# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=144916
title: US Court Orders Dozens of “Pirate” Site Domain Seizures
uri: US-Court-Orders-Dozens-of-Pirate-Site-Domain-Seizures
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0Q2XKyGIa2E/
content:
<p><img src="media/7b253ec9.starabs.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/starabs.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145124">ABS-CBN, the largest media and entertainment company in the Philippines, has delivered another strike to pirate sites in the United States.</p>
<p>Last week a federal court in Florida signed a default judgment against 43 websites that offered copyright-infringing streams of ABS-CBN owned movies, including Star Cinema titles.</p>
<p>The order was signed exactly one day after the complaint was filed, in what appears to be a streamlined process. </p>
<p>The media company accused the websites of trademark and copyright infringement by making free streams of its content available without permission. It then asked the court for assistance to shut these sites down as soon as possible.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants’ websites operating under the Subject Domain Names are classic examples of pirate operations, having no regard whatsoever for the rights of ABS-CBN and willfully infringing ABS-CBN’s intellectual property. </p>
<p>&#8220;As a result, ABS-CBN requires this Court’s intervention if any meaningful stop is to be put to Defendants’ piracy,&#8221; ABS-CBN wrote.</p>
<p>Instead of a lengthy legal process that can take years to complete, ABS-CBN went for an &#8220;ex-parte&#8221; request for domain seizures, which means that the websites in question are not notified or involved in the process before the order is issued. </p>
<p>After reviewing the proposed injunction, US District Judge Beth Bloom signed off on it. This means that all the associated registrars must hand over the domain names in question.</p>
<p>&#8220;The domain name registrars for the Subject Domain Names shall immediately assist in changing the registrar of record for the Subject Domain Names, to a holding account with a registrar of Plaintiffs’ choosing..,&#8221; the <a href="media/bb05f023.ABS43.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ABS43.pdf">order (pdf)</a> reads.</p>
<p>In the days that followed, several streaming-site domains were indeed taken over. Movieonline.io, 1movies.tv, 123movieshd.us, 4k-movie.us, icefilms.ws and others are now linking to a notice page with information about the lawsuit instead. </p>
<p><center><strong>The notice</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/32bbc4c7.absnotice.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/absnotice.png" alt="" width="676" height="303" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145133"></center></p>
<p>Gomovies.es, which is also included, has not been transferred yet, but the operator appears to be aware of the lawsuit as the site now redirects to Gomovies.vg. Other domains, such as Onlinefullmovie.me, Putlockerm.live and Newasiantv.io remain online as well.</p>
<p>While the targeted sites together are good for thousands of daily visitors, they&#8217;re certainly not the biggest fish. </p>
<p>That said, the most significant thing about the case is not that these domain names have been taken offline. What stands out is the ability of an ex-parte request from a copyright holder to easily take out dozens of sites in one swoop.</p>
<p>Given ABS-CBN&#8217;s legal track record, this is likely not the last effort of this kind. The question now is if others will follow suit. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>The full list of targeted domain is as follows. </p>
<p>1 movieonline.io<br>
2 1movies.tv<br>
3 gomovies.es<br>
4 123movieshd.us<br>
5 4k-movie.us<br>
6 desitvflix.net<br>
7 globalpinoymovies.com<br>
8 icefilms.ws<br>
9 jhonagemini.com<br>
10 lambinganph.info<br>
11 mrkdrama.com<br>
12 newasiantv.me<br>
13 onlinefullmovie.me<br>
14 pariwiki.net<br>
15 pinoychannel.live<br>
16 pinoychannel.mobi<br>
17 pinoyfullmovies.net<br>
18 pinoyhdtorrent.com<br>
19 pinoylibangandito.pw<br>
20 pinoymoviepedia.ch<br>
21 pinoysharetv.com<br>
22 pinoytambayanhd.com<br>
23 pinoyteleseryerewind.info<br>
24 philnewsnetwork.com<br>
25 pinoytvrewind.info<br>
26 pinoytzater.com<br>
27 subenglike.com<br>
28 tambayantv.org<br>
29 teleseryi.com<br>
30 thepinoy1tv.com<br>
31 thepinoychannel.com<br>
32 tvbwiki.com<br>
33 tvnaa.com<br>
34 urpinoytv.com<br>
35 vikiteleserye.com<br>
36 viralsocialnetwork.com<br>
37 watchpinoymoviesonline.com<br>
38 pinoysteleserye.xyz<br>
39 pinoytambayan.world<br>
40 lambingan.lol<br>
41 123movies.film<br>
42 putlockerm.live<br>
43 yonip.zone<br>
43 yonipzone.rocks</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145173
title: Football Coach Retweets, Gets Sued for Copyright Infringement
uri: Football-Coach-Retweets-Gets-Sued-for-Copyright-Infringement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ylTroaC28Vo/
content:
<p><a href="media/cdef4830.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg"><img src="media/bd0abf4c.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120567"></a>When copyright infringement lawsuits hit the US courts, there&#8217;s often a serious case at hand. Whether that&#8217;s the sharing of a leaked movie online or indeed the mass infringement that allegedly took place on Megaupload, there&#8217;s usually something quite meaty to discuss.</p>
<p>A lawsuit filed this week in a Pennsylvania federal court certainly provides the later, but without managing to be much more than a fairly trivial matter in the first instance.</p>
<p>The case was filed by sports psychologist and author Dr. Keith Bell. It begins by describing Bell as an &#8220;internationally recognized performance consultant&#8221; who has worked with 500 teams, including the Olympic and national teams for the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Fiji, and the Cayman Islands.</p>
<p>Bell is further described as a successful speaker, athlete and coach; &#8220;A four-time<br>
collegiate All-American swimmer, a holder of numerous world and national masters swim records, and has coached several collegiate, high school, and private swim teams to competitive success.&#8221;</p>
<p>At the heart of the lawsuit is a book that Bell published in 1982, entitled Winning Isn&#8217;t Normal.</p>
<p>&#8220;The book has enjoyed substantial acclaim, distribution and publicity. Dr. Bell is the sole author of this work, and continues to own all rights in the work,&#8221; the <a href="media/5aca6f08.Bell-v-King.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Bell-v-King.pdf">lawsuit (pdf)</a> reads.</p>
<p>Bell claims that on or about November 6, 2015, King’s College head football coach Jeffery Knarr retweeted a tweet that was initially posted from @NSUBaseball32, a Twitter account operated by Northeastern State University’s RiverHawks baseball team. The retweet, as shown in the lawsuit, can be seen below.</p>
<p><center><b>The retweet that sparked the lawsuit</b><a href="media/4fb31b14.tweet-winning.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tweet-winning.png"><img src="media/0d464ee8.tweet-winning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tweet-winning.png" alt="" width="463" height="725" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145174"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;The post was made without authorization from Dr. Bell and without attribution<br>
to Dr. Bell,&#8221; the lawsuit reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Neither Defendant King’s College nor Defendant Jeffery Knarr contacted Dr.<br>
Bell to request permission to use Dr. Bell’s copyrighted work. As of November 14, 2015, the post had received 206 &#8216;Retweets&#8217; and 189 &#8216;Likes.&#8217; Due to the globally accessible nature of Twitter, the post was accessible by Internet users across the world.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bell says he sent a cease and desist letter to NSU in September 2016 and shortly thereafter NSU removed the post, which removed the retweets. However, this meant that Knarr&#8217;s retweet had been online for &#8220;at least&#8221; 10 months and 21 days.</p>
<p>To put the icing on the cake, Bell also holds the trademark to the phrase &#8220;Winning Isn&#8217;t Normal&#8221;, so he&#8217;s suing Knarr and his King’s College employer for trademark infringement too.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Defendants included Plaintiff’s trademark twice in the Twitter post. The first instance was as the title of the post, with the mark shown in letters which<br>
were emphasized by being capitalized, bold, and underlined,&#8221; the lawsuit notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The second instance was at the end of the post, with the mark shown in letters which were emphasized by being capitalized, bold, underlined, and followed by three<br>
exclamation points.&#8221;</p>
<p>Describing what appears to be a casual retweet as &#8220;willful, intentional and purposeful&#8221; infringement carried out &#8220;in disregard of and with indifference to Plaintiff’s rights,&#8221; Bell demands damages and attorneys fees from Knarr and his employer.</p>
<p>&#8220;As a direct and proximate result of said infringement by Defendants, Plaintiff is<br>
entitled to damages in an amount to be proven at trial,&#8221; the lawsuit concludes.</p>
<p>Since the page from the book retweeted by Knarr is a small portion of the overall work, there may be a fair use defense. Nevertheless, defending this kind of suit is never cheap, so it&#8217;s probably fair to say there will already be a considerable amount of regret among the defendants at ever having set eyes on Bell&#8217;s 35-year-old book.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145188
title: EU Proposes Take Down Stay Down Approach to Combat Online Piracy
uri: EU-Proposes-Take-Down-Stay-Down-Approach-to-Combat-Online-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TqDLgiSnrLk/
content:
<p><img src="media/23e20654.europe-flag.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/europe-flag.png" alt="" width="222" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79290">In recent years, many copyright holders have grown frustrated with pirates copies of their content (re)appearing on hundreds of online platforms. </p>
<p>This problem is not restricted to pirate sites, but also affects other services where users can freely upload content, including Dropbox, Google, YouTube, and Facebook.</p>
<p>In an attempt to streamline these takedown procedures the European Commission published a detailed set of guidelines today. Their communication titled &#8220;<a href="media/50c2fc48.COM-2017-555-F1-EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF" data-original-source="https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2017/EN/COM-2017-555-F1-EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF">Tackling Illegal Content Online</a>&#8221; includes a comprehensive overview of how illegal content, including piracy, should be dealt with. </p>
<p>The recommendation, of which a non-final copy <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-prepares-guidelines-to-force-google-facebook-to-police-piracy-170915/">leaked earlier this month</a>, is non-binding. However, future legislative measures are not ruled out if no significant progress is made.</p>
<p>One of the motivations to release the guidelines is to define clearly what a good takedown policy would look like. A harmonized and coherent takedown approach is currently missing in the EU, the Commission notes. </p>
<p>&#8220;A more aligned approach would make the fight against illegal content more effective. It would also benefit the development of the Digital Single Market and reduce the cost of compliance with a multitude of rules for online platforms, including for new entrants,&#8221; the recommendation reads.</p>
<p>One of the suggestions that stand out is &#8220;proactive&#8221; filtering. The Commission recommends that online services should implement measures that can automatically detect and remove suspected illegal content.</p>
<p>&#8220;Online platforms should do their utmost to proactively detect, identify and remove illegal content online. The Commission strongly encourages online platforms to use voluntary, proactive measures aimed at the detection and removal of illegal content and to step up cooperation and investment in, and use of, automatic detection technologies.&#8221;</p>
<p>This is similar to the much-discussed <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mandatory-piracy-filters-could-breach-human-rights-eu-members-170906/">upload filters</a> and raises the question whether such practice is in line with existing EU law. In the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-court-bans-anti-piracy-filters-on-hosting-services-120216/">Sabam v Netlog</a> case, the European Court of Justice previously ruled that hosting sites can’t be forced to filter copyrighted content, as this would violate the privacy of users and hinder freedom of information.</p>
<p>Importantly, the Commission emphasizes that when online services explicitly search for pirated material, they won&#8217;t lose the benefit of the liability exemption provided for in Article 14 of the E-Commerce Directive. In other words, copyright holders can&#8217;t hold these services accountable for content that slips through the net.</p>
<p>The recommendation further includes some specific suggestions to make sure that content, once removed, does not reappear. This is the notice-and-stay-down approach copyright holders are lobbying for, which can be addressed by content recognition tools including hash filtering.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Commission strongly encourages the further use and development of automatic technologies to prevent the re-appearance of illegal content online,&#8221; the document reads, adding that errors should not be overlooked.</p>
<p>&#8220;Where automatic tools are used to prevent re-appearance of illegal content a reversibility safeguard should be available for erroneous decisions, and the use and performance of this technology should be made transparent in the platforms&#8217; terms of service.&#8221;</p>
<p>Hash-based and other automatic filters are not new of course. Services such as Google Drive and Dropbox already have these in place and YouTube&#8217;s Content-ID system also falls into this category. </p>
<p>Another measure to prevent re-uploading of content is to ban frequent offenders. The Commission notes that services should take appropriate measures against such users, which could include the suspension or termination of accounts.</p>
<p>Most of the suggestions come with a recommendation to have sufficient safeguards in place to repair or prevent errors. This includes a counter-notice process as well as regularly published transparency reports. In some cases where context is relevant, it is important to have a human reviewer in the loop.</p>
<p>Finally, the Commission encourages cooperation between online services and so-called &#8220;trusted flaggers.&#8221; The latter are known representatives of copyright holders who are trusted. As such, their takedown notices can be prioritized.</p>
<p>&#8220;Notices from trusted flaggers should be able to be fast-tracked by the platform. This cooperation should provide for mutual information exchange so as to evaluate and improve the removal process over time.&#8221;</p>
<p>The proposals go above and beyond current legal requirements. For many larger online services, it might not be too hard to comply with most of the above. But, for smaller services, it could be quite a burden. </p>
<p>European Digital Rights (EDRi) has highlighted some <a href="https://edri.org/commissions-position-tackling-illegal-content-online-contradictory-dangerous-free-speech/">good and bad elements</a> but remains critical. </p>
<p>&#8220;The document puts virtually all its focus on internet companies monitoring online communications, in order to remove content that they decide might be illegal. It presents few safeguards for free speech, and little concern for dealing with content that is actually criminal,&#8221; EDRi <a href="https://edri.org/commissions-position-tackling-illegal-content-online-contradictory-dangerous-free-speech/">writes</a>.</p>
<p>Google has also been critical of the notice-and-stay-down principle in the past. Copyright counsel Cédric Manara previously outlined several problems, concluding that the system &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-counsel-sees-problems-with-take-down-stay-down-151121/">just won&#8217;t work.</a>&#8220;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145243
title: Denuvo Crisis After Total Warhammer 2 Gets Pirated in Hours
uri: Denuvo-Crisis-After-Total-Warhammer-2-Gets-Pirated-in-Hours
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ylDfNp7I6Do/
content:
<p><a href="media/05d838b7.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg"><img src="media/fe5f698e.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg" alt="" width="210" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116067"></a>Needing little introduction, the anti-piracy system sold by Denuvo Software Solutions of Austria is probably the most well-known product of its type of the planet.</p>
<p>For years, Denuvo was considered pretty much impenetrable, with its presence a virtual stamp of assurance that a game being protected by it would not fall victim to piracy, potentially for years. In recent times, however, things have begun to crumble.</p>
<p>Strangely, it started in early 2016 with bad news. Chinese cracking group 3DM <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/no-more-pirate-games-in-two-years-group-warns-160106/">declared</a> that Denuvo was probably uncrackable and no protected games would appear online during the next two years.</p>
<p>By June, however, hope appeared on the horizon, with <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-crack-video-rumors-excite-pirates-160628/">hints</a> that progress was being made. By August 2016, all doubts were removed when a group called CONSPIR4CY (a reported collaboration between CPY and CODEX) <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-properly-cracked-rise-of-the-tomb-raider-first-victim-160809">released</a> Rise of the Tomb Raider.</p>
<p>After that, Denuvo-protected titles began dropping like flies, with some getting cracked weeks after their launch. Then things got serious.</p>
<p>Early this year, Resident Evil 7 <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-piracy-crisis-as-resident-evil-7-gets-cracked-in-record-time-170130/">fell in less than a week</a>. In the summer, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-control-denuvo-piracy-protection-cracked-170602/">RiME</a> fell in a few days, four days exactly for Tekken 7.</p>
<p>Now, however, Denuvo has suffered its biggest failure yet, with strategy game Total War: Warhammer 2 falling to pirates in less than a day, arguably just a few hours. It was cracked by STEAMPUNKS, a group that&#8217;s been dumping cracked games on the Internet at quite a rate for the past few months.</p>
<p><center></b>TOTAL.WAR.WARHAMMER.2-STEAMPUNKS</b><a href="media/253d6fcf.totalwarhammer2.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/totalwarhammer2.png"><img src="media/2983649a.totalwarhammer2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/totalwarhammer2.png" alt="" width="598" height="697" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145247"></a></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Take this advice, DO NOT CODE a new installer when you have very hot Babes dancing in their bikini just in front of you. Never again,&#8221; the group said in a statement. &#8220;This time we locked ourselves inside and produced a new installer.&#8221;</p>
<p>The fall of this game in such a short space of time will be of major concern to Denuvo Software Solutions. After Resident Evil 7 was cracked in days earlier this year,  Denuvo Marketing Director Thomas Goebl told Eurogamer that some protection was better than nothing.</p>
<p>&#8220;Given the fact that every unprotected title is cracked on the day of release — as well as every update of games — our solution made a difference for this title,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>With yesterday&#8217;s 0-day crack of Total War: Warhammer 2, it can be argued that Denuvo made absolutely no difference whatsoever to the availability of the title. It didn&#8217;t even protect the initial launch window.</p>
<p>Goebl&#8217;s additional comment in the summer was that &#8220;so far only one piracy group has been able to bypass [Denuvo].&#8221; Now, just a handful of months later, there are several groups with the ability. That&#8217;s not a good look for the company.</p>
<p>Back in 2016, Denuvo co-founder Robert Hernandez <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-we-dont-give-refunds-when-games-get-cracked-161219/">told</a> Kotaku that the company does not give refunds. It would be interesting to know if anything has changed there too.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145120
title: ‘Daily Stormer’ Termination Haunts Cloudflare in Online Piracy Case
uri: Daily-Stormer-Termination-Haunts-Cloudflare-in-Online-Piracy-Cas
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/YoC9_SmwfU0/
content:
<p><img src="media/ac6a767e.cloudflarelogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflarelogo.png" alt="" width="260" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-137767">Last month Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince decided to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-kicking-daily-stormer-is-bad-news-for-pirate-sites-170817/">terminate the account</a> of controversial neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer.</p>
<p>“I woke up this morning in a bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet,” he announced.</p>
<p>While the decision is understandable from an emotional point of view, it&#8217;s quite a statement to make as the CEO of one of the largest Internet infrastructure companies. Not least because it goes directly against what many saw as Cloudflare&#8217;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-doesnt-want-to-be-the-piracy-police-170413/">core values</a>.</p>
<p>For years on end, Cloudflare has been asked to remove terrorist propaganda, pirate sites, and other controversial content. Each time, Cloudflare replied that it doesn’t take action without a court order. No exceptions.</p>
<p>In addition, Cloudflare repeatedly stressed that it was impossible for them to remove a website from the Internet, at least not permanently. It would only require a simple DNS reconfiguration to get it back up and running.</p>
<p>While the Daily Stormer case has nothing to do with piracy or copyright infringement, it&#8217;s now being brought up as important evidence in an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-faces-lawsuit-for-assisting-pirate-sites-160823/">ongoing piracy liability case</a>. Adult entertainment publisher ALS Scan views Prince as a &#8220;key witness&#8221; in the case and wants to depose Cloudflare&#8217;s CEO to find out more about his decision.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mr. Prince’s statement to the public that Cloudflare kicked neo-Nazis off the internet stand in sharp contrast to Cloudflare’s testimony in this case, where it claims it is powerless to remove content from the Internet,&#8221; ALS Scan writes.</p>
<p>The above is part of a recent submission where both parties argue over whether Prince can be deposed or not. Cloudflare wants to prevent this from happening and claims it&#8217;s unnecessary, but the adult publisher disagrees.  </p>
<p>&#8220;By his own admissions, Mr. Prince’s decision to terminate certain users’ accounts was &#8216;arbitrary,&#8217; the result of him waking up &#8216;in a bad  mood,&#8217; and a decision he made unilaterally as &#8216;CEO of a major Internet infrastructure corporation&#8217;. </p>
<p>&#8220;Mr. Prince has made it clear that he is the one who determines the circumstances under which Cloudflare will terminate a user’s account,&#8221; ALS Scan adds.</p>
<p>For its part, Cloudflare says that the CEO&#8217;s deposition is not needed. This is backed up by a declaration where Prince emphasizes that he has no unique knowledge on the company&#8217;s DMCA and repeat infringer policies, issues that directly relate to the case at hand.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have no unique personal knowledge regarding Cloudflare’s DMCA policy and  procedure, including its repeat infringer policies, or Cloudflare’s published Terms of Service,&#8221; Prince informs the court </p>
<p><center><strong>Prince&#8217;s declaration</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/8da7de1e.declprince.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/declprince.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="263" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145154"></center></p>
<p>The adult publisher, however, harps on the fact that the CEO arbitrarily decided to remove one site from the service, while requiring court orders in other instances. They quote from a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article he wrote and highlight the &#8216;kick off the internet&#8217; claim, which contradicts earlier statements.</p>
<p>Cloudflare&#8217;s lawyers contend that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/was-i-right-to-pull-the-plug-on-a-nazi-website-1503440771">the WSJ article</a> in question was meant to kick off a conversation and shouldn&#8217;t be taken literally.</p>
<p>&#8220;The WSJ Article was intended as an intellectual exercise to start a  conversation regarding censorship and free speech on the internet. The WSJ Article had nothing to do with copyright infringement issues or Cloudflare’s DMCA policy and procedure. </p>
<p>&#8220;When Mr. Prince stated in the WSJ Article that &#8216;[he]  helped kick a  group of neo-Nazis off the internet last week,&#8217;  his comments were intended to illustrate a point – not to be taken literally,&#8221; Cloudflare&#8217;s legal team adds.  </p>
<p>The deposition of Trey Guinn, a technical employee at Cloudflare, confirms that the company doesn&#8217;t have the power to cut a site off the Internet. It further suggests that the entire removal of Daily Stormer was in essence a provocation to start a conversation around freedom of speech.</p>
<p><center><strong>From Guinn&#8217;s deposition</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/fd41e033.declguin.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/declguin.png" alt="" width="580" height="147" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145153"></center></p>
<p>Still, since the lawsuit in question revolves around terminating customers, ALS Scan wants to depose Price to find out exactly when clients are terminated, and why he decided to go beyond Couldflare&#8217;s usual policy. </p>
<p>&#8220;No other employee can testify to Mr. Prince’s decision-making process when it comes to terminating a user’s access. No other employee can offer an explanation as to why The Daily Stormer’s account was terminated while repeat infringers’ accounts are allowed to remain.  </p>
<p>&#8220;In a case where Mr. Prince’s personal judgment appears to govern even over Cloudflare’s own policies and procedures, Cloudflare cannot meet its heavy burden of demonstrating why he should not be deposed,&#8221; ALS Scan&#8217;s lawyers add.</p>
<p>To be continued.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145241
title: HDClub, Russia’s Leading HD-Only Torrent Site, Returns as EliteHD
uri: HDClub-Russia-s-Leading-HD-Only-Torrent-Site-Returns-as-EliteHD
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OhQ1SGMM_tQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/39005422.elitehd.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/elitehd.png" alt="" width="275" height="101" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145252">With around 170,000 users, HDClub was known for high-quality releases that often leaked to public sites like The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>Describing itself as “The HighDefinition BitTorrent Community”, HDClub specialized in HD productions including Blu-ray and 3D content, covering movies, TV shows, music videos, and animation.</p>
<p>The site was the largest of its kind in Russia and had been around for a long time. It celebrated its tenth anniversary a few months ago and during this time it amassed over 170,000 members, which is quite significant for a private community.</p>
<p>However, last month <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hdclub-russias-leading-hd-torrent-site-permanently-shuts-down-170830/">the fun was over</a>. As a total surprise to most of the members, HDTorrents&#8217; operators decided to shut down the site. A Russian language announcement now present on its main page explains the reasons for the site’s demise.</p>
<p>“Recently, we received several dozens of complaints from rightsholders weekly, and our community is subjected to attacks and espionage. In parallel, there is a tightening of Internet legislation in Russia, Ukraine and EU countries,” the announcement explained.</p>
<p>This grim outlook was, however, paired with a glimmer of hope. “There are talks on preserving the heritage of the club,” the site teased.</p>
<p>This was not a false promise, it turned out this week. The former foundation of HDClub now forms the basis of a new tracker. <a href="http://Elitehd.org">EliteHD</a> takes over where HDClub left off with a working copy of the code, torrents and user database.</p>
<p>&#8220;Welcome to the closed tracker elitehd.org. We will try to increase the best HD collection and ensure your safety and confidentiality,&#8221; EliteHD&#8217;s operators posted in a Russian announcement earlier this week.</p>
<p>&#8220;The new site received a full copy of the database and the code of the closed HDClub. The user base has been thoroughly cleaned, there will be no free registration,&#8221; it adds.</p>
<p><center><strong><a href="https://opentrackers.org/elitehd/">EliteHD&#8217;s torrents</a></strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/ff5c578d.elitehdtorrents.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/elitehdtorrents.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="402" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145250"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Thoroughly cleaned&#8221; means that around 80,000 accounts were removed and the new maximum is currently set at 100,000 registered users. The torrent database is intact though. There are over 26,000 HD torrents in the database totaling more than 500 terabytes of data.</p>
<p>The site&#8217;s operators note that members can continue to seed old torrents as well. All they have to do is change the torrent&#8217;s announce URL in their client, and uploads should pick up again. </p>
<p>In recent weeks there have been other private trackers which tried to get former HDClub users on board, but it will be hard to compete with a site that has the real database and code. </p>
<p>EliteHD specifically warns people not to fall for fakes and &#8216;unofficial&#8217; incarnations of its predecessor. &#8220;We strongly recommend that you beware of numerous fake projects and &#8220;successors,&#8221; the site operators stress.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145183
title: 20th Century Fox is Looking for Anti-Piracy Interns
uri: 20th-Century-Fox-is-Looking-for-Anti-Piracy-Interns
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xliVsXjZK3s/
content:
<p><img src="media/e8d921bf.20thcenturyfox.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/20thcenturyfox.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145217">Piracy remains one of the key threats for most Hollywood movie studios.</p>
<p>Most companies have entire departments dedicated to spotting infringing content, understanding the changing landscape, and figuring out how to respond. </p>
<p>20th Century Fox, for example, has its own Content Protection group, headed by Ron Wheeler. The group keeps an eye on emerging piracy threats and is currently looking for fresh blood.</p>
<p>The company has listed two new internships. The <a href="http://job-openings.monster.com/Intern-Fall-2017-Graduate-JD-Student-Content-Protection-Los-Angeles-CA-US-FOX/31/1f389312-4ecd-4d0f-9b55-b1bb87182fd9">first</a> is for a Graduate JD Law Student, who will be tasked with analyzing fair use cases and finding new targets for lawsuits, among other things.</p>
<p>&#8220;Interns will participate in the monitoring of and enforcement against such piracy, including conducting detailed copyright infringement and fair use analyses; identifying and researching litigation targets, and searching the internet for infringing copies of Fox content.&#8221; </p>
<p>Fox notes that basic knowledge of the principles of Copyright Law is a plus, but apparently not required. Students who take this internship will learn how film and television piracy affects the media industry and consumers, preparing them for future work in this field. </p>
<p>&#8220;This is a great opportunity for students interested in pursuing practice in the fields of Intellectual Property, Entertainment, or Media Law,&#8221; the job application explains.</p>
<p>A second anti-piracy internship that was posted recently is a <a href="http://job-openings.monster.com/Intern-Fall-2017-Undergraduate-Research-Analytics-Los-Angeles-CA-US-FOX/31/ff70ed41-ea23-443d-a495-461769dcb868">search and analytics</a> position. This includes organizing online copyright infringement intelligence and compiling this in analytical piracy reports for Fox executives.</p>
<p><center><strong>Undergraduate &#8211; Research &#038; Analytics</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/fb2c0bf6.foxresearch.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/foxresearch.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="424" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145221"></center></p>
<p>The research job posting shows that Fox keeps an eye on a wide range of piracy avenues including search engines, forums, eBay and pirate sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;Anti-Piracy Internet Investigations and Analysis including, but not limited to, internet research, forum site investigation, eBay searches, video forensics analysis review, database entry, general internet searches for Fox video content, review and summarize pirate websites, piracy trend analysis, and more.&#8221; </p>
<p>Those who complete the internship will have a thorough understanding of how widespread piracy issues are. It will provide insight into how this affects the movie industry and consumers alike, Fox explains.</p>
<p>While the average torrenter and streaming pirate might not be very eager to work for &#8216;the other side,&#8217; these internships are ideal positions for students who have aspirations of working in the anti-piracy field. If any TorrentFreak readers plan to apply and get the job, we&#8217;ll be eager to hear what you&#8217;ve learned in a few months.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145219
title: PS4 Piracy Now Exists – If Gamers Want to Jump Through Hoops
uri: PS4-Piracy-Now-Exists-If-Gamers-Want-to-Jump-Through-Hoops
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KSvpYVtF1MA/
content:
<p><a href="media/c9915b06.ps4.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ps4.jpg"><img src="media/774a9e8d.ps4.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ps4.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="122" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145223"></a>During the reign of the first few generations of consoles, gamers became accustomed to their machines being compromised by hacking groups and enthusiasts, to enable the execution of third-party software.</p>
<p>Often carried out under the banner of running &#8220;homebrew&#8221; code, so-called jailbroken consoles also brought with them the prospect of running pirate copies of officially produced games. Once the floodgates were opened, not much could hold things back.</p>
<p>With the advent of mass online gaming, however, things became more complex. Regular firmware updates mean that security holes could be fixed remotely whenever a user went online, rendering the jailbreaking process a cat-and-mouse game with continually moving targets.</p>
<p>This, coupled with massively improved overall security, has meant that the current generation of consoles has remained largely piracy free, at least on a do-it-at-home basis. Now, however, that position is set to change after the first decrypted PS4 game dumps began to hit the web this week.</p>
<p>Thanks to release group KOTF (Knights of the Fallen), Grand Theft Auto V, Far Cry 4, and Assassins Creed IV are all available for download from the usual places. As expected they are pretty meaty downloads, with GTAV weighing in via <a href="http://rom-news.org/ps4/nfo/Grand.Theft.Auto.V.READNFO.PS4-KOTF">90 x 500MB</a> files, Far Cry4 via <a href="http://rom-news.org/ps4/nfo/Far.Cry.4.READNFO.MULTi7.PS4-KOTF">54 of the same size</a>, and ACIV sporting <a href="http://rom-news.org/ps4/nfo/Assassins.Creed.IV.Black.Flag.READNFO.MULTi8.PS4-KOTF">84 x 250MB</a>.</p>
<p><center><b>Partial NFO file for PS4 GTA V</b><a href="media/98fef10e.kotf1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kotf1.png"><img src="media/e9220388.kotf1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kotf1.png" alt="" width="584" height="597" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145224"></a></center></p>
<p>While undoubtedly large, it&#8217;s not the filesize that will prove most prohibitive when it comes to getting these beasts to run on a PlayStation 4. Indeed, a potential pirate will need to jump through a number of hoops to enjoy any of these titles or others that may appear in the near future.</p>
<p>KOTF explains as much in the NFO (information) files it includes with its releases. The list of requirements is long.</p>
<p>First up, a gamer needs to possess a PS4 with an extremely old firmware version &#8211; v1.76 &#8211; which was released way back in August 2014. The fact this firmware is required doesn&#8217;t come as a surprise since it was successfully jailbroken back in December 2015.</p>
<p>The age of the firmware raises several issues, not least where people can obtain a PS4 that&#8217;s so old it still has this firmware intact. Also, newer games require later firmware, so most games released during the past two to three years won&#8217;t be compatible with v1.76. That limits the pool of games considerably.</p>
<p>Finally, forget going online with such an old software version. Sony will be all over it like a cheap suit, plotting to do something unpleasant to that cheeky antique code, given half a chance. And, for anyone wondering, downgrading a higher firmware version to v1.76 isn&#8217;t possible &#8211; yet.</p>
<p>But for gamers who want a little bit of recent PS4 nostalgia on the cheap, &#8216;all&#8217; they have to do is gather the <a href="https://www.psxhax.com/threads/kernel_hooks-elf-update-load-ps4-game-backups-homebrew-on-usb.2807/">necessary tools</a> together and follow the instructions below.</p>
<p><center><b>Easy &#8211; when you know how</b><a href="media/ce6945aa.kotf2.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kotf2.png"><img src="media/4b88c9ad.kotf2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kotf2.png" alt="" width="808" height="354" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145226"></a></center></p>
<p>While this is a landmark moment for PS4 piracy (which to date has mainly centered around much <a href="https://www.se7ensins.com/forums/threads/how-to-hack-ps4-to-play-pirated-games-clone-the-console-nand.1330160/">hocus pocus</a>), the limitations listed above mean that it isn&#8217;t going to hit the mainstream just yet.</p>
<p>That being said, all things are possible when given the right people, determination, and enough time. Whether that will be anytime soon is anyone&#8217;s guess but there are rumors that firmware v4.55 has already been exploited, so you never know.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145270
title: ‘China Should Crack Down on Pirate Streaming Box Distributors’
uri: China-Should-Crack-Down-on-Pirate-Streaming-Box-Distributors
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ouckYJ1KaNg/
content:
<p><img src="media/86968eca.kodi.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106816">The International Intellectual Property Alliance (<a href="http://www.iipawebsite.com/">IIPA</a>) has informed the U.S. Government that China must step up its game to better protect the interests of copyright holders.</p>
<p>The US Trade Representative is reviewing whether China has done enough to comply with its WTO obligations, but IIPA members including RIAA and MPAA believe there is still work to be done. </p>
<p>One of the areas to which the Chinese Government should pay more attention is enforcement. Although a lot of progress has been made in recent years, especially in combating music piracy, new threats have emerged. </p>
<p>One of the areas highlighted by IIPA is the streaming box ecosystem, aptly dubbed as &#8220;piracy 3.0&#8221; by the Motion Picture Association. This appeals to a new breed of pirates who rely on set-top boxes which are filled with pirate add-ons.</p>
<p>Industry groups often refer to these boxes as Illicit Streaming Devices (ISDs) and they see China as a major hub through which these are shipped around the world.  </p>
<p>&#8220;ISDs are media boxes, set-top boxes or other devices that allow users, through the use of piracy apps, to stream, download, or otherwise access unauthorized content from the Internet,&#8221; IIPA writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;These devices have emerged as a significant means through which pirated motion picture and television content is accessed on televisions in homes in China as well as elsewhere in Asia and increasingly around the world. China is a hub for the manufacture of these devices.&#8221; </p>
<p>Although the hardware and media players are perfectly legal, things get problematic when they&#8217;re loaded with pirate add-ons and promoted as tools to facilitate copyright infringement.</p>
<p>IIPA states that the Chinese Government should do more to stop these devices from being sold. Cracking down on the main distribution points would be a good start, they say.</p>
<p>&#8220;However it is done, the Chinese government must increase enforcement efforts, including cracking down on piracy apps and on device retailers and/or distributors who preload the devices with apps that facilitate infringement. </p>
<p>&#8220;Moreover, because China is the main source of this problem spreading across Asia, the Chinese government should take immediate actions against key distribution points for devices that are being used illegally,&#8221; IIPA adds.</p>
<p>In addition to pirate boxes, the industry groups also want China to beef up its enforcement against online journal piracy, pirate apps, unauthorized camcording, and unlicensed streaming platforms. </p>
<p>IIPA intends to explain the above and several other shortcomings in detail during a hearing in Washington, DC, next Wednesday. The group has submitted an overview of its testimony to the Trade Representative, which is available <a href="media/1b453071.IIPA_Submission.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/IIPA_Submission.pdf">here (pdf)</a>. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145168
title: Six Strikes Piracy Scheme May Be Dead But Those Warnings Keep on Coming
uri: Six-Strikes-Piracy-Scheme-May-Be-Dead-But-Those-Warnings-Keep-on-Comin
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QQuuFadzEZI/
content:
<p><a href="media/9ef6a551.warning.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/warning.png"><img src="media/40fc3a89.warning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warning.png" alt="" width="250" height="213" class="alignright size-full wp-image-109065"></a>After at least 15 years of Internet pirates being monitored by copyright holders, one might think that the message would&#8217;ve sunk in by now. For many, it definitely hasn&#8217;t.</p>
<p>Bottom line: when people use P2P networks and protocols (such as BitTorrent) to share files including movies and music, copyright holders are often right there, taking notes about what is going on, perhaps in preparation for further action.</p>
<p>That can take a couple of forms, including suing users or, more probably, firing off a warning notice to their Internet service providers. Those notices are a little like a speeding ticket, telling the subscriber off for sharing copyrighted material but letting them off the hook if they promise to be good in future.</p>
<p>In 2013, the warning notice process in the US was formalized into what was known as the Copyright Alert System, a program through which most Internet users could receive at least six piracy warning notices without having any serious action taken against them. In January 2017, without having made much visible progress, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-us-six-strikes-anti-piracy-scheme-is-dead-170128/">it was shut down</a>.</p>
<p>In some corners of the web there are still users under the impression that since the &#8220;six strikes&#8221; scheme has been shut down, all of a sudden US Internet users can forget about receiving a warning notice. In reality, the complete opposite is true.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s impossible to put figures on how many notices get sent out (ISPs are reluctant to share the data), monitoring of various piracy-focused sites and forums indicates that plenty of notices are still being sent to ISPs, who are cheerfully sending them on to subscribers.</p>
<p>Also, over the past couple of months, there appears to have been an uptick in subscribers seeking advice after receiving warnings. Many report basic notices but there seems to be a bit of a trend of Internet connections being suspended or otherwise interrupted, apparently as a result of an infringement notice being received.</p>
<p>&#8220;So, over the weekend my internet got interrupted by my ISP (internet service provider) stating that someone on my network has violated some copyright laws. I had to complete a survey and they brought back the internet to me,&#8221; one subscriber wrote a few weeks ago. He added that his (unnamed) ISP advised him that seven warnings would get his account disconnected.</p>
<p>Another user, who named his ISP as Comcast, reported <a href="https://imgur.com/a/Sjv7b">receiving a notice</a> after downloading a game using BitTorrent. He was warned that the alleged infringement &#8220;may result in the suspension or termination of your Service account&#8221; but what remains unclear is how many warnings people can receive before this happens.</p>
<p>For example, a separate report from another Comcast user stated that one night of careless torrenting led to his mother receiving 40 copyright infringement notices the next day. He didn&#8217;t state which company the notices came from but 40 is clearly a lot in such a short space of time. That being said and as far as the report went, it didn&#8217;t lead to a suspension.</p>
<p>Of course, it&#8217;s possible that Comcast doesn&#8217;t take action if a single company sends many notices relating to the same content in a small time frame (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/comcast-user-hit-with-112-dmca-notices-in-48-hours-151002/">Rightscorp is known to do this</a>) but the risk is still there. Verizon, it seems, can suspend accounts quite easily.</p>
<p>&#8220;So lately I&#8217;ve been getting more and more annoyed with pirating because I get blasted with a webpage telling me my internet is disconnected and that I need to delete the file to reconnect, with the latest one having me actually call Verizon to reconnect,&#8221; a subscriber to the service reported earlier this month.</p>
<p>A few days ago, a Time Warner Cable customer reported having to take action after receiving his third warning notice from the ISP.</p>
<p>&#8220;So I&#8217;ve gotten three notices and after the third one I just went online to my computer and TWC had this page up that told me to stop downloading illegally and I had to click an &#8216;acknowledge&#8217; button at the bottom of the page to be able to continue to use my internet,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Also posting this week, another subscriber of an unnamed ISP revealed he&#8217;d been disconnected twice in the past year. His comments raise a few questions that keep on coming up in these conversations.</p>
<p>&#8220;The first time [I was disconnected] was about a year ago and the next was a few weeks ago. When it happened I was downloading some fairly new movies so I was wondering if they monitor these new movie releases since they are more popular. Also are they monitoring what I am doing since I have been caught?&#8221; he asked.</p>
<p>While there is plenty of evidence to suggest that old content is also monitored, there&#8217;s little doubt that the fresher the content, the more likely it is to be monitored by copyright holders. If people are downloading a brand new movie, they should expect it to be monitored by someone, somewhere.</p>
<p>The second point, about whether risk increases after being caught already, is an interesting one, for a number of reasons.</p>
<p>Following the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-files-appeal-to-overturn-25-million-piracy-verdict-161110/">BMG v Cox Communication case</a>, there is now a big emphasis on ISPs&#8217; responsibility towards dealing with subscribers who are alleged to be repeat infringers. Anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp was deeply involved in that case and the company has a patent for detecting repeat infringers.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s becoming clear that the company actively targets such people in order to assist copyright holders (which now includes the RIAA) in <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-sues-isp-grande-communications-for-failing-to-disconnect-pirates-170422/">strategic litigation</a> against ISPs, such as Grande Communications, who are claimed to be going soft on repeat infringers.</p>
<p>Overall, however, there&#8217;s no evidence that &#8220;getting caught&#8221; once increases the chances of being caught again, but subscribers should be aware that the Cox case changed the position on the ground. If anecdotal evidence is anything to go by, it now seems that ISPs are tightening the leash on suspected pirates and are more likely to suspend or disconnect them in the face of repeated complaints.</p>
<p>The final question asked by the subscriber who was disconnected twice is a common one among people receiving notices.</p>
<p>&#8220;What can I do to continue what we all love doing?&#8221; he asked.</p>
<p>Time and time again, on sites like Reddit and other platforms attracting sharers, the response is the same.</p>
<p>&#8220;Get a paid VPN. I&#8217;m amazed you kept torrenting without protection after having your internet shut off, especially when downloading recent movies,&#8221; one such <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/72ky6b/i_have_had_my_internet_shut_off_due_to_copyright/dnja5ol/">response</a> reads.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, this still fails to help some people fully understand the notices they receive, leaving them worried about what might happen after receiving one. However, the answer is nearly always straightforward.</p>
<p>If the notice says &#8220;stop sharing content X&#8221;, then recipients should do so, period. And, if the notice doesn&#8217;t mention specific legal action, then it&#8217;s almost certain that no action is underway. They are called warning notices for a reason.</p>
<p>Also, notice recipients should consider the part where their ISP assures them that their details haven&#8217;t been shared with third parties. That is the truth and will remain that way unless subscribers keep ignoring notices. Then there&#8217;s a slim chance that a rightsholder will step in to make a noise via a lawyer. At that point, people shouldn&#8217;t say they haven&#8217;t been warned.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145316
title: EFF Warns Against Abusive Lawsuits Targeting Kodi Add-on Repository
uri: EFF-Warns-Against-Abusive-Lawsuits-Targeting-Kodi-Add-on-Repository
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/smlfuWAB3NY/
content:
<p><img src="media/b1019d68.tvaddonsnew.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tvaddonsnew.png" alt="" width="277" height="119" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145066">The popular Kodi add-on repository <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/">TVAddons</a> was dragged into two seperate lawsuits in recent months, in both <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-returns-ugly-war-canadian-telcos-kodi-addons-170801/">Canada</a> and the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dish-network-sues-zemtv-and-tv-addons-for-copyright-infringement-170605/">United States</a>. </p>
<p>TV broadcasters such as Bell, Rogers, and Dish accuse the platform of inducing or contributing to copyright infringement by making &#8216;pirate&#8217; add-ons to the public. </p>
<p>TVAddons itself has always maintained its innocence. A site representative recently told us that they rely on the safe harbor protection laws, available both in the US and Canada, which they believed would shield them from copyright infringement liability for merely distributing add-ons.</p>
<p>“TV ADDONS is not a piracy site, it’s a platform for developers of open source add-ons for the Kodi media center. As a community platform filled with user-generated content, we have always acted in accordance with the law and swiftly complied whenever we received a DMCA takedown notice.”</p>
<p>While both cases are still in an early stage, TVAddons is receiving support from Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), who warn against abusive lawsuits targeting neutral add-on distributors.</p>
<p>According to the digital rights group, holding platforms such as TVAddons liable for infringement users may commit after they download an add-on from the site goes too far.</p>
<p>&#8220;The lawsuit against TVAddons seeks to skirt that important [safe harbor] protection by arguing that by merely hosting, distributing and promoting Kodi add-ons, the TVAddons administrator is liable for inducing or authorizing copyright infringements later committed using those add-ons. </p>
<p>&#8220;This argument, were it to succeed, would create new uncertainty and risk for distributors of any software that could be used to engage in copyright infringement,&#8221; EFF <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/08/war-piracy-turns-streaming-media-box-community">adds</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-and-zemtv-operators-named-in-us-lawsuit-170926/">The US case</a>, started by Dish Networks, tries to expand copyright liability according to EFF. This lawsuit also targets the developers of the Zem TV add-on. While the latter may have crossed a line, TVAddons should be protected by the DMCA&#8217;s safe harbor when they merely host third-party content.</p>
<p>&#8220;Vicarious copyright liability requires that the defendant have the &#8216;right and ability to supervise&#8217; the conduct of the direct infringer, and benefit financially. Dish claims only that the TVAddons site made ZemTV &#8216;available for download.&#8217; That&#8217;s not enough to show an ability to supervise,&#8221; EFF notes. </p>
<p>The complaint in question goes a bit further than the &#8220;download&#8221; argument alone though. It also accuses TVAddons&#8217; operator of having induced and encouraged Zem TV&#8217;s developer to retransmit popular television programs, which is of a different order.</p>
<p>However, EFF informs TorrentFreak that this allegation is not specific enough for a complaint to survive a motion to dismiss. If TVAddons&#8217; operator indeed took some purposeful, knowing action to induce copyright infringement, it should be spelled out, they say. </p>
<p>According to the digital rights group, the goal of the current cases is to expand the borders of copyright infringement liability, calling on copyright holders to stop such abusive lawsuits. </p>
<p>&#8220;These lawsuits by big TV incumbents seem to have a few goals: to expand the scope of secondary copyright infringement yet again, to force major Kodi add-on distributors off of the Internet, and to smear and discourage open source, freely configurable media players by focusing on the few bad actors in that ecosystem.</p>
<p>&#8220;The courts should reject these expansions of copyright liability, and TV networks should not target neutral platforms and technologies for abusive lawsuits,&#8221; EFF concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145310
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 10/02/17
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-10-02-17
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2-cncFZgltg/
content:
<p><img src="media/3abc9370.bg_spiderman-e1501443662509.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bg_spiderman-e1501443662509.png" alt="" width="300" height="169" class="alignright size-full wp-image-142532">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Spider-Man: Homecoming is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-092517/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2250912/">Spider-Man: Homecoming</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2250912/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0D3AOldjMU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3890160/">Baby Driver</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3890160/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9YZw_X5UzQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790809/">Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790809/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5V5C8mEVzY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3469046/">Despicable Me 3</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3469046/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euz-KBBfAAo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/">Transformers: The Last Knight</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/">5.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vtf0MszgP8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3280262/">Cult of Chucky</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3280262/">5.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20LeBoejmF4">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/wonder-woman-torrent-downloads/">Wonder Woman</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451279/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q8fG0TtVAY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959563/">Hitman&#8217;s Bodyguard</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959563/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Afusxc2SM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3450958/">War for the Planet of the Apes</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3450958/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxjPjPzQ1iU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/">It</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAUTdjf9rko">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145347
title: ‘New “DeUHD” Tool Can Rip UHD Blu-Ray Discs’
uri: New-DeUHD-Tool-Can-Rip-UHD-Blu-Ray-Discs
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jK0XXrdsJbU/
content:
<p><img src="media/c84f81a8.4k.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/4k.jpg" alt="" width="290" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-115973">While there is no shortage of pirated films on the Internet, Ultra-high-definition content is often hard to find.</p>
<p>Not only are the file sizes enormous, but the protection is better than that deployed to regular content. Protected with strong AACS 2 encryption, it has long been one of the last bastions movie pirates had yet to breach.</p>
<p>This year there have been some major developments on this front, as full copies of UHD Blu-Ray Discs <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/first-pirated-ultra-hd-blu-ray-disk-appears-online-aacs-2-0-cracked-170503/">began to leak online</a>. While it remained unclear how these were ripped, it was a definite milestone. </p>
<p>Now, there&#8217;s another breakthrough to report on. Russian company Arusoft has released a new commercially available tool called <a href="http://deuhd.ru">DeUHD</a> which claims the ability to rip UHD Blu-ray discs.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is a tool to decrypt the UHD disc, like remove the AACS 2.0 protections,&#8221; the company states. </p>
<p>&#8220;DeUHD works in the background to automatically enable read access of the contents of a 4K UHD movie as soon as it&#8217;s inserted into the drive. It is also able to rip the disc to your hard disk as a folder or an ISO file, and then you can play them on your UHD player.&#8221;</p>
<p>The software works on recent Windows operating systems and is compatible with a limited number of UHD drives, including the LG WH16NS60 and Buffalo BRUHD-PU3. </p>
<p>The list of supported UHD Blu-rays is not exhaustive but includes a few dozen popular movies such as Arrival, John Wick: Chapter 2, Passengers, and Terminator Genisys. <a href="http://deuhd.ru/4k_uhd_info.html">New titles</a> are added on a regular basis, the developers promise.</p>
<p><center><strong>DeUHD in action</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/3b14be11.deuhd-e1506942100138.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deuhd-e1506942100138.jpg" alt="" width="617" height="417" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145351"></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to a source who tested the software with the supported LG BE16NU50 drive and three of the listed movies, but this didn&#8217;t work. This could mean that there are still some issues that need to be ironed out. </p>
<p>The developers are adamant that their software works as advertised, and have published a <a href="http://deuhd.ru/guide.html">detailed guide</a> on their website.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not clear whether AACS 2.0 has indeed been cracked. The DeUHD team informed <a href="https://www.myce.com/news/russian-company-releases-tool-remove-copy-protection-ultra-hd-blu-ray-discs-aacs-2-0-broken-try-82592/">MyCE</a>, who first reported on the tool, that they see it as such. In any case, the tool promises to successfully decrypt UHD Blu-ray discs, which is quite an achievement by itself.</p>
<p>That said, the DeUHD software doesn&#8217;t come cheap. A lifetime license is currently selling for €199. Those who want to try it first to see if it works for them can download a free trial. This trial is limited to decrypting roughly 10 minutes of a single disc.</p>
<p>Interestingly, a handful of new UHD releases were published by the group <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/73ss0l/prometheus_2012_2160p_4k_uhd_hdr_bluray_x265_dts/">HDRINVASION</a> in recent days, most of which are also supported by DeUHD. Whether there&#8217;s a connection between the two is unknown at this point.</p>
<p><center><strong>DeUHD website</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/021243d5.deuhd.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deuhd.png" alt="" width="617" height="449" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145352"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145379
title: Supreme Court Denies Kim Dotcom’s Petition Over Seized Millions
uri: Supreme-Court-Denies-Kim-Dotcom-s-Petition-Over-Seized-Millions
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vlpUBMzJSbk/
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">Following the 2012 raid on Megaupload and Kim Dotcom, U.S. and New Zealand authorities seized millions of dollars in cash and other property.</p>
<p>Claiming the assets were obtained through copyright and money laundering crimes, the U.S. Government launched a separate civil action in which it asked the court to forfeit the bank accounts, cars, and other seized possessions of the Megaupload defendants.</p>
<p>The U.S. branded Dotcom and his colleagues as “fugitives” and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-wins-dozens-of-millions-from-kim-dotcom-150326/">won their case</a>. Dotcom&#8217;s legal team quickly <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-appeals-to-reclaim-mega-millions-from-u-s-150701/">appealed</a> this verdict, but lost <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-seizes-dotcoms-millions-entrepreneur-fights-back-160815/">once more</a> at the Fourth Circuit appeals court.</p>
<p>Dotcom then <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-takes-fight-over-seized-millions-to-us-supreme-court-170410/?preview=true">petitioned</a> the US Supreme Court to hear the case. </p>
<p>The crux of the case is whether or not the District Court’s order to forfeit an estimated $67 million in assets was right. The defense held that Dotcom and the other Megaupload defendants were wrongfully labeled as fugitives by the Department of Justice, and wanted the ruling overturned. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court, however, decided not to hear the case, <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/batato-v-united-states/">it announced today</a>. The news comes as a setback to Megaupload&#8217;s legal team, who had hoped for a better outcome.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are disappointed in the US Supreme Court&#8217;s denial of the Cert Petition &#8211; it is a bad day for due process and international treaties,&#8221;  Ira Rothken, Kim Dotcom’s counsel, informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;Kim Dotcom has never been to the United States, is presumed innocent, and is lawfully opposing extradition under the US &#8211; New Zealand Treaty &#8211; yet the US by merely labeling him as a fugitive gets a judgment to take all of his assets with no due process.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Supreme Court&#8217;s decision not to hear the case doesn&#8217;t mean that the assets are all lost. Many of the funds are located abroad in New Zealand and Hong Kong, and the defense will now focus its efforts on these jurisdictions.</p>
<p>&#8220;The New Zealand and Hong Kong courts, who have authority over the assets, will now need to weigh in on this issue and we are cautiously optimistic that they will take a dim view of the Fugitive Disentitlement Doctrine and oppose US efforts to seize such assets,&#8221; Rothken says.</p>
<p>The actions of the US Department of Justice violate the prohibition against double jeopardy in the US &#8211; New Zealand extradition process, Dotcom&#8217;s legal team argues. </p>
<p>With the assets forfeiture, the Megaupload defendants have now been punished for the copyright infringement allegations in the indictment. On top of this they risk a possible extradition to face a second punishment in the US, which places the defendants in double jeopardy, Rothken explains.</p>
<p>So, while the legal options in the United States have run out, the seized assets battle is far from over.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145397
title: Iran Arrests Six Movie Pirates After Rival ‘Licensed’ Pirates Complain
uri: Iran-Arrests-Six-Movie-Pirates-After-Rival-Licensed-Pirates-Comp
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/nh7nsiacsOQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/cf654c6a.piratekay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratekay.jpg"><img src="media/0fe8e43a.piratekay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratekay.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108106"></a><a href="http://www.parstimes.com/law/copyright_law.html">Article 23</a> of Iran&#8217;s Copyright law is quite clear. Anyone who publishes, distributes or broadcasts another person&#8217;s work without permission &#8220;shall be condemned to corrective imprisonment for a period of time not less than six months and not more than three years.&#8221;</p>
<p>That being said, not all content receives protection. Since there are no copyright agreements between Iran and the United States, for example, US content is pirated almost at will in the country. Even the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/iranian-government-runs-public-warez-server-100824/">government itself has run &#8216;warez&#8217; servers</a> in the past.</p>
<p>That makes the arrest late last month of six men tied to movie piracy site TinyMoviez all the more unusual. At first view (translated image below), the site looks just like any other streaming portal offering Hollywood movies.</p>
<p><center></b>TinyMoviez</b><a href="media/f0fd60e7.tinymoviez.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tinymoviez.png"><img src="media/050a1455.tinymoviez.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tinymoviez.png" alt="" width="943" height="705" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145408" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/tinymoviez.png 943w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/tinymoviez-200x150.png 200w" sizes="(max-width: 943px) 100vw, 943px"></a></center></p>
<p>Indeed, much of the content comes from abroad, augmented with local Farsi-language subtitles or audio voiceovers.</p>
<p>However, according to a source cited by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (<a href="https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2017/10/admins-of-iranian-pirated-movies-website-arrested-after-complaints-from-licensed-rivals/">CHRI</a>), the site was targeted because rival pirate sites (which had been licensed to &#8216;pirate&#8217; by the Iranian government) complained about its unlicensed status.</p>
<p>“In July and August [2017], there was a meeting between a number of Iranian start-up companies and [current Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari] Jahromi, who was asked by film and TV series distributors as well as video game developers to help shut down and monitor unlicensed rivals,” a film distributor in Tehran told CHRI.</p>
<p>“The start-ups made the request because they could not compete with a site like TinyMovies,” the source added. “After that meeting, Jahromi was nicknamed the ‘Start-Up Tsar’ because of his supportive comments. They were happy that he became the minister.”</p>
<p>That being said, the announcement from the authorities suggested broader issues, including that the site offered movies (none are singled out) that may be unacceptable by Iranian standards.</p>
<p>&#8220;Tehran&#8217;s prosecutor, after referral of the case to the Cyberspace corruption and prostitution department, said that the defendants in the case, of whom six were currently detained, produced vagabond and pornographic films and sold them in cyberspace,&#8221; Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi <a href="http://www.mizanonline.ir/fa/news/352727">said</a> in an announcement.</p>
<p>&#8220;This gang illegally operated the largest source for downloading Hollywood movies and over the past three years, has distributed 18,000 foreign films and series after dubbing, many of which were indecent and immoral, and thus facilitated by illegitimate funds.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the authorities say that TinyMoviez has been taken down, various URLs (including Tinyz.us, ironically) now divert to a new domain, Timoviez2.net. However, at least for the moment, download links seem to be disabled.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145370
title: Judge Recommends ISP and Search Engine Blocking of Sci-Hub in the US
uri: Judge-Recommends-ISP-and-Search-Engine-Blocking-of-Sci-Hub-in-the-US
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TdnZI5SV_SY/
content:
<p><img src="media/398ad51b.scilogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/scilogo.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-118526">Earlier this year the American Chemical Society (ACS), a leading source of academic publications in the field of chemistry, filed a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-lawsuit-demands-isp-blockades-against-pirate-site-sci-hub-170629/">lawsuit</a> against Sci-Hub and its operator Alexandra Elbakyan.</p>
<p>The non-profit organization publishes tens of thousands of articles a year in its peer-reviewed journals. Because many of these are available for free on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci-Hub">Sci-Hub</a>, ACS wants to be compensated.</p>
<p>Sci-Hub was made aware of the legal proceedings but did not appear in court. As a result, a default was entered against the site. In addition to millions of dollars in damages, ACS also <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-faces-48-million-piracy-damages-and-isp-blocking-170905/">requested</a> third-party Internet intermediaries to take action against the site.</p>
<p>While the request is rather unprecedented for the US, as it includes search engine and ISP blocking, Magistrate Judge John Anderson has included these measures in his recommendations. </p>
<p>Judge Anderson agrees that Sci-Hub is guilty of copyright and trademark infringement. In addition to $4,800,000 in statutory damages, he recommends a broad injunction that would require search engines, ISPs, domain registrars and other services to block Sci-Hub&#8217;s domain names.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230; the undersigned recommends that it be ordered that any person or entity in privity with Sci-Hub and with notice of the injunction, including any Internet search engines, web hosting and Internet service providers, domain name registrars, and domain name registries, cease facilitating access to any or all domain names and websites through which Sci-Hub engages in unlawful access to, use, reproduction, and distribution of ACS&#8217;s trademarks or copyrighted works.&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>The recommendation</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b97d4b62.scirecommend.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/scirecommend.png" alt="" width="600" height="307" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145406"></center></p>
<p>In addition to the above, domain registries and registrars will also be required to suspend Sci-Hub&#8217;s domain names. This also happened previously in a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/elsevier-complaint-shuts-down-sci-hub-domain-name-160504/">different lawsuit</a>, but Sci-Hub swiftly moved to a new domain at the time.</p>
<p>&#8220;Finally, the undersigned recommends that it be ordered that the domain name registries and/or registrars for Sci-Hub&#8217;s domain names and websites, or their technical administrators, shall place the domain names on registryHold/serverHold or such other status to render the names/sites non-resolving,&#8221; the recommendation adds.&#8221;</p>
<p>If the U.S. District Court Judge adopts this recommendation, it would mean that Internet providers such as Comcast could be ordered to block users from accessing Sci-Hub. That’s a big deal since pirate site blockades are not common in the United States.</p>
<p>This would likely trigger a response from affected Internet services, who generally want to avoid being dragged into these cases. They would certainly don&#8217;t want such far-reaching measure to be introduced through a default order.</p>
<p>Sci-Hub itself doesn&#8217;t seem to be too bothered by the blocking prospect or the millions in damages it faces. The site has a Tor version which can&#8217;t be blocked by Internet providers, so determined scientists will still be able to access the site if they want. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>Magistrate Judge John Anderson&#8217;s full findings of fact and recommendations are <a href="media/617b06ad.scireportrect.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/scireportrect.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145308
title: Porn Copyright Trolls Terrify 60-Year-Old But Age Shouldn’t Matter
uri: Porn-Copyright-Trolls-Terrify-60-Year-Old-But-Age-Shouldn-t-Matter
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tS4jVo7R7nc/
content:
<p><a href="media/67ffec03.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg"><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977"></a>Of all the anti-piracy tactics deployed over the years, the one that has proven most controversial is so-called copyright-trolling.</p>
<p>The idea is that rather than take content down, copyright holders make use of its online availability to watch people who are sharing that material while gathering their IP addresses.</p>
<p>From there it&#8217;s possible to file a lawsuit to obtain that person&#8217;s identity but these days they&#8217;re more likely to short-cut the system, by asking ISPs to forward notices with cash settlement demands attached.</p>
<p>When subscribers receive these demands, many feel compelled to pay. However, copyright trolls are cunning beasts, and while they initially ask for payment for a single download, they very often have several other claims up their sleeves. Once people have paid one, others come out of the woodwork.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s what appears to have happened to a 60-year-old Canadian woman called &#8216;Debra&#8217;. In an email sent via her ISP, she was contacted by local anti-piracy outfit Canipre, who accused her of downloading and sharing porn. With threats that she could be &#8216;fined&#8217; up to CAD$20,000 for her alleged actions, she paid the company $257.40, despite claiming her innocence.</p>
<p>Of course, at this point the company knew her name and address and this week the company contacted her again, accusing her of another five illegal porn downloads alongside demands for more cash.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not sleeping,&#8221; Debra told <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/copyright-infringement-notice-government-piracy-porn-1.4313769">CBC</a>. &#8220;I have depression already and this is sending me over the edge.&#8221;</p>
<p>If the public weren&#8217;t so fatigued by this kind of story, people in Debra&#8217;s position might get more attention and more help, but they don&#8217;t. To be absolutely brutal, the only reason why this story is getting press is due to a few factors.</p>
<p>Firstly, we&#8217;re talking here about a woman accused of downloading porn. While far from impossible, it&#8217;s at least statistically less likely than if it was a man. Two, Debra is 60-years-old. That doesn&#8217;t preclude her from being Internet savvy but it does tip the odds in her favor somewhat. Thirdly, Debra suffers from depression and claims she didn&#8217;t carry out those downloads.</p>
<p>On the balance of probabilities, on which these cases live or die, she sounds believable. Had she been a 20-year-old man, however, few people would believe &#8216;him&#8217; and this is exactly the environment companies like Canipre, Rightscorp, and similar companies bank on.</p>
<p>Debra says she won&#8217;t pay the additional fines but Canipre is adamant that someone in her house pirated the porn, despite her husband not being savvy enough to download. The important part here is that Debra says she did not commit an offense and with all the technology in the world, Canpire cannot prove that she did.</p>
<p>&#8220;How long is this going to terrorize me?&#8221; Debra says. &#8220;I&#8217;m a good Canadian citizen.&#8221;</p>
<p>But Debra isn&#8217;t on her own and she&#8217;s positively spritely compared to Christine McMillan, who last year at the age of 86-years-old was accused of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/86-year-old-grandma-accused-of-pirating-a-zombie-game-161031/">illegally downloading zombie game Metro 2033</a>. Again, those accusations came from Canipre and while the case eventually went quiet, you can safely bet the company backed off.</p>
<p>So who is to blame for situations like Debra&#8217;s and Christine&#8217;s? It&#8217;s a difficult question.</p>
<p>Clearly, copyright holders feel they&#8217;re within their rights to try and claw back compensation for their perceived losses but they already have a legal system available to them, if they want to use it. Instead, however, in Canada they&#8217;re abusing the so-called notice-and-notice system, which requires ISPs to forward infringement notices from copyright holders to subscribers.</p>
<p>The government knows there is a problem. Law professor Michael Geist previously obtained a <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/358763770/Notice-and-notice-ATIP">government report</a>, which expresses concern over the practice. Its summary is shown below.</p>
<p><center><b>Advice summary</b><a href="media/3b6d3a02.notice-and-notice.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/notice-and-notice.png"><img src="media/ddd1ecfe.notice-and-notice.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/notice-and-notice.png" alt="" width="628" height="398" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145338"></a></center></p>
<p>While the notice-and-notice regime requires ISPs to forward <em>educational</em> copyright infringement notices, most ISPs complain that companies like Canipre add on cash settlement demands. </p>
<p>&#8220;Internet intermediaries complain&#8230;that the current legislative framework does not expressly prohibit this practice and that they feel compelled to forward on such notices to their subscribers when they receive them from copyright holders,&#8221; recent advice to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development reads.</p>
<p>That being said, there&#8217;s nothing stopping ISPs from passing on the <em>educational notices</em> as required by law but insisting that all demands for cash payments are removed. It&#8217;s a position that could even get support from the government, if enough pressure was applied.</p>
<p>&#8220;The sending of such notices could lead to abuses, given that consumers may be pressured into making payments even in situations where they have not engaged in any acts that violate copyright laws,&#8221; government advice notes.</p>
<p>Given the growing problem, it appears that ISPs have the power here so maybe it&#8217;s time they protected their customers. In the meantime, consumers have responsibilities too, not only by refraining from infringing copyright, but by becoming informed of their rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]here is no legal obligation to pay any settlement offered by a copyright owner, and the regime does not impose any obligations on a subscriber who receives a notice, including no obligation to contact the copyright owner or the Internet intermediary,&#8221; government advice notes.</p>
<p>Hopefully, in future, people won&#8217;t have to be old or ill to receive sympathy for being wrongly accused and threatened in their own homes. But until then, people should pressure their ISPs to do more while staying informed.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145431
title: MPAA Reports Pirate Sites, Hosts and Ad-Networks to US Government
uri: MPAA-Reports-Pirate-Sites-Hosts-and-Ad-Networks-to-US-Government
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/dodpDhO6tc0/
content:
<p><img src="media/1f9a16ec.mpaa-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-1.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-119098">Responding to a request from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), the MPAA has submitted an updated list of “notorious markets” that it says promote the illegal distribution of movies and TV-shows.</p>
<p>These annual submissions help to guide the U.S. Government’s position towards foreign countries when it comes to copyright enforcement.</p>
<p>What stands out in the MPAA&#8217;s latest overview is that it no longer includes offline markets, only sites and services that are available on the Internet. This suggests that online copyright infringement is seen as a priority.</p>
<p>The MPAA’s report includes more than two dozen alleged pirate sites in various categories. While this is not an exhaustive list, the movie industry specifically highlights some of the worst offenders in various categories.</p>
<p>&#8220;Content thieves take advantage of a wide constellation of easy-to-use online technologies, such as direct download and streaming, to create infringing sites and applications, often with the look and feel of legitimate content distributors, luring unsuspecting consumers into piracy,&#8221; the MPAA writes.</p>
<p>According to the MPAA, torrent sites remain popular, serving millions of torrents to tens of millions of users at any given time.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay has traditionally been one of the main targets. Based on data from Alexa and SimilarWeb, the MPAA says that TPB has about 62 million unique visitors per month. The other torrent sites mentioned are 1337x.to, Rarbg.to, Rutracker.org, and Torrentz2.eu.</p>
<p><center><strong>MPAA calls out torrent sites</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/3152dc78.mpaatorrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaatorrent.png" alt="" width="590" height="154" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145440"></center></p>
<p>The second highlighted category covers various linking and streaming sites. This includes the likes of Fmovies.is, Gostream.is, Primewire.ag,  Kinogo.club, MeWatchSeries.to, Movie4k.tv and Repelis.tv.</p>
<p>Direct download sites and video hosting services also get a mention. Nowvideo.sx, Openload.co, Rapidgator.net, Uploaded.net and the Russian social network VK.com. Many of these services refuse to properly process takedown notices, the MPAA claims. </p>
<p>The last category is new and centers around piracy apps. These sites offer mobile applications that allow users to stream pirated content, such as IpPlayBox.tv, MoreTV, 3DBoBoVR, TVBrowser, and KuaiKa, which are particularly popular in Asia. </p>
<p>Aside from listing specific sites, the MPAA also draws the US Government&#8217;s attention to the streaming box problem. The report specifically mentions that Kodi-powered boxes are regularly abused for infringing purposes.</p>
<p>&#8220;An emerging global threat is streaming piracy which is enabled by piracy devices preloaded with software to illicitly stream movies and television programming and a burgeoning ecosystem of infringing add-ons,&#8221; the MPAA notes.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The most popular software is an open source media player software, Kodi.  Although Kodi is not itself unlawful, and does not host or link to unlicensed content, it can be easily configured to direct consumers toward unlicensed films and television shows.&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>Pirate streaming boxes</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/3af07b37.mpaakodi.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaakodi.png" alt="" width="590" height="161" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145443"></center></p>
<p>There are more than 750 websites offering infringing devices, the Hollywood group notes, adding that the rapid growth of this problem is startling. Interestingly, the report mentions TVAddons.ag as a  &#8220;piracy add-on repository,&#8221; noting that it&#8217;s currently offline. Whether the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-returns-ugly-war-canadian-telcos-kodi-addons-170801/">new TVAddons</a> is also seen a problematic is unclear. </p>
<p>The MPAA also continues its trend of calling out third-party intermediaries, including hosting providers. These companies refuse to take pirate sites offline following complaints, even when the MPAA views them as blatantly violating the law.</p>
<p>“Hosting companies provide the essential infrastructure required to operate a website,” the MPAA writes. “Given the central role of hosting providers in the online ecosystem, it is very concerning that many refuse to take action upon being notified&#8230;”</p>
<p>The Hollywood group specifically mentions Private Layer and Netbrella as notorious markets. CDN provider CloudFlare is also named. As a US-based company, the latter can’t be included in the list. However, the MPAA explains that it is often used as an anonymization tool by sites and services that are mentioned in the report.</p>
<p>Another group of intermediaries that play a role in fueling piracy (mentioned for the first time) are advertising networks. The MPAA specifically calls out the Canadian company WWWPromoter, which works with sites such as Primewire.ag, Projectfreetv.at and 123movies.to</p>
<p>&#8220;The companies connecting advertisers to infringing websites and inadvertently contribute to the prevalence and prosperity of infringing sites by providing funding to the operators of these sites through advertising revenue,&#8221; the MPAA writes.</p>
<p>The MPAA&#8217;s full report is available <a href="media/6cd8c803.MPAA-17-notorious-markets-final.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/MPAA-17-notorious-markets-final.pdf">here (pdf)</a>. The USTR will use this input above to make up its own list of notorious markets. This will help to identify current threats and call on foreign governments to take appropriate action. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145457
title: Cloudflare Bans Sites For Using Cryptocurrency Miners
uri: Cloudflare-Bans-Sites-For-Using-Cryptocurrency-Miners
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ftxXId8wXDM/
content:
<p><a href="media/82004df4.cloudflare-logo-e1497134379554.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare-logo-e1497134379554.png"><img src="media/c0cbdaf3.cloudflare-logo-e1497134379554.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare-logo-e1497134379554.png" alt="" width="250" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-140211"></a>After years of accepting donations via Bitcoin, last month various &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites began to generate digital currency revenues in a brand new way.</p>
<p>It all began with The Pirate Bay, which <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-website-runs-a-cryptocurrency-miner-170916/">quietly added</a> a Javascript cryptocurrency miner to its main site, something that first manifested itself as a large spike in CPU utilization on the machines of visitors.</p>
<p>The stealth addition to the platform, which its operators later described as a test, was extremely controversial. While many thought of the miner as a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/are-cryptocurrency-miners-the-future-for-pirate-sites-170921/">cool and innovative</a> way to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/how-much-money-can-pirate-bay-make-from-a-cryptocoin-miner-170924/">generate revenue</a> in a secure fashion, a vocal majority expressed a preference for permission being requested first, in case they didn&#8217;t want to participate in the program.</p>
<p>Over the past couple of weeks, several other sites have added similar miners, some which ask permission to run and others that do not. While the former probably aren&#8217;t considered problematic, the latter are now being viewed as a serious problem by an unexpected player in the ecosystem.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak has learned that popular CDN service Cloudflare, which is often criticized for not being harsh enough on &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites, is actively suspending the accounts of sites that deploy cryptocurrency miners on their platforms.</p>
<p>&#8220;Cloudflare kicked us from their service for using a Coinhive miner,&#8221; the operator of <a href="http://proxybunker.online/index.html">ProxyBunker.online</a> informed TF this morning.</p>
<p>ProxyBunker is a site that that links to several other domains that offer unofficial proxy services for the likes of The Pirate Bay, RARBG, KickassTorrents, Torrentz2, and dozens of other sites. It first tested a miner for four days starting September 23. Official implementation began October 1 but was ended last evening, abruptly.</p>
<p>&#8220;Late last night, all our domains got deleted off Cloudflare without warning so I emailed Cloudflare to ask what was going on,&#8221; the operator explained.</p>
<p><center><b>Bye bye</b><a href="media/55532349.cloudkick1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cloudkick1.png"><img src="media/c6bbe307.cloudkick1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudkick1.png" alt="" width="800" height="363" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145462"></a></center></p>
<p>As the email above shows, Cloudflare cited only a &#8220;possible&#8221; terms of service violation. Further clarification was needed to get to the root of the problem.</p>
<p>So, just a few minutes later, the site operator contacted Cloudflare, acknowledging the suspension but pointing out that the notification email was somewhat vague and didn&#8217;t give a reason for the violation. A follow-up email from Cloudflare certainly put some meat on the bones.</p>
<p>&#8220;Multiple domains in your account were injecting Coinhive mining code without<br>
notifying users and without any option to disabling [sic] the mining,&#8221; wrote Justin Paine, Head of Trust &#038; Safety at Cloudflare.</p>
<p>&#8220;We consider this to be malware, and as such the account was suspended, and all domains removed from Cloudflare.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><b>Cloudflare: Unannounced miners are malware</b><a href="media/ee47953e.cloudkick2.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cloudkick2.png"><img src="media/182c3d81.cloudkick2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudkick2.png" alt="" width="800" height="342" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145463"></a></center></p>
<p>ProxyBunker&#8217;s operator wrote back to Cloudflare explaining that the Coinhive miner had been running on his domains but that his main domain had a way of disabling mining, as per new code made available from Coinhive.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were running the miner on our proxybunker.online domain using Coinhive&#8217;s new Javacode <a href="https://coinhive.com/documentation/simple-ui">Simple Miner UI</a> that lets the user stop the miner at anytime and set the CPU speed it mines at,&#8221; he told TF.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, some element of the configuration appears to have fallen short of Cloudflare&#8217;s standards. So, shortly after Cloudflare&#8217;s explanation, the site operator asked if he could be reinstated if he completely removed the miner from his site. The response was a &#8216;yes&#8217; but with a stern caveat attached.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will remove the account suspension, however do note you&#8217;ll need to re-sign up the domains as they were removed as a result of the account suspension. Please note &#8212; if we discover similar activity again the domains and account will be permanently blocked,&#8221; Cloudflare&#8217;s Justin warned.</p>
<p>ProxyBunker&#8217;s operator says that while he sees the value in cryptocurrency miners, he can understand why people might be opposed to them too. That being said, he would appreciate it if services like Cloudflare published clear guidelines on what is and is not acceptable.</p>
<p>&#8220;We do understand that most users will not like the miner using up a bit of their CPU but we do see the full potential as a new revenue stream,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think third-party services need to post clear information that they&#8217;re not allowed on their services, if that&#8217;s the case.&#8221;</p>
<p>At time of publication, Cloudflare had not responded to TorrentFreak&#8217;s requests for comment.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145482
title: Yarrrr! Dutch ISPs Block The Pirate Bay But It’s Bad Timing for Trolls
uri: Yarrrr-Dutch-ISPs-Block-The-Pirate-Bay-But-It-s-Bad-Timing-for-Trol
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/WLTJr79uF2k/
content:
<p><img src="media/0e036607.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-large">While many EU countries have millions of Internet pirates, few have given citizens the freedom to plunder like the Netherlands. For many years, Dutch Internet users actually went about their <strike>illegal</strike> downloading with government blessing.</p>
<p>Just over three years ago, downloading and copying movies and music for personal use was not punishable by law. Instead, the Dutch compensated rightsholders through a “piracy levy” on writable media, hard drives and electronic devices with storage capacity, including smartphones.</p>
<p>Following a ruling from the European Court of Justice in 2014, however, all that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-netherlands-must-outlaw-downloading-eu-court-rules-140410/">came to an end</a>. Along with uploading (think BitTorrent sharing), downloading was also outlawed.</p>
<p>Around the same time, The Court of The Hague handed down a decision in a long-running case which had previously forced two Dutch ISPs, Ziggo and XS4ALL, to block The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>Ruling against local anti-piracy outfit BREIN, it was decided that the ISPs wouldn&#8217;t have to block The Pirate Bay after all. After a long and tortuous battle, however, the ISPs learned last month that they would have to block the site, pending a decision from the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>On September 22, both ISPs were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/block-the-pirate-bay-within-10-days-dutch-court-tells-isps-170922/">given 10 business days</a> to prevent subscriber access to the notorious torrent site, or face fines of 2,000 euros per day, up to a maximum of one million euros.</p>
<p>With that time nearly up, yesterday Ziggo broke cover to become the first of the pair to block the site. On a dedicated diversion page, somewhat humorously titled <a href="https://www.ziggo.nl/yarrr">ziggo.nl/yarrr</a>, the ISP explained the situation to now-blocked users.</p>
<p>&#8220;You are trying to visit a page of The Pirate Bay. On September 22, the Hague Court obliged us to block access to this site. The pirate flag is thus handled by us. The case is currently at the Supreme Court which judges the basic questions in this case,&#8221; the notice reads.</p>
<p><center><b>Ziggo Pirate Bay message (translated)</b><a href="media/7ef20932.ziggo-tpb-block.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/ziggo-tpb-block.png"><img src="media/a5d3d73c.ziggo-tpb-block.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ziggo-tpb-block.png" alt="" width="655" height="416" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145484"></a></center></p>
<p>Customers of XS4ALL currently have no problem visiting The Pirate Bay but according to a statement handed to <a href="https://tweakers.net/nieuws/130365/ziggo-heeft-blokkade-the-pirate-bay-weer-ingevoerd.html">Tweakers</a> by a spokesperson, the blockade will be implemented today.</p>
<p>In addition to the site&#8217;s main domains, the injunction will force the ISPs to block 155 URLs and IP addresses in total, a list that has been drawn up by BREIN to include various mirrors, proxies, and alternate access points. XS4All says it will publish a list of all the blocked items on its notification page.</p>
<p>While the re-introduction of a Pirate Bay blockade in the Netherlands is an achievement for BREIN, it&#8217;s potentially bad timing for the copyright trolls waiting in the wings to snare Dutch file-sharers.</p>
<p>As recently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-fines-for-dutch-pirates-starting-this-autumn-170828/">reported</a>, movie outfit Dutch Filmworks (DFW) is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dutch-film-distributor-to-target-bittorrent-users-for-cash-fines-170802/">preparing a wave</a> of cash-settlement copyright-trolling letters to mimic those sent by companies elsewhere.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s little doubt that users of The Pirate Bay would&#8217;ve been DFW&#8217;s targets but it seems likely that given the introduction of blockades, many Dutch users will start to educate themselves on the use of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">VPNs to protect their privacy</a>, or at least become more aware of the risks.</p>
<p>Of course, there will be no real shortage of people who&#8217;ll continue to download without protection, but DFW are getting into this game just as it&#8217;s likely to get more difficult for them. As more and more sites get blocked (and that is definitely BREIN&#8217;s overall plan) the low hanging fruit will sit higher and higher up the tree &#8211; and the cash with it.</p>
<p>Like all methods of censorship, site-blocking eventually drives communication underground. While anti-piracy outfits all say blocking is necessary, obfuscation and encryption isn&#8217;t welcomed by any of them.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145526
title: “Pirate Sites Generate $111 Million In Ad Revenue a Year”
uri: Pirate-Sites-Generate-111-Million-In-Ad-Revenue-a-Year
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/T8DxWQwY-1g/
content:
<p><img src="media/c579e316.pirate-card.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="210" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86520">In recent years various copyright holder groups have adopted a “follow-the-money” approach in the hope of cutting off funding to so-called pirate sites.</p>
<p>The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) is one of the organizations that helps to facilitate these efforts. TAG coordinates an advertising-oriented Anti-Piracy Program for the advertising industry and has signed up dozens of large companies across various industries.</p>
<p>Today they released a <a href="https://www.tagtoday.net/hubfs/Measuring%20digital%20advertising%20revenue%20to%20infringing%20sites.pdf?t=1507150221706">new report</a>, titled “Measuring Digital Advertising Revenue to Infringing Sites,” which shows the impact of these efforts. </p>
<p>The study, carried out by Ernst and Young, reveals that the top 672 piracy sites still generate plenty of revenue. A whopping $111 million per year, to be precise. But it may have been twice as much without the industry&#8217;s interventions. </p>
<p>&#8220;Digital ad revenue linked to infringing content was estimated at $111 million last year, the majority of which (83 percent) came from non-premium advertisers,&#8221; TAG writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the industry had not taken aggressive steps to reduce piracy, those pirate site operators would have potentially earned an additional $102-$177 million in advertising revenue, depending on the breakdown of premium and non-premium advertisers.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Pirate revenue estimates</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/c6538269.111optimistic.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/111optimistic.png" alt="" width="608" height="224" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145531"></center></p>
<p>Taking more than $100 million away from pirate sites is pretty significant, to say the least.  </p>
<p>It, therefore, comes as no surprise that the news is paired with positive comments from various industry insiders as well as US Congressman Adam Schiff, who co-chairs the International Creativity and Theft Prevention Caucus.</p>
<p>&#8220;The study recently completed by Ernst and Young on behalf of TAG shows that those efforts are bearing fruit, and that voluntary efforts by advertisers and agencies kept well over $100 million out of the pockets of pirate sites last year alone,&#8221; Schiff says.</p>
<p>While TAG and their partners pat themselves on the back, those who take a more critical look at the data will realize that their view is rather optimistic. There is absolutely no evidence that TAG&#8217;s efforts are responsible for the claimed millions that were kept from pirate sites. </p>
<p>In fact, most of these millions never ended up in the pockets of these websites to begin with. </p>
<p>The $102 million that pirate sites &#8216;didn&#8217;t get&#8217; is simply the difference between premium and non-premium ads. In other words, the extra money these sites would have made if they had 100% premium ads, which is a purely hypothetical situation. </p>
<p>Long before TAG existed pirate sites were banned by a lot of premium advertising networks, including Google AdSense, and mostly serving lower tier ads.</p>
<p>The estimated CPM figures (earnings per 1,000 views) are rather optimistic too. TAG puts these at $2.50 for non-premium ads. We spoke to several site owners who said these were way off. Even pop-unders in premium countries make less than a dollar, we were told. </p>
<p>Site owners are not the only ones that have a much lower estimate. An earlier copyright industry-backed study, published by Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA), put the average CPM of these pirate site ads <a href="media/4c82e510.1WV6mgRoTRe_D-3weou-GA.png" data-original-source="https://image.prntscr.com/image/1WV6mgRoTRe_D-3weou-GA.png">at $0.30</a>, which is miles away from the $2.50 figure.</p>
<p>In fact, the DCA study also put the premium ads at $0.30, because these often end up as leftover inventory at pirate sites, according to experts.</p>
<p>&#8220;Based on MediaLink expertise and research with advertising industry members, the assumption is that where premium ads appear they are delivered programmatically by exchanges to fulfill the dregs of campaigns. As such, rates are assumed to be the same for premium and non-premium ads,&#8221; the DCA report noted.</p>
<p>In the TAG report, the estimate for premium ads is a bit higher, $5 per 1000 views. Video ads may be higher, but these only represent a tiny fraction of the total.</p>
<p>While TAG&#8217;s efforts will no doubt make a difference, it&#8217;s good to keep the caveats above in mind. Their claim that that the ad industry&#8217;s anti-piracy efforts have &#8220;cut pirate ad revenue in half&#8221; is misleading, to say the least.</p>
<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean that all numbers released by the organization should be taken with a grain of salt. The TAG membership rates below are 100% accurate.</p>
<p><center><strong>TAG membership fees</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/551cbacc.TAGnumbers.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/TAGnumbers.png" alt="" width="745" height="376" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145530"> </center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145559
title: Spotify Threatened Researchers Who Revealed ‘Pirate’ History
uri: Spotify-Threatened-Researchers-Who-Revealed-Pirate-History
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/caPqswjVaPI/
content:
<p><a href="media/d24c658b.rasmus-fleischer2.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/rasmus-fleischer2.jpg"><img src="media/75695874.rasmus-fleischer2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rasmus-fleischer2.jpg" alt="" width="280" height="352" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145583"></a>As one of the members of Sweden’s infamous Piratbyrån (Piracy Bureau), Rasmus Fleischer was also one of early key figures at The Pirate Bay. Over the years he’s been a writer, researcher, debater, and musician, and in 2012 he finished his PhD thesis on “music’s political economy.”</p>
<p>As part of a <a href="http://streamingheritage.se/">five-person</a> research team (Pelle Snickars, Patrick Vonderau, Anna Johansson, Rasmus Fleischer, Maria Eriksson) <a href="http://pellesnickars.se/2015/11/our-spotify-project-an-update/">funded</a> by the Swedish Research Council, Fleischer has co-written a book about the history of Spotify.</p>
<p>Titled ‘Spotify Teardown – Inside the Black Box of Streaming Music’, the publication is set to shine light on the history of the now famous music service while revealing quite a few past secrets.</p>
<p>With its release scheduled for 2018, Fleischer has already teased a few interesting nuggets, not least that Spotify’s early beta version <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/spotifys-beta-used-pirate-mp3-files-some-from-pirate-bay-170509/">used ‘pirate’ MP3 files</a>, some of them sourced from The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>Fleischer says that following an interview earlier this year with <a href="https://digital.di.se/artikel/han-skriver-en-bok-om-spotify-det-var-fran-borjan-en-pirattjanst">DI.se</a>, in which he revealed that Spotify distributed unlicensed music between May 2007 to October 2008, Spotify looked at ways to try and stop his team&#8217;s research. However, the &#8216;pirate&#8217; angle wasn&#8217;t the clear target, another facet of the team&#8217;s research was.</p>
<p>&#8220;Building on the tradition of ‘breaching experiments’ in ethnomethodology, the research group sought to break into the hidden infrastructures of digital music distribution in order to study its underlying norms and structures,&#8221; project leader Pelle Snickars previously <a href="http://pellesnickars.se/2015/11/our-spotify-project-an-update/">revealed</a>.</p>
<p>With this goal, the team conducted experiments to see if the system was open to abuse or could be manipulated, as Fleischer now explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;For example, some hundreds of robot users were created to study whether the same listening behavior results in different recommendations depending on whether the user was registered as male or female,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have also investigated on a small scale the possibilities of manipulating the system. However, we have not collected any data about real users. Our proposed methods appeared several years ago in our research funding application, which was approved by the Swedish Research Council, which was already noted in 2013.&#8221;</p>
<p>Fleischer says that Spotify had been aware of the project for several years but it wasn&#8217;t until this year, after he spoke of Spotify&#8217;s past as a &#8216;pirate&#8217; service, that pressure began to mount.</p>
<p>&#8220;On May 19, our project manager received a letter from Benjamin Helldén-Hegelund, a lawyer at Spotify. The timing was hardly a coincidence. Spotify demanded that we &#8216;confirm in writing&#8217; that we had &#8216;ceased activities contrary to their Terms of Use&#8217;,&#8221; Fleischer reveals.</p>
<p>A corresponding letter to the Swedish Research Council detailed Spotify&#8217;s problems with the project.</p>
<p>&#8220;Spotify is particularly concerned about the information that has emerged regarding the research group&#8217;s methods in the project. The data indicate that the research team has deliberately taken action that is explicitly in violation of Spotify&#8217;s Terms of Use and by means of technical methods they sought to conceal these breaches of conditions,&#8221; the letter read.</p>
<p>&#8220;The research group has worked, among other things, to artificially increase the number of plays and manipulate Spotify&#8217;s services using scripts or other automated processes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Spotify assumes that the systematic breach of its conditions has not been known to the Swedish Research Council and is convinced that the Swedish Research Council is convinced that the research undertaken with the support of the Swedish Research Council in all respects meets ethical guidelines and is carried out reasonably and in accordance with applicable law.&#8221;</p>
<p>Fleischer admits that part of the research was concerned with the possibility of artificially increasing the number of plays, but he says that was carried out on a small scale without any commercial gain.</p>
<p>&#8220;The purpose was simply to test if it is true that Spotify could be manipulated on a larger scale, as claimed by journalists who did similar experiments. It is also true that we &#8216;sought to hide these crimes&#8217; by using a VPN connection,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Fleischer says that Spotify&#8217;s lawyer blended complaints together, such as correlating terms of service violations with violation of research ethics, while presenting the same as grounds for legal action.</p>
<p>&#8220;The argument was quite ridiculous. Nevertheless, the letter could not be interpreted as anything other than an attempt by Spotify to prevent us from pursuing the research project,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>This week, however, it appears the dispute has reached some kind of conclusion. In a posting on his Copyriot blog <em>(<a href="https://copyriot.se/2017/10/05/hur-spotify-forsokte-stoppa-oberoende-forskning/">Swedish</a>)</em>, Fleischer reveals that the Swedish Research Council informed the researchers that the case has been closed, i.e. they do not agree with Spotify&#8217;s claims and won&#8217;t withdraw funding.</p>
<p>&#8220;It must be acknowledged that Spotify&#8217;s threats have taken both time and power from the project. This seems to be the purpose when big companies go after researchers who they perceive as uncomfortable. It may not be possible to stop the research but it can be delayed,&#8221; Fleischer says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sure [Spotify] dislikes people being reminded of how the service started as a pirate service. But instead of inviting an open dialogue, lawyers are sent out for the purpose of slowing down researchers.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Spotify Teardown. Inside the Black Box of Streaming Music</em> is to be published by MIT Press in 2018.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145454
title: RIAA Identifies Top YouTube MP3 Rippers and Other Pirate Sites
uri: RIAA-Identifies-Top-YouTube-MP3-Rippers-and-Other-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Uywd6KLC5gQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/a585da8e.piratemusiccasset.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratemusiccasset.png" alt="" width="234" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135510">Around the same time as <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-pirate-sites-hosts-and-ad-networks-to-us-government-171004/">Hollywood’s MPAA</a>, the RIAA has also submitted its overview of “notorious markets” to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).</p>
<p>These submissions help to guide the U.S. Government’s position toward foreign countries when it comes to copyright enforcement. </p>
<p>The RIAA&#8217;s overview begins positively, announcing two major successes achieved over the past year. </p>
<p>The first is the shutdown of sites such as Emp3world, AudioCastle, Viperial, Album Kings, and im1music. These sites all used the now-defunct Sharebeast platform, whose operator <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sharebeast-albumjams-operator-pleads-guilty-to-criminal-copyright-infringement-170911/">pleaded guilty</a> to criminal copyright infringement. </p>
<p>Another victory followed a few weeks ago when <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-mp3-settles-with-riaa-site-will-shut-down-170904/">YouTube-MP3.org shut down</a> its services after being sued by the RIAA.</p>
<p>&#8220;The most popular YouTube ripping site, youtube-mp3.org, based in Germany and included in last year’s list of notorious markes [sic], recently shut down in response to a civil action brought by major record labels,&#8221; the RIAA writes. </p>
<p>This case also had an effect on similar services. Some stream ripping services that were reported to the USTR last year no longer permit the conversion and download of music videos on YouTube, the RIAA reports. However, they add that the problem is far from over.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, several other stream-ripping sites have &#8216;doubled down&#8217; and carry on in this illegal behavior, continuing to make this form of theft a major concern for the music industry,&#8221; the music group writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The overall popularity of these sites and the staggering volume of traffic it attracts evidences the enormous damage being inflicted on the U.S. record industry.&#8221;</p>
<p>The music industry group is tracking more than 70 of these stream ripping sites and the most popular ones are listed in the overview of notorious markets. These are Mp3juices.cc, Convert2mp3.net, Savefrom.net, Ytmp3.cc, Convertmp3.io, Flvto.biz, and 2conv.com.</p>
<p><center><strong>Youtube2mp3&#8217;s listing</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/824e4805.youriaa.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/youriaa.png" alt="" width="594" height="286" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145504"></center></p>
<p>The RIAA notes that many sites use domain privacy services to hide their identities, as well as Cloudflare to obscure the sites&#8217; true hosting locations. This frustrates efforts to take action against these sites, they say. </p>
<p>Popular torrent sites are also highlighted, including The Pirate Bay. These sites regularly change domain names to avoid ISP blockades and domain seizures, and also use Cloudflare to hide their hosting location.</p>
<p>&#8220;BitTorrent sites, like many other pirate sites, are increasing [sic] turning to Cloudflare because routing their site through Cloudflare obfuscates the IP address of the actual hosting provider, masking the location of the site.&#8221; </p>
<p>Finally, the RIAA reports several emerging threats reported to the Government. Third party app stores, such as DownloadAtoZ.com, reportedly offer a slew of infringing apps. In addition, there&#8217;s a boom of Nigerian pirate sites that flood the market with free music.</p>
<p>&#8220;The number of such infringing sites with a Nigerian operator stands at over 200. Their primary method of promotion is via Twitter, and most sites make use of the Nigerian operated ISP speedhost247.com,&#8221; the report notes</p>
<p>The full list of RIAA’s “notorious” pirate sites, which also includes several cyberlockers, MP3 search and download sites, as well as unlicensed pay services, can be found below. The full report is <a href="media/9518c3ee.MPAA-17-notorious-markets-final-1.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/MPAA-17-notorious-markets-final-1.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</p>
<p><em>—</p>
<p>Stream-Ripping Sites</p>
<p>&#8211; Mp3juices.cc<br>
&#8211; Convert2mp3.net<br>
&#8211; Savefrom.net<br>
&#8211; Ytmp3.cc<br>
&#8211; Convertmp3.io<br>
&#8211; Flvto.biz<br>
&#8211; 2conv.com.</p>
<p>Search-and-Download Sites</p>
<p>&#8211; Newalbumreleases.net<br>
&#8211; Rnbxclusive.top<br>
&#8211; DNJ.to</p>
<p>BitTorrent Indexing and Tracker Sites</p>
<p>– Thepiratebay.org<br>
– Torrentdownloads.me<br>
– Rarbg.to<br>
– 1337x.to</p>
<p>Cyberlockers</p>
<p>– 4shared.com<br>
– Uploaded.net<br>
– Zippyshare.com<br>
– Rapidgator.net<br>
– Dopefile.pk<br>
– Chomikuj.pl</p>
<p>Unlicensed Pay-for-Download Sites</p>
<p>– Mp3va.com<br>
– Mp3fiesta.com</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145514
title: Students Overwhelmingly Vote Pirate Party in Simulated “General Election”
uri: Students-Overwhelmingly-Vote-Pirate-Party-in-Simulated-General-Elec
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/J8Ab7DPZLuY/
content:
<p><a href="media/924ff9ed.pirate_party_logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate_party_logo.png"><img src="media/0e060d17.pirate_party_logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate_party_logo.png" alt="" width="175" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-49686" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate_party_logo.png 175w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate_party_logo-150x150.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 175px) 100vw, 175px"></a>While millions of people have died throughout history fighting for the right to vote, there is a significant wave of apathy among large swathes of the population in democracies where the ballot box is taken for granted.</p>
<p>With this in mind, an educational project in the Czech Republic aims to familiarize high school students with basic democratic principles, acquaint them with the local electoral system, while promoting dialog among students, teachers, and parents. The main goal is to increase participation of young people in elections.</p>
<p>In line with this project, young students across the country are invited to take part in a simulated general election, to get a taste of what things will be like when they reach voting age. This year, these Student Elections took place over two days starting October 3 in secondary schools across the Czech Republic. </p>
<p>Under the One World Education Program at <a href="https://www.clovekvtisni.cz/en/who-we-are">People in Need</a>, a nonprofit that implements educational and human rights programs in crisis zones, 40,068 students from 281 schools cast their votes for political parties, movements and coalition candidates standing for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber_of_Deputies_of_the_Czech_Republic">Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament</a> in the upcoming real elections.</p>
<p>Students 15-years-old and above were eligible to vote and when they were all counted, the results were quite something for any follower of the worldwide Pirate Party movement.</p>
<p>Of all groups, the Czech Pirate Party won a decisive victory, netting 24.5% of the overall vote, double that achieved by the ANO movement (11.9%) and the right-wing TOP 09 (11.8%). The fourth and fifth-placed candidates topped out at 7.76% and 6.33% respectively.</p>
<p>&#8220;The results of the Student Elections will be compared to the results of the election in a couple of weeks. It is certain they will vary greatly,&#8221; says Karel Strachota, director of the One World at School Education Program and the person who launched the Student Election project seven years ago.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the same time, however, the choice of students seems to indicate a certain trend in the development of voter preferences. From our teachers and school visits, we know that, as in the past, most of the pupils have been able to choose responsibly.&#8221;</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.praguemonitor.com/2017/10/05/poll-czech-students-want-pirates-rule-country">Prague Monitor</a>, opinion polls for the upcoming election (October 20-21) place the ANO movement as the clear favorites, with the Pirates having &#8220;a big chance to succeed&#8221; with up to <a href="http://praguemonitor.com/2017/10/06/pr%C3%A1vo-spd-pirates-struggle-votes-have-chance-polls">7% of the vote</a>. Given the results of the simulation, elections in coming years could be something really special for the Pirates.</p>
<p>The full results of the Student Elections 2017 can be found on the One World website <a href="https://www.jsns.cz/projekty/studentske-volby/vysledky-studentskych-voleb">here</a>. Meanwhile, Czech Pirate Party President Ivan Bartos sings to voters in the pre-election video below, explaining why Pirates are needed in Parliament in 2017.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5f0-nQLHHM4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145422
title: Hitman’s Bodyguard Pirates Get Automated $300 Fine
uri: Hitman-s-Bodyguard-Pirates-Get-Automated-300-Fine
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/WQEYWvs1foU/
content:
<p><img src="media/dd34831f.hitmans-bodyguard.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hitmans-bodyguard.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145460">Late August a &#8216;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-disaster-strikes-the-hitmans-bodyguard-170829/">piracy disaster</a>&#8216; struck the makers of The Hitman&#8217;s Bodyguard, an action comedy movie featuring Hollywood stars Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds. </p>
<p>The film was leading the box office charts when, eight days after its theatrical release, a high definition copy hit various pirate sites.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s hard to predict whether the leak substantially impacted the movie&#8217;s revenue, the people behind the film are determined to claim damages. They hired the services of “<a href="http://rightsenforcement.com/">Rights Enforcement</a>,” an outfit which tracks down BitTorrent pirates.</p>
<p>Rights Enforcement sends automated ‘fines’ via DMCA notices, which is cheaper than expensive lawsuits. At the same time, this also makes the settlement process easier to scale, as they can send out tens of thousands of ‘fines’ at once with limited resources, without any oversight from a court.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak has seen several notices targeted at The Hitman&#8217;s Bodyguard pirates. While the notices themselves don&#8217;t list the settlement fee, recipients are referred to a page that does. Those who admit guilt are asked to pay a $300 settlement fee.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have evidence that someone using your Internet service has placed a media file that contains the protected content for our client&#8217;s motion picture in a shared folder location and is enabling others to download copies of this content,&#8221; the notices warn. </p>
<p><center><strong>Part of the DMCA notice</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/60b0c7a7.bodynotice.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bodynotice.png" alt="" width="540" height="251" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145469"></center></p>
<p>The text, which is forwarded by several ISPs, is cleverly worded. The account holders in question are notified that if the issue isn&#8217;t resolved, they may face a lawsuit.</p>
<p>&#8220;You may consider this a notice of potential lawsuit, a demand for the infringing activity to terminate, and a demand for damages from the actual infringer. We invite your voluntary cooperation in assisting us with this matter, identifying the infringer, and ensuring that this activity stops. Should the infringing activity continue we may file a civil lawsuit seeking judicial relief.&#8221;</p>
<p>The email points users to the settlement portal where they can review the claim and a possible solution. In this case, &#8220;resolving&#8221; the matter will set account holders back a hefty $300. </p>
<p><center><strong></strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/3785c365.crowellsettle1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/crowellsettle1.png" alt="" width="600" height="597" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145522"></center></p>
<p>People are free to ignore the claim, of course, but Rights Enforcement warns that if the infringements continue they might eventually be sued. </p>
<p>&#8220;If you do not settle the claim and you continue to infringe then odds are you will eventually be sued and face substantial civil liability. So first thing is to stop the activity and make sure you are not involved with infringing activity in the future.&#8221;</p>
<p>The notice also kindly mentions that the recipients can contact an attorney for legal advice. However, after an hour or two a legal bill will have exceeded the proposed settlement amount, so for many this isn&#8217;t really an option. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s quite a clever scheme. Although most people probably won&#8217;t be sued for ignoring a notice, there&#8217;s always the possibility that they will. Especially since Rights Enforcement is linked to some of the most prolific copyright trolls.</p>
<p>The company, which emerged earlier this year, is operated by lawyer Carl Crowell who is known for his work with movie studios such as Voltage Pictures. In the past, he filed lawsuits for several films such as Dallas Buyers Club and The Hurt Locker.</p>
<p>When faced with a threat of an expensive lawsuit, even innocent subscribers may be inclined to pay the settlement. They should be warned, however, once the first payment is made, many similar requests may follow.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145356
title: Private Torrent Sites Allow Users to Mine Cryptocurrency for Upload Credit
uri: Private-Torrent-Sites-Allow-Users-to-Mine-Cryptocurrency-for-Upload-Cr
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OzmpyXK4IfQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/a035d672.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png"><img src="media/0a6858fb.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" alt="" width="222" height="157" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108110"></a>Ever since The Pirate Bay crew added a cryptocurrency miner to their site last month, the debate over user mining has sizzled away in the background.</p>
<p>The basic premise is that a piece of software embedded in a website runs on a user&#8217;s machine, utilizing its CPU cycles in order to generate revenue for the site in question. But not everyone likes it.</p>
<p>The main problem has centered around consent. While some sites are giving users the option of whether to be involved or not, others simply run the miner without asking. This week, one site operator suggested to TF that since no one asks whether they can run &#8220;shitty&#8221; ads on a person&#8217;s machine, why should they ask permission to mine?</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a controversial point, but it would be hard to find users agreeing on either front. They almost universally insist on consent, wherever possible. That&#8217;s why when someone comes up with something innovative to solve a problem, it catches the eye.</p>
<p>Earlier this week a user on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/trackers/comments/73nhla/this_tracker_now_allows_you_to_mine_a/">Reddit</a> posted a screenshot of a fairly well known private tracker. The site had implemented a mining solution not dissimilar to that appearing on other similar platforms. This one, however, gives the user something back.</p>
<p><center><b>Mining for coins &#8211; with a twist</b><a href="media/ac8b7b7d.mine1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mine1.png"><img src="media/1f28dcf9.mine1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mine1.png" alt="" width="1024" height="421" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145498"></a></center></p>
<p>First of all, it&#8217;s important to note the implementation. The decision to mine is completely under the control of the user, with buttons to start or stop mining. There are even additional controls for how many CPU threads to commit alongside a percentage utilization selector. While still early days, that all sounds pretty fair.</p>
<p>Where this gets even more interesting is how this currency mining affects so-called &#8220;upload credit&#8221;, an important commodity on a private tracker without which users can be prevented from downloading any content at all.</p>
<p>Very quickly: when BitTorrent users download content, they simultaneously upload to other users too. The idea is that they download X megabytes and upload the same number (at least) to other users, to ensure that everyone in a torrent swarm (a number of users sharing together) gets a piece of the action, aka the content in question.</p>
<p>The amount of content downloaded and uploaded on a private tracker is monitored and documented by the site. If a user has 1TB downloaded and 2TB uploaded, for example, he has 1TB in credit. In basic terms, this means he can download at least 1TB of additional content before he goes into deficit, a position undesirable on a private tracker.</p>
<p>Now, getting more &#8220;upload credit&#8221; can be as simple as uploading more, but some users find that difficult, either due to the way a tracker&#8217;s economy works or simply due to not having resources. If this is the case, some sites allow people to donate real money to receive &#8220;upload credit&#8221;. On the tracker highlighted in the mining example above, however, it&#8217;s possible to virtually &#8216;trade-in&#8217; some of the mining effort instead.</p>
<p>Tracker politics aside (some people believe this is simply a cash grab opportunity), from a technical standpoint the prospect is quite intriguing.</p>
<p>In a way, the current private tracker system allows users to &#8220;mine&#8221; upload credits by donating bandwidth to other users of the site. Now they have the opportunity to mine an actual cryptocurrency on the tracker and have some of it converted back into the tracker&#8217;s native &#8216;currency&#8217; &#8211; upload credit &#8211; which can only be &#8216;spent&#8217; on the site. Meanwhile, the site&#8217;s operator can make a few bucks towards site maintenance.</p>
<p>Another example showing how innovative these mining implementations can be was <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/trackers/comments/73nhla/this_tracker_now_allows_you_to_mine_a/dnrs13v/">posted</a> by a member of a second private tracker. Although it&#8217;s unclear whether mining is forced or optional, there appears to be complete transparency for the benefit of the user.</p>
<p><center><b>The mining &#8216;Top 10&#8217; on a private tracker</b><a href="media/c3c8ffe9.mine2.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mine2.png"><img src="media/d5e5528f.mine2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mine2.png" alt="" width="810" height="592" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145508"></a></center></p>
<p>In addition to displaying the total number of users mining and the hashes solved per second, the site publishes a &#8216;Top 10&#8217; list of users mining the most currently, and overall. Again, some people might not like the concept of users mining at all, but psychologically this is a particularly clever implementation.</p>
<p>Utilizing the desire of many private tracker users to be recognizable among their peers due to their contribution to the platform, the charts give a user a measurable status in the community, at least among those who care about such things. Previously these charts would list top uploaders of content but the addition of a &#8216;Top miner&#8217; category certainly adds some additional spice to the mix. </p>
<p>Mining is a controversial topic which isn&#8217;t likely to go away anytime soon. But, for all its faults, it&#8217;s still a way for sites to generate revenue, away from the pitfalls of increasingly hostile and easy-to-trace alternative payment systems. The Pirate Bay may have set the cat among the pigeons last month, but it also gave the old gray matter a boost too.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145336
title: SOPA Ghosts Hinder U.S. Pirate Site Blocking Efforts
uri: SOPA-Ghosts-Hinder-U-S-Pirate-Site-Blocking-Efforts
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/C9u1AnBbcQM/
content:
<p><img src="media/d6095998.sopablock.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sopablock.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145341">Website blocking has become one of the entertainment industries&#8217; favorite anti-piracy tools.</p>
<p>All over the world, major movie and music industry players have gone to court demanding that ISPs take action, often with great success.  </p>
<p>Internal MPAA research showed that website blockades help to deter piracy and former boss Chris Dodd said that they are one of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-pirate-site-blockades-140613/">most effective anti-tools</a> available.</p>
<p>While not everyone is in agreement on this, the numbers are used to lobby politicians and convince courts. Interestingly, however, nothing is happening in the United States, which is where most pirate site visitors come from. </p>
<p>This is baffling to many people. Why would US-based companies go out of their way to demand ISP blocking in the most exotic locations, but fail to do the same at home?</p>
<p>We posed this question to Neil Turkewitz, RIAA&#8217;s former Executive Vice President International, who currently runs his own consulting group. </p>
<p>The main reason why pirate site blocking requests have not yet been made in the United States is down to SOPA. When the proposed <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/internet-freedom-day-how-blackout-protests-killed-two-anti-piracy-bills-170118/">SOPA legislation made headlines</a> five years ago there was a massive backlash against website blocking, which isn&#8217;t something copyright groups want to reignite. </p>
<p>&#8220;The legacy of SOPA is that copyright industries want to avoid resurrecting the ghosts of SOPA past, and principally focus on ways to creatively encourage cooperation with platforms, and to use existing remedies,&#8221; Turkewitz tells us.</p>
<p>Instead of taking the likes of Comcast and Verizon to court, the entertainment industries focused on voluntary agreements, such as the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-us-six-strikes-anti-piracy-scheme-is-dead-170128/">now-defunct</a> Copyright Alerts System. However, that doesn&#8217;t mean that website blocking and domain seizures are not an option.</p>
<p>&#8220;SOPA made &#8216;website blocking&#8217; as such a four-letter word. But this is actually fairly misleading,&#8221; Turkewitz says.</p>
<p>&#8220;There have been a variety of civil and criminal actions addressing the conduct of entities subject to US jurisdiction facilitating piracy, regardless of the source, including hundreds of domain seizures by DHS/ICE.&#8221;</p>
<p>Indeed, there are plenty of legal options already available to do much of what SOPA promised. ABS-CBN has taken over dozens of pirate site domain names through the US court system. Most recently even through <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-court-orders-dozens-of-pirate-site-domain-seizures-170927/">an ex-parte order</a>, meaning that the site owners had no option to defend themselves before they lost their domains. </p>
<p>ISP and search engine blocking is also around the corner. As we reported earlier this week, a Virginia magistrate judge recently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/judge-recommends-isp-search-engine-blocking-sci-hub-us-171003/">recommended an injunction</a> which would require search engines and Internet providers to prevent users from accessing Sci-Hub.</p>
<p>Still, the major movie and music companies are not yet using these tools to take on The Pirate Bay or other major pirate sites. If it&#8217;s so easy, then why not? Apparently, SOPA may still be in the back of their minds.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the RIAA&#8217;s former top executive wasn&#8217;t a fan of SOPA when it was first announced, as it wouldn&#8217;t do much to extend the legal remedies that were already available.</p>
<p>&#8220;I actually didn&#8217;t like SOPA very much since it mostly reflected existing law and maintained a paradigm that didn&#8217;t involve ISP&#8217;s in creative interdiction, and simply preserved passivity. To see it characterized as &#8216;copyright gone wild&#8217; was certainly jarring and incongruous,&#8221; Turkewitz says.</p>
<p>Ironically, it looks like a bill that failed to pass, and didn&#8217;t impress some copyright holders to begin with, is still holding them back after five years. They&#8217;re certainly not using all the legal options available to avoid SOPA comparison. The question is, for how long?</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145625
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 10/09/17
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-10-09-17
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/02xah4dtGxM/
content:
<p><img src="media/3abc9370.bg_spiderman-e1501443662509.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bg_spiderman-e1501443662509.png" alt="" width="300" height="169" class="alignright size-full wp-image-142532">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Spider-Man: Homecoming 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 Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-100217/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2250912/">Spider-Man: Homecoming</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2250912/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0D3AOldjMU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3450958/">War for the Planet of the Apes</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3450958/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxjPjPzQ1iU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3890160/">Baby Driver</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3890160/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9YZw_X5UzQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790809/">Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790809/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5V5C8mEVzY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/">Transformers: The Last Knight</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/">5.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vtf0MszgP8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4703048/">6 Days</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4703048/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KYroBErj1g">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/wonder-woman-torrent-downloads/">Wonder Woman</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451279/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q8fG0TtVAY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3469046/">Despicable Me 3</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3469046/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euz-KBBfAAo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648190/">The Dark Tower</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648190/">5.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwfqXTebIY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959563/">Hitman&#8217;s Bodyguard</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959563/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Afusxc2SM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145613
title: PureVPN Logs Helped FBI Net Alleged Cyberstalker
uri: PureVPN-Logs-Helped-FBI-Net-Alleged-Cyberstalker
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rTAejmWrYEA/
content:
<p><a href="media/0ba3ba47.fbi-logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/fbi-logo.png"><img src="media/62ffe783.fbi-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fbi-logo.png" alt="" width="180" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108168"></a>Last Thursday, Ryan S. Lin, 24, of Newton, Massachusetts, was arrested on suspicion of conducting &#8220;an extensive cyberstalking campaign&#8221; against his former roommate, a 24-year-old Massachusetts woman, as well as her family members and friends.</p>
<p>According to the Department of Justice, Lin&#8217;s &#8220;multi-faceted campaign of computer hacking and cyberstalking&#8221; began in April 2016 when he began hacking into the victim&#8217;s online accounts, obtaining personal photographs, sensitive information about her medical and sexual histories, and other private details.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s alleged that after obtaining the above material, Lin distributed it to hundreds of others. It&#8217;s claimed he created fake online profiles showing the victim&#8217;s home address while soliciting sexual activity. This caused men to show up at her home. </p>
<p>“Mr. Lin allegedly carried out a relentless cyber stalking campaign against a young woman in a chilling effort to violate her privacy and threaten those around her,” said Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb.</p>
<p>“While using anonymizing services and other online tools to avoid attribution, Mr. Lin harassed the victim, her family, friends, co-workers and roommates, and then targeted local schools and institutions in her community. Mr. Lin will now face the consequences of his crimes.”</p>
<p>While Lin awaits his ultimate fate (he appeared in U.S. District Court in Boston Friday), the allegation he used anonymization tools to hide himself online but still managed to get caught raises a number of questions. An affidavit submitted by Special Agent Jeffrey Williams in support of the criminal complaint against Lin provides most of the answers.</p>
<p>Describing Lin&#8217;s actions against the victim as &#8220;doxing&#8221;, Williams begins by noting that while Lin was the initial aggressor, the fact he made the information so widely available raises the possibility that other people got involved with malicious acts later on. Nevertheless, Lin remains the investigation&#8217;s prime suspect.</p>
<p>According to the affidavit, Lin is computer savvy having majored in computer science. He allegedly utilized a number of methods to hide his identity and IP address, including TOR, Virtual Private Network (VPN) services and email providers that &#8220;do not maintain logs or other records.&#8221;</p>
<p>But if that genuinely is the case, how was Lin caught?</p>
<p>First up, it&#8217;s worth noting that plenty of Lin&#8217;s aggressive and stalking behaviors towards the victim were demonstrated in a physical sense, offline. In that respect, it appears the authorities already had him as the prime suspect and worked back from there.</p>
<p>In one instance, the FBI examined a computer that had been used by Lin at a former workplace. Although Windows had been reinstalled, the FBI managed to find Google Chrome data which indicated Lin had viewed articles about bomb threats he allegedly made. They were also able to determine he&#8217;d accessed the victim&#8217;s Gmail account and additional data suggested that he&#8217;d used a VPN service.</p>
<p>&#8220;Artifacts indicated that PureVPN, a VPN service that was used repeatedly in the cyberstalking scheme, was installed on the computer,&#8221; the affidavit reads.</p>
<p>From here the Special Agent&#8217;s report reveals that the FBI received cooperation from Hong Kong-based PureVPN.</p>
<p>&#8220;Significantly, PureVPN was able to determine that their service was accessed by the same customer from two originating IP addresses: the RCN IP address from the home Lin was living in at the time, and the software company where Lin was employed at the time,&#8221; the agent&#8217;s affidavit reads.</p>
<p>Needless to say, while this information will prove useful to the FBI&#8217;s prosecution of Lin, it&#8217;s also likely to turn into a huge headache for the VPN provider. The company claims zero-logging, which clearly isn&#8217;t the case.</p>
<p>&#8220;PureVPN operates a self-managed VPN network that currently stands at 750+ Servers in 141 Countries. But is this enough to ensure complete security?&#8221; the company&#8217;s marketing statement reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s why PureVPN has launched advanced features to add proactive, preventive and complete security. There are no third-parties involved and NO logs of your activities.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><b>PureVPN privacy graphic</b><a href="media/975a145a.pure-privacy.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pure-privacy.png"><img src="media/29b57b7d.pure-privacy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pure-privacy.png" alt="" width="1202" height="406" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145636"></a></center></p>
<p>However, if one drills down into the PureVPN <a href="https://www.purevpn.com/privacy-policy.php">privacy policy</a> proper, one sees the following:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Our servers automatically record the time at which you connect to any of our servers. From here on forward, we do not keep any records of anything that could associate any specific activity to a specific user. The time when a successful connection is made with our servers is counted as a &#8216;connection&#8217; and the total bandwidth used during this connection is called &#8216;bandwidth&#8217;. Connection and bandwidth are kept in record to maintain the quality of our service. This helps us understand the flow of traffic to specific servers so we could optimize them better.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>This seems to match what the FBI says &#8211; almost. While it says it doesn&#8217;t log, PureVPN admits to keeping records of when a user connects to the service and for how long. The FBI clearly states that the service also captures the user&#8217;s IP address too. In fact, it appears that PureVPN also logged the IP address belonging to another VPN service (WANSecurity) that was allegedly used by Lin to connect to PureVPN.</p>
<p>That record also helped to complete another circle of evidence. IP addresses used by<br>
Kansas-based WANSecurity and Secure Internet LLC (servers operated by PureVPN) were allegedly used to access Gmail accounts known to be under Lin&#8217;s control.</p>
<p>Somewhat ironically, this summer Lin took to Twitter to criticize VPN provider IPVanish (which is not involved in the case) over its no-logging claims.</p>
<p>“There is no such thing as a VPN that doesn&#8217;t keep logs,&#8221; Lin said. &#8220;If they can limit your connections or track bandwidth usage, they keep logs.”</p>
<p>Or, in the case of PureVPN, if they log a connection time and a source IP address, that could be enough to raise the suspicions of the FBI and boost what already appears to be a pretty strong case.</p>
<p>If convicted, Lin faces up to five years in prison and three years of supervised release.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2016-160102/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145555
title: Roku Shows FBI Warning to Pirate Channel Users
uri: Roku-Shows-FBI-Warning-to-Pirate-Channel-Users
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hmS46NIoHUc/
content:
<p><img src="media/2d29bd11.roku-e1502784984505.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/roku-e1502784984505.png" alt="" width="277" height="241" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143176">In recent years it has become much easier to stream movies and TV-shows over the Internet.</p>
<p>Legal services such as Netflix and HBO are flourishing, but at the same time millions of people are streaming from unauthorized sources, often paired with perfectly legal streaming platforms and devices.</p>
<p>Hollywood insiders have dubbed this trend “Piracy 3.0” and are actively working with stakeholders to address the threat. One of the companies rightsholders are working with is Roku, known for its easy-to-use media players.</p>
<p>Earlier this year a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/roku-sales-banned-in-mexico-over-piracy-concerns-170619/">Mexican court ordered retailers</a> to take the Roku media player off the shelves. This legal battle is still ongoing, but it was a clear signal to the company, which now has its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/roku-building-anti-piracy-team/">own anti-piracy team</a>.</p>
<p>Several third-party “private” channels have been removed from the player in recent weeks as they violate Roku&#8217;s terms and conditions. These include the hugely popular streaming channel XTV, which offered access to infringing content. </p>
<p>After its removal, XTV briefly returned as XTV 2, but that didn&#8217;t last for long. The infringing channel was soon removed again, this time showing the FBI&#8217;s anti-piracy seal followed by a rather ominous message. </p>
<p>&#8220;FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: Unauthorized copying is punishable under federal law,&#8221; it reads. &#8220;Roku has removed this unauthorized service due to repeated claims of copyright infringement.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>FBI Warning</strong> <em>(via <a href="http://cordcuttersnews.com/fbi-shuts-xtv-piracy/">Cordcuttersnews</a>)</em><br></br></center><center><img src="media/948eaa0f.fbiroku1-e1507276479465.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fbiroku1-e1507276479465.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145565"></center></p>
<p>The unusual warning was <a href="http://cordcuttersnews.com/fbi-shuts-xtv-piracy/">picked up</a> by Cordcuttersnews and states that Roku itself removed the channel. </p>
<p>To some it may seem that the FBI is cracking down on Roku channels, but this is not the case. The anti-piracy seal and associated warning are often used in cases where the organization is not actively involved, to add extra weight. The <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/white-collar-crime/piracy-ip-theft/fbi-anti-piracy-warning-seal">FBI supports this</a>, as long as certain standards are met.</p>
<p>A Roku spokesperson confirmed to TorrentFreak that they&#8217;re using it on their own accord here.</p>
<p>&#8220;We want to send a clear message to Roku customers and to publishers that any publication of pirated content on our platform is a violation of law and our platform rules,&#8221; the company says. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have recently expanded the messaging that we display to customers that install non-certified channels to alert them to the associated risks, and we display the FBI’s publicly available warning when we remove channels for copyright violations.&#8221;</p>
<p>The strong language shows that Roku is taking its efforts to crack down on infringing channels very seriously. A few weeks ago the company started to warn users that pirate channels may be removed <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/roku-gets-tough-on-pirate-channels-warns-users-170815/">without prior notice</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145655
title: Sweden Supreme Court: Don’t Presume Prison Sentences For Pirates
uri: Sweden-Supreme-Court-Don-t-Presume-Prison-Sentences-For-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8E3xyw6pH1A/
content:
<p><a href="media/a035d672.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png"><img src="media/0a6858fb.piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratkeyb-e1476968827887.png" alt="" width="222" height="157" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108110"></a>The trend over the past several years is for prosecutors to present copyright infringement offenses as serious crimes, often tantamount to those involving theft of physical goods.</p>
<p>This has resulted in many cases across the United States and Europe where those accused of distributing or assisting in the distribution of copyrighted content face the possibility of custodial sentences. Over in Sweden, prosecutors have homed in on one historical case in order to see where the boundaries lie.</p>
<p>Originally launched as Swepirate, ‘Biosalongen‘ (Screening Room) was shut down by local authorities in early 2013. A 50-year-old man said to have been the main administrator of the private tracker was arrested and charged with sharing at least 125 TV shows and movies via the site, including Rocky, Alien and Star Trek.</p>
<p>After the man initially pleaded not guilty, the case went to trial and a subsequent appeal. In the summer of 2015 the Court of Appeal in Gothenburg sentenced him to eight months in prison for copyright infringement offenses.</p>
<p>The former administrator, referenced in court papers as ‘BH’, felt that the punishment was too harsh, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sweden-supreme-court-asked-to-decide-online-piracy-penalties-160303/">filing a claim</a> with the Supreme Court in an effort to have the sentence dismissed.</p>
<p>Prosecutor My Hedström also wanted the Supreme Court to hear the case, seeking clarity on sentencing for these kinds of offenses. Are fines and suspended sentences appropriate or is imprisonment the way to deal with pirates, as most copyright holders demand?</p>
<p>The Supreme Court has now handed down its decision, upholding an earlier ruling of probation and clarifying that copyright infringement is not an offense where a custodial sentence should be presumed.</p>
<p>&#8220;Whether a crime should be punished by imprisonment is generally determined based on its penal value,&#8221; a summary from International Law Office <a href="http://www.internationallawoffice.com/Newsletters/Intellectual-Property/Sweden/Advokatfirman-Lindahl/No-presumption-of-imprisonment-for-copyright-infringement#Background">reads</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the penal value is less than one year, imprisonment should be a last resort. However, certain crimes are considered of such a nature that the penalty should be a prison sentence based on general preventive grounds, even if the penal value is less than one year.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the Swepirate/Biosalongen/Screening Room case, the Court of Appeal found that BH&#8217;s copyright infringement had a penal value of six months, so there was no presumption for a custodial sentence based on the penal value alone.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the Supreme Court found that there are no legislative indications that copyright infringement should be penalized via a term of imprisonment. In reaching this decision the Court referenced a previous trademark case, noting that trademark<br>
infringement and copyright infringement are similar offenses.</p>
<p>In the trademark case, it was found that there should be no presumption of imprisonment. The Court found that since it is a closely related crime, copyright infringement offenses should be treated in the same manner.</p>
<p>According to an analysis of the ruling by Henrik Wistam and Siri Alvsing at the <a href="http://lindahl.se">Lindahl lawfirm</a>, the decision by the Supreme Court represents a change from previous case law concerning penalties for illegal file-sharing.</p>
<p>The pair highlight the now-infamous case of The Pirate Bay, where three defendants &#8211; Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundström &#8211; were sentenced to prison terms of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-appeal-verdict-101126/">eight, ten and four months</a> respectively.</p>
<p>&#8220;In 2010 the Svea Court of Appeal concluded that the penalty for such crimes should be imprisonment. The Supreme Court did not grant leave to appeal,&#8221; they note.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Supreme Court has now aligned the view on the severity of IP infringements. This is a welcome development, although rights holders may have benefited from a stricter view and a development in the opposite direction.</p>
<p>The full ruling is available here <em>(<a href="media/18561e5d.2017-06-1220B203878-1520dom.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.hogstadomstolen.se/Domstolar/hogstadomstolen/Avgoranden/2017/2017-06-12%20B%203878-15%20dom.pdf">pdf</a>, Swedish)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145635
title: Cloudflare CEO Has to Explain Lack of Pirate Site Terminations
uri: Cloudflare-CEO-Has-to-Explain-Lack-of-Pirate-Site-Terminations
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GSlQ609YuXc/
content:
<p><img src="media/c0cbdaf3.cloudflare-logo-e1497134379554.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare-logo-e1497134379554.png" alt="" width="250" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-140211">In August, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince decided to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-kicking-daily-stormer-is-bad-news-for-pirate-sites-170817/">terminate</a> the account of controversial neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer.</p>
<p>“I woke up this morning in a bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet,” he wrote.</p>
<p>The decision was meant as an intellectual exercise to start a conversation regarding censorship and free speech on the internet. In this respect it was a success but the discussion went much further than Prince had intended. </p>
<p>Cloudflare had a long-standing policy not to remove any accounts without a court order, so when this was exceeded, eyebrows were raised. In particular, copyright holders wondered why the company could terminate this account but not those of the most notorious pirate sites.</p>
<p>Adult entertainment publisher ALS Scan raised this question in its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-faces-lawsuit-for-assisting-pirate-sites-160823/">piracy liability case</a> against Cloudflare, asking for a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/daily-stormer-termination-haunts-cloudflare-in-online-piracy-case-170929/">7-hour long deposition</a> of the company&#8217;s CEO, to find out more. Cloudflare opposed this request, saying it was overbroad and unneeded, while asking the court to weigh in. </p>
<p>After reviewing the matter, Magistrate Judge Alexander MacKinnon decided to allow the deposition, but in a limited form.</p>
<p>&#8220;An initial matter, the Court finds that ALS Scan has not made a showing that would justify a 7 hour deposition of Mr. Prince covering a wide range of topics,&#8221; the <a href="media/18247f76.pricedepo.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pricedepo.pdf">order (pdf)</a> reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;On the other hand, a review of the record shows that ALS Scan has identified a narrow relevant issue for which it appears Mr. Prince has unique knowledge and for which less intrusive discovery has been exhausted.&#8221; </p>
<p>ALS Scan will be able to interrogate Cloudflare&#8217;s CEO but only for two hours. The deposition must be specifically tailored toward his motivation (not) to use his authority to terminate the accounts of &#8216;pirating&#8217; customers.</p>
<p>&#8220;The specific topic is the use (or non-use) of Mr. Prince’s authority to terminate customers, as specifically applied to customers for whom Cloudflare has received notices of copyright infringement,&#8221; the order specifies. </p>
<p>Whether this deposition will help ALS Scan argue its case has yet to be seen. Based on earlier submissions, the CEO will likely argue that the Daily Stormer case was an exception to make a point and that it&#8217;s company policy to require a court order to respond to infringement claims. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, more questions are being raised. Just a few days ago Cloudflare <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-bans-sites-for-using-cryptocurrency-miners-171004/">suspended the account</a> of a customer for using a cryptocurrency miner. Apparently, Cloudflare classifies these miners as malware, triggering a punishment without a court order.</p>
<p>ALS Scan and other copyright holders would like to see a similar policy against notorious pirate sites, but thus far Cloudflare is having none of it.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145694
title: Kim Dotcom Plots Hollywood Execs’ Downfall in Wake of Weinstein Scandal
uri: Kim-Dotcom-Plots-Hollywood-Execs-Downfall-in-Wake-of-Weinstein-Scan
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bU3tLQyE2YY/
content:
<p><a href="media/037b6df0.weinstein.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/weinstein.jpg"><img src="media/6e0edf57.weinstein.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/weinstein.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="305" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145704"></a>It has been nothing short of a disastrous week for movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.</p>
<p>Accused of sexual abuse and harassment by a string of actresses, the latest including Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow, the 65-year-old is having his life taken apart.</p>
<p>This week, the influential producer was fired by his own The Weinstein Company, which is now seeking to change its name. And yesterday, following allegations of rape made in The New Yorker magazine, his wife, designer Georgina Chapman, announced she was leaving the Miramax co-founder.</p>
<p>&#8220;My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions,&#8221; the 41-year-old told <a href="http://people.com/movies/harvey-weinstein-wife-georgina-chapman-separating/">People</a> magazine.</p>
<p>As the scandal continues and more victims come forward, there are signs of a general emboldening of women in Hollywood, some of whom are publicly speaking out about their own experiences. If that continues to gain momentum &#8211; and the opportunity is certainly there &#8211; one man with his own experiences of Hollywood&#8217;s wrath wants to play a prominent role.</p>
<p>&#8220;Just the beginning. Sexual abuse and slavery by the Hollywood elites is as common as dirt. Tsunami,&#8221; Kim Dotcom <a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/917179558129844225">wrote</a> on Twitter. </p>
<p>Dotcom initially suggested that via a website, victims of Hollywood abuse could share their stories anonymously, shining light on a topic that is often shrouded in fear and secrecy. But soon the idea was growing legs.</p>
<p>&#8220;Looking for a Los Angeles law firm willing to represent hundreds of sexual abuse victims of Hollywood elites, pro-bono. I&#8217;ll find funding,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Within hours, Dotcom announced that he&#8217;d found lawyers in the US who are willing to help victims, for free. </p>
<p>&#8220;I had talks with Hollywood lawyers. Found a big law firm willing to represent sexual abuse victims, for free. Next, the website,&#8221; he teased.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not hard to see why Dotcom is making this battle his own. Aside from any empathy he feels towards victims on a personal level, he sees his family as kindred spirits, people who have also felt the wrath of Hollywood executives.</p>
<p>That being said, the Megaupload founder is extremely clear that framing this as revenge or a personal vendetta would be not only wrong, but also disrespectful to the victims of abuse.</p>
<p>&#8220;I want to help victims because I&#8217;m a victim,&#8221; he told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m an abuse victim of Hollywood, not sexual abuse, but certainly abuse of power. It&#8217;s time to shine some light on those Hollywood elites who think they are above the law and untouchable.&#8221;</p>
<p>Dotcom <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&#038;objectid=11931350">told</a> NZ Herald that people like Harvey Weinstein rub shoulders with the great and the good, hoping to influence decision-makers for their own personal gain. It&#8217;s something Dotcom, his family, and his colleagues have felt the effects of.</p>
<p>&#8220;They dine with presidents, donate millions to powerful politicians and buy favors like tax breaks and new copyright legislation, even the Megaupload raid. They think they can destroy lives and businesses with impunity. They think they can get away with anything. But they can&#8217;t. We&#8217;ll teach them,&#8221; he warned.</p>
<p>The Megaupload founder says he has both &#8220;the motive and the resources&#8221; to help victims and he&#8217;s promising to do that with proven skills. Ironically, many of these have been honed as a direct result of Hollywood&#8217;s attack on Megaupload and Dotcom&#8217;s relentless drive to bounce back with new sites like Mega and his latest <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-wants-k-im-to-trigger-a-copyright-revolution-170831/">K.im / Bitcache project</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m an experienced fundraiser. A high traffic crowdfunding campaign for this cause can raise millions. The costs won&#8217;t be an issue,&#8221; Dotcom informs TF. &#8220;There seems to be an appetite for these cases because defendants usually settle quickly. I have calls with LA firms today and tomorrow.</p>
<p>&#8220;Just the beginning. Watch me,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145708
title: Pirate Bay is Mining Cryptocurrency Again, No Opt Out
uri: Pirate-Bay-is-Mining-Cryptocurrency-Again-No-Opt-Out
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TlOZVmCUXPw/
content:
<p><img src="media/932e6d7d.thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="206" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116122">Last month The Pirate Bay caused some uproar by adding a Javascript-based cryptocurrency miner <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-website-runs-a-cryptocurrency-miner-170916/">to its website</a>.</p>
<p>The miner utilizes CPU power from visitors to generate Monero coins for the site, providing an extra source of revenue.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay only tested the option briefly, but that was enough to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/are-cryptocurrency-miners-the-future-for-pirate-sites-170921/">inspire many others</a> to follow suit. Now, a few weeks later, Pirate Bay has also turned on the miners again.</p>
<p>The miner is not directly embedded in the site&#8217;s core code but runs through an ad script. Many ad blockers and anti-malware tools are <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cryptocurrency-miner-targeted-by-anti-virus-and-adblock-tools-170926/">stopping these request</a>, but people who don&#8217;t use any will see a clear spike in CPU usage when they access the site.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay team previously said that they were testing the miner to see if it can replace ads. While there is some <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/how-much-money-can-pirate-bay-make-from-a-cryptocoin-miner-170924/">real revenue potential</a>, for now, it&#8217;s running in addition to the regular banners. It&#8217;s unclear whether the current mining period is another test or if it will run permanently from now on. </p>
<p>The miner does appear to be throttled to a certain degree, so most users might not even notice that it&#8217;s running.</p>
<p><center><strong>Pirate Bay load requests</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/0f5bba10.tpbloadcoin.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbloadcoin.png" alt="" width="502" height="349" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145718"></center></p>
<p>Running a cryptocurrency miner such as the Coin-Hive script TPB is currently using is not without risk. Aside from user complaints, there is an issue that may make it harder for the site to operate in the future.</p>
<p>Last week we reported that CDN provider Cloudflare had suspended the account of torrent proxy site ProxyBunker, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-bans-sites-for-using-cryptocurrency-miners-171004/">flagging its coin miner as malware</a>. This means that The Pirate Bay now risks losing the Cloudflare service, which they rely on for DDoS protection, among other things.</p>
<p>Cloudflare&#8217;s suspension of ProxyBunker occurred even though the site provided users with an option to disable the miner. This functionality was implemented by Coinhive after the script was misused by some sites, which ran it without alerting their users. </p>
<p>The Pirate Bay currently has no opt-out option, nor has it informed users about the latest mining efforts. This could lead to another problem since Coinhive said it would crack down on customers who failed to keep users in the loop.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will verify this opt-in on our servers and will implement it in a way that it can not be circumvented. We will pledge to keep the opt-in intact at all times, without exceptions,&#8221; the Coinhive team previously noted.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay team has not commented on the issue thus far. In theory, it&#8217;s possible that a rogue advertiser is responsible for the latest mining efforts. If that&#8217;s the case it will be disabled soon enough. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145744
title: Epic Sues ‘Fortnite’ Cheaters For Copyright Infringement
uri: Epic-Sues-Fortnite-Cheaters-For-Copyright-Infringement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fdBl1mcWfZM/
content:
<p><img src="media/56a4e275.battlefortnite.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/battlefortnite.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="212" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145747">Founded in 1991, Epic has developed and published computer games for over a quarter century. </p>
<p>The North Carolina company is known for titles such as Unreal, Gears of War, Infinity Blade, and most recently, the popular co-op survival and building action game Fortnite.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago, Fortnite released the free-to-play “<a href="https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/buy-now/battle-royale">Battle Royale</a>” game mode for the PC and other platforms, generating massive interest from gamers. Unfortunately, this also included thousands of cheaters, many whom have been banned since.</p>
<p>Last week, Epic stressed that addressing Fortnite cheaters is the company&#8217;s highest priority, hinting that they wouldn&#8217;t stop at banning users.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are constantly working against both the cheaters themselves and the cheat providers. And it’s ongoing, we’re exploring every measure to ensure these cheaters are removed and stay removed from Fortnite Battle Royale and the Epic ecosystem,&#8221; the company <a href="https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/news/battle-royale-cheaters">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>It turns out that this wasn&#8217;t an idle threat. TorrentFreak has obtained two complaints that were filed in a North Carolina federal court this week, which show that Epic is launching a legal battle against two prolific cheaters.</p>
<p>The two alleged cheaters are identified as Mr. Broom and Mr. Vraspir. Both are accused of violating Fortnite&#8217;s terms of service and EULA by cheating. This involves modifying and changing the game&#8217;s code, committing copyright infringement in the process.</p>
<p>&#8220;The software that Defendant uses to cheat infringes Epic’s copyrights in the game and breaches the terms of the agreements to which Defendant agreed in order to have access to the game,&#8221; the company notes.</p>
<p><center><strong>From the complaints</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/51ce0529.fort.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fort.png" alt="" width="600" height="273" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145768"></center></p>
<p>The two complaints are largely the same and both defendants are accused of ruining the fun for others.</p>
<p>&#8220;Nobody likes a cheater. And nobody likes playing with cheaters. These axioms are particularly true in this case. Defendant uses cheats in a deliberate attempt to destroy the integrity of, and otherwise wreak havoc in, the Fortnite game.</p>
<p>&#8220;As Defendant intends, this often ruins the game for the other players, and for the many people who watch &#8216;streamers&#8217;,” the complaint adds.</p>
<p>Both defendants are connected to the cheat provider AddictedCheats.net, either as moderators or support personnel. They specifically target streamers and boast about their accomplishments, making comments such as &#8216;LOL I f*cked them&#8217; after killing them.</p>
<p>According to Epic&#8217;s complaint, Vraspir was banned at least nine times but registered new accounts to continue his cheating. He also stands accused of having written code for the cheats. </p>
<p>Broom was banned once and previously stated that he&#8217;s also working on his own cheat. He publicly stated that he aims to create &#8220;unwanted chaos and disorder&#8221; in Fortnite and said the game was the highest priority of the cheat provider.</p>
<p>With the two lawsuits, the game publisher hopes to put an end to the cheating. </p>
<p>Both defendants face $150,000 in statutory damages for copyright infringement. The complaint further lists breach of contract and circumvention of technological measures as additional claims. </p>
<p>While taking out two cheaters is just a drop in the ocean, Epic is sending a stark warning to people who don&#8217;t play by the rules.</p>
<p><center><strong>Fortnite</strong><br></br></center><center><iframe width="600" height="338" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/URc-c8Rio7M?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>Here are copies of the full complaints against <a href="media/7f162fd1.epic2.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/epic2.pdf">Vraspir</a> and <a href="media/7f162fd1.epic2.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/epic2.pdf">Broom</a>. </em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145735
title: Popcorn Time Creator Readies BitTorrent & Blockchain-Powered Video Platform
uri: Popcorn-Time-Creator-Readies-BitTorrent-Blockchain-Powered-Video-Pla
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/00eqNNbkwj0/
content:
<p><a href="media/a4204edf.flixxo-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/flixxo-small.jpg"><img src="media/f85a7fb6.flixxo-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flixxo-small.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="302" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145742"></a>Without a doubt, YouTube is one of the most important websites available on the Internet today.</p>
<p>Its massive archive of videos brings pleasure to millions on a daily basis but its centralized nature means that owner Google always exercises control.</p>
<p>Over the years, people have looked to decentralize the YouTube concept and the latest project hoping to shake up the market has a particularly interesting player onboard.</p>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-scare-tactics-shut-down-original-popcorn-time-150909/">Until 2015</a>, only insiders knew that Argentinian designer Federico Abad was actually &#8216;Sebastian&#8217;, the shadowy figure behind notorious content sharing platform Popcorn Time.</p>
<p>Now he&#8217;s part of the team behind <a href="http://www.flixxo.com/">Flixxo</a>, a BitTorrent and blockchain-powered startup hoping to wrestle a share of the video market from YouTube. Here&#8217;s how the team, which features blockchain startup RSK Labs, hope things will play out.</p>
<p>The Flixxo network will have no centralized storage of data, eliminating the need for expensive hosting along with associated costs. Instead, transfers will take place between peers using BitTorrent, meaning video content will be stored on the machines of Flixxo users. In practice, the content will be downloaded and uploaded in much the same way as users do on The Pirate Bay or indeed Abad&#8217;s baby, Popcorn Time.</p>
<p>However, there&#8217;s a twist to the system that envisions content creators, content consumers, and network participants (seeders) making revenue from their efforts.</p>
<p>At the heart of the Flixxo system are digital tokens (think virtual currency), called Flixx. These Flixx &#8216;coins&#8217;, which will go on sale in 12 days, can be used to buy access to content. Creators can also opt to pay consumers when those people help to distribute their content to others.</p>
<p>&#8220;Free from structural costs, producers can share the earnings from their content with the network that supports them,&#8221; the team explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;This way you get paid for helping us improve Flixxo, and you earn credits (in the form of digital tokens called Flixx) for watching higher quality content. Having no intermediaries means that the price you pay for watching the content that you actually want to watch is lower and fairer.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><b>The Flixxo team</b><a href="media/d2ea8fae.flixxo-team.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/flixxo-team.png"><img src="media/1e9020c0.flixxo-team.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flixxo-team.png" alt="" width="858" height="538" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145755"></a></center></p>
<p>In addition to earning tokens from helping to distribute content, people in the Flixxo ecosystem can also earn currency by watching sponsored content, i.e advertisements. While in a traditional system adverts are often considered a nuisance, Flixx tokens have real value, with a promise that users will be able to trade their Flixx not only for videos, but also for tangible and semi-tangible goods.</p>
<p>&#8220;Use your Flixx to reward the producers you follow, encouraging them to create more awesome content. Or keep your Flixx in your wallet and use them to buy a movie ticket, a pair of shoes from an online retailer, a chest of coins in your favourite game or even convert them to old-fashioned cash or up-and-coming digital assets, like Bitcoin,&#8221; the team explains.</p>
<p>The Flixxo team have big plans. After foundation in early 2016, the second quarter of 2017 saw the completion of a functional alpha release. In a little under two weeks, the project will begin its <a href="http://www.flixxo.com/#/token-sale">token generation event</a>, with new offices in Los Angeles planned for the first half of 2018 alongside a premiere of the Flixxo platform.</p>
<p>&#8220;A total of 1,000,000,000 (one billion) Flixx tokens will be issued. A maximum of 300,000,000 (three hundred million) tokens will be sold. Some of these tokens (not more than 33% or 100,000,000 Flixx) may be sold with anticipation of the token allocation event to strategic investors,&#8221; Flixxo states.</p>
<p>Like all content platforms, Flixxo will live or die by the quality of the content it provides and whether, at least in the first instance, it can persuade people to part with their hard-earned cash. Only time will tell whether its content will be worth a premium over readily accessible YouTube content but with much-reduced costs, it may tempt creators seeking a bigger piece of the pie.</p>
<p>&#8220;Flixxo will also educate its community, teaching its users that in this new internet era value can be held and transferred online without intermediaries, a value that can be earned back by participating in a community, by contributing, being rewarded for every single social interaction,&#8221; the team explains.</p>
<p>Of course, the elephant in the room is what will happen when people begin sharing copyrighted content via Flixxo. Certainly, the fact that Popcorn Time&#8217;s founder is a key player and rival streaming platform <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/with-popcorn-time-faltering-stremio-eyes-the-top-spot-151031/">Stremio</a> is listed as a partner means that things could get a bit spicy later on.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the team suggests that piracy and spam content distribution will be limited by mechanisms already built into the system.</p>
<p>&#8220;[A]uthors have to time-block tokens in a smart contract (set as a warranty) in order to upload content. This contract will also handle and block their earnings for a certain period of time, so that in the case of a dispute the unfair-uploader may lose those tokens,&#8221; they explain.</p>
<p>That being said, Flixxo also says that &#8220;there is no way&#8221; for third parties to censor content &#8220;which means that anyone has the chance of making any piece of media available on the network.&#8221; However, Flixxo says it will develop tools for filtering what it describes as &#8220;inappropriate content.&#8221;</p>
<p>At this point, things start to become a little unclear. On the one hand Flixxo says it could become a &#8220;revolutionary tool for uncensorable and untraceable media&#8221; yet on the other it says that it&#8217;s necessary to ensure that adult content, for example, isn&#8217;t seen by kids.</p>
<p>&#8220;We know there is a thin line between filtering or curating content and censorship, and it is a fact that we have an open network for everyone to upload any content. However, Flixxo as a platform will apply certain filtering based on clear rules – there should be a behavior-code for uploaders in order to offer the right content to the right user,&#8221; Flixxo explains.</p>
<p>To this end, Flixxo says it will deploy a centralized curation function, carried out by 101 delegates elected by the community, which will become progressively decentralized over time.</p>
<p>&#8220;This curation will have a cost, paid in Flixx, and will be collected from the warranty blocked by the content uploaders,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>There can be little doubt that if Flixxo begins &#8216;curating&#8217; unsuitable content, copyright holders will call on it to do the same for their content too. And, if the platform really takes off, 101 curators probably won&#8217;t scratch the surface. There&#8217;s also the not inconsiderable issue of what might happen to curators&#8217; judgment when they&#8217;re incentivized to <strike>block</strike> curate content.</p>
<p>Finally, for those sick of &#8220;not available in your region&#8221; messages, there&#8217;s good and bad news. Flixxo insists there will be no geo-blocking of content on its part but individual creators will still have that feature available to them, should they choose.</p>
<p>The Flixx whitepaper can be downloaded here <em>(<a href="media/10006cc0.flixxo-white-paper_v0.4.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.flixxo.com/assets/docs/flixxo-white-paper_v0.4.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jNfEXyBB2vk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145796
title: The Evil Within 2 Used Denuvo, Then Dumped it Before Launch
uri: The-Evil-Within-2-Used-Denuvo-Then-Dumped-it-Before-Launch
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/AYS09zc-nW0/
content:
<p><a href="media/05d838b7.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg"><img src="media/fe5f698e.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg" alt="" width="210" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116067"></a>At the end of September we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-crisis-after-total-warhammer-2-gets-pirated-in-hours-170929/">reported</a> on a nightmare scenario for videogame anti-tamper technology Denuvo.</p>
<p>With cracking groups chipping away at the system for the past few months, progressing in leaps and bounds, the race to the bottom was almost complete. After aiming to hold off pirates for the first few lucrative weeks and months after launch, the Denuvo-protected Total War: Warhammer 2 fell to pirates in a matter of hours.</p>
<p>In the less than two weeks that have passed since, things haven&#8217;t improved much. By most measurements, in fact, the situation appears to have gotten worse.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, action role-playing game Middle Earth: Shadow of War was cracked a day after launch. While this didn&#8217;t beat the record set by Warhammer 2, the scene was given an unexpected gift.</p>
<p>Instead of the crack appearing courtesy of scene groups STEAMPUNKS or CPY, which has largely been the tradition thus far this year, old favorite CODEX stepped up to the mark with their own efforts. This means there are now close to half a dozen entities with the ability to defeat Denuvo, which isn&#8217;t a good look for the anti-piracy outfit.</p>
<p><center><b>A CODEX crack for Denuvo, from nowhere</b><a href="media/509e1476.middleearth-codex.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/middleearth-codex.png"><img src="media/2a9390a3.middleearth-codex.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/middleearth-codex.png" alt="" width="970" height="591" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145797"></a></center></p>
<p>Needless to say, this development was met with absolute glee by pirates, who forgave the additional day taken to crack the game in order to welcome CODEX into the anti-Denuvo club. But while this is bad news for the anti-tamper technology, there could be a worse enemy crossing the horizon &#8211; no confidence.</p>
<p>This Tuesday, <a href="http://www.dsogaming.com/news/middle-earth-shadow-war-now-available-uses-denuvo-anti-tamper-tech/">DSO Gaming</a> reported that it had received a review copy of Bethesda&#8217;s then-upcoming survival horror game, The Evil Within 2. The site, which is often a reliable source for Denuvo-related news, confirmed that the code was indeed protected by Denuvo.</p>
<p>&#8220;Another upcoming title that will be using Denuvo is The Evil Within 2,&#8221; the site reported. &#8220;Bethesda has provided us with a review code for The Evil Within 2. As such, we can confirm that Denuvo is present in it.&#8221;</p>
<p>As you read this, October 13, 2017, The Evil Within 2 is enjoying its official worldwide launch. Early yesterday afternoon, however, the title leaked early onto the Internet, courtesy of cracking group CODEX.</p>
<p>At first view, it looked like CODEX had cracked Denuvo before the game&#8217;s official launch but the reality was somewhat different after the dust had settled. For reasons best known to developer Bethesda, Denuvo was completely absent from the title. As shown by the title&#8217;s NFO (information) file, the only protection present was that provided by Steam.</p>
<p><center><b>Denuvo? What Denuvo?</b><a href="media/fd37319f.tew2-codex.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tew2-codex.png"><img src="media/ff74a937.tew2-codex.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tew2-codex.png" alt="" width="583" height="458" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145800"></a></center></p>
<p>This raises a number of scenarios, none of them good for Denuvo.</p>
<p>One possibility is that all along Bethesda never intended to use Denuvo on the final release. Exactly why we&#8217;ll likely never know, but the theory doesn&#8217;t really gel with them including it in the review code reviewed by DSO Gaming earlier this week.</p>
<p>The other proposition is that Bethesda witnessed the fiasco around Denuvo&#8217;s &#8216;protection&#8217; in recent days and decided not to invest in something that wasn&#8217;t going to provide value for money.</p>
<p>Of course, these theories are going to be pretty difficult to confirm. Denuvo are a pretty confident bunch when things are going their way but they go suspiciously quiet when the tide is turning. Equally, developers tend to keep quiet about their anti-piracy strategies too.</p>
<p>The bottom line though is that if the protection really works and turns in valuable cash, why wouldn&#8217;t Bethesda use it as they have done on previous titles including Doom and Prey?</p>
<p>With that question apparently answering itself at the moment, all eyes now turn to Denuvo. Although it has a history of being one of the most successful anti-piracy systems overall, it has taken a massive battering in recent times. Will it recover? Only time will tell but at the moment things couldn&#8217;t get much worse.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145798
title: Tech Giants Protest Looming US Pirate Site Blocking Order
uri: Tech-Giants-Protest-Looming-US-Pirate-Site-Blocking-Order
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Q4ctGtTjjf8/
content:
<p><img src="media/a6de9e46.googlecloudface.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlecloudface.png" alt="" width="200" height="195" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145808">While domain seizures against pirate sites are relatively common in the United states, ISP and search engine blocking is not. This could change soon though. </p>
<p>In an ongoing case against Sci-Hub, regularly referred to as the &#8220;Pirate Bay of Science,&#8221; a magistrate judge in Virginia recently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/judge-recommends-isp-search-engine-blocking-sci-hub-us-171003/">recommended</a> a broad order which would require search engines and Internet providers to block the site.</p>
<p>The recommendation followed a request from the academic publisher American Chemical Society (ACS) that wants these third-party services to make the site in question inaccessible. While Sci-Hub has chosen not to defend itself, a group of tech giants has now stepped in to prevent the broad injunction from being issued.</p>
<p>This week the Computer &#038; Communications Industry Association (<a href="http://www.ccianet.org/">CCIA</a>), which includes <a href="http://www.ccianet.org/about/members/">members</a> such as Cloudflare, Facebook, and Google, asked the court to limit the proposed measures. In an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Virginia District Court, they share their concerns.</p>
<p>&#8220;Here, Plaintiff is seeking—and the Magistrate Judge has recommended—a permanent injunction that would sweep in various Neutral Service Providers, despite their having violated no laws and having no connection to this case,&#8221; CCIA writes. </p>
<p>According to the tech companies, neutral service providers are not “in active concert or participation” with the defendant, and should, therefore, be excluded from the proposed order.</p>
<p>While search engines may index Sci-Hub and ISPs pass on packets from this site, they can&#8217;t be seen as &#8220;confederates&#8221; that are working together with them to violate the law, CCIA stresses.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff has failed to make a showing that any such provider had a contract with these Defendants or any direct contact with their activities—much less that all of the providers who would be swept up by the proposed injunction had such a connection.&#8221;</p>
<p>Even if one of the third party services could be found liable the matter should be resolved under the DMCA, which expressly prohibits such broad injunctions, the CCIA claims.</p>
<p>&#8220;The DMCA thus puts bedrock limits on the injunctions that can be imposed on qualifying providers if they are named as defendants and are held liable as infringers. Plaintiff here ignores that. </p>
<p>&#8220;What ACS seeks, in the posture of a permanent injunction against nonparties, goes beyond what Congress was willing to permit, even against service providers against whom an actual judgment of infringement has been entered.That request must be rejected.&#8221; </p>
<p>The tech companies hope the court will realize that the injunction recommended by the magistrate judge will set a dangerous precedent, which goes beyond what the law is intended for, so will impose limits in response to their concerns.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see whether any copyright holder groups will also chime in, to argue the opposite. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>CCIA&#8217;s full amicus curiae brief is available <a href="media/89ed2924.cciabrief.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cciabrief.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145777
title: Popular Zer0day Torrent Tracker Taken Offline By Mass Copyright Complaint
uri: Popular-Zer0day-Torrent-Tracker-Taken-Offline-By-Mass-Copyright-Compla
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jGwpawA405c/
content:
<p><a href="media/bc003361.network-round.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/network-round.jpg"><img src="media/a79e141a.network-round.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/network-round.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-126170"></a>In January 2016, a BitTorrent enthusiast decided to launch a stand-alone tracker, purely for fun.</p>
<p>The Zer0day platform, which hosts no torrents, is a tracker in the purest sense, directing traffic between peers, no matter what content is involved and no matter where people are in the world.</p>
<p>With this type of tracker in short supply, it was soon utilized by The Pirate Bay and the now-defunct ExtraTorrent. By August 2016, it was tracking almost four million peers and a million torrents, a considerable contribution to the BitTorrent ecosystem.</p>
<p>After handling many ups and downs associated with a service of this type, the tracker eventually made it to the end of 2016 intact. This year it grew further still and by the end of September was tracking an impressive 5.5 million peers spread over 1.2 million torrents. Soon after, however, the tracker disappeared from the Internet without warning.</p>
<p>In an effort to find out what had happened, TorrentFreak contacted Zer0day&#8217;s operator who told us a familiar story. Without any warning at all, the site&#8217;s host pulled the plug on the service, despite having been paid 180 euros for hosting just a week earlier.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re hereby informing you of the termination of your dedicated server due to a breach of our terms of service,&#8221; the host informed Zer0day.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hosting trackers on our servers that distribute infringing and copyrighted content is prohibited. This server was found to distribute such content. Should we identify additional similar activity in your services, we will be forced to close your account.&#8221;</p>
<p>While hosts tend not to worry too much about what their customers are doing, this one had just received a particularly lengthy complaint. Sent by the head of anti-piracy at French collecting society <a href="http://www.scpp.fr">SCPP</a>, it laid out the group&#8217;s problems with the Zer0day tracker.</p>
<p>&#8220;SCPP has been responsible for the collective management and protection of sound recordings and music videos producers&#8217; rights since 1985. SCPP counts more than 2,600 members including the majority of independent French producers, in addition to independent European producers, and the major international companies: Sony, Universal and Warner,&#8221; the complaints reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;SCPP administers a catalog of 7,200,000 sound tracks and 77,000 music videos. SCPP is empowered by its members to take legal action in order to put an end to any infringements of the producers&#8217; rights set out in Article L335-4 of the French Intellectual Property Code&#8230;..punishable by a three-year prison sentence or a fine of €300,000.&#8221;</p>
<p>Noting that it works on behalf of a number of labels and distributors including BMG, Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music and others, SCPP listed countless dozens of albums under its protection, each allegedly tracked by the Zer0day platform.</p>
<p>&#8220;It has come to our attention that these music albums are illegally being communicated to the public (made available for download) by various users of the BitTorrent-Network,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>Noting that Zer0day is involved in the process, the anti-piracy outfit presented dozens of hash codes relating to protected works, demanding that the site stop facilitation of infringement on each and every one of them.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have proof that your tracker udp://tracker.zer0day.to:1337/announce provided peers of the BitTorrent-Network with information regarding these torrents, to be specific IP Addresses of peers that were offering without authorization the full albums for download, and that this information enabled peers to download files that contain the sound recordings to which our members producers have the exclusive rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;These sound recordings are thus being illegally communicated to the public, and your tracker is enabling the seeders to do so.&#8221;</p>
<p>Rather than take the hashes down from the tracker, SCPP actually demanded that Zer0day create a permanent blacklist within 24 hours, to ensure the corresponding torrents wouldn&#8217;t be tracked again.</p>
<p>&#8220;You should understand that this letter constitutes a notice to you that you may be liable for the infringing activity occurring on your service. In addition, if you ignore this notice, you may also be liable for any resulting infringement,&#8221; the complaint added.</p>
<p>But despite all the threats, SCPP didn&#8217;t receive the response they&#8217;d demanded since the operator of the site refused to take any action.</p>
<p>&#8220;Obviously, &#8216;info hashes&#8217; are not copyrightable nor point to specific copyrighted content, or even have any meaning. Further, I cannot verify that request strings parameters (&#8216;info hashes&#8217;) you sent me contain copyrighted material,&#8221; he told SCPP.</p>
<p>&#8220;Like the website says; for content removal kindly ask the indexing site to remove the listing and the .torrent file. Also, tracker software does not have an option to block request strings parameters (&#8216;info hashes&#8217;).&#8221;</p>
<p>The net effect of non-compliance with SCPP was fairly dramatic and swift. Zer0day&#8217;s host took down the whole tracker instead and currently it remains offline. Whether it reappears depends on the site&#8217;s operator finding a suitable web host, but at the moment he says he has no idea where one will appear from.</p>
<p>&#8220;Currently I&#8217;m searching for some virtual private server as a temporary home for the tracker,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>As mentioned in an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/running-a-torrent-tracker-for-fun-can-be-a-headache-160828/">earlier article</a> detailing the problems sites like Zer0day.to face, trackers aren’t absolutely essential for the functioning of BitTorrent transfers. Nevertheless, their existence certainly improves matters for file-sharers so when they go down, millions can be affected.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145877
title: Hollywood Giants Sue Kodi-powered ‘TickBox TV’ Over Piracy
uri: Hollywood-Giants-Sue-Kodi-powered-TickBox-TV-Over-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rRn3YmKGN0Q/
content:
<p><img src="media/d10d8b10.tickbox.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tickbox.png" alt="" width="250" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145879">Online streaming piracy is booming and many people use dedicated media players to bring this content to their regular TVs.</p>
<p>The bare hardware is not illegal and neither is media player software such as Kodi. When these devices are loaded with copyright-infringing addons, however,  they turn into an unprecedented <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-sees-illegal-streaming-devices-as-piracy-3-0-170502/">piracy threat</a>.</p>
<p>It becomes even more problematic when the sellers of these devices market their products as pirate tools. This is exactly what <a href="https://www.tickboxtv.com/">TickBox TV</a> does, according to Hollywood&#8217;s major movie studios, Netflix, and Amazon.</p>
<p>TickBox is a Georgia-based provider of set-top boxes that allow users to stream a variety of popular media. The company&#8217;s devices use the Kodi media player and come with instructions on how to add various add-ons. </p>
<p>In a complaint filed in a California federal court yesterday, Universal, Columbia Pictures, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, Amazon, and Netflix accuse Tickbox of inducing and contributing to copyright infringement. </p>
<p>&#8220;TickBox sells &#8216;TickBox TV,&#8217; a computer hardware device that TickBox urges its customers to use as a tool for the mass infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted motion pictures and television shows,&#8221; the complaint, picked up by <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/major-studios-streamers-declare-legal-war-tickbox-1048824">THR</a>, reads.</p>
<p>While the device itself does not host any infringing content, users are informed where they can find it. </p>
<p>The movie and TV studios stress that Tickbox&#8217;s marketing highlights its infringing uses with statements such as &#8220;if you’re tired of wasting money with online streaming services like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.”</p>
<p><center><strong>Sick of paying high monthly fees?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/ce89b116.sickofpaying.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sickofpaying.png" alt="" width="600" height="436" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145882"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;TickBox promotes the use of TickBox TV for overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, infringing purposes, and that is how its customers use TickBox TV. TickBox advertises TickBox TV as a substitute for authorized and legitimate distribution channels such as cable television or video-on-demand services like Amazon Prime and Netflix,&#8221; the studios&#8217; lawyers write. </p>
<p>The complaint explains in detail how TickBox works. When users first boot up their device they are prompted to download the “TickBox TV Player” software. This comes with an instruction video guiding people to infringing streams. </p>
<p>&#8220;The TickBox TV instructional video urges the customer to use the &#8216;Select Your Theme&#8217; button on the start-up menu for downloading addons. The &#8216;Themes&#8217; are curated collections of popular addons that link to unauthorized streams of motion pictures and television shows.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;Some of the most popular addons currently distributed — which are available through TickBox TV — are titled &#8216;Elysium,&#8217; &#8216;Bob,&#8217; and &#8216;Covenant&#8217;,&#8221; the complaint adds, showing screenshots of the interface.</p>
<p><center><strong>Covenant</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/45761ab3.covenanttick.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/covenanttick.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="459" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145881"></center></p>
<p>The movie and TV studios, which are the founding members of the recently launched <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">ACE anti-piracy initiative</a>, want TickBox to stop selling their devices. In addition, they demand compensation for the damages they&#8217;ve suffered. Requesting the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per copyright infringement, this can run into the millions. </p>
<p>The involvement of Amazon, albeit the content division, is notable since the online store itself <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&#038;field-keywords=fully+loaded+kodi">sells dozens</a> of similar streaming devices, some of which even list &#8220;infringing&#8221; addons.</p>
<p>The TickBox lawsuit is the first case in the United States where a group of major Hollywood players is targeting a streaming device. Earlier this year various Hollywood insiders voiced concerns about the piracy streaming epidemic and if this case goes their way, it probably won&#8217;t be the last.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the full complaint is available <a href="media/b2a0e38d.tickbox-complaint.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tickbox-complaint.pdf">here (pdf)</a></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145860
title: ‘Pirate’ EBook Site Refuses Point Blank to Cooperate With BREIN
uri: Pirate-EBook-Site-Refuses-Point-Blank-to-Cooperate-With-BREIN
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vYvw3f0_gjQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/d934ae3b.eboek.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eboek.png"><img src="media/82ac4c46.eboek.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eboek.png" alt="" width="210" height="97" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145861"></a>Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN is probably best known for its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/yarrrr-dutch-isps-block-the-pirate-bay-but-its-bad-timing-for-trolls-171005/">legal action against The Pirate Bay</a> but the outfit also tackles many other forms of piracy.</p>
<p>A prime example is the case it pursued against a seller of fully-loaded Kodi boxes in the Netherlands. The subsequent <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/selling-piracy-configured-media-players-is-illegal-eu-court-rules-170426/">landmark ruling</a> from the European Court of Justice will reverberate around Europe for years to come.</p>
<p>Behind the scenes, however, BREIN persistently tries to take much smaller operations offline, and not without success. Earlier this year it revealed it had taken down 231 illegal sites and services includes 84 linking sites, 63 streaming portals, and 34 torrent sites. Some of these shut down completely and others were forced to leave their hosting providers.</p>
<p>Much of this work flies under the radar but some current action, against an eBook site, is now being thrust into the public eye.</p>
<p>For more than five years, <a href="https://www.eboek.info/">EBoek.info</a> (eBook) has serviced Internet users looking to obtain comic books in Dutch. The site informs TorrentFreak it provides a legitimate service, targeted at people who have purchased a hard copy but also want their comics in digital format.</p>
<p>&#8220;EBoek.info is a site about comic books in the Dutch language. Besides some general information about the books, people who have legally obtained a hard copy of the books can find a link to an NZB file which enables them to download a digital version of the books they already have,&#8221; site representative &#8216;Zala&#8217; says.</p>
<p>For those out of the loop, NZB files are a bit like Usenet&#8217;s version of .torrent files. They contain no copyrighted content themselves but do provide software clients with information on where to find specific content, so it can be downloaded to a user&#8217;s machine.</p>
<p>&#8220;BREIN claims that this is illegal as it is impossible for us to verify if our visitor is telling the truth [about having purchased a copy],&#8221; Zala reveals.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, BREIN chief Tim Kuik says there&#8217;s no question that offering downloads like this is illegal.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is plain and simple: the site makes links to unauthorized digital copies available to the general public and therefore is infringing copyright. It is distribution of the content without authorization of the rights holder,&#8221; Kuik says.</p>
<p>&#8220;The unauthorized copies are not private copies. The private copy exception does not apply to this kind of distribution. The private copy has not been made by the owner of the book himself for his own use. Someone else made the digital copy and is making it available to anyone who wants to download it provided he makes the unverified claim that he has a legal copy. This harms the normal exploitation of the<br>
content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Zala says that BREIN has been trying to take his site offline for many years but more recently, the platform has utilized the services of Cloudflare, partly as a form of shield. As readers may be aware, a site behind Cloudflare has its originating IP addresses hidden from the public, not to mention BREIN, who values that kind of information. According to the operator, however, BREIN managed to obtain the information from the CDN provider.</p>
<p>&#8220;BREIN has tried for years to take our site offline. Recently, however, Cloudflare was so friendly to give them our IP address,&#8221; Zala notes.</p>
<p>A text copy of an email reportedly sent by BREIN to EBoek&#8217;s web host and seen by TF appears to confirm that Cloudflare handed over the information as suggested. Among other things, the email has BREIN informing the host that &#8220;The IP we got back from Cloudflare is XXX.XXX.XX.33.&#8221;</p>
<p>This means that BREIN was able to place direct pressure on EBoek.info&#8217;s web host, so only time will tell if that bears any fruit for the anti-piracy group. In the meantime, however, EBoek has decided to go public over its battle with BREIN.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have received a request from Stichting BREIN via our hosting provider to take EBoek.info offline,&#8221; the site informed its users yesterday.</p>
<p>Interestingly, it also appears that BREIN doesn&#8217;t appreciate that the operators of EBoek have failed to make their identities publicly known on their platform.</p>
<p>&#8220;The site operates anonymously which also is unlawful. Consumer protection requires that the owner/operator of a site identifies himself,&#8221; Kuik says.</p>
<p>According to EBoek, the anti-piracy outfit told the site&#8217;s web host that as a &#8220;commercial online service&#8221;, EBoek is required under EU law to display its &#8220;correct and complete business information&#8221; including names, addresses, and other information. But perhaps unsurprisingly, the site doesn&#8217;t want to play ball.</p>
<p>&#8220;In my opinion, you are confusing us with Facebook. They are a foreign commercial company with a European branch in Ireland, and therefore are subject to Irish legislation,&#8221; Zala says in an open letter to BREIN.</p>
<p>&#8220;Eboek.info, on the other hand, is a foreign hobby club with no commercial purpose, whose administrators have no connection with any country in the European Union. As administrators, we follow the laws of our country of residence which do not oblige us to disclose our identity through our website.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fact that Eboek is visible in the Netherlands does not just mean that we are going to adapt to Dutch rules, just as we don&#8217;t adapt the site to the rules of Saudi Arabia or China or wherever we are available.&#8221;</p>
<p>In a further snub to the anti-piracy group, EBoek says that all visitors to the site have to communicate with its operators via its guestbook, which is publicly visible.</p>
<p>&#8220;We see no reason to make an exception for Stichting BREIN,&#8221; the site <a href="https://www.eboek.info/meld-een-gebroken-link/#comment-573">notes</a>.</p>
<p>What makes the situation more complex is that EBoek isn&#8217;t refusing dialog completely. The site says it doesn&#8217;t want to talk to BREIN but will speak to BREIN&#8217;s customers &#8211; the publishers of the comic books in question &#8211; noting that to date no complaints from publishers have ever been received.</p>
<p>While the parties argue about lines of communication, BREIN insists that following this year&#8217;s European Court of Justice <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-court-not-for-profit-hyperlinking-usually-not-infringement-160908/">decision</a> in the GS Media case, a link to a known infringing work represents copyright infringement. In this case, an NZB file &#8211; which links to a location on Usenet &#8211; would generally fit the bill.</p>
<p>But despite focusing on the Dutch market, the operators of EBoek say the ruling doesn&#8217;t apply to them as they&#8217;re outside of the ECJ&#8217;s jurisdiction and aren&#8217;t commercially motivated. Refusing point blank to take their site offline, EBoek&#8217;s operators say that BREIN can do its worst, nothing will have much effect.</p>
<p>&#8220;[W]hat&#8217;s the worst thing that can happen? That our web host hands [BREIN] our address and IP data. In that case, it will turn out that&#8230;we are actually far away,&#8221; Zala says.</p>
<p>&#8220;[In the case the site goes offline], we&#8217;ll just put a backup on another server and, in this case, won&#8217;t make use of the &#8216;services&#8217; of Cloudflare, the provider that apparently put BREIN on the right track.&#8221;</p>
<p>The question of jurisdiction is indeed an interesting one, particularly given BREIN&#8217;s focus in the Netherlands. But Kuik is clear &#8211; it is the area where the content is made available that matters.</p>
<p>&#8220;The law of the country where the content is made available applies. In this case the EU and amongst others the Netherlands,&#8221; Kuik concludes.</p>
<p>To be continued&#8230;..</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145664
title: Netflix Expands Content Protection Team to Reduce Piracy
uri: Netflix-Expands-Content-Protection-Team-to-Reduce-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/k9Fqe1kYJQU/
content:
<p><img src="media/e12f98ba.netflixlogonew.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflixlogonew.png" alt="" width="267" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145677">There is little doubt that, in the United States and many other countries, Netflix has become the standard for watching movies on the Internet.</p>
<p>Despite the widespread availability, however, Netflix originals are widely pirated. Episodes from House of Cards, Narcos, and Orange is the New Black are downloaded and streamed millions of times through unauthorized platforms.</p>
<p>The streaming giant is obviously not happy with this situation and has ramped up its anti-piracy efforts in recent years. Since last year the company has sent out over a <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/owners/48184">million takedown requests</a> to Google alone and this volume continues to expand.</p>
<p>This growth coincides with an expansion of the company&#8217;s internal anti-piracy division. A new job posting shows that Netflix is expanding this team with a Copyright and Content Protection Coordinator. The ultimate goal is to reduce piracy to a fringe activity. </p>
<p>&#8220;The growing Global Copyright &#038; Content Protection Group is looking to expand its team with the addition of a coordinator,&#8221; the <a href="https://jobs.netflix.com/jobs/865317">job listing</a> reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;He or she will be tasked with supporting the Netflix Global Copyright &#038; Content Protection Group in its internal tactical take down efforts with the goal of reducing online piracy to a socially unacceptable fringe activity.&#8221;</p>
<p>Among other things, the new coordinator will evaluate new technological solutions to tackle piracy online. </p>
<p>More old-fashioned takedown efforts are also part of the job. This includes monitoring well-known content platforms, search engines and social network sites for pirated content.</p>
<p>&#8220;Day to day scanning of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Periscope, Google Search, Bing Search, VK, DailyMotion and all other platforms (including live platforms) used for piracy,&#8221; is listed as one of the main responsibilities.</p>
<p><center><strong>Netflix&#8217; Copyright and Content Protection Coordinator Job</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/c4588ef4.netflixjobrespons.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflixjobrespons.png" alt="" width="595" height="353" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145679" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/netflixjobrespons.png 595w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/netflixjobrespons-220x130.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 595px) 100vw, 595px"></center></p>
<p>The coordinator is further tasked with managing Facebook&#8217;s Rights Manager and YouTube&#8217;s Content-ID system, to prevent circumvention of these piracy filters. Experience with fingerprinting technologies and other anti-piracy tools will be helpful in this regard. </p>
<p>Netflix doesn&#8217;t do all the copyright enforcement on its own though. The company works together with other media giants in the recently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/global-entertainment-giants-form-massive-anti-piracy-coalition-170613/">launched</a> &#8220;Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment&#8221; that is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">spearheaded by the MPAA</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, the company also uses the takedown services of external anti-piracy outfits to target more traditional infringement sources, such as cyberlockers and piracy streaming sites. The coordinator has to keep an eye on these as well. </p>
<p>&#8220;Liaise with our vendors on manual takedown requests on linking sites and hosting sites and gathering data on pirate streaming sites, cyberlockers and usenet platforms.&#8221;</p>
<p>The above shows that Netflix is doing its best to prevent piracy from getting out of hand. It&#8217;s definitely taking the issue more seriously than a few years ago when the company didn&#8217;t have much original content. </p>
<p>The switch from being merely a distribution platform to becoming a major content producer and copyright holder has changed the stakes. Netflix <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/no-netflix-hasnt-won-the-war-on-piracy-170604/">hasn&#8217;t won the war on piracy</a>, it&#8217;s just getting started.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145813
title: Pirate Bay’s Iconic .SE Domain has Expired and is ‘For Sale’
uri: Pirate-Bay-s-Iconic-SE-Domain-has-Expired-and-is-For-Sale
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/qTD7UWx-uEQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/7b21649b.tpb-piratebay-thepiratebay-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-piratebay-thepiratebay-logo.jpg" alt="" width="256" height="219" class="alignright size-full wp-image-142141">When The Pirate Bay first came online during the summer of 2003, its main point of access was thepiratebay.org.</p>
<p>Since then the site has burnt through more than a dozen domains, trying to evade seizures or other legal threats.</p>
<p>For many years thepiratebay.se operated as the site&#8217;s main domain name. Earlier this year the site moved back to the good old .org again, and from the looks of it, TPB is ready to say farewell to the Swedish domain. </p>
<p>Thepiratebay.se <a href="https://whois.domaintools.com/thepiratebay.se">expired</a> last week and, if nothing happens, it will be de-activated tomorrow. This means that the site might lose control over a piece of its history. </p>
<p>The torrent site moved from the ORG to the SE domain in 2012, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-moves-to-se-domain-prevent-domain-seizure-120201/">fearing</a> that US authorities would seize the former. Around that time the Department of Homeland Security took hundreds of sites offline and the Pirate Bay team feared that they would be next. </p>
<p><center><strong>Thepiratebay.se has expired</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/51198274.expiredse.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/expiredse.png" alt="" width="547" height="248" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145846"></center></p>
<p>Ironically, however, the next big threat came from Sweden, the Scandinavian country where the site once started.</p>
<p>In 2013, a local anti-piracy group filed a motion targeting two of The Pirate Bay’s domains, ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se. This case that has been dragging on for years now. </p>
<p>During this time TPB <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-domain-shuffle-come-full-circle-160520/">moved back and forth</a> between domains but the .se domain turned out to be a safer haven than most alternatives, despite the legal issues. Many other domains were simply seized or suspended without prior notice. </p>
<p>When the Swedish Court of Appeal eventually ruled that The Pirate Bay&#8217;s domain had to be <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-pirate-bay-domains-forfeited-state-160512/">confiscated and forfeited</a> to the state, the site&#8217;s operators moved <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-domain-shuffle-come-full-circle-160520/">back to the .org</a> domain, where it all started. </p>
<p>Although a Supreme Court appeal is still pending, according to the most recent reports, TPB might have decided to drop the domain voluntarily. </p>
<p>The domain has not only expired but has also been put of for sale <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bays-swedish-domain-is-listed-for-sale-170407/">again</a> in the SEDO marketplace, with a minimum bid of $90. We haven&#8217;t been able to confirm the legitimacy of this listing but if it&#8217;s indeed sold, the final figure will be in the thousands of dollars, considering its ranking and traffic.</p>
<p><center><strong>Thepiratebay.se for sale</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/9566a440.tpbforsale.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbforsale.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="298" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145919"></center></p>
<p>If it&#8217;s sold the domain could fall prey to malware peddlers, which isn&#8217;t a good prospect since it is linked to from thousands of sites. In fact, some people were still using it as their bookmark, since it used to automatically redirect people to the latest TPB domain.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most ironic of all is the fact that TPB moved to .se because it feared that the US controlled .org domain was easy prey.</p>
<p>Fast forward half a decade and over a dozen domains have come and gone while thepiratebay.org still stands strong, despite entertainment industry pressure.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145905
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 10/16/17
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-10-16-17
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6sCoFmK7Pic/
content:
<p><img src="media/1cdacb0d.warplanetapes.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warplanetapes.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145910">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>War for the Planet of the Apes is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-100917/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3450958/">War for the Planet of the Apes</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3450958/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxjPjPzQ1iU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648190/">The Dark Tower</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648190/">5.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwfqXTebIY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2250912/">Spider-Man: Homecoming</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2250912/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0D3AOldjMU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/">American Made</a> (Subbed HDrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/">7.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEBIJRAkujM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3890160/">Baby Driver</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3890160/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9YZw_X5UzQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5140878/">Annabelle Creation</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5140878/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KisPhy7T__Q">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/wonder-woman-torrent-downloads/">Wonder Woman</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451279/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q8fG0TtVAY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790809/">Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790809/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5V5C8mEVzY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/">Transformers: The Last Knight</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/">5.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vtf0MszgP8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3469046/">Despicable Me 3</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3469046/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euz-KBBfAAo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145903
title: PureVPN Explains How it Helped the FBI Catch a Cyberstalker
uri: PureVPN-Explains-How-it-Helped-the-FBI-Catch-a-Cyberstalker
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UOylJ-gcsFQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/0ba3ba47.fbi-logo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/fbi-logo.png"><img src="media/62ffe783.fbi-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fbi-logo.png" alt="" width="180" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108168"></a>Early October, Ryan S. Lin, 24, of Newton, Massachusetts, was arrested on suspicion of conducting “an extensive cyberstalking campaign” against a 24-year-old Massachusetts woman, as well as her family members and friends.</p>
<p>The Department of Justice described Lin’s offenses as a “multi-faceted&#8221; computer hacking and cyberstalking campaign. Launched in April 2016 when he began hacking into the victim’s online accounts, Lin allegedly obtained personal photographs and sensitive information about her medical and sexual histories and distributed that information to hundreds of other people.</p>
<p>Details of what information the FBI compiled on Lin can be found in our <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/purevpn-logs-helped-fbi-net-alleged-cyberstalker-171009/">earlier report</a> but aside from his alleged crimes (which are both significant and repugnant), it was PureVPN&#8217;s involvement in the case that caused the most controversy.</p>
<p>In a report compiled by an FBI special agent, it was revealed that the Hong Kong-based company&#8217;s logs helped the authorities net the alleged criminal.</p>
<p>“Significantly, PureVPN was able to determine that their service was accessed by the same customer from two originating IP addresses: the RCN IP address from the home Lin was living in at the time, and the software company where Lin was employed at the time,” the agent’s affidavit reads.</p>
<p>Among many in the privacy community, this revelation was met with disappointment. On the PureVPN website the company claims to carry no logs and on a general basis, it&#8217;s expected that so-called &#8220;no-logging&#8221; VPN providers should provide people with some anonymity, at least as far as their service goes. Now, several days after the furor, the company has responded to its critics.</p>
<p>In a fairly lengthy statement, the company begins by confirming that it definitely doesn&#8217;t log what <em>websites a user views</em> or <em>what content he or she downloads</em>.</p>
<p>&#8220;PureVPN did not breach its Privacy Policy and certainly did not breach your trust. NO browsing logs, browsing habits or anything else was, or ever will be shared,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>However, that&#8217;s only half the problem. While it doesn&#8217;t log user activity (what sites people visit or content they download), it does log the IP addresses that customers use to access the PureVPN service. These, given the right circumstances, can be matched to external activities thanks to logs carried by other web companies.</p>
<p>PureVPN talks about logs held by Google&#8217;s Gmail service to illustrate its point.</p>
<p>&#8220;A network log is automatically generated every time a user visits a website. For the sake of this example, let’s say a user logged into their Gmail account. Every time they accessed Gmail, the email provider created a network log,&#8221; the company explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you are using a VPN, Gmail’s network log would contain the IP provided by PureVPN. This is one half of the picture. Now, if someone asks Google who accessed the user’s account, Google would state that whoever was using this IP, accessed the account.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the user was connected to PureVPN, it would be a PureVPN IP. The inquirer [in the Lin case, the FBI] would then share timestamps and network logs acquired from Google and ask them to be compared with the network logs maintained by the VPN provider.&#8221;</p>
<p>Now, if PureVPN carried no logs &#8211; literally no logs &#8211; it would not be able to help with this kind of inquiry. That was the case last year when the FBI approached Private Internet Access for information and the company was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-providers-no-logging-claims-tested-in-fbi-case-160312/">unable to assist</a>.</p>
<p>However, as is made pretty clear by PureVPN&#8217;s explanation, <em>the company does log user IP addresses and timestamps</em> which reveal when a user was logged on to the service. It doesn&#8217;t matter that PureVPN doesn&#8217;t log what the user allegedly did online, since the third-party service already knows that information to the precise second.</p>
<p>Following the example, GMail knows that a user sent an email at 10:22am on Monday October 16 from a PureVPN IP address. So, if PureVPN is approached by the FBI, the company can confirm that User X was using the same IP address at exactly the same time, and his home IP address was XXX.XX.XXX.XX. Effectively, the combined logs link one IP address to the other and the user is revealed. It&#8217;s that simple.</p>
<p>It is for this reason that in TorrentFreak&#8217;s annual summary of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">no-logging VPN providers</a>, the very first question we ask every single company reads as follows:</p>
<p><em>Do you keep ANY logs which would allow you to match an IP-address and a time stamp to a user/users of your service? If so, what information do you hold and for how long?</em></p>
<p>Clearly, if a company says &#8220;yes we log incoming IP addresses and associated timestamps&#8221;, any claim to total user anonymity is ended right there and then.</p>
<p>While not completely useless (a logging service will still stop the prying eyes of ISPs and similar surveillance, while also defeating throttling and site-blocking), if you&#8217;re a whistle-blower with a job or even your life to protect, this level of protection is entirely inadequate.</p>
<p>The take-home points from this controversy are numerous, but perhaps the most important is for people to read and understand VPN provider logging policies.</p>
<p>Secondly, and just as importantly, VPN providers need to be extremely clear about the information they log. Not tracking browsing or downloading activities is all well and good, but if home IP addresses and timestamps are stored, this needs to be made clear to the customer.</p>
<p>Finally, VPN users should not be evil. There are plenty of good reasons to stay anonymous online but cyberstalking, death threats and ruining people&#8217;s lives are not included. Fortunately, the FBI have offline methods for catching this type of offender, and long may that continue.</p>
<p>PureVPN&#8217;s blog post is available <a href="https://www.purevpn.com/blog/vpn-logs-explained/">here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145425
title: Spinrilla Wants RIAA Case Thrown Out Over ‘Lies’ About ‘Hidden’ Piracy Data
uri: 2017-10-17-
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/I5xjHq8VTZI/
content:
<p><img src="media/8ebd4927.spinrilla-e1486368999286.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spinrilla-e1486368999286.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="234" class="alignright size-full wp-image-134771">Earlier this year, a group of well-known labels targeted <a href="https://www.spinrilla.com/">Spinrilla</a>, a popular hip-hop mixtape site and app which serves millions of users.</p>
<p>The coalition of record labels, including Sony Music, Warner Bros. Records, and Universal Music Group, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-labels-sue-hip-hop-mixtape-download-site-spinrilla-170206/">filed a lawsuit</a> against the service over alleged copyright infringements.</p>
<p>While the discovery process is still ongoing, Spinrilla recently informed the court that the record labels have &#8220;just about derailed&#8221; the entire case. The company has submitted a motion for sanctions, which is currently sealed, but additional information submitted to the court this week reveals what&#8217;s going on.</p>
<p>When the labels filed their original complaint they listed 210 tracks, without providing the allegedly infringing URLs. These weren&#8217;t shared during the early stages of the discovery process either, forcing the site to manually search for potentially infringing links.</p>
<p>Then, early October, Spinrilla received a massive spreadsheet with over 2,000 tracks, including the infringing URLs. This data came from the RIAA and supported the long list of infringements in the amended complaint submitted around the same time.</p>
<p>The spreadsheet would have made the discovery process much easier for Spinrilla. In a supplemental brief supporting a motion for sanctions, Spinrilla accuses the labels of hiding the piracy data from them and lying about it, &#8220;derailing&#8221; the case in the process.</p>
<p>&#8220;Significantly, Plaintiffs used that lie to convince the Court they should be allowed to add about 1,900 allegedly infringed sound recordings to their original list of 210. Later, Plaintiffs repeated that lie to convince the Court to give them time to add even more sound recordings to their list.&#8221; </p>
<p><center><strong>vbcn</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/601e0313.spinspreadex.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spinspreadex.png" alt="" width="565" height="217" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-145791"></center></p>
<p>Spinrilla says they were forced to go down an expensive and unnecessary rabbit hole to find the infringing files, even though the RIAA data was available all along.</p>
<p>&#8220;By hiding and lying about the RIAA data, Plaintiffs forced Defendants to spend precious time and money fumbling through discovery. Not knowing that Plaintiffs had the RIAA data,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>The hip-hop mixtape site argues that the alleged wrongdoing is severe enough to have the entire complaint dismissed, as the ultimate sanction.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is without exaggeration to say that by hiding the RIAA spreadsheets and that underlying data, Defendants have been severely prejudiced. The Complaint should be dismissed with prejudice and, if it is, Plaintiffs can only blame themselves,&#8221; Spinrilla concludes. </p>
<p>The stakes are certainly high in this case. With well over 2,000 infringing tracks listed in the amended complaint, the hip-hop mixtape site faces statutory damages as high as $300 million, at least in theory. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>Spinrilla&#8217;s supplement brief in further support of the motion for sanctions is available <a href="media/035a48a6.spinlies.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/spinlies.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145939
title: Abandon Proactive Copyright Filters, Huge Coalition Tells EU Heavyweights
uri: Abandon-Proactive-Copyright-Filters-Huge-Coalition-Tells-EU-Heavyweig
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NfxFSx_mvsw/
content:
<p><a href="media/6542fb40.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg"><img src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985"></a>Last September, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-proposes-mandatory-piracy-filters-for-online-services-160914/">announced</a> plans to modernize copyright law in Europe.</p>
<p>The proposals (<a href="media/b559ec93.1-2016-593-EN-F1-1.PDF" data-original-source="http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/1-2016-593-EN-F1-1.PDF">pdf</a>) are part of the Digital Single Market reforms, which have been under development for the past several years.</p>
<p>One of the proposals is causing significant concern. <a href="https://edri.org/copyright-reform-document-pool/">Article 13</a> would require some online service providers to become &#8216;Internet police&#8217;, proactively detecting and filtering allegedly infringing copyright works, uploaded to their platforms by users.</p>
<p>Currently, users are generally able to share whatever they like but should a copyright holder take exception to their upload, mechanisms are available for that content to be taken down. It&#8217;s envisioned that proactive filtering, whereby user uploads are routinely scanned and compared to a database of existing protected content, will prevent content becoming available in the first place.</p>
<p>These proposals are of great concern to digital rights groups, who believe that such filters will not only undermine users&#8217; rights but will also place unfair burdens on Internet platforms, many of which will struggle to fund such a program. Yesterday, in the latest wave of opposition to Article 13, a huge coalition of international rights groups came together to underline their concerns.</p>
<p>Headed up by <a href="https://www.liberties.eu/en">Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties)</a> and <a href="https://edri.org/civil-society-calls-for-the-deletion-of-the-censorshipmachine/">European Digital Rights (EDRi)</a>, the coalition is formed of dozens of influential groups, including <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/digital-rights-groups-demand-deletion-unlawful-filtering-mandate-proposed-eu">Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)</a>, Human Rights Watch, Reporters without Borders, and Open Rights Group (ORG), to name just a few.</p>
<p>In an open letter to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani, President of the European Council Donald Tusk and a string of others, the groups warn that the proposals undermine the trust established between EU member states.</p>
<p>&#8220;Fundamental rights, justice and the rule of law are intrinsically linked and constitute<br>
core values on which the EU is founded,&#8221; the letter begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;Any attempt to disregard these values undermines the mutual trust between member states required for the EU to function. Any such attempt would also undermine the commitments made by the European Union and national governments to their citizens.&#8221;</p>
<p>Those citizens, the letter warns, would have their basic rights undermined, should the new proposals be written into EU law.</p>
<p>&#8220;Article 13 of the proposal on Copyright in the Digital Single Market include obligations on internet companies that would be impossible to respect without the imposition of excessive restrictions on citizens’ fundamental rights,&#8221; it notes.</p>
<p>A major concern is that by placing new obligations on Internet service providers that allow users to upload content &#8211; think YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram &#8211; they will be forced to err on the side of caution. Should there be any concern whatsoever that content <em>might</em> be infringing, fair use considerations and exceptions will be abandoned in favor of staying on the right side of the law.</p>
<p>&#8220;Article 13 appears to provoke such legal uncertainty that online services will have no other option than to monitor, filter and block EU citizens’ communications if they are to have any chance of staying in business,&#8221; the letter warns.</p>
<p>But while the potential problems for service providers and users are numerous, the groups warn that Article 13 could also be illegal since it contradicts case law of the Court of Justice.</p>
<p>According to the E-Commerce Directive, platforms are already required to remove infringing content, once they have been advised it exists. The new proposal, should it go ahead, would force the monitoring of uploads, something which goes against the ‘no general obligation to monitor‘ rules present in the Directive.</p>
<p>&#8220;The requirement to install a system for filtering electronic communications has twice been rejected by the Court of Justice, in the cases Scarlet Extended (C70/10) and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-court-bans-anti-piracy-filters-on-hosting-services-120216/">Netlog/Sabam</a> (C 360/10),&#8221; the rights groups warn.</p>
<p>&#8220;Therefore, a legislative provision that requires internet companies to install a filtering system would almost certainly be rejected by the Court of Justice because it would contravene the requirement that a fair balance be struck between the right to intellectual property on the one hand, and the freedom to conduct business and the right to freedom of expression, such as to receive or impart information, on the other.&#8221;</p>
<p>Specifically, the groups note that the proactive filtering of content would violate freedom of expression set out in Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. That being the case, the groups expect national courts to disapply it and the rule to be annulled by the Court of Justice.</p>
<p>The latest protests against Article 13 come in the wake of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/huge-coalition-protests-eu-mandatory-piracy-filter-proposals-170530/">large-scale objections</a> earlier in the year, voicing similar concerns. However, despite the groups&#8217; fears, they have powerful adversaries, each determined to stop the flood of copyrighted content currently being uploaded to the Internet.</p>
<p>Front and center in support of Article 13 is the music industry and its current hot-topic, the so-called Value Gap<em>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-says-youtube-is-running-a-dmca-protection-racket-160412/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ifpi-sneers-at-youtubes-1-billion-music-industry-revenue-payout-161207/">2</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dmca-helps-youtube-avoid-up-to-1bn-in-royalties-per-year-study-claims-170330/">3</a>)</em>. The industry feels that platforms like YouTube are able to avoid paying expensive licensing fees (for music in particular) by exploiting the safe harbor protections of the DMCA and similar legislation.</p>
<p>They believe that proactively filtering uploads would significantly help to diminish this problem, which may very well be the case. But at what cost to the general public and the platforms they rely upon? <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/03/eu-internet-advocates-launch-campaign-stop-eus-dangerous-copyright-filtering">Citizens</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mandatory-piracy-filters-may-violate-eu-law-scholars-warn-161203/">scholars</a> feel that freedoms will be affected and it&#8217;s likely the outcry will continue.</p>
<p>The ball is now with the EU, whose members will soon have to make what could be the most important decision in recent copyright history. The rights groups, who are urging for Article 13 to be deleted, are clear where they stand.</p>
<p>The full letter is available here <em>(<a href="media/d4338b27.openletteroncopyrightdirective_final.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.eff.org/files/2017/10/16/openletteroncopyrightdirective_final.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145964
title: New ‘Coalition Against Piracy’ Will Crack Down on Pirate Streaming Boxes
uri: New-Coalition-Against-Piracy-Will-Crack-Down-on-Pirate-Streaming
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RLV3fy13fmk/
content:
<p><img src="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="204" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78717">Traditionally there have only been a handful of well-known industry groups fighting online piracy, but this appears to be changing.</p>
<p>Increasingly, major entertainment industry companies are teaming up in various regions to bundle their enforcement efforts against copyright infringement.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) was formed by major players including Disney, HBO, and NBCUniversal, and several of the same media giants are also involved in the newly founded Coalition Against Piracy (CAP).</p>
<p>CAP will coordinate anti-piracy efforts in Asia and is backed by CASBAA, Disney, Fox, HBO Asia, NBCUniversal, Premier League, Turner Asia-Pacific, A&#038;E Networks, Astro, BBC Worldwide, National Basketball Association, TV5MONDE, Viacom International, and others. </p>
<p>The coalition has hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-gane-63092a110/">Neil Gane</a> as its general manager. Gane is no stranger to anti-piracy work, as he previously served as the MPAA&#8217;s regional director in Australasia and was chief of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft.</p>
<p>The goal of CAP will be to assist in local enforcement actions against piracy, including the disruption and dismantling of local businesses that facilitate it. Pirate streaming boxes and apps will be among the main targets.</p>
<p>These boxes, which often use the legal Kodi player paired with infringing add-ons, are referred to as illicit streaming devices (ISDs) by industry insiders. They have grown in popularity all around the world and Asia is no exception.</p>
<p>“The prevalence of ISDs across Asia is staggering. The criminals who operate the ISD networks and the pirate websites are profiting from the hard work of talented creators, seriously damaging the legitimate content ecosystem as well as exposing consumers to dangerous malware”, Gane said, <a href="http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/casbaa-forms-coalition-against-piracy-hires-content-protection-veteran-neil-gane-171017">quoted</a> by Indian Television. </p>
<p>Gane knows the region well and started his career working for the Hong Kong Police. He sees the pirate streaming box ecosystem as a criminal network which presents a major threat to the entertainment industries.</p>
<p>“This is a highly organized transnational crime with criminal syndicates profiting enormously at the expense of consumers as well as content creators,” Gane noted. </p>
<p>The Asian creative industry is a major growth market as more and more legal content is made available. However, the growth of these legal services is threatened by pirate boxes and apps. The Coalition Against Piracy hopes to curb this.</p>
<p>The launch of CAP, which will be formalized at the upcoming CASBAA anti-piracy convention in November, confirms the trend of localized anti-piracy coalitions which are backed by major industry players. We can expect to hear more from these during the years to come. </p>
<p>Just a few days ago the founding members of the aforementioned <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">ACE anti-piracy initiative</a> filed their first <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">joint lawsuit</a> in the US which, unsurprisingly, targets a seller of streaming boxes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145986
title: Google Asked to Delist Pirate Movie Sites, ISPs Asked to Block Them
uri: Google-Asked-to-Delist-Pirate-Movie-Sites-ISPs-Asked-to-Block-Them
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0-zSwAW8PAo/
content:
<p><a href="media/f8623ca2.law-hammer.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/law-hammer.jpg"><img src="media/f6eb27a1.law-hammer.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/law-hammer.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="203" class="alignright size-full wp-image-134548" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/law-hammer.jpg 270w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/law-hammer-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px"></a>After <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/what-cd-shuts-down-following-reported-raids-in-france-161117/">seizing several servers</a> operated by popular private music tracker What.cd, last November French police went after a much bigger target.</p>
<p>Boasting millions of regular visitors, Zone-Telechargement (Zone-Download) was ranked the 11th most-visited website in the whole of the country. The site offered direct downloads of a wide variety of pirated content, including films, series, games, and music. Until the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-shut-down-frances-largest-pirate-site161129/">French Gendarmerie shut it down</a>, that is.</p>
<p>After being founded in 2011 and enjoying huge growth following the 2012 raids against Megaupload, the Zone-Telechargement &#8216;brand&#8217; was still popular with French users, despite the closure of the platform. It, therefore, came as no surprise that the site was quickly cloned by an unknown party and relaunched as Zone-Telechargement.ws.</p>
<p>The site has been doing extremely well following its makeover. To the annoyance of copyright holders, SimilarWeb <a href="https://www.similarweb.com/website/zone-telechargement.ws#overview">reports</a> the platform as France&#8217;s 37th most popular site with around 58 million visitors per month. That&#8217;s a huge achievement in less than 12 months.</p>
<p>Now, however, the site is receiving more unwanted attention. <a href="https://www.nextinpact.com/news/105424-le-cinema-reclame-blocage-plusieurs-sites-dont-papystreaming-org-et-zone-telechargement-ws.htm">PCInpact</a> says it has received information that several movie-focused organizations including the French National Film Center are requesting tough action against the site.</p>
<p>The National Federation of Film Distributors, the Video Publishing Union, the Association of Independent Producers and the Producers Union are all demanding the blocking of Zone-Telechargement by several local ISPs, alongside its delisting from search results.</p>
<p>The publication mentions four Internet service providers &#8211; Free, Numericable, Bouygues Telecom, and Orange &#8211; plus Google on the search engine front. At this stage, other search companies, such as Microsoft&#8217;s Bing, are not reported as part of the action.</p>
<p>In addition to Zone-Telechargement, several other &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites (Papystreaming.org, Sokrostream.cc and Zonetelechargement.su, another site playing on the popular brand) are included in the legal process. All are described as &#8220;structurally infringing&#8221; by the complaining movie outfits, PCInpact notes.</p>
<p>The legal proceedings against the sites are based in Article 336-2 of the Intellectual Property Code. It&#8217;s ground already trodden by movie companies who following a 2011 complaint, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-google-microsoft-yahoo-to-make-pirate-sites-disappear-131129/">achieved victory</a> in 2013 against several Allostreaming-linked sites.</p>
<p>In that case, the High Court of Paris ordered ISPs, several of which appear in the current action, to “implement all appropriate means including blocking” to prevent access to the infringing sites.</p>
<p>The Court also ordered Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo to “take all necessary measures to prevent the occurrence on their services of any results referring to any of the sites” on their platforms.</p>
<p>Also of interest is that the action targets a service called DL-Protecte.com, which according to local anti-piracy agency HADOPI, makes it difficult for rightsholders to locate infringing content while at the same time generates more revenue for pirate sites.</p>
<p>A judgment is expected in &#8220;several months.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=144419
title: Google Asked to Remove 3 Billion “Pirate” Search Results
uri: Google-Asked-to-Remove-3-Billion-Pirate-Search-Results
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HwNp9vdYcaU/
content:
<p><img src="media/3c5b1a66.googlepiratebay.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlepiratebay.png" alt="" width="267" height="257" class="alignright size-full wp-image-128445">Copyright holders continue to flood Google with DMCA takedown requests, asking the company to remove “pirate links” from its search results.</p>
<p>In recent years the number of reported URLs has exploded, surging to unprecedented heights.</p>
<p>Since Google first started to report the volume of takedown requests in its <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/overview">Transparency Report</a>, the company has been asked to remove more than three billion allegedly infringing search results. </p>
<p>The frequency at which these URLs are reported has increased over the years and at the moment roughly three million &#8216;pirate&#8217; URLs are submitted per day.</p>
<p>The URLs are sent in by major rightsholders including members of the BPI, RIAA, and various major Hollywood studios. They target a wide variety of sites, over 1.3 million, but a few dozen &#8216;repeat offenders&#8217; are causing the most trouble. </p>
<p>File-hosting service 4shared.com currently tops the list of most-targeted domains with 66 million URLs, followed by the now-defunct MP3 download site MP3toys.xyz and Rapidgator.net, with 51 and 28 million URLs respectively.</p>
<p><center><strong>3 billion URLs</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/c842fd5b.googleremoved3m.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googleremoved3m.png" alt="" width="600" height="274" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145981"></center></p>
<p>Interestingly, the high volume of takedown notices is used as an argument for and against the DMCA process. </p>
<p>While Google believes that the millions of reported URLs per day are a sign that the DMCA takedown process is working correctly, rightsholders believe the volumes are indicative of an unbeatable game of whack-a-mole.</p>
<p>According to some copyright holders, the takedown efforts do little to seriously combat piracy. Various industry groups have therefore asked governments and lawmakers for broad revisions.</p>
<p>Among other things they want advanced technologies and processes to ensure that infringing content doesn’t reappear elsewhere once it’s removed, a so-called “notice and stay down” approach. In addition, Google has often been asked to demote pirate links in search results.</p>
<p>UK music industry group BPI, who are responsible for more than 10% of all the takedown requests on Google, sees the new milestone as an indicator of how much effort its anti-piracy activities take.</p>
<p>“This 3 billion figure shows how hard the creative sector has to work to police its content online and how much time and resource this takes. The BPI is the world’s largest remover of illegal music links from Google, one third of which are on behalf of independent record labels,&#8221; Geoff Taylor, BPI&#8217;s Chief Executive, informs TF.</p>
<p>However, there is also some progress to report. Earlier this year BPI announced a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/search-engines-and-rightsholders-sign-landmark-anti-piracy-deal-170220/">voluntary partnership</a> with Google and Bing to demote pirate content faster and more effectively for US visitors. </p>
<p>“We now have a voluntary code of practice in place in the UK, facilitated by Government, that requires Google and Bing to work together with the BPI and other creator organizations to develop lasting solutions to the problem of illegal sites gaining popularity in search listings,&#8221; Taylor notes. </p>
<p>According to BPI, both Google and Bing have shown that changes to their algorithms can be effective in demoting the worst pirate sites from the top search results and they hope others will follow suit. </p>
<p>&#8220;Other intermediaries should follow this lead and take more responsibility to work with creators to reduce the proliferation of illegal links and disrupt the ability of illegal sites to capture consumers and build black market businesses that take money away from creators.”</p>
<p>Agreement or not, there are still plenty of pirate links in search results, so the BPI is still sending out millions of takedown requests per month.</p>
<p>We asked Google for a comment on the new milestone but at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back. In any event, the issue is bound to remain a hot topic during the months and years to come.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146047
title: Anti-Piracy Group Joins Internet Organization That Controls Top-Level Domain
uri: Anti-Piracy-Group-Joins-Internet-Organization-That-Controls-Top-Level
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BKiTWspDrUQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/193011ca.data.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/data.jpg"><img src="media/bf089152.data.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/data.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="120" class="alignright size-full wp-image-75303"></a>All around the world, content creators and rightsholders continue to protest against the unauthorized online distribution of copyrighted content.</p>
<p>While pirating end-users obviously share some of the burden, the main emphasis has traditionally been placed on the shuttering of illicit sites, whether torrent, streaming, or hosting based.</p>
<p>Over time, however, sites have become more prevalent and increasingly resilient, leaving the music, movie and publishing industries to play a frustrating game of whac-a-mole. With this in mind, their focus has increasingly shifted towards Internet gatekeepers, including ISPs and bodies with influence over domain availability.</p>
<p>While most of these efforts take place via cooperation or legal action, there&#8217;s regularly conflict when Hollywood, for example, wants a particular domain <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-embassy-threatens-to-close-domain-registry-over-pirate-bay-domain-170620/">rendered inaccessible</a> or the music industry wants <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-supreme-court-suggests-that-pirates-shouldnt-lose-internet-access-170627/">pirates kicked off the Internet</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, there&#8217;s nearly always a disconnect, with copyright holders on one side and Internet technology companies worried about mission creep on the other. In Denmark, however, those lines have just been blurred in the most intriguing way possible after an infamous anti-piracy outfit joined an organization with significant control over the Internet in the country.</p>
<p>RettighedsAlliancen (or Rights Alliance as it&#8217;s more commonly known) is an anti-piracy group which counts some of the most powerful local and international movie companies among its members. It also operates on behalf of IFPI and by extension, most of the world&#8217;s major recording labels.</p>
<p>The group has been involved in dozens of legal processes over the years against file-sharers and file-sharing sites, most recently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popular-torrent-and-streaming-sites-blocked-in-denmark-150327/">fighting for</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-20-big-piracy-sites-blocked-in-denmark-150821/">winning ISP blockades</a> against most major pirate portals including The Pirate Bay, RARBG, Torrentz, and many more.</p>
<p>In a somewhat surprising new announcement, the group has revealed it&#8217;s become the latest member of DIFO, the Danish Internet Forum (DIFO) which &#8220;works for a secure and accessible Internet&#8221; under the top-level .DK domain. Indeed, DIFO has overall responsibility for Danish internet infrastructure.</p>
<p>&#8220;For DIFO it is important to have a strong link to the Danish internet community. Therefore, we are very pleased that the Alliance wishes to be part of the association,&#8221; DIFO said in a statement.</p>
<p>Rights Alliance will be DIFO&#8217;s third new member this year but uniquely it will get the opportunity to represent the interests of more than 100,000 Danish and international rightholders from inside an influential Internet-focused organization.</p>
<p>Looking at <a href="https://www.difo.dk/da/mod-vores-medlemmer">DIFO&#8217;s membership</a>, Rights Alliance certainly stands out as unusual. The majority of the members are made up of IT-based organizations, such as the Internet Industry Association, The Association of Open Source Suppliers and DKRegistrar, the industry association for Danish domain registrars. </p>
<p>A meeting around a table with these players and their often conflicting interests is likely to be an experience for all involved. However, all parties seem more than happy with the new partnership.</p>
<p>&#8220;We want to help create a more secure internet for companies that invest in doing business online, and for users to be safe, so combating digital crime is a key and shared goal,&#8221; says Rights Alliance chief, Maria Fredenslund. &#8220;I am therefore looking forward to the future cooperation with DIFO.&#8221;</p>
<p>Only time will tell how this partnership will play out but if common ground can be found, it&#8217;s certainly possible that the anti-piracy scene in Denmark could step up a couple of gears in the future.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146034
title: Epic Games Sues Man Over Bitcoin Mining Fortnite ‘Cheat’
uri: Epic-Games-Sues-Man-Over-Bitcoin-Mining-Fortnite-Cheat
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OfP9_gbpn5M/
content:
<p><img src="media/56a4e275.battlefortnite.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/battlefortnite.jpg" alt="" width="267" height="212" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145747">A few weeks ago, Epic Games released Fortnite&#8217;s free-to-play “<a href="https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/buy-now/battle-royale">Battle Royale</a>” game mode for the PC and other platforms, generating massive interest among gamers. </p>
<p>The release also attracted attention from thousands of cheaters, many of whom were subsequently banned. In addition, Epic Games went a step further by taking several <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/epic-sues-fortnite-cheaters-for-copyright-infringement-171012/">cheaters to court</a> over copyright infringement. </p>
<p>This week the North Carolina-based game developer continued its a war against cheaters. In a new lawsuit, it targets two other cheaters who promoted their hacks through YouTube videos. </p>
<p>One of the defendants is a Swedish resident, Mr. Josefson. He created a cheat and promoted it in various videos, adding instructions on how to download and install it. In common with the previous defendants, he is being sued for copyright infringement. </p>
<p>The second cheater listed in the complaint, a Russian man named Mr. Yakovenko, is more unique. This man also promoted his Fortnite cheats through a series of YouTube videos, but they weren&#8217;t very effective.</p>
<p>When Epic downloaded the &#8216;cheat&#8217; to see how it works, all they got was a Bitcoin miner. </p>
<p>&#8220;Epic downloaded the purported cheat from the links provided in Yakovenko’s YouTube videos. While the &#8216;cheat&#8217; does not appear to be a functional Fortnite cheat, it functions as a bitcoin miner that infects the user’s computer with a virus that causes the user’s computer to mine bitcoin for the benefit of an unknown third party,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p><center><strong>Epic &#8216;cheat&#8217;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/e772efca.epiccheat.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/epiccheat.png" alt="" width="561" height="114" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-146066"></center></p>
<p>Despite the non-working cheat, Epic Games maintains that Yakovenko created a cheat for Fortnite’s Battle Royale game mode, pointing to a YouTube video he posted last month. </p>
<p>&#8220;The First Yakovenko video and associated post contained instructions on how to download and install the cheat and showed full screen gameplay using the purported cheat,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>All the videos have since been removed following takedown notices from Epic. Through the lawsuit, the game developer now hopes to get compensation for the damages it suffered. </p>
<p>In addition to the copyright infringement claims the two men are also accused of trademark infringement, unfair competition, and breach of contract.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s little doubt that Epic Games is doing its best to hold cheaters accountable. However, the problem is not easy to contain. A simple search for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Fortnite+HACK">Fortnite Hack</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Fortnite+cheat">Fortnite Cheat</a> still yields tens of thousands of results, with new videos being added continuously.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the full complaint against Josefson and Yakovenko is available <a href="media/d2ac14e0.epicminer.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/epicminer.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.<br>
</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146114
title: US Senators Ask Apple Why VPN Apps Were Removed in China
uri: US-Senators-Ask-Apple-Why-VPN-Apps-Were-Removed-in-China
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mMK2rr_goQM/
content:
<p><img src="media/e49204f7.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg" width="270" height="199" class="alignright size-large">As part of what is now clearly a crackdown on Great Firewall-evading tools and services, during the summer Chinese government pressure reached technology giant Apple.</p>
<p>On or around July 29, Apple removed many of the most-used VPN applications from its Chinese app store. In a short email from the company, VPN providers were informed that VPN applications are considered illegal in China.</p>
<p>“We are writing to notify you that your application will be removed from the China App Store because it includes content that is illegal in China, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines,” <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/apple-bans-vpns-from-app-store-in-china-170729/">Apple informed the affected VPNs</a>.</p>
<p><center><strong>Apple&#8217;s email to VPN providers</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/7f83724c.applevpnban.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/applevpnban.png" alt="" width="600" height="384" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-142515"></center></p>
<p>Now, in a letter sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook, US senators Ted Cruz and Patrick Leahy express concern at the move by Apple, noting that if reports of the software removals are true, the company could be assisting China&#8217;s restrictive approach to the Internet.</p>
<p>&#8220;VPNs allow users to access the uncensored Internet in China and other countries that restrict Internet freedom. If these reports are true, we are concerned that Apple may be enabling the Chines government&#8217;s censorship and surveillance of the Internet.&#8221;</p>
<p>Describing China as a country with &#8220;an abysmal human rights record, including with respect to the rights of free expression and free access to information, both online and offline&#8221;, the senators cite Reporters Without Borders who previously labeled the country as &#8220;the enemy of the Internet&#8221;.</p>
<p>While senators Cruz and Leahy go on to praise Apple for its contribution to the spread of information, they criticize the company for going along with the wishes of the Chinese government as it seeks to suppress knowledge and communication.</p>
<p>&#8220;While Apple&#8217;s many contributions to the global exchange of information are admirable, removing VPN apps that allow individuals in China to evade the Great Firewall and access the Internet privately does not enable people in China to &#8216;speak up&#8217;,&#8221; the senators write.</p>
<p>&#8220;To the contrary, if Apple complies with such demands from the Chinese government it inhibits free expression for users across China, particularly in light of the Cyberspace Administration of China&#8217;s new regulations targeting online anonymity.&#8221;</p>
<p>In January, a notice published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the government had indeed <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/china-ban-unauthorized-vpn-services-in-internet-crackdown-170123/">launched a 14-month campaign</a> to crack down on local ‘unauthorized’ Internet platforms.</p>
<p>This means that all VPN services have to be pre-approved by the Government if they want to operate in China. And the aggression against VPNs and their providers didn&#8217;t stop there.</p>
<p>In September, a Chinese man who sold Great Firewall-evading VPN software via a website was sentenced to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/chinese-man-jailed-for-nine-months-for-selling-vpn-software-170904/">nine months in prison</a> by a Chinese court. Just weeks later, a software developer who set up a VPN for his own use but later sold access to the service was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/another-chinese-developer-arrested-for-selling-vpn-access-170920/">arrested and detained</a> for three days.</p>
<p>This emerging pattern is clearly a concern for the senators who are now demanding that Tim Cook responds to ten questions <em>(<a href="media/0c4f8043.20171017_tim_cook_letter.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/files/documents/Letters/20171017_tim_cook_letter.pdf">pdf</a>)</em>, including whether Apple raised concerns about China&#8217;s VPN removal demands and details of how many apps were removed from its store. The senators also want to see copies of any pro-free speech statements Apple has made in China.</p>
<p>Whether the letter will make any difference on the ground in China remains to be seen, but the public involvement of the senators and technology giant Apple is certain to thrust censorship and privacy further into the public eye.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146134
title: Steal This Show S03E09: Learning To Love Your Panopticon
uri: Steal-This-Show-S03E09-Learning-To-Love-Your-Panopticon
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3GHlgnOkWzE/
content:
<p><img src="media/d01749d9.stslogo180.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stslogo180.png" alt="stslogo180" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-113928"><strong><sup><em>If you enjoy this episode, consider becoming a patron and getting involved with the show. <a href="https://patreon.com/user?u=4275705">Check out Steal This Show&#8217;s Patreon campaign</a>: support us and get all kinds of&nbsp;fantastic benefits!</em></sup></strong></p>
<p>In this episode we meet Diani Barreto from the Berlin Bureau of ExposeFacs. Launched in June 2014, ExposeFacts.org supports and encourages whistleblowers to disclose information that citizens need to make truly informed decisions in a democracy.</p>
<p>ExposeFacts aims to shed light on concealed activities that are relevant to human rights, corporate malfeasance, the environment, civil liberties and war. </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><a href="https://stealthisshow.com">Steal This Show</a> aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing copyright and file-sharing news. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary, and analysis. </p>
<p>The guests for our news discussions will vary, and we&#8217;ll aim to introduce voices from different backgrounds and persuasions. In addition to news, STS will also produce features interviewing some of the great innovators and minds. </p>
<p><strong>Host:</strong> Jamie King</p>
<p><strong>Guest:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/decespedes">Diani Barreto</a></p>
<p><center><iframe width="100%" height="180px" src="//stealthisshow.com/?lpe-frame=1&#038;lpe-season=3&#038;lpe-episode=09" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p><strong>Produced </strong> <em>by </em>Jamie King<br>
<strong>Edited &#038; Mixed</strong> <em>by</em> Riley Byrne<br>
<strong>Original Music</strong> <em>by</em> David Triana<br>
<strong>Web Production</strong> <em>by</em> Siraje Amarniss</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146080
title: Cloudflare Counters MPAA and RIAA’s ‘Rehashed’ Piracy Complaints
uri: Cloudflare-Counters-MPAA-and-RIAA-s-Rehashed-Piracy-Complaints
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/obK37MGOmfA/
content:
<p><img src="media/c0cbdaf3.cloudflare-logo-e1497134379554.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare-logo-e1497134379554.png" alt="" width="250" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-140211">A few weeks ago several copyright holder groups sent their annual “Notorious Markets” complaints to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).</p>
<p>While the recommendations usually include well-known piracy sites such as The Pirate Bay, third-party services are increasingly mentioned. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-pirate-sites-hosts-and-ad-networks-to-us-government-171004/">MPAA</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-identifies-top-youtube-mp3-rippers-and-other-pirate-sites-171006/">RIAA</a>, for example, wrote that Cloudflare frustrates enforcement efforts by helping pirate sites to “hide”.</p>
<p>The CDN provider is not happy with these characterizations and this week submitted a rebuttal. Cloudflare&#8217;s General Counsel Doug Kramer says that the company was surprised to see these mentions. Not only because they &#8220;distort&#8221; reality, but also because they are pretty much identical to those leveled last year.</p>
<p>&#8220;Most surprising is that their comments were basically the same complaints they filed in 2016 and contain the same mistakes and distortions that we pointed out in our rebuttal comments from October, 2016.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;Simply repeating the same mischaracterizations for a second year in a row does not convert them into facts, so we are compelled to reiterate our objections,&#8221; Kramer <a href="media/089d5dfd.Cloudflare_Letter_to_USTR_on_Notorious_Markets_2017.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Cloudflare_Letter_to_USTR_on_Notorious_Markets_2017.pdf">adds (pdf)</a>.</p>
<p>There is indeed quite a bit of overlap between the submissions from both years. In fact, several sections are copied word for word, such as the RIAA&#8217;s allegation below.</p>
<p><em>&#8220;In addition, more sites are now employing services of Cloudflare, a content delivery network and distributed domain name server service. BitTorrent sites, like many other pirate sites, are increasing [sic] turning to Cloudflare because routing their site through Cloudflare obfuscates the IP address of the actual hosting provider, masking the location of the site.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>The same can be said about the MPAA&#8217;s submission, which includes a lot of the same comments and sentences as last year. That wouldn&#8217;t be much of a problem if the information was correct, but according to Cloudflare, that&#8217;s not the case. </p>
<p>The two industry groups claim that the CDN provider makes it more difficult to track where pirate sites are hosted. However, Cloudflare argues the opposite.</p>
<p>Both RIAA and MPAA are part of the “Trusted Reporter” program and use it frequently, Cloudflare points out. This program allows rightsholders to easily obtain the actual IP-addresses of Cloudflare-hosted websites that engage in widespread copyright infringement. </p>
<p>Most importantly, according to Cloudflare, is that the company follows the letter of the law. </p>
<p>“Cloudflare does not make the process of enforcing intellectual property rights online any harder — or any easier. We follow all applicable laws and regulations,” Cloudflare <a href="media/221725a6.Cloudflare_USTR_Notorious_Markets_Letter_2016.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Cloudflare_USTR_Notorious_Markets_Letter_2016.pdf">explained</a> in its submission last year.</p>
<p>In its 2017 rebuttal, the company reiterates this position once again. Kramer also points to a recent <a href="https://blog.cloudflare.com/why-we-terminated-daily-stormer/">blog post</a> from CEO Matthew Prince, which discusses free speech and censorship issues. The message is that vigilante justice is not the answer to piracy, and all relevant stakeholders should get together to discuss how to handle these issues going forward.   </p>
<p>For now, however, the USTR should disregard the comments regarding Cloudflare as irrelevant and inaccurate, the company argues.</p>
<p>&#8220;We trust that USTR will once again agree with Cloudflare that complaints implying that Cloudflare is aiding illegal activities have no place whatsoever in USTR’s Notorious Markets inquiry. It would seem to distract from and dilute the message of that report to focus on companies that are working to make the internet more cybersecure,&#8221; Kramer concludes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146098
title: UK ‘Pirate’ Kodi Box Seller Handed a Suspended Prison Sentence
uri: UK-Pirate-Kodi-Box-Seller-Handed-a-Suspended-Prison-Sentence
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gHYs13jklGk/
content:
<p><a href="media/6ba5f758.Android-Box.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Android-Box.png"><img src="media/b57c5448.Android-Box.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Android-Box.png" alt="" width="227" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143296"></a>After being <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-android-tv-box-sellers-raided-by-police-150612/">raided</a> by police and Trading Standards in 2015, Middlesbrough-based shopkeeper Brian ‘Tomo’ Thompson found himself in the spotlight.</p>
<p>Accused of selling &#8220;fully-loaded&#8221; Kodi boxes (those with &#8216;pirate&#8217; addons installed), Thompson continued to protest his innocence.</p>
<p>“All I want to know is whether I am doing anything illegal. I know it’s a gray area but I want it in black and white,” he said last September.</p>
<p>Unlike other cases, where copyright holders took direct action, Thompson was prosecuted by his local council. At the time, he seemed prepared to martyr himself to test the limits of the law.</p>
<p>“This may have to go to the crown court and then it may go all the way to the European court, but I want to make a point with this and I want to make it easier for people to know what is legal and what isn’t,” he said. “I expect it go against me but at least I will know where I stand.”</p>
<p>In an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/man-likely-to-sacrifice-himself-testing-streaming-piracy-limits-160925/">opinion piece</a> not long after this statement, we agreed with Thompson&#8217;s sentiment, noting that barring a miracle, the Middlesbrough man would indeed lose his case, probably in short order. But Thompson&#8217;s case turned out to be less than straightforward.</p>
<p>Thompson wasn&#8217;t charged with straightforward &#8220;making available&#8221; under the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Acts. If he had, there would&#8217;ve been no question that he&#8217;d been breaking law. This is due to a European Court of Justice decision in the BREIN v Filmspeler case earlier this year which determined that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/selling-piracy-configured-media-players-is-illegal-eu-court-rules-170426/">selling fully loaded boxes in the EU is illegal</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, for reasons best known to the prosecution, &#8216;Tomo&#8217; stood accused of two offenses under section 296ZB of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, which deals with devices and services designed to &#8220;circumvent technological measures&#8221;. It&#8217;s a different aspect of copyright law previously applied to cases where encryption has been broken on official products.</p>
<p>“A person commits an offense if he — in the course of a business — sells or lets for hire, any device, product or component which is primarily designed, produced, or adapted for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of effective technological measures,” the law reads.</p>
<p><center><b>&#8216;Tomo&#8217; in his store</b><a href="media/9db8164f.tomo-kodi.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tomo-kodi.png"><img src="media/65089a1e.tomo-kodi.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tomo-kodi.png" alt="" width="582" height="586" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-145046"></a></center></p>
<p>In January this year, Thompson entered his official <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-kodi-box-seller-enters-not-guilty-plea-landmark-trial/">&#8216;not guilty&#8217; plea</a>, setting up a potentially fascinating full trial in which we would&#8217;ve heard how &#8216;circumvention of technological measures&#8217; could possibly relate to streaming illicit content from entirely unprotected far-flung sources.</p>
<p>Last month, however, Thompson suddenly had a change of heart, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/landmark-pirate-kodi-box-trial-canceled-after-man-changes-plea-to-guilty-170925/">entering guilty pleas</a> against one count of selling and one count of advertising devices for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of effective technological measures.</p>
<p>That plea stomped on what could&#8217;ve been a really interesting trial, particularly since the Federation Against Copyright Theft&#8217;s own lawyer predicted it <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/fact-lawyer-reveals-challenges-kodi-box-seller-prosecutions-170106/">could be difficult and complex</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, Thompson appeared at Teeside Crown Court on Friday for sentencing. Prosecutor Cameron Crowe said Thompson advertised and sold the &#8216;pirate&#8217; devices for commercial gain, fully aware that they would be used to access infringing content and premium subscription services.</p>
<p>Crowe said that Thompson made around £40,000 from the devices while potentially costing Sky around £200,000 in lost subscription fees. When Thompson was raided in June 2015, a diary revealed he&#8217;d sold 159 devices in the previous four months, sales which generated £17,000 in revenue.</p>
<p>After his arrest, Thompson changed premises and continued to offer the devices for sale on social media.</p>
<p>Passing sentence, Judge Peter Armstrong told the 55-year-old businessman that he&#8217;d receive an 18-month prison term, suspended for two years.</p>
<p>&#8220;If anyone was under any illusion as to whether such devices as these, fully loaded Kodi boxes, were illegal or not, they can no longer be in any such doubt,&#8221; Judge Armstrong told the court, as reported by <a href="http://www.gazettelive.co.uk">Gazette Live</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’ve come to the conclusion that in all the circumstances an immediate custodial sentence is not called for. But as a warning to others in future, they may not be so lucky.&#8221;</p>
<p>Also sentenced Friday was another local seller, Julian Allen, who sold devices to Thompson, among others. He was arrested following raids on his Geeky Kit businesses in 2015 and pleaded guilty this July to using or acquiring criminal property.</p>
<p>But despite making more than £135,000 from selling &#8216;pirate&#8217; boxes, he too avoided jail, receiving a 21-month prison sentence suspended for two years instead.</p>
<p>While Thompson&#8217;s and Allen&#8217;s sentences are likely to be portrayed by copyright holders as a landmark moment, the earlier ruling from the European Court of Justice means that selling these kinds of devices for infringing purposes has always been illegal.</p>
<p>Perhaps the big surprise, given the dramatic lead up to both cases, is the relative leniency of their sentences. All that being said, however, a line has been drawn in the sand and other sellers should be aware.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145960
title: MP3 Stream Rippers Are Not Illegal Sites, EFF Tells US Government
uri: MP3-Stream-Rippers-Are-Not-Illegal-Sites-EFF-Tells-US-Government
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/30diOjx9NwU/
content:
<p><img src="media/0052363b.youtubehappy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/youtubehappy.png" alt="" width="230" height="158" class="alignright size-full wp-image-130150">Free music is easy to find nowadays. Just head over to YouTube and you can find millions of tracks including many of the most recent releases.</p>
<p>While some artists happily share their work, the major record labels don&#8217;t want tracks to leak outside YouTube&#8217;s ecosystem. For this reason, they want YouTube to MP3 rippers shut down.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the RIAA <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-identifies-top-youtube-mp3-rippers-and-other-pirate-sites-171006/">sent its overview</a> of “notorious markets” to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), highlighting several of these sites and asking for help.</p>
<p>“The overall popularity of these sites and the staggering volume of traffic it attracts evidences the enormous damage being inflicted on the U.S. record industry,” the RIAA wrote, calling out Mp3juices.cc, Convert2mp3.net, Savefrom.net, Ytmp3.cc, Convertmp3.io, Flvto.biz, and 2conv.com as the most popular offenders.</p>
<p>This position is shared by many other music industry groups. They see stream ripping as the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/stream-ripping-piracy-goes-from-bad-to-worse-music-industry-reports-170919/">largest piracy threat online</a>. After <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-mp3-settles-with-riaa-site-will-shut-down-170904/">shutting down</a> YouTube-MP3, they hope to topple other sites as well, ideally with the backing of the US Government. </p>
<p>However, not everyone shares the belief that stream ripping equals copyright infringement. </p>
<p>In a rebuttal, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (<a href="https://www.eff.org/">EFF</a>) informs the USTR that the RIAA is trying to twist the law in its favor. Not all stream ripping sites are facilitating copyright infringement by definition, the EFF argues.</p>
<p>&#8220;RIAA’s discussion of &#8216;stream-ripping&#8217; websites misstates copyright law. Websites that simply allow users to extract the audio track from a user-selected online video are not &#8216;illegal sites&#8217; and are not liable for copyright infringement, unless they engage in additional conduct that meets the definition of infringement,&#8221; the EFF writes.</p>
<p><center><strong>Flvto</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/2b3efaaa.flvto.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flvto.png" alt="" width="600" height="296" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-146162"></center></p>
<p>While some people may use these sites to &#8216;pirate&#8217; tracks there are also legitimate purposes, the digital rights group notes. Some creators specifically allow others to download and modify their work, for example, and in other cases ripping can be seen as fair use. </p>
<p>&#8220;There exists a vast and growing volume of online video that is licensed for free downloading and modification, or contains audio tracks that are not subject to copyright,&#8221; the EFF stresses.	 </p>
<p>&#8220;Moreover, many audio extractions qualify as non-infringing fair uses under copyright. Providing a service that is capable of extracting audio tracks for these lawful purposes is itself lawful, even if some users infringe.&#8221;</p>
<p>The fact that these sites generate revenue from advertising doesn&#8217;t make them illegal either. While there are some issues that could make a site liable, such as distributing infringing content to third parties, the EFF argues that many of the sites identified by the RIAA are not clearly involved in such activities.</p>
<p>Instead of solely relying on the characterizations of the RIAA, the US Government should judge these sites independently, in accordance with the law.</p>
<p>&#8220;USTR must apply U.S. law as it is, not as particular industry organizations wish it to	be. Accordingly, it is inappropriate to	describe &#8216;stream-ripping&#8217; sites	as engaging in or facilitating infringement. That logic would discourage U.S. firms from providing many forms of useful, lawful technology that processes or interacts with copyrighted work in digital form, to the detriment of U.S. trade,&#8221; the EFF concludes.</p>
<p>It is worth highlighting that most sites the RIAA mentioned specifically advertise themselves as YouTube converters. While this violates YouTube&#8217;s Terms of Service, something the streaming platform <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-threatens-legal-action-video-downloader-160530/">isn&#8217;t happy with</a>, it doesn&#8217;t automatically classify them as infringing services. </p>
<p>Ideally, the RIAA and other music industry group would like YouTube to shut down these sites but if that doesn&#8217;t happen, more lawsuits may follow in the future. Then, the claims from both sides can be properly tested in court. </p>
<p>The full EFF response is available <a href="media/48647f68.EFF_Reply_Comment_on_Notorious_Markets_2017.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/EFF_Reply_Comment_on_Notorious_Markets_2017.pdf">here (pdf)</a>. In addition to the stream ripping comments, the digital rights group also defends CDN providers such as Cloudflare, reverse proxies, and domain registrars from MPAA and RIAA piracy complaints.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146087
title: Deep Down, Games Pirates Love Enemies Like Denuvo
uri: Deep-Down-Games-Pirates-Love-Enemies-Like-Denuvo
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/9XPACso7GNY/
content:
<p><a href="media/13426ea2.crypirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/crypirate.jpg"><img src="media/b9037aa7.crypirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/crypirate.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="274" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120440"></a>While there are plenty of people who just want content for free, digging through the last 35 years of piracy reveals an interesting trend. One way or another, people have always secretly admired anti-piracy systems, since they simultaneously relish the prospect of one day subverting their barriers.</p>
<p>In the very early 80s, when the first 8-bit home computers became more readily available, finding ways to pirate games was almost as much fun as playing them. Children, with limited pocket money, would pool their resources and buy a single copy of a cassette-based game, hoping to clone it at home with a twin-deck recorder, to share among their fellow investors.</p>
<p>With significant trial and error (and only pre-Internet schoolyard advice and folklore available) copying eventually became easy. Then the &#8216;evil&#8217; games companies worked out what was going on and decided to do something about it.</p>
<p>Early protection systems, such as &#8216;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0EfycbDhiw">Hyper Loaders</a>&#8216;, threw a wrench in the works for a while but along came software like <a href="http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0008355">Lerm</a> (with <a href="media/160fed56.LermTapeCopier7.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-adverts/l/LermTapeCopier7.jpg">full page ads</a> in the media) to level the playing field. Anything you can do we can do better, those kids rejoiced.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, copiers like Lerm also fell victim to pirates, with all self-respecting red beards owning a copy. But then the next waves of anti-piracy systems would come along, ensuring that working out how to pirate games became a time-consuming hobby in itself. But most pirates were kids &#8211; what else did they have to do?</p>
<p>With a young and inexperienced mindset, however, it was sometimes easy to fear that like Denuvo a year or two ago, some things might never be copied. Take the 1983 release of International Soccer for the Commodore 64 home computer, for example. That originally came on a cartridge &#8211; who could ever copy one of those?</p>
<p>Of course, someone did, dumping it onto cassette tape complete with a <a href="http://csdb.dk/release/?id=33984">modification</a> that had some players <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaEcn80HXjA">sitting in wheelchairs, others on crutches</a>, instead of running around. By today&#8217;s standards that&#8217;s both technically trivial and rather insensitive, but at the time it represented a pirate double-whammy.</p>
<p>A game that couldn&#8217;t be pirated getting pirated onto another format, plus a ridiculous addition that no game company would ever allow to market? To teenage pirates, that was a supremely delicious not to mention rebellious treat.</p>
<p>As the months and years rolled on, new consoles &#8211; such as Commodore&#8217;s Amiga &#8211; brought 3.5&#8243; floppy disc storage and new copy protection mechanisms to the masses. And, as expected, fresh solutions to thwart them came to market. Tools such as <a href="http://jope.fi/xcopy/">X-Copy Pro</a> went down in history and were universally hailed by pirates. Who immediately pirated them, of course.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TCDtnQiZlSc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Today the situation is somewhat different but somehow just the same. Copy protection mechanisms, such as the now-infamous Denuvo, are so complex that no user-operated tool is available to copy the games protected by it. Yet people, driven by a passion for subverting the system and solving technological puzzles, are dedicating thousands of hours to take them apart.</p>
<p>Just recently, Denuvo was well and truly dismantled. Games are now routinely getting cracked in a day, sometimes just hours, and the excitement in the air is palpable. In many ways, this is the same kind of enthusiasm expressed by the relatively naive kid pirates of the 80s. They too were frustrated by copy protection, they too screamed with glee when it fell from grace.</p>
<p>While gaming has always been fun, the sense of achievement &#8211; of subverting the system &#8211; has always come a close second to actually playing games for those with an enthusiastic pirate streak. Imagine a world where every game could be easily copied by just about anyone. Now compare that to a war of attrition against the dark forces behind 80s Hyper Loaders and the evil Denuvo of today.</p>
<p>In the end, there&#8217;s no doubt. Most dedicated pirates, provided they eventually taste victory, will take the warfare option any day, fighting to the end, fighting for victory.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s be honest. Pirates absolutely need a nemesis like Denuvo. Because &#8211; quite simply &#8211; it&#8217;s only half the fun without one.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146095
title: Tech Giants Warn Against Kodi Scapegoating
uri: Tech-Giants-Warn-Against-Kodi-Scapegoating
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JUbtWvaDF4k/
content:
<p><img src="media/8aa05985.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png" alt="" width="256" height="256" class="alignright size-full wp-image-144339">At the beginning of October, several entertainment industry groups shared their piracy concerns with the US Government&#8217;s Trade Representative (USTR). </p>
<p>Aside from pointing towards traditional websites, pirate streaming boxes were also brought up, by the MPAA among others. </p>
<p>“An emerging global threat is streaming piracy which is enabled by piracy devices preloaded with software to illicitly stream movies and television programming and a burgeoning ecosystem of infringing add-ons,” the MPAA <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-pirate-sites-hosts-and-ad-networks-to-us-government-171004/">noted</a>.</p>
<p>This week the Computer &#038; Communications Industry Association (<a href="http://www.ccianet.org/about/members/">CCIA</a>), which includes members such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Netflix, notes that the USTR should be careful not to blame an open source media player such as Kodi, for the infringing actions of others.</p>
<p>CCIA wrote a rebuttal clarifying that Kodi and similar open source players are not the problem here.</p>
<p>&#8220;Another example of commenters raising concerns about generalized technology is the MPAA’s characterization of customizable, open-source set-top boxes utilizing the Kodi multimedia player application along with websites that allegedly &#8216;enable one-click installation of modified software onto set-top boxes or other internet-connected devices&#8217;,&#8221; CCIA writes.</p>
<p>While the MPAA itself also clearly mentioned that “Kodi is not itself unlawful,” CCIA stresses that any enforcement actions should be aimed at those who are breaking the law. The real targets include vendors who sell streaming boxes pre-loaded with infringing addons.</p>
<p>&#8220;These enforcement activities should focus on the infringers themselves, however, not a general purpose technology, such as an operating system for set-top boxes, which may be used in both lawful and unlawful ways. </p>
<p>&#8220;Open-source software designed for operating a home electronics device is unquestionably legitimate, and capable of substantial non-infringing uses,&#8221; CCIA adds in its cautionary letter the USTR.  </p>
<p>While the MPAA&#8217;s submission was not trying to characterize Kodi itself as illegal, it did call out TVAddons.ag as a “piracy add-on repository.” The new incarnation of TVAddons wasn&#8217;t happy with this label and previously <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/mpaa-disregarded-dmca/">scolded</a> the movie industry group for its comments, pointing out that it only received a handful of DMCA takedown notices in recent years.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;in the entire history of TV ADDONS, XBMC HUB and OffshoreGit, we only received a total of about five DMCA notices in all; two of which were completely bogus. None of which came from a MPAA affiliate.&#8221; </p>
<p>While it&#8217;s obvious to most that Kodi isn&#8217;t the problem, as CCIA is highlighting, to many people it&#8217;s still unclear where the line between infringing and non-infringing is drawn. Lawsuits, including those against <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-and-zemtv-operators-named-in-us-lawsuit-170926/">TVAddons</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-giants-sue-kodi-powered-tickbox-tv-over-piracy-171014/">TickBox</a>, are expected to bring more clarity.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>CCIA&#8217;s full submission is available <a href="media/33db4747.CCIA_2017_Notorious_Markets_OCR.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/CCIA_2017_Notorious_Markets_OCR.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146204
title: Pirate Party Wins Big in Czech Parliament Elections
uri: Pirate-Party-Wins-Big-in-Czech-Parliament-Elections
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0wrK6pP_c_0/
content:
<p><img src="media/d230e450.piratska-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratska-1.png" alt="" width="256" height="144" class="alignright size-full wp-image-146209">The Czech Pirates have made quite a name for themselves in recent years. </p>
<p>The political party previously took on a local anti-piracy outfit by launching their own movie download sites, making the point that linking is not a crime.</p>
<p>The bold move resulted in a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-prosecuted-for-operating-a-pirate-site-160125/">criminal investigation</a>, but the case was eventually dropped after it was deemed that the Pirates acted in accordance with EU law.</p>
<p>In the political arena, the <a href="https://www.pirati.cz/">Czech Pirate Party</a> booked <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-become-biggest-political-party-in-local-czech-election-141015/">several successes</a> as well. In Parliamentary elections, however, the party never managed to beat the required threshold. Until this weekend. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://volby.cz/pls/ps2017/ps2?xjazyk=EN">10.79% of the total vote</a>, the Pirates won 22 seats in the national parliament. Not just that, they also became the third largest political party in the country, where more than 30 parties participated in the elections. </p>
<p>The Czech Republic becomes the fourth country where a Pirate Party is represented in the national parliament, following Sweden, Germany, and Iceland, which is quite an achievement. </p>
<p>&#8220;It is the best result of any Pirate Party in history and gives us a great mandate to transform the dynamics of Czech politics. At the same time, we understand this as a huge responsibility towards the voters and the Pirate movement as a whole,&#8221; Tomáš Vymazal, one of the new Members of Parliament, tells TorrentFreak.</p>
<p><center><strong>The Pirates (<a href="https://www.pirati.cz/">photo via</a>)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/23524150.pirate-klub-e1508696957681.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-klub-e1508696957681.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="337" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-146212"></center></p>
<p>While there were some celebrations after the election result came in, the Czech Pirate Party is moving full steam ahead. The twenty-two newly elected members have already held their first meeting,  discussing how to get the most out of their negotiations with other parties.</p>
<p>&#8220;The negotiation team has been established and the club&#8217;s chairman was elected. We&#8217;ll now need to set up our offices, hire assistants and distribute specific responsibilities among the club,&#8221; Vymazal says.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the first issues we will open up a discussion about how parliament will be fixing an historic anti-corruption bill.&#8221; </p>
<p>The bill in question makes sure that every contract the state or a state-owned business enters into is put on the record. However, the previous parliament introduced several exceptions and as a result, many of the money flows remain hidden from the public. </p>
<p>Like other Pirate parties, the Czech branch is by no means a single issue outfit. The party has a broad vision which it distilled to a <a href="https://www.pirati.cz/program/psp2017/20-nejdulezitejsich-bodu-programu/">twenty point program</a>. In addition to fighting corruption, this includes tax reform and increasing teachers&#8217; salaries, for example. </p>
<p>More classical pirate themes are also on the agenda of course. The Pirate Party wants to overhaul the country&#8217;s copyright legislation, stop internet censorship, and put an end to cell phone tracking. In addition, the use of medical marijuana should be allowed.</p>
<p>With the backing of hundreds of thousands of Czechs, these and other issues will certainly be on the political agenda during the years to come. It&#8217;s now up to the Pirates to make them a reality.</p>
<p>&#8220;We must do a very good job to successfully establish the Pirate Party in Czech politics and deliver on the promises we made to the voters,&#8221; Vymazal says.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146216
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 10/23/17
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-10-23-17
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3LKas_iDrzA/
content:
<p><img src="media/1cdacb0d.warplanetapes.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/warplanetapes.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="163" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145910">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>War for the Planet of the Apes is the most downloaded movie again.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-101617/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3450958/">War for the Planet of the Apes</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3450958/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxjPjPzQ1iU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5140878/">Annabelle Creation</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5140878/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KisPhy7T__Q">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2250912/">Spider-Man: Homecoming</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2250912/">7.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0D3AOldjMU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648190/">The Dark Tower</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648190/">5.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwfqXTebIY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2406566/">Atomic Blonde</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2406566/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIUube1pSC0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/">American Made</a> (Subbed HDrip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/">7.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEBIJRAkujM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606752/">Cars 3</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606752/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LeOH9AGJQM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3890160/">Baby Driver</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3890160/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9YZw_X5UzQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">Kingsman: The Golden Circle</a> (HDTS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649466/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PggfbzJcvA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/wonder-woman-torrent-downloads/">Wonder Woman</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451279/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q8fG0TtVAY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146153
title: Copyright Trolls Hit Thousands of Swedish ‘Pirates’ With $550 ‘Fines’
uri: Copyright-Trolls-Hit-Thousands-of-Swedish-Pirates-With-550-F
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Xn9-KUjqk9Q/
content:
<p><a href="media/67ffec03.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg"><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977"></a>In 2016, mass ‘copyright-trolling’ hit Sweden for the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/attention-swedish-pirate-bay-users-copyright-trolls-have-arrived-160902/">first time</a>. An organization calling itself Spridningskollen (Distribution Check) claimed its new initiative would save the entertainment industries and educate the masses.</p>
<p>Following a huge backlash, however, the operation <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-trolls-abandon-sweden-in-blaze-of-bad-publicity-161101/">shut up shop and retreated</a>, tail between its legs. But for those who expected the trolls to disappear altogether, bad news was just around the corner.</p>
<p>In February 2017, Danish law firm Njord Law was found to be at the helm of a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-internet-users-face-new-wave-of-piracy-cash-demands-170225/">new troll operation</a> targeting the subscribers of several ISPs, including Telia, Tele2 and Bredbandsbolaget. Some 42-pages of court documents revealed that thousands of IP addresses had been harvested, potentially linking to thousands of subscribers.</p>
<p>After receiving permission from the courts to obtain the personal details of alleged pirates, things went a little quiet. However, according to local news outlet <a href="https://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.691043/kravbrev-svenska-fildelare">IDG</a>, the floodgates have now been opened, with several thousand ISP subscribers receiving cash demands from Njord Law in recent weeks.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have sent out a few thousand letters, but we have been given the right to obtain information behind many more IP addresses that we are waiting to receive from the telecom operators. So there are more, &#8221; lawyer Jeppe Brogaard Clausen told the publication.</p>
<p>Indeed, an indication of the scale of the operation can be found in the order obtained to target customers of ISP Telia. In that batch alone the court granted permission for Njord Law to obtain the identities behind 25,000 IP addresses.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Clausen said that after identifying the subscribers he wanted to “enter into non-aggressive dialogue” with them. As we predicted, this apparently friendly introduction would simply lead to inevitable demands for cash.</p>
<p>&#8220;Have you, or other people with access to the aforementioned IP address, such as children living at home, viewed or tried to watch [a pirate movie] at the specified time?&#8221; Njord Law now writes in its letters to alleged pirates.</p>
<p>&#8220;If so, the case can be terminated by paying 4,500 SEK [$550].&#8221; </p>
<p>According to IDG, lots of movies are involved, both from local and international distributors. Earlier this year, CELL, IT, London Has Fallen, Mechanic: Resurrection, Criminal and September of Shiraz were named as possible titles.</p>
<p>The inclusion of these titles come as no surprise since several have turned up in similar trolling cases all over Europe and the United States. In common with schemes elsewhere, BitTorrent tracking was carried out by MaverickEye, a German-based company that is part of the notorious Guardaley trolling operation.</p>
<p>Like most &#8216;trolling&#8217; cases, figures on how many people are paying up in Sweden are hard to come by. Clausen won&#8217;t say how many have parted with cash, but the lawyer says that 60% of the letters have elicited some kind of response. In previous similar projects in the UK, around a fifth of targets paid some sort of settlement, with no contested cases reaching the courts.</p>
<p>Njord Law insists, however, that those who don&#8217;t pay in Sweden may have to face the legal system.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes, we will [go to court],&#8221; says Clausen. &#8220;We wish to resolve matters as much as possible through education and dialogue without the assistance of the court though. It is very expensive both for the rights holders and for plaintiffs if we go to court.&#8221;</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s impossible to predict how these cases will go, the usual tactic is to attack the low-hanging fruit first. People who admit some form of guilt can expect the most pressure while those who deny the allegations flat out (subscribers aren&#8217;t necessarily infringers) are likely to be placed in a file to be dealt with last, if at all.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=145700
title: MPAA and RIAA’s Megaupload Lawsuits Remain on Hold
uri: MPAA-and-RIAA-s-Megaupload-Lawsuits-Remain-on-Hold
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/LQvc5H4uVQk/
content:
<p><img src="media/bf96111a.megauploadsong.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megauploadsong.jpg" alt="" width="255" height="174" class="alignright size-full wp-image-146015">More than half a decade has passed since Megaupload was shut down and it’s still unclear how the criminal proceedings will unfold.</p>
<p>Aside from Andrus Nomm&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-programmer-sentenced-to-a-year-in-prison-150213/">plea deal</a>, progress in the criminal proceedings has been slow. </p>
<p>Earlier this year there was some movement when the New Zealand High Court ruled that Kim Dotcom and his former colleagues can be extradited to the US. This extradition would not be on copyright grounds, but for conspiracy to defraud.</p>
<p>Following the ruling, Dotcom and his former colleagues quickly announced they would take the matter to the Court of Appeal. This process is still pending and may take several more months to complete.</p>
<p>While all parties await the outcome, the criminal case in the United States remains pending. The same goes for the civil cases launched by the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-demand-millions-megaupload-new-lawsuit-140408/">MPAA</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/now-the-riaa-sues-megaupload-for-massive-copyright-theft-140411/">RIAA</a> in 2014.</p>
<p>Since the civil cases may influence the criminal proceedings, Megaupload’s legal team previously managed to put these cases on hold, and last week they requested another extension. </p>
<p>This is not the first time that such a request had been made. There have been several extensions already. </p>
<p>At the time of the last request, there <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-megauploads-failing-drives-can-be-fixed-but-not-accessed-170330/">were concerns</a> that the long delays could result in the destruction of evidence, as some of Megaupload’s hard drives were starting to fail. However, after the parties agreed on a solution to back-up and restore the files, this is no longer an issue.</p>
<p>&#8220;With the preservation order in place, and there being no other objection, Defendant Megaupload hereby moves the Court to enter the attached proposed order, continuing the stay in this case for an additional six months,&#8221; Megaupload&#8217;s legal team informed the court this week.</p>
<p>Without any objections from the MPAA and RIAA, U.S. District Court Judge Liam O’Grady swiftly granted Megaupload’s request to stay both lawsuits until April next year.</p>
<p>To be continued.</p>
<p><center><strong>Order to stay</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/e1c7022c.stayordermega.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stayordermega.png" alt="" width="562" height="436" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-146124"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146257
title: The Pirate Bay’s .SE Domain is Back in Action
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-s-SE-Domain-is-Back-in-Action
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/sCD5tS5oowE/
content:
<p><img src="media/932e6d7d.thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thepirate-e1470829181981.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="206" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116122">Last week The Pirate Bay&#8217;s .SE domain name expired and, soon after, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-iconic-se-domain-has-expired-and-is-for-sale-171016/">it was deactivated</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, many people could no longer use their old bookmarks, which traditionally pointed them to the most recent domain of the notorious torrent site.</p>
<p>This appeared to mark the end of this historic domain but today it&#8217;s clear that this is not the case. For the past few hours, Thepiratebay.se has been operating as usual again, directing visitors to the current .org domain.</p>
<p>A quick look at the Whois information shows that the domain has been reactivated and the registration updated to October next year. This means that it&#8217;s safe, at least for a while.</p>
<p><center><strong>Thepiratebay.se back in action</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/69011675.tpbactive.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbactive.png" alt="" width="573" height="354" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-146260"></center></p>
<p>At the time of writing it&#8217;s unclear whether the Pirate Bay listed the deactivation or if this was done on behalf of the Swedish Court of Appeal. </p>
<p>In 2013, a local anti-piracy group filed a motion to have it seized. This resulted in a lengthy legal battle where the Swedish Court of Appeal eventually <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-pirate-bay-domains-forfeited-state-160512/">ruled</a> that The Pirate Bay’s domain had to be confiscated and forfeited to the state.</p>
<p>The forfeiture has yet to take place, though, as the case is still pending at the Supreme Court. Because of this, the Pirate Bay&#8217;s owners <a href="https://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.680979/pirate-bay-doman-bluffauktion?queryText=sedo">are not allowed to change</a> the domain details, which may be why it expired initially. </p>
<p>However, without re-registering it, the domain would be released to the public again. This means that outsiders could pick it up, which isn&#8217;t supposed to happen, and this is likely why it&#8217;s now active again. </p>
<p>The Pirate Bay has yet to comment on the domain issue. When we hear from the team this article will be updated accordingly.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146252
title: Russian Site-Blocking Chiefs Under Investigation For Fraud
uri: Russian-Site-Blocking-Chiefs-Under-Investigation-For-Fraud
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gPshKO-I2xs/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b97a33a.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg"><img src="media/f6cbbbd7.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143825"></a>Over the past several years, Rozcomnadzor has become a highly controversial government body in Russia. With responsibility for ordering web-blockades against sites the country deems disruptive, it&#8217;s effectively Russia&#8217;s online censorship engine.</p>
<p>In total, Rozcomnadzor has ordered the blocking of more than 82,000 sites. Within that total, at least 4,000 have been rendered inaccessible <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/russia-blocks-4000-pirate-sites-plus-41000-innocent-as-collateral-damage-170905/">on copyright grounds</a>, with an additional 41,000 innocent platforms blocked as collateral damage.</p>
<p>This massive over-blocking has been widely criticized in Russia but until now, Rozcomnadzor has appeared pretty much untouchable. However, a scandal is now engulfing the organization after at least four key officials were charged with fraud offenses.</p>
<p>News that something was potentially amiss began leaking out two weeks ago, when Russian publication <a href="https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2017/10/11/737483-chinovnikov-roskomnadzora">Vedomosti</a> reported on a court process in which the initials of the defendants appeared to coincide with officials at Rozcomnadzor.</p>
<p>The publication suspected that three men were involved; Roskomnadzor spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky, head of the legal department Boris Yedidin, and Alexander Veselchakov, who acts as an advisor to the head of the department monitoring radio frequencies.</p>
<p>The prosecution&#8217;s case indicated that the defendants were involved in &#8220;fraud committed by an organized group either on an especially large scale or entailing the deprivation of citizen&#8217;s rights.&#8221; Indeed, no further details were made available, with the head of Rozcomnadzor Alexander Zharov claiming he knew nothing about a criminal case and refusing to answer questions.</p>
<p>It later transpired that four employees had been charged with fraud, including Anastasiya Zvyagintseva, who acts as the general director of CRFC, an agency under the control of Rozcomnadzor.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3436402">Kommersant</a>, Zvyagintseva&#8217;s involvement is at the core of the matter. She claims to have been forced to put &#8220;ghost employees&#8221; on the payroll, whose salaries were then paid to existing employees in order to increase their salaries.</p>
<p>The investigation into the scandal certainly runs deep. It&#8217;s reported that FSB officers have been spying on Rozcomnadzor officials for six months, listening to their phone conversations, monitoring their bank accounts, and even watching the ATM machines they used. </p>
<p>Local media reports indicate that the illegal salary scheme ran from 2012 until February 2017 and involved some 20 million rubles ($347,000) of illegal payments. These were allegedly used to retain &#8216;valuable&#8217; employees when their regular salaries were not lucrative enough to keep them at the site-blocking body.</p>
<p>While Zvyagintseva has been released pending trial, Ampelonsky, Yedidin, and Veselchakov have been placed under house arrest by the Chertanovsky Court of Moscow until November 7.</p>
<p>Rozcomnadzor&#8217;s <a href="http://rkn.gov.ru/">website</a> is currently inaccessible.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146291
title: Lose Yourself: National Party Guilty of Eminem Copyright Infringement
uri: Lose-Yourself-National-Party-Guilty-of-Eminem-Copyright-Infringement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TDgyGO1S9L0/
content:
<p><img src="media/4774df94.lose-yourself.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/lose-yourself.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-146294">In recent years, New Zealand has been the center stage of the largest copyright battle in Internet history; the criminal prosecution of Megaupload and several of its former employees. </p>
<p>In 2012, the country&#8217;s law enforcement officials helped <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-shut-down-120119/">to bring down</a> the file-sharing site, including a military-style raid on its founder, Kim Dotcom.</p>
<p>While the Megaupload case is still ongoing, a separate copyright battle in New Zealand came to a conclusion this week. In this case, the country&#8217;s leading National Party was the accused. </p>
<p>In 2014 the party of former Prime Minister and Kim Dotcom nemesis John Key <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kiwi-prime-ministers-party-sued-for-pirating-eminem-track-140916/">was sued</a> for copyright infringement by Eminem’s publisher Eight Mile Style. In an advertising spot for the General Election campaign, the party used a song heavily inspired by the track “Lose Yourself.” A blatant copyright infringement, they argued. </p>
<p>This week the High Court agreed with the publisher ruling that the ad indeed infringed on their copyright. The National Party must now pay a total of $600,000 (415,000 USD) including damages and interest, <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&#038;objectid=11936632">NZ Herald</a> reports. </p>
<p>Recognizing the irony, Kim Dotcom swiftly took the matter to Twitter. He launched a poll asking who&#8217;s guilty of copyright infringement, him or the National Party? The results are, as expected, in his favor.</p>
<p><center><strong>Lose Yourself?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/283b742b.pollkim.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pollkim.png" alt="" width="598" height="237" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-146301"></center></p>
<p>Dotcom sees the matter as something the old government is responsible for and he has more faith in the current leadership.</p>
<p>&#8220;All I can say is that the irony of this is hilarious and that Karma has finally caught up with the corrupt !former! National government. Honest people are now running New Zealand and the courts will be busy dealing with the crimes committed by the last government,&#8221; Dotcom informs us.</p>
<p>The National Party didn&#8217;t simply use the song without paying for it. They actually sought professional advice before starting the campaign and licensed a track called <em>Eminem Esque</em>, which is the one they used in the ad.</p>
<p>While the party hoped to avoid more expensive licensing fees by using the knock-off song, the High Court ruled that the similarities between Lose Yourself and Eminem Esque are so significant that it breached copyright. </p>
<p>And indeed, the music used in the ad campaign below is quite similar to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFYQQPAOz7Y">original Eminem track</a>.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/470bdH73TUY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>National Party president Peter Goodfellow is disappointed with the outcome and stresses that the party did not act flagrantly and properly licensed the song that was used.</p>
<p>&#8220;The music was licensed with one of New Zealand&#8217;s main industry copyright bodies, the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society. Being licensed and available for purchase, and having taken advice from our suppliers, the party believed the purchase was legal.&#8221;</p>
<p>The fact that the Party sought advice and licensed the knock-off track was taken into account. The High Court didn&#8217;t award any additional damages, but nonetheless, the copyright infringement claims stuck.</p>
<p>The other camp was more positive about the outcome. Adam Simpson, who represented Eminem&#8217;s publisher, described the ruling as a win for musicians and a warning to those who infringe on their rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;The ruling clarifies and confirms the rights of artists and songwriters. It sets a major precedent in New Zealand and will be influential in Australia, the UK and elsewhere,&#8221; Simpson said.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146287
title: Pirate-Friendly Coinhive’s DNS Hacked, User Hashes Stolen
uri: Pirate-Friendly-Coinhive-s-DNS-Hacked-User-Hashes-Stolen
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Va6GnGZ3BSc/
content:
<p><img src="media/099cf634.coinhive.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/coinhive.png" width="236" height="204" class="alignright size-large">Just over a month ago, a Javascript cryptocurrency miner was silently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-website-runs-a-cryptocurrency-miner-170916/">added to The Pirate Bay</a>. Noticed by users who observed their CPU usage going through the roof, it later transpired the site was trialing a miner operated by Coinhive.</p>
<p>Many users were disappointed that The Pirate Bay had added the Javascript-based Monero coin miner without their permission. However, it didn&#8217;t take long for people to see the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/are-cryptocurrency-miners-the-future-for-pirate-sites-170921/">potential benefits</a>, with a raft of other sites adding the miner in the hope of generating additional revenue.</p>
<p>Now, however, Coinhive has an unexpected and potentially serious problem to deal with. The company has just revealed that on Monday night its DNS records maintained at Cloudflare were accessed by a third-party, allowing an unnamed attacker to redirect user mining traffic to a server they controlled.</p>
<p>&#8220;The DNS records for coinhive.com have been manipulated to redirect requests for the coinhive.min.js to a third party server. This third party server hosted a modified version of the JavaScript file with a hardcoded site key. This essentially let the attacker &#8216;steal&#8217; hashes from our users,&#8221; Coinhive said in a statement.</p>
<p>The company hasn&#8217;t revealed how long the unauthorized redirect stayed in place for, but it appears that all coins mined on sites hosting Coinhive&#8217;s script were &#8216;stolen&#8217; during the period, instead of being credited to their accounts.</p>
<p>Coinhive stresses that no user account information was leaked and that its website and database servers were uncompromised. But while that&#8217;s good news, the method that the hackers used to access the company&#8217;s DNS provider lay in a basic security error.</p>
<p>Back in 2014, crowdfunding platform Kickstarter &#8211; which Coinhive used &#8211; fell victim to a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/important-kickstarter-security-notice">security breach</a>. After being advised of the fact by law enforcement officials, Kickstarter shut down unauthorized access, began strengthening its systems, while advising customers to do the same.</p>
<p>While Coinhive did respond to the warning to ensure that its data was safe, something slipped through the net. One piece of information &#8211; its Cloudflare account password &#8211; remained unchanged after the Kickstarter attack. It now seems the most likely culprit for this week&#8217;s DNS breach.</p>
<p>&#8220;The root cause for this incident was an insecure password for our Cloudflare account that was probably leaked with the Kickstarter data breach back in 2014,&#8221; Coinhive says.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have learned hard lessons about security and used 2FA and unique passwords with all services since, but we neglected to update our years old Cloudflare account.&#8221;</p>
<p>While not mentioning Coinhive explicitly, Kickstarter warned earlier this month that the 2014 incident may not be completely over. In an update posted on the site Oct 6, Kickstarter noted that some of its customers had recently been hearing more information about the breach from notification service <a href="http://haveibeenpwned.com/">Have I been pwned?</a>.</p>
<p>In the meantime, Coinhive has issued an apology and indicated it will find ways to reimburse sites which have lost revenue as a result of the DNS hack.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re deeply sorry about this severe oversight,&#8221; the company said. &#8220;Our current plan is to credit all sites with an additional 12 hours of their the daily average hashrate. Please give us a few hours to roll this out.&#8221;</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/how-much-money-can-pirate-bay-make-from-a-cryptocoin-miner-170924/">earlier calculations</a> carried out by TF, The Pirate Bay (if it was mining during the breach) could be potentially owed around $200 for the lost hashes, give or take. After turning off mining in September, the site <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-is-mining-cryptocurrency-again-no-opt-out-171011/">reactivated it again in October</a>, with no opt-out. The situation appears fluid.</p>
<p>While the hack is obviously a disappointment, Coinhive appears to have advised its users quickly and transparently, which under the circumstances is exactly what&#8217;s required. The fact that it&#8217;s offering compensation to users will also be welcomed.</p>
<p>The breach is the latest controversy to hit the company. Earlier this month, Cloudflare <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-bans-sites-for-using-cryptocurrency-miners-171004/">began banning sites</a> which implemented Coinhive mining without informing their users. The CDN company said it considered non-advised mining as malware.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=146338
title: High Court Passes Judgment in Illegal Sky Sports Streaming Case
uri: High-Court-Passes-Judgment-in-Illegal-Sky-Sports-Streaming-Case
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mvdAwRUidBo/
content:
<p><a href="media/2dae909e.skylogo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo.png"><img src="media/049adc7a.skylogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo.png" alt="" width="222" height="129" class="alignright size-full wp-image-124729" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo.png 222w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/skylogo-220x129.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px"></a>Without doubt, streaming is the hot topic in piracy right now, with thousands of illicit channels, TV shows and movies just a few clicks away.</p>
<p>As widely reported, the legal Kodi software augmented with illicit third-party addons is the preferred way to watch for millions of users. However, if people don&#8217;t mind sitting at a desktop machine, there&#8217;s also a thriving underbelly of indexing sites and similar platforms offering unauthorized access to infringing content.</p>
<p>According to information released by the Federation Against Copyright Theft, an individual in the UK has just felt the wrath of the High Court for providing content to one such platform.</p>
<p>&#8220;On Monday 23 October 2017 a judgment was obtained in the High Court against a Sky customer who had been streaming Sky Sports content illegally online,&#8221; FACT reports.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mr Yusuf Mohammed, of Bristol, has been ordered to pay legal costs of over £16,000, and to disclose details about the money he made and people he colluded with.&#8221;</p>
<p>With FACT releasing no more information, TorrentFreak contacted the anti-piracy group for more details on the case.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mohammed shared the Sky Sports stream via a piracy blog,&#8221; FACT Director of Communications Alice Skeats told TF.</p>
<p>Although FACT didn&#8217;t directly answer our question on the topic, their statement that Mohammed was a Sky customer seems to suggest that he might&#8217;ve re-streamed content he previously paid for. When we can clarify this point, we will.</p>
<p>FACT didn&#8217;t name the &#8216;piracy blog&#8217; either, nor did it respond to questions about how many people may have viewed Mohammed&#8217;s illegal streams. However, FACT did confirm that he streamed Sky Sports channels so potentially a wide range of sports was made available.</p>
<p>The other interesting factor is the claim that Mohammed made money from his streams. Again, FACT didn&#8217;t reveal how that revenue was generated (understandable since the case is ongoing) but it seems likely that advertising played a part, as it often does on pirate platforms.</p>
<p>Whether Mohammed will comply with the High Court&#8217;s orders to reveal who he colluded with is something for the future but even if he does, Sky isn&#8217;t finished with him yet. According to FACT, Mohammed&#8217;s already sizeable costs bill will be augmented with a claim for damages from the satellite broadcaster.</p>
<p>While providing and profiting from illegal streams could easily be considered criminal in the UK, FACT confirmed that the case against Mohammed was brought by Sky and supported by FACT in a civil proceeding alone. That was also the case last week when an individual who shared the Joshua vs Klitschko fight on Facebook apologized to Sky and agreed to pay Sky legal costs.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s an option Middlesborough businessman Brian Thompson didn&#8217;t enjoy when he was arrested for selling infringing &#8216;Kodi boxes&#8217; two years ago. He was handed an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-pirate-kodi-box-seller-handed-a-suspended-prison-sentence-171021/">18 month suspended prison sentence</a> last Friday, after being prosecuted by his local council.</p>
<p>Thompson won&#8217;t have to pay compensation but he still gets a criminal record, which can be a major hindrance when trying to get a job or even something as simple as cost-effective insurance cover. Whether these details will have any effect on other commercial pirates in the UK will remain to be seen but it&#8217;s certainly possible that some will begin to think twice.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2017-170107/">torrent sites</a> and  <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/">ANONYMOUS VPN services</a>.</p>
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