA&#8217;s proposed injunction. This didn&#8217;t fare well with several entertainment industry insiders, who <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eff-told-to-shut-the-hell-up-about-sopa-150807/">told the group to shut up</a>. However, with the tech giants getting involved there will only be more talk about it now.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109242
title: Vimeo Intervenes to Fix ‘Pixels’ DMCA Disaster
uri: Vimeo-Intervenes-to-Fix-Pixels-DMCA-Disaster
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DYyv1M_5cn8/
content:
<p><img src="media/f5dad92f.vimeo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vimeo.jpg" alt="vimeo" width="180" height="88" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109246">After watching the situation play out during last week, this past weekend TF <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-hits-indie-creators-for-using-the-word-pixels-150808/">published an article</a> detailing a disastrous copyright notice.</p>
<p>Working on behalf of Columbia Pictures, UK-based anti-piracy outfit Entura International sent an unfortunate DMCA notice to Vimeo demanding that the video hosting site take down several works that allegedly infringed their client&#8217;s copyrights. Trouble was, none of them did. In fact, their only crime was to have the word &#8216;Pixels&#8217; in their titles.</p>
<p>Quite remarkably, among the videos taken down was an <a href="https://vimeo.com/10829255">award-winning movie</a> by Patrick Jean. Published in 2010 and also titled Pixels, this was the work that actually inspired Columbia&#8217;s movie. In fact, Jean even has a credit in Pixels 2015.</p>
<p>Behind the scenes TorrentFreak was in discussion with one of the affected parties. Concerned about a legal process they had little experience of, they asked to remain off the record. But what became clear is that while Entura were permitted to issue a complaint and take down content immediately, the counter-notice procedure was much more drawn out. In fact, several days later no videos had been restored.</p>
<p>Yesterday, however, all that changed. Vimeo informs TorrentFreak that after becoming aware of serious issues with Entura&#8217;s DMCA notice, the video hosting company decided to intervene.</p>
<p>&#8220;Late last week, Vimeo removed certain videos pursuant to a DMCA takedown notice filed by Entura International claiming that the videos contained copyrighted content from the film Pixels,&#8221; Vimeo told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;After users informed us that their videos did not contain any Pixels content, we reached out to Entura.  Entura has since withdrawn its takedown notice.  As a result, we have now restored the affected videos.&#8221;</p>
<p>A check of all ten affected videos reveals that they have indeed been restored to their former glory, which is obviously very good news for the parties involved. However, Vimeo&#8217;s response to the problem &#8211; i.e getting directly involved &#8211; is somewhat unique.</p>
<p>Mostly users are left to fend for themselves when a wrongful complaint is filed against their account. Does this interaction with Entura signal a new approach by Vimeo and can we expect similar action in future?</p>
<p>&#8220;We handle DMCA notices on a case-by-case basis,&#8221; Vimeo told us.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s our policy to inform users of their rights and give them the ability to file a counter-notice or reach out to the complaining party to request that a notice be withdrawn.  In this case, it appeared that the complaining party had made a mistake, so we reached out.&#8221;</p>
<p>But while Vimeo is to be commended for taking action, the system remains flawed. </p>
<p>Without providing any evidence, Entura was not only able to have ten entirely non-infringing videos removed from the service, but in response Vimeo issued each of its affected customers with a &#8216;strike&#8217; against their account. If the users were to receive a couple more of these they could be classified as serial offenders and find themselves banned from Vimeo altogether.</p>
<p>While acknowledging that a repeat infringer policy is considered important for U.S.-based services, we put it to Vimeo that there might be a better way to deal with &#8216;strikes&#8217;. Perhaps delaying the issuing of a strike against a customer account until they&#8217;ve been given a chance to appeal (thereby giving them the benefit of the doubt) might be an option?</p>
<p>&#8220;To answer your other question, when a video is restored — whether due to a counter-notice or the withdrawal of a DMCA notice — the associated strike on the member’s account is removed,&#8221; Vimeo said.</p>
<p>So, in summary, anti-piracy companies issuing wrongful takedowns can easily have a strike placed against a user&#8217;s account, but the onus remains on the user to fight his corner in order to have the strike removed. That&#8217;s not always straightforward.</p>
<p>While things ended well in this case, there can be little doubt that less publicized cases on Vimeo, YouTube and dozens of other services will end badly, with users picking up strikes they don&#8217;t deserve. Thanks to <a href="http://chillingeffects.org/">ChillingEffects</a>, however, many of the problems are made public and can be tackled. Expect more in the future &#8211; many more.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109267
title: Warner Bros. Obtains Injunction Against 16 Torrent Sites
uri: Warner-Bros-Obtains-Injunction-Against-16-Torrent-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/F2XQhzGf7oU/
content:
<p><img src="media/32593961.warner_bros.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warner_bros.jpg" alt="warner_bros" width="200" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-18865">For the past several years Russia has been making increased efforts to protect content creators. This includes a legal process through which copyright holders can obtain a blocking injunction against sites that are unresponsive to takedown demands.</p>
<p>On August 6, 2015, Warner Bros. filed such a lawsuit at the Moscow City Court in an effort to stop (or at least limit) the unlawful distribution of the movie Entourage. The action targeted 16 separate torrent sites including one of Russia&#8217;s most popular, Rutor.org.</p>
<p>The sites had previously been approached to delete the infringing content as Russian law requires but according to a source close to Warner cited by Vedomosti, all failed to respond.</p>
<p>A day later on August 8, the Court upheld Warner&#8217;s claims and initiated provisional interim measures against the pages of the sites from where Entourage was being distributed.</p>
<p>This represents the first time that a U.S. based movie company has used Russia&#8217;s anti-piracy blocking system directly without enlisting the assistance of a local rightsholder. Nevertheless, Warner did get some help in court from local anti-piracy outfit WebKontrol.</p>
<p>&#8220;Warner wants viewers who want to see the movie, to see it in theaters in the best quality, not via a poor-quality illegal copy,&#8221; WebKontrol lawyer Lina Gevorgyan told <a href="http://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2015/08/10/604170-amerikanskaya-kinokompaniya">Vedomosti</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ultimately, we hope that these sites will comply with Russian law and remove the illegal content.&#8221;</p>
<p>The full list of sites affected by the Warner injunction is Bobfilm.net, Kinozadrot.net, Kinokrad.net, Kinomassa.net, BigCinema.tv, My-hit.org, NNM-Club.me, Tushkan.net, Kino-Serial.net, Kinozal.tv, Kinoprosmotr.net, Kinogo.co, Wood-Film.ru, Zerkalo-Rutor.org, 8films.net and Rutor.org.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109234
title: Rightscorp Deal Turns DMCA Notices Into Piracy Lawsuits
uri: Rightscorp-Deal-Turns-DMCA-Notices-Into-Piracy-Lawsuits
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UV2RYZsiKbk/
content:
<p><img src="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg" alt="pirate-running" width="222" height="204" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78717">Working on behalf of several prominent copyright holders, piracy monetization firm <a href="http://www.rightscorp.com/">Rightscorp</a>  sends tends of thousands of DMCA notices to U.S. ISPs every month. </p>
<p>Unlike notices sent by most other copyright holders, Rightscorp&#8217;s also include a settlement proposal, offering alleged downloaders an option to pay off their “debt.”</p>
<p>Most larger ISPs don&#8217;t forward the settlement requests. For example, Comcast <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/comcast-kills-business-model-of-piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-131206/">strips the payment information</a> and simply notifies the subscriber of the infringement, like a regular DMCA takedown notice would. </p>
<p>However, this doesn&#8217;t mean that these users are off the hook. Rightscorp just announced that it has partnered with the Massachusetts lawfirm <a href="http://flynnwirkus.com/">Flynn Wirkus Young</a>, who want to take repeated infringers to court. </p>
<p>According to Rightscorp CEO Christopher Sabec the lawsuits will focus on those users who ignore Rightscorp&#8217;s notices and settlement requests.</p>
<p>&#8220;Under this agreement, we will be forwarding data on internet subscribers who have been sent Rightscorp notices and who have not accepted rights holders&#8217; offers of settlement.&#8221;  </p>
<p>&#8220;Flynn Wirkus Young has already filed several cases based on our data and this partnership will greatly expand the number of cases filed,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the lawfirm launched the first cases based on Rightscorp data. These lawsuit were filed on behalf of Rotten Records and targeted <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/comcast-users-sued-after-ignoring-piracy-notices-150516/">Comcast users</a>, among others.</p>
<p>Flynn Wirkus Young attorney Jordan Rushie informs TF that piracy is a huge problem for the entertainment industry. Even though there are plenty of legal options many people continue to pirate.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s baffling to us that people still steal copyrighted content off the internet, given how easily available it is from places like iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon.com,&#8221; Rushie tells us.</p>
<p>According to Rushie, Rightscorp&#8217;s notices have some effect. However, some of the most egregious copyright infringers need an extra push.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, there are repeat infringers who do not get the message, even after Rightscorp sends them notices. They receive hundreds, and in some cases even thousands, of notices from Rightscorp.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;We have found that the only way to deter some of the most notorious infringers is through litigation,&#8221; Rushie adds.</p>
<p>For Rightscorp the deal has several advantages. The company adds another revenue stream, which is much-needed to pull it out of the red. In addition, the lawsuits may be instrumental as a deterrent, boosting the number of direct settlements.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109313
title: Top UK Advertisers Place 73% Fewer Ads on Pirate Sites
uri: Top-UK-Advertisers-Place-73-Fewer-Ads-on-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/EQwbMgu2CcQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/31176dbb.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg" alt="cityoflondonpolice" width="200" height="82" class="alignright size-full wp-image-71397">For almost two years City of London Police have been working with the music and movie industries to cut down on the consumption of pirated content online.</p>
<p>&#8220;Operation Creative&#8221; employs a multi-pronged approach, seeking to educate consumers while disrupting individuals and groups that operate unlicensed services. Sometimes engagement with site owners is enough for them to reconsider their ways but when that fails, police employ several other strategies.</p>
<p>One approach is to disrupt advertising revenue to sites that have been placed on the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/city-of-london-police-launches-pirate-site-blacklist-for-advertisers-140331/">Infringing Website List</a> (IWL), a database of sites that police and copyright holders have deemed to breach copyright law. In one such action, last year the Police Intellectual Property Unit <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-begin-placing-warning-adverts-pirate-sites-140729/">placed warning ads</a> on IWL sites to deter would-be downloaders.</p>
<p>After encouraging UK-based companies to avoid placing ads on listed &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites, City of London Police have today reported progress in their efforts to cut off sites from their sources of revenue.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) launched Operation Creative and the Infringing Website List (IWL) in 2013, there has been a 73% decrease in advertising from the UK’s top ad spending companies on copyright infringing websites,&#8221; the unit announced this morning.</p>
<p>While an almost three quarters reduction makes good headlines, the announcement is somewhat lacking in detail. For example, PIPCU doesn&#8217;t specify whether 73% fewer impressions are appearing on &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites, or whether the top spending ad companies have reduced their spend with &#8216;infringing&#8217; sites by the same amount.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the sample appears pretty small. According to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33886174">BBC</a>, PIPCU used the services of <a href="http://www.white-bullet.com/">WhiteBullet</a>, which surveyed the ads placed on just 17 sites over a 12-week period between June and September 2013 and again between March and June 2015.</p>
<p>Stopping short of praising other industries, City of London Police says that advertising from the automotive, food and drink, and real estate sectors, has &#8220;almost entirely stopped appearing&#8221; on pirate sites.</p>
<p>The progress was welcomed by the head of PIPCU, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Ratcliffe.</p>
<p>“Working closely with rights holders and the advertising industry, PIPCU has been able to lead the way with tackling copyright infringing sites by successfully disrupting advertising revenue,&#8221; Ratcliffe said.</p>
<p>“Operation Creative and our Infringing Website List (IWL) is just one of the many ways we are working together with the private sector to safeguard the public, protect the creative industries and ensure the reputation of advertisers and brands are not discredited through association with illegal websites.&#8221;</p>
<p>Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe noted the achievements while underlining the importance of collaboration.</p>
<p>“The results of Operation Creative show what can be achieved when enforcement agencies, industry and government work together,&#8221; Neville-Rolfe said.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am delighted PIPCU are clamping down on advertising of things like pop music and gambling on copyright infringing sites &#8211; protecting our industries and consumers from online crime.&#8221;</p>
<p>PIPCU &#8220;clamping down&#8221; on the advertising of pop music on pirate sites is a curious one, not least since the recording industry are fully signed up members of Operation Creative. That said, gambling advertising is an entirely different matter, with some of the UK&#8217;s best known gambling organizations still regularly placing huge ads on many of the world&#8217;s leading torrent sites, despite PIPCU&#8217;s efforts.</p>
<p>While PIPCU and the government appear to be encouraged by their progress thus far, the big question is whether &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites are now struggling not only to find advertisers, but also those prepared to pay a decent rate. That will presumably become more evident in the months to come but if Operation Creative is really as effective as PIPCU would have us believe, cash-strapped sites should eventually throw in the towel.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109297
title: Original Popcorn Time Team Backs Popular Fork
uri: Original-Popcorn-Time-Team-Backs-Popular-Fork
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gmsrXTlitD0/
content:
<p><img src="media/3b9dbdf1.popcornt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcornt.png" alt="popcornt" width="237" height="106" class="alignright size-full wp-image-101106">In little more than a year Popcorn Time has become a household name on the Internet.</p>
<p>The software amassed millions of users by offering BitTorrent-powered streaming in an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface.</p>
<p>A relatively small percentage of these users are aware of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-shuts-down-then-gets-resurrected-by-yts-yify-140315/">bumpy start</a> it had in 2014. A few weeks after its <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/open-source-torrent-streaming-a-netflix-for-pirates-140308/">launch</a> the original app was shut down by the original developers, facing pressure from Hollywood. </p>
<p>However, due to its open source nature the project was quickly picked up by others. This resulted in several popular forks that have each developed their own features, with most releasing their source code in public.</p>
<p>Over the past several months there has been some competition between the various forks. Several spin–offs have claimed the name “Popcorn Time” but thus far none have been endorsed in any way by the original team. </p>
<p>That changed today when some members of the original project began backing the popular PopcornTime.io client. Starting a few hours ago the original <a href="http://getpopcornti.me">getpopcornti.me</a> domain name was redirected to <a href="https://popcorntime.io/">popcorntime.io</a>.</p>
<p>The developers of the fork, who are still in contact with some of the founding members, are happy with this recognition. </p>
<p>&#8220;We recently went from the &#8216;unofficial official&#8217; to just simply the &#8216;official&#8217; Popcorn Time,&#8221; KsaRedFx <a href="https://blog.popcorntime.io/popcorn-times-origins-in-terms-with-today/">announces</a>.  </p>
<p>&#8220;This doesn&#8217;t mean that the old developers have come back; They definitely have not&#8230; But it does mean that we have the backing and support from some of the original members,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>Aside from a seal of approval, nothing will change. The &#8220;official&#8221; fork will continue to operate from the .io domain and the original domain name remains in control of Popcorn Time&#8217;s founder. </p>
<p>&#8220;We won&#8217;t change from our current domain. In fact we don&#8217;t own the old Popcorn Time one, it&#8217;s just a redirect to our .io,&#8221; KsaRedFx tells TF.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear whether all the founding members are backing the endorsement, but the redirect shows that some prefer the .io variant, perhaps because some of the fork&#8217;s developers also worked with the original crew.</p>
<p>Endorsement or not, it&#8217;s still up to the public to decide which variant they want to use. At the moment <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time#Legacy">popcorntime.io and popcorn-time.se</a> appear to be the preferred options and both have millions of users.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109217
title: Indian Porn Block Spiked Interest in VPN Services
uri: Indian-Porn-Block-Spiked-Interest-in-VPN-Services
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/CA13X-Coaeo/
content:
<p><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076">Opponents of website blocking often argue that it&#8217;s ineffective, as people have many options to circumvent censorship. </p>
<p>We have seen examples of this in the past when courts ordered popular torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents to be blocked.  </p>
<p>Last week, the Internet witnessed one of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/indias-porn-block-targets-torrent-sites-collegehumor-and-9gag-150803/">broadest website blockades</a> in history. With a single order the Indian Government blocked millions of people from accessing popular porn sites. </p>
<p>The authorities argued that the sites threaten the morality and decency of Indians but following a public revolt the Government <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/india-reverses-ban-on-internet-porn-after-public-outrage-ridicule-20150804-giroi8.html">lifted</a> the ban after just a few days.</p>
<p>Since the measures affected millions of Internet users we decided to take a look at the effects the blockade had on interest in circumvention tools such as VPNs and proxies. With help from <a href="https://www.google.com/trends/">Google trends</a>, we can show that it was quite significant.</p>
<p>As soon as the blocks became active searches for &#8220;VPN&#8221; spiked in India, as shown in the graph below. </p>
<p><center><strong>VPN search trends in India (90 days)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/13f10109.vpn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vpn.png" alt="vpn" width="600" height="327" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109275"></center></p>
<p>Similarly, Indian searches for &#8220;proxy,&#8221; referring to proxy sites that allow users to bypass ISPs blockades, went up as well. </p>
<p>Based on these two search trends it is safe to say that even if the Indian Government had decided to keep the porn ban intact, it&#8217;s effectiveness would be rather limited.</p>
<p><center><strong>Proxy search trends in India (90 days)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/6d58b168.proxy1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/proxy1.png" alt="proxy" width="600" height="325" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109276"></center></p>
<p>The response to India&#8217;s censorship efforts are another shining example of how Internet users find ways to bypass access restrictions in the Internet. Whether it&#8217;s porn or torrents, people usually find a way.</p>
<p>To quote John Gilmore once again: “The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”</p>
<p>Proof of the ineffectiveness of Pirate Bay blockades was previously highlighted by several <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/censoring-the-pirate-bay-is-futile-isps-reveal-120711/">Dutch</a> and <a href="https://tpb.pirateparty.org.uk/blog/219">UK</a> Internet providers. Similarly, an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/censoring-pirate-sites-is-counterproductive-research-finds-160708/">Italian study</a> found that local blocking efforts moved traffic to other pirate sites.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109294
title: Adult Movie Outfit is Most Litigious Copyright Plaintiff in U.S.
uri: Adult-Movie-Outfit-is-Most-Litigious-Copyright-Plaintiff-in-U-S
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Dbr8OsCc4Yw/
content:
<p><img src="media/3017f788.pirate-card-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card-150x150.jpg" width="150" height="150" class="alignright">Ever since the rise of peer-to-peer file-sharing more than 15 years ago, the practice has become closely connected to copyright lawsuits. Initially sites and services became entertainment industry targets but in time Joe Public became the focus of legal action.</p>
<p>From around 2003 the practice was led by the RIAA but after five years targeting tens of thousands of people (a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/why-the-riaa-doesnt-mind-losing-money-on-lawsuits-100714/">loss-making exercise</a> focused on sending an &#8216;educational&#8217; message), the music industry <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-stops-lawsuits-but-not-the-threats-081219/">decided to back off</a>. Soon after, however, a new group of plaintiffs would hit the scene, arguably more cynical than the labels had ever been.</p>
<p>So-called &#8216;copyright trolls&#8217; have been on the rise in the United States since 2008 but really took off in 2011/2012 and there has been no let up since. Porn companies have been the most aggressive by a long way, a fact confirmed by a new report just published by legal analytics firm <a href="https://lexmachina.com/">Lex Machina</a>.</p>
<p>Spanning all copyright litigation since 2009, the report dedicates a section to the activities of trolls and the outcomes of almost 6,000 file-sharing related cases. For those who follow file-sharing cases closely, it comes as little surprise to read that one company in particular leads the way.</p>
<p>Out of more than 6,050 cases filed since January 2009, adult movie company turned copyright troll <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/?s=malibu+media">Malibu Media</a> leads the way with a staggering 4,332. That total not only makes the company the most litigious in the file-sharing space, but also the most litigious copyright plaintiff in the United States, period.</p>
<p>Malibu Media&#8217;s excesses in this area are further underlined when comparing them to other companies engaged in similar activity. The company set up to pursue downloaders of the movie <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/?s=dallas+buyers+club">Dallas Buyers Club</a> sits in second place with a relatively measly 274 cases, fifteen times fewer in volume than Malibu.</p>
<p>The remaining places are heavily occupied by adult movie copyright trolls interspersed with the likes of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/judge-ip-address-doesnt-identify-a-movie-pirate-150410/">Manny Film </a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/?s=voltage+pictures">Voltage Pictures</a>.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/8a341cba.lex-cases-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lex-cases-1.png" alt="lex-cases-1" width="600" height="360" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109304"></center></p>
<p>Perhaps of most interest is how these thousands of cases are concluded. In their threatening letters to alleged file-sharers, all of the above warn of court cases and massive damages if an arrangement isn&#8217;t reached. However, according to the report only 137 cases went to court in the period, with 126 concluded via default judgment, 10 via consent judgment and just a single case settled via full trial.</p>
<p>Overall, it&#8217;s estimated that 90% of all file-sharing cases are concluded with some kind of settlement. That&#8217;s compared to a 64% settlement rate evident in other copyright cases.</p>
<p>Given the volume of cases filed it&#8217;s no surprise that Malibu Media are out in front with both cases in court (66) and total damages received ($3.05m). However, the people behind the animated movie <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/alleged-bittorrent-pirate-sued-three-times-for-the-same-download-130502/">Zambezia</a> are more efficient, with more than $330K culled from just three cases.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/0c21a5c0.lex-cases-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lex-cases-2.png" alt="lex-cases-2" width="600" height="278" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109306"></center></p>
<p>The majority of damages awarded come from default judgments ($4m) with consent judgments accounting for just $0.6m. Awards from judges total a relatively meager $100,000.</p>
<p>Also of interest are the locations where most copyright troll cases are being filed.</p>
<p>&#8220;File sharing cases are concentrated most highly in the Northern District of Illinois (936), followed by the District of Colorado (601) and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (580),&#8221; the report notes.</p>
<p>In recent times the District of New Jersey has become the district of choice, setting a record of 139 cases filed in the first quarter of 2015.</p>
<p>Interestingly these locations can provide an indicator of the kind of damages a file-sharer can expect if he or she fails to appear in court to mount a defense.</p>
<p>&#8220;Among the top 20 busiest districts awarding statutory damages for consent or default judgments, the Southern District of Indiana stands out for having the highest median award ($51,800),&#8221; the report notes.</p>
<p>In second place sits the Western District of Michigan ($38,300) followed by the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Northern District of Indiana (both<br>
$36,000).</p>
<p>Statistically, cases in the District of Oregon prove less expensive for defendants. After handling eight cases, the Court awarded an average of less than $1,000 to the plaintiffs.</p>
<p>With more and more cases being filed every single week, the copyright troll phenomenon is showing no signs of letting up in the United States. It is clearly a profitable exercise for many involved, Malibu Media in particular, to the point where it&#8217;s now considered a revenue stream in its own right.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109374
title: CNN & CBC Sued For Pirating 31 Second YouTube Video
uri: CNN-CBC-Sued-For-Pirating-31-Second-YouTube-Video
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RmIikJs3Kvo/
content:
<p><img src="media/a5365da2.youtubeface.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/youtubeface.jpg" alt="youtubeface" width="222" height="158" class="alignright size-full wp-image-107705">While millions of users upload videos to YouTube every day without expecting any reward, it&#8217;s possible for popular content to generate plenty of revenue through YouTube&#8217;s account monetization program.</p>
<p>New York resident Alfonzo Cutaia used the program last year when he sensed he had a hit video on his hands, but allegedly some news organizations didn&#8217;t play by the rules and now things have become messy.</p>
<p>Things began in 2014 when winter storm &#8216;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_13%E2%80%9321,_2014_North_American_winter_storm">Knife</a>&#8216; buried parts of New York and surrounding areas under several feet of snow. On November 18, Cutaia was watching the storm coming over Lake Erie from his Buffalo office window when he decided to record events on his mobile phone.</p>
<p>Recognizing the potential for interest in his video, Cutaia uploaded his 32 second clip to YouTube. He gave it the title &#8220;Buffalo Lake Effect&#8221; and opted to generate revenue via YouTube&#8217;s monetization program. Cutaia selected &#8220;Standard YouTube License&#8221; and watched the hits roll in.</p>
<p>The recording did very well indeed. By the end of day one Cutaia&#8217;s video had been viewed more than 513,000 times. On day two things blew up with an additional 2.3 million hits and soon after the New York resident was receiving requests from news outlets &#8211; CBS, ABC, CNN, NBC, Reuters and AP &#8211; to use his footage.</p>
<p>But according to a lawsuit filed this week by Cutaia in a New York court, around November 18 Canada&#8217;s CBC aired the video online without permission, with a CBC logo as an overlay.</p>
<p>After complaining to CBC about continued unauthorized use, last month Cutaia was told by CBC that the company had obtained the video from CNN on a 10-day license. However, Cutaia claims that the video was used by CBC and its partners for many months, having been supplied to them by CNN who also did not have a license.</p>
<p>In his complaint, Cutaia seeks injunctions against both CBC and CNN to stop further unlawful use of his video. He also accuses the news outlets of &#8220;intentional and willful&#8221; copyright infringement and seeks appropriate damages.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the lawsuit also claims that both CBC and CNN violated the DMCA when the companies &#8216;liberated&#8217; it from the YouTube system and offered it for viewing elsewhere.</p>
<p>&#8220;In order to infringe the Storm Video, CBC [and CNN] circumvented Cutaia&#8217;s technological measures limiting access to the Storm Video, without authorization, in violation of <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201">17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)(a)</a>,&#8221; the lawsuit reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;By its reproduction and alteration to the Storm Video, CBC [and CNN] intentionally removed and/or altered the copyright management information of the Storm Video, without authorization, in violation of U.S.C. § 1202(b)(1)&#8221;</p>
<p>CBC and CNN are also accused of distributing the video despite knowing that the copyright management information had <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1202">been removed</a>.</p>
<p>In closing, Cutaia seeks permanent injunctions against CBC and CNN, accuses them of varying degrees of copyright infringement, while demanding a jury trial to determine damages.</p>
<p>In the meantime &#8220;Buffalo Lake Effect&#8221; continues to perform well on YouTube. By July 2015 the video had been viewed more than 3.68m times.</p>
<p><Center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VxuacZudBPU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109392
title: Dallas Buyers Club Ruling Devastates Copyright Trolling Down Under
uri: Dallas-Buyers-Club-Ruling-Devastates-Copyright-Trolling-Down-Under
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YhfUhH4j9-M/
content:
<p><img src="media/78231829.dallas.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas.jpg" width="180" height="180" class="alignright">Back in April the company behind the movie Dallas Buyers Club (DBC) <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/iinet-loses-dallas-buyers-club-piracy-case-150407/">won the right</a> to obtain the personal details of 4,726 individuals said to have downloaded and shared the movie without permission.</p>
<p>As six Australian ISPs &#8211; iiNet, Internode, Dodo, Amnet, Adam Internet and Wideband Networks – stood by ready to furnish the information, the Federal Court told DBC it wanted to see copies of the letters the company would be sending to alleged pirates before releasing the data.</p>
<p>In June it became evident that DBC were seeking to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/trolls-want-to-interrogate-bittorrent-pirates-by-phone-150618/">interrogate Internet account holders</a> over the phone, even going as far as to demand details of their salaries. DBC still did not reveal how much money they intended to demand from alleged infringers but in a ruling handed down this morning from the Federal Court, Justice Nye Perram details what happened next.</p>
<p>Early July, DBC provided a written submission to the court detailing four claims it intended to make against alleged pirates.</p>
<p>(a) A claim for the cost of an actual purchase of the movie Dallas Buyers Club.</p>
<p>(b) A claim relating to each alleged infringer&#8217;s uploading activities. DBC said it would seek to recover a one-off license fee from each individual that had uploaded parts of the movie to other BitTorrent users.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is not trespassing on DBC&#8217;s legitimate confidentiality concerns to say that the sum sought by DBC in relation to this head of damages was substantial,&#8221; Justice Perram writes.</p>
<p>(c) A claim for damages depending on how many copies of OTHER copyrighted works had been downloaded by each alleged infringer.</p>
<p>(d) A claim for damages based on the amount of money it has cost DBC to obtain the personal details of each alleged infringer.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Justice Perram finds the claim set out in (a) to be both reasonable and with &#8220;certain biblical charm&#8221;. Equally, the judge feels that since DBC has spent considerable amounts tracking alleged infringers down and bringing legal proceedings, the amounts set out in (d) are also fair.</p>
<p>However, when it comes to the claims outlined in (b), Justice Perram has much less sympathy with the movie studio.</p>
<p>&#8220;The idea that any court would assess DBC&#8217;s damages on the basis that BitTorrent users who were going to share the Film over the BitTorrent network would have avoided infringement by approaching DBC to negotiate a distribution arrangement in return for a license fee is so surreal as not to be taken seriously,&#8221; the judge writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;If such a claim were made in a proceeding for copyright infringement in this Court I am satisfied that it would be dismissed summarily without trial&#8230;.as a case having no reasonable prospects of success.&#8221;</p>
<p>In respect of (c) &#8211; trying to calculate damages based on OTHER infringements &#8211; the judge dismisses that too.</p>
<p>Essentially the judge found that DBC can claim for the price of the film and claim for a proportion of the amount spent on tracking down an alleged infringer, but if he is to allow the release of subscriber information, DBC are not allowed to ask for anything more.</p>
<p>However, that in itself raises a problem. Since DBC has no presence in Australia, the Court has no ability to punish the company for contempt if it fails to follow Justice Perram&#8217;s instructions. So, in order to make it financially unviable for DBC to go rogue, the Judge now requires DBC to pay a AUS$600,000 bond before any subscriber information is released.</p>
<p>While today&#8217;s ruling doesn&#8217;t preclude DBC from going ahead with &#8216;deterrent&#8217; letters to alleged pirates with a small fee attached to cover their costs, it does turn their juicy cash cow into a giant pig. Few outside the company will be disappointed by that.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">best VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109344
title: Hosting Company Wants to Wipe 1,103 Megaupload Servers
uri: Hosting-Company-Wants-to-Wipe-1-103-Megaupload-Servers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/cMJgL74LWEg/
content:
<p><img src="media/5fd37436.megaupload.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload.jpg" alt="megaupload" width="198" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-30407">When Megaupload <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-shut-down-120119/">was raided</a> early 2012, the U.S. Government seized 1,103 servers at Carpathia’s hosting facility in the United States.</p>
<p>More than three-and-a-half years have since passed and it still remains uncertain if former users will ever be able to retrieve their files.</p>
<p>A reporter who used Megaupload to store work-related data did take legal steps to secure his files. However, despite six requests asking the court to find a solution for the return of his data, there is still no progress.</p>
<p>Hosting provider Carpathia previously estimated that it cost them $9,000 a day to keep the hardware in storage. Nonetheless, the court urged the company to preserve the evidence and the hardware is still gathering dust at a Virginia warehouse. </p>
<p>If it&#8217;s up to Carpathia&#8217;s new parent company this will soon change. The company submitted a motion at a Virginia federal court this week asking for permission to destroy all data on the servers.</p>
<p>Carpathia Hosting was acquired by <a href="http://www.qtsdatacenters.com/">QTS</a> which now owns all assets of the hosting company. This includes the Megaupload servers. </p>
<p>According to QTS the company shouldn&#8217;t be required to preserve the servers, not least because they have not been used in the ongoing lawsuit in recent years.</p>
<p>&#8220;As the successor-in-interest to Carpathia, QTS now requests judicial relief from the physical and financial burden of storing and maintaining the 1,103 computer servers at issue,&#8221; QTS&#8217; lawyers write.  </p>
<p>&#8220;As the servers have not been used for the purposes of any litigation since the filing of Carpathia’s Motion for Protective Order on March 20, 2012, QTS seeks an Order from the Court allowing for disposition of the servers and data,&#8221; they add. </p>
<p>After the servers were moved to a storage facility the costs of maintaining them has been reduced to $5,760 per month, but QTS sees no reason why it should continue to pay this.  </p>
<p>Carpathia Hosting submitted a similar request to delete Megaupload data in 2012 but this was turned down by the court. </p>
<p>Kim Dotcom is not happy with the renewed request. Two years ago hosting company Leaseweb wiped hundreds of Megaupload servers so he believes that the remaining ones must be preserved at all costs.</p>
<p>&#8220;Obviously we will try to keep the data safe. Not only because it contains important evidence but also because we want to return the digital property to millions of Megaupload users,&#8221; Dotcom tells TF </p>
<p>&#8220;The Department of Justice has allowed the deletion of all Megaupload servers in Europe. We will try to stop them from doing the same in the United States,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>This view is shared by Megaupload&#8217;s lead global defense counsel Ira Rothken who plans to submit an opposition brief. According to Rothken the U.S. has to preserve the Megaupload data, as evidence and to allow former users to access their files. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Department of Justice is supposed to protect consumers. They are the department of justice for everyone not just Hollywood,&#8221; Rothken notes.</p>
<p>One option could be to let one of the other parties store the data, which has been suggested before. Soon after the raid Megaupload and Carpathia even came to an agreement to hand over the servers, but the Government blocked the plan in court. </p>
<p>The fate of Megaupload&#8217;s data is now in the hands of District Court Judge Liam O’Grady who will rule on the motion when all parties have had a chance to have their say.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109350
title: Legal Scholars Warn Against 10 Year Prison for Online Pirates
uri: Legal-Scholars-Warn-Against-10-Year-Prison-for-Online-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/otrwLaq4vmY/
content:
<p><img src="media/4d28e669.uk-flag.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/uk-flag.jpg" alt="uk-flag" width="200" height="179" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86005">The UK Government plans to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-wants-10-year-prison-sentence-for-online-pirates-150718/">increase the maximum prison sentence</a> for online copyright infringement to ten years.</p>
<p>The current maximum of two years is not enough to deter infringers, lawmakers argue.</p>
<p>The new proposal follows a suggestion put forward in a study commissioned by the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) earlier this year.</p>
<p>The study concluded that the criminal sanctions for copyright infringement available under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) could be amended to bring them into line with related offenses, such as counterfeiting.</p>
<p>Before implementing the changes the Government launched a public consultation, asking for comments and advice. While the responses have yet to be made public, TF has heard from two prominent groups that are speaking out against an extension. </p>
<p>The British and Irish Law, Education and Technology Association (<a href="http://www.bileta.ac.uk/">BILETA</a>) shared a <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/274400510/BILETA-Response-Changes-to-Penalties-for-Online-Copyright-Infringement?secret_password=cdwoU04MwlTrruzvZFBT">copy</a> of their recommendations with TF. The group&#8217;s main conclusion is that changes to the current law are not needed.</p>
<p>According to the group the prison term extension is not acceptable because the punishment would be too harsh.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;legitimate means to tackle large-scale commercial scale online copyright infringement are already available and currently being used, and the suggested sentence of 10 years seems disproportionate,&#8221; the group writes.</p>
<p>In addition, BILETA argues that the proposal is not affordable, not feasible and incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;The freedom of expression may be interfered with if there is a &#8216;pressing social need&#8217; and is proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued,&#8221; the group notes, adding that the standards for a pressing social need are often not met in piracy cases. </p>
<p>If the Government decides to move forward with a change of law, the legal scholars suggest limiting the sentence for both online and offline copyright infringement to four years maximum. </p>
<p>Another organization speaking out against the proposal is the Open Rights Group. Executive Director Jim Killock tells TF that the Government inaccurately suggests that only large scale commercial infringers will be affected by the change. </p>
<p>&#8220;The proposal wraps up businesses and people who &#8216;affect prejudicially&#8217; a copyright owner,&#8221; Killock says. </p>
<p>&#8220;There is no requirement of intent to harm, merely that the user should have known that they were violating copyright law. This makes the offense a ‘strict liability’, which is rare.&#8221; </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2015/should-file-sharers-face-ten-years-in-gaol">Open Rights Group</a> the vague “affect prejudicially” definition means that heavy Pirate Bay uploaders or even those who merely share files could potentially be targeted. </p>
<p>&#8220;We believe it creates scope to abuse the law. It is hard to know what &#8216;prejudicial affect&#8217; is. It is hard to estimate damages from online sharing or access. The fact that someone did not seek to harm a copyright owner is no defense. </p>
<p>&#8220;The result is that people who are not really criminals, but are rather just naive users, may face punitive claims. At the very least, the risk of criminal claims means naive infringers can be pushed into accepting heavy punishments to remove the risk of long jail sentences,&#8221; Killock tells us.</p>
<p>Thus far we have not seen any comments from groups supporting the proposal, but UK entertainment industry organizations such as FACT and BPI are likely to weigh in later.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-penalties-for-online-copyright-infringement">The consultation</a> is open until this coming Monday and the Government will release the individual responses and publish a summary report afterwards.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109291
title: BitTorrent Can Be Exploited for DoS Attacks, Research Warns
uri: BitTorrent-Can-Be-Exploited-for-DoS-Attacks-Research-Warns
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RspM4e2fxhU/
content:
<p><img src="media/2162d4ce.danger.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/danger.jpg" alt="danger" width="225" height="191" class="alignright size-full wp-image-51238">With dozens of millions of active users at any given point in the day the BitTorrent protocol is a force to be reckoned with. </p>
<p>While BitTorrent swarms are relatively harmless, a new paper published by City University London researcher Florian Adamsky reveals that there&#8217;s potential for abuse. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.usenix.org/conference/woot15/workshop-program/presentation/p2p-file-sharing-hell-exploiting-bittorrent">paper</a>, titled &#8216;P2P File-Sharing in Hell: Exploiting BitTorrent Vulnerabilities to Launch Distributed Reflective DoS Attacks&#8217;, shows that various BitTorrent protocols can be used to amplify Denial of Service attacks. </p>
<p>Through various experiments Adamsky has confirmed that the vulnerability affects the uTP, DHT, Message Stream Encryption and BitTorrent Sync protocols. </p>
<p>The attacks are most effective through the BitTorrent Sync application where the original bandwidth can be increased by a factor of 120. </p>
<p>For traditional torrent clients such as uTorrent and Vuze the impact is also significant, boosting attacks by 39 and 54 times respectively. </p>
<p>Speaking with TF, Adamsky states that it&#8217;s relatively easy to carry out a distributed reflective Denial of Service (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR-DOS">DRDoS</a>) attack via BitTorrent. The attacker only needs a valid info-hash, or the &#8220;secret&#8221; in case of BitTorrent Sync.</p>
<p>&#8220;This attack should not be so hard to run, since an attacker can collect millions of possible amplifiers by using trackers, DHT or PEX,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;With a single BitTorrent Sync ping message, an attacker can amplify the traffic up to 120 times.&#8221;</p>
<p>BitTorrent Inc has been notified about the vulnerabilities and patched some in a recent beta release. For now, however, uTorrent is still vulnerable to a DHT attack. Vuze was contacted as well but has yet to release an update according to the researcher.</p>
<p>For users of BitTorrent-based software there is no security concern other than the fact that people are participating in a DDoS attack without their knowledge. The vulnerability mostly leads to a lot of wasted bandwidth.  </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109359
title: Piracy Stunt Studio ‘Overwhelmed” By Positive Feedback
uri: Piracy-Stunt-Studio-Overwhelmed-By-Positive-Feedback
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aC-NZ6yFTZs/
content:
<p><img src="media/fbafd253.dying-sucks.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dying-sucks.jpg" alt="dying-sucks" width="180" height="157" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109366">&#8220;What the fuck do you think you are doing?&#8221;</p>
<p>While a chillingly familiar phrase to anyone who has dismantled an oily motorcycle engine on a family kitchen table, that&#8217;s actually the scolding voice of Madonna preaching to her fans more than a decade ago.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s been 12 long years since those infamous words were first heard by shocked would-be pirates of Madonna&#8217;s album American Life. But even today the decision to <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030417/1013232.shtml">embed the singer&#8217;s anger</a> into MP3 tracks on early file-sharing networks makes little sense.</p>
<p>Aggressive lecturing of pirates has never worked and is never likely to. Whether entertainment companies like it or not, pirates are human beings. Talking to them like children and/or thieving scum might be tempting, but befriending, nurturing and entertaining (even through gritted teeth) is a much better strategy.</p>
<p>This week came news of another effort at converting pirates into paying customers, with NoodleCake Studios confessing that it <a href="http://www.noodlecake.com/we-pirated-our-own-game/">uploaded a special version of its game</a> Shooting Stars! to torrent sites. The game was playable for a while but had an unbeatable boss which preceded a message to support the developers and buy the game.</p>
<p>Of course, these kinds of scheme aren&#8217;t new and it&#8217;s a path <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/android-dev-punishes-pirates-at-the-behest-of-reddit-150203/">well-trodden</a> by many software developers in recent times. However, what NoodleCake brought to the table this week were huge helpings of honesty and a desire to use inevitable piracy as a point of leverage.</p>
<p>First off, the studio made it clear up front that the whole thing wasn&#8217;t designed to piss off Android pirates. It was a straight up and good-humored marketing stunt.</p>
<p>&#8220;Being spiteful really isn&#8217;t our style to be honest. We know that piracy exists and is an issue, but it is also something that we have just come to accept as part of the digital age,&#8221; NoodleCake&#8217;s Ryan Holowaty informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;So instead we thought it would be fun to embrace piracy and see if we could turn it into something positive from a press stand point. The overwhelming response we have gotten from media on this approach has proven the experiment a success, far beyond driving any additional sales via the in-game messaging to purchase the premium version.&#8221;</p>
<p>Intrigued by the positive approach to a decades old problem, TF asked the company about its views on people who download their content for free.</p>
<p>&#8220;Pirates come in all shapes and sizes and because of that, we don&#8217;t classify them as really anything but pirates. Some will become future customers if they like our products, others can be considered a wash and never will purchase anything,&#8221; Holowaty explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;But even just having someone play our games, be it paid or not, is a small victory in itself. We aren&#8217;t here to lecture anyone on the ethicacy of pirating. Instead we wanted to tell a fun story using piracy as the medium.&#8221;</p>
<p>And the studio appears to have done just that, thankfully without the kind of aggressive stance employed by Madonna all those years ago.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think there is a fine line you can walk and perhaps aggressively calling out fans of your music isn&#8217;t the best way to do it. In our case we poke fun at the situation by parodying the music industry and using less aggressive messaging by saying that piracy sucks and if you want, please support us,&#8221; Holowaty notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;I believe strongly in karma and that the world gives back what you put into it. So if you are throwing vitriol at you fans because they wanted to experience your product, odds are they might send it right back at you. Then you end up in a flame war and no one wants that.&#8221;</p>
<p>While refraining from lectures and bitter rhetoric, in the end NoodleCake are pragmatic about their <strike>anti-piracy</strike> marketing efforts.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think doing stunts like we did show that we are aware of piracy but aren&#8217;t here to try and change how DRM or anti-piracy policy works in any way. Just like our fans who pay for our games, we want to build a relationship with anyone playing our games, paid or not,&#8221; Holowaty adds.</p>
<p>&#8220;If even one person buys the game because they appreciated or &#8216;got&#8217; what we were doing with the fake pirated version, then that is a win for us. I have seen a number of people commenting on the story saying that they purchased the game because of what we did.</p>
<p>&#8220;The positive feedback has been kind of overwhelming to be honest,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/5aa864cb.PremiumFunkIntro.gif" data-original-source="http://www.noodlecake.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/PremiumFunkIntro.gif" alt="Intro"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109346
title: Should Web Browsers Block Copyright Infringing URLs?
uri: Should-Web-Browsers-Block-Copyright-Infringing-URLs
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YBX9nNgEfC0/
content:
<p><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076">With more than 150 million active users per month uTorrent is without a doubt the most popular file-sharing application.</p>
<p>Many people use the software to download pirated material, which worries copyright holder groups such as the RIAA.</p>
<p>Earlier this month the music group <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-asks-bittorrent-inc-to-block-infringing-content-150804/">sent a letter</a> to uTorrent&#8217;s parent company BitTorrent Inc. urging it to do something about this unauthorized use. Ideally, the RIAA would like infringing hashes to be banned so that users can no longer share these files.</p>
<p>“We are willing to establish a process to share the hashes with BitTorrent Inc. on a regular basis so that BitTorrent Inc. can use the information to deter further infringement of those files via its goods and services,” the RIAA <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/273550708/Torrentfreak-Riaa-Bittorrent">wrote</a> in a letter to the company. </p>
<p>Technically speaking it&#8217;s quite easy to block hashes. Several BitTorrent trackers <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-bittorrent-tracker-pressured-to-ban-infringing-hashes-150516/">already do this</a> to keep copyright holders appeased, but thus far this has been a bridge too far for the company behind uTorrent. </p>
<p>BitTorrent Inc. hasn&#8217;t responded to our repeated requests for comment, but in a brief statement provided to <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/08/07/bittorrent-to-riaa-youre-barking-up-the-wrong-tree/">Venturebeat</a> the company notes that the protocol is open source, legal and that they themselves don&#8217;t host any infringing content. This is true, but the response also misses the main point. </p>
<p>The RIAA&#8217;s request isn&#8217;t about the protocol or the technology. It&#8217;s about adding a piracy prevention mechanism to a neutral piece of software. Should BitTorrent be obliged to do that?</p>
<p>Legally speaking BitTorrent Inc isn&#8217;t required to take any action. Browser developers don&#8217;t have to block infringing URLs either, even though hundreds of millions of people use their software to download or stream pirated content. </p>
<p>However, the RIAA&#8217;s letter shows that the music group is trying to shift this obvious boundary, and they are not only focusing on BitTorrent.</p>
<p>TF has learned that the RIAA and MPAA are pushing for automated pirate site blocking/warning technology. Outright takedown requests to browser vendors are not going to happen anytime soon, but subtle changes may appear. </p>
<p>The RIAA <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-wants-web-browsers-to-block-pirate-sites-and-more-130918/">previously noted</a> that it would like Google to expand Chrome&#8217;s malware warning system to cover pirate sites. This would mean that users see a red warning screen when they attempt to visit known piracy sites. </p>
<p>For its part the MPAA is actively lobbying for &#8220;site scoring&#8221; tools behind closed doors. A <a href="media/0a7a6c24.ZIRiCeu.png" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/ZIRiCeu.png">leaked copy</a> of the group&#8217;s anti-piracy strategies lists site scoring services, which identify pirate sites, as a high priority. </p>
<p>The Hollywood group writes that these pirate site lists can then be used as a blocking tool by advertisers, payment processors, domain name registrars, hosting providers and search engines. Web browsers are not mentioned specifically, but it&#8217;s not hard to imagine these also appearing on the MPAA&#8217;s wish list.</p>
<p>In any case, the efforts outlined above show that copyright holders would like to extend anti-piracy measures beyond traditional service providers to software vendors. Today it&#8217;s BitTorrent clients but browser vendors may be next.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109278
title: Torrent Site Uploaders Agree to Snitch on Colleagues
uri: Torrent-Site-Uploaders-Agree-to-Snitch-on-Colleagues
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/eAkVjqzJ8xs/
content:
<p><img src="media/aae7b176.snitch.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/snitch.jpg" alt="snitch" width="180" height="165" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53823">Back in April, Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN obtained <em>ex parte</em> court orders (defendants didn&#8217;t appear) against members of a piracy release group.</p>
<p>Known online as &#8216;Dutch Release Team&#8217;, the group specialized in making available subtitled films and TV shows. In their absence the courts ordered three leaders of the group to stop their infringement or face the consequences &#8211; a fine of 2,000 euros per day or 2,000 euros per infringing upload, to a maximum fine of 50,000 euros.</p>
<p>According to BREIN the group members not only moderated their own website where they uploaded their latest releases, they were also involved in uploading content to torrent sites including The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents.</p>
<p>In the wake of the April rulings it now appears that the trio have come to a settlement agreement with BREIN. Not only have they removed their torrents from KickassTorrents and agreed to pay a cash settlement, they have also promised to hand over information about other group members to BREIN.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s unclear what details have been handed over, it&#8217;s fairly unusual for &#8216;snitching&#8217; to be publicly revealed as part of a piracy settlement deal. It&#8217;s not unheard of (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/android-pirate-agrees-to-work-undercover-for-the-feds-140416/">it happened in the United States last year</a>) but it certainly piqued our interest. Is this a common thing for BREIN?</p>
<p>&#8220;The bulk of what &#8211; and who &#8211; we get is a result of our own investigations, but it is true that once we have identified an offender we are interested to hear about accomplices,&#8221; BREIN chief Tim Kuik informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the anti-piracy boss also implies that those looking for an easier ride could get more favorable settlement terms if the information they hand over to BREIN proves to be of value.</p>
<p>&#8220;Depending on circumstances, useful information may be reflected in the terms of settlement,&#8221; Kuik explains.</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s not only those looking to get themselves out of trouble who pass information to the anti-piracy group. In some cases the tip-offs come from rivals in the piracy scene.</p>
<p>&#8220;Also we do get anonymous tips regarding offenders and from time to time it is clear that a tip comes from a &#8216;competitor&#8217;,&#8221; Kuik says. &#8220;It&#8217;s just like with other crime on any turf.&#8221;</p>
<p>While instances of &#8216;snitching&#8217; are most certainly under publicized, some anti-piracy groups thrive on this kind of intelligence gathering. The UK’s Federation Against Software Theft runs a so-called “grass hotline” where people can inform on companies for using under licensed software.</p>
<p>FAST rely on two human traits to gather information on targets – greed (informants get paid) and a desire for revenge. According to FAST, many of their snitches are ex-employees with a grudge against their former bosses.</p>
<p>There can little doubt that snitching on fellow Internet users is frowned upon by many file-sharers but at the same time intense pressure from copyright holders and threats of punishing legal action have the ability to force most hands. It&#8217;s an intelligence conduit that will always remain useful to groups like BREIN, even if most cases aren&#8217;t made public.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109443
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 08/17/15
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-08-17-15
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/uw4RsscF6bo/
content:
<p><img src="media/6b7a0316.madmax.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/madmax.jpg" alt="madmax" width="300" height="192" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109446">This week we have three newcomers in our chart. </p>
<p>Mad Max: Fury Road 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 BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-081015/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mad_max_fury_road/">Mad Max: Fury Road</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjBb4SZ0F6Q">trailer</a></td>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aloha_2015/">Aloha</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1243974/">5.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3mf_ewjc7s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/terminator_genisys/">Terminator Genisys</a> (Subbed HDrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340138/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62E4FJTwSuc">trailer</a></td>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pitch_perfect_2/">Pitch Perfect 2 </a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2848292/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBwOYQd21TY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dont_mess_with_texas_2014/">Hot Pursuit</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2967224/">4.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUeOBdxSjc8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dark_places_2015/?">Dark Places</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2402101/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJJjy2cZeLk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mission_impossible_rogue_nation/">Mission: Impossible &#8211; Rogue Nation</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381249/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIsauUFIguE">trailer</a></td>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cop_car/">Cop Car</a> (HDrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3813310/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0abWuHBJRg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/furious_7/">Furious 7</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2820852/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skpu5HaVkOc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/insurgent">Insurgent</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2908446/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suZcGoRLXkU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109439
title: Desperate Rightscorp Burns Through More Piracy Millions
uri: Desperate-Rightscorp-Burns-Through-More-Piracy-Millions
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/WUrqGtvKPtY/
content:
<p><img src="media/96cc090f.rightscorp.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp.jpg" alt="rightscorp" width="180" height="71" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85915">There are millions of Internet users grabbing content from file-sharing networks each and every day. These mainly BitTorrent bandits cost copyright holders millions in lost revenues but with a little trickery it&#8217;s possible to make them pay.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re paraphrasing, but this is the basic marketing message of anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp, the company that tracks down file-sharers and demands up to $30 compensation to make supposed lawsuits go away.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s meant to be a profitable little number but the company simply cannot make it work. After going public two years ago, the company lost $3.4 million in 2014. In the first quarter of 2015, things hadn&#8217;t improved. While generating revenues of $307,904 in the first three months of the year, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-still-cant-turn-piracy-into-straight-profit-150508/">Rightscorp still managed to lose $929,768</a>.</p>
<p>Now the company has published its results for Q2 2015 and the financial picture is bleaker than ever before. First up (and despite claiming to represent increasing numbers of clients and copyrights) Rightscorp revenues are down.</p>
<p>In the three months ended June 30, the total amount Rightscorp was able to squeeze out of millions of file-sharers was down to just $233,816. That represents a 7% decrease when compared to the same period in 2014 but a 24% drop in revenues when compared to Q1 2015. The company blames the revenue decrease on the &#8220;disproportionate amount of time&#8221; it spent &#8220;supporting clients in legal matters&#8221;.</p>
<p>Of course, the selling point of the entire Rightscorp operation is to monetize file-sharing by generating revenue for copyright holders. However, in the past three months the company paid just $116,908 to its clients, that&#8217;s down on the $125,740 it paid out during the same period in 2014.</p>
<p>But if falling revenues represent a headache for Rightscorp, its operating costs are an unrelenting migraine. In Q1 2015 Rightscorp’s operating costs exceeded $1.2m but in Q2 things really got out of hand with the company burning through almost $1.96m.</p>
<p>General and administrative fees for the three months ended June 30, 2015 totaled almost $1.8m, uncomfortably close to a million more than the $832,334 spent during the same period in 2014. Two main factors are behind this huge bill.</p>
<p>In Q1 2014, Rightscorp spent $241,347 on wages and related expenses but in the same period this year those costs had increased to $335,073. In the most recent quarter the company spent $674,885, despite dwindling revenues and paying less to copyright holders than before.</p>
<p>However, the big shock comes from the money being burned on legal action. Rightscorp is currently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-monetization-firm-rightscorp-sued-harassment-abuse-141124/">being sued</a> over the methods it uses to collect cash from alleged pirates and that appears to be taking its toll.</p>
<p>&#8220;Legal Proceedings totaled $579,780 for the three months ended June 30, 2015, compared to $122,190 for the three months ended June 30, 2014, related to certain legal actions taken against the Company,&#8221; Rightscorp <a href="http://ir.rightscorp.com/all-sec-filings/content/0001493152-15-003742/form10-q.htm">explain</a>.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that the company made an operating loss of $1,722,507, close to a million more than the $743,599 it lost in the same period last year. That brings Rightscorp&#8217;s 2015 losses thus far to a little over $2.65m.</p>
<p>Should it continue to perform at the current rate, Rightscorp will make an operating loss of more than $5m this year, $1.6m up on the $3.4m it lost in 2014. However, there are at least some signs that the company is taking measures to improve revenue.</p>
<p>Firstly, reports suggest that Rightscorp <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-inflate-tv-show-piracy-fines-by-33-150614/">is now seeking $30</a> from alleged infringers, up from the $20 it charged previously.</p>
<p>There are also indications that the company is becoming more aggressive with alleged pirates who refuse to settle for relatively small amounts of money.</p>
<p>After <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-deal-turns-dmca-notices-into-piracy-lawsuits-150812/">teaming up with a law firm</a>, Rightscorp says that its data is now being used to take repeat infringers to court, such as the handful of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/comcast-users-sued-after-ignoring-piracy-notices-150516/">Comcast users</a> targeted earlier this year.</p>
<p>While this may bring in some additional revenue, the action could also be useful to scare more Rightscorp targets into settling for small amounts rather than becoming tangled in expensive legal action. But whatever the results from these tweaks, Rightscorp clearly needs to do something soon.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Company has not yet established an ongoing source of revenues sufficient to cover its operating costs and to allow it to continue as a going concern. The ability of the Company to continue as a going concern is dependent on the Company obtaining adequate capital to fund operating losses until it establishes a revenue stream and becomes profitable,&#8221; Rightscorp writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the Company is unable to obtain adequate capital it could be forced to cease operations. Accordingly, these factors raise substantial doubt as to the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109449
title: Fox Targets Free Fitness Workout For Using the Word ‘Avatar’
uri: Fox-Targets-Free-Fitness-Workout-For-Using-the-Word-Avatar
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/iAC7p_q72ZM/
content:
<p><img src="media/6b0e609f.avatar.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/avatar.png" alt="avatar" width="263" height="232" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109451">Copyrights and trademarks are an important tool for rightsholders to ensure that their content is not being abused. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, they can also be used to censor other content creators. Just last week we showed how legitimate videos were pulled offline simply because they <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-hits-indie-creators-for-using-the-word-pixels-150808/">used the word pixels</a>.</p>
<p>Today another example of an overbroad content protection effort has surfaced. <a href="http://darebee.com/">Darebee</a>, a service offering free fitness programs, was recently targeted by a takedown request sent by Twentieth Century Fox.</p>
<p>Fox&#8217;s legal department complained to the fitness service about various programs referencing popular film and TV-titles including &#8220;Buffy,&#8221; &#8220;Fight Club,&#8221; &#8220;Archer&#8221; and &#8220;Avatar.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Fox&#8217; takedown request</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/52f57456.foxtakedown.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/foxtakedown.png" alt="foxtakedown" width="588" height="391" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109463"></center></p>
<p>Darebee admits that some programs are indeed inspired by popular films but stresses that it doesn&#8217;t profit from them.   </p>
<p>&#8220;When we have knowingly used a film name to one of our workouts or a film or comic book character we have done so within the homage, inspiration and fan-created content framework. We don’t sell anything. Our workouts are free and always will be,&#8221; Darebee notes.</p>
<p>While Darebee doesn&#8217;t agree with the request, they decided to remove most of the &#8216;infringing&#8217; programs to avoid further problems. However, the &#8220;Avatar Upgrade&#8221; workout remains online.</p>
<p>According to Darebee the Avatar reference has no connection with the popular Fox movie. Instead, it refers to the avatars people use online.</p>
<p>&#8220;The program is based upon the fact that we each have avatars in the digital world and try to improve them any way we can. We can now do the same thing in real life by going through a program with the same name, focused on our real-life avatars.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Fox or any other corporation do not own the rights to the English language and every word in its dictionary,&#8221; Darebee adds, explaining why they&#8217;re keeping the Avatar workout program online.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://darebee.com/blog/greed-corporations-and-the-i-own-this-response.html">detailed response</a> Darebee notes that some rightholders go too far in their protection efforts. Motivated by greed, these efforts are hurting other content creators, they claim.</p>
<p>&#8220;Every company has a right to make a profit. That we totally understand and we do not dispute. But no company has any right to see people solely as dollar signs, or use its apparent size to railroad everyone’s rights in the mistaken belief that it will help it become more successful,&#8221; they write. </p>
<p>With the help of many volunteers Darebee will continue to publish free fitness workouts. The &#8220;Archer,&#8221; &#8220;Buffy,&#8221; &#8220;Die Hard&#8221; &#8220;Predator&#8221; and &#8220;Fight Club&#8221; programs <a href="http://darebee.com/workouts/fight-club-workout.html">are gone</a>, but the &#8220;Avatar Upgrade&#8221; <a href="http://darebee.com/programs/avatar-program.html">remains online</a>.</p>
<p>Also, perhaps not totally coincidentally, a new &#8220;<a href="http://darebee.com/workouts/fighters-club-workout.html">Fighters Club</a>&#8221; program has just appeared online. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109496
title: MPAA Ducks Censorship Battle With Google, Twitter and Facebook
uri: MPAA-Ducks-Censorship-Battle-With-Google-Twitter-and-Facebook
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KpFA9OzkBns/
content:
<p><img src="media/a170b517.movietube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/movietube.jpg" alt="movietube" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108589">Last month the MPAA <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-sues-movietube-sites-over-mass-piracy-150725/">sued</a> several popular movie streaming websites which all operated under the MovieTube flag.</p>
<p>As part of the lawsuit the major movie studios asked for a preliminary injunction ordering several third-party companies to stop linking or providing services to the sites.</p>
<p>For several tech companies this request went <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-facebook-and-twitter-protest-hollywoods-sopa-resurrection-150811/">too far</a>. Last week Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Yahoo explained to the court that it could result in broad Internet censorship, similar to the blocking provisions that were listed in the controversial SOPA bill.</p>
<p>The filing appeared to be the start of a new standoff between Hollywood and the tech companies, but a <a href="media/b3d9d09a.gov.uscourts.nysd.445254.35.0.pdf" data-original-source="http://ia801502.us.archive.org/25/items/gov.uscourts.nysd.445254/gov.uscourts.nysd.445254.35.0.pdf">letter</a> submitted by the MPAA yesterday puts it on hold. </p>
<p>The MPAA informed the court that a preliminary injunction is no longer required as the MovieTube sites have been offline for several weeks already.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs are no longer seeking preliminary injunctive relief at this time but will seek permanent relief as soon as possible,&#8221; the MPAA&#8217;s lawyers write.</p>
<p>The decision to drop the request may very well have been triggered by the Amici Curiae brief of the tech companies. After all, the MovieTube sites were already offline when the MPAA submitted the injunction request weeks ago.</p>
<p>In their letter to the court the MPAA stress that the opposition brief should no longer be considered now that they have pulled their request for an injunction.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;because Plaintiffs have withdrawn their motion for preliminary injunctive relief, the arguments offered by Amici Curiae in opposition to that motion are not ripe for consideration and are otherwise inapplicable.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;To the extent Amici are requesting what amounts to an advisory opinion, such a request is improper and should not be entertained,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>It appears that it&#8217;s a strategic move from the MPAA not to challenge the tech companies, for now. However, the movie industry group has made it clear that website blocking is one of their <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/leak-exposes-hollywoods-global-anti-piracy-strategy-141212/">main anti-piracy priorities</a> so we can expect this battle to reignite in the future.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109498
title: Universal Music and Kim Dotcom Prepared a Deal to Tax Google
uri: Universal-Music-and-Kim-Dotcom-Prepared-a-Deal-to-Tax-Google
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZD0LObAyybo/
content:
<p><img src="media/5b2669f1.dotcom-laptop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dotcom-laptop.jpg" alt="dotcom-laptop" width="233" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-76556">Just when some thought that Kim Dotcom might be running out of ammunition, the Megaupload founder has dropped another huge bombshell.</p>
<p>A recording of a discussion between the German and several Universal Music executives that took place in 2012 &#8211; just two days before the infamous raids &#8211; reveals a somewhat excited record label preparing to do business with Dotcom, in part at Google&#8217;s expense.</p>
<p>The 32 minute <a href="https://t.co/dE1hcQ7Ion">recording</a> starts off mid conversation, with the one exec prompting Kim to talk a little bit more about Megakey, his system to monetize free music by replacing the ads that users normally see with ones supplied by Mega.</p>
<p><strong>Megakey</strong></p>
<p>As previously detailed, Kim explained that when Megakey users surf the Internet they see Mega ads instead of ads provided by other companies such as Google. In exchange, users are given credit to access free content. By Dotcom&#8217;s estimates it would be possible for Megakey to pay the labels 33 cents per track while enabling users to obtain 75 songs per year for free.</p>
<p>Soon the execs were asking questions, such as how Megakey could properly target users with appropriate ads. Kim explained that initially they would receive the ads at the bottom end of the market but once users began to experience high quality music provided by UMG, that would attract a better quality of ads worth up to twice as much.</p>
<p>Dotcom also offered to profile users to better understand them, with part of the Megakey deal being that users reveal information about themselves such as age, sex and location when they sign up. Dotcom said that the company could also cross reference user information made available on Facebook.</p>
<p><strong>Start slowly and build</strong></p>
<p>Due to the controversial nature of the Megakey ad replacement mechanism, both sides expressed a desire to start off slowly, initially by replacing just 10% of a user&#8217;s adverts.</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to be able &#8211; and this is also going to be one of the challenges &#8211; to be able to sell all of these impressions we will have. So to be able to fully sell out 10% of the ads that 100 million users would consume each day, that is a challenge and that would take time to build up, to have that kind of buying power from advertisers,&#8221; Dotcom said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re basically talking about a few billion dollars here and you need to, you know, create these relationships and so on.&#8221;</p>
<p>The caution over taking more than 10% was shared by the UMG execs.</p>
<p>&#8220;I can see what they&#8217;d say already,&#8221; said one. &#8220;It&#8217;ll be described as a parasite on other cyber services.&#8221;</p>
<p>Dotcom said that his legal team had already looked into it and concluded that each user is the king of their own computer and if he or she wants to replace ads, they are free to do so. Quickly, Kim suggested a target.</p>
<p><strong>Target: Google</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;If we were to enter a partnership with UMG, we would advise to only, for example at the start, to only replace ads being served from Google. Because Google, frankly, is benefiting the most of all Internet companies from piracy,&#8221; the Megaupload founder said.</p>
<p>&#8220;They host the world&#8217;s largest piracy index and if you want to find a song that belongs to UMG you just go to Google and you find a thousand links on a hundred different sites. These guys are probably not sending you the ad dollars that they are making, so I think that replacing ads from Google would be a fair thing. You are basically now charging a little tax for the benefits that they have with your content.</p>
<p>&#8220;I completely agree,&#8221; said one exec.</p>
<p>Kim later asked whether there would be any commercial agreements with other labels that would get in the way of a Megakey deal?</p>
<p>&#8220;We probably would need to agree a whitelist of where you could replace ads, just to avoid deliberately antagonizing,&#8221; said one.</p>
<p>&#8220;But Google will not be on that list!&#8221; laughed another.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;ll just be open season!&#8221; &#8220;Fire in the hold!&#8221; chimed in two others.</p>
<p><strong>Don&#8217;t use the &#8216;T&#8217; word</strong></p>
<p>By now the conversation was starting to warm, but at least one of the UMG execs had taken issue with Kim&#8217;s use of the word &#8216;tax&#8217;. </p>
<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t that the worst analogy you could make? Isn&#8217;t that the worst possible way of phrasing it?&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Dotcom disagreed.</p>
<p>&#8220;You are trying to get legislation in place and get governments to do that for you but they won&#8217;t do that. They want to be reelected. They will not have a culture tax, ok? So we can make that happen for you, the culture tax,&#8221; Dotcom said.</p>
<p>The label exec preferred to frame it differently</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d argue that what you are trying to do is not imposing a tax on anybody, it&#8217;s that you are giving users a chance to control their own destiny when it comes to how ads are served and to participate in the revenue generated from it. Because anything that has the word tax in it is immediately &#8216;Oh God!&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Let me add that we would never say that in any public forum,&#8221; Dotcom responded. &#8220;So I use this term in this closed round here but at the end of the day, that&#8217;s what it is.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>This thing has potential&#8230;.</strong></p>
<p>Soon the UMG execs were coming up with the ideas.</p>
<p>&#8220;If Universal decided to work with you guys, rather than replacing ads everywhere we could replace a much higher percentage when it came to any page connected to a Universal artist,&#8221; said one. &#8220;If we choose to work with you guys, Megakey replaces [the ads], and that then makes it less parasitic. There&#8217;s a bunch of spins we could take, we could replace them with Vevo ads.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I like you guys, why didn&#8217;t we talk years ago?&#8221; asked Dotcom.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are dealing with everyone who just hates us and wants to kill us but I think we really have a solution that can solve the problem of the content creators. We are very proud of it and would love to work with you guys as you seem to be really getting it and i&#8217;m so happy that we have had this meeting now.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>How soon can we start?</strong></p>
<p>Complaining about the music business being run by lawyers after the Napster era, one UMG exec told Dotcom that things are changing.</p>
<p>&#8220;So, if we were to do a deal with [Megakey], how quickly could you [move]? This technology is live and in place now?&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes, that&#8217;s correct,&#8221; Kim confirmed.</p>
<p>&#8220;So all we have to do is work out a deal, plug you guys into our legitimate feed of repertoire, and we could go live this side of the summer,&#8221; an exec responded.</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to have a commercial conversation about the deal making process and I&#8217;ll keep the lawyers at bay as long as I possibly can. When we come to paper the deal I&#8217;ll have to bring in a lawyer but I&#8217;ve got a lawyer I can trust who can do this.&#8221;</p>
<p>Dotcom and the UMG guys agreed to meet up in March 2012, but first there was a thorny issue to raise.</p>
<p><strong>The Mega Song Controversy</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;Have you guys heard about this Mega Song video that happened between UMG and us?&#8221; Dotcom asked.</p>
<p>UMG had previously angered Dotcom by <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/universal-censors-megaupload-song-gets-branded-a-rogue-label-111210/">wrongfully taking down</a> his wildly successful video from YouTube and legal action was still pending.</p>
<p>&#8220;So the thing is because of that takedown we had to take some legal action and we&#8217;re basically now in court with UMG and if you guys feel like this is something interesting to talk about I think we should diffuse that a little bit,&#8221; Dotcom told the meeting.</p>
<p>&#8220;I agree,&#8221; came the response. &#8220;I think that in the wider conversation at some point it would be very helpful if that just disappeared.&#8221;</p>
<p>Interestingly, the execs then provided a surprise reason for the problems, partially laying the blame on Google.</p>
<p><strong>Google had a point to prove on SOPA?</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;The Google [YouTube] filters which are normally very inefficient got miraculously efficient. We could not understand why. We&#8217;d withdrawn the claim yet the filter was taking down stuff that in a million years it wouldn&#8217;t normally catch. So we were sat in the background going &#8216;What the fuck is going on here?'&#8221; one exec said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We did something that we thought was in good faith, we then took back the takedown and then the filters went mad in a way that if they&#8217;d done so on a normal day, we&#8217;d be happy.&#8221;</p>
<p>Then the conversation got a little bit dark, to say the least.</p>
<p>&#8220;Between you and I, please never repeat any of this conversation &#8211; because I&#8217;d be sacked &#8211; but there was a lot of weird shit going on in that very brief period where we had to wonder whether the people running the [YouTube] filters were running the business to their ends,&#8221; one exec explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was a perfect political football,&#8221; said another. &#8220;And they kicked it very hard.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Because of the SOPA thing, we got fucked. Which is fine.&#8221;</p>
<p>Moving on to the size of the market and Universal&#8217;s dominant share, one exec told Dotcom what he was waiting to hear.</p>
<p>&#8220;I will happily do a deal with you guys.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>&#8216;Notorious Market&#8217; lists are bad for business</strong></p>
<p>But of course, an elephant remained in the room. Megaupload was out of favor with not only the record labels but also the MPAA and United States Trade Representative. Dotcom decided to point out what everyone in the meeting almost certainly had in the back of their minds.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have gotten a lot of fire from RIAA, MPAA, everyone in the content industry, for you know, Megaupload,&#8221; Dotcom said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t have a rewards program, we are one of the cleanest guys. I mean you guys, UMG, RIAA, everyone has direct access to our servers. We remove content swiftly, we try our best to be the best player in our industry but we&#8217;re getting all the heat because of our size.</p>
<p>&#8220;What would also be nice is if we could try and defuse that whole situation and if you can make an effort to help us with that because, you know, putting us on all sorts of nasty lists and how bad we are and all of that, that doesn&#8217;t help either.&#8221;</p>
<p>The suggestion was well received.</p>
<p><strong>Allow us to improve your standing, Mr Dotcom</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;Yeah, I agree. In exchange for the litigation disappearing there are certain people I can have conversations with where you will be moved onto a different list as opposed to a bad list,&#8221; an exec told Dotcom</p>
<p>&#8220;We want to be on the friends list!&#8221; he responded.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yeah, well you get on to the friends list once we&#8217;ve signed a deal. And then the rules of engagement change completely. In the short-term I can downgrade your status from &#8216;evil&#8217; to &#8216;bad&#8217; and as the process goes on it will be from &#8216;bad&#8217; to &#8216;good&#8217; to &#8216;exceptional partner&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
<p>Never one to miss a point of negotiation, Dotcom persuaded the execs to change his designation from &#8220;evil to bad&#8221; to &#8220;evil to neutral&#8221; and they agreed, noting that companies can be easily removed from the notorious markets list if they so desire.</p>
<p>But sadly for all involved, none of that came to pass.</p>
<p>&#8220;They wanted to reduce my status from &#8216;evil to neutral&#8217; if I partnered with them,&#8221; Dotcom told TorrentFreak this morning.</p>
<p>&#8220;This call was two days before the raid. They were excited about Megabox and especially my Megakey innovation. It clearly shows that I was trying to help artists to create more income from the Internet.&#8221;</p>
<p>And then the raid happened, and the rest is history.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109514
title: U.S. Government Grabbed Dotcom’s Millions “As a Last Resort”
uri: U-S-Government-Grabbed-Dotcom-s-Millions-As-a-Last-Resort
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/LSBqmBJr_1U/
content:
<p><img src="media/9a9629f5.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg" alt="megaupload-logo" width="225" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95191">Earlier this year the U.S. Government <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-wins-dozens-of-millions-from-kim-dotcom-150326/">won </a>its civil forfeiture case against Megaupload and Kim Dotcom. </p>
<p>As a result the authorities now claim possession of Kim Dotcom&#8217;s bank accounts, cars, art and other property worth dozens of millions of dollars.</p>
<p>Last month Megaupload&#8217;s legal team <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-appeals-to-reclaim-mega-millions-from-u-s-150701/">appealed</a> the District Court&#8217;s decision, pointing out that the court denied the defendants’ basic rights and violated due process.</p>
<p>According to the defense team the court was wrong to label Dotcom and his colleagues as <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-brands-kim-dotcom-fugitive-spies-others-141120/">fugitives,</a> an argument that received support from several <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/prominent-legal-experts-rally-behind-megaupload-150709/">prominent legal experts</a>.</p>
<p>A few hours ago the U.S. Government responded to the claims. In a lengthy 59-page <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/275006738/US-Dotcom-Response?secret_password=7bbCFL8YZiUH0W5wl0sF">response brief</a> United States Attorney Dana Boente argues that the District Court rightfully labeled Dotcom and his colleagues as fugitives.</p>
<p>The brief also explains why the Department of Justice decided to file a civil forfeiture case against Megaupload and Dotcom, while the criminal proceedings were still ongoing. </p>
<p>The U.S. feared that Dotcom would get his money back if the DoJ failed to file a civil case. Under New Zealand law foreign restraining orders are only valid for two years, with a possible one-year extension. This extension would have run out on April 18th of this year.</p>
<p>&#8220;Therefore, the United States had no realistic alternative to filing its civil forfeiture action if it was to obtain any financial relief for the victims of the Mega Conspiracy,&#8221; Boente writes.</p>
<p>Tucked away in a <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeScarcella/status/633484272146468864">footnote</a> United States Attorney Boente describes the case as a last resort to keep the money safe. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;this civil forfeiture case was filed as a last resort, over two years after the Fugitive Claimants were indicted when it became clear that they would fight to delay any extradition proceedings, while depleting the proceeds of their crimes to the detriment of their victims and to their own unearned benefit&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Had the defendants simply appeared to face the criminal charges, the civil forfeiture case would not have been necessary,&#8221; the footnote adds.</p>
<p>The crux of the appeal is whether or not the District Court&#8217;s order to forfeit an estimated $67 million in assets was right. According to the Government it was, as the defendants&#8217; due process rights were not violated. </p>
<p>In the response brief the U.S. notes that Dotcom and his colleagues avoided the United Stated on purpose, which makes it proper to label them as fugitives. </p>
<p>Megaupload&#8217;s defense previously argued that they avoided the U.S. because they were exercising their legal right to fight the extradition. However, the U.S. Attorney noted that Dotcom his colleagues had their chance to get due process, if they&#8217;d decided to come to the United States.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s now up to the Appeals Court to decide whether the U.S. forfeiture order was indeed rightful, or if Dotcom and his Megaupload colleagues should regain control over their assets.</p>
<p>Even if the U.S. wins, the assets will not be available freely. Over in New Zealand, the court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-thwarts-huge-u-s-govt-asset-grab-150603/">granted</a> Dotcom interim relief from having the forfeiture order recognized locally.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109544
title: Police Arrest Men For Spreading Popcorn Time Information
uri: Police-Arrest-Men-For-Spreading-Popcorn-Time-Information
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ylIrIddkTi4/
content:
<p><img src="media/3b9dbdf1.popcornt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcornt.png" alt="popcornt" width="237" height="106" class="alignright size-full wp-image-101106">More than a year after its 2014 launch and the popularity of the now famous Popcorn Time video streaming application is showing no signs of fading away.</p>
<p>However, since millions of people use the various forks of the software every day, Popcorn Time is increasingly attracting the attention of copyright holders, anti-piracy groups and law enforcement agencies.</p>
<p>While neither of the main forks have yet been targeted, others around them are feeling the heat. In fact, the latest news coming out of Denmark suggests that the authorities are even prepared to hit those barely on the perimeter.</p>
<p>Following a court order dated June, local police report that yesterday morning they arrested two men in their thirties said to be the operators of a pair of Popcorn Time related websites. Popcorntime.dk and Popcorn-time.dk have now been shut down, with their domains placed under the control of the state prosecutor. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Danish State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime is presently conducting a criminal investigation that involves this domain name,&#8221; reads the seizure notice.</p>
<p>&#8220;As part of the investigation the state prosecutor has requested a Danish District Court to transfer the rights of the domain name to the state prosecutor. The District Court has complied with the request.&#8221;</p>
<p>While arrests of file-sharers and those running sites that closely facilitate infringement are nothing new, this week&#8217;s arrests appear to go way beyond anything seen before. The two men are not connected to the development of Popcorn Time and have not been offering copyrighted content for download.</p>
<p>Both sites were information resources, offering recent news on Popcorn Time related developments, guides, FAQ sections and tips on how to use the software. The screenshot below shows PopcornTime.dk.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/885feead.popcorndk.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorndk.png" alt="popcorndk" width="600" height="315" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109560"></center></p>
<p>Those looking for a clearer (and live) idea of what the site looked like before it was taken down should check out <a href="https://getpopcorntime.co.uk/">getpopcorntime.co.uk</a>, which was previously promoted by PopcornTime.dk as an English language version of their site.</p>
<p>Importantly, neither site hosted the Popcorn Time software, instead choosing to link to other sites where the application could be downloaded instead. Nevertheless, this doesn&#8217;t appear to have saved them from the Danish authorities.</p>
<p>Both men stand accused of distributing knowledge and guides on how to obtain illegal content online and are reported to have confessed.</p>
<p>In fact, according to court documents the pair are suspected of such gross violations of copyright law that they could warrant punishment under section 299b of the penal code &#8211; offenses which carry a maximum prison term of six years.</p>
<p>Inspector Michael Hellensberg from the Danish police Fraud Squad <a href="http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/krimi/2015-08-18-popcorn-time-dansk-politi-slaar-til-mod-ulovlig-streamingtjeneste">told</a> local media that the case is a significant one in a number of respects. </p>
<p>&#8220;The case is important because, firstly, it shows that [site operators] can be revealed by the police. This has consequences and it also conveys the message that this behavior is illegal,&#8221; Hellensberg said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Thus there is hopefully a deterrent effect against feeling confident that you can sit wherever you want and try to implement such things.&#8221;</p>
<p>Earlier this year, six websites setup as <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-fan-pages-nuked-by-anti-piracy-outfit-150224/">Popcorn Time &#8220;fan pages&#8221; were shut down</a> by anti-piracy outfit BREIN. None were affiliated with the official project and all reached a financial settlement with the group.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109583
title: Rightscorp’s DMCA Subpoena Effort Crashes and Burns
uri: Rightscorp-s-DMCA-Subpoena-Effort-Crashes-and-Burns
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6m2yrzPfNts/
content:
<p><img src="media/ba2479e6.rightscorp.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp.jpg" width="180" height="71" class="alignright">In an effort to unmask file-sharers&#8217; identities on behalf of clients including Warner Bros. and BMG, last year anti-piracy company Rightscorp began sending DMCA subpoenas to dozens of smaller ISPs in the United States.</p>
<p>The practice proved controversial. Although several ISPs complied with the anti-piracy company&#8217;s demands, DMCA subpoenas aren&#8217;t considered applicable in file-sharing cases, not least since they can by signed by a court clerk and are not reviewed by a judge.</p>
<p>In 2014, Rightscorp targeted ISP CBeyond with such a subpoena, but parent company Birch Communications refused to compromise the security of its customers. The company filed a motion to quash the subpoena arguing that Rightscorp was on privacy-invading fishing expedition.</p>
<p>In May, Birch Communications <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-fails-in-bid-to-unmask-pirates-using-dmca-150511/">celebrated victory</a>.</p>
<p>“CBeyond contends that the section does not apply to service providers that act only as a conduit for data transferred between other parties and that do not store data. The court agrees,” wrote Magistrate Judge Janet King in her ruling.</p>
<p>But for Rightscorp the matter wasn&#8217;t over. The company took the case to appeal in the hope of a better result, but that effort has now ended in another defeat for the struggling anti-piracy outfit.</p>
<p>In a statement sent to TorrentFreak, Tim Phelps, Director of Marketing Communications at Birch, reveals what happened.</p>
<p>&#8220;The DMCA did not provide any basis to require an Internet Service Provider in Birch&#8217;s position to open its files to private litigants,&#8221; Phelps explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Rightscorp dropped its appeal of the May 2015 decision and the Court issued an entry of dismissal in the case.&#8221;</p>
<p>Christopher Bunce, Birch Senior Vice President and General Counsel, says that the company examines all applications for personal information and deals with them strictly in accordance with the law.</p>
<p>&#8220;Birch scrutinizes every demand from both private parties and the government, complying only with properly served subpoenas, warrants and court orders, refusing to comply with demands such as those served by Rightscorp, and always maintaining an eye toward protecting our customers&#8217; interests,&#8221; Bunce says.</p>
<p>The tough stance taken by Birch in defense of customer privacy is not only to be commended but should also be noted by other ISPs. The Rightscorp case shows that companies are prepared to seek confidential data by inappropriate means and should be confronted whenever possible.</p>
<p>The outcome of this case represents yet another blow to Rightscorp, who recently revealed they are <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/desperate-rightscorp-burns-through-more-piracy-millions-150817/">still hemorrhaging cash</a> following yet another disappointing set of results.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109548
title: Movie Studio Sues Popcorn Time Users In The U.S.
uri: Movie-Studio-Sues-Popcorn-Time-Users-In-The-U-S
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2GuJD8pX5o0/
content:
<p><img src="media/8108dd50.cobbler.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cobbler.jpg" alt="cobbler" width="275" height="223" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109549">Over the past several years hundreds of thousands of Internet subscribers <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/200000-bittorrent-users-sued-in-the-united-states-110808/">have been sued</a> in the United States for allegedly sharing copyrighted material, mostly video.</p>
<p>The cases are generally targeted at &#8220;BitTorrent&#8221; users in general, not focusing on any client in particular. </p>
<p>However, this week the makers of the 2014 comedy &#8220;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3203616/">The Cobbler</a>&#8221; decided to single out Popcorn Time users. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time">Popcorn Time</a> also uses BitTorrent under the hood but unlike traditional clients it allows users to browse through a library of films and stream these from within the application. </p>
<p>Popcorn Time is by no means private as users connect to public BitTorrent swarms, which makes it easy for monitoring firms and copyright holders to track down pirates. </p>
<p>This also happened to 11 Popcorn Time users who allegedly viewed and shared &#8220;The Cobbler.&#8221; The makers of the movie filed a complaint (<a href="media/8af27601.popcorn-complaint.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcorn-complaint.pdf">pdf</a>) at a Oregon District Court requesting a subpoena to compel Comcast to hand over the personal details of the associated account holders.</p>
<p>&#8220;Each defendant’s IP address has been observed and confirmed as both viewing and distributing plaintiff’s motion picture through Popcorn Time,&#8221; the complaint explains.</p>
<p><center><strong>The Popcorn Time defendants</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/586d787b.popcob.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcob.jpg" alt="popcob" width="600" height="379" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109551"></center></p>
<p>The reason for singling out Popcorn Time users is unclear. The same filmmakers have launched lawsuits against BitTorrent users before, but they may believe that the infringing image of Popcorn Time bolsters their case.</p>
<p>&#8220;Popcorn Time exists for one purpose and one purpose only: to steal copyrighted content,&#8221; they write, adding that the defendants should have been well aware of this. </p>
<p>The Popcorn Time website and application repeatedly informs users that its use may be against the law. For example, the Popcorn Time website has a clear warning on its homepage and in the FAQ.</p>
<p>&#8220;Without a doubt, each user of Popcorn Time is provided multiple notices that they are downloading and installing software for the express purpose of committing theft and contributing the ability of others to commit theft by furthering the Bit Torrent piracy network,&#8221; the complaint explains.</p>
<p><center><strong>Popcorn Time warning</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/d56556ec.popwarning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popwarning.png" alt="popwarning" width="620" height="146" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109559"></center></p>
<p>The filmmakers demand a permanent injunction against the defendants ordering them to stop pirating their movies. In addition, they request statutory damages of up to $150,000.</p>
<p>In reality, however, they are likely to approach the defendants for a settlement offer of a few thousands dollars, as is common in these type of &#8220;copyright troll&#8221; cases.</p>
<p>The developers of the <a href="https://popcorntime.io/">Popcorn Time app</a> that was targeted inform TF that users are indeed repeatedly warned that using their application to download pirated films can lead to legal trouble.</p>
<p>&#8220;Popcorn Time isn&#8217;t illegal. However, the use people make of the application can be illegal, depending on their country and local laws,&#8221; they tell TF.</p>
<p>“You’d think with all our warnings, the anti-piracy laws, the explanations given in the media and the common sense, users would be aware of their actions by now. Pinning a a &#8216;Popcorn Time&#8217; label over such a lawsuit seems a little inflated,” they add.</p>
<p>The Court has yet to issue an order following the subpoena request. Based on previous cases the account holders connected to the 11 IP-addresses listed above can expect a settlement offer in the mail soon.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109475
title: Dallas Buyers Club Wants to Interrogate Suspected Pirates
uri: Dallas-Buyers-Club-Wants-to-Interrogate-Suspected-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/o9pkbOHOYwM/
content:
<p><img src="media/2381f8ad.dallas1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas1.jpg" alt="dallas" width="275" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96710">The makers of Dallas Buyers Club <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dallas-buyers-club-sues-bittorrent-pirates-citing-oscar-wins-140312/">have sued</a> hundreds of BitTorrent users over the past year. </p>
<p>Many of these cases end up being settled for an undisclosed amount. This usually happens after the filmmakers obtain the identity of the Internet account holder believed to have pirated the movie.</p>
<p>Not all alleged downloaders are eager to pay up though. In fact, many don&#8217;t respond to the settlement letters they receive or claim that someone else must have downloaded the film using their connection.</p>
<p>In a recent court filing (<a href="media/d13723bd.DBC.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/DBC.pdf">pdf</a>) at a Washington District Court the filmmakers explain the efforts they undertake to ensure that the right person is accused. This includes gathering information from Facebook, LinkedIn and even Google Maps.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google address mapping and county records were investigated to confirm ownership/rental status of and residence at the property associated with the IP address, as well as observe the physical makeup and layout of the house and neighborhood to anticipate possible claims that a wireless signal was highjacked by someone outside of the residence,&#8221; the filmmakers explain. </p>
<p>The router security settings and download history of a specific connection are used as additional pieces of information to ensure that the alleged copyright infringements are systematic. </p>
<p>&#8220;Further, given the standard security measures imposed by ISPs to prevent unauthorized use of an IP address, the volume of piracy demonstrated over the extended observation period could not be the result of someone driving by, a temporary house guest or a hacker sitting in a car on the street.&#8221; </p>
<p>While the methods above are already quite invasive, Dallas Buyers Club now aims to take it up a notch.</p>
<p>In order to pinpoint the true pirates the movie studio wants to depose 15 account holders. This means that they will have to testify under oath for up to two hours and face a grilling from the studio&#8217;s legal team. </p>
<p>This is the first time that we&#8217;ve seen a request for a deposition in a Dallas Buyers Club case. Needless to say, a testimony under oath can be quite intimidating, and is highly unusual in these type of cases.</p>
<p>The account holders of IP-addresses linked to the pirated downloads have already been identified by the ISP. However, they failed to respond to the movie studio or denied that they had shared the film illegally.  </p>
<p>Through a testimony under oath, the movie studio hopes to identify the true pirates, so they can be named in the lawsuit.</p>
<p>&#8220;DBC believes that further discovery is warranted to confirm which of any possible occupants of the physical address assigned the infringing IP address is the proper Doe defendant to be named in the case,&#8221; they note. </p>
<p>The filmmakers suspect that some of the subscribers are the actual infringers, but it&#8217;s possible that they&#8217;re covering for someone else, such as a roommate or spouse.</p>
<p>&#8220;A subscriber should not be allowed to shield, immunize and anonymize those they allow to use their Internet service from liability for intentional torts. The subscriber is the single best and perhaps only source of information as to the responsible party using its IP address.&#8221; </p>
<p>According to the filmmakers the depositions will result in a reduction of legal expenses while guaranteeing the anonymity of the defendants. </p>
<p>However, more critical observers may also note that it is an optimal tool to pressure ISP subscribers who choose to ignore settlement requests and other threats.</p>
<p>At the time of writing the court has yet to rule on the discovery request.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109581
title: Indonesia Blocks The Pirate Bay, IsoHunt, Others
uri: Indonesia-Blocks-The-Pirate-Bay-IsoHunt-Others
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JJ173UcJZUM/
content:
<p><img src="media/7e02aab6.tpb3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb3.png" alt="tpb" width="230" height="243" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106334">After being accused of doing little to stop piracy both on and offline, in 2009 Indonesia was placed on the USTR&#8217;s Priority Watch List for failing to protect US intellectual property rights.</p>
<p>In 2011 the Indonesian government announced that it would begin to take tough measures, including having local ISPs block the most-visited sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;The plan is to block famous sites, like 4shared for example,” Communication Minister Tifatul Sembiring <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/government-to-block-sharing-sites-but-music-biz-must-cut-prices-110809/">said</a> at the time.</p>
<p>Four years later (and after blocking sites including Reddit, Imgur and <a href="http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/indonesian-minister-tifatul-faces-twitter-ire-vimeo-ban/">Vimeo on decency grounds</a>) Indonesia is finally taking action against sites that infringe copyrights.</p>
<p>Following the signing last month of a Joint Ministerial Decree intended to protect film producers, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has ordered almost two dozen domains to be blocked at the ISP level.</p>
<p>While there is a nod to U.S. concerns with a blockade of both ThePirateBay.se and Isohunt.to, the remainder (list below) are sites frequented mainly by locals. 4shared is not among them.</p>
<p>Certainly, the tone of the government&#8217;s announcement during a press conference this week indicated that local producer interests are behind the blocking order. Famous (and outstanding) martial arts movies The Raid and The Raid 2 were mentioned specifically.</p>
<p>&#8220;What is offered in the virtual world is not according to the law. In order to protect the intellectual property rights of our art we must block these sites,&#8221; said Rudiantara, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.</p>
<p>&#8220;The government wants to protect the work of artists in Indonesia. The damage suffered by the creators of content in Indonesia has been great.&#8221;</p>
<p>According to Director General of Intellectual Property, Ahmad M. Ramli, future complaints will be sent to him and will be actioned within 24 hours. Protection of movies will be the priority. </p>
<p>&#8220;The most at risk of piracy and violations of intellectual property rights on the internet are movies. If songs are heard [people will listen to them again], but if a downloaded movie is viewed, then people won&#8217;t watch them anymore,&#8221; Ramli <a href="http://www.cnnindonesia.com/hiburan/20150819083659-220-73041/22-situs-diduga-pembajak-film-diblokir-kemenkominfo/">said</a>.</p>
<p>Minister of Human Rights and Justice, Yasonna Laoly, said that action needed to be taken but due to the elusive nature of site owners, blocking was the only solution. </p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s really not good for industrial development and innovation in the film industry, music industry, and with respect to copyright. This is our creative economy,&#8221; the minister said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are taking care of the websites because finding the people behind the websites is complicated. We do not know where to find them.&#8221;</p>
<p>Some of the domains on the blocklist are now down internationally too, although the reasons for that remain unclear.</p>
<p>In the meantime (and alongside Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, Ecuador, India, Kuwait, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, and Venezuela), Indonesia remains on the <a href="https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2015/april/ustr-releases-annual-special-301">USTR&#8217;s Priority Watch List 2015</a>.</p>
<p><em>The full list of blocked domains is: Ganool.com, Nontonmovie.com, Bioskops.com, Ganool.ca, Kilasan.to, Thepiratebay.se, Downloadfilmbaru.com, Ganool.co.id, 21filmcinema.com, Gudangfilm.caa.im, Movie76.com, Isohunt.to, Cinemaindo.net, Bioskop24.net, Ganool.in, Unduhfilm21.net, Bioskopkita.com, Downloadfilem.com, Comotin.net, Movie2k.ti, </em>Unduhmovie.com and 21sinema.com.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109574
title: Court Orders 20 Big Piracy Sites Blocked in Denmark
uri: Court-Orders-20-Big-Piracy-Sites-Blocked-in-Denmark
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wMtg3e4wXxk/
content:
<p><img src="media/d809cb1d.throttle.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/throttle.jpg" width="200" height="200" class="alignright">According to many of the world&#8217;s leading anti-piracy groups, site blocking is one of the most effective tools when it comes to reducing instances of online piracy. It&#8217;s a technique employed in a growing list of countries around the world, in Europe in particular.</p>
<p>After pioneering work seven years ago (Denmark was one of the first countries to block The Pirate Bay back in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-blocked-by-isp-080204/">2008</a>), subsequent action by anti-piracy group Rettigheds Alliancen (Rights Alliance) ended in a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-isp-to-block-grooveshark-120221/">2011 ISP blockade</a> of now-defunct music streaming service Grooveshark.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the anti-piracy group took fresh action that resulted in the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popular-torrent-and-streaming-sites-blocked-in-denmark-150327/">blocking of 12 large sites</a> including KickassTorrents, RARBG and streaming site Tubeplus. Now Rights Alliance is back again, with its biggest blocking effort yet.</p>
<p>After obtaining an order from the District Court in Frederiksberg yesterday, an additional 20 piracy sites will now be blocked at the ISP level. </p>
<p>Rights Alliance hasn&#8217;t yet revealed their names but speaking with TorrentFreak the anti-piracy group says that they&#8217;re the 20 most popular sites among local users and targeting them all at once has two distinct aims.</p>
<p>&#8220;By choosing 20 sites in one action it is really just adapting the means available to the internet and its &#8216;swarm activities&#8217;. Blocking one site at a time would make but a little disturbance, just redirecting the user request to other likewise illegal sites.&#8221; Rettigheds Alliancen CEO Maria Fredenslund informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Swarm blocking provides a more massive intervention in the user flow, combined with positive communication nudging the users to legal sites, so it’s in fact possible to have an impact on user behavior.&#8221; </p>
<p>While Rights Alliance still needed to obtain a court order to have the latest batch of sites blocked, the process has been streamlined somewhat by a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isps-agree-voluntary-pirate-site-blocks-141011/">code of conduct</a> signed by ISPs in 2014.</p>
<p>The agreement ensures that when a court issues an injunction against a single ISP ordering it to implement DNS blocking against a ‘pirate’ site (or in this case a large batch), within days all rival ISPs voluntarily implement similar blockades.</p>
<p>And for Danish users, the blocking won&#8217;t stop here. Maria Fredenslund says that the effort will continue for as long as the anti-piracy group views it as an effective tool to combat infringement.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have seen a 40% decrease in the use of Danish films in the BitTorrent network in the same period when we did the last &#8216;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popular-torrent-and-streaming-sites-blocked-in-denmark-150327/">blocking wave</a>&#8216;. As with road signs in traffic, blocking signs &#8211; when placed and communicated right &#8211; can guide users away from illegal platforms,&#8221; the CEO says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Also, as experienced with the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-arrest-men-for-spreading-popcorn-time-information-150819/">Popcorn Time action this week</a>, the police are now also using blocking as an enforcement instrument,&#8221; Fredenslund concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109621
title: UK Piracy Police Asked Domain Registrars to Shut Down 317 Sites
uri: UK-Piracy-Police-Asked-Domain-Registrars-to-Shut-Down-317-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/H9mE6r7e8cw/
content:
<p><img src="media/31176dbb.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg" alt="cityoflondonpolice" width="200" height="82" class="alignright size-full wp-image-71397">For most police departments online piracy has no priority, but in recent years City of London Police have made copyright infringement one of their main targets.</p>
<p>In September 2013 the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-government-announces-new-intellectual-property-crime-unit-130628/">founded</a>, marking the start of a broad enforcement campaign to decease online piracy rates. </p>
<p>PIPCU initially began by sending out <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-launch-campaign-to-shut-down-torrent-sites-130604/">warning letters</a> to pirate site owners, asking them to go legit or shut down. Soon, this was followed by a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-orders-registrars-to-suspend-domains-of-major-torrent-sites-131009/">campaign</a> targeted at domain registrars, asking them to suspend the domain names of several “illegal” sites.</p>
<p>To find out the scope of both campaigns, TorrentFreak filed a Freedom of Information request asking for further details. While the police didn&#8217;t want to mention any names, fearing that this would promote piracy, we did receive some interesting statistics.</p>
<p>Since the launch of the unit two years ago PIPCU says it has sent warning letters to the operators of 377 ‘pirate’ sites. All of these sites were referred by entertainment industry groups and include most of the popular file-sharing domains.</p>
<p>The number of warning letters increased from 107 last year, suggesting that PIPCU intensified its efforts. While these warnings may have yielded results at smaller sites, we are not aware of any larger ones that shut down in response. </p>
<p>In addition to contacting site owners directly, PIPCU also approached domain name registrars with requests to suspend these pirate sites. In total, police sent out suspension requests for 317 domain names, up from 75 around the same time last year. </p>
<p>Interestingly, PIPCU notes that it has no information on the effectiveness of these requests. In other words, police don&#8217;t know how many sites were subsequently suspended by domain name registrars. </p>
<p>This is quite surprising as one would expect that the efficiency of their campaigns is being measured somehow. Also, the records we requested were available last year. At the time, police told us that only <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/domain-registrars-deny-police-requests-suspend-pirate-sites-140808/">5 of the 75 requests</a> to domain registrars had been successful.</p>
<p>EasyDNS CEO Mark Jeftovic is one of the people who denied the PIPCU requests. While he is not against domain name suspensions, he stressed that his company wouldn&#8217;t take action just because the request is sent on police letterhead.</p>
<p>“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I always thought it was something that gets decided in a court of law, as opposed to ‘some guy on the internet’ sending emails. While that’s plenty reason enough for some registrars to take down domain names, it doesn’t fly here,” he said.</p>
<p>Although the hundreds of voluntary warnings and suspension requests have not resulted in the downfall of any large pirate sites, the UK Government is happy with the progress made thus far.</p>
<p>Last fall Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Neville-Rolfe secured PIPCU&#8217;s future until at least 2017. With a fresh <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-police-pipcu-secure-govt-funding-until-2017-141023/">£3 million cash boost</a> the unit will continue its anti-piracy efforts during the years to come.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109704
title: Spotify: Piracy May Surge Without a Freemium Option
uri: Spotify-Piracy-May-Surge-Without-a-Freemium-Option
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xcfpf262qws/
content:
<p><img src="media/7abb2d22.cassette.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cassette.jpg" alt="cassette" width="200" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84245">With the option to stream millions of tracks supported by an occasional ad, or free of ads for a small subscription fee, Spotify has proven to be a serious competitor to music piracy.</p>
<p>Since its first release in 2009 the service has conquered the hearts and minds of many music fans. Currently available in more than 60 countries, it is catering to dozens of millions of users.</p>
<p>In recent months, however, various prominent music industry insiders have called for an end to Spotify&#8217;s freemium option. With this move they hope that the company will increase its revenues and pay more compensation to artists and labels.</p>
<p>This is not a good idea, according to Sachin Dosh, Spotify&#8217;s Vice President of content and distribution. Killing the freemium model may result in more subscriptions but it may also boost piracy. </p>
<p>&#8220;We’ve done such a great job at Spotify of making piracy irrelevant, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone. It just means there’s no need for it right now,&#8221;  Dosh told <a href="http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/taylor-swift-thinks-spotify-is-a-corporate-machine-you-be-the-judge/">MBW</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;You could create that need again if you follow the wrong path,&#8221; he adds. </p>
<p>In recent years Spotify has caused a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/music-piracy-continues-to-decline-thanks-to-spotify-110928/">decline in music piracy rates</a> in a few countries, something the company <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/spotify-was-designed-from-the-ground-up-to-combat-piracy-131204/">always envisioned</a> it would. Having a free tier is an essential part of this chain. </p>
<p>According to Spotify&#8217;s exec the music industry realizes the risk of canceling the freemium option, which suggests that there are no concrete plans to change its model in the near future. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;I think the industry does actually agree with a lot of this: instead of making free worse, the right answer is making premium better,&#8221; Dosh says.</p>
<p>Spotify&#8217;s comments on a piracy revival are in line with what we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/killing-spotifys-free-version-will-boost-piracy-150510/">warned</a> earlier. However, it is not the only threat. The recent push for more &#8220;exclusive&#8221; releases are another point of frustration for many music fans. </p>
<p>Various music services make deals to be the first to release new albums, such as Dr. Dre&#8217;s <a href="http://www.slashgear.com/new-dr-dre-album-to-be-apple-music-itunes-exclusive-04395483/">iTunes exclusive</a>, making the piracy option relevant again for users of other paid services. This might not be a good strategy in the long run. </p>
<p>On that note, Spotify also has to be careful with privacy issues. A change to the company&#8217;s terms and conditions <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34016658">now allows</a> it to access photos, phone numbers and sensory data from mobile users, which has quite a few users upset. </p>
<p>Now we don&#8217;t want these users, including Minecraft creator <a href="https://twitter.com/notch/status/634659768125231104">Markus Persson</a>, to reconvert to pirates again, do we?</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Spotify responded to the privacy concerns <a href="https://news.spotify.com/us/2015/08/21/sorry-2/">here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109348
title: Takedown Resistant ‘Hydra Proxy’ Launches to Beat Censorship
uri: Takedown-Resistant-Hydra-Proxy-Launches-to-Beat-Censorship
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zzADNOE0Ur0/
content:
<p>In July 2013 a brand new anti-censorship service <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/unblock-torrent-sites-blocked-proxies-camerons-porn-filter-with-immunicity-130728/">burst onto the scene</a>. Aiming to service those who found VPNs too expensive but couldn&#8217;t live with the slow speeds provided by Tor, Immunicity provided swift, free access to a wide range of blocked websites.</p>
<p>The service quickly gained an enthusiastic following but just a year later in 2014 <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-arrest-operator-torrent-site-proxies-140806/">it was all over</a>. With support from Hollywood, City of London Police arrested Immunicity&#8217;s then 20-year-old operator. A full 12 months later he remains on bail facing an uncertain future.</p>
<p>To mark this anniversary a new service has debuted to finish the job Immunicity started. Titled &#8216;HydraProxy&#8217;, the service isn&#8217;t just another run-of-the-mill unblocking tool but one that aims to grow like a hydra.</p>
<p>Hydra Proxy (HP) acts as a frontend to <a href="https://packetflagon.is/">PacketFlagon</a>, a system which in turn is based on the RoutingPacketsisNotaCrime software detailed in our <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-art-of-unblocking-websites-without-committing-crimes-140923/">earlier article</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;After the fall of Immunicity it would appear that most people have migrated to using SSH tunnels, Tor or commercial VPN products,&#8221; an HP developer informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately not everyone can afford (or wants) to do that so [Hydra Proxy] will allow those people to continue to evade overzealous filters at libraries, homes, coffee shops, mobile networks and fixed lines at no cost.&#8221;</p>
<p>Central to the system is the ability of popular browsers to use Proxy Auto-Config (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_auto-config">PAC</a>) files. Browsers are easily configured to use PAC files and in just a couple of minutes users are able to <a href="https://routingpacketsisnotacrime.uk/create">create their own</a> to access any blocked site. Once configured, blocked sites open as usual.</p>
<p>&#8220;Essentially the RoutingPacketsIsNotACrime.uk software has been bundled up into a quickly deployable &#8216;shard&#8217; which talks to a TLS secured common backend API to create, update and view Proxy Auto-Config (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_auto-config">PAC</a>) files,&#8221; Hydra Proxy&#8217;s developer informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>One of the main advantages of the project is that since anyone with the know-how can operate their own Hydra Proxy shard, the system becomes more diverse and capable of evading censorship.</p>
<p>&#8220;Volunteers can deploy HydraProxy shards which can create and serve PAC files whilst synchronizing with the central node to help frustrate blocks of the PAC serving servers. Or, they can deploy an entire stand-alone platform,&#8221; HP&#8217;s dev explains.</p>
<p><Center><img src="media/d8d17661.hydraproxy1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hydraproxy1.png" alt="hydraproxy1" width="650" height="238" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109355"></center></p>
<p>There are already more than half a dozen <a href="https://hydraproxy.party/#updates-link">Hydra Proxy shards in operation</a> but the project is welcoming more.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d encourage people to register other domains and we will even host them for free &#8211; they register a domain for use with PacketFlagon, they contact us and we&#8217;ll provide an IP to point the DNS at and then we&#8217;ll handle configuring the server and keeping the shard software up-to-date,&#8221; the dev says.</p>
<p>The hosting will be provided by <a href="https://brasshorncommunications.uk/">Brass Horn Communications</a>, a non-profit entity which not only operates PacketFlagon but also other ISP-esque services such as Tor exits, web hosting and Unix shells. Brass Horn Communications is its own ISP and has &#8220;mere-conduit&#8221; protection.</p>
<p>Somewhat refreshingly, HP&#8217;s developer says he is more than happy to share the fun with others.</p>
<p>&#8220;Everything is <a href="https://github.com/RoutingPacketsIsNotACrime">open-source under a BSD license</a> rather than GPL as it&#8217;s more permissive. The goal is undermining censorship not bickering about who owned / misused what,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;If someone has the time to take this software and create a commercial model then have at it, if someone wants to create their own independent infrastructure with new branding; please do!&#8221;</p>
<p>In conclusion, Hydra Proxy sends the following message.</p>
<p>&#8220;Centralization is what allowed the Internet to get in the mess where one DMCA against two companies kills an innocent users uploaded videos or a single court order against four ISPs censors 90% of the population. So take this truly free (as in speech and as in beer) software and help kick the censors&#8217; ass!&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109609
title: MPAA Seeks New Global Anti-Piracy Vice President
uri: MPAA-Seeks-New-Global-Anti-Piracy-Vice-President
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RsebYOEKXd8/
content:
<p><img src="media/1eb8f885.mpaa-logo1.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-logo1.jpg" width="200" height="112" class="alignright">Due to opposing beliefs over how content should be consumed online, there is a war being waged on the Internet, one in which the guerilla forces of the file-sharing masses take on the world&#8217;s leading content companies and their armies of lawyers.</p>
<p>As a result, Hollywood and the major recording labels are committed to pouring endless millions into content protection, with the aim of affecting consumer behavior by any means &#8211; and by force if necessary.</p>
<p>To that end the MPAA is currently hoping to boost its already sizable anti-piracy team with the addition of a new Vice President of Global Content Protection.</p>
<p>The position &#8211; advertised externally this week &#8211; is an important one and will see the new recruit working with Hollywood studios to &#8220;define and execute&#8221; the MPAA’s global online content protection strategies.</p>
<p>&#8220;This position is primarily responsible for developing and executing a global Internet strategy for combating piracy, managing multiple projects simultaneously, managing staff and keeping apprised of technological developments in the piracy ecosystem and user behaviors online,&#8221; the MPAA&#8217;s listing reads.</p>
<p>The post is central to the MPAA&#8217;s entire anti-piracy operation. Responsibilities include directing international investigations of &#8220;websites, operators and business entities engaged in or associated with copyright infringement&#8221; while monitoring and reporting on emerging trends and threats.</p>
<p>Legal action is a large part of the MPAA&#8217;s work and the role requires the successful candidate to develop and manage relationships &#8220;with high-level law enforcement officials in key regions and countries&#8221; while helping to develop the movie group&#8217;s global civil litigation policy.</p>
<p>Also falling within the job description are key elements of the so-called &#8220;Follow the Money&#8221; approach to online piracy.</p>
<p>Along the lines of several collaborative initiatives already underway (six strikes etc), the new VP will be expected to develop relationships with intermediaries such as hosting providers, advertising companies, payment processors, domain name registrars and social networks such as Facebook. </p>
<p>He or she will also be responsible for providing technical assistance, research, data and training to government agencies, lobbyists and other rights holders concerning content protection issues.</p>
<p>As should be clear from the above, it&#8217;s a big job that will only be suitable for a limited number of applicants. In addition to a bachelor’s degree, candidates will need a graduate degree and experience in content protection intelligence, investigation and enforcement under their belts.</p>
<p>Naturally the MPAA only seeks the technically adept when it comes to piracy-related vacancies. Candidates should have plenty of experience with various content distribution methods including &#8220;streaming video, online file hosting and peer-to-peer sharing.&#8221;</p>
<p>For a group determined to hold third parties responsible for the infringements of others, it should comes as no surprise that applicants are also expected to have a sterling understanding of the relationships between &#8220;ISPs, domain names, IP addresses, and hosting providers, and technical infrastructure of such online resources.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, the MPAA insists that their ideal applicant will know right from wrong.</p>
<p>&#8220;[We require] a team player who has the utmost moral and ethical character to support the content protection team and to implement sound strategies that will benefit the motion picture industry today and tomorrow,&#8221; the MPAA <a href="https://home.eease.adp.com/recruit2/?id=11810741&#038;t=1">concludes</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109619
title: Torrent Trackers Ban Windows 10 Over Privacy Concerns
uri: Torrent-Trackers-Ban-Windows-10-Over-Privacy-Concerns
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/kPCOVBlDvHc/
content:
<p><img src="media/f7218a64.win10.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/win10.png" alt="win10" width="200" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109653">Since the release of Windows 10 last month many media reports have focused on <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q="windows+10"+privacy&#038;tbm=nws">various privacy intrusions</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/07/windows-10-shares-your-wi-fi-with-contacts/">WiFi password sharing</a> feature, for example, or the extensive sharing of personal data and information back to Microsoft&#8217;s servers. The list goes on and on.</p>
<p>While we&#8217;re the last ones to defend these policies, it is worth pointing out that many other large tech companies have similar privacy violating policies. Reading rants about Windows 10 privacy on Facebook is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/">particularly ironic</a>.</p>
<p>This week things took a turn for the worse. Slowly but steadily <a href="http://www.alphr.com/microsoft/microsoft-windows-10/1001360/microsoft-can-disable-your-pirated-games-and-illegal-hardware">reports</a> started pouring in that Windows 10 has a built-in piracy kill switch. If we were to believe some of the reports, Microsoft <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/windows-10-checks-pirate-bay-torrents-bootleg-games-hardware-automatically-2056054">would nuke all torrents</a> downloaded from The Pirate Bay. </p>
<p>The truth is nowhere near as dystopian though. The controversy originates from a single line in Microsoft&#8217;s Service Agreement which allows the company to download software updates and configuration changes that may prevent people from &#8220;playing counterfeit games.&#8221; </p>
<p>This change isn&#8217;t limited to Windows 10 but covers many services. Also, there is no indication that this will ever be used to target third-party games, which is highly unlikely.  </p>
<p>Still, the recent privacy concerns have some torrent tracker staffers worried. During the week TF received reports informing us that several private trackers have banned Windows 10, or are considering doing so.</p>
<p>The staffers at <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/trackers/comments/3hhtgy/its_bans_users_using_windows_10/">iTS explain</a> that Windows 10 is off-limits now because of the extensive amount of data it shares. This includes connections to MarkMonitor, the brand protection company which is also <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isps-and-tracking-company-ready-to-start-six-strikes-anti-piracy-scheme-120928/">involved </a>in the U.S. Copyright Alert System. </p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately Microsoft decided to revoke any kind of data protection and submit whatever they can gather to not only themselves but also others. One of those is one of the largest anti-piracy company called MarkMonitor,&#8221; iTS staff note. </p>
<p>&#8220;Amongst other things Windows 10 sends the contents of your local disks directly to one of their servers. Obviously this goes way too far and is a serious threat to sites like ours which is why we had to take measures,&#8221; they add. </p>
<p>While this may sound scary, Microsoft has been working with MarkMonitor for years already. Among other things, the company helps to keep <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/markmonitor-to-provide-data-to-help-microsoft-protect-customers-from-phishing-55673552.html">scammers at bay</a>. </p>
<p>There is no evidence that any piracy related info is being shared. Still, the connection is raising red flags with other tracker operators as well. More trackers reportedly ban Windows 10 and others including BB and FSC are consider to follow suit. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have also found [Windows 10] will be gathering information on users&#8217; P2P use to be shared with anti piracy group,&#8221; BB staff writes to its users.</p>
<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s particularly nasty is that apparently it sends the results of local(!!) searches to a well known anti piracy company directly so as soon as you have one known p2p or scene release on your local disk &#8230; BAM!&#8221;</p>
<p>The same sentiment is shared at FSC where staff also informed users about the threat. </p>
<p>&#8220;As we all know, Microsoft recently released Windows 10. You as a member should know, that we as a site are thinking about banning the OS from FSC. That would mean you cannot use the site with the OS installed,&#8221; FSC staff writes.</p>
<p>While a paranoid mindset is definitely not a bad thing for people in the business of managing a torrent community, banning an operating system over privacy concerns is a bit much for most. Especially since many of the same issues also affect earlier versions of Windows.</p>
<p>Luckily, the most invasive privacy concerns can be dealt with by configuring Windows properly. Or any other operating system, application or social network for that matter. </p>
<p>Instead of banning something outright, it may be a good idea to <a href="http://lifehacker.com/what-windows-10s-privacy-nightmare-settings-actually-1722267229">inform the public on specific dangers</a> and educate them how they can be <a href="https://fix10.isleaked.com/">alleviated</a>.  </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109703
title: This Anti-Piracy Campaign Will Leave You Speechless
uri: This-Anti-Piracy-Campaign-Will-Leave-You-Speechless
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aEiefCuFrmM/
content:
<p><img src="media/11f9912d.facepalm-featured-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facepalm-featured-150x150.jpg" alt="facepalm-featured" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-82883">Earlier this month an anti-piracy campaign from many years ago was resurrected by <a href="http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2015/08/04/because-illegal-downloading-is-like-ripping-an-artists-eyeballs-out/">DMN</a>.</p>
<p>Created for Universal Music, the 2007 campaign featured severed body parts alongside the line &#8216;Stop Destroying the Band You Like, Say No to Music Piracy.&#8217;</p>
<p>The gory manner in which the message was presented certainly touched a nerve but when compared to a new anti-piracy campaign just completed for Virgin Radio, the graphic images barely feel controversial.</p>
<p>Titled &#8216;If you knew what went into it, you wouldn&#8217;t steal it&#8217;, the campaign is the brainchild of <a href="http://www.leoburnett.com/">Leo Burnett</a>, one of the largest U.S. ad agencies with several thousand employees and dozens of offices worldwide.</p>
<p>Aimed at printed media and outdoor ads, the campaign features imagery and backstories associated with the lives of Marvin Gaye, Elvis Presley and Amy Winehouse. Those expecting fun and nostalgia can move along now though as things are about to get very dark indeed.</p>
<p>In fact, the ads are so provocative that many will need assurance that this isn&#8217;t some kind of twisted prank. Sadly the campaign is absolute real and deadly serious &#8211; in more ways than one.</p>
<p><a href="media/c8a36520.piracy-amy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-amy.jpg"><img src="media/c8a36520.piracy-amy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-amy.jpg" alt="piracy-amy" width="650" height="433" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109714"></a></p>
<p><a href="media/138530e4.piracy-elvis.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-elvis.jpg"><img src="media/138530e4.piracy-elvis.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-elvis.jpg" alt="piracy-elvis" width="650" height="433" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109716"></a></p>
<p><a href="media/848b26f6.piracy-marvin.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-marvin.jpg"><img src="media/848b26f6.piracy-marvin.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-marvin.jpg" alt="piracy-marvin" width="650" height="433" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109717"></a></p>
<p>&#8220;The goal was to create a connection to each musician and the blood, sweat and tears that created the now-legendary music,&#8221; said Leo Burnett in a statement.</p>
<p>While readers will certainly form their own opinions on the campaign, Leo Burnett have already given it their gold seal of approval.</p>
<p>Using a 10-point assessment mechanism known as the &#8220;HumanKind Scale&#8221;, the company&#8217;s Global Product Committee has rated <em>&#8216;If you knew what went into it, you wouldn&#8217;t steal it&#8217;</em> a 7.3.</p>
<p>&#8220;Work that receives a 7-point rating is considered to be the benchmark for excellence in craft,&#8221; the company says.</p>
<p>Feel free to leave your own ratings in the comment section below.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109761
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 08/24/15
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-08-24-15
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/R_LidZ62sPw/
content:
<p><img src="media/6b7a0316.madmax.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/madmax.jpg" alt="madmax" width="300" height="192" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109446">This week we have two newcomers in our chart. </p>
<p>Mad Max: Fury Road is the most downloaded movie for the second week in a row.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-081715/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mad_max_fury_road/">Mad Max: Fury Road</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjBb4SZ0F6Q">trailer</a></td>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avengers_age_of_ultron/">Avengers: Age of Ultron</a> (HDrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmeOjFno6Do">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aloha_2015/">Aloha</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1243974/">5.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3mf_ewjc7s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_brilliant_young_mind/">A Brilliant Young Mind</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3149038/">7.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taaqf_3El0A">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/terminator_genisys/">Terminator Genisys</a> (Subbed HDrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340138/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62E4FJTwSuc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mission_impossible_rogue_nation/">Mission: Impossible &#8211; Rogue Nation</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381249/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIsauUFIguE">trailer</a></td>
<tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pitch_perfect_2/">Pitch Perfect 2 </a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2848292/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBwOYQd21TY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/insurgent">Insurgent</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2908446/">6.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suZcGoRLXkU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/furious_7/">Furious 7</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2820852/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skpu5HaVkOc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dont_mess_with_texas_2014/">Hot Pursuit</a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2967224/">4.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUeOBdxSjc8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109690
title: uTorrent Explores Options to Make Users Pay
uri: uTorrent-Explores-Options-to-Make-Users-Pay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/yj0MK92ZZ4Q/
content:
<p><img src="media/f1b12f99.utorrent-logo-new.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/utorrent-logo-new.jpg" alt="utorrent-logo-new" width="222" height="148" class="alignright size-full wp-image-55606">With roughly 150 million monthly users uTorrent is by far the most used BitTorrent client.</p>
<p>This dazzling number is a dream for most software companies as it presents major revenue potential. The problem is, however, that uTorrent is free. </p>
<p>In recent years uTorrent&#8217;s parent company BitTorrent Inc. has monetized the client through <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-becomes-ad-supported-to-rake-in-millions-120810/">advertisements</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-quietly-installs-riskware-bitcoin-miner-users-report-150306/">bundled software</a>. This works, but it&#8217;s also an annoyance for users and the company itself, as it associates the torrent client with <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-flagged-as-harmful-by-antivirus-companies-and-google-150721/">riskware</a>.</p>
<p>If it&#8217;s up to the uTorrent team, the added software will soon be a thing of the past. Over the past several months the people at BitTorrent Inc. have been discussing the possibility of replacing this revenue stream. </p>
<p>&#8220;Specifically, we want to find a way to improve uTorrent for our customers while financially supporting the amazing team that works every day to make uTorrent great.&#8221;</p>
<p>The uTorrent team says that it&#8217;s never been happy with the bundled software approach and wants to try alternatives during the weeks to come. </p>
<p>&#8220;As you know, uTorrent is a free piece of software. To support it, we use bundled software and offers to offset the cost that would otherwise be paid directly by the user,&#8221; they note.   </p>
<p>&#8220;We’ve never been satisfied with this revenue model. It requires compromises that detract from a premium user experience. We want to find a model that adds value to our product and our users. We want to find a better way.&#8221;</p>
<p>What the alternatives might be is not yet clear, but the uTorrent team says it will be testing a few options during the next few weeks and months. </p>
<p>In doing so, their goal is to make uTorrent the best client out there while being transparent about the changes in the revenue model. </p>
<p>In addition the team says that there will be options for every budget. This suggest that uTorrent will start to charge users, at least some of them. </p>
<p>Or to use their own <a href="http://forum.utorrent.com/topic/101314-utorrent-looking-forward/">wording</a>: &#8220;Provide our users with clear options for supporting uTorrent (with options for every budget)&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/33582e66.utorrmove.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/utorrmove.png" alt="utorrmove" width="600" height="203" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109701"></center></p>
<p>While we can only speculate for now, one option could be to ask for a monthly, yearly or even a lifetime subscription fee for future versions of uTorrent. With 150 million users, this can be quite profitable even if it costs as little as 99 cents per year. </p>
<p>A similar subscription (but more expensive) model is already in use for <a href="https://www.getsync.com/buy/pro">BitTorrent Sync</a>, which is developed by the same company.</p>
<p>Another alternative is a significant fee for a lifetime subscription/license, but this may be too much of a hurdle for the average torrent user, so that seems less likely. </p>
<p>Similarly, a voluntary &#8220;donation&#8221; based revenue stream seems destined to fail, as previous experiments have shown that torrent users are generally hesitant to contribute freely.</p>
<p>Alternatively, BitTorrent Inc. may come out with a trimmed down version of the client with more limited functionality. Users could then upgrade this to a standard version if they choose to pay for it.</p>
<p>Again, we can only speculate for now, but the fact that the uTorrent team is hinting at asking users for money is destined to cause a heated debate.</p>
<p>We contacted BitTorrent Inc. for additional details but haven&#8217;t heard back from the company at the time of publishing.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109748
title: Pirate Music Site Op Pleads Guilty, Faces Five Years in Prison
uri: Pirate-Music-Site-Op-Pleads-Guilty-Faces-Five-Years-in-Prison
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XF46LFdM_Dw/
content:
<p><img src="media/328083ef.IPRC_Seized.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/IPRC_Seized.jpg" width="200" height="150" class="alignright">Over the past five years, Operation in Our Sites, the U.S. initiative tackling copyright-infringing websites, has produced several arrests and the seizure of thousands of domains.</p>
<p>In October 2014,  ICE Homeland Security Investigations <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-shuts-down-music-sharing-sites-141022/">took action</a> against a pair of large U.S.-based websites. RockDizMusic.com and RockDizFile.com were both involved in large-scale distribution of unauthorized music, with the former presenting itself as a music database and the latter its file-hosting partner.</p>
<p>At the time ICE didn&#8217;t respond to requests for comment but it eventually transpired that the sites&#8217; alleged operator, Rocky P. Ouprasith of Charlotte, N.C., had been arrested.</p>
<p>According to papers filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Friday, Ouprasith operated both sites from around May 2011 through to his arrest last October.</p>
<p><strong>Structure</strong></p>
<p>During that period Ouprasith sourced pirated content online and uploaded it to RockDizFile, while encouraging others to do the same. Ouprasith curated the unauthorized content and then presented it for download on RockDizMusic, which in turn acted as a user-friendly front for RockDizFile. &#8216;Affiliates&#8217; who uploaded music were paid based on the number of times their files were downloaded. </p>
<p><center><strong>RockDizMusic.com</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/3cf14ddf.rockdizmusic.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rockdizmusic.jpg"><img src="media/3cf14ddf.rockdizmusic.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rockdizmusic.jpg" alt="rockdizmusic" width="600" height="400" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-95627"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;To operate these websites, OUPRASITH rented and used computer servers in the United States and abroad. OUPRASITH hosted the website RockDizMusic.com on servers originally located in France and later in Canada,&#8221; court papers read.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of OUPRASITH&#8217;s linking websites, at RockDizFile.com, operated from a computer server in Illinois furnished by the webhosting provider, GigeNET. A second linking website used by OUPRASITH, at SfShare.se, was hosted<br>
from a computer server in Russia.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Profit</strong></p>
<p>According to the prosecution, Ouprasith&#8217;s aim was to profit from his websites. He sold premium subscriptions to RockDizFile at a cost of up to $90.00 per year, which offered faster downloads and VIP access. Also generating revenue were several deals he had up with to nine advertising firms.</p>
<p>This resulted in decent traffic, reportedly 1.65m visits from 937,000 unique visitors in January 2014. However, that doesn&#8217;t appear to have made Ouprasith a particularly rich man. Skype messages found on a laptop seized by ICE had the 23-year-old stating that in 2013 he made around $80k but spent $60K running the business.</p>
<p><strong>RIAA and DMCA</strong></p>
<p>Nevertheless, according to the RIAA, in 2013 RockDizFile emerged &#8220;as the second largest online file-sharing site in the reproduction and distribution of infringing copies of copyrighted music in the United States.&#8221;</p>
<p><center>RockDizFile.com<br></br></center><center><a href="media/cafa9746.rockdizfile.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rockdizfile.png"><img src="media/cafa9746.rockdizfile.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rockdizfile.png" alt="rockdizfile" width="600" height="400" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-95628"></a></center></p>
<p>This growth caused both the RIAA and IFPI to target the site with hundreds of DMCA takedown notices but apparently Ouprasith failed to process them in a legally acceptable manner. A Homeland Security investigation found that although files were taken down, the same reappeared elsewhere on the site.</p>
<p>&#8220;In other words, OUPRASITH never took down the infringing files pursuant to the DMCA takedown notices. Instead, he simply created a new hyperlink to the same illegal content,&#8221; a statement of facts reads.</p>
<p><strong>Arrest and guilty plea</strong></p>
<p>On October 15, 2014, HSI executed a warrant to search Ouprasith&#8217;s residence in North Carolina. In Chicago, the RockDizFile server was seized, as were ancillary servers in both the Netherlands and France. Ouprasith appears to have cooperated immediately.</p>
<p>&#8220;After being advised of his rights orally and in writing, OUPRASITH waived them and agreed to speak with investigators,&#8221; papers read.</p>
<p>What followed was a near complete confession, including that he made between $3,000 and $4000 profit per month and that in response to DMCA notices Ouprasith would &#8220;delete the reported links to the content listed in the notices and then re-upload exactly the same content under new hyperlinks.&#8221;</p>
<p>In his guilty plea, Ouprasith admits for-profit infringement exceeding $2.5m but less than $7m, plus various other copyright charges including pre-release music piracy. He also agrees to forfeit almost $51,000 and any property used to commit and facilitate the infringement.</p>
<p>When sentenced later this year, Ouprasith faces up to five years in federal prison.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109767
title: Former Megaupload User Asks Court to Return His Files
uri: Former-Megaupload-User-Asks-Court-to-Return-His-Files
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/qOsO2yKIxZ4/
content:
<p><img src="media/9a9629f5.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg" alt="megaupload-logo" width="225" height="189" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95191">Nearly four years have passed since Megaupload’s servers were raided by the U.S. Government, and still it remains uncertain if former users will ever be able to retrieve their files.</p>
<p>Soon after the raids former Megaupload user Kyle Goodwin, a sports reporter who used Megaupload to store work-related files, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-user-asks-court-to-order-return-of-his-data-120525/">took legal steps</a> to secure his work. </p>
<p>Helped by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Mr. Goodwin filed at least six requests asking the court to find a workable solution for the return of his data, but thus far without success.</p>
<p>The U.S. hasn&#8217;t been particularly helpful in the matter as it previously suggested that disadvantaged users shouldn&#8217;t bother the Government with complaints, but <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-govt-megaupload-users-should-sue-megaupload-120611/">sue Megaupload instead</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this month QTS, which owns the servers after they acquired Carpathia hosting, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hosting-company-wants-to-wipe-1103-megaupload-servers-150814/">asked the court</a> if it could wipe the data. The company still spends $5,760 per month to preserve Megaupload&#8217;s files but doesn&#8217;t want to carry this burden forever.</p>
<p>QTS&#8217; request is understandable and the company is not the only third-parties waiting for a solution. Following up on the company&#8217;s request, EFF and Kyle Goodwin are asking the court to come up with a solution so he and other former Megaupload users can retrieve their lost files. </p>
<p>&#8220;Getting access to the video files I had stored in my Megaupload account would be valuable for my business, my customers, and for me personally,&#8221; Goodwin tells the court.</p>
<p>&#8220;If I am able to access those files, I will continue to make original video productions from them [&#8230;] and use the videos in documentaries and promotional materials. I believe the revenue I could earn from the use of the video files will help me grow my business.&#8221;</p>
<p>Goodwin&#8217;s attorneys has filed a response (<a href="media/c5db44bb.goodmot.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/goodmot.pdf">pdf</a>) to QTS&#8217; request to dispose of the data. They stress to the court that it&#8217;s important to come up with a solution. None of the involved parties can or wants to take responsibility, so the court has to step in.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is unclear who currently controls Mr. Goodwin’s property. QTS says it does not have any interest in the data and cannot access it.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;The government claims it has released control over the servers and the data on them. Megaupload, for its part, says it cannot afford to turn the servers back on and allow customers like Mr. Goodwin to retrieve their data because the government controls its financial assets.&#8221;</p>
<p>The uncertainly about the data is not Mr. Goodwin&#8217;s fault though, the lawyers argue. They therefore ask the court to come up with a solution.  </p>
<p>&#8220;It is clear, however, that through no fault of his own, Mr. Goodwin does not control his property, and that this Court has the authority to remedy that. Mr. Goodwin respectfully requests this Court exercise that power and grant him, and those similarly situated, the return of their property.&#8221;</p>
<p>How such a data return would work is unclear. Technically the data can be mirrored and hosted elsewhere but someone has to pick up the bill. Thus far negotiations on the issue haven&#8217;t resulted in a workable solution.</p>
<p>Also, putting Megaupload&#8217;s data back online is likely to cause concern among copyright holders. The MPAA previously <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-megaupload-users-can-have-their-files-back-but-120606/">stated </a>that users can have their files back as long as access to copyrighted files is blocked, which may be easier said than done. </p>
<p>The court will now have to review the situation once more and is expected to respond to Goodwin&#8217;s request during the weeks to come.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109818
title: UK Police ‘Hijack’ Ads on 251 Pirate Sites
uri: UK-Police-Hijack-Ads-on-251-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rs-YbWFGjVc/
content:
<p><img src="media/31176dbb.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg" alt="cityoflondonpolice" width="200" height="82" class="alignright size-full wp-image-71397">Over the past two years City of London Police&#8217;s <a href="https://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/advice-and-support/fraud-and-economic-crime/pipcu/Pages/default.aspx">PIPCU</a> unit has been working with the music and movie industries to target sites that provide unauthorized access to copyrighted content.</p>
<p>Under the banner &#8220;Operation Creative&#8221;, last year they <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/police-begin-placing-warning-adverts-pirate-sites-140729/">struck a deal</a> with online advertising companies with the goal of replacing ads on suspected pirate sites with police banners. </p>
<p>The banners in question inform users that &#8220;<a href="media/0fb3ea68.bk3vHVF.png" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/bk3vHVF.png">illegal downloading is a crime</a>&#8221; and stress the site they&#8217;re browsing has been reported to the authorities.</p>
<p><center><strong>Police banner</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/e1ea227d.pipcu-ad-mp3.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pipcu-ad-mp3.png"><img src="media/5f7f4219.pipcu-ad-mp3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pipcu-ad-mp3.png" alt="pipcu-ad-mp3" width="593" height="380" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-91734"></a></center></p>
<p>The campaign has been active for more than a year but PIPCU only selectively releases information about its scope. However, thanks to a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request we now know how many sites are on the &#8220;Infringement Watch List.&#8221;</p>
<p>PIPCU informs TF that 151 domain names are being targeted by the advertisement replacement effort. These domains have been reported to the police by copyright holder groups, which is also the case for PIPCU&#8217;s other anti-piracy initiatives. </p>
<p>Last year we sent a similar FOI request and at the time <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-hijacks-ads-74-websites-refuses-name-140812/">74 sites</a> were included, meaning that the number being targeted has doubled over the past year. Unfortunately, the police are not willing to share the actual domain names as this may increase the number of visitors to these sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is an ongoing investigation and disclosure to the public domain would raise the profile of those sites unlawfully providing copyright material. This would enable individuals to visit the sites highlighted and unlawfully download copyright material and increase the scale of the loss,&#8221; we were told. </p>
<p>PIPCU further informed us that 134 advertising agencies are participating in the program, up from 84 last year. All of these companies have a UK presence but many operate internationally. </p>
<p>It remains unclear what percentage of the total ads on pirate sites are being replaced. The banners appear rarely in the wild so we assume that the volume is relatively low. </p>
<p>A few weeks ago PIPCU released some <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-uk-advertisers-place-73-fewer-ads-on-pirate-sites-150812/">statistics</a> on the effectiveness of the campaign. Based on a small sample they concluded that the UK&#8217;s top ad spending companies decreased their &#8216;pirate&#8217; advertising by 73%.</p>
<p>Whether this made any serious impact on the overall revenue of pirate sites is unknown, but PIPCU&#8217;s Detective Chief Inspector Peter Ratcliffe praised the collaboration.</p>
<p>“Working closely with rights holders and the advertising industry, PIPCU has been able to lead the way with tackling copyright infringing sites by successfully disrupting advertising revenue,” he said.</p>
<p>Next year we&#8217;ll see if the program continues to expand, and if so, at what rate. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109813
title: 75,000 Popcorn Time Users in Crosshairs of Anti-Piracy Group
uri: 75-000-Popcorn-Time-Users-in-Crosshairs-of-Anti-Piracy-Group
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lgT-hE7z6cQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/fe8b9112.norkse.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/norkse.jpg" width="190" height="190" class="alignright">Less than 18 months since its original launch in 2014 and the controversial Popcorn Time software is still making headlines. The application&#8217;s colorful and easy to use interface has proven a hit with users and now anti-piracy groups in the United States and Europe are fighting back.</p>
<p>Last month Norwegian anti-piracy group Rettighets Alliansen (Rights Alliance) blamed Popcorn Time for a piracy explosion in the country and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-blamed-for-movie-streaming-piracy-explosion-150703/">warned</a> that it was monitoring pirates. More information is now being made available.</p>
<p>Norway has a population of just over 5.1m and it&#8217;s estimated that around 750,000 obtain video from illegal sources. However, it&#8217;s now being claimed that a third of those &#8211; 250,000 &#8211; are using Popcorn Time on a weekly basis. Rights Alliance says it has been watching them closely.</p>
<p>According to Rights Alliance chief Willy Johansen, his organization is now in possession of database containing information on between 50,000 and 75,000 suspected Popcorn Time pirates. The only question now is what the group will decide to do with the data.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are sitting today with a record of some users of [Popcorn Time] in Norway. These are records we can lawfully use, and it could be that someone gets a little surprise in the mail in the form of a letter. It&#8217;s probable that something will happen in the fall,&#8221; Johansen <a href="http://www.nrk.no/kultur/samler-inn-data-om-norske-brukere-1.12514677">says</a>.</p>
<p>If Rights Alliance follows through with its threats it will mark the first time that regular users have been targeted since copyright law was tweaked two years ago.</p>
<p>In 2013 a change in legislation enabled copyright holders to apply to the government for permission (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpa-will-begin-norway-file-sharing-crackdown-this-month-131107/">granted to the Hollywood in Nov 2013</a>) to scan file-sharing networks for infringements. Other changes mean that harvested IP addresses can now be converted to real-life identities with the help of the courts and ISPs.</p>
<p>But according to Bjørgulv Vinje Borgundvåg at the Ministry of Culture, yet more changes could be on the way.</p>
<p>&#8220;Two years ago, Parliament adopted an amendment providing Rights Alliance and the people who own these intellectual property rights to take action, and to ask the court for compensation for abuse of their intellectual property. We are now considering making further legislative changes to protect intellectual property from being abused online,&#8221; Borgundvåg told NRK.</p>
<p>In the meantime, however, groups like Rights Alliance, the MPA and their Hollywood affiliates have to deal with the law as it stands today. They have been granted permission to harvest IP address information by the country&#8217;s Data Inspectorate but obtaining the identities behind those addresses will require further work.</p>
<p>&#8220;In relation to the legislation we have in Norway, Rights Alliance is fully entitled to collect IP addresses of Popcorn Time users. This is not problematic as we see it,&#8221; explains Inspectorate Director Bjorn Erik Thon</p>
<p>&#8220;Rights Alliance may collect IP addresses, but to find out the identities of who is behind them requires a trial,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>However, according to law professor Olav Torvund, even getting that far is likely to provide headaches.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is not straightforward,&#8221; Torvund <a href="http://www.nrk.no/kultur/jusekspert-om-popcorn-time-soksmal_-_-flere-skjaer-i-sjoen-1.12515341">explains</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Rights Alliance must determine which IP addresses have been used. Most Norwegian users have [regularly changing] dynamic IP addresses which do not necessarily identify the user.&#8221;</p>
<p>And even if users are successfully identified, legal problems persist.</p>
<p>&#8220;One must have acted intentionally or negligently and known or understood that material is being shared with others [when using Popcorn Time],&#8221; Torvund says</p>
<p>&#8220;It is not necessarily so easy to prove. In other words, it&#8217;s a long way to the finish and there are several problems to overcome.&#8221;</p>
<p>While Rights Alliance are known to go after both <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/after-eliminating-music-piracy-norway-hits-first-movie-site-150328/">site owners</a> and users elsewhere in Scandinavia (there were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-arrest-men-for-spreading-popcorn-time-information-150819/">arrests in Denmark</a> last week), it seems unlikely that they will take a troll-like stance with Popcorn Time users in the way that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/filmmakers-demand-cash-from-popcorn-time-viewers-150330/">the makers of Dallas Buyers Club have</a>.</p>
<p>Still, the fall isn&#8217;t too far away, so time will soon tell.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109832
title: Megaupload Wants U.S. Govt to Buy and Store its Servers
uri: Megaupload-Wants-U-S-Govt-to-Buy-and-Store-its-Servers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0UL4x8IMc28/
content:
<p><img src="media/5fd37436.megaupload.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload.jpg" alt="megaupload" width="198" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-30407">When Megaupload and Kim Dotcom were raided <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-shut-down-120119/">early 2012</a>, the U.S. Government seized 1,103 servers at Carpathia’s hosting facility in the United States.</p>
<p>Nearly four years have since passed and after all this time the servers are still gathering dust at a Virginia warehouse. </p>
<p>In recent weeks the issue has come to the forefront again. QTS, the company that owns the servers after it acquired Carpathia hosting, asked the court if it can <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hosting-company-wants-to-wipe-1103-megaupload-servers-150814/">get rid of the data</a> which costs them thousands of dollars per month in storage costs. </p>
<p>This motion triggered a reply from former Megaupload user Kyle Goodwin who still hopes to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-user-asks-court-to-return-his-files-150824/">retrieve his files</a> and a few hours ago Megaupload&#8217;s legal team also submitted a comment, asking the court to add it as an official response. </p>
<p>Megaupload points out that the data on the servers must be preserved. Not only for the users&#8217; sake, but also because they contain crucial evidence. The company plans to use this to its benefit in the criminal proceedings as well as the pending cases against the MPAA and RIAA.</p>
<p>The DOJ previously allowed the data hosted <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/leaseweb-wipes-all-megaupload-user-data-dotcom-outraged-130619/">in Europe</a> to be destroyed, they argue. If the same happens to the Carpathia servers various examples of Megaupload&#8217;s &#8220;copyright neutral technology&#8221; may disappear.</p>
<p>&#8220;The database servers can show safe harbor compliance. The web servers can show the copyright neutral nature of the interface design. The content servers in combination with other data can show fair use and substantial non-infringing uses and users,&#8221; Megaupload <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/276028063/megaser?secret_password=nKxkNLSQWBn3Y7dqmyzJ">writes</a>. </p>
<p>Thus far the U.S. Government has only copied a very small percentage of the total data and Megaupload fears that this may be &#8220;cherry-picked&#8221; to favor the Department of Justice&#8217;s case. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Government is burdened with a weak case to present in a criminal trial and it wants to prevent a strong defense,&#8221; Megaupload&#8217;s legal team writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Government cannot criminally and civilly indict all the revenues arising out of all the global users of the Megaupload cloud storage site in the largest copyright case in history while at the same time cherry picking a sliver evidence to retain for trial and throwing away the rest to manifestly prevent the mounting of a fair defense,&#8221; they add. </p>
<p>Megaupload&#8217;s legal team asks the court to instruct the Government to buy the servers and transfer them to a facility where they and other authorized parties can access them.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Government should bear the cost of such purchase and preservation,&#8221; the legal team write.</p>
<p>Before ruling on Megaupload&#8217;s request, District Court Judge Liam O’Grady first has to decide whether to accept its request to be heard in the matter. The Government is also likely to chime in, as they&#8217;re probably not in favor of the proposed solution.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109866
title: Streaming Site Operator Accused of £120m ‘Piracy Fraud’
uri: Streaming-Site-Operator-Accused-of-120m-Piracy-Fraud
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MXHKOtlpTiM/
content:
<p><img src="media/e025ecfa.fastpasstv.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/fastpasstv.jpg" width="180" height="169" class="alignright">In May 2011, police in Northern Ireland <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/police-seize-83000-in-internet-piracy-raid-110527/">reported</a> seizing £83,000 and computer equipment following a raid in Londonderry. The operation was the culmination of an investigation carried out by the Hollywood-funded anti-piracy group Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).</p>
<p>In February 2015, Paul Mahoney from Carnhill, Londonderry, was charged with offenses connected with operating now-defunct streaming links site FastPassTV and discussion and linking forum BedroomMedia. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and was bailed to appear at a later date.</p>
<p>In June, 30-year-old Mahoney changed direction, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/man-pleads-guilty-to-costing-film-industry-millions-through-piracy-150616/">pleading guilty</a> to all four charges against him including allowing the public to view copyrighted movies without rightsholder permission, conspiracy, and generating hundreds of thousands in illegal advertising revenue.</p>
<p>Mahoney was up in court again yesterday for a pre-sentence hearing and its becoming increasingly clear how much trouble he&#8217;s in.</p>
<p>After operating various sites for around six years, the prosecution claims that Mahoney made almost 410,000 euros ($471,500) from his endeavors, while simultaneously claiming state benefits worth around 12,000 euros ($13,800). When his house was raided, police found almost £82,400 ($129,000) in cash hidden away.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/b2e83aaf.fastpasseu.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/fastpasseu.jpg" alt="fastpass"></center></p>
<p>During the hearing in Derry&#8217;s crown court, prosecutor David Groome QC laid out the alleged scale of the 30-year-old&#8217;s offending while describing the financial implications as &#8220;staggering&#8221;.</p>
<p>Taking a single six-month period during which visitors to Mahoney&#8217;s sites viewed movies 1.1 million times illegally, Groome took the figures and ran with them, painting a somewhat scary picture for the court.</p>
<p>&#8220;During the six-year life of defendant&#8217;s business that equates to something like movies being viewed on 12 million occasions. If you consider it is about £10 to go to the cinema or about £10 to buy a brand new DVD upon its release, it means the defendant&#8217;s websites enabled users of it to view about £120 million [$188m] worth of property,&#8221; Groome <a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/irishman-accused-of-costing-hollywood-165-million-made-400k-running-piracy-site-31477718.html">said</a>.</p>
<p>While acknowledging that not every view would represent a lost sale, the prosecution noted that Mahoney had taken a number of actions since 2007 to avoid having his sites closed down. Cease and desist notices issued by FACT appear to have been ignored and police arrested him twice, yet still he continued with his operations.</p>
<p>Defending Mahoney, Martin Rodgers QC said his client&#8217;s partial blindness meant that he was bullied at school, events that led to him becoming a virtual bedroom recluse for around 10 years.</p>
<p>&#8220;His constant and only companion during that period of time was in fact his computer. In one sense, he essentially lived in a bubble for a period of time,&#8221; Rodgers said.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the defense addressed the prosecution&#8217;s claims that Mahoney generated large revenues from advertising companies by questioning why they weren&#8217;t being prosecuted too.</p>
<p>&#8220;They entered into agreements that if anyone visited the site they would pay, even though from a cursory view of the site it would be apparent this was facilitating criminal offenses,&#8221; Rodgers said.</p>
<p>But despite the claims of massive profits, Mahoney&#8217;s lawyer rejected the notion that his client had enjoyed the high-life.</p>
<p>&#8220;There were no Rolex watches, no Ferraris outside and no evidence of an extravagant lifestyle. This enterprise took on a life of its own and became far more successful than this defendant ever envisaged,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>While Mahoney faces a potential custodial sentence next month, FACT says that there will be no claim for compensation. Instead, they hope that the prosecution alone will send a clear message to others considering a similar path.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109891
title: Aussie Piracy Notices Delayed But Lawsuits Are Coming
uri: Aussie-Piracy-Notices-Delayed-But-Lawsuits-Are-Coming
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Bqthb97uT7g/
content:
<p><img src="media/40fc3a89.warning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warning.png" alt="warning" width="250" height="213" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109065">After years of wrangling, on September 1, 2015, Australian ISPs will take the historic step of implementing a new anti-piracy scheme, one that will see Internet users issued with escalating warning notices designed to bring a halt to their pirating ways.</p>
<p>Well, at least that was the plan when a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/aussie-isps-advocate-three-strikes-solution-to-piracy-150220/">draft anti-piracy code</a> was laid down in April. Almost predictably, however, that deadline will come and go without event.</p>
<p>The problem &#8211; and this will come as zero surprise to those who have followed this process for the past several years &#8211; is one related to costs.</p>
<p><strong>Money, money, money</strong></p>
<p>Since the beginning of negotiations, rightsholders have insisted that ISPs should pick up varying percentages of the bills incurred when sending piracy warnings to their subscribers. Equally, ISPs have insisted that if rightsholders want notices sent out, they should be the ones to pay.</p>
<p>This dispute has brought the parties to deadlock several times during years of negotiations, and has derailed talks completely more than once, most recently in 2012. However, this year &#8211; with the government breathing down their necks &#8211; rightsholders and ISPs agreed most aspects of how the notices would be handled, but left the issue of costs until another day.</p>
<p>That day has now arrived and still there are disputes. With the launch of the scheme supposedly just next week, <a href="http://www.itnews.com.au/News/408396,inside-the-stalemate-on-australias-piracy-code.aspx#ixzz3jtXeUdTA">ITNews</a> reports that during an industry briefing this morning it was revealed that the parties are still arguing over who will pay for the 200,000 notices set to go out in the scheme&#8217;s first year.</p>
<p>For their part, rightsholders think that the ISPs should help with the costs, in part because it is their customers carrying out the infringements. They also believe that if ISPs foot part of the bill, they will be keen to keep costs down.</p>
<p>On the other hand, ISPs insist that if the notices prove effective in cutting piracy and driving up sales, rightsholders will get the benefit so should therefore pay the bill.</p>
<p>Countering, rightsholders also point to the bigger picture, one in which ISPs are increasingly becoming the conduit for providing entertainment content to subscribers.</p>
<p>&#8220;As ISPs increasingly become content providers, the business imperative to make sure people are valuing those services will become more and more important [to them],&#8221; says Foxtel director of corporate affairs Bruce Meagher.</p>
<p>So how much is the whole thing likely to cost? According to figures obtained by ITNews, there is dispute there too.</p>
<p><strong>Too expensive to reduce piracy?</strong></p>
<p>ISPs say that the bill could amount to $27 per IP address targeted, while rightsholders suggest that the figure would be more like $6. A report commissioned by the parties earlier this year concluded that the cost will be closer to the $27 suggested by the ISPs.</p>
<p>That cost is too high. As previously seen in New Zealand, &#8220;strikes&#8221; schemes with high costs are <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kiwi-isp-issues-first-music-piracy-3rd-strike-movie-biz-cant-be-bothered-120418/">rendered pointless</a>. </p>
<p>&#8220;We saw that in New Zealand where the government mandated $25 per IP address, and no-one used the scheme,&#8221; Meagher says. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got to work out a way of setting a price that encourages the scheme to be used.&#8221; </p>
<p><strong>If in doubt, send the lawyers out</strong></p>
<p>But even though agreement could take a while to reach, there are those in the entertainment industry already looking ahead to what might happen once people start receiving warning notices. Speaking with <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/thefeed/story/yes-we-will-sue-people-village-roadshows-graham-burke-interview-marc-fennell">SBS</a>, Village Roadshow co-founder Graham Burke says that if the notices don&#8217;t prove enough of a deterrent, legal action will be the next step.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes, [piracy] is wrong. [Downloaders] have been warned, and sent notices that they&#8217;re doing the wrong thing. Yes we will sue people,&#8221; Burke said.</p>
<p>Asked by interviewer Marc Fennell whether there is any fear of a backlash should the industry start suing single parents and grandmothers (as they have done in the past), Burke dismissed the concerns.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was really just a couple of instances of a bad news day, where [the press] picked up a couple of instances of a single pregnant mother,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>But would just a couple of those stories prove damaging?</p>
<p>&#8220;Not if it&#8217;s seen in the context that it is theft, and they have been doing the wrong thing, and they’ve been sent appropriate notices, and they’ve been dealt with accordingly. We’re certainly not going to be seeking out single pregnant mothers,&#8221; Burke said.</p>
<p>Confronted with the likelihood that some people will simply hide their activities by using a VPN, Burke played down the fears.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think that if people are appealed to in the right way, they&#8217;ll react appropriately,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p><strong>Site blocking</strong></p>
<p>Finally, after site-blocking legislation <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/australia-passes-pirate-site-blocking-law-150622/">was passed</a> earlier this year, Burke has now confirmed that his company will take action soon.</p>
<p>“We are going through the legal preparation at this stage and will be ready in October to go to the courts and ask them to block sites,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vyIwtambrZg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109875
title: T-Mobile Refuses to Block The Pirate Bay
uri: T-Mobile-Refuses-to-Block-The-Pirate-Bay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xFZXGbX05CI/
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">As the poster-child of online piracy, The Pirate Bay has become one of the most censored websites on the Internet in recent years.</p>
<p>Most recently the Austrian Internet provider A1 was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-will-be-blocked-in-austria-150803/">ordered</a> by the Commercial Court of Vienna to block subscriber access to The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>In addition to various domain names of the notorious torrent site, the court order also requires the Internet provider to block three other “structurally infringing” sites; Isohunt.to, 1337x.to and h33t.to.</p>
<p>Taking advantage of this momentum, local music rights group <a href="http://www.lsg.at/">LSG</a> sent its lawyers after several other large ISPs urging them to follow suit, or else. </p>
<p>A letter with a &#8216;demand&#8217; to block The Pirate Bay and others was sent T-Mobile and Drei, among others. However, without a court order directed at them the providers are not all eager to comply. </p>
<p>Helmut Spudich, spokesman for T-Mobile, says that his company has no plans to implement new blocking measures. &#8220;We will not to comply with this request and access to The Pirate Bay will not be blocked,&#8221; Spudich told <a href="http://futurezone.at/netzpolitik/t-mobile-werden-the-pirate-bay-nicht-sperren/149.039.761">Futurezone</a>. </p>
<p>The decision of the Commercial Court of Vienna only applies to A1, so T-Mobile sees no legal obligation to comply with the request. </p>
<p>Instead, T-Mobile notes that the authorities &#8220;should implement clear legal regulations with regard to Internet blocking in Austria.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t want to block our customers to be blocked inadvertently and would like a clarification on the correct procedure,&#8221; Spudich adds. </p>
<p>Several other Austrian Internet providers have received the same letter but thus far none have publicly stated that they are prepared to voluntarily block The Pirate Bay on their network.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay is not the first site to be targeted in Austria. Earlier this year the Supreme Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/major-streaming-sites-must-be-blocked-court-rules-150704/">ordered</a> several leading Austrian ISPs to block the major streaming sites Movie4K.to and Kinox.to. </p>
<p>This order also clarified that the Internet providers will have to pay the costs for future blockades, which may make ISPs more hesitant to comply without protest. </p>
<p>Whether copyright holders will indeed take T-Mobile and other ISPs to court to broaden the existing blockade has yet to be seen. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109926
title: Piracy: Hollywood’s Losing a Few Pounds, Who Cares?
uri: Piracy-Hollywood-s-Losing-a-Few-Pounds-Who-Cares
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nogg5szHq4Y/
content:
<p><img src="media/f002015f.fact.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fact.jpg" alt="fact" width="180" height="133" class="alignright size-full wp-image-74060">This week it was revealed that Paul Mahoney, the former operator of streaming portal FastPassTV, is now facing a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/streaming-site-operator-accused-of-120m-piracy-fraud-150826/">custodial sentence</a> following his guilty plea before a Northern Ireland court.</p>
<p>After operating his sites for around six years, the prosecution claims that Mahoney made almost 410,000 euros ($471,500) in advertising revenue.</p>
<p>Extrapolating what was probably a good year for viewing numbers on FastPassTV, David Groome QC came to the conclusion that the 30-year-old potentially cost Hollywood around £120 million [$188m].</p>
<p>Following Mahoney&#8217;s guilty plea it&#8217;s unlikely that those numbers will ever be challenged. As a result, when the authorities and anti-piracy group FACT get their conviction, the public deterrent they&#8217;ve been looking for will be home and dry.</p>
<p>But despite looking forward to what is likely to be billed as a historic judgment, it appears that the industry still has work to do to get the man in the street onside. That became evident during an appearance by FACT Director General Kieron Sharp on the local <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wdb5r">BBC Radio Foyle</a> </p>
<p>After discussing the background to the case, Sharp was confronted with an uncomfortable truth.</p>
<p>&#8220;I would imagine the problem for you Kieron in your job is that a lot of people out there &#8211; and we&#8217;re already seeing it in fact in the [listener] texts to the show this morning &#8211; is that [the public] don&#8217;t really see the victim in all of this,&#8221; the BBC presenter said.</p>
<p>&#8220;They see this as Hollywood losing a few pounds &#8211; who cares?&#8221;</p>
<p>If industry figures are to be believed, around 20% of the populations of several European countries are accessing content from sites such as Mahoney&#8217;s, so some lack of sympathy shouldn&#8217;t come as too much of a surprise. That being said, Sharp&#8217;s response only raises more questions.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes I know, that&#8217;s an unfortunate way of looking at things really. The big problem about this is that these people are all film fans. They want to watch films and television programs,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;The best example I can give you is Game of Thrones which is made in Northern Ireland as you know. Huge success story for Northern Ireland, for the people who are working there and getting employment in the film industry.</p>
<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re the sort of programs that won&#8217;t get made in the future if you think that all this is about is a few quid out of the pockets of those in Hollywood.&#8221;</p>
<p>While choosing Game of Thrones as an example makes sense from a local perspective, it&#8217;s a confusing selection from a piracy standpoint.</p>
<p>As pointed out here on dozens of occasions, Game of Thrones is the most pirated TV show in history. Yet season after season the show returns, each time bringing in more and more legitimate viewers despite smashing <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-season-finale-breaks-piracy-record-150615/">several</a> piracy <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/game-thrones-will-still-pirated-tv-show-150328/">records</a>. Even the show&#8217;s director thinks that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-doesnt-hurt-game-of-thrones-director-says-130227/">piracy doesn&#8217;t hurt</a> the production.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, when challenged by the interviewer Sharp maintained his position.</p>
<p>&#8220;An ordinary film coming out of Hollywood costs $60m to $100m to make and they have to make a return on that. If these films don&#8217;t get made then people won&#8217;t have jobs, it&#8217;s as simple as that. It&#8217;s quite straightforward, absolutely no doubt about it whatsoever,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Sharp wouldn&#8217;t be drawn on whether Mahoney should be sent to prison when he&#8217;s sentenced next month, noting that&#8217;s for the court to decide. But whatever happens to him, problems persist, not only with the countless other people like Mahoney scattered around the globe, but also with public perception. Still, FACT is hopefully that people can be persuaded to do the right thing.</p>
<p>&#8220;They can be [prosecuted] but we&#8217;re more interested in converting those people into paying customers,&#8221; Sharp said. &#8220;They&#8217;re film fans, we want them to enjoy the product at its best and not from some cheap ripoff copy.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109894
title: Tech Giants Want to Punish DMCA Takedown Abusers
uri: Tech-Giants-Want-to-Punish-DMCA-Takedown-Abusers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2QapfIi-stU/
content:
<p><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211">Every day copyright holders send millions of DMCA takedown notices to various Internet services. </p>
<p>Most of these requests are legitimate, aimed at disabling access to copyright-infringing material. However, there are also many <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-hits-indie-creators-for-using-the-word-pixels-150808/">overbroad</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/wordpress-demands-10000-dmca-takedown-abuse-140615/">abusive</a> takedown notices which lead to unwarranted censorship.</p>
<p>These abuses are a thorn in the side of major tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft. These companies face serious legal consequences if they fail to take content down, but copyright holders who don&#8217;t play by the rules often walk free. </p>
<p>This problem is one of the main issues highlighted in a new research report (<a href="media/843b5708.Copyright-Reform-for-a-Digital-Economy.pdf" data-original-source="http://cdn.ccianet.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Copyright-Reform-for-a-Digital-Economy.pdf">pdf</a>) published by the CCIA, a trade group which lists many prominent tech companies among its <a href="http://www.ccianet.org/about/members/">members</a>. </p>
<p>The report proposes several changes to copyright legislation that should bring it in line with the current state of the digital landscape. One of the suggestions is to introduce statutory damages for people who abuse the takedown process.</p>
<p>&#8220;One shortcoming of the DMCA is that the injunctive-like remedy of a takedown, combined with a lack of due process, encourages abuse by individuals and entities interested in suppressing content,&#8221; CCIA writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Although most rightsholders make good faith use of the DMCA, there are numerous well-documented cases of misuse of the DMCA’s extraordinary remedy. In many cases, bad actors have forced the removal of material that did not infringe copyright.&#8221;</p>
<p>The report lists several examples, including DMCA notices which are used to chill political speech by demanding the takedown of news clips, suppress consumer reviews, or retaliate against critics.</p>
<p>Many Internet services are hesitant to refuse these type of takedown requests at it may cause them to lose their safe harbor protection, while the abusers themselves don&#8217;t face any serious legal risk. </p>
<p>The CCIA proposes to change this by introducing statutory damage awards for abusive takedown requests. This means that the senders would face the same consequences as the copyright infringers.</p>
<p>&#8220;To more effectively deter intentional DMCA abuse, Congress should extend Section 512(f) remedies for willful misrepresentations under the DMCA to include statutory awards, as it has for willful infringement under Section 504(c),&#8221; CCIA writes. </p>
<p>In addition to tackling DMCA abuse the tech companies propose several other changes to copyright law. </p>
<p>One of the suggestions is to change the minimum and maximum statutory damages for copyright infringement, which are currently $750 and $150,000 per work. </p>
<p>According to the CCIA the minimum should be lowered to suit cases that involve many infringements, such as a user who hosts thousands of infringing works on a cloud storage platform. </p>
<p>The $150,000 maximum, on the other hand, is open to abuse by copyright trolls and rightsholders who may use it as a pressure tool. </p>
<p>The tech companies hopes that U.S. lawmakers will consider these and other suggestions put forward in the research paper, to improve copyright law and make it future proof.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since copyright law was written more than 100 years ago, the goal has been to encourage creativity to benefit the overall public good. It’s important as copyright is modernized to ensure that reforms continue to benefit not just rightsholders, but the overall public good,&#8221; the CCIA concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109992
title: Pirate Bay Founder Released From Jail But Immediately Re-Arrested
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-Released-From-Jail-But-Immediately-Re-Arrested
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_CKAYP07PJA/
content:
<p><img src="media/62df5b1d.gottfrid.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/gottfrid.jpg" width="174" height="222" class="alignright">Back in June after a highly technical court hearing, a jury at the Appeal Court in Denmark <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-gottfrid-svartholm-loses-hacking-appeal-150617/">again found Gottfrid Svartholm guilty</a> of hacking IT company CSC. </p>
<p>The ruling meant that the Pirate Bay founder had no further avenues for appeal, despite continuing to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-still-wants-to-clear-his-name-150628/">protest his innocence</a>.</p>
<p>However, due to how the appeals process played out, Gottfrid&#8217;s jail sentence was close to completion anyway, meaning that the Swede would be up for parole middle to late August.</p>
<p>Yesterday morning and after several long years Gottfrid completed his Danish prison sentence, but freedom didn&#8217;t await the Pirate Bay founder. Rather than leaving Denmark a free man, Gottfrid was immediately re-arrested by the police. The disappointment wasn&#8217;t entirely unexpected, however.</p>
<p>In June, Gottfrid’s mother, Kristina Svartholm, informed TorrentFreak that the Swedish Prison and Probation service had requested an arrest warrant for her son. The problem was that when Swedish authorities sent Gottfrid to Denmark after serving his earlier sentence, he hadn&#8217;t actually completed his sentence back home. Four weeks remained.</p>
<p>&#8220;[This was] never communicated properly to Gottfrid, neither from Sweden nor Denmark. We found out about it on our own,&#8221; Kristina informs TF.</p>
<p>Making matters worse, Gottfrid was only advised 48 hours before his supposed release date this week that in fact he&#8217;d remain in custody.</p>
<p>&#8220;Tuesday this week, two days before his release date (which was officially communicated to him only some two weeks ago) Gottfrid was informed that the Danish prosecutor had decided that he should be handed over because of the warrant,&#8221; Kristina informs TF.</p>
<p>Always a fighter, Gottfrid is in a Danish court this morning appealing his arrest and the decision to send him to Sweden, but news of the outcome has yet to reach Kristina. Swedish authorities previously filed a request for the remaining sentence to be served in Denmark but that was refused by the Danes.</p>
<p>If successful this morning Gottfrid might be able to serve the sentence in a Danish prison. Should the appeal fail, Gottfrid will be extradited back to Sweden where he is expected to serve around a month before being released. </p>
<p>What happens after his ultimate release will be up to Gottfrid, but he certainly won&#8217;t be returning to Denmark. The Pirate Bay founder is banned from the country for life, something that presents travel difficulties for a Scandinavian looking to visit countries elsewhere in Europe by land.</p>
<p>Nevetheless, plenty of other options remain open, including ones that simply require a screen and an Internet connection.</p>
<p>“What Gottfrid wants to do now, more than anything else, is to get back to his developmental work within IT (graphics etc),” Kristina previously told TF.</p>
<p>“And, of course, first of all: to sit by a keyboard again after nearly three years away from one.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109979
title: First Netflix 4K Content Leaks to Torrent Sites
uri: First-Netflix-4K-Content-Leaks-to-Torrent-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wGowWNAAAkU/
content:
<p><img src="media/c8166d75.netflixuhd.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflixuhd.png" alt="netflixuhd" width="275" height="182" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109997">While many average consumers can&#8217;t even play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-definition_television">4K content</a> on their TV or computer, true video geeks are looking forward to every new release. </p>
<p>Thus far the offerings have been limited to adult content and a handful of mainstream productions. However, with the adoption of a Blu-Ray <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/ultra-hd-blu-ray-specs-dates-and-titles/">standard</a> for Ultra High Definition video more releases will follow soon. </p>
<p>4K streaming releases have been available for a while already, with <a href="http://gizmodo.com/breaking-bad-is-now-streaming-in-4k-on-netflix-1591610250">Netflix</a> and Amazon being the two key vendors. These online streams are well protected against pirates.</p>
<p>In fact, up until this week it was believed to be impossible to break the High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection">version 2.2 or higher</a>. However, this may no longer be the case as the first 4K Netflix leak just appeared online.</p>
<p>The leak in question is the first episode of Breaking Bad and was released by the reputable group &#8220;iON.&#8221; The 2160p video file takes up 17.73 GB of space, which is roughly 50 times that of a traditional standard definition equivalent. </p>
<p>The image below shows the file being listed at a popular private tracker with just over a dozen people sharing it. </p>
<p><center><strong>Breaking.Bad.S01E01.Pilot.2160p.NF.WEBRip.DTS.x264-iON</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/4a9b9891.bb4k1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bb4k1.png" alt="bb4k" width="576" height="302" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-109990"></center></p>
<p>The <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bbmediainfo.txt">media info</a> for the release shows that the episode has a bit rate of 41.3 Mbps and overall the video specs make it hard to play the file smoothly on the average computer.</p>
<p>At the time of writing the 4K leak is only available on private torrent trackers but it&#8217;s expected to eventually leak to public sites as well. It&#8217;s currently unknown if the release group broke HDCP 2.2 or if they found another way to capture the stream.</p>
<p><a href="https://wikileaks.org/sony/docs/?q=netflix+uhd+hdcp&#038;filter=0">Leaked</a> drafts of the 4K copy protection agreement between Sony and Netflix reveals that the streams are generally well-protected. They also include a watermark so that leaks can be traced back to the source. </p>
<p>&#8220;The watermark must contain sufficient information such that forensic analysis of unauthorized recorded video clips of the output video shall uniquely determine the account to which the output video was delivered,&#8221; the document reads.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear whether the watermarks were included and if they were removed from the Breaking Bad video, but release groups are generally well-equipped to remove these type of markers.</p>
<p>Netflix informs TF that they are looking into the reported leak and the company will do its best to prevent similar breaches in the future.</p>
<p>&#8220;Piracy is a global problem. We, like others content providers, are actively working on ways to protect content featured on our site,&#8221; a Netflix spokesperson told us.   </p>
<p>While 4K content is not going to be shared by the majority of online pirates, the first 4K leak from Netflix will certainly have Hollywood and the streaming service worried. Whether they can stop it has yet to be seen though.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109872
title: Popcorn Time Blames Hollywood For Its Popularity
uri: Popcorn-Time-Blames-Hollywood-For-Its-Popularity
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7hWf86mTnwg/
content:
<p><img src="media/3b9dbdf1.popcornt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcornt.png" alt="popcornt" width="237" height="106" class="alignright size-full wp-image-101106">Last week several users of Popcorn Time were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-studio-sues-popcorn-time-users-in-the-u-s-150819/">sued in the United States</a> and this week a Norwegian anti-piracy group threatened to go after <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/75000-popcorn-time-users-in-crosshairs-of-anti-piracy-group-150825/">tens of thousands</a> of local users. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear that copyright holders aren&#8217;t happy with the app, which allows people to stream pirated movies. However, according to the software&#8217;s developers Hollywood is to blame for its overwhelming success. </p>
<p>In a statement sent to TF the team behind the popular <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time">Popcorn Time</a> <a href="https://popcorntime.io/">.io fork</a> say that film and TV-studios should compete with their app. That is, make a globally available streaming service where all the latest blockbusters and series are available. </p>
<p>&#8220;People are ready to pay a fee, but a lot of them currently refuse to pay for a petty catalog with country-specific restrictions,&#8221; the Popcorn Time team notes. </p>
<p>&#8220;The price can also be a hurdle for some people: $20 a month is not the same in Uganda and the United States. But obviously, the most problematic issue is the complete lack of legal availability in some places.&#8221; </p>
<p>Hollywood is still holding on to limited releases and regional roadblocks. This is something Netflix and other VOD providers are not happy with, and neither are consumers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Why would people in France wait two years to see a movie that&#8217;s already being broadcasted in the US, when they both are paying almost the same amount of money?&#8221; </p>
<p>According to Popcorn Time these artificial limitations drive people to break towards unofficial sources.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Internet has brought people closer, and they start to notice that some things aren&#8217;t acceptable. And then they turn to alternatives, even if it means diving into illegality.&#8221;</p>
<p>The developers themselves see the Popcorn Time software as a legitimate product but they realize that some users may be breaking the law. Ironically, the reason for breaking the law is so they can watch their favorite Hollywood entertainment. </p>
<p>Currently, this situation mostly benefits the popularity of Popcorn Time but with the right alternative for the right price, many won&#8217;t need to turn to piracy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Maybe it is time to consider the will of the people and offer them a legal, complete and useful service, no matter where they were born, instead of trying to punish people for&#8230; well, for wanting the see the content artists and industries are offering.</p>
<p>&#8220;Currently, piracy is fulfilling the demand of the people because the industry fails at the transition into the modern age. We think it&#8217;s as simple as that,&#8221; the Popcorn Time team concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110073
title: The Pirate Bay Is Down…
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-Is-Down
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Hmq9SMqAnz4/
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 become unreachable since a few hours.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s currently not clear what&#8217;s causing the problems. There might be a hardware issue, hosting problem or a software glitch, issues that have occurred many times in the site&#8217;s history.</p>
<p>What we do know is that the site&#8217;s domain names are not the culprit.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay currently displays a CloudFlare error message across <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-moves-to-gs-la-vg-am-mn-and-gd-domains-150519/">all domain names</a>, suggesting that TPB&#8217;s servers are unresponsive.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/7e7c56a6.tpbcferror.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbcferror.png"><img src="media/7e7c56a6.tpbcferror.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbcferror.png" alt="tpbcferror" width="600" height="368" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-101493"></a></center></p>
<p>With <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">the raid</a> of last year still fresh in memory some fear the worst, but these concerns are unwarranted for now.</p>
<p>In fact, the site is still accessible via the Tor network (through <a href="http://uj3wazyk5u4hnvtk.onion/">http://uj3wazyk5u4hnvtk.onion/</a>), including the popular Pirate Browser. </p>
<p>The Tor traffic goes through a separate server and works just fine.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to The Pirate Bay team for a comment on the situation and we will update this article if we hear back.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109968
title: Universal: Smart Pirate Site Owners Get Round Restrictions
uri: Universal-Smart-Pirate-Site-Owners-Get-Round-Restrictions
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Tujr0VRjeEQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/3a2d0aee.per-sundin.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/per-sundin.jpg" alt="per-sundin" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109983">For many years Sweden was one of the most prominent battlegrounds in the global file-sharing wars, playing host to dozens of unlicensed sites including the notorious Pirate Bay. As a result, Universal Music Sweden MD Per Sundin knows a thing or two about piracy.</p>
<p>A key figure in the now-famous prosecution of The Pirate Bay, Sundin was one of the site&#8217;s harshest critics and one of many desperate to bring both the platform and its operators to their knees.</p>
<p>But despite a herculean effort from Sundin and others, The Pirate Bay not only lived through a trial and subsequent appeals, it outlived even its own founders who each served prison sentences for their crimes. Today the site may not quite hold the status it once did, but it&#8217;s certainly a major player in the file-sharing ecosystem.</p>
<p>If Sundin remains bothered by the Pirate Bay&#8217;s resilience he isn&#8217;t letting it show, but it&#8217;s clear that he&#8217;s picked up plenty of experience along the way. In an interview with <a href="http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/major-label-bosses-dont-usually-talk-like-this/">MBW</a>, Sundin suggests that no matter what obstacles are put in file-sharing&#8217;s way, pirates will always adapt.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will see piracy in the future,&#8221; Sundin says.</p>
<p>&#8220;The pirate site owners will get smarter and find ways around [restrictions]. If we close down one, another will pop up. That&#8217;s a fact of life.&#8221;</p>
<p>This admission from Sundin is not the usual thing one hears from high-powered music executives, especially those so close to the powerful anti-piracy forces of IFPI. However, Sundin is part of a revitalized local music market that projects Sweden&#8217;s success story onto the world stage, despite massive historical piracy.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://ifpi.org/sweden.php">figures</a> from IFPI, the Swedish music revenues bounced from a low of US$144.8 million in 2008 to US$194.2 million in 2013. During the same period, digital music revenues increased from just 8% to a huge 70%, with subscription services accounting for 94% of the digital market.</p>
<p>&#8220;[In] 2009, we had The Pirate Bay trial and verdict; we had the [anti-piracy] enforcement directive implemented; and we had Spotify, which launched in October 2008. It was the perfect storm,&#8221; Sundin explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Thanks to that – especially Spotify, I would say – we were taken out of the dark times. We went from bad boys to something much better.&#8221;</p>
<p>Despite Sundin&#8217;s comments concerning the difficulty of permanently blocking or shutting down sites, he remains optimistic about confronting piracy. However, rather than relying entirely on the stick, the industry veteran now openly acknowledges that beating the pirates at their own game is a better option.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have to help legal services, Spotify and others, be better,&#8221; Sundin says.</p>
<p>Interestingly &#8211; and this has been a talking point in recent weeks &#8211; Sundin also expresses concern surrounding the prevalence of &#8216;exclusives&#8217; on legitimate services, such as those recently negotiated with Apple by Black Eyed Peas and Dr Dre.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think the exclusivity thing is dangerous – that’s my personal opinion. Hopefully we won’t see it so much,&#8221; Sundin says.</p>
<p>The Universal man&#8217;s thoughts are shared by Mark Dennis, Managing Director of Sony Music Sweden.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have to learn from what’s happened in the past: when people haven’t been able to consume music in the way they want, they turn to piracy. We’re just not learning!&#8221;</p>
<p>If piracy is to be kept under control long-term then such lessons will have to be learned, but whether the message will take a long or short time to sink in is another matter. History suggests later rather than sooner, but attitudes are changing.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, with appetites whetted, millions of people are now eagerly anticipating tomorrow&#8217;s super-advanced version of Spotify and other services that simply haven&#8217;t been envisioned yet. But whatever arrives, innovation is definitely the key, and one gets the impression that the Swedes really get that.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109612
title: Offcloud Downloads Torrents to Google Drive and Dropbox
uri: Offcloud-Downloads-Torrents-to-Google-Drive-and-Dropbox
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/cA8K7t9qhqs/
content:
<p><img src="media/a718ba74.offcloudlogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/offcloudlogo.png" alt="offcloudlogo" width="222" height="173" class="alignright size-full wp-image-110023">Downloading torrents remotely is nothing new. Most of the popular torrent clients support this functionality, but for many users it&#8217;s too much of a hassle to configure it correctly. </p>
<p>This is where <a href="https://offcloud.com/">Offcloud</a> comes in. </p>
<p>The new startup offers users a wide range of tools to download and backup files from video services and file-hosters, and recently added torrent support and <a href="https://offcloud.com/googledrive/welcome">Google drive integration</a> as well. </p>
<p>The idea is simple and straightforward. Users simply paste a torrent link into their Offcloud account and the service then downloads the files right away. </p>
<p>One of the main benefits to users is that they can add torrents from work, school or on the road. After the torrent is downloaded to Offcloud&#8217;s server the files can be downloaded to a local computer or synced to Google Drive, Dropbox or an FTP server. </p>
<p>Once the files are synced people can access or play the files directly from the cloud, since Dropbox and Google Drive support online streaming for various media formats. </p>
<p><center><strong>Google Drive Streaming</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/0348832f.h4uflH4.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/h4uflH4.jpg" alt="h4uflH4" width="600" height="442" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-110071"></center></p>
<p>Downloading files only to Offcloud is an option as well of course, as the service has a built-in media player.</p>
<p>The main downside of Offcloud is that it limits the number of downloads to two torrent links per week on a free account. This should be good enough for the casual user, but paid plans are also available starting at $1.99. </p>
<p>TF also asked the service about its seeding policy and the company clarified that it&#8217;s not a seedbox service.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Offcloud does not have the ambition to be a seedbox service. We are not here to help BitTorrent uploaders, but rather to provide a simple cloud-based solution to users who simply wish to leech from BitTorrent in a fast and secure manner,&#8221; Offcloud&#8217;s spokesperson says.</p>
<p>The company tries to main torrent etiquette by uploading and downloading an equal amount of data. And thanks to the high bandwidth capacity the overall torrent swarm speeds will increase, at least temporarily. </p>
<p>&#8220;We usually aim at a 1:1 ratio for the sake of the BitTorrent swarm&#8217;s quality. Furthermore, our 10-Gbit nodes are truly boosting the swarm at the moment they are active on a certain torrent,&#8221; Offcloud notes.</p>
<p>TF tested the service which works as advertised. The torrents start quickly and download at much higher speeds than the average home connection, and they quickly appear in the designated Dropbox account or Google Drive.</p>
<p>In addition to torrents the service also downloads and converts videos from a range of other sites including YouTube, Vimeo, adult sites and most popular file-hosters.</p>
<p>People who want to take a look can head over to <a href="https://offcloud.com/">Offcloud</a> to take it for a free spin. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109921
title: MPAA Demands Extraordinary Measures to Prevent Piracy
uri: MPAA-Demands-Extraordinary-Measures-to-Prevent-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jlqA-k7csj4/
content:
<p><img src="media/f408e481.cameraspy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cameraspy.jpg" alt="cameraspy" width="170" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-49625">At some stage the majority of content created by the world&#8217;s leading movie and TV companies enters the digital realm. Whether during production, post-production, marketing or distribution, the digitization of video is the inevitable outcome of technological advances.</p>
<p>As a result, dozens of companies are involved in shifting studio content around the world, either as part of the creative process or when finished material is made available to the public via platforms such as Netflix or Amazon.</p>
<p>Of course, every company that gets involved represents an additional weak link in the chain, with the potential for movies to be pirated before they&#8217;re ready for distribution (workprints, for example) or once they&#8217;re completed. Unsurprisingly, the MPAA works extremely hard to ensure that such leaks are kept to a minimum.</p>
<p>Nowhere is that more evident than in the documentation that accompanies the MPAA&#8217;s Content Security Model, a set of best practices aimed at companies entrusted with handling protected media and content. Amazon, one of the MPAA&#8217;s partners, has <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/mpaa/">published</a> the Hollywood group&#8217;s latest set of requirements.</p>
<p>Admittedly many of the MPAA&#8217;s demands will be already-established business practices for a big company like Amazon, but a few really stand out as examples of how far Hollywood is prepared to reach into its suppliers&#8217; operations.</p>
<p>For example, in addition to carrying out background screening on all employees and third party contractors, the MPAA demands that all workers sign annual confidentiality agreements that forbid them from talking about protected content.</p>
<p>With an eye on local law, companies must also implement random searches of their workers for traces of MPAA content, including the removal of coats, hats and belts, the emptying of pockets, a full security pat-down, scanning with metal detectors and inspection of electronic devices.</p>
<p>Workers are also forbidden from entering/exiting premises with any digital recording devices such as USB drives, cameras and cellphones, while anyone bringing food into a production area must do so using a transparent bag or container.</p>
<p>And to ensure that no one tries to smuggle content out, companies such as Amazon are required to implement a worker dress code which bans the use of &#8220;oversized clothing&#8221; such as baggy pants or hooded sweatshirts.</p>
<p>Overseeing all of these precautions are any number of security guards, but not even they escape the eyes of the MPAA. Studio partners are also required to implement additional controls to ensure that their own security guards are &#8220;actively&#8221; monitored.</p>
<p>For workers with computer access there are dozens of rules and regulations (most making complete sense from an IT security perspective), but those thinking of smuggling out a file or two should perhaps reconsider. The MPAA insists that all movement of content, both internally and externally, should be subject to comprehensive logging, including username, timestamps, filenames, plus source and destination IP addresses.</p>
<p>The above represent just a few examples of the MPAA&#8217;s comprehensive requirements but no matter how stringent the rules, content leaks happen each and every year.</p>
<p>Whether that&#8217;s the handful of movie workprints that periodically make the headlines or the dozens of fully finished Oscar screeners hitting the web annually, leaks are here to stay &#8211; at least for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110088
title: When You’re Calling Culture Content, You’re Reinforcing The Idea Of A Container
uri: When-You-re-Calling-Culture-Content-You-re-Reinforcing-The-Idea-O
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-SGGzjFrpAc/
content:
<p><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="copyright-branded" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211">The copyright industry has consistently used the word &#8220;content&#8221; for anything creative. </p>
<p>Just like most other things the copyright industry does, there&#8217;s a thought behind the choice of wording &#8211; a choice they hope that other people will copy, because it reinforces their view of the world, or rather, what they would like the world to look like.</p>
<p>When we use certain words for metaphors, the words we use convey meaning of their own. This is why you see the pro-choice vs pro-life camps on opposite sides of the abortion debate: both camps want to portray the other camp as anti-choice and anti-life, respectively.</p>
<p>In the liberties debate and the culture debate, there&#8217;s nothing of the sort. The copyright industry has been allowed to establish the language completely on its own, and therefore, we&#8217;re using terms today that reinforce the idea and the notion that the copyright industry is good and that people who share are bad.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s insane.</p>
<p>Stop doing that.</p>
<p>Stop doing that right now.</p>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/language-matters-framing-the-copyright-monopoly-so-we-can-keep-our-liberties-130714/">Language matters.</a></p>
<p>You&#8217;re on the other side of the pro-life camp and you&#8217;re willingly <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/language-matters-framing-the-copyright-monopoly-so-we-can-keep-our-liberties-130714/">calling yourself</a> &#8220;anti-life&#8221;. How are you expecting to win anything from that position?</p>
<p>One thing you can stop saying immediately is &#8220;copyright&#8221;. Call it &#8220;the copyright monopoly&#8221;, for it is a monopoly, and that should be reinforced every time the abomination is mentioned. Also, use the term &#8220;the copyright industry&#8221; &#8211; as in manufacturing copyright monopolies and profiting off them &#8211; as often as possible. Never ever talk about &#8220;Intellectual Property&#8221;, except when describing why it&#8217;s bad to do so, as using that term reinforces the idea that ideas can not just be contained, but owned &#8211; something that&#8217;s blatantly false. </p>
<p>If you have to use the IP term, let it stand for Industrial Protectionism instead. That&#8217;s a much more correct description. Never ever ever use the word &#8220;property&#8221; when you&#8217;re referring to a monopoly. Doing so is so factually incorrect that courts have actually <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-banned-from-using-piracy-and-theft-terms-in-hotfile-trial-131129/">banned</a> the copyright industry from using terms like &#8220;property&#8221; and &#8220;theft&#8221; &#8211; and yet, they keep doing so. Playing along with that game is stupid, dumb, and self-defeating.</p>
<p>Today, I&#8217;ll focus on the word &#8220;content&#8221;.</p>
<p>You&#8217;ll notice that the copyright industry uses this word consistently for everything. There&#8217;s a reason for that: If you have <em>content,</em> you must also have a <em>container.</em></p>
<p>Do you need a container for a bedtime story? Do you need a container for a campfire song? Do you need a container for a train of thought? Do you need a container for cool cosplay ideas?</p>
<p>Of course you don&#8217;t. They&#8217;re ideas shared, songs sung, stories told. The idea that they must have a container &#8211; because they&#8217;re &#8220;content&#8221; &#8211; is so somebody can lock up those stories told and those songs sung, and so we can buy the container with the &#8220;content&#8221; we desire, instead of just singing the songs and telling the stories unfettered.</p>
<p>Compare the mental imagery evoked by these two sentences:</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to fill this website with content.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to fill this website with the stories of people in the area.&#8221;</p>
<p>One is locked up, controlled, locked down, devalued. The other is shared, cultural, told.</p>
<p>The word &#8220;content&#8221; means that there must also be a &#8220;container&#8221;, and that container is the copyright industry.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t ever use the word &#8220;content&#8221;. It&#8217;s as improductive as describing yourself as &#8220;anti-life&#8221;. Talk about songs, articles, stories, and ideas. Doing so brings new life to the stories you tell.</p>
<p>Above all, be aware of terms that have been established by the adversary to the Internet, to liberty, and to culture &#8211; and refuse using them. The copyright industry is not your friend.</p>
<p><center>
<div class="alignfull" style="border:2px solid #3F3F3F;width:100%;padding:15px;padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:4px;margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:10px;border-radius:10px">
<h3 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:10px">
<div style="float:right;height:130px;width:39px;margin-left:20px;margin-right:10px"><img src="media/98818a80.Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" data-original-source="http://falkvinge.net/wp-content/themes/WpNewspaper/images/falkvinge/Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" style="border:none;-moz-box-shadow:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none" class="quimby_search_image"></div>
<p><span style="color:#3F3F3F;font-size:125%">About The</span> <span style="color:#FF3C78;font-size:125%">Author</span></p>
</h3>
<p style="font-family:PTSansRegular,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-weight:400;line-height:150%;margin-bottom:14px"><small>Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at <a href="http://falkvinge.net">falkvinge.net</a> focuses on information policy.</small></p>
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<p><small>Book Falkvinge <a href="http://falkvinge.net/keynotes/">as speaker</a>?</small></p>
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<p></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110083
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 08/31/15
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-08-31-15
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ECtK4zxDaME/
content:
<p><img src="media/99acbfcf.aveng.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aveng.jpg" alt="aveng" width="300" height="172" class="alignright size-full wp-image-110084">This week we have five newcomers in our chart. </p>
<p>Avengers: Age of Ultron 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 BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-082415/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avengers_age_of_ultron/">Avengers: Age of Ultron</a> (Web-DL)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmeOjFno6Do">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mad_max_fury_road/">Mad Max: Fury Road</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/">8.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjBb4SZ0F6Q">trailer</a></td>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/san_andreas/">San Andreas</a> (Web-DL)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2126355/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23VflsU3kZE">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/selfless_2015/?">Self/less</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140379/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc4sz6neHDs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aloha_2015/">Aloha</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1243974/">5.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3mf_ewjc7s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/magic_mike_xxl/">Magic Mike XXL</a> (HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2268016/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLoyU3xYwbs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/southpaw_2015/">Southpaw</a> (HDrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798684/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvkfIpFO0VU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/minions/">Minions</a> (HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2293640/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfql_DoHRKc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/terminator_genisys/">Terminator Genisys</a> (Subbed HDTV rip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340138/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62E4FJTwSuc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pitch_perfect_2/">Pitch Perfect 2 </a></td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2848292/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBwOYQd21TY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110105
title: Court Orders Italian ISPs to Block Popcorn Time
uri: Court-Orders-Italian-ISPs-to-Block-Popcorn-Time
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/egTbvjimhyw/
content:
<p><img src="media/3b9dbdf1.popcornt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcornt.png" alt="popcornt" width="237" height="106" class="alignright size-full wp-image-101106">Branded a “Netflix for Pirates,” the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time">Popcorn Time</a> app quickly gathered a user base of millions of people over the past year.</p>
<p>The application is a thorn in the side of many copyright holders who are increasingly trying to contain the threat. </p>
<p>In Italy this has now resulted in a new blocking order issued by the Criminal Court of Genoa. The Court ruled that Popcorn Time assists copyright infringement and has ordered local ISPs to block several domain names. </p>
<p>The domains listed in the ruling include those of the two most used forks, popcorntime.io and popcorn-time.se, as well as the localized download page popcorntimeitalia.com.</p>
<p>While the ISP blockades will prevent people from downloading Popcorn Time from these sites, applications that have been downloaded already will continue to work for now.</p>
<p>Also, many other sites offering the same Popcorn Time software are still available. This means that the blockades will only have a limited effect. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.fulviosarzana.it/en/">Fulvio Sarzana</a>, a lawyer with the Sarzana and Partners law firm who specializes in Internet and copyright disputes, informs TF that Popcorn Time could successfully fight the order. </p>
<p>Sarzana references a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/israeli-court-lifts-ineffective-popcorn-time-ban-150706/">recent case</a> in Israel where the Popcorn Time block was overturned because it hinders freedom of speech and says he&#8217;s willing to represent the developers.</p>
<p>For now the developers of the main .io Popcorn Time fork are showing little interest in fighting the decision. Instead, they&#8217;d rather put their efforts into making sure that the blockade has minimal impact. </p>
<p>&#8220;While they are able to block the website, Popcorn Time is a standalone program, so once a user has it downloaded it is unlikely that blocks will cause many issues other than new users getting the program from our site directly or in some cases updates.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;However, we try our best to have things in place to make these blocks effectively null and void,&#8221; the Popcorn Time teams says.</p>
<p>Just a few days ago the same developers urged Hollywood to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-blames-hollywood-for-its-popularity-150829/">start competing</a> with Popcorn Time. However, for now we expect that blocking efforts and other legal actions will remain top priorities.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110020
title: Yandex Demands Takedown of ‘Illegal’ Music Downloader
uri: Yandex-Demands-Takedown-of-Illegal-Music-Downloader
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Zn7PqyUSfSw/
content:
<p><img src="media/3f278289.github.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/github.jpg" alt="github" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95413">Yandex is a Russian Internet company that runs the country&#8217;s most popular search engine controlling more than 60% of the market.</p>
<p>Making use of the free music that could be found via its search results, in 2009 Yandex introduced its first music player. A year later the company <a href="https://company.yandex.com/press_center/press_releases/2010/2010-09-22.xml">launched</a> Yandex.Music, a new service offering enhanced legal access to around 800,000 tracks from the company&#8217;s catalog.</p>
<p>In 2014 and after years of development, Yandex relaunched a revamped music platform with new features including a Spotify-like recommendation engine and licensing deals with Universal, EMI, Warner and Sony, among others. Today the service offers more than 20 million tracks, all available for streaming from music.yandex.ru.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/61129ca1.1d-github.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/1d-github.png" alt="1d-github" width="650" height="619" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-110021"></center></p>
<p>While the service can be reached by using an appropriate VPN, Yandex Music is technically only available to users from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Additionally, the service&#8217;s licensing terms allow only streaming.</p>
<p>Of course, there are some who don&#8217;t appreciate being so restricted and this has led to the development of third-party applications that are designed to offer full MP3 downloads.</p>
<p>In addition to various browser extensions, one of the most popular is Yandex Music Downloader. Hosted on Github, the program&#8217;s aims are straightforward &#8211; to provide swift downloading of music from Yandex while organizing everything from ID3 tags to cover images and playlists.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for its fanbase, however, the software has now attracted the attention of Yandex&#8217;s legal team.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am Legal Counsel of Yandex LLC, Russian Internet-company. We have learned that your service is hosting program code &#8216;Yandex.Music downloader&#8217;&#8230;which allows users to download content (music tracks) from the service Yandex.Music&#8230;,&#8221; a complaint from Yandex to Github reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Service Yandex.Music is the biggest music service in Russia that provides users with access to the licensed music. Music that [is] placed on the service Yandex.Music is licensed from its right holders including: Sony Music, The Orchard, Universal Music, Warner Music and other,&#8221; the counsel continues.</p>
<p>&#8220;Service Yandex.Music does not provide users with possibility to download content from the service. Downloading content from the service Yandex.Music is illegal. This means that program code &#8216;Yandex.Music downloader&#8217;&#8230;provides illegal unauthorized access to the service Yandex.Music that breaches rights of Yandex LLC, right holders of the content and also breaches GitHub Terms of Service.&#8221;</p>
<p>As a result, users trying to obtain the application are now greeted with the following screen.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/dce9f334.git-down.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/git-down.png" alt="git-down" width="650" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-110030"></center></p>
<p>The Yandex <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2015-08-25-Yandex.md">complaint</a> follows a <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2015-08-17-Yandex.md">similar one</a> earlier in the month in which it targeted another variant of the software.</p>
<p>While the takedowns may temporarily affect the distribution of the tools, Yandex&#8217;s efforts are unlikely to affect the unauthorized downloading of MP3s from its service. A cursory Google search reveals plenty of alternative tools which provide high-quality MP3s on tap.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110102
title: Torrenting “Manny” Pirate Must Pay $30,000 in Damages
uri: Torrenting-Manny-Pirate-Must-Pay-30-000-in-Damages
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_HMl0_Nfqp0/
content:
<p><img src="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg" alt="pirate-running" width="222" height="204" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78717">While relatively underreported, many U.S. district courts are still swamped with lawsuits against alleged film pirates.</p>
<p>One of the newcomers this year are the makers of the sports documentary Manny. Over the past few months “Manny Film” has filed 215 lawsuits across several districts.</p>
<p>Most cases are settled without of court, presumably for a few thousands dollars. However, if the alleged downloader fails to respond the damage can be much worse. </p>
<p>District Court Judge Darrin Gayles recently issued a default judgment (<a href="media/024403e5.manny2.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/manny2.pdf">pdf</a>) against Micheal Chang, a Florida man who stood accused of pirating a copy of &#8220;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1778931/">Manny.</a>&#8221; </p>
<p>Since Chang didn&#8217;t respond to the allegations the Judge agreed with the filmmakers and ordered Chang to pay $30,000 in statutory damages. In addition he must pay attorneys’ fees and costs bringing the total to $31,657.</p>
<p>While the damages are a heavy burden to bear for most, the filmmakers say that the defendant got off lightly. Manny Film argued that Chang was guilty of willful copyright infringement for which the damages can go up to $150,000 per work.</p>
<p>&#8220;Here, despite the fact of Defendant’s willful infringement, Plaintiff only seeks an award of $30,000 per work in statutory damages,&#8221; Manny Film wrote. </p>
<p>According to the filmmakers Chang&#8217;s Internet connection was used to pirate over 2,400 files via BitTorrent in recent years, which they say proves that he willfully pirated their movie. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;for nearly two years, Defendant infringed over 2,400 third-party works on BitTorrent. In addition to Plaintiff’s film, Defendant downloaded scores of Hollywood films, including works such as Avatar and The Wolf of Wall Street.&#8221; </p>
<p>It is unlikely that the court would have issued the same damages award if Chang had defended himself. Even in cases without representation several judges have shown reluctance to issue such severe punishments.</p>
<p>For example, last year U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-30000-sharing-pirated-movie-excessive-punishment-141119/">ruled</a> that $30,000 in damages per shared film is excessive, referring to the Eighth Amendment which prohibits excessive fines as well as cruel and unusual punishments. </p>
<p>“This Court finds an award of $30,000 for each defendant would be an excessive punishment considering the seriousness of each Defendant’s conduct and the sum of money at issue,” Judge Rice wrote.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it could have been even worse. The damage award pales in comparison to some other default judgments. In Illinois three men had to pay <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sharing-7-movies-on-bittorrent-1-5-million-damages-121201/">$1.5 million</a> each for sharing seven to ten movies using BitTorrent.</p>
<p>Controversy aside, Manny Film believes that they are certainly entitled to the $30,000. They have requested the same amount in other cases which are still pending, arguing that the actual lost revenue is even higher. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110135
title: Movie Studios and Record Labels Target Pirate Bay in New Lawsuit
uri: Movie-Studios-and-Record-Labels-Target-Pirate-Bay-in-New-Lawsuit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MWq55ueN2w4/
content:
<p><img src="media/7e02aab6.tpb3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb3.png" alt="tpb" width="230" height="243" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106334">In 2009, the IFPI and several local movie studios demanded that Norwegian ISP Telenor should block The Pirate Bay. The ISP refused and legal action commenced.</p>
<p>A subsequent ruling determined that there was no legal basis for site blocking and in 2010 a rightsholder appeal also failed. If sites were to be blocked, a change in the law was required.</p>
<p>In May 2011 the Ministry of Culture announced that it had put forward proposals for amendments to the Copyright Act, to include web blocking, and on July 1, 2013 the new law came into effect.</p>
<p>After more than two years of threats, local and international copyright holders have now <a href="http://www.dn.no/etterBors/2015/08/31/1952/Film/piratblokkering-til-rettssalen">made good</a> on their promises to use the new legislation to stamp down on piracy.</p>
<p>In a lawsuit filed at the Oslo District Court, Disney, Warner Bros. and Sony plus local producers and representatives from the recording industry are teaming up to sue eleven local ISPs. Also targeted in the action are the alleged operators of eight &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p>Although the sites are yet to be publicly revealed, The Pirate Bay is among them and site co-founder Fredrik Neij is named as a party in the case. </p>
<p>According to Dagens Næringsliv, studios and labels filed an initial complaint with ISPs back in April via anti-piracy outfit Rights Alliance. It was sent to the country&#8217;s largest ISP Telenor plus others including Get, NextGenTel and Altibox.</p>
<p>The rightsholders&#8217; demands are familiar. All the main local ISPs must block The Pirate Bay and related sites so that subscribers can no longer access the domains directly.</p>
<p>&#8220;We understand licensees&#8217; struggle for their rights. For us it is important that the court must take these decisions, and that we do not assume a censorship role,&#8221; says Telenor communications manager Tormod Sandstø.</p>
<p>Also of interest is how the legal process is being handled. The Oslo District Court is dealing with the case in writing so the whole process is completely closed to the public. After processing the case during the summer, early estimations suggest that the court will have made its decision within the next 10 days.</p>
<p>The news follows several key Norwegian anti-piracy developments in 2015. In March, an investigation by Rights Alliance culminated in a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/after-eliminating-music-piracy-norway-hits-first-movie-site-150328/">police raid</a> against local pirate site Norskfilm.</p>
<p>In July, Rights Alliance placed the blame for a piracy explosion firmly <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-blamed-for-movie-streaming-piracy-explosion-150703/">on the shoulders</a> of Popcorn Time, with the group announcing last week that up to 75,000 users of the application could now be <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/75000-popcorn-time-users-in-crosshairs-of-anti-piracy-group-150825/">contacted by mail</a>. The message they will receive remains unclear but comments from Rights Alliance during the past few days have leaned away from lawsuits.</p>
<p>Interestingly, Popcorn Time related sites are not among the batch of domains currently under consideration by the Oslo District Court as the service was not considered a priority when the original Rights Alliance complaint was being put together. Should the current blocking attempt prove successful, expect Popcorn Time domains to appear in an upcoming lawsuit.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110100
title: US Govt. Denies Responsibility for Megaupload’s Servers
uri: US-Govt-Denies-Responsibility-for-Megaupload-s-Servers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SrfhlppFnVA/
content:
<p><img src="media/9a9629f5.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg" alt="megaupload-logo" width="250" height="208" class="alignright size-full wp-image-95191">In a few months&#8217; time it will be four years since Megaupload’s servers were raided by U.S. authorities. Since then, virtually no progress has been made in the criminal case. </p>
<p>Kim Dotcom and his Megaupload colleagues are still awaiting their extradition hearing in New Zealand and have yet to formally appear in a U.S. court.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Megaupload servers from Carpathia Hosting remain in storage in Virginia, some of which contain crucial evidence as well as valuable files from users. The question is, for how long. </p>
<p>Last month QTS, the company that now owns the servers after acquiring Carpathia, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hosting-company-wants-to-wipe-1103-megaupload-servers-150814/">asked the court</a> if it can get rid of the data which is costing them thousands of dollars per month in storage fees.</p>
<p>This prompted a response from a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-user-asks-court-to-return-his-files-150824/">former user</a> who wants to preserve his data, as well as Megaupload, who don&#8217;t want any of the evidence to be destroyed. </p>
<p>Megaupload&#8217;s legal team suggested that the U.S. Government should <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-wants-u-s-to-pay-the-server-storage-bills-150825/">buy the servers</a> and take care of the hosting costs. However, in a new filing (<a href="media/37765f3c.usres.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/usres.pdf">pdf</a>) just submitted to the District Court the authorities deny all responsibility. </p>
<p>United States Attorney Dana Boente explains that the Government has already backed up the data they need and no longer have a claim on the servers. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;the government has already completed its acquisition of data from the Carpathia Servers authorized by the warrant, which the defendants will be entitled to during discovery,&#8221; Boente writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;As such, there is no basis for the Court to order the government to assume possession of the Carpathia Servers or reimburse Carpathia for &#8216;allocated costs&#8217; related to their continued maintenance.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Government says it handed over its claim on the servers early 2012 after the search warrant was executed and the hosting company was informed at the time. This means that the U.S. can and will not determine the fate of the stored servers. </p>
<p>The authorities say they are willing to allow Megaupload and the other defendants to look through the data that was copied, but only after they are arraigned. </p>
<p>In any case, the U.S. denies any responsibility for the Megaupload servers and asks the court to keep it this way. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;the United States continues to request that the Court deny any effort to impose unprecedented financial or supervisory obligations on the United States related to the Carpathia Servers,&#8221; the U.S. Attorney concludes.</p>
<p>Previously the U.S. and MPAA blocked Megaupload&#8217;s plans to buy the servers, which is one of the main reasons that there is still no solution after all those years. </p>
<p>The MPAA also renewed its previous position last week (<a href="media/37765f3c.usres.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/usres.pdf">pdf</a>). The Hollywood group says doesn&#8217;t mind if users are reunited with their files as long as Megaupload doesn&#8217;t get hold of them. </p>
<p>&#8220;The MPAA members’ principal concern is assuring that adequate steps are taken [to] prevent the MPAA members’ content on the Mega Servers in Carpathia’s possession from falling back into the hands of Megaupload or otherwise entering the stream of commerce,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>The above means that none of the parties is willing to move forward. The servers are still trapped in between the various parties and it appears that only District Court Judge Liam O&#8217;Grady can change this. </p>
<p>It appears to be a choice between saving the 25 Petabytes of data or wiping all servers clean.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110170
title: No Dallas Buyers Club Piracy Appeal in Oz, Company Considering Options
uri: No-Dallas-Buyers-Club-Piracy-Appeal-in-Oz-Company-Considering-Options
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/PEvhFq7hWbY/
content:
<p><img src="media/78231829.dallas.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/dallas.jpg" width="180" height="180" class="alignright">In April, Aussie file-sharers let out a collective groan when the company behind the movie Dallas Buyers Club (DBC) won the right to obtain the personal details of almost 4,800 individuals said to have downloaded and shared the movie without permission.</p>
<p>However, things didn&#8217;t go to plan. As six ISPs stood by ready to hand over the information, the Federal Court told DBC that before allowing the release of the identities it wanted to see the letters the company intended to send out to alleged infringers. Justice Nye Perram wanted to avoid the so-called &#8216;speculative invoicing&#8217; practices seen in other countries in recent years.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dallas-buyers-club-ruling-devastates-copyright-trolling-down-under-150814/">mid-August ruling</a> it became clear that Justice Perram was right to exercise caution.</p>
<p>DBC did intend to demand thousands from alleged infringers, from the cost of single purchase of the movie and a broad license to distribute, to attempting to factor in damages for other things people may have downloaded. All but the cost of the film and some legal costs were disallowed by the Court.</p>
<p>In the end and in order to make it financially unviable for DBC to go against the wishes of the court, the Judge told DBC it would have to pay a AUS$600,000 bond before any subscriber information was released. The company didn&#8217;t immediately accept that offer and was given a couple of weeks to appeal. That deadline expired last Friday.</p>
<p>But while those who believe they might have been caught in the dragnet breathe a sign of relief, the company is warning that it&#8217;s not done yet. Speaking with <a href="http://www.itnews.com.au/news/dbc-opts-against-appeal-in-iinet-piracy-ruling-408793">itNews</a>, Michael Bradley of Marque Lawyers, the law firm representing DBC, said that while an appeal was considered risky, other options remain.</p>
<p>&#8220;Appeals are always hard, it&#8217;s an expensive course, and it&#8217;s unpredictable &#8211; if one judge has taken a particular view, you&#8217;re taking a gamble on whether three other judges are going to take a different view,&#8221; Bradley said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We think there may be another way of achieving the outcome [we want] without having to go through an appeal.&#8221;</p>
<p>DBC believes that by reworking the way it calculates its demands, the Judge will see its claim in a different light. One of the avenues being explored is the notion that pirates can not only be held liable for their own uploading, but also subsequent uploading (carried out by others) that was facilitated by theirs.</p>
<p>In his August ruling, Justice Perram said he had &#8220;no particular problem&#8221; with that theory but did not consider it in his ruling since DBC provided him with no information. Bradley believes that door remains open for negotiation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Whether an individual should be liable for damages based on other activity is not a closed subject,&#8221; Bradley says. &#8220;So there may be a different way of approaching it and coming up with something [Justice Perram] is more comfortable with.&#8221;</p>
<p>The idea that file-sharers should somehow be held liable for the activities of other file-sharers is an extremely complex one that will be hard if not impossible to prove from a technical standpoint.</p>
<p>While it could be shown that file-sharer &#8216;A&#8217; entered a Dallas Buyers Club movie swarm before file-sharer &#8216;B&#8217;, there is no way of showing that &#8216;B&#8217; benefited in any way from the activity of &#8216;A&#8217;. DBC has no access to any information that proves information was shared between the two, or even between the two via third parties.</p>
<p>The company could take a broader view of course, and claim that all pirates were equally responsible for the resulting infringement in the swarm. But that amounts to each person being held responsible for their own infringement and the judge has already determined that to be the purchase price of the movie.</p>
<p>While DBC may yet take a second bite at the cherry (it has little to lose having invested so much already in Australian legal action), it wouldn&#8217;t come as a surprise if the company decides to make its money elsewhere. There are easy pickings to be made in the United States and the UK, and parts of Scandinavia are now also being viewed as troll-friendly. Tipping money down the drain in Oz might not be the best option.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110190
title: Pirate Sites Must Pay Legal Costs of Own Blockade, Court Rules
uri: Pirate-Sites-Must-Pay-Legal-Costs-of-Own-Blockade-Court-Rules
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aty2waYyVXM/
content:
<p><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="stop-blocked" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076">Continuing with the blocking campaign spreading around Europe, several Hollywood studios recently applied to a court in Norway to have seven &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites blocked at the ISP level.</p>
<p>Warner Bros, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Sony, Disney, Columbia and several local industry groups argued that the sites &#8211; The Pirate Bay, ExtraTorrent, Viooz, PrimeWire, Swefilmer, DreamFilm and Movie4K &#8211; infringe their copyrights.</p>
<p>Local ISPs including Telenor, TeliaSonera, NextGenTel and Altibox were named as defendants in the case alongside Pirate Bay founder Fredrik Neij and the alleged operator of Viooz, Bakrie Abubakr.</p>
<p>The process was handled in writing by the Oslo District Court over the summer, so the public have had no access to proceedings. In fact, news of the lawsuit <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-and-record-labels-target-pirate-bay-in-new-lawsuit-150901/">broke only yesterday</a>, alongside estimates that the court would make up its mind sometime next week.</p>
<p>In the event the decision came much sooner. Early this afternoon the District Court sided with the mainly Hollywood studios and ordered the seven sites named in the lawsuit to be blocked by the leading ISPs in the country.</p>
<p>Telenor, Norway&#8217;s leading broadband provider, welcomed the decision.</p>
<p>&#8220;Telenor is very pleased with the ruling. The principles that have always been important for us are followed in the ruling,&#8221; said Communications Director Torhild Uribarri.</p>
<p>&#8220;For Telenor it has always been important to ensure that the legal system is being followed so that it is the courts, not the Internet providers, who will decide whether a site should be shut down.&#8221;</p>
<p>Also of importance to Telenor is the Court&#8217;s decision to treat all Internet service providers equally. When a blocking order is handed down today and in future, it should be directed at all ISPs</p>
<p>Telenor also praised the Court for &#8220;a very thorough examination of the case&#8221; and for ensuring that strict standards are applied before a blocking order is handed down.</p>
<p>&#8220;To block a site the damage it causes must be very large, the site must be popular in Norway, the site must not create its own content and infringement on the site should be extremely difficult to prevent or counteract,&#8221; Uribarri said.</p>
<p>Another issue tackled by the Court was that of costs. Normally the plaintiffs (the studios) and the ISPs would battle this out between themselves but in this case the Court ruled that the pirate sites should pay.</p>
<p>According to the ruling the owners of the file-sharing sites should each be billed 231,964 kroner ($28,100) to be divided up between various rightsholders and their associated groups. The split is as follows:</p>
<p>$1424 each to Disney, Paramount, Columbia, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal and Warner Bros, $8,500 to the Norwegian Society of Composers and Lyricists, $6,830 to the Norwegian Videograms Association, $1,900 to Video Industry Felleskontor and $2,280 to the Norwegian Film Distributers Association.</p>
<p>The ISPs were given two weeks to implement DNS blocks of several Pirate Bay domains including thepiratebay.se, thepiratebay.com, thepiratebay.net, thepiratebay.org, thepiratebay.mn, thepiratebay.gd and thepiratebay.la.</p>
<p>Three Extratorrent domains (.cc, .com and .ws), eight Movie4k domains, plus several for PrimeWire, Viooz, Swefilmer and DreamfilmHD complete the list. </p>
<p>The court indicated that the order (which is initially valid for five years) can be updated with new domains as they are put into action.</p>
<p>The sites themselves were also given two weeks to settle their bills with Hollywood. It seems unlikely that those will ever be paid. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=109946
title: Twitter Suspends ‘Pirate’ Site Accounts Over Dubious Claims
uri: Twitter-Suspends-Pirate-Site-Accounts-Over-Dubious-Claims
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DUSRwnFUgAA/
content:
<p><img src="media/b4239d69.pirate-twitter.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-twitter.png" alt="pirate-twitter" width="198" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98627">In common with many other online services, copyright holders regularly ask Twitter to remove tweets that link to pirated material. </p>
<p>If a user decides to post a link to a pirated blockbuster or music track there&#8217;s a good chance that it won&#8217;t be online for long. In addition, the Twitter user may have his or her account suspended. </p>
<p>The latter happened to the accounts of Spain&#8217;s largest torrent site <a href="http://www.elitetorrent.net/">EliteTorrent</a> and the linking site <a href="http://www.bajui.com/">Bajui</a> recently, both following a copyright holder complaint. However, both accounts had refrained from linking to pirated material.</p>
<p>The takedown notices in which the accounts were targeted were sent by the Spanish company <a href="http://golem.es/distribucion/">Golem Distribución</a>, who own the distribution rights of the film &#8220;Cut Bank.&#8221; They both reference tweets where the title of the film was mentioned alongside the film poster. </p>
<p>In its copyright and DMCA policy Twitter explains that it takes action against “tweets containing links to allegedly infringing materials,” but EliteTorrent and Bajui didn’t post any links, just text and a film poster.</p>
<p><center><strong>The Elitetorrent tweet</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/611904ff.censoredtweet.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/censoredtweet.png" alt="censoredtweet" width="495" height="331" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-110181"></center> </p>
<p>Morphoide, the founder of the Elitewebs Network which includes both EliteTorrent and Bajui, initially thought that the tweets were flagged because of the image. However, the DMCA notice makes no mention of this. </p>
<p>Instead, Golem Distribución accuses the accounts in broken English of distributing the film on their respective websites, not Twitter. </p>
<p>&#8220;According to the protocol of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act): We have noted that the websites own, is offering free downloads and/or streaming of the work &#8216;CUT BANK&#8217; belonging to GOLEM DISTRIBUCIÓN,&#8221; the notice reads.</p>
<p><center><strong>The DMCA notice</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/6ff885b6.dmcagolemtweet.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dmcagolemtweet.png" alt="dmcagolemtweet" width="486" height="428" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-110183"></center> </p>
<p>Morphoide is disappointed with Twitter&#8217;s decision and informs us that he specifically chose not to include any links to avoid this kind of trouble. </p>
<p>&#8220;There were no links in the tweets. I stopped linking a long time ago because I didn&#8217;t want my account to be suspended for doing so,&#8221; Morphoide says. </p>
<p>Apparently even tweets without links can be flagged and both sites have had their accounts <a href="https://www.twitter.com/elitetorrent">suspended as a result</a>. This means that thousands of followers are gone, just like that. </p>
<p>The site&#8217;s founder says he has lost faith in Twitter and doesn&#8217;t intend to appeal the suspension.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=110228
title: UK Police Arrest Prolific Pirate Bay Uploader
uri: UK-Police-Arrest-Prolific-Pirate-Bay-Uploader
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GP4DBYg2Gww/
content:
<p><img src="media/31176dbb.cityoflondonpolice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cityoflondonpolice.jpg" alt="cityoflondonpolice" width="200" height="82" class="alignright size-full wp-image-71397">While BitTorrent can be used to distribute files as small as a single image, the protocol is much better suited to shifting larger files, video in particular.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, millions of music tracks are shared every week across hundreds of torrent sites, mainly in full album form. Of course, due to its efficiency, entire discographies are easy to find too, as are weekly packs of the Billboard Top 100 and the UK&#8217;s Top 40.</p>
<p>However, following action by police in the UK today, those in the music industry will be hoping that these large packs will be harder to find.</p>
<p>According to news just in from the UK&#8217;s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) their officers were in action early this morning taking down what they believe to be a prolific music pirate.</p>
<p>Following a joint investigation with licensing outfit PRS for Music, officers from PIPCU and Merseyside police raided an address in Everton, Liverpool. Their target was a 38-year-old man believed to be involved in the unlawful distribution of music online.</p>
<p>In addition to uploading the UK&#8217;s Top 40 Singles to various torrent sites on a weekly basis, police say the man also ran his own website offering not only regular tracks but also acapella versions. Police claim there was a commercial motivation, with the man generating &#8220;significant&#8221; advertising revenue from his endeavors.</p>
<p>“Today’s operation in Liverpool demonstrates how PIPCU are prepared to travel nationwide in the pursuit of those suspected of being involved in the illegal distribution of content online,&#8221; said City of London Police Detective Inspector, Mick Dodge.</p>
<p>“This is a crime that is costing the UK creative industry hundreds of millions of pounds, money that not only supports the artists but the thousands of technical and support staff working in this sector, and PIPCU is committed to working with partners nationally and internationally to target those involved.”</p>
<p>Simon Bourn, Head of Litigation, Enforcement and Anti-Piracy at PRS for Music, said that music piracy continues to have an impact on those who contribute to the creative economy.</p>
<p>&#8220;We’re committed to partnering with PIPCU to enforce against illegal services that are not willing to work with us towards a legitimate licensed model, and which continue to exploit our members’ work without permission,” Bourn said.</p>
<p>At this stage police have not named the arrested individual but sources familiar with the situation have informed TF that the man is a regular uploader to KickassTorrents and The Pirate Bay and has uploaded hundreds of torrents in the past five years.</p>
<p>Further investigation by TorrentFreak led us to a website offering acapella content as described by FACT, linked to a man in the Liverpool area.</p>
<p>It certainly doesn&#8217;t look like a huge operation but PIPCU claim the man&#8217;s actions &#8220;could be costing the music industry millions of pounds&#8221;.</p>
<p>The man is currently being questioned at a local police station. Several computers have been seized.</p>
<p><em>Breaking, more information as we have it</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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